Women and Buddhism
Below are articles published in Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly that address the challenges women face in Buddhist culture, as well as profiles of extraordinary Buddhist women.
Are We Equal Yet
While things have improved since Buddhist scholar Rita Gross wrote her groundbreaking book Buddhism After Patriarchy, she says that many of the barriers to women’s development and recognition as dharma teachers remain firmly entrenched.
Hear Them Roar
The lives of Buddhism’s women ancestors are too often whispers of a forgotten past. This special collection of essays, stories, and poems brings their lion’s roar back to life.
Under the Autumn Moon
Grace Jill Schireson on the life, art, and poetic inspiration of the Zen nun Otagaki Rengetsu, a woman “humbled by life’s blows as well as its beauty.”
The Many Lives of Yeshe Tsogyal
Holly Gayley discusses the power of Padmasambhava’s foremost disciple and consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, and the life of one of her modern emanations.
To Women of the Way
In these seventeenth-century poems, translated from the Chinese by scholar Beata Grant, women Chan teachers and senior students pay homage to the women who taught and inspired them.
An Unlikely Dharma Warrior
Miriam Levering on the life of Miaozong, a laywoman turned abbess who stood her ground in dharma battles with some of the great Chan masters of her day.
Longing to Ordain
Bhikkhuni Sudhamma traces the origins of Buddhist ordination for women to Queen Anula, Sri Lanka’s first Buddhist nun.
No Turning Back
Seventeen years ago Christine Skarda’s investigations into the nature of perception drew her out of the research laboratory and onto the meditation cushion. She left behind a career as a philosopher and scientific theorist for a life of Buddhist study and retreat. Linda Heuman brings us her story.
Endless Lifetimes, Endless Benefit
Bethany Saltman talks with Tenzin Palmo about rebirth, merit, and the bodhisattva vow.
Enlightenment in Female Form
While the images we habitually associate with enlightenment—whether buddhas, teachers, or deities—are usually male, awakened mind equally expresses itself in female form. Gelek Rinpoche argues that enlightenment is possible only when female and male energies are both fully present. He teaches us Tara practices to bring enlightened female energy into our lives.
Mother of Light
Amy Schmidt and Sara Jenkins tell the inspiring story of Dipa Ma, known as "the patron saint of householders."
Ordained at Last
On February 28, 2003, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly known as Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, became the first Thai woman to receive full ordination as a Theravadin nun. Kristin Barendsen reports on Dhammananda's steadfast commitment to paving the way for other Thai women practitioners.
From Servants to Practitioners
Jan Willis reveals why life is getting better for the nuns of Ladakh.
Reviews:
Zen Women: Beyond Tea-Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters
By Grace Schireson
Women of the Way
By Sallie Tisdale
The First Buddhist Women
By Susan Murcott
When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty
By Hildegard Diemberger
Buddhist Goddesses of India
By Miranda Shaw
For further reading, go to the Shambhala Sun’s Women and Gender Politics page
| 
