Customer Reviews

Women of Wisdom (Arkana)

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This is a very valuable book in my opinion, both for the stories of Tibetan yoginis and the personal stories Tsultrim Allione shares. The stories of her own life are also fascinating.
Readers should be warned, however, that the analysis of Buddhist history in the preface and introduction is flawed. Tsultrim Allione seems mostly to rely on feminist histories and theory and her own speculations when discussing things like the Buddha's attitude towards women, the attitude towards women of the early male Sangha, and the roots of Indian and Tibetan tantra.I want to be clear that I have no problem with feminist scholarship per say, and I completely support the resurrection of the female monastic tradition and the full integration of women's participation and perspectives in Buddhist culture.
My issues with Tsultrim Allione's analysis are too many to go into here but I'll mention some examples. When Allione discusses the Buddha's attitude towards women she quotes a Mahayana Sutra (one written to encourage women to aspire towards rebirth as men) where the Buddha says women have more defilements then men. From a historical point of view this makes little sense; no scholar would accept this sutra as written by the historical Buddha. Of all the Mahayan sutras this particular sutra is one of the least likely, in fact, to have much of a connection to Siddhartha Gautama. In the Pali sutras, which have a greater claim to represent the historical Buddha's words, the Buddha explicitly denies that women have more defilements then men (he says they have an equal chance of attaining enlightenment (arhatship)- this would not be the case if they had more defilements). In another Pali sutra the Buddha denies that there is any distinction in worth among beings based on birth, and specifically says "not in the eyes, ears, etc....and not based on sexual characteristics" is there any distinction. The Buddha hesitated to admit women to the monastic orders because he said it would shorten the life of the order if he did; he did not say this was because of any defect in women and although we automatically assume, based on our cultural assumptions, that he said this for sexist reasons, the sutra does not explicitly state its reasons. Allione says the Buddha hesitated due his perception that women were insatiable sexually and would crave motherhood. I am not sure where she got this from; the Buddha does not say that is his reasoning in any sutra. He does mention the dangers of masculine sexual desire in many places and the nuns rules contain several rules to protect them from rape by monks or laymen. It sounds like this speculation of Allione's is based on the motifs in ancient Indian literature that present women this way. This is a complex issue but I'll leave it at that.
Second Allione makes other historical errors about the birth and development of Tantra. She states that Indian Tantra viewed the feminine as active and the masculine as passive and Tibetan Tantra viewed the feminine as passive and the masculine as active and speculates that this change in status may be due to Tibetan patriarchal biases.
This is a problematic analysis for a number of reasons for anyone who has studied Hindu and Buddhist tantra in India and Tibet. 1) Tibetan and Indian Buddhist Tantra both viewed the feminine as the ultimate principle: emptiness, or wisdom (which Allione characterizes oddly as "passive), and the masculine as upaya- skillful means or compassionate action. Allione's speculation that the source of this symbolism is Tibetan patriarchy is a result of unclear analysis and an example of the type of analysis that occurs in several places in the introductory material. This symbol does not stem from Tibet but from India. 2) Allione writes as if the feminine=wisdom; masculine=skillful means symbol is a downgrading of femininity compared to the Hindu femine=shakti/prakriti (energy, nature) and masculine=shiva (transcendent consciousness). This does not hold up to scrutiny. In most Hindu symbolism the God is clearly superior to his shakti, the energy that he emanates. (Sometimes they are equal and sometimes Shakti is primary to be fair, as in Kali Tantras). In most Hindu thought stillness is superior to activity, the idea that activity is superior to passivity is a western bias!
Lastly, skillful means rely on wisdom to be effective in Buddhist thought. If either wisdom or skillful means has to be regarded as primary or superior, the Buddhist tradition clearly sees wisdom as primary. Therefore the fact that the wisdom principle is feminine if anything is an upgrade in the symbolization of the feminine, not a reduction. For an amazingly clear and impeccable discussion of these issues, see Judith Simmer-Brown's "Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism".
Although I could write a whole book as a rejoinder to other unfortunate errors in Allione's otherwise wonderful book, I have one last minor correction and I'll close my yap. In the intro Allione writes that the Buddha taught that "all experience is tainted with suffering" and seeks to eliminate that suffering; and contrasts that with the superior Wiccan view of life (quoting Starhawk) which transcends suffering through acceptance of it as part of the fabric of life. The Buddha never said that all experience is suffering (see [...]). He said, simply put, that unenlightened experience is suffering and enlightened experience is not. If all experience was tainted with suffering, what would be the point of teaching a path to the end of suffering? This is a common misquote and misunderstanding of Buddhist teachings, see the article above for further clarification.
Just to be clear I would not argue that Buddhism has not been corrupted by patriarchal cultures, resulting in women being denied full access to monastic life and spiritual teachings. It has been and still is. But I think it is very important to be accurate about where sexism has and does occur, both out of respect to the tradition and its past teachers, and so that when we move to address these things are efforts are not pointed in the wrong direction, and we do not throw out babies with bathwater. Also faith in the Buddha and other pre-modern masters might be needlessly strained if we think they were more blinded by sexism than they in fact were.
With the caveat emptor aside, I recommend this book for its stories of Tsultrim Allione's path and the path of these other remarkable practitioners.

