Why does a woman need to become a man in order to become a Buddha?: Past investigations, new leads
This paper puts forth a new interpretation of the problem of the ineligibility of the female body for Buddhahood as it is seen in the texts of the Mahāyāna tradition of Buddhism. Recognizing that advanced female practitioners in Mahāyāna sūtras both lecture their detractors on the emptiness of physi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
Religion compass
Year: 2018, Volume: 12, Issue: 8, Pages: 1-9 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Tipiṭaka. Suttapiṭaka. Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra
/ Bodhisattva ideal
/ Woman
/ Body
/ Sexual identity
/ Gender reassignment surgery
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BL Buddhism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This paper puts forth a new interpretation of the problem of the ineligibility of the female body for Buddhahood as it is seen in the texts of the Mahāyāna tradition of Buddhism. Recognizing that advanced female practitioners in Mahāyāna sūtras both lecture their detractors on the emptiness of physical forms while simultaneously changing their female forms to male ones, this paper provides an interpretation of the available textual material that reads the actions of such female practitioners as consonant and not contradictory. In so doing, this paper offers an innovative reading of the famous story of the Dragon King's Daughter from the Lotus Sūtra, one that sees it in conversation with a lesser known text specifically on the topic of female-to-male sex change on the path to Buddhahood, the Sūtra on Transforming the Female Form. Video Abstract available at https://youtu.be/iK8sJNq4y5s |
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| ISSN: | 1749-8171 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion compass
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/rec3.12270 |