Customer Reviews

Opening the Lotus: A Woman's Guide to Buddhism

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I began studying Buddhism, I found myself wondering how my feminist philosophies would fit into the Buddhist view. This book was a great help in exploring Buddhism as it relates to women, written in an almost conversational tone by Sandy Boucher, who has been practicing for over 20 years.

This is not a definitive book, but one very helpful in introducing Buddhism to women. It's an excellent read, and comforting in its own way. I'm on my second read through, and still think this is one of my favorite books on Buddhism.

There were many pages in the middle of the book that had no print on them. I think I would not purchase this book at any price if I knew that it was incomplete.

I think the seller should say that pages were blank.

Nancy Turner

She has a nice general overview about the history of Buddhism, even though the rest of the book address one direction. That's fine. I esp. liked her comparisons of different Buddhist meetings/sessions (found an error on page 30: scroll is the gohonzon, page 31: cabinet is the butsudan, not the gohonzon). I found the description of the roles of women in Buddhism also very helpful. I never knew there was a sect in Korea with NUNS!

The organization and style of this book are good as are some of the suggestions. As the title says, it is a woman's guide to Buddhism, but I'm not sure why the author feels it necessary to identify herself (only within the book itself, not on the jacket summary) as a lesbian. Here is one quote: "I share my erotic and domestic life with women." I don't understand what this has to do with the rest of the book or with Buddhism.