Women in Buddhism

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Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those
of theology, history, anthropology and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status
of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of
women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of
Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.
Although Buddha taught that wives should be obedient to their husbands (AN 5:33), he also
taught that husbands should respect their wives - something that was revolutionary at the time.
Scholars such as Bernard Faure and Miranda Shaw are in agreement that Buddhist studies is in
its infancy in terms of addressing gender issues. Shaw gave an overview of the situation in 1994:
In the case of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism some progress has been made in the areas of women in
early Buddhism, monasticism and Mahayana Buddhism. Two articles have seriously broached
the subject of women in Indian tantric Buddhism, while somewhat more attention has been paid
to Tibetan nuns and lay yoginis.[1]
However Khandro Rinpoche, a female lama in Tibetan Buddhism, downplays the significance of
growing attention to the topic:
When there is a talk about women and Buddhism, I have noticed that people often regard the
topic as something new and different. They believe that women in Buddhism has become an
important topic because we live in modern times and so many women are practicing the Dharma
now. However, this is not the case. The female sangha has been here for centuries. We are not
bringing something new into a 2,500-year-old tradition. The roots are there, and we are simply
re-energizing them.[2]

Contents

1 Women in Early Buddhism

2 Women's Spiritual Attainment

o 2.1 Limitations on Women's Attainments in Buddhism
o 2.2 Women and Buddhahood
o 2.3 Female Tulku Lineages

3 Buddhist Ordination of Women

4 Family Life in Buddhism

o 4.1 Motherhood
o 4.2 Love, Sexual Conduct and Marriage

5 Words

6 The Dalai Lama

7 Well-known Female Buddhists

o 7.1 Celebrities
o 7.2 Tibetan Buddhist Tulkus and Emanations
o 7.3 Tibetan Buddhist Scholars
o 7.4 Notable Buddhist Nuns

8 See also

9 References

10 Bibliography

11 External links
o 11.1 Scripture
o 11.2 Articles

Women in Early Buddhism

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The founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, permitted women to join his monastic community
and fully participate in it, although there were certain provisos or garudhammas. As Susan
Murcott comments, "The nun's sangha was a radical experiment for its time."[3] Dr. Mettanando
Bhikkhu says of the First Buddhist council:

Perhaps Mahakassappa and the bhikkhus of that time were jealous of the bhikkhunis being more
popular and doing more teaching and social work than the bhikkhus. Their anti-women prejudice
became institutionalized at that time with the eight garudhammas, the eight weighty restrictions.
We must discontinue that prejudice.[4]
According to Ajahn Sujato, the early texts state that the most severe of the garudhammas, which
states that every nun must bow to every monk, was instituted by the Buddha because of the
customs of the time, and modern scholars doubt that the rule even goes back to the Buddha at all.
Furthermore, an identical rule is found in Jainism.
According to Diana Paul, the traditional view of women in Early Buddhism is that they are
inferior.[5] Rita Gross agrees that "a misogynist strain is found in early Indian Buddhism. But the
presence of some clearly misogynist doctrines does not mean that the whole of ancient Indian
Buddhism was misogynist."[6] The mix of positive attitudes to femininity with blatantly negative
sentiment has led many writers to characterise early Buddhism's attitude to women as deeply
ambivalent.[7]
Some commentators on the Aganna-Sutta from the Pli Canon, a record of the teachings of
Gautama Buddha, interpret it as showing women as responsible for the downfall of the human
race. However, Buddhist interpretation is generally that it shows lust in general, rather than
women, as causing the downfall.[8]
However, despite some less positive images of women in Early Buddhism, there are also
examples in the Theravada Sutta Pitaka that suggest that the very concept of gender
differentiation can serve as a hindrance to attaining nirvana, or enlightenment. For example, in
the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, found in the Sagatha-vagga of the Samyutta Nikaya, gender
discrimination is stated to be the work of Mara, a personification of temptation from the
Buddhist spiritual path. In the Soma Sutta, the bhikkhuni Soma states: "Anyone who thinks 'I'm a
woman' or 'a man' or 'Am I anything at all?' that's who Mara's fit to address",[9] linking gender
neutrality to the Buddhist concept of anatta, or "not-self", a strategy the Buddha taught for
release from suffering.[10] In a sutta titled "Bondage", the Buddha states that when either a man or
a woman clings to gender identity, that person is in bondage.[11]

Women's Spiritual Attainment

The various schools and traditions within Buddhism hold different views as to the possibilities of
women's spiritual attainments.[12] Feminist scholars have also noted than even when a woman's
potential for spiritual attainment is acknowledged, records of such achievements may not be kept
or may be obscured by gender-neutral language or mis-translation of original sources by
Western scholars.

