Lauren Rochholz

16 November 2004

HRS 220

Word Count: 1775

“Gotami’s Story” Reading Analysis

I. Selective Summary

A. Introduction

B. Secondary Analysis: Jonathan S. Walters

i. Role of “Gotami’s Story” in the Apadana and post-Asokan period

ii. Gotami as a combatant of misogyny

C. Primary Analysis: “Gotami’s Story”

i. Gotami’s preparation for “going out” and request for Buddha’s permission

ii. Others’ reluctance about Gotami’s “going out”

iii. Gotami’s final attainment of nirvana

D. Conclusion

II. Evaluation

A. Effectiveness of “Gotami’s Story” as influence on other Buddhists

B. Gotami and Buddha as proponents of female capability

III. Wider Relevance

Selective Summary

“Gotami’s Story” is a two-part work containing a short history and analysis of a Buddhist story followed by a translation of the story itself. Jonathan S. Walters introduces the story with a short recounting of significant events in Indian history, thereby giving some background information to which the reader can relate the narrative. He intersperses this account with commentary on the role of Gotami in the Buddhist faith and the telling of her story as an example of female potential in a possibly misunderstood religion.

The Apadana is a collection of “moral biographies” written in the two centuries before the Common Era. “Gotami’s Story” is a single tale from this compilation, one of the many composed by forty Buddhist nuns and over five hundred Buddhist monks. The “unification of the Indian subcontinent in the third century B.C.E.” by Asoka Maurya instigated a change in the cultural perception of Buddhism; that is, the religion became more universal in its perceived application to normal, everyday lives:

The early paradigms – saints who renounce the world and attain nirvana – were not immediately appropriate for the bulk of society newly included within Buddhism’s post-Asokan universal embrace, who would not renounce the world in the present life but would instead continue to produce karma and, consequently, future existence (113).

The Apadana stories, likely a consequence of this strain of thought, aspired to depict monks and nuns in their incarnations as commoners and became “a virtual blueprint” for “every occupation and station in life, every age, every caste, every type of being (male and female, animals and deities, as well as humans)” (114).

“Gotami’s Story” and the biographies of the other nuns did much to further this cause of universality. Problems inherent in Buddhist customs were addressed by these stories, working to “combat misogynist attitudes that continued among Indian Buddhists despite the Buddha’s own apparent egalitarianism” (114). Walters contends that “Gotami’s Story” is directed at all Buddhist women, nuns, laywomen, and goddess alike. The main character, Gotami, the “female counterpart of the Buddha, the founder and leader of the nuns’ order,” through a series of directives, parodies, and clarifications, advises women “they should follow her in following the Buddha’s path.” Furthermore, as evidence of her belief in female potential, Gotami “affirms that even children females have attained the most exalted states...and puts on her show of miracles to demonstrate how much a woman can achieve” (116).

Gotami’s “going out” is her reward after several incarnations and many years of preparation. Before and after requesting and obtaining the Buddha’s permission for this act (Verse 48), she relates bits of wisdom and “mini-apadanas” to various audiences as testament to her readiness. Gotami cites her devout worship of the Buddha (Verse 22), her surrender of her home to seek enlightenment (Verse 23), her loathing of her body as a “sick house like a serpent’s lair...pastured for old age and death, and covered with suffering’s slime” (Verses 56-57), and her peacefulness in ultimate devotion to the Buddha (Verse 73) as evidence of the completeness needed for nirvana. She also recounts her ascendancy to sainthood, beginning with her birth “one hundred thousand eons ago” at the time of the Buddha Padumuttara (Verse 95). After her pursuit of him, the Buddha Padumuttara allowed Gotami to see her future “preeminence among the senior nuns” (Verse 105). Her first rebirth was “among the highest gods who lived in Tavatisma [“Thirty-Three”],” where she “shone, attaining supreme power” (Verse 109). Following that existence, she was reborn into a “slaves’ village” (Verse 110), and, finally, into her present life as the “Victor’s nurse” (Verse 116). In each manifestation Gotami grasped more in depth the qualities necessary for “going out.”

Although Gotami believes herself ready to pass out of existence, others mourn at the thought of losing her on earth. The five hundred nuns who eventually accompany her to nirvana are the first to lament Gotami’s “going out.” As devout Buddhists, however, they quickly change their attitudes: “If this is what you want, sister – the unsurpassed pure going out – then, pious one, with his assent, we all will go out too” (Verse 100). Gotami’s announcement of her decision to Nanda, Rahula, and Ananda prompts a mixed reaction; that is, Nanda and Rahula, “fully detached from worldly ties, are unmoved, but Ananda, still in training, weeps at the news” (115). Nanda and Rahula consider Gotami’s position as preferable to the “impermanence” of the things of this world, while Ananda “sheds tears” and “wails” at the thought of the “going out” of Gotami and the Buddha (Verse 61). Indeed, he seems to put a negative spin on the concept of nirvana as “nonexistence” and a “fire without fuel” (Verse 62). Gotami consoles Ananda, advising him that if he is truly “intent on serving the Buddha,” then he should rather “laugh” and celebrate her passing out of existence (Verses 63-65).

