For a good time, read “Passionate Enlightenment” by Miranda Shaw.
No, seriously. I know it sounds a little like something you’d read on the inside of a stall at a public restroom, but after reading it a few times, I still find myself walking away feeling that much more compassionate and empowered. Shaw not only outlines the Tantric approach to Buddhism, but she does so from historical female scholarship. I’m not the only person in the world who has noticed that waaaayyyyy too much religious doctrine had been penned by men, and therefore have varying degrees of testosterone filters installed. “Passionate Enlightenment” offers something quite unique – a gynocentric POV in Tantric Buddhism (what has been criticized as blatantly misogynistic by other scholars). And to a loud Buddhist feminista like myself, this is music to my ears.
The flow of Shaw’s writings follows women in Tantric theory, to the women adepts in Tantric circles, to the women founders in Tantric history, and what is outlined in the Buddha-Tantras how to treat a woman (she adamently states that intimacy is a path to enlightenment, very Left-Hand Path here where renunciates might be taken aback at first glance).
An excerpt from the book that brilliantly describes the Spontaneous Jewellike Yogini:
Like the jewel that is her namesake, the illustrious yogini has many facets. She is a visionary revealer of Tantric teachings received in deep meditatitive state. She is a skilled rhetorician who dazzles her audience with a sensuous and exuberant vision of Tantric sexuality. She is a homileticist who motivates her audience to religious discipline, exhorting them that worldly pleasures are impermanent and ultimately unsatisfying. She is a subtle philosopher who spins and unravels the theoretical intricacies of her position…..
See? How fucking awesome is that?
Anyway, the book is far more worth than the $15.00 or so that I paid for it. It is exquisite, daring, and illustrious. For this moment in time, it is my personal Tantric feminist Bible, and it calls me to courageously access the Bodhisattva to help others in my uniquely womanly way.
Happy reading!!
Thank you for sharing that. I think I’m going to go look for it. I need a new good book to read. ^_^
No problem, my dear. It’s not a dry read by any means, although one probably would do well if one is familiar with sanskrit lettering and pronunciation. There’s a whole lot of that in there, so hopefully that won’t prove to be distracting.
But it’s not that long. I finished the book the first time through in a few days. But I admit to being quite “passionate” about it and grew quickly attached.