“Laughter, Creativity, and Perseverance: Female Agency in Buddhism and Hinduism” is a groundbreaking work that unpacks how women in Buddhist and Hindu cultures claim spiritual authority
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Breasts Without Women: Reading Gary Snyder in 2022
What is the gendered legacy of famed American eco-writer Gary Snyder?
Holy of Hollies
It is written that the almondsprung from thegenitals of theNear Eastern Goddess Cybele. And I thought that Iwas just eating nuts. They say that woman’sessence is in apricots and scallops, and floatslike the lotus and lily. But like some *sshole, I thought you were a ringto wear, some black stoneto venerate. I consecratethe stone and tried to wear it,like an amulet, makingyou […]
Maithuna in Buddhist Art
Photo: Maithuna, Eastern Ganga dynasty, 13th century Orissa, India The notion of the eternal union of man and woman spawned an incredibly diverse abundance of sexual images in Hindu and Buddhist art. In the Hindu tantras the idea of the couple and the act of copulation is called maithuna—a Sanskrit term, which has several meanings […]
Embodied Women
What does it mean to be a woman in the Buddhist tradition? To me, even a question as important as bhikkhuni ordination in the Theravada and Vajrayana schools is not as basic as the question of “the woman” in Buddhism. Nor am I convinced that gender is inconsequential to conventional Buddhist life just because gender […]