Women

[Matthew Kapstein]

Some of the important figures in the Ga.n.davyuuhasuutra
are also women. And don't forget the goddess chapter
of the Vimalakiirtinirdes'a. Diana Paul edited an
anthology of Buddhist texts on women that has some
additional examples as well. Of course, in the Tamil
Buddhist tradition Manimekhalai is very well known---your
student may be interested in the works of Paula Richman and
Anne Monius on this central text.

My article, "The Illusion of Spiritual Progress," in Buswell
and Gimello, eds., Paths to Liberation, offers an example
of some of the problems surrounding the interpretation
of attributions of agency, etc., to women in the Buddhist
tantric traditions.

Matthew Kapstein