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Buddhism, Sexuality and Gender edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon was published in 1992 by SUNY. It is a collection of essays mostly looking at the position of women in Buddhism, in different countries and in different times and then lastly two chapters looking at homosexuality in Buddhist tradition.
I originally bought this book has it had two chapters that were very relevant to what I hope to be studying for my Masters. It's my hope to look at how religion, particularly Daoism and Buddhism, affected and shaped the lives of women, and how they used it to shape their own lives during the Tang dynasty. The two essays in this book that were the most relevant looked at the transformation of Kuan Yin from a male deity to a female deity and the effect this transformation had for her women worshipers, whether this was an empowering and liberating experience. The second looked at differing Chan Buddhist ideas on the position of women, whether they could achieve Buddhahood, which it was believed they could, but this was contrasted against the ideal of a strong man ideal of the sect which the woman could not seek to emulate.
Both of these ideas started in the Tang and became much more popular during the Song. Women saw in Kuan Yin a deity they could identify with that would protect them and grant their wishes. (usually dealing with childbirth and problems of menstruation) Many women also flocked to Chan Buddhism. Several of Chan's patriarchs had women followers and written records show the large number of women disciples. What I thought was interesting was this growth in religion and seeming equality was also happening at the same time neo-confucanism was becoming popular, foot-binding was starting and women have traditionally been viewed as becoming more repressed. Neither of the authors made any link between these two coincidences. I think it would be interesting to look into the parallels between society and these new attitudes. It would seem that women were using religion, or participating in it more often, because of the greater freedoms and equality that it allowed them in an otherwise increasingly restrictive society. It has long been believed that the position of Buddhism in China was in decline after the end of the Song dynasty, similarly the position of women also went into decline. In the Tang Empress Wu became the only woman to ever rule China as an Emperor, she did so with the assistance of Buddhism and reliance on sutras. While this evidence is all very subjective it's definitely an area that I find intriguing and really hope that I get the opportunity to do further research in. But back to the book.
The chapter on Kuan Yin started with the historical transformation. It then looked at several pictures of her that had been painted by women devotees during the Ming dynasty. Though well described I wish it had included pictures. The chapter finished by looking at the different stories of Kuan Yin as she had been incorporated into Chinese culture, the tales of Miao Shan and the fisherman's wife. The versions of these tales that the author used came from a modern Taiwan book for worshipers of Kuan Yin. In addition to the tales it also had sections of advice on more mundane issues such as the power of positive thinking, charity, daily family issues and for practicing chants. While I'm used to studying much older history I found it very interesting to see how worship was being conducted today.
I ended up reading all the chapters in the book which as this is already quite long I'll try and summarize here. The first chapter by Alan Sponberg was a very insightful look at the history of attitudes towards Buddhism in it's early history. How after an initial theoretical bout of equality the cultural traditions of India proved too much for maintaining this ideal. Tessa Bartholomeusz wrote a chapter on the history of nunneries in Sri Lanka. How the practice of nunneries had started, how it was something that was really wanted by the women living there currently but how it had been banned for many centuries.
The two chapters on contemporary Buddhism in modern India and Japan were not as compelling to me. The chapter on Indian women seemed largely anecdotal, though interesting. Many women saw Buddhism as a rejection of God and religion. The chapter on Japan looked at rites performed for aborted or miscarried fetuses. The most shocking part of this chapter was how backward in the contraception and reproductive rights the women of Japan seemed to be. Japan always seeming so modern in my eyes. (Of course I've studied nothing about Japanese history or culture)
Paula Richman wrote an good essay on a 6th century Tamil story about a courtesans daughter who rejected the world and followed Buddhism. It was a very good analysis of the different imagery used, women's beauty being described in the way of a traditional love poem when the woman in question was a corpse that was being eaten by animals and monsters. It made me want to track down the myth and read it for myself.
The two chapters on homosexuality were both much shorter and mostly dealt with male homosexuality. The first looked at the traditional Indian beliefs on the subject, words used and the implications that could be drawn from them. The conclusion being Monks and Nuns while having to give up heterosexuality can be led to it by their needs, but should refrain. The chapter on male homosexuality among monks in Japan was very much in favor of the practice. Starting with the grand tradition of it being brought over by a monk who had visited China (or was from China) in the 7th century. There were passages talking about how many men who were not attracted to the heterosexual lifestyle would become monks. There were translations from excerpts from a book for monks for seducing their acolytes. My favorite being;
The book then goes on to give the very practical advice, if he likes birds talk about birds, if he likes to study talk about his studies...There were also complaints about monks forcing the prize of male prostitutes too high so that the ordinary man could not afford them. For some reason this chapter seemed a little more light hearted than the rest. Perhaps with the great amount of humor evident in the passages quoted.
Well as long as this review has been, and for me that's kinda saying something. I think it should be fairly obvious that I enjoyed the book a great deal. I guess sometimes even half price books can have nice scholarly finds.