Limitations on Women's Attainments in Buddhism

According to Bernard Faure, "Like most clerical discourses, Buddhism is indeed relentlessly
misogynist, but as far as misogynist discourses go, it is one of the most flexible and open to
multiplicity and contradiction."[13]

In the Buddhist tradition, positions of apparently worldly power are often a reflection of the
spiritual achievements of the individual. For example, any gods are living in higher realms than a
human being and therefore have a certain level of spiritual attainment. Cakravartins and Buddhas
are also more spiritual advanced than an ordinary human being. However, as Zen nun HengChing Shih states, women in Buddhism are said to have five obstacles, namely being incapable
of becoming a Brahma King, Sakra, King Mara, Cakravartin or Buddha.[12] This is based on the
statement of Gautama Buddha in the Bahudhtuka-sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya in the Pali
Canon that it is impossible that a woman should be "the perfectly rightfully Enlightened One",
"the Universal Monarch", "the King of Gods", "the King of Death" or "Brahmaa".[14] Earlier
limitations on attainment of Buddhahood by women were abolished in the Lotus Sutra which
opened the direct path to enlightenment for women equally to men.[15] According to Nichiren
"Only in the Lotus Sutra do we read that a woman who embraces this sutra not only excels all
other women but surpasses all men".[16]

Women and Buddhahood

Although early Buddhist texts such as the Cullavagga section of the Vinaya Pitaka of the Pali
Canon contain statements from Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, speaking to the fact
that a woman can attain enlightenment,[17] it is also clearly stated in the Bahudhtuka-sutta that
there could never be a female Buddha. As Prof. Heng-Ching Shih[18] states, women in Buddhism
are said to have five obstacles, namely being incapability of becoming a Brahma King, Sakra,
King Mara, Cakravartin or Buddha.[12] This is based on the statement of Gautama Buddha in the
Bahudhtuka-sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya in the Pali Canon that it is impossible that a woman
could be "the perfectly rightfully Enlightened One", "the Universal Monarch", "the King of
Gods", "the King of Death" or "Brahm".[14]
In Theravada Buddhism, the modern school based on the Buddhist philosophy of the earliest
dated texts, Buddhahood is a rare event. The focus of practice is primarily on attaining Arhatship
and the Pali Canon has examples of both male and female Arhats who attained nirvana.
Yashodhara, the former wife of Buddha Shakyamuni, mother of his son Rahula, is said to have
become an arhat after having joined the Bhikkhuni order of Buddhist nuns. In Mahayana schools,
Buddhahood is the universal goal for Mahayana practitioners. The Mahayana sutras maintains
that a woman can become enlightened, only not in female form. For example, the
Bodhisattvabhmi, dated to the 4th Century, states that a woman about to attain enlightenment
will be reborn in the male form. According to Miranda Shaw, "this belief had negative
implications for women insofar as it communicated the insufficiency of the female body as a
locus of enlightenment".[19]
It is impossible for a woman to be a bodhisattva, which is someone on their way to Buddhahood.
Bodhisattva can be a human, animal, serpent, or a god, but is never a woman. The Theravada
does not deny women to become awakened, but they are unable to lead a Buddhist community. If
the aspiration to Buddhahood has been made and a Buddha of the time confirms it, it is
impossible to be reborn as a woman. An appropriate aim is for women to aspire to be reborn as
male. They can become a male by moral actions and sincere aspiration to maleness. Being born a
female is a result of bad karma.[20]