At the Buddha’s urging, Gotami begins her “going out” in a spectacular fashion, displaying various physical feats of impossibility to the astonished masses. She appears cloned, disappears, walks through walls and the sky, sinks into the earth, walks on water, flies “like a bird,” “controls the space right up to God’s own home,” makes the earth into her parasol, emanates the glow of “six suns,” “garland[s] the earth in flames,” holds mountains in her hands, and creates “torrential rains” (Verses 81-90). After this display, she says a final goodbye to the Buddha and the laypeople, urging them to follow her path and give up the world’s tangibles for nirvana. Alone, she enters and re-enters the various levels of altered states, permanently leaving the earth rather conspicuously: “There was a great earthquake; lightening fell from the sky. The thunder rumbled loudly, the deities there wailed; a shower of flowers from the sky rained down upon the earth” (Verses 148-149). Ananda and the other monks honor her with an extensive funeral.

Evaluation

Walters argues that “Gotami’s Story” “addresses itself to Buddhist women, from nuns striving for nirvana here and now to laywomen and goddesses for whom the goal remains more remote” (116). He contends that Gotami is “the female counterpart of the Buddha, the founder and leader of the nuns’ order who parallels (though does not supersede) Gotama, the founder and leader of the monks’ order. Gotami is represented as the Buddha for women” (117). With “Gotami’s Story” as one’s only frame of reference, this assertion is hard to dispute. Gotami does, indeed, appear to be more spiritually awake than every other character besides the Buddha himself.

In addition to Gotami’s preeminence prior to her “going out,” though, Walters asserts that her story has lasting affects on female Buddhists in another way:

In the karmically black and white world of the Apadana, males and females tread parallel yet distinct paths. Men were always male in previous lives; women always female. This is the reason that the monks’ biographies were not suitable paradigms for that half of universal society which is not male (117).

In other words, Walters believes that women, Buddhists in particular, can relate better to a woman (Gotami) who has experienced many different social statuses than a man who has had the same history. For Walters, therein lies much of the story’s importance. This contention seems reasonable; however, one might challenge that Gotami’s four incarnations – as a woman in a rich clan of ministers with many servants (Verse 96), as a goddess among the “highest gods” (Verse 107), as a slave (Verse 110), and as the foster mother of the Buddha (Verse 116) – hardly constitute “average” existences, thereby potentially limiting the applicability of her story to the common woman.

Walters argues that this representation of the Buddha depicts the deity as an advocate of woman’s ability to triumph over the tedium of rebirth. The Buddha is, indeed, supportive of Gotami and her powers: he gives her permission to attain “parinirvana,” he remarks upon her going out that “yet there are these fools who doubt that women too can grasp the truth. Gotami, show miracles, that they might give up their false views” (Verse 79), he complements her as “wise,” a “master of great powers” with a “divine-ear,” a “divine-eye,” and “purified knowledge of meaning” (Verses 183-186). However, this story in itself is not conclusive evidence of the Buddha’s “egalitarianism;” it is fairly irrefutable that the Buddha admires Gotami, but without further substantiation (which may, and probably does, exist) it does not indicate a respect for all women. Additionally, as Walters himself points out, this story was written by women for women; an adversarial Buddha would not further the attempt to create a model story for female Buddhists.

Wider Relevance

Walters represents the power of Gotami in the Buddhist faith as substantial. For somebody with very little exposure to this religion, Gotami does, indeed, appear to be a true role model. The Buddha’s apparent respect for her accomplishments furthers this claim. As compared with female figures in the other traditions we have studied, Gotami is unique in her status among her counterparts. Although women have certainly occupied significant positions within other rituals and religions (the monastic nuns of the medieval Christian period, the Anastenarias, the wives in the Hindu rituals), Gotami appears to be the only one who is truly free to worship and gain knowledge as she sees fit within the boundaries of the faith. She does not need to ask permission of a husband to participate in any rites; she is not required by social or religious law to even have a husband. Gotami espouses her beliefs to men and gains their respect, the Buddha foremost among these admirers. The Christian mystics, who also share their visions with other believers, experience this as well; however, the acceptance of their revelations is based mostly on the nuns’ non-threatening social standing. Yet, Gotami is, as represented by Walters, potentially a threat to the Buddha; her funeral is “better than the Buddha’s own, [and] she appears to be the very center of the universe” (117). But the Buddha not only reveres Gotami, he encourages others to do the same.

