Suggested Readings

Compiled by William Bodiford

Part 1: Fundamentals

Horner, I. B. **Women Under Primitive Buddhism**. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1930. Reprinted 1975.

Murcott, Susan. **The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentary on the Therigatha**. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991. [Cf. Oldenberg].

Oldenberg, Hermann and Richard Pischel (trans.). **The Therigatha**. London: Pali Text Society, 1966.[Cf. Murcott].

Paul, Diana. **Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahayana Buddhism**. Berkeley: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1985.

Rhys Davids, C.A.F. and K.R. Norman (trans.). **Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns: Therigatha**. London: Pali Text Society, 1989.

Part 2: Elaborations: General Buddhist and/or Feminist Issues

Barnes, Nancy. “Women in Buddhism.” In **Women in World Religions** ed. Arvina Sharma. New York: SUNY Press, 1987.

Brock, et al. “The Questions that Won’t Go Away: A Dialogue About Women in Buddhism and Christianity,”
**Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion** 6/2 (1990).

Cabezon, Jose, ed. **Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender** (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992).

Falk, Nancy A. and Rita M. Gross, ed. **Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives in Non-Western Cultures**. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980. (contains several essays on Buddhism)

Gross, **Buddhism after Patriarchy** (SUNY 1992).

Hopkinson, Deborah, et al. **Not Mixing Up Buddhism: Essays on Women and Buddhist Practice**. New York: White Pine Press, 1986.

Kajiyama Yuichi. “Women in Buddhism.” **The Eastern Buddhist** 15/2 (1982): 53-70.

King, Ursula, ed. **Women in the World’s Religions, Past and Present**. New York: Paragon House, 1987. (contains several essays on Buddhism).

Ku, Cheng-mei. “[The Mahisasaka View of Women.”] In **Buddhist Thought and Ritual** ed. David J. Kalupahana. Pp. 103- 124. New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Minamoto, Junko. “[Buddhism and the Historical Construction of Sexuality in Japan.”] **U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal: English Supplement** 6 (1993).

“[Buddhist Attitudes: A Woman’s Perspective,”] in **Women, Religion, and Sexuality: Studies on the Impact of Religious Teachings on Women**, edited by Jeanne Beacher. Pp. 154- 71. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1990.

Obeyesekere, Garanath. **Medusa’s Hair**. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1981.

Powers, John and Deane Curtin. “Mothering in Buddhist and Feminist Ethics,” **Philosophy East and West**, 44/1 (1994): 1-18.

Sharma, Arvind, ed., **Religion and Women**. Introduction by Katherine Young. New York: SUNY Press, 1993. ed., **Today’s Women in World Religions**. Introduction by Katherine Young. New York: SUNY Press, 1993. ed., **Women in World Religions**. Introduction by Katherine Young. New York: SUNY Press, 1987.

Shaw, Miranda. **Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism**. Princeton, 1994.

Sponberg, Alan. “Attitudes Toward women and the feminine in Early Buddhism,” in **Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender**, edited by Jose Cabezon.

**Women and Buddhism**. Special issue of **Spring Wind: Buddhist Cultural Form** 6/1-3 (1986). (Journal published by Zen Buddhist Temple, 86 Vaughan Rd., Toronto, Ontario M6C 2M1 CANADA)

India & South-East Asian Society

Barholomeusz, Tessa. “[Sri Lankan Women and the Buddhist Revival.”] **IRIS** (Fall 1991): 43- 48. **Women under the Bo Tree** (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994).

Deshpande, Gauri. **Pan on Fire: eight Dalit women tell their story**, trans. Sumitra Bhave (New Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1988).

Gombrich, Richard. “[Feminine Elements in Sinhalese Buddhism,”] **Wiener Zeitschrift fuur die Kunde Suudasiens** 16 (1972): 67- 93.

Gombrich, Richard and Gananath Obeyesekere. “[The Contemporary Resurgence of Nuns,”] in **Buddhism Transformed** (Princeton, 1988).

Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn. **Thai Women in Buddhism**. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 199?

Keyes, Charles F. “[Ambiguous Gender: Male initiation in a northern Thai Buddhist society,”] in **Gender and Religion: On the Complexity of Symbols**, edited by Caroline Walker Bynum, Stevan Harrell and Paula Richman (NY: Beacon Press, 1986).