There is a hunger among women practitioners for the stories of other women who have gone on before them. Often these stories have been lost or over time turned to silence.

Tsultrim Allione, founder of Tara Mandala, a 600 acree retreat center in South West Colorado, sets out with this book to reclaim some of those lost voices. She was initiated on this journey with the death of her daughter from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Prior to becoming a mother to four children, Tsultrim had been one of the first American women to take vows. For four years she lived in the Himalayas as a nun devoted to in depth practice. Later she returned her vows and became a mother and with the death of one of her twins began the search for stories to sustain her during unbearable times.

In Women of Wisdom she uncovers and chronicles the stories of several of the more well-known women practioners, saints, and delogues, but what is particularly compelling is her own story. She writes openly and honesty with remarkable ease.

It is a must for anyone who wrestles with integrating Buddhist practice with the demands of a modern life.

This is a lovely collection of sacred biographies of Tibetan Buddhist yoginis. The author, a former Buddhist nun, provides an extensive introduction including an autobiographical account-virtually a 7th biography. She provides much valuable information about the Buddha families, biography vs. sacred biography or hagiography, and Tibetan traditions and terminology such as delogs (people who die and come back to life), Togdens (Tibetan yogis), etc. The six sacred biographies included here vary considerably in length (2 are quite long and 4 are rather short) and in nature (some include much more hyperbole and others are more historical). The author states on p. 54 that "Goodness is not necessarily truth." She also provides a prolog and extremely valuable endnotes for each chapter, suggesting that (p. 215) the reason for embedding teachings into a biography is to make them come to life.

She also provides psychological explanations for a number of otherwise fantastic descriptions and activities, frequently based upon the writings of Jung's disciple Esther Harding:
p. 147: "When we think of a demon, we generally think of an external spirit which attacks us, but Machig realized the true nature of demons is the internal functioning of the ego...all four demons are thought-processes which block a state of clear, unattached awareness."
p. 195 note 62: "If we understand the serpentine underwater Nagas as a manifestation of Machig's unconscious, as part of her own mind, this assumption being based on the idea that our environment is a manifestation of our karma and our own projection." Other contemporary books support such a view: Loren Pederson's "Dark Hearts," George Weinberg's "Invisible Masters," & John Sanford's "Invisible Partners."

Further, she also clears up the ambiguity about Tibetan Buddhist practitioners consuming meat:
p. 194 note 54: "the Buddha did not teach strict vegetarianism, but rather that all meat one eats should have passed through at least three hands before a Buddhist should consume it...if a Tantric practitioner eats the meat of an animal with awareness and transcendent insight into the true nature of reality, this creates a connection between the animal and the yogi, and therefore the animal will have a much better chance of reaching a higher rebirth than if it had not been killed and offered to the yogi or yogini. Also...it symbolizes going beyond the limitations of vows and conventional `goodness,' and transformation of poison and dangerous substances into a means for enlightenment. Therefore a big piece of meant would be an appropriate offering for a Tantric initiation." Interestingly, this practice parallels that of Kabbalah where practitioners raise the spiritual level of animals by eating them with proper kavvanah (mystical intention).

There is a time when women shall have names. The time of consciouness rising, when the wisdom of all life perceiving will be received by humankind.

This text will be recognized - by those who sense that they are called - as an entry point to the evolution of consciousness found in the divine feminine; the source of all inspiration to the Buddhas.

