Who does not know the image, of the Buddha’s mother, ‘Queen Maya’? –Bhikkhu Sujato |
This major work combines scrupulous research with creative imagination to investigate the diverse and sometimes problematic roles that women have played in Buddhist stories.
The Buddha’s words exemplify peace, teach us peace, and lead to the ultimate peace of Nibbana. It is a sad thing that in the complexities and contradictions of Buddhist history, peace has sometimes been sacrificed on the altar of Buddhist nationalism. By asking the hard questions and accepting the answers fearlessly we can arrive at the essential, the true state of peace, for the sake of which all Buddhist ethics, meditation, and wisdom are taught.
While the Satipaṭṭhana Sutta is often claimed to be the most important of the Buddha’s teachings, close textual analysis reveals that it is a composite text, with substantial differences between the many existing versions. The use of the fundamental term dhamma in fact reveals the text to be part of the early Abhidhamma movement.
The depiction of women in Buddhist texts is deeply ambiguous. We are told that women can become fully awakened; and then in the next breath, that they will destroy Buddhism. This ambiguity is deeply revealing. Even though we traditionally see our texts as the products of pure awakened beings, the reality is far more complex, and hence, far more interesting.
Through careful attention to the earliest Buddhist teachings, preserved in scriptures in Pali, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit, we can not only come closer to the Buddha’s original message, but can discern the teachings shared among all Buddhist traditions.
Fifteen hundred years ago, Buddhist nuns from Sri Lanka braved the long sea voyage to China in order to introduce the authentic bhikkhuni ordination lineage. Here are their stories, translated from the ancient Chinese histories.