“[Mother or Mistress but Never a Monk: Buddhist Notions of Female Gender in Rural Thailand.”] **American Ethnologist** 11/2 (1984): 223- 241.

Khocng, Chacn. **Learning True Love: How I learned and practiced social change in Vietnam**. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 199?

Richman, Paula. **Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text**. Syracuse: Syracuse Univ., 1988.

Zelliot, Eleanor. “[Buddhist women of the contemporary Maharashtrian Conversion Movement,”] in **Buddhism, Sexuality,and Gender**, edited by Jose Cabezon.

Chinese and/or General East Asian Society

Ahern, Emily. “The Power and pollution of Chinese Women,” in **Women in Chinese Society**, edited by
Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke (Stanford, 1975).

Dudbridge, Glen. “[Women Pilgrims to T’ai Shan: Some Pages from a Seventeenth-Century Novel,”] in **Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China**, ed. Susan Naquin and Chuun-fang Yuu (Calif., 1992)

Eitel, E. J. “A Buddhist Purgatory for Women.” **Notes and Queries on China and Japan** 5 (June 1868): 66-85.

Goodrich, Grace. “Nuns of North China.” **Asia** 37 (1937): 90-93.

Iwai, Hirosato. “The Buddhist Priest and the Ceremony of Attaining Womanhood during the Yuan Dynasty.”
**Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko** 7 (1935): 105-161.

Johnson, David, ed., **Operatic Ritual, Ritual Opera: ‘Mu-lien Rescues His Mother’ in Chinese Popular Culture** (Berkeley: UC Press, 1989).

Levering, Miriam L. “The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-shan: Gender and Status in the Ch’an Buddhist Tradition.” **Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies** 5/1 (1982): 19-35.

Li, Jung-hsi, trans. **Biographies of Buddhist Nuns: Pao-chang’s Pi-chiu-ni-chuan**. Osaka, Japan: Tohokan, 1981. [Cf. Tsai]

Sangren, P. Steven. “Female Gender in Chinese Religious Symbols: Kuan-Yin, Ma-tsu, and the Eternal Mother.” **Signs** 9/1 (1983): 4-25.

Schuster, Nancy. “Striking a Balance: Women and Images of Women in Early Chinese Buddhism.” In
**Women, Religion, and Social Change** ed. Yvonne Y. Haddad and Ellison B. Findly. New York: SUNY Press, 1985.

Seaman, Gary. “The Sexual Politics of Karmic Retribution,” in **The Anthropology of Taiwanese Society**, edited by Emily Martin Ahern and Hill Gates, pp. 381-96 (Stanford, 1981).

Tsai, Kathryn Ann. “The Chinese Buddhist Monastic Order for Women.” In **Women in China** ed. Guisso
and Johannessen. Youngstown, New York: Philo Press, 198, trans. **Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of
Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries**. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii, 1994. [Cf. Li]

Tsu, Y. Y. “Diary of a Chinese Buddhist Nun: T’ze Kuang.” **The Journal of Religion** 7/5-6 (1927): 612-618.

Tibetan and Mongolian Society

Allione, Tsultrim. **Women of Wisdom**. New York: Arkana, 1986.

Havnevik, Hanna, **Tibetan Buddhist Nuns: History, Cultural Norms and Social Reality**. Oxford, 1990.

Klein, Anne C. “[Primordial Purity and Everyday Life: Exalted Female Symbols and the Women of Tibet.”] In **Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality**, ed. Clarissa W. Atkinson et al. 111-38. London, 1987.

Taring, [Mary] Dolma. **Daughter of Tibet**. Boston: Wisdom, 1987.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe. **Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha**. New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1989.

Willis, Janice D., ed. **Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet**. New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1989.

Korean Society

Batchelor, Martine. “Buddhist Nuns in Korea,” **Karuna** (Winter 1990-1991): 16-18.

Samu Sunim. “Eunyeong Sunim and the Founding of Pomun-jong, the First Independent Bhikshuni Order,”
**Spring Wind Buddhist Cultural Forum** (Special issue on Women and Buddhism) 6/1,2,3 (1986): 129- 62.

“Manseong Sunim, A Woman Zen Master of Modern Korea,” **Spring Wind Buddhist Cultural Forum**
(Special issue on Women and Buddhism) 6/1,2,3 (1986): 188-93.

