Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: Publisher's Description: This book on engaged Buddhism focuses on women working for social justice in a wide range of Buddhist traditions and societies. Contributors document attempts to actualize Buddhism’s liberating ideals of personal growth and social transformation. Dealing with issues such as human rights, gender-based violence, prostitution, and the role of Buddhist nuns, the work illuminates the possibilities for positive change that are available to those with limited power and resources. Integrating social realities and theoretical perspectives, the work utilizes feminist interpretations of Buddhist values and looks at culturally appropriate means of instigating change.

Table of Contents: Introduction: Family, monastery, and gender justice: reenvisioning Buddhist institutions / Karma Lekshe Tsomo -- Part One: Theoretical Foundations for Buddhist Social Action -- Buddhist understandings of subjectivity / Anne Carolyn Klein -- Reflections on Buddhism, gender, and human rights / Lin Chew -- Is the Bhikṣuṇī Vinaya sexist? / Karma Lekshe Tsomo -- Transforming conflict, transforming ourselves: Buddhism and social liberation / Paula Green -- Redefining and expanding the self in conflict resolution / Meenakshi Chhabra -- Integrating feminist theory and engaged Buddhism: counseling women survivors of gender-based violence / Kathryn L. Norsworthy -- Part Two: Women Transforming Buddhist Societies -- Reclaiming the robe: reviving the Bhikkhunī Order in Sri Lanka / Ranjani de Silva -- Dharma education for women in the Theravāda Buddhist community of Nepal / Sarah Le Vine -- Buddhism, women, and caste: the case of the Newar Buddhists of the Kathmandu Valley / David N. Gellner -- Trafficking in Buddhist girls: empowerment through prevention / Khandu Lama -- Khunying Kanitha: Thailand's advocate for women / Karma Lekshe Tsomo -- Crisis as opportunity: nuns and cultural change in the Spiti Valley / Margaret Coberly -- Spiritual piety, social activism, and economic realities: the nuns of Mantokuji / Diana E. Wright -- The infinite worlds of Taiwan's Buddhist nuns / Elise Anne DeVido -- Resistance without borders: an exploration of Buddhist nuns across cultures / Caren I. Ohlson.