Kathryn Williams

HRS 220/ Dubois

November 14, 2004

Word Count: 2124

Outline: Analysis of “Gotami’s Story”

Introduction

Selective Summary

A. Walter’s Article

· History and purpose of Apadana literature

· Gotami’s Story as part of Apadana genre

· Gotami as role-model and women’s advocate

· Gotami as Buddha for women

B. Gotami-apadana

· Gotami: “Mother of the Buddha”

· Gotami: Devotee of the Buddha

· Gotami: Role-model for Buddhists

C. Conclusions

Evaluation

A. Gotami: Role-Model or Buddhi?

Wider Relevance

A. Feminine relationship with the divine

B. Gotami as conduit to “the other.”

Reading Analysis: Gotami’s Story

In his article, “Gotami’s Story,” Jonathan S. Walters acquaints modern readers with some of the social and religious ideals of third-century Theravada Buddhists, most particularly the themes that concern “women’s religiosity.” The main inspiration for his article is the Gotami-apadana (Gotami’s Story) and he builds most of his claims around certain passages in the story. His central argument is that Gotami is the Buddha figure for Buddhist women. Walters also includes Gotami’s Story itself, allowing readers to appreciate the artistic and spiritual beauty of the original story separate from his commentary. Due to the “dual-nature” of this reading selection, I will first summarize Walter’s article, then proceed to a selective summary of the primary source, Gotami-apadana.

Walter’s Article: Selective Summary

The Gotami-apadana is the story of Mahapajapati Gotami, maternal aunt and foster-mother to the Buddha and, as Walters proposes, the female spiritual counterpart to the Buddha (Walters, 113, 117). Her story is included in a collection of moral biographies, Apadana, which is part of a larger canon, Khud-daka-nikaya (Walters, 113). The Apadana was written during a period of social change and political expansion in Buddhist history, approximately 200-100 BCE (Walters, 113). The biographies in the Apanada are elaborated accounts of earlier collections of Pali verses (gatha), which may have originated during the time of the Buddha himself. Many Buddhists believe these stories were originally spoken by the Buddha’s most famous disciples after they became saints; the stories are known as Monk’s Verses (Theragatha) and Nun’s Verses (Therigatha) and are ascribed to about five hundred and fifty monks and forty nuns (Walters, 113).

After the changes in post-Asokan society, the stories of ascetic monks and nuns renouncing the world and attaining nirvana did not possess the traditional appeal for a new group of followers who did not plan to renounce the world (Walters, 114). The challenge for Buddhist leaders was to find something meaningful in these early stories that would help guide post-Asokan Buddhist followers to understand appropriate behaviors — in other words, a new set of role models was needed. It was determined that this new era of readers would benefit most by knowing what the monks and nuns did in their previous lives when they were just beginning to travel their path. The Apadana was born to meet this need, and the stories contained therein became models of and for the person at the beginning of the path, a “virtual blueprint for a new universal society” (Walters, 114). Though the nuances of individual stories varied, each monk or nun illustrated the piety necessary to achieve the rewards of heavenly bliss and nirvana in the time of the coming Buddha, Maitreya (Love)” (Walters, 114).

In addition to meeting the universal needs expressed above Gotami-apadana, along with the other moral biographies of nuns, addressed certain problematic issues that had surfaced concerning the role of women in Buddhist practice (Walters, 114). These stories, which were probably composed by women, serve not only as a gender-specific moral compass for the female spiritual devotee, but also as a means to combat misogynist attitudes that had developed among Indian Buddhists despite the Buddha’s ideal of egalitarianism (Walters, 114).

While Gotami-apadana is a good example of the Apadana genre as a whole, it is also unique in its complexity and in the fact that it focuses not on Gotami’s life but on her death (Walters, 115). While this emphasis on death may seem odd in contrast to the other stories in the Apadana, it makes perfect sense when one understands that Gotami’s extraordinary “religious death” (the “great going out”) was her ultimate achievement (Walters, 116). Moreover, Gotami-apadana addresses themes of women’s religiosity while being perfectly unique in its answer to a persistent need for Buddhist women: If the Buddha’s (a male) “great going out” opened to door to arhatship, guaranteeing the finality of the monks’ (male’s) nirvana, who would guarantee that nuns’ (female’s) nirvana would be final as well? The answer: Gotami (Walters, 117). As the female counterpart of the Buddha (linguistically and spiritually), Gotami is the founder and leader of the nun’s order and her life parallels, without superseding, that of the Buddha (Walters, 117). What Gotama (the Buddha) was for men, Gotami (the Buddhi, or feminine Buddha) was for women: “the spiritual center of their universe” (Walters, 117).