I originally bought this book has it had two chapters that were very relevant to what I hope to be studying for my Masters. It's my hope to look at how religion, particularly Daoism and Buddhism, affected and shaped the lives of women, and how they used it to shape their own lives during the Tang dynasty. The two essays in this book that were the most relevant looked at the transformation of Kuan Yin from a male deity to a female deity and the effect this transformation had for her women worshipers, whether this was an empowering and liberating experience. The second looked at differing Chan Buddhist ideas on the position of women, whether they could achieve Buddhahood, which it was believed they could, but this was contrasted against the ideal of a strong man ideal of the sect which the woman could not seek to emulate.
Both of these ideas started in the Tang and became much more popular during the Song. Women saw in Kuan Yin a deity they could identify with that would protect them and grant their wishes. (usually dealing with childbirth and problems of menstruation) Many women also flocked to Chan Buddhism. Several of Chan's patriarchs had women followers and written records show the large number of women disciples. What I thought was interesting was this growth in religion and seeming equality was also happening at the same time neo-confucanism was becoming popular, foot-binding was starting and women have traditionally been viewed as becoming more repressed. Neither of the authors made any link between these two coincidences. I think it would be interesting to look into the parallels between society and these new attitudes. It would seem that women were using religion, or participating in it more often, because of the greater freedoms and equality that it allowed them in an otherwise increasingly restrictive society. It has long been believed that the position of Buddhism in China was in decline after the end of the Song dynasty, similarly the position of women also went into decline. In the Tang Empress Wu became the only woman to ever rule China as an Emperor, she did so with the assistance of Buddhism and reliance on sutras. While this evidence is all very subjective it's definitely an area that I find intriguing and really hope that I get the opportunity to do further research in. But back to the book.
The chapter on Kuan Yin started with the historical transformation. It then looked at several pictures of her that had been painted by women devotees during the Ming dynasty. Though well described I wish it had included pictures. The chapter finished by looking at the different stories of Kuan Yin as she had been incorporated into Chinese culture, the tales of Miao Shan and the fisherman's wife. The versions of these tales that the author used came from a modern Taiwan book for worshipers of Kuan Yin. In addition to the tales it also had sections of advice on more mundane issues such as the power of positive thinking, charity, daily family issues and for practicing chants. While I'm used to studying much older history I found it very interesting to see how worship was being conducted today.
I ended up reading all the chapters in the book which as this is already quite long I'll try and summarize here. The first chapter by Alan Sponberg was a very insightful look at the history of attitudes towards Buddhism in it's early history. How after an initial theoretical bout of equality the cultural traditions of India proved too much for maintaining this ideal. Tessa Bartholomeusz wrote a chapter on the history of nunneries in Sri Lanka. How the practice of nunneries had started, how it was something that was really wanted by the women living there currently but how it had been banned for many centuries.
The two chapters on contemporary Buddhism in modern India and Japan were not as compelling to me. The chapter on Indian women seemed largely anecdotal, though interesting. Many women saw Buddhism as a rejection of God and religion. The chapter on Japan looked at rites performed for aborted or miscarried fetuses. The most shocking part of this chapter was how backward in the contraception and reproductive rights the women of Japan seemed to be. Japan always seeming so modern in my eyes. (Of course I've studied nothing about Japanese history or culture)
Paula Richman wrote an good essay on a 6th century Tamil story about a courtesans daughter who rejected the world and followed Buddhism. It was a very good analysis of the different imagery used, women's beauty being described in the way of a traditional love poem when the woman in question was a corpse that was being eaten by animals and monsters. It made me want to track down the myth and read it for myself.
The two chapters on homosexuality were both much shorter and mostly dealt with male homosexuality. The first looked at the traditional Indian beliefs on the subject, words used and the implications that could be drawn from them. The conclusion being Monks and Nuns while having to give up heterosexuality can be led to it by their needs, but should refrain. The chapter on male homosexuality among monks in Japan was very much in favor of the practice. Starting with the grand tradition of it being brought over by a monk who had visited China (or was from China) in the 7th century. There were passages talking about how many men who were not attracted to the heterosexual lifestyle would become monks. There were translations from excerpts from a book for monks for seducing their acolytes. My favorite being;
If an acolyte practices martial arts, be sure to praise his swordsmanship. Then tell him some warrior tales. Things will proceed naturally from there...
The book then goes on to give the very practical advice, if he likes birds talk about birds, if he likes to study talk about his studies...There were also complaints about monks forcing the prize of male prostitutes too high so that the ordinary man could not afford them. For some reason this chapter seemed a little more light hearted than the rest. Perhaps with the great amount of humor evident in the passages quoted.
Well as long as this review has been, and for me that's kinda saying something. I think it should be fairly obvious that I enjoyed the book a great deal. I guess sometimes even half price books can have nice scholarly finds.