It’s always a delight to catch up with Anam Thubten Rinpoche whenever he returns to Hong Kong (he’s based mainly in the US). I enjoy listening to his thoughtful, spontaneous, and frank responses about the big questions of our day. He is also a most engaging writer, and you can verify this for yourself at […]
women
The 15th Sakyadhita Conference in Hong Kong: Women’s Empowerment through Diversity and Plurality
Although gender equality has enjoyed progress in many sectors of our society, we can still see that discrimination against women in varying degrees is a feature of most societies. Gender casts a shadow in ongoing discussions about the re-establishment of Bhikkhuni Order, one of the crucial fourfold assemblies in the Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions. […]
Exploration and Freedom: Womanhood, Relationships, and Love
Making women’s issues more visible is not just about putting more females in positions of religious authority, like fully ordained bhikkhunis. It is about discussing and acting out ways of relating and loving that women feel liberated by and unleash everyone’s potential to provide fulfillment, satisfaction, and even enlightenment for others. When it comes to the […]
Sakyadhita in Hong Kong: Confluences and Reunions
From 22-28 June, The University of Hong Kong hosted the largest ever event to do with Buddhist women in the city. This could only have been done through Sakyadhita, whose tireless volunteers worked in tandem with our friends at the Centre of Buddhist Studies to bring an impressively diverse and intellectually enriching symposium about Buddhist […]
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 […]
I was Siddhartha’s Mother
They carried me into the forest. The sal trees, shaken by our clamour Showered small soft flowers on us. The trees’ slender trunks rose column-like Into the leaves, and everywhere, that scent. He was born on a floor of petals. Later, he will talk about impermanence: Bodies are flowers, fading. Faded, the newborn.
Tears of Tara
Lyudmila Klasanova In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Tara is a complex figure that integrates mythical and historical threads and combines different functions. She is presented as a female aspect of Buddha and a symbol of unlimited compassion. The goddess protects humanity and saves people from dangers, protects them from fears, and helps fulfil their wishes. […]
Homage to the Primordial Wisdom Dakini
Lyudmila Klasanova A dakini is one of the most remarkable manifestations of the Buddha nature in female form. In Buddhist tradition, dakinis are worshiped as human emanations of wisdom that keep the key to the esoteric knowledge of Vajrayana and reveal the path to complete freedom. The term was originally associated with secondary figures in […]