Gotami-apadana: Selective Summary

While biographical information about Gotami’s birth and heritage can be found in “Gotami’s Story,” I will focus on the passages in the story that illuminate Gotami’s spiritual significance for the “women’s religiosity” of post-Asokan Theravada Buddhism. I should note that, in my attempt to focus specifically on this primary source material, I am summarizing the story irrespective of Walter’s interpretation. I will address the link between Walter’s article and Gotami-apadana in my conclusion and evaluation.

Gotami is portrayed a powerful figure, both spiritually and socially. I believe it is the primary goal of the Gotami-apadana to glorify Gotami as a role-model for Buddhists. However, I think the overarching message is that it is the Buddha himself who is the most significant figure in Buddhist spirituality, and that readers of Gotami-apadana are to keep this in mind at all times.

Gotami’s power stems, in part, from the very “feminine” role of mothering the Buddha. That Gotami is not the Buddha’s biological mother does not seem to detract from her role as “Mother of the Buddha:”

Women can obtain with ease

the names “Chief Queen,” “King’s Mother”

The hardest name of all to get

is the “Mother of the Buddha.” (36)

It may be argued that it was Gotami’s karma from past lives that ultimately prepared her to be born into the role of the Buddha’s mother, so she had some control over obtaining her ultimate power. Yet it seems clear that Gotami is only powerful because of her relationship (first that of mother-to-son, then that of devotee-to-deity) with the Buddha:

Well-gone-one, I am your mother;

you’re my father, O wise one.

Lord, you give the truth’s pure pleasure!

Gotama, I’m born from you! (31)

It was I, O well-gone one,

who reared you, flesh and bones.

But by your nurturing was reared

my flawless dharma-body (32).

Thus, though she is powerful and greatly honored, Gotami herself makes clear that the Buddha is more important that she. Indeed, she must ask his permission before she can begin to enact those desires dearest to her heart.

Gotami’s “great going out” is more spectacular than that of the Buddha himself. While her amazing death certainly awards Gotami a superior honor among the worshippers of the Buddha, it does not make her superior to the Buddha. Indeed, Gotami must ask the Buddha’s to allow her to achieve nirvana:

I wish to go out totally,

abandoning this body;

Grant me permission, hero, guide,

O ender of dis-ease. (38)

It is clear that Gotami took the initiative to become a powerful activist for gender equality and as a spiritual leader of the nuns. Yet it seems that Gotami was ultimately empowered to do these things by the Buddha. She could not have done these things against, or without, his will.

I begged you (Buddha) over and again,

for women’s ordination.

If that is somehow fault in me,

forgive it, bull of men. (45)

Having gotten your permission

I taught and I instructed nuns.

If I have given bad advice,

forgive it, lord forgiveness. (46)

In one of the most passages most clearly illustrating the spiritual worthiness of women, Gotami performs miracles, at the Buddha’s request, to show that women, too, can understand the Buddha’s truth. Again, however, it is clear that the Buddha permitted Gotami to use her powers.

The Buddha: Yet there are these fools who doubt

that women too can grasp the truth.

Gotami, show miracles,

that they might give up their false views. (79)

Narrator: Gotami bowed to the lord

then leaped into the sky.

Permitted by the Buddha, she

displayed her special powers. (80)

Gotami is a role-model for the nuns, but we also see that the nuns regard the Buddha as their ultimate spiritual leader. While Gotami may model the appropriate behavior, they must ask the Buddha for ultimate knowledge and to grant them entrance to nirvana:

We understand meanings and doctrinal things,

etymology and how to preach.

Great hero, it was in your presence

that our knowledge was produced. (130)

O guide, you are surrounded by

us all with loving hearts.

Great sage, now give us your consent

to go and reach nirvana. (131)

After her “great going out,” Gotami is honored and worshipped by both gods and humans, and we are told that even the Buddha’s great nirvana was not as good as Gotami’s “positively stellar” one (161-173). Yet there never seems any doubt, either in Gotami’s mind, or in the mind(s) of the author(s) of Gotami-apadana that the Buddha is the overarching Divine who should be worshipped and obeyed above all others. While it is logical that after Gotami achieves her great going out she can no longer “speak” in the story, there seems a more spiritual, rather than logistical, reason that the Buddha is the one who speaks the final words in the story. Though the Buddha clearly presents Gotami as an exemplary Buddhist (perhaps the most exemplary Buddhist?), as one who led a life worthy of honor and imitation, the very fact that the Buddha is the one who speaks these final blessings seems an indication of his ultimate power. Never-the-less, the fact that the Buddha “allowed” Gotami, a woman, to cultivate such inspiring spirituality, to guide nuns along their path, to correct false notions about women’s inferiority, must have had extreme influence on the women’s religiosity of the day.

