Table Of ContentINNOVATIVE
BUDDHIST WOMEN
Swimming Against the Stream
General Editors:
Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown
The Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism Series is a comprehensive study of the
Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a
variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies.
The Series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual translations
and commentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and considera
tions of religious practice as an expression of Buddhism's integral religiosity. It also
presents materials on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role of
Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light
of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning
more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research
works that inform and advance our knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist
tradition. The series maintains the highest standards of scholarship and promotes the
application of innovative methodologies and research methods.
TIlE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF AWARENESS
A Tibetan Madhyamaka Defence
Paul Williams
BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish, Wayne Husted
ALTRUISM AND REALITY
Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryavatara
Paul Williams
WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE BUDDHA
Kathryn R. Blackstone
THE RESONANCE OF EMPTINESS
A Buddhist Inspiration for Contemporary Psychotherapy
Gay Watson
IMAGING WISDOM
Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism
Jacob N. Kinnard
AMERICAN BUDDHISM
Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship
Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and Christopher Queen
PAIN AND ITS ENDING
The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon
Carol S. Anderson
THE SOUND OF LIBERATING TRUTII
Buddhist-Christian Dialogues in Honor of Frederick J. Streng
Edited by Sallie B. King and PaulO. Ingram
BUDDHIST THEOLOGY
Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars
Edited by Roger R. Jackson and John J. Makransky
EMPTINESS APPRAISED
A Critical Study of Nagarjuna's Philosophy
David F. Burton
THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF PURNA
A Translation and Study of the PurtJijvadiina
Joel Tatelman
CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST ETHICS
Edited by Damien Keown
First Published in 2000
by Curzon Press
Richmond, Surrey
http://www.curzonpress.co.uk
Editorial Matter .~ 2000 Karma Lekshe Tsomo
Typeset in Sabon by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, Surrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-7007-1219-4 (Hbk)
ISBN 0-7007-1253-4 (Pbk)
Contents
Contributors Vlll
Glossary Xlll
Introduction XVll
PART I THE WORLD OF BUDDHIST WOMEN
BUDDHIST WOMEN OF SOUTH ASIA
Chapter 1 Inaccuracies in Buddhist Women's History 5
Bhikkhunf Kusuma
Chapter 2 At the Cutting Edge: Theravada Nuns in the Kathmandu
Valley 13
Sarah LeVine
Chapter 3 Unity and Diversity Among Buddhist Nuns in Sri Lanka 30
Nirmala S. Salgado
Chapter 4 Factions and Fortitude: Buddhist Women in Bangladesh 42
Karma Lekshe Tsomo
BUDDHIST WOMEN OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
Chapter 5 Thammacarini Witthaya: The First Buddhist School for
Girls in Thailand 61
Monica Lindberg Falk
Chapter 6 The Status and Values of the Santi Asoke Sikkhamat 72
Marja-Leena Heikkila-Horn
Chapter 7 Rediscovering Cambodian Buddhist Women of the Past 84
Hema Goonatilake
Chapter 8 The Revival of the Don Chee Movement in Cambodia 91
Heike Loschmann
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Contents
Chapter 9 Khmer Women: Buddhist Survivors 96
Nancy J. Barnes
Chapter 10 Dam Luu: An Eminent Vietnamese Buddhist Nun 104
Thich Minh Duc
BUDDHIST WOMEN OF EAST ASIA
Chapter 11 A Case of Ritual Zen: In Gratitude to Ananda 123
Paula K. R. Arai
Chapter 12 Tiexiangsi: A Gelugpa Nunnery in Contemporary China 130
Ester Bianchi
Chapter 13 Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Shim Ch'ong: Mistress
of the Spiritual Domain 142
Chan E. Park
Chapter 14 Lineage or Family Tree? The Implications for Gender 154
Miriam Levering
Chapter 15 Ordination, Legitimacy, and Sisterhood: The International
Full Ordination Ceremony in Bodhgaya 168
Yuchen Li
BUDDHIST WOMEN IN THE HIMALAYAS
Chapter 16 Of Birds and Wings: Tibetan Nuns and their Encounters
with Knowledge 201
Yolanda van Ede
Chapter 17 Yeshe's Tibetan Pilgrimage and the Founding of a
Himalayan Nunnery 212
Kim Gutschow
Chapter 18 Born Buddhist is Not Enough 229
Tashi Zangmo
BUDDHIST WOMEN IN HAWAI'I
Chapter 19 Mary Foster: The First Hawaiian Buddhist 235
Patricia Lee Masters and Karma Lekshe Tsomo
Chapter 20 Bishop Jikyu Rose: A Tendai Ajari in Hawai'i 249
Joseph M. Gardewin
PART II WOMEN IN COMPASSIONATE SOCIAL ACTION
Chapter 21 Buddhism and the Media 265
Elizabeth J. Harris
Chapter 22 Diversity as Practice: Thinking about Race and "American"
Buddhism 277
Lori Pierce
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Contents
Chapter 23 Sexual Conduct and Misconduct: Buddhist Ethics
in the West 285
Gabriele Kiistermann
Chapter 24 Daylighting the Feminine in American Buddhism 294
Mushim Ikeda-Nash
Chapter 25 Buddhism, Human Rights, Women's Rights, and
Democracy 302
Kassie Neou
Chapter 26 Engaged Buddhism: "Moving" and Recreating Women's
Stories 312
Trina Nahm-Mijo
Chapter 27 Inner Transformation for World Peace 319
Tenzin Palma
Epilogue Transforming Women's Position in Buddhism:
Strategies 326
Bibliography 329
Index 336
Vll
Contributors
Paula K. R. Arai is currently Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and
East Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. She received her Ph.D. from
Harvard University and is the author of Women Living Zen: Japanese
Buddhist Nuns.
