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Recommended further reading

Recommended further reading

Blossoms of the Dharma book cover.

From Blossoms of the Dharma: Living as a Buddhist Nun, published in 1999. This book, no longer in print, gathered together some of the presentations given at the 1996 Life as a Buddhist Nun conference in Bodhgaya, India.

Vinaya

Bhikkhu, Thanissaro. The Buddhist Monastic Code. 1994. For free distribution, write to: The Abbot, Metta Forest Monastery, P.O. Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082, USA.

Chodron, Thubten, ed. Preparing for Ordination: Reflections for Westerners Considering Monastic Ordination in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition. Seattle: Life as a Western Buddhist Nun, 1997. For free distribution, write to Sravasti Abbey, 692 Country Lane, Newport Wa 99156, USA.

The Daily Requisites of Vinaya, English translator unknown. Taiwan: The Committee of Religious Affairs Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Order, 1998.

Dhirasekera, Jotiya. Buddhist Monastic Discipline. Sri Lanka: Ministry of Higher Education Research Publication Series, 1982.

The Essentials of the Rules of Discipline for Sramanera and Sramanerikas. English translator unknown. Taiwan: The Committee of Religious Affairs Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Order, 1998.

Gyatso, Tenzin. Advice from Buddha Shakyamuni Concerning a Monk’s Discipline. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1982.

Hanh, Thich Nhat. For a Future to Be Possible. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1993.

Hirakawa, Akira. Monastic Discipline for the Buddhist Nuns. Patna, Tokyo: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institution, 1982.

Horner, I. B. Book of the Discipline (Vinaya-Pitaka). Pts. 1-4 of Sacred Books of the Buddhists. London: Pali Text Society, 1983. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd, 1982.

Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn, trans. The Bhikkhuni Patimokkha of the Six Schools. Bangkok: Thammasat University Press, 1991.

Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn. A Comparative Study of Bhikkhuni Patimokkha. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Orientalia, 1984.

Mohoupt, Fran, ed. Sangha. Kathmandu, Nepal: International Mahayana Institute. ( P.O. Box 817).

The Profound Path of Peace, no. 12 (Feb. 1993). Write to: International Kagyu Sangha Association c/o Gampo Abbey, Pleasant Bay, N.S. BOE 2PO, Canada.

Rhys Davids, T. W. and Herman Oldenberg, trans. Vinaya Texts. Pts. 1-3. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1990.

Tegchok, Geshe. Monastic Rites. London: Wisdom Publications, 1985.

Theravada Bhikkhuni Vinaya. Vol. 3 of Vinaya Pitaka. Pali Text Society.

Tsedroen, Jampa. A Brief Survey of the Vinaya. Hamburg: Dharma Edition, 1992.

Tsering, Tashi and Philippa Russell. “An Account of the Buddhist Ordination of Women.” Cho-Yang 1.1 (1986): 21-30. Dharamsala: Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe. Sisters in Solitude: Two Traditions of Monastic Ethics for Women. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

Upsak, C. S. Dictionary of Early Buddhist Monastic Terms. Varanasi: Bharati Prakashan, 1975.

Wijayaratna, Mohan. Buddhist Monastic Life According to the Texts of the Theravada Tradition. Trans. Claude Grangier and Steven Collins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Wu Yin. Teachings on the Dharmagupta Bhikshuni Pratimoksa. Given at Life as a Western Buddhist Nun. For audio tapes, write to Hsiang Kuang Temple, 49-1 Nei-pu, Chu-chi, Chia-I County 60406, Taiwan.

Women and Buddhism

Allione, Tsultrim. Women of Wisdom. Arkana, NY: Routledge, 1986.

Arat, Paula. Zen Nuns: Living Treasures of Japanese Buddhism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1993.

Bartholomeusz, Tessa. Women Under the Bo Tree, Buddhist Nuns in Sri Lanka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Batchelor, Martine. Walking on Lotus Flowers. San Francisco: Thorsons/HarperCollins, 1996.

Cabezon, Jose Ignacio, ed. Buddhism, Sexuality and Gender. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Chang, Pao. Biographies of Buddhist Nuns. Trans. Li Jung-hsi. Osaka: Tohokai, Inc., 1981.

Chodron, Thubten. Spiritual Sisters. Singapore: Dana Promotion, 1995.

Dresser, Marianne. Buddhist Women on the Edge. Ithaca NY: North Atlantic Books

Falk, Nancy Auer. “The Case of the Vanishing Nuns: The Fruits of Ambivalence in Ancient Indian Buddhism.” In Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives in Non-Western Cultures. Edited by Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross. Harper & Row Publishers, 1980.

Findlay, Ellison, ed. Women’s Buddhism, Buddhism’s Women. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

Giac, Thich Man. “Establishment of the Bhiksuni Order in Vietnam.” Dharma Voice (Quarterly Bulletin of the College of Buddhist Studies) 3 (1988): 20-22. Los Angeles.

Gross, Rita. Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Havnevik, Hanna. Tibetan Buddhist Nuns: History, Cultural Norm, and Social Reality. Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1989.

Horner, I. B. Women Under Primitive Buddhism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 1990.

Kabilsingh, Chatsumarn. Thai Women in Buddhism. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991.

Khema, Ayya. I Give You My Life: The Autobiography of a Western Buddhist Nun. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1998.

Klein, Anne. Meeting the Great Bliss Queen. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.

Mackenzie, Vicki. Cave in the Snow. Great Britain: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998.

Murcott, Susan, trans. The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentary on the Therigatha. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991.

Norman, K.R., trans. The Elders’ Verses II Therigatha. London: Luzac and Co. Ltd., 1966.

Paul, Diana Y. Women in Buddhism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Piyadassi, Thera. The Virgin’s Eye. Singapore: Samadhi Buddhist Society, 1980.

Rhys Davids, Caroline, trans. Psalms of the Sisters. London: Oxford University Press Warehouse, 1909.

Sakyadhita newletter. Past issues available from: Ven. Lekshe Tsomo, 400 Honbron Lane, #2615, Honolulu, HI 96815, USA.

Tsai, Kathryn. Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the 4th to 6th Centuries. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Buddhism Through American Women’s Eyes. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1995.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Buddhist Women Across Cultures: Realizations. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1988.

Tsomo, Karma Lekshe, ed. Swimming Against the Stream: Innovative Buddhist Women. London: Curzon Press, 1999.

Willis, Janice D., ed. Feminine Ground, Essays on Women and Tibet. Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1989.

Women and Buddhism.Spring Wind – Buddhist Cultural Forum. Vol. 6, nos. 1-3 (1986). Toronto: Zen Lotus Society.

Yasodhara (formerly NIBWA) newsletter. Past issues available from: Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University, Bangkok 10200, Thailand.

Women and Buddhism: Web resources

The Committee for Bhiksuni Ordination in the Tibetan Tradition. Web. 5 Feb. 2015.

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.