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Buddhist Women on the Edge: Contemporary Perspectives from the Western Frontier

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This book has 30 essays, some by well-known authors-Thubten Chodron, Tsultrim Allione, & rarely anthologized Pema Chödrön, in a wide range of topic, approach, & quality. IMHO, most are quite fine; a few are not. There are feeling-oriented ones such as Sallie Jike Tisdale's touching personal feelings about gender in a Zen sangha, Sandy Boucher's delightful sketch of Ruth Denison, & Melody Chavis' poignant essay on avowing karma. There are more thinking-oriented pieces too: p. xvi: Jan Willis: "The question of what Buddhism has to offer African Americans and other people of color may not be as important as what such people have to offer Buddhism in America." p. 3: Miranda Shaw: -Ancient Indian Tantra "merged with Buddhism in about the 9th century C. E. resulting in what we now call Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana." & p. 6: "Translating Tantric material is a process of inspiration & revelation as well as linguistic skill." Some are on the cusp: psychologist Anita Barrows addresses Buddhist approaches to anger (e.g. Thich Nhat Hahn's simplistic approach, Theravada vs. Vajrayana, & E-W differences), p. 72: Marilyn Senf: "It is interesting, to say the least, that it has usually been easier for many Buddhists to empathize with the suffering of ants or mosquitoes than with the plight of women!" And p. 129: Alta Brown-"Without wisdom, compassion is blind. It may become another vehicle by which the `I' expresses, defends, & aggrandizes itself." However, some essays had objectionable, IMHO, value judgments/personal agendas. But, p. xvi & p. 299: Pema Chödrön: "It would kill the spirit of Buddhism if it became uncomfortable or dangerous for people to hold opposing views."

Many contributors addressed Buddhist psychological issues: p. 108: Tsultrim Allione, "The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism"-quoting Alex Wayman;s "The Buddhist Tantras"-The Kalachakra Tantra: "When the yogin attains the Great Time his recessive female becomes actualized; when the yogini attains this time her recessive male becomes actualized." [i. e. Jung's anima/animus] & p. 109: "It is often those who most adamantly insist that one should go beyond relative considerations about men and women who abuse and undervalue women practitioners the most." Including some great sound bites: p. 237: Michele Benzamin-Masuda, "fertile Grounds for a Warrior"-"I signed a peace treaty with all the warring factions inside myself." And p. 264: Anne Waldman---"We are all just conglomerates of psychological tendencies." And, my favorite essay, "No right, no wrong" in which Pema Chödrön relates Buddhism & psychology: pp. 301-2: Pema Chödrön-"Psychotherapy has a lot to offer Buddhism in terms of the language & because it really deals with people's suffering. And unfortunately, people can misuse Buddhism to try to just get comfortable. The teachings on the nature of emptiness can be misused to numb yourself out and circumvent real issues. But actually Buddhism is about diving into your real issues and fearlessly befriending the difficult and blocked areas and deep-seated habitual patterns that keep us stuck in ignorance and confusion...Buddhism can definitely work with people's real issues, it can be an enormously powerful tool & maybe work in balance with psychotherapy. But if it comes to making Buddhism into psychotherapy, then we risk losing a sense of vast mind and timelessness...of making the mind available to insights that just completely cut the root of confusion. & psychotherapy doesn't do that."

This book is a collection of essays raising important questions about women's roles in Buddhism. Many of the writers struggle with the apparent lack of permission for emotional expressions in Buddhist traditions. Is Buddhism just another means to suppress our emotions? How can women become and grow as Buddhists if most (all?) traditions relegate women to second-grade human beings? The questions raised in this book can help make Buddhism in the West more egalitarian - but Buddhists need to start listening to women's concerns as human concerns not issues that will go away if we just meditate enough.

The essays in this book have brought me in touch with a new range of ideas related to feminism and Buddhism. I appreciated the views of all types of women: academics, mothers, lovers, and activists, among others. In reading these essays, I am constantly confronting new questions: how do I perceive sexism in Buddhist practice? How can one integrate renouncement and compassion into everyday life? What is the difference between the way each sect treats its women? How do others perceive their relationship with Buddhism?

I am constantly in search of new texts in my study of Buddhism, and almost as helpful to me as this book are the bibliographies at the end of each chapter. They have led me to look for other related material, and to continue my discovery of Buddhism.

The authors in this tome are intelligent and well-written. The styles vary from the very academic to the anecdotal, but each brings a shining light to her topic, and makes an eloquent argument. I highly recommend this book.