Know this, O monks, she (Gotami) was most wise,

with wisdom vast and wide.

She was a nun of great renown,

a master of great powers.

She cultivated “divine-ear”

and knew what others thought. (183)

Conclusions

Based upon my reading of Gotami-apadana, I formed the impression that no one, man or woman, can be equal to the Buddha himself. Gotami is a marvelous role-model for those following the path toward nirvana; but the Buddha is the ultimate spiritual power capable of allowing monks and nuns to achieve nirvana.

Walters’ article, on the other hand, gave me the impression that Gotami was the central spiritual figure to the Theravada Buddhist nuns; that she had become “the center of the universe,” the “female Buddha (Buddhi)” to these nuns.

Evaluation

As evidenced in my Conclusion, if I had read Walter’s conclusions alone and not Gotami-apadana, I would have had a very different concept of Gotami. I did not get the impression from Gotami-apadana that Gotami was “the very center of the universe” or the “Buddha for women” as Walters suggested (117). Perhaps Walters’ other scholarship led him to form the conclusions he did, but I did not feel they were totally supportable by Gotami-apadana itself. I believe Walters’ essay would have been more convincing in its summary of the themes in Gotami-apadana if he had concluded his argument with his paragraph on page 116, emphasizing Gotami’s importance as a role-model for nuns and as a champion for the spiritual equality of women. I felt that, in Walters’ admirable desire to present a strong, powerful female spiritual leader, he perhaps went a bit too far in stating that she was more important than the Buddha in the eyes of the nuns (117). I see nothing “androcentric” about the nuns believing the Buddha is the supreme deity. It is simply the reality of Theravada Buddhism that their spiritual leader was a man (Gotama) when he walked on earth, and then became their supreme god (the Buddha). Walters’ article did an excellent job of summarizing the primary events of Gotami-apadana and especially in presenting the historical background for the story, but I felt he interpolated a bit too much about Gotami’s status in relation to the Buddha in his final paragraphs.

Wider Relevance

Based upon my reading of “Gotami’s Story,” I was struck with the similarities between Gotami and the Virgin Mary. Each is the “mother” of god, each nurtured her son in his infancy yet he later became their spiritual father, each is the model of an ideal woman whom both men and women can look to for guidance — yet neither supersedes the supremacy of their god. The uniquely powerful relationship between women and deity was also evidenced in Bynum’s book on the mystical experiences of the medieval nuns. On a more universal spectrum, however, I see Gotami’s Story as expressing yet another facet of the yearning for “the other” which Danforth so eloquently expressed in his “Conclusion.” Gotami provided an example of how to behave on a human level to connect with the “divine other” on a spiritual level.

Joan Howell

HRS 220/Dubois

November 16, 2004

Word Count: 2298

Outline for Reading Analysis

“The Great Bliss Queen” by Anne Klein

I. Selective Summary

A. Biography of Yeshey Tsogyal

1. Human and/or Divine

a. Identities

b. Characteristics

c. Achievements

B. Samples of Hagiographical Literature on the Great Bliss Queen

1. Selection from Notes. . .

a. Yeshey as one part of her Trinity

2. Selection from the Ra Tik

a. Five Element Theory

b. The Divine Womb

c. Visualizing Yeshey in Great Bliss Queen Form

II. Evaluation

A. Simpler Biography vs. Complex Literature

B. Klein’s Perspective

III. Wider Relevance

A. Through Comparative Religion Study

l. Christian/Buddhist Similarities

a. three-in-one deities

b. Jesus/Yeshey parallels

2. Christian/Buddhist Differences

a. original sin

b. gender issues

Works Cited, In Addition to Anne C. Klein’s Chapter 10, “The Great Bliss Queen”

Brown, Judith C. Immodest Acts. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Gross, Rita M. Feminism and Religion. Boston: Beacon Press, l996.

The Great Bliss Queen

In Anne Klein’s “Chapter 10” study of the Great Bliss Queen, she presents her material in three sections of unequal length. Beginning with her brief biography of Yeshey Tsogyal, Klein proceeds to the second and third sections of her chapter which focus on Yeshey as the Great Bliss Queen in Buddhist texts.

