Conceiving the Mother of Tibet : The Early Literary Lives of the Buddhist Saint Yeshe Tsogyel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Liang, Jue.

Series:

AAR Religion, Culture, and History Series

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (233 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2026.

Summary:

Conceiving the Mother of Tibet is about the most important female saint of Tibetan Buddhism, Yeshe Tsogyel, and how her literary tradition came into being. It proposes a new methodology of studying gender in Buddhism that calls attention to the many layers of gender identity in Buddhist discourses. It also utilizes recently published Tibetan texts that have yet to be translated and studied in depth, contributing new insights into our understanding of Tibetan Buddhism in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Series

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Early Lives of Yeshe Tsogyel

Technical Notes

Introduction

So, Who Was Yeshe Tsogyel?

Place and Time: Central Tibet in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries

Remembrance and Revelation of the Imperial Past

Theoretical, Methodological, and Ethical Concerns

Finding Women's Literary Presence

Contextualizing Gender in Tibetan Buddhism

Literary Actors and the Social Logic of a Text

Liberation Philology

Chapter Outline

1 The Literary World of Yeshe Tsogyel

From the Margin of Buddhist Histories: Early Mentions of Yeshe Tsogyel

Pre-fourteenth Century Histories

Yeshe Tsogyel in Early Treasure Literature

Post-fourteenth Century Narratives about Yeshe Tsogyel

The Two Early Lives of Yeshe Tsogyel

Other Narrative Texts and Paratextual Narratives

The Names of Yeshe Tsogyel

2 The Female Inferiority Complex: Questioning Women's Access to Buddhist Teachings

Zhulen in the Nyingma Treasure Tradition

Description of Yeshe Tsogyel as a Disciple

Lamenting Women's Inferior Birth

Female Inferiority as a Real Concern

Female Inferiority as a Narrative Performance

Conclusion

3 Sublimation of Sexuality: Worldly Intimacy, Therapeutic Aid, or Path to Enlightenment?

The Preliminaries: Deal with Your Ex Before You Become a Consort

The Story

Sublimating Worldly Intimacy

The Identity: Consorts as Nuns

Not All Consorts Are Nuns

Good Consort, Bad Consort

The Goals: Soteriological, Hermeneutical, and Therapeutic

Consort Practice as a Vehicle to Liberation

The Role of Consort in Treasure Revelation

The Healing Power of Consort Practice

Conclusions: Toward a Theory of Treasure Consortship.

4 A Harmless Demoness and a Childless Mother: Womanhood as Myth in the Nyingma Imagination

Defining the Khandroma

Indian Precedents

Tibetan Developments: Khandroma in the Nyingma Religious Landscape

A Taxonomy of Khandromas

The Khandroma Myth

A Demoness that No Longer Needs Subjugation: Three Stories

An Agent Without Agency?

A Childless Mother

(In)conclusions: The Paradox of Female Enlightenment

Fuzzy Femininities and Muddled Memories: In Lieu of a (Neat) Conclusion

Appendix Spellings of Tibetan Names and Terms

Notes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Liang, Jue Conceiving the Mother of Tibet

ISBN:

9780197800089

OCLC:

1587895884