Japanese Society

Arai, Paula. (essay on Sootoo nuns) in **Religion and Society in Modern Japan**, ed. Mark Mullins, et al. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press,

Blacker, Carmen, **The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan** (1975).

Grapard, Allan G. “Visions of Excess and Excesses of Vision: Women and Transgression in Japanese Myth,”
**Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 18/1 (1991): 3-22.

Hardacre, Helen, “The Cave and the Womb World,” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 10/2-3
(1983): 149-76. “Gender and the Millenium in Omoto Kyodan,” in **Innovation in Religious Traditions**, ed.
Michael Williams et al. (Berlin: Mouton, 1988).

Igeta, Midori, “The Image of Women in Sermons,” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 10/2-3 (1983): 247-72.

Kajiyama Yuichi. “Women in Buddhism.” **The Eastern Buddhist** 15/2 (1982): 53-70.

Kaneko, Sachiko and Robert E. Morrell. “Sancturary: Kamakura’s Tokeiji Convent.” **Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies** 10/2-3 (1983): 195-228.

Kawahashi, Noriko. (article on temple families in Somtom), **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** (forthcoming 1995).

King, Sallie B., “Egalitarian Philosophies in Sexist Institutions,” **Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion** 4/1 (Spring 1988), trans. **Passionate Journey: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo**. Boston:
Shambhala, 1987. Rpt. **Journey in Search of the Way: The Spiritual Autobiography of Satomi Myodo**. Ithaca: SUNY Press, 1992?

Miller, Alan L. “Myth and Gender in Japanese Shamanism: The itako of Tohoku,” **History of Religions** 32/4 (1993): 343-367.

Minamoto, Junko. “Buddhism and the Historical Construction of Sexuality in Japan.” **U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal: English Supplement** 6 (1993)

Morrell, Robert E., trans. “Mirror for Women: Muju Ichien’s Tsuma Kagami.” **Monumenta Nipponica** 35/1 (1980): 45-75.

Nakamura, Kyoko. “No Women’s Liberation: The Heritage of a Woman Prophet in Modern Japan,” in Nancy A. Falk and Rita M. Gross (ed.), **Unspoken Worlds** (1980), 174-190.

“Revelatory Experience in the Female Life Cycle: A Biographical Study of Women Religionists in Modern Japan.” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 8/3-4 (1981): 187-205.(editor). “Women and Religion in Japan,” special issue of **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 10/2-3 (1983).

Oguri, Junko, “Views on Women’s Salvation in Japanese Buddhism,” **Young East** 10/1 (1984): 3-11.

Ooms, Emily Groszos. **Women and Millenarian Protest in Meiji Japan: Deguchi Nao and Omotokyo** (Cornell U., 1993).

Robertson, Jennifer. “The Shingaku Woman: Straight from the Heart,” in **Recreating Japanese Women,
1600-1945**, ed. Gail Lee Bernstein (Berkeley: U. of Calif., 1991), 99-103.

Sato, Noriaki. “The Initiation of the Religious Specialists `Kamisan’: A Few Observations,” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 8/3-4 (1981): 149-186.

Segawa, Kiyoko. “Menstrual Taboos Imposed upon Women.” In **Studies in Japanese Folklore** ed. Richard M. Dorson. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1963.

Smyers, Karen, “Women and Shinto, **Japanese Religions** 12 (1983).

Takagi, Kiyoko, “Religion in the Life of Higuchi Ichiyo,” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies**
10/2-3 (1983): 123-148.

Takemi, Momoko. “Menstruation Sutra Belief in Japan.” **Japanese Journal of Religious Studies** 10/2-3 (1983): 229-246.

Takiguchi, Naoko, “Liminal Experiences of Miyako Shamans,” **Asian Folklore Studies** 49/1 (1990), “Miyako Theology: Shamans’ Interpretations of Traditional Beliefs,” **Asian Folklore Studies** 46/1 (1987)

Uchino, Kumiko. “The Status Elevation Process of Soto Sect Nuns in Modern Japan.” **Japanese Journal of
Religious Studies** 10/2-3 (1983): 177-194.

Buddhism in Non-Asian Society

Boucher, Sandy. **Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism**. 1988. Rpt. New York:Beacon, 1994.

Friedman, Lenore. **Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America**. Bostom: Shambhala, 1987.