Klein’s biography of Yeshey Tsogyal, based on Great Bliss Queen hagiographical literature, is both entertaining and educational; Yeshey’s life story involves a “hero” of highest degree as well as some exposure to Tibetan Buddhist culture (139). Yeshey Tsogyal, queen of an eighth-century Tibetan king, was seen by Tibetans “as a fully enlightened buddha who appeared as an ordinary Tibetan girl” so that her people could relate to her, visualize her, and reach enlightenment through connecting their visualization with the Nyingma Great Completeness teachings which Yeshey Tsogyal has preserved (Klein 139). Yeshey has several identities; she appears as a daughter in the Karchen family

for the sake of those who, for the time being, do not see her Vajravarahi form as a fully perfected deity. Among the practices of the guru [Padmasambhava] especially intended for Tibetans there are many whose chief deity is [the Great Bliss Queen] Yeshey Tsogyal. (Do-drup-chen III. . .) (139).

In her Vajravarahi form, Yeshey seems too majestically distant for an ordinary person to reach her and feel connected to her; thus, her several identities afford different degrees of her accessibility. The Nyingma tradition of Buddhism, the only Tibetan tradition which bestows the title of Great Bliss Queen upon Yeshey Tsogyal, also identifies her with the Indian goddess of sound, learning and literature, Sarasvati. Additionally, Yeshey is identified with the female bodhisattva, Tara, as well as with the Buddha’s own mother. For Yeshey is a Divine Mother; commonly more accessible in daughter and Mother form than in resplendent Divine form, she is venerated in hagiographical literature for two different reasons, one of them paralleling her human-like appearance and one paralleling her heavenly appearance. Yeshey’s divinity makes her the preserver of the Nyingma tradition, and in her humanness “she is an exemplary religious seeker who triumphs over the most difficult challenges in accomplishing her goal of demonstrating a path to enlightenment” (139).

Characteristic of hero stories, Yeshey’s birth is impressively miraculous, featuring her mother’s experience of painless childbirth and a nearby lake vastly increasing in size -- “hence, perhaps, the name ‘Queen’ (gyal) of the Lake (tso) of Primordial Wisdom (yeshey)” (139-40). Through Klein’s brief overview of Yeshey’s life story, she provides anecdotes reflecting aspects of her human and goddess identities. In Yeshey’s attempts at taking a stand (“to move me was like trying to move a mountain”) against unwanted marriage suitors, she is depicted in “the quintessential narrative of an abused woman”; in another story, Yeshey is safe from all harm while being attacked with diverse weapons (140-1). In the latter anecdote, Klein’s hagiographical literature establishes Yeshey’s divinity by clarifying that she “did not passively endure degradation and worse,” rather “she was beyond danger or discomfort precisely because of her actively cultivated realization” (141). Thus, Yeshey’s advanced stage of enlightenment (“realization”) offers an incentive to religious seekers, inspired by her “model of zestful energy, courage, and perseverance” (140). Classic elements in all Buddhist liberation stories, the three most prominent achievements of Yeshey’s life are: (1) “preserver of the Great Completeness traditions,” (2) “arduous ascetic practices,” and (3) “bringing enlightenment to others through personal instruction and example” (141). Within the generally male context of Buddhist liberation stories, her female presence emerges through her role of “preserver,” paralleling the naturally feminine role of “housekeeper”; however, Yeshey’s job as “sublime housekeeper” is one that both includes and transcends the role of Tibetan housewife (140). While assuming exquisitely female characteristics, Yeshey Tsogyal’s central identity stands utterly equal to the commonly male role of “enlightened buddha” (141). As the Great Bliss Queen, she “has for centuries been a major figure among [the Tibetan Buddhist] Nyingma practitioners” (141).

Following this brief biography, the first of the three main sections of her chapter, Klein’s second section presents “a sample of the hagiographical literature on the Great Bliss Queen” (142). This section begins with excerpts from The Collected Works of Do-drup-chen, translated from

the third Do Drup Chen Rinboche; the title of Klein’s second section reflects the full title of the text from which excerpts were taken, “Notes on the Basic Text for Emulating the Mother Knowledge Bearer, the Great Bliss Queen: A Lamp Clarifying the Good Path of Great Bliss” (142). This hagiographical literature tells of “an accumulation of auspicious circumstances” surrounding the arrival of wise and holy spiritual Masters; among the women (yoginis) of this honorable group was “the one who came to be like the topmost ornament of a victory banner,. . . the noblewoman, Yeshey Tsogyal:

She is the venerable superior Lady Tara, the ruler of all the lotus and action lineages, a sky woman, the actual Vajravarahi, mother of all the buddhas, the basis of emanation who is the source of [other] sky women equal in number to the dust particles of Mount Meru. . . (143).

