The Woman Who Raised The Buddha

Nautilus Book Award Winner The first full biography of Mahaprajapati Gautami, the woman who raised the Buddha--examining her life through stories and canonical records. Mahaprajapati was the only mother the Buddha ever knew. His birth mother, Maya, died shortly after childbirth, and her sister Mahaprajapati took the infant to her breast, nurturing and raising him into adulthood. While there is a lot of ambiguity overall in the Buddha's biography, this detail remains consistent across all Buddhist traditions and literature. In this first full biography of Mahaprajapati, The Woman Who Raised the Buddha presents her life story, with attention to her early years as sister, queen, matriarch, and mother, as well as her later years as a nun. Drawing from story fragments and canonical records, Wendy Garling reveals just how exceptional Mahaprajapati's role was as leader of the first generation of Buddhist women, helping the Buddha establish an equal community of lay and monastic women and men. Mother to the Buddha, mother to early Buddhist women, mother to the Buddhist faith, Mahaprajapati's journey is finally presented as one interwoven with the founding of Buddhism.

A contemporary and provocative examination of the life of the Buddha highlighting the influence of women from his journey to awakening through his teaching career--based on overlooked or neglected stories from ancient source material. In this retelling of the ancient legends of the women in the Buddha’s intimate circle, lesser-known stories from Sanskrit and Pali sources are for the first time woven into an illuminating, coherent narrative that follows his life from his birth to his parinirvana or death. Interspersed with original insights, fresh interpretations, and bold challenges to the status quo, the stories are both entertaining and thought-provoking—some may even appear controversial. Focusing first on laywomen from the time before the Buddha’s enlightenment—his birth mother and stepmother, his co-wives, and members of his harem when he was known as Prince Siddhartha—then moving on to the Buddha’s first female disciples, early nuns, and to female patrons, Wendy Garling invites us to open our minds to a new understanding of their roles.

This book grew out of the conference, Women Practicing Buddhism: American Experiences, held at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 2005. The conference brought together students, scholars, Buddhist teachers, practitioners, artists, activists, and healers to explore the diverse experiences of women practising Buddhism in contemporary America. The pieces here centre on issues of practice, bringing to bear women's particular experiences of Buddhism as it is spreading to North America and taking root in new contexts. They celebrate the ways in which women are changing Buddhism and explore the array of issues that women as Buddhists face today. Contributors include those recognizable as Buddhist teachers, as well as well-known (and even famous) practitioners.

Zen and the art of raising children to make peace in the world . . . In this wise and insightful volume, Charlotte Kasl applies her signature blend of spiritual guidelines, exercises, and practical advice to a stage of life that leaves many of us searching for answers. If the Buddha Had Kids draws from Buddhist, Quaker, and other spiritual traditions to help parents raise children who value cooperation, compassion, and understanding, emphasizing that finding peace within a family is the first step toward creating a peaceful world. Beginning with creating a healthy bond with your child and moving through all stages of life, encouraging empathy, respect, fascination, and curiosity, Kasl explores the spiritual journey of parenting. She also draws on her decades of experience as a healer and practicing psychotherapist to tackle very practical concerns such as the roles of electronics, money, sexuality, and education, and what it means to find one’s voice. This lively book promises to bring inspiration, humor, and wisdom to the joys and struggles of raising children in our contemporary world, and will serve as an enlightening companion for all moms and dads.

In this groundbreaking work, Sallie Tisdale traces women Buddhist masters and teachers across continents and centuries, drawing upon historical, cultural, and Buddhist records to bring to life these narratives of ancestral Buddhist women.

This book celebrates the flowering of women in American Buddhism. Lenore Friedman set out to explore this phenomenon by interviewing some of the remarkable women who were teaching Buddhism in the United States. The seventeen women she writes about vary in background, personality, and form of teaching. Together the represent the growing presence and influence of women teachers in America—a development that will surely affect Buddhism in the West for years to come. This revised edition includes a new section describing developments in these women's lives and work since the book's first publication in 1987. Teachers include:Toni Packer, Maurine Stuart, Pema Chödrön, Joko Beck, Ruth Denison, Bobby Rhodes, Jiyu Kennett, Sharon Salzberg, Karuna Dharma, Joanna Macy, Gesshin Prabhasa Dharma, Sonja Margulies, Yvonne Rand, Jacqueline Mandell, Colleen Schmitz, Ayya Khema, Tsering Everest

First Buddhist Women is a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the enlightenment verses of the first female disciples of the Buddha. The book explores Buddhism’s relatively liberal attitude towards women since its founding nearly 2,600 years ago, through the study of the Therigatham, the earliest know collection of women’s religious poetry. Through commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesan, prostitutes, and wanderers who became leaders in the Buddhist community, roles that even today are rarely filled by women in other patriarchal religions. Their poetry beautifully expresses their search for spiritual attainment and their struggles in society.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PEN/FAULKER AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed author of The Swimmers and When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” a century ago in this "understated masterpiece ... that unfolds with great emotional power" (San Francisco Chronicle). In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war. Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.