However, in the tantric iconography of the Vajrayana practice path of Buddhism, female
Buddhas do appear. Sometimes they are the consorts of the main yidam of a meditation mandala
but Buddhas such as Vajrayogini, Tara and Simhamukha appear as the central figures of tantric
sadhana in their own right.[19] Vajrayana Buddhism also recognizes many female yogini
practitioners as achieving the full enlightenment of a Buddha, Miranda Shaw as an example cites
sources referring to "Among the students of the adept Naropa, reportedly two hundred men and
one thousand women attained complete enlightenment".[19] Yeshe Tsogyal, one of the five tantric
consorts[21] of Padmasambhava is an example of a woman (Yogini) recognized as a female
Buddha in the Vajrayana tradition. According to Karmapa lineage however Tsogyel has attained
Buddhahood in that very life. On the website of the Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu
school of Tibetan Buddhism, it is stated that Yeshe Tsogyalsome thirty years before
transcending worldly existencefinally emerged from an isolated meditation retreat, (c.796-805
AD), as "a fully enlightened Buddha"[22] (samyak-sambuddha)[citation needed].
There are predictions from Sakyamuni Buddha to be found in the thirteenth chapter of the
Mahayana Lotus Sutra,[23] referring to future attainments of Mahapajapati and Yasodhara.
In the 20th Century Tenzin Palmo, a Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu
school, stated "I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female formno matter how
many lifetimes it takes".[24]

Female Tulku Lineages

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In the fifteenth century CE, Princess Chokyi-dronme (Wylie: Chos-kyi sgron-me) was recognized
as the embodiment of the meditation deity and female Buddha in the Vajrayana tradition,
Vajravarahi. Chokyi-dronme became known as Samding Dorje Phagmo (Wylie: bSam-lding
rDo-rje phag-mo) and began a line of female tulkus, reincarnate lamas. At present, the twelfth of
this line lives in Tibet.
Another female tulku lineage, that of Shugseb Jetsun Rinpoche (Wylie: Shug-gseb rJe-btsun Rinpo-che) (c. 1865 1951),[25] began in the late nineteenth century CE.[26] While she received
teachings of all the Tibetan schools, Shugseb Jetsun Rinpoche was particularly known for
holding a lineage of Chd, the meditation practice of offering one's own body for the benefit of
others.[27] At the start of the twentieth century, Shugsheb Jetsun Rinpochealso called Ani
Lochen Chnyi Zangmofounded the Shuksep or Shugsep (Wylie: shug gseb) nunnery located
thirty miles from Lhasa on the slopes of Mount Gangri Thkar.[28][29] It became one of the largest
and most famous nunneries in Tibet.[25] Shugsep Nunnery, part of the Nyingma school, has been
re-established in exile in Gambhir Ganj, India. The nuns of Shugsep continue their practices,
including Longchen Nyingtig and Chd.[27]

Buddhist Ordination of Women

Main article: Ordination of women in Buddhism

Gautama Buddha first ordained women as nuns five years after his enlightenment and five years
after first ordaining men into the sangha. The first Buddhist nun was his aunt and foster mother
Mahapajapati Gotami. Bhikkhunis have to follow the eight rules of respect, which are vows
called The Eight Garudhammas. According to Peter Harvey "The Buddha's apparent hesitation
on this matter is reminiscent of his hesitation on whether to teach at all," something he only does
after persuasion from various devas.[30] The ordination of women in Buddhism is and has always
been practiced in some Buddhist regions, such as East Asia, is being revived in some countries
such as Sri Lanka, and is newly beginning in some Western countries to which Buddhism has
recently spread, such as the United States.

Family Life in Buddhism

In the Anguttara Nikaya (5:33), Buddha tells future wives that they should be obedient to their
husbands, please them, and not make them angry through their own desires, as well as get up
before them and go to sleep after them. Furthermore, the Buddha offers advice to married women
in the Anguttara Nikaya (7:59; IV 91-94), from the Pali (Theravada) canon, where he tells of
seven types of wivesthe first three types are destined for unhappiness, while the last four, as
they are imbued with long term self-control, are destined to be happy. These latter wives are
characterised as caretakers (motherly-wife), companions (friend-wife) and submissives (sisterwife and slave-wife)the Buddha thus endorsed a variety of types of wives within marriage.
According to Diana Paul, Buddhism inherited a view of women whereby if they are not
represented as mothers then they are portrayed as either lustful temptresses or as evil incarnate.[5]

