Women of Wisdom
I often think of Sanghamitta, envisioning her on the deck of a ship, the sea heaving. She’s cradling a sapling from the Bodhi Tree, and she is not looking back.
Sanghamitta (282–203 BCE) was the daughter of Ashoka the Great, the Indian king whose massive empire stretched from present-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh. It’s often said that his patronage was so critical to the early spread of Buddhism that, without him, Buddhism would likely have died out. It’s worth remembering he didn’t do this work alone.
His daughter Sanghamitta was a Buddhist nun. Buddhist tradition dictates that a woman can only be ordained if there are both nuns and monks in attendance at the ceremony. So, when Sanghamitta learned that there were women in Sri Lanka who longed to live the monastic life, her heart went out to them — they were being denied ordination because there were no nuns in Sri Lanka to help ordain them. She wanted to go to Sri Lanka to help these women, but her royal father said no. The voyage was too dangerous, and in any case, he knew that if she went, he’d never see her again.
As I imagine it, Sanghamitta didn’t respond to Ashoka right away. She took a deep, mindful breath, put her hand on his arm and reminded him of the importance of generosity. There’s no gift greater than the dharma, she said, and with that, Ashoka realized he should not hold her back.
Accompanied by ten other nuns, Sanghamitta set sail for Sri Lanka. When they finally made land, the sacred sapling she’d cradled on the ship was ceremoniously planted. She spent the rest of her life far from her homeland, sharing the dharma and building a strong community of women. The first Sri Lankan woman she helped ordain was a queen named Anula; hundreds more followed.
The Buddha taught that to be complete, a Buddhist sangha must be fourfold. It should have monastics, both male and female, and laypeople, both male and female. I appreciate Sanghamitta’s determination to uphold the fourfold sangha — to ensure that women were not excluded from the path.
Though the Buddha taught that women are as capable of realization as men, Buddhism is practiced by humans with all their human frailties and prejudices. So Buddhism — like every manmade institution I can think of — has been marred by sexism. In too many cases women practitioners and teachers have been forgotten, relegated to the kitchen, and denied education, ordination, and other opportunities. But despite these obstacles, there have always been women like Sanghamitta — women who have persevered with their practice, with their teaching.
Whether you identify as a woman or not, if you’ve been nourished by the dharma, you’ve been nourished by generation after generation of women. The September 2023 issue of Lion’s Roar magazine features Buddhist women of wisdom, exploring the challenges they face, the joy they experience, and the resilience required on the path to liberation. Below, you’ll find three pieces from the issue that exemplify just that. As you read them, I invite you to contemplate the women, living and dead, who inspire you on your path. I don’t doubt that many are “hidden figures.” But make no mistake — women hold up half the dharma sky.
—Andrea Miller, Editor, Lion’s Roar magazine
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What are the challenges for today’s Buddhist women, and how can they be overcome? Mihiri Tillakaratne discusses these pressing questions with Lama Karma Chotso, Arisika Razak, Sharon Suh, and Brooke Schedneck.
Mihiri Tillakaratne: What does a “Buddhist feminism” or a “Buddhist feminist practice” mean to you? Arisika Razak: I like talking about feminisms, plural, because the project that supports, enables, and creates the emergence of women-identified and femme-identified people in their full powers and potentials is a project that has been going on forever. I tell my students that no matter what the rules were, there were always women who broke them. People say, “Oh, no, women in the old times couldn’t go to male monasteries.” Well, there were women who, in search of knowledge, broke the rules and went to male monasteries to study, and there were always men who supported them. Back then, they wouldn’t have called themselves feminist men, but we would call them that today. If the Buddha said that men and women equally can walk through the door of enlightenment, what would it mean to have a society in which that is upheld for all women — not just for the female deity Prajnaparamita, not just for Tara, not just for these statues that men pray to, but for ordinary women? What would it mean to put that into practice? It would mean actually following the Buddha’s instructions to not uncritically embrace customs, scriptural teachings, or bias, and to teach in the vernacular of the local people.  |
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No matter your gender identification, you can do Green Tara practice and help bring yourself — and the world — into balance. Lama Döndrup Drölma offers step-by-step instructions.
Green Tara is a stainless mirror reflecting the truth of our innate, awakened nature, which is temporarily obscured to us. Through Green Tara practice, we gradually lift the veils that keep us from recognizing that our body, speech, and mind are inseparable from her awakened body, speech, and mind. This practice involves engaging with her by visualizing her and symbols associated with her, and by reciting her mantra. In Green Tara practice we initially visualize her in front of us. Then, as the practice progresses, she dissolves into us, and we arise as Green Tara. We come to recognize that we, too, are manifestations of awakened awareness. While Tara is an embodiment of the sacred feminine, her practice is of importance to all of us, regardless of gender. In a time when gender issues are a part of mainstream discourse, the Buddhist perspective of the feminine and masculine principles can broaden the conversation. |
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These four women Buddhist teachers are shaping Buddhism in America. Meet Doshin Mako Voelkel, Bonnie Duran, Lama Tsomo, and Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin.
Bonnie Duran says her Indigenous spirituality complements her Buddhist beliefs. “They have a lot of foundational principles that are the same. There’s a Lakota Dakota term that means ‘All my relations.’ It’s a profound principle about interconnectivity. It’s ‘Hey, guess what? We’re all related.’ It’s also a Buddhist concept, and it’s the truth.” As a public health researcher, Duran focuses on improving the health and well-being of Indigenous communities through community-based participatory research. By welcoming Indigenous Peoples to lead and codirect the research process, Duran collects data on their culture-based strengths and resilience practices and, as she puts it, “decolonizes research.” She often travels to reservations around the United States, bringing meditation and mindfulness practices to Indigenous communities. |
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