A couple of weeks ago some photos appeared online advertising the line-up of confirmed guests for the upcoming Global Peace prayer festival in Thimphu, Bhutan (November 4th-11th) . It is fortunate to have realised Buddhist masters with pure lineages, such as HE 12th Tai Situpa and Gyaltsab Rinpoche, to join together and have Buddhist event… Continue reading “Pictures speak a thousand words”: All-male guest line-up photos for Bhutanese Global Peace Prayer Festival
Tag: women in buddhism
GOING BEYOND APPEARANCES OF FEMALE BEAUTY: The “dollybird” phenomenon, and how images of beauty are used against women (and even censored) in the name of “empowering women” in male-led Buddhist communities
“She is darker, stronger, looser, tougher, sexier. The maturing of a woman who has continued to grow is a beautiful thing to behold. How can an “ideal” be about women if it is defined as how much of a female sexual characteristic does not exist on the woman’s body, and how much of a female… Continue reading GOING BEYOND APPEARANCES OF FEMALE BEAUTY: The “dollybird” phenomenon, and how images of beauty are used against women (and even censored) in the name of “empowering women” in male-led Buddhist communities
International Day of the Girl Child 2024: A Poetic Commemoration
"Let’s teach our daughters it’s not about being beautiful. Teach them to be bold. Be silly. Be strong. Be confident. Be independent and intelligent. Be brave and be fierce. Be real, in a world full of fake. Let’s redefine beauty." "We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise… Continue reading International Day of the Girl Child 2024: A Poetic Commemoration
A WOMAN’S VOICE (II): THE ALLEGEDLY ‘CRUEL TIBETAN QUEEN’, MARGYELMA AND ‘UNRELIABLE’ BIOGRAPHIES: A white, male biographer’s treatment and ‘shaky sources on the ‘villainess Tibetan queen’, Margyel Dongkar, the denigration/silencing of a female scholar-translator’s comments on it, and another unreliable biography about the 16th Karmapa
"Margyelma's legacy as a quasi-historical, literary, and folk figure, remains strong in the contemporary Tibetan imagination. For example, it is not uncommon to hear male practitioners refer to women they are unhappy with as incarnations of Margyel Dongkar."--Joe McLellan (2023) “It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman, that's why there are… Continue reading A WOMAN’S VOICE (II): THE ALLEGEDLY ‘CRUEL TIBETAN QUEEN’, MARGYELMA AND ‘UNRELIABLE’ BIOGRAPHIES: A white, male biographer’s treatment and ‘shaky sources on the ‘villainess Tibetan queen’, Margyel Dongkar, the denigration/silencing of a female scholar-translator’s comments on it, and another unreliable biography about the 16th Karmapa
‘ALL BUDDHAS ARE BORN FROM WOMEN’: Remembering Abhidhamma teachings and Buddha’s mother at a contemporary Buddhist Nālanda in the sacred heart of India
"I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother and father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder and your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, and rubbing their limbs,… Continue reading ‘ALL BUDDHAS ARE BORN FROM WOMEN’: Remembering Abhidhamma teachings and Buddha’s mother at a contemporary Buddhist Nālanda in the sacred heart of India
Entering the Space of Dakinis: Interview with Prof. Janet Gyatso (Dakini Conversations: Ep.2)
For Dakini Day today, am delighted to announce the second episode of the Dakini Conversations podcast with Prof. Janet Gyatso, the first and current Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Divinity School of Harvard University. The Youtube video can be watched here: https://youtu.be/exI_XboQxFQ The audio-only podcast can also be downloaded and listened to on… Continue reading Entering the Space of Dakinis: Interview with Prof. Janet Gyatso (Dakini Conversations: Ep.2)
HEARING ‘HER-STORY’ (III): ENVISIONING AND CREATING THE FEMALE LINEAGE TREE. Making the invisible roots and flowers of the lineage tree visible, original artwork visually portraying the Kagyu ‘foremothers’
“Men may have been the fruit of the Tantric vine, but women were the root, stalk, leaves, and flowers…. Although historians have glorified the men of Tantric Buddhism and effaced the women, Tantric Buddhism in India was characterized by the close association and cooperation of women and men who travelled, meditated, and explored the religious life together as esteemed peers. Women… Continue reading HEARING ‘HER-STORY’ (III): ENVISIONING AND CREATING THE FEMALE LINEAGE TREE. Making the invisible roots and flowers of the lineage tree visible, original artwork visually portraying the Kagyu ‘foremothers’
THE ‘INNER’ LIFE OF BLISS, CELIBACY, DESIRE, LOVE, TANTRIC UNION AND WOMEN: New podcast interview of Adele Tomlin on Love and Liberation
"We've all had experiences of people we thought we had this love for, romantic relationships being the prime example. Then, all of a sudden something happened, or a friend said something, or did something, which we just felt so offended by, and all of a sudden, our love for them has completely gone. Actually, what… Continue reading THE ‘INNER’ LIFE OF BLISS, CELIBACY, DESIRE, LOVE, TANTRIC UNION AND WOMEN: New podcast interview of Adele Tomlin on Love and Liberation
BUDDHIST MOTHER’S DAY: RE-TELLING (AND RE-NAMING) ‘LHABAB DUCHEN’: When milk streamed from a mother’s breasts to Buddha’s mouth and Buddha’s great act of repaying mother’s kindness
“From women…buddhas come into this world…." "But when Queen Māyā saw the immense might Of her son, like that of a seer divine, She could not bear the delight it caused her; So she departed to dwell in the divine realms." ---excerpt from Buddhacarita on Queen Māyā's death "I tell you, monks, there are two… Continue reading BUDDHIST MOTHER’S DAY: RE-TELLING (AND RE-NAMING) ‘LHABAB DUCHEN’: When milk streamed from a mother’s breasts to Buddha’s mouth and Buddha’s great act of repaying mother’s kindness
THE ‘CENSORED’ TARA: POWERFUL PASSION VS PRUDISH PURITY. Depictions of women in Buddhist art and literature and the sexual objectification, denigration and censorship of women’s biology and nakedness
This short research article for Dakini Day today, inspired by a recent visit to the British Museum (London), considers ancient and modern representations of the bodies and sexuality of women in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist art and texts and how the excessive sexualisation and denigration of women’s breasts and genitals (exemplified by online porn), combined… Continue reading THE ‘CENSORED’ TARA: POWERFUL PASSION VS PRUDISH PURITY. Depictions of women in Buddhist art and literature and the sexual objectification, denigration and censorship of women’s biology and nakedness