Motherhood
The status of motherhood in Buddhism has also traditionally reflected the Buddhist perspective
that dukkha, or suffering, is a major characteristic of human existence. In her book on the
Therigatha collection of stories of women arhats from the Pali Canon, Susan Murcott states:
"Though this chapter is about motherhood, all of the stories and poems share another theme
grief. The mothers of this chapter were motivated to become Buddhist nuns by grief over the
death of their children."[31]
However, motherhood in Early Buddhism could also be a valued activity in its own right. Queen
Maya, the mother of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, had a certain following,
especially in Lumbini, where she gave birth to him.[32] Since Maya died some days after his birth,
Gautama Buddha was brought up by a fostermother, his mother's sister Mahapajapati, who also
had two children of her own. She become the first Buddhist nun. Both of her children, her son
Nanda and her daughter Sundari Nanda joined the Buddhist sangha of monastics. The wife of
Gautama Buddha, Yasodhara, was the mother of one son named Rahula, meaning "fetter", who
became a Buddhist monk at the age of seven and Yasodhara also eventually became a nun.
One of the attractions for women in Vajrayana Buddhism of following the path of a yogini rather
than that of a bhikkhuni nun was the opportunity to practice amidst family life with a husband or

spiritual consort and possibly have children. Also Yoginis -unlike nuns- were not obliged to
shave their hair. Machig Labdrn followed such a path, living in a monastery for a while but later
leaving to unite with Topabhadra as her consort. According to Machig's namthar he cared for the
children while she practiced and taught. Some of Machig's children followed her on the spiritual
path, becoming accomplished yogins themselves. Tsultrim Allione, a recognised emanation of
Machig Labdron, herself was a nun for four years but left to marry and have children. She has
spoken of the contribution motherhood has made to her practice:
...in Buddhism the image of the mother as the embodiment of compassion is used a lot. She'll do
anything for the children. As a mother I felt that depth of love and commitment and having
somebody who I really would give my own life forit was very powerful to have that kind of
relationship. I also felt that I didn't really grow up until I had my children. There were ways that
maturity was demanded of me and having children brought forth that maturity. So I wouldn't say
my children were an inspiration in the sense of what I thought would have been a spiritual
inspiration before I had children. More so I think meeting the challenges of motherhood with
what I had learned made my practice very rich.[33]

Love, Sexual Conduct and Marriage

In general, "While Buddhism regards the celibate monastic life as the higher ideal, it also
recognizes the importance of marriage as a social institution."[34] Some guidelines for marriage
are offered. Although Buddhist practice varies considerably among its various schools, marriage
is one of the few concepts specifically mentioned in the context of la, the Buddhist formulation
of core facets of spiritual discipline. The fundamental code of Buddhist ethics, The Five Precepts
contains an admonishment against sexual misconduct, although what constitutes misconduct
from the perspective of a particular school of Buddhism varies widely depending on the local
culture.
In Early Buddhism, the Sigalovada Sutta of the Digha Nikaya in the Pali Canon describes the
respect that one is expected to give to one's spouse. However, since the ideal of Early Buddhism
is renunciation, it can be seen from examples such as the story of the monk Nanda and his wife
Janapada Kalyni that striving for the bliss of Nirvana is valued above love and marriage.
Despite having married her just that day, encouraged by his cousin Gautama Buddha, Nanda left
his wife to become a bhikkhu in the Buddhist Sangha. In stories like this from the Pali Canon,
love is generally perceived as part of attachment to samsara, the endless cycle of rebirth.[35] Susan
Murcott has pointed out that Early Buddhist attitudes to love and marriage generally reflect the
Brahmanic ideals of India at the time... including the recent rise of the renunciate ideal and the
associated decline in the status of love and marriage.[36]
In Vajrayana Buddhism, a sexual relationship with a consort is seen in a technical way as being a
spiritual practice in anuttarayoga tantra intended to allow the practitioners to attain realizations
and attain enlightenment. The union of tantric consorts is depicted in the yab-yum iconography
of meditation deities.

Words

June Campbell writes in her book Traveller in space that Chandra Das in his Tibetan English
Dictionary[37] describes twenty synonyms for woman. The words used most often are kyemen
(Tibetan: skye.dman) meaning inferior birth and pumo (Tibetan: bu.mo.) meaning female human
being. There are others like tsamdenma (Tibetan: mtshams.ldan.ma.), chingchema (Tibetan:
bching.byed.ma.), dodenma (Tibetan: bdod.ldan.ma.), gaweshi (Tibetan: dgah.wabi.gshi.) and
tobmema (Tibetan: stobs.med.ma.).[38]
Throughout the Mahyna world, Avalokitevara, who takes on both male and female form e.g.,
Guan Yin, and Tara, a female Vajrayana yidam, are bodhisattvas who embody karun , and
Prajnaparamita is a female buddha who embodies wisdom.