Yeshey’s identity and power once established, the text further reveals events which unfold out of her compassion for Tibetans; in a prayer petition to the great Lotus Master, she collects and preserves “the doctrine of the secret mantra” in such a way that it cannot be “damaged by humans,

nonhumans, demons, or the elements” (143). Through an excerpt from another Buddhist text, the point is beautifully made in support of Great Bliss Queen Yeshey’s work in preservation and protection; her role may be extended to women’s roles in general, as we observe “that in the world it is the man who seeks wealth and the woman who keeps it safely, both activities being required if wealth is to increase” (140). The idea of sustaining, nourishing feminine power, symbolized by

what is held in the womb, is an idea which receives more development in the third section of Klein’s chapter. Texts of her second section continue to perceive power within a female context; “when taking empowerment” on the path to enlightenment, “one will simultaneously complete all three empowerments [of the three deities. . .], the external [Tsogyal], the internal [Tara], and the secret [Vajravarahi]. Such a phenomenal three-in-one completion “within a single rite” is declared in the Empowerment Text, Blessings of the Mother (144).

Klein’s third section of her chapter consists of passages from the Ra Tik, exemplifying “the Tibetan understanding of . . . [the Great Bliss Queen’s]. . .symbolism and ritual importance:

"They are translated from Ngawang Denzin Dorje (. . . 18th century). . .“Commentary on the Practice Emulating the Sky Woman, the Great Bliss Queen, from the Great Spacious Sphere Heart Essence Tradition of Long-chen-ba”, also known as The Ra Commentary (142)."

Klein further subdivides her third section into three subsections, “select portions from the ritual” which follow commentary on “the refuge prayer of the Yeshey Tsogyal liturgy” (145). The first subsection, “Explanation of the World Vessel, The Environment, as the Spacious Sphere of Five Mother-Consorts,” is a description of Five Element Theory, describing the five elements -- earth, water, fire, wind, space -- as “five families of mother-consorts” (145). This part of the text explains how “all appearances are the expanse of the five mother-consorts,” thus infusing all creation with the presence of feminine energy functioning as source and container.

In Klein’s second subsection of Ra Tik translation, the poetically “spacious sphere” of this feminine energy is developed further into symbology of “the female organ [bhaga] of the Vajra Queen [the Great Bliss Queen]” (146). This “female organ” is the womb, and it is referred to in terms of “the mansion, the sphere of reality,” “the source of phenomena,” “the expanse of reality that is without limits or center,” “the excellent abode,” the source of all buddhas,” “the basis of all coming and going,” “the place of arising of all existents” (146-7). Proportionately minuscule attention is placed upon the male aspect of creation, mentioned only in an explanation of “the glorious wisdom drop [of semen] . . .enlightened in this womb of the mother-consort” (147). Finally, Klein’s second subsection ends with symbology of the most compassionate being -- “sky woman Yeshey Tsogyal, the Great Bliss Queen” -- as free of the flaws incurred from cyclic existence [samsara], just as “the lotus . . . dwells in mud without bearing the faults of mud” (147).

Following a focus on symbolism, the third and final Ra Tik excerpt focuses on the ritual of “Visualizing the Chief Sky Woman/. . . the emanation body [of] Yeshey Tsogyal” (147). The text offers yet another name for Yeshey, one that has been mentioned before but not in reference to the direct statement that “The chief sky wisdom woman/ In the sphere of the truth dimension [is] Samantabhadri. . ., reality, the natural state of the youthful vase body, the internal clear light, the great bliss which possesses the excellence of all aspects” (148-9). Exactly as Klein introduces Yeshey at the beginning of the chapter, this text excerpt emphasizes a threefold path of relationship with and visualization of Yeshey -- in “whatever emanation body will tame any given [person]” -- producing final outcome of enlightenment (148). For the purpose of performing visualization ritual, the text discusses Yeshey’s “pristine” appearance in great detail; rich symbolism is applied to her legs, hands, breasts, face, eyes, jewelry, and absence of clothing (149). Although she has severed all ordinary sense of desire, the expression on her youthful, beautiful face is one of “very great desire, due to the force of her compassion for all living beings who” have not yet awakened into their true selves of enlightened buddhas (148). However, Yeshey is also shown smiling and laughing because she knows the true nature of humans, the true nature which does not include “miserable, mistaken, cyclic existence as its own . . . characteristic” (148). Yeshey’s right hand holds a knife, representing “the generation of blissful wisdom which is the quick path of secret mantra” (149). The words “quick” and “secret” are significant; this is the third time they have appeared in the translated texts chosen by Klein, and they are indicative of an efficient and protected path to enlightenment for Yeshey/The Great Bliss Queen’s disciples. Conclusion of this Ra Tik excerpt emphasizes, above all other parts of her body, Yeshey’s heart; however, as the text becomes increasingly more abstract in majestic description, Yeshey is now in her fully perfected deity form, and “the natural condition of the mind. . . is enlightened, is on the vajra seat of the doctrine wheel in her [the Great Bliss Queen’s] heart” (150). The placing of “mind” in “heart” is the wonderfully Buddhist way of enriching wisdom with love, much the same as “the glorious wisdom drop [of semen is] enlightened” in the “womb” of a compassionate, “mother-consort. . . expanse of reality” (147).

