Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in Mahāyāna Tradition

The book is organized into three major parts that progressively examine Buddhist images of women from negative stereotypes to more affirmative religious possibilities. Part I, “Traditional Views of Women,” begins with portrayals of women as “temptress” or “daughter of evil,” analyzing texts that associate femininity with sensuality, attachment, danger, and moral obstruction; it then turns to the image of “the mother,” where feminine identity is interpreted through maternal care, relational duty, and symbolic fertility. Part II, “Paths for Women Leading to Salvation,” studies women as nuns, teachers, friends of the Dharma, and bodhisattvas, showing that Mahāyāna literature contains multiple models through which women may pursue liberation, teach doctrine, receive predictions, or embody religious insight. This section includes discussions of female figures who undergo sexual transformation, as well as those who attain spiritual authority without such transformation, thereby exposing the doctrinal tension between gendered limitation and universal awakening. Part III, “Images of the Feminine,” turns to elevated and symbolic feminine forms, especially Kuan-yin as a celestial bodhisattva and Queen Śrīmālā as a figure associated with profound doctrinal authority. Across these sections, the book presents translated textual materials alongside interpretive introductions, building a comparative framework for understanding how Mahāyāna Buddhism imagined women as objects of fear, devotion, discipline, wisdom, compassion, and liberation.