The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama spoke at a conference on Women in Buddhism at the University of Hamburg in
2007:

Warfare has traditionally been carried out primarily by men, since the
feminists, but they must not merely shout. They must exert efforts to

[39]

In 2009, at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee he said: "I call myself a
feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?"[40]
He also said that by nature, women are more compassionate "based on their biology and ability
to nurture and birth children." He called on women to "lead and create a more compassionate
world," citing the good works of nurses and mothers.[41]

Well-known Female Buddhists

Celebrities

Belinda Carlisle

Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Miranda Kerr

Sabina Guzzanti

Tina Turner

Tibetan Buddhist Tulkus and Emanations

Dorje Pakmo

Khandro Rinpoche[42]

Tsultrim Allione

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamowestern woman

Tibetan Buddhist Scholars

Sarah Harding (lama)

Judith Simmer-Brown

Notable Buddhist Nuns

Buddhamitr was a Buddhist nun living in India during the 1st century who is
remembered for images of the Buddha that she erected in three cities near the Ganges
river.

Cheng Yen is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. Cheng
Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as
Tzu Chi.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher and founder of the
Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. She spent twelve years living
in a remote cave in the Himalayas, three of those years in strict meditation retreat.

Pema Chdrn is an ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, and teacher. She has
conducted workshops, seminars, and meditation retreats in Europe, Australia, and
throughout North America. She is resident and teacher of Gampo Abbey, a monastery in
rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Thubten Chodron is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun and a central figure in reinstating
the Tibetan Bhikshuni (Gelongma) ordination of women. She is a student of H. H. XIVth
Dalai Lama, Tsenzhap Serkong Rinpoche, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and other Tibetan
masters.

Ani Choying Drolma is a Nepalese Buddhist nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa
nunnery in Nepal. She is known in Nepal and throughout the world for bringing many
Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences. She has been recently
appointed as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to Nepal.

See also

Jetsunma, Tibetan title meaning "venerable" or "reverend"

Women in Christianity

Women in Islam

Women in Hinduism

Women in Judaism

Women in Sikhism

International Congress on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha

Ordination of women in Buddhism

Criticism of Buddhism#Women in Buddhism

References
1.

Shaw, Miranda (1994). Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism.

New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-691-01090-0.

2.

Rinpoche, Khandro (1999). Thubten Chodron, Sylvia Boorstein, ed. Blossoms of

the Dharma: Living as a Buddhist Nun. North Atlantic Books. p. 171. ISBN 978-155643-325-2.

3.

Murcott, Susan (1991). The First Buddhist Women: Translations and

Commentary on the Therigatha. Parallax Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-938077-42-2.

4.

"The First Council and Suppression of the Bhikkhuni Order"

5.

Diana Y. Paul, Frances Wilson (1985). "Traditional Views of Women". Women in

Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahyna Tradition. University of California
Press. ISBN 0-520-05428-8.

6.

Gross, Rita M. (1992). Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis

and Reconstruction of Buddhism. State University of New York Press. p. 43. ISBN 07914-1403-5.

7.

Jos Ignacio Cabezn (1992). Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender. p. 3. ISBN 07914-0758-6.

8.

"Aggana Sutta: On Knowledge of Beginnings of Human Kind" (PDF). Retrieved

2008-07-07.

9.
10.
11.

Sister Soma, Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Bikkhu, Thanissaro (1993). "The Not-self Strategy". Access to Insight. Retrieved
2009-02-26.
Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, [1].

12.

Women in Zen Buddhism: Chinese Bhiksunis in the Ch'an Tradition by HengChing Shih

13.

Bernard Faure (2003). "Introduction". The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity,

and Gender. Princeton University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-691-09171-4.

14.

Majjhima Nikaya III III. 2. 5. Bahudhaatukasutta.m-(115) The Discourse on Many

Elements

15.

"The Enlightenment of Women". Retrieved 25 April 2015.

16.

Writing of Nichiren Daishonin, vol1.p 463 http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?

page=463&m

17.

Murcott, Susan (1991). The First Buddhist Women: Translations and

Commentary on the Therigatha. Parallax Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-938077-42-2.

18.

The Committee of Western Bhikshunis 2006

19.

Shaw, Miranda (1994). Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism.

New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-691-01090-0.