II. Evaluation

Anne Klein’s writing begins with the relatively simple, fascinating biography of a female Buddhist deity but, by the end of the chapter’s primary source presentations, readers may feel overwhelmed by their plunge into a dense thicket of words and concepts. Because “The Great Bliss Queen” is a chapter written by and for those with above-average awareness of Buddhism, the rest of us must fill in multiple gaps of confusion and ignorance as best we can. Although this chapter is filled with poetry, majesty, and incentive to emulate a model of Buddhist perfection, readers risk more frustration than inspiration if they do not have a good grasp on the meanings of voluminous key words. In fact, at least one whole semester could be spent studying the partially and totally unfamiliar words, phrases, and ideas collected from this chapter by a meticulous class. A short list of their collection might include:

Buddhism, Nyingma Great Completeness teachings, Mahayana, Sakyamuni, tathagata, nirvana, samsara, mandala, tantra, dakini, Amitabha, the Adamantine Sow, the Great Lotus Master, Sky Woman, refuge prayer, liturgy, five element theory, enlightenment, liberation, realization, meditation, the middle eye, primordial, emptiness, bliss, pure land, emanation, immutable, aggregates, constituents, the turning of limitless wheels of the doctrine of secret mantra, the 2,002 buddhas of the three times [of this eon] (139-150).

To Klein’s credit, she inserts many bracketed words and several word definitions for helpful clarification; however, without a solid foundation in her subject, even close reading of a sentence may not produce understanding.

III. Wider relevance

In terms of our chapter on “The Great Bliss Queen,” intriguing contrasts appear in the process of comparing Christian doctrine to Buddhist. From this comparative religion study perspective, we can appreciate how humans -- both west and east -- need to connect with a vast, unknowable God; consequently, disciples form relationships with God’s human/divine messengers as a way to reach the unreachable, nonhuman vastness of God. The concept of a three-in-one deity provides a “ladder” upon which to climb to God, starting with the known, human realm of earth and climbing increasingly “higher” into the abstract, unknown, nonhuman realms. Thus, a three-in-one deity of the Christian Trinity appears as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Buddhist Bliss Queen’s three-in-one form consists of Yeshey Tsogyal, Lady Tara, and Vajravarahi (144). Of these three, Yeshey is the only one both human and divine, just as Jesus (even a name with similar sounds) is the only one in His Trinity to be both human and divine. Just as the name of “Jesus” is the sweetest word in the world for Christians, the name of “Yeshey” awakens love in the hearts of her Buddhist disciples; for each religion, these names represent divine humans with whom ordinary people can communicate. On the other hand, in a fundamental difference between religious doctrines, many forms of Christianity teach the principle of original sin whereas Buddhism teaches the opposite; Yeshey is depicted as smiling and laughing because “the essential nature of all living beings is. . .enlightened” and their work is to become more of the perfect person they already are (148).

One of the most profound Christian/Buddhist differences occurs in the area of regard for

women. Only a few centuries ago, Christian attitudes toward women were deeply impacted by the Augustinian teaching that “the body of a man is as superior to that of a woman as the soul is to the body. . . St. Augustine, Contra mendacium, Cited in Boswell, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, p. 157” (Brown 12, 169). Christianity has a long heritage of devaluing women, to the point of believing the male sperm to be the vitality of procreation and the female womb to be merely its inferior receptacle (12). We witness a dramatic contrast in “The Great Bliss Queen” cosmology, which perceives all of creation (the whole “spacious sphere” of “expanse of reality”) to be held within the female deity’s womb (Klein 145). At least in this summarized sample of hagiographical literature on the Great Bliss Queen, Buddhist tradition does honor the masculine presence of the “glorious wisdom drop [of semen]” in the cosmic womb; but, at the same time, this nonChristian perspective lavishes adoration and attention upon the infinite, eternal, “thoroughly perfected body” of the Great Bliss Queen and her “female organ” (womb), while very little is said about men (divine or human). If such value could have been given to women in the Christianized world, Rita Gross would have found no need to wear her T-shirt declaring: “Feminism is the radical proposition that women are human beings [just like men]” (Gross 16-17).