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Daughters of the Buddha: The Sakyadhita Movement, Buddhist Law and the Position of Buddhist Nuns
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | Looking up the path through the dhauladhar pines, I saw a nun with a shaved head, wrapped in burgundy robes with one shoulder uncovered, smiling broadly and gesturing with her hand to come this way. Her name was Karma Lekshe Tsomo and I had met her only a few weeks before on a road in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama of Tibet in the foothills of the Himalayas. I had been in India for a year doing dissertation research on the legal system of the prior administration of Tibet. It seemed a Sisyphean task, to say the least, that involved LQWHUYLHZLQJ IRUPHURI¿FLDOVDQG WUDQVODWLQJ WKH/DZ&RGHV$IWHU WDONLQJZLWK Lekshe who was the second Buddhist nun to enter and graduate from the all male Buddhist Dialectic School on the grounds of the Dalai Lama's compound, I UHDOL]HGMXVWKRZPXFKPRUHGLI¿FXOWKHUVLWXDWLRQZDVWKDQPLQH ,WZDVKDUGWR¿QGWKHSDWKXSWRKHUURRP:HOLYHGLQDIRUHVWHGPRXQWDLQVLGHwhere every direction led either up or down. She invited me into her small space in the side of the mountain in a low earthen, former cowshed named Inji Gompa, ³WKHPRQDVWHU\IRU:HVWHUQHUV´+HUURRPZDVDSSUR[LPDWHO\E\IHHWZLWKD small wooden shelf for a bed and another shelf with a few cooking implements. ,GXFNHGGRZQWRVLWRQWKHÀRRUEHFDXVHWKHVPDOOVSDFHZDVOHVVWKDQVL[IHHW tall. Filled with scorpions, subject to earthquakes, the whole cowshed had almost fallen down a few times. I wondered what the room must feel like in the monsoon rains and the cold winters that beat against the mountainside and she replied WKDW LWZDVZHWDQG IUHH]LQJEXW¿QH ,ZDV OLYLQJ LQDVPDOOXQKHDWHGFHPHQW room in the guesthouse of the Dalai Lama's monastery and snow blew sideways ULJKW XQGHUP\GRRU FRDWLQJ WKH ÀRRU DW QLJKW EXW LWZDV OX[XULRXV FRPSDUHG to her living space. Our conversation stretched on through the afternoon as she made me tea and we talked. Over the past 30 years since that initial meeting, we have been friends, sometimes seeing each other often if we were in the same city, sometimes not for a year or two. Since that time, I have gone on to become a law professor writing on Tibetan law and Buddhism while she has become a professor RI5HOLJLRXV6WXGLHVDWWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI6DQ'LHJRDQGKDVZULWWHQH[WHQVLYHO\RQ %XGGKLVWZRPHQHVSHFLDOO\QXQV/RRNLQJEDFNDWWKHWLPHRXUSDWKV¿UVWFURVVHG when our futures were uncertain, what strikes me most is the cheerful, energeticnature of her disposition. She knew that the position of women and nuns in the Buddhist community had to change, and she was determined to work toward that transformation. |
| Related Links | https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/chapters/edit/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9781315582184-29&type=chapterpdf |
| Ending Page | 422 |
| Page Count | 20 |
| Starting Page | 403 |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781315582184-29 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| Publisher Date | 2016-04-15 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Book Name: Feminism, Law, and Religion Asian Studies Religion and Religious Studies Living Space |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Chapter |