20.

Appleton, Naomi. "In the footsteps of the Buddha? women and the Bodhisatta
path Theravda Buddhism." Journal Of Feminist Studies In Religion 27, no. 1 (March 1,
2011): 33-51. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2979/jfemistudreli.27.1.33?
uid=3739256&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21105408440471

21.

The Five Consorts

22.

Yeshe Tsogyal, Princess Of Karchen

23.

Lotus sutra including chapter thirteen Translated by The Buddhist Text

Translation Society in USA)

24.

Mackenzie, Vicki (1998). Cave in the Snow. Great Britain: Bloomsbury. p. 5.

ISBN 0-7475-4389-5.

25.

Lochen (c. 1865 1951) Ani Lochen (c. 1865 1951)

26.

Berzin Archives, Summary Report

27.

WAiB Pages Resources on Women's Ordination

28.

Shuksep Nunnery

29.

Lochen Chnyi Zangmo

30.

Harvey, Peter (2000). An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics. Cambridge University

Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-521-55640-8.

31.

Murcott, Susan (1991). The First Buddhist Women: Translations and

Commentary on the Therigatha. Parallax Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-938077-42-2.

32.

Temple of Mahadevi at Lumbini

33.

"On Mothering: An Interview with Tsultrim Allione". Retrieved 2008-11-28.[dead

link]

34.

Damien Keown, Stephen Hodge, Paola Tinti (2003). A Dictionary of Buddhism.

Oxford University Press US. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-19-860560-7.

35.

Great Male DisciplesPart B / 15. Nanda by Radhika Abeysekera

36.

Murcott, Susan (1991). The First Buddhist Women: Translations and

Commentary on the Therigatha. Parallax Press. p. 95. ISBN 0-938077-42-2.

37.

Chandra Das, Tibetan-English Dictionary (Rinsen Book Company, 1979). p. 872

(see Campbell p. 285

38.

June Campbell in Gttinnen, Dakinis und ganz normale Frauen, Theseus 1997, p.
69

39.

"A Summary Report of the 2007 International Congress on the Women's Role in
the Sangha: Bhikshuni Vinaya and Ordination Lineages Part Four: Day Three and Final
Comments by His Holiness". Berzinarchives.com. Retrieved 2011-11-05.

40.

Conniff, Tamara (23 September 2009). "The Dalai Lama Proclaims Himself a
Feminist: Day Two of Peace and Music in Memphis". www.huffingtonpost.com.
Retrieved 20 September 2011.

41.

"Tamara Conniff: The Dalai Lama Proclaims Himself a Feminist: Day Two of
Peace and Music in Memphis". Huffingtonpost.com. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 17
July 2013.

42.

History/Female Masters Within the Mindrolling Tradition

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Mahyna Tradition. Oakland, California: University of California Press.
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Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. (1994). Women under the B tree : Buddhist nuns in Sri Lanka
(1. publ., reprinted ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521461290.
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Karma Lekshe Tsomo (2014). Eminent Buddhist Women. Albany, New York: State
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Ellison Banks Findly (2000). Women's Buddhism, Buddhism's Women: Tradition,

Revision, Renewal. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 9780861711659.

Karma Lekshe Tsomo (1999). Buddhist Women Across Cultures. Albany, New York: State
University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791441381.

Paula Kane Robinson Arai (1999). Women Living Zen : Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195344158. Retrieved 6 July 2015.

Campbell, June (2003). Gender, Identity, and Tibetan Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass. ISBN 9788120817821. Retrieved 6 July 2015.

External links
Scripture

Therigatha Verses of the Elder Nuns

Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (Bhikkhuni-samyutta)

Articles

Women and Buddhism at the Shambhala Sun Magazine[dead link]

International Congress on the Ordination of Buddhist Women: Online Publications

Zen, Women, and Buddhism

Women Buddhas: A Short List of Female Saints, Teachers and Practitioners in Tibetan
Buddhism

108 Female Siddhas, Dakinis, Yoginis and Tantric Adepts

Female Buddhas and Bodhisattvas according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition WAiB

Women Active in Buddhism: Resources on Women's Ordination

Sakyadhita: the International Association of Buddhist Women

Buddhanet: Women in Buddhism

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Buddhist Monastic Code II: Bhikkhuns chapter

Role of Women in Buddhism

Buddhanet:Women in Buddhism
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