Nancy J. Barnes studied Buddhism, Asian languages and history in the
United States, Germany, and Canada, and received her Ph.D. from the
University of Toronto. She has taught at Wesleyan University, Trinity
College, and the University of Hartford, and has published several articles
on Mahayana Buddhism in China and India, and on women in Buddhism.
Her current research interests are in two areas: women and Buddhist
communities in ancient India, and religion and social change in modern
Southeast Asia.
Ester Bianchi is a doctoral candidate in Indian and Oriental Asian
Civilization at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Her research focuses on
Sino-Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese nuns, particularly the transmission of
Tibetan religious traditions in China. She is the author of The Iron Statue
Monastery, Tiexiangsi: A Buddhist Nunnery of the Tibetan Tradition in
Contemporary China (in Italian, to be published in English).
Thich Minh Duc is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who has taught at Plum
Village and many Vietnamese temples in the United States. He is in the
doctoral program in Human Science at Saybrook Graduate School and
Research Center in San Francisco. He teaches Ethnic Studies at San Jose
Community College and is a social worker at Youth and Family Services,
San Mateo, California.
Monica Lindberg Falk is completing her doctorate in Social Anthropology
at Goteborg University, Sweden. Her research focuses on the interconnect
edness of gender, religion, and social change in Thailand. She conducted
Vlll
Contributors
research among Thai Buddhist nuns during 1997-98 and is currently
writing a series of articles on her findings.
Joseph M. Gardewin spent 27 years in the United States Air Force, retiring
with the rank of Colonel in 1994. His interest in Buddhism developed
during six tours of duty in Asia. He holds a master's degree in Political
Science from the University of the Philippines with an emphasis on East
Asia. Currently he teaches Asian Studies at Sacred Hearts Academy in
Honolulu.
Hema Goonatilake received her Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London, in 1974. She was a senior faculty
member at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, until 1989. Since then, she
has served as a consultant to UNDP and UNIFEM, New York, and as the
gender in development expert at UNDP, Cambodia. She was a founding
member of Voice of Women, the first feminist group in Sri Lanka, and co
founder of the Center for Women's Research, Sri Lanka. Currently she is an
advisor to the Buddhist Institute, Cambodia.
Kim Gutschow received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard
University. She has published numerous articles on Buddhist nuns, celibacy
and sexuality, irrigation and settlement, and Tibetan medicine. She was the
anthropologist for a film on Zangskari children, called "Behind the Ice
Wall." She is currently revising her dissertation, "An Economy of Merit:
Women and Buddhist Monasticism in Zangskar, Northwest India," for
publication.
Elizabeth Harris is Inter-Faith Officer for the Methodist Church in
Britain. She has been a Research Fellow at Westminster College, Oxford,
and from 1986-1993 lived in Sri Lanka where she earned her doctorate
through the Postgraduate Insitute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University
of Kelaniya. She wrote and presented the BBC radio series, "The Way of
the Buddha."
Mushim Ikeda-Nash was originally trained in the Korean Zen lineage in
Michigan and Toronto in the early 1980s. She has traveled widely to
Buddhist centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Korea. She
writes a quarterly column on family practice for Turning Wheel, the journal
of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She lives in Oakland, California, with her
husband and ten-year-old son.
Marja-Leena Heikkila-Horn has studied the Asoke group since 1991 and
received her Ph.D. in 1996 based on this research. She has taught Southeast
Asian history at several Finnish universities and has published an
introductory text on Southeast Asian history in Finnish. She teaches Thai
history at Stamford International College in Hua Hin, Thailand.
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