Those who feel a hunger for echoes of the great women spiritual leaders of Buddhism will find great inspiration in this book. It is a personal, fascinating, warm, and inspirational book.

The stories are translated by Tsultrim and her Tibetean associates with a tremendous respect for the meaning in the original sacred texts.

I recommend this work highly to anyone who desires to connect with Buddhism's sacred center, the Prajna Paramita. I recommend it to anyone who perceives that Buddhism has misplaced its joyously empty center, and who senses a chance for a more complete knowing of their own divine spirituality.

The second edition of Tsultrim Allione's Women of Wisdom features, at the request of her many readers, a much expanded spiritual autobiography, enriched by photographs not included in the first edition. This and the Introduction comprise over a third of the book, and are in a sense a resonating complement and counterpart to the biographies of female Tibetan teachers and adepts which Tsultrim Allione sought out and translated. In keeping with the Buddha's dictim that we should endorse only those things we have actually experienced as true, Allione's life has been a journey to spiritual truth underwritten and ratified by her faithfulness to her own experience-- her need to bear and rear children, to embrace but also to leave marriages, to stay true to the essence of the Tibetan teachers and teachings she sought out from her teens-- and from all of that, to create Tara Mandala, a retreat center whose wellsprings include North
American First Peoples' teachings, families, feminine spiritualities, healing of earth and of bodies, and deep dedication to preserving and transmitting several Tibetan lineages.
One of the threads woven into the tapestry of Allione's life is her pursuit of the life and teachings of Machig Lapdron, the 12th century teacher who first formalized the Chod ceremony for feeding rather than murdering demons. Allione's forthcoming book, Feeding Your Demons, as well as her oral teachings in the already available CD series, Cutting Through Fear, develop the ways in which this approach to personal and collective darkness contrasts with the more dualistic western myth of the hero who slays the dragon. But Allione has discovered another body of Machig's work: extensive, subtle and practical teachings on the Prajnaparamita Sutra and on the nature of mind, and in the years to come we are sure to see more teaching on this topic from this gifted scholar-practitioner.
In 2007, Allione was recognized in Tibet as an emanation of Machig Lapdron. So, Women of Wisdom contains a book within a book of books, and tracings of a particular life within a much larger lifestream-- teachings brought forward for our times that encourage us to not be afraid! to dive directly into those things we fear most! and to join with each other in the quest to discover our own truths, and express them by art and ritual and service and fully experiencing the life of the body. This is a book to take to bed with you, to let seep into your dreams. Read it, and take heart.

What I love about this book is that the scholarship is excellent (Lama Tsultrim began the research for it as part of her Master's Degree in Buddhism and Women's Studies at Antioch) and yet her personal story, and the stories of the women whose biographies she includes, are deeply compelling and inspiring. All too often the scholarly and personal do not come together in this way to create a powerful read.

I also disagree with the review above that states her analysis regarding the Buddha's attitude towards women, and of the differences between Indian and Tibetan Tantra, are flawed. I don't think she forces a feminist viewpoint at all, but rather looks honestly at the patriarchal cultural forces that shaped the Buddha's view and the development of Tantra. And these views are amply present in the sutras and tantras, as well as in the biographies she shares here.

The biographies themselves come from a variety of sources - some are direct translations of written texts. One is an oral transmission from Namkhai Norbu, a highly respected Lama still teaching today, and another is drawn from a Tibetan folk drama that was/is performed by traveling troupes. One is in the form of a traditional 'namthar' or liberation story, and another is of a 'terton', or discoverer of hidden teachings. Lama Tsultrim offers an introduction to each biography that helps elucidate the teachings and historical relevance of the biography itself.

But anyone uninterested in all this history and formal Tibetan Buddhist teaching could just read the prefaces, in which Lama Tsultrim tells her own fascinating personal spiritual story, and the biographies themselves, and find many life lessons. Together these women (including Lama Tsultrim) represent just about every life choice and struggle an individual, and especially a woman, might encounter in her life and practice, from cultural biases, social conditioning, and family resistance to physical illness, the challenges of parenthood, and divorce (not to mention a fair amount of 'demons' represented here as both internal and external forces.)

Overall I recommend this book to absolutely ANYONE interested in Buddhism and/or women's spirituality.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who needs to hear more about women practitioners. These biographies provide good models for spiritual development in a female body.

I very much appreciated Tsultrim Allione's own story, which she goes into in detail. She speaks with honesty and understanding.