DOCSLIB.ORG

Anis of Dolma Ling: Buddhist Doctrine and Social Praxis Through the Monasticism of Tibetan Nuns in Exile Amy L

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Anis of Dolma Ling: Buddhist Doctrine and Social Praxis Through the Monasticism of Tibetan Nuns in Exile Amy L Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Scripps Senior Theses Scripps Student Scholarship 2009 Anis of Dolma Ling: Buddhist Doctrine and Social Praxis Through the Monasticism of Tibetan Nuns in Exile Amy L. Mann Scripps College Recommended Citation Mann, Amy L., "Anis of Dolma Ling: Buddhist Doctrine and Social Praxis Through the Monasticism of Tibetan Nuns in Exile" (2009). Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 13. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/13 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Scripps Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scripps Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ANIS OF DOLMA LING: NEGOTIATING BUDDHIST DOCTRINE AND SOCIAL PRAXIS THROUGH THE GENDER AND MONASTICISM OF TIBETAN NUNS IN EXILE By AMY L. MANN SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES, SCRIPPS COLLEGE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS PROFESSOR NG PROFESSOR KASSAM PROFESSOR SHAW © Amy L. Mann April 24, 2009 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to thank the nuns of Dolma Ling Nunnery, without whom this research would not be possible. In particular, Anis Champa Dechen, Tenzin Droma, Karma Tsomo, Tenzin Yetga, Kelsang Lhamo, Tenzin Choedon, Sherab Sangmo, Tenzin Choeni, and Tsering Yangpal, for sharing their lives with me. Secondly I would like to thank Rinchen Khando Choegyal and the Tibetan Nuns’ Project, who have done amazing work creating the beautiful space in which these lovely nuns are able to learn and flourish. Also, I would like to thank Dolma Tsering of the TNP for helping me to coordinate interviews, as well as Penpa, for stepping in as a translator when things got tough. Thank you also to Anis Delek Yangki and Champa Dechen for helping to facilitate my stay at the Dolma Ling Guest House. I would also like to thank my three readers Professors Zhiru Ng, Zayn Kassam, and Teresa Shaw, for their guidance and patience in this process. In particular, Zhiru and Professor Kassam, thank you so much for mentoring me these four years. You both have taught me to think deeply and critically about religion, and appreciate the good it has to offer. Lastly, I would like to thank Mom and Dad for their unconditional love and support. Without you two I would never have been able to take part in this awesome journey. Nuns at Dolma Ling. Photograph taken by author. 2 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 4 Chapter 1. Women in Buddhism and Buddhist Texts....................................................... 13 I. Introduction: The Account of the Founding of the Nun’s Order................................ 13 II. Enlightenment: Equal Opportunity?............................................................................ 15 III. Gender as an Immaterial Phenomenon ........................................................................ 24 IV. Dākinīs and the Female Principle: Models for Female Practitioners .......................... 29 V. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2. Women’s Suffering and Renunciation: Severing the Ties of Worldly Existence ................................................................................................................................ 38 I. Introduction................................................................................................................. 38 II. Birth as the Fruits of Karma: Women as Skye Dman and the Embodiment of Suffering ............................................................................................................................. 39 III. Descendents of the Ogress: The Female Body and its Impurity................................. 47 IV. Tibetan Householders’ Perceptions of Nuns .............................................................. 53 V. Reasons for Renunciation: Rejecting Life as a Householder and Bending Oneself Towards the Sacred............................................................................................................. 58 Chapter 3. Experiences of Monasticism and the Nuns of Dolma Ling ............................ 70 I. Existence within the Monastic Gender Hierarchy ...................................................... 70 II. Nuns’ Education and Ordination................................................................................. 81 Chapter 4. Tibetan Nuns’ Views on Gender and............................................................... 96 Its Relation to Self-Realization ............................................................................................ 96 I. Ani Is Like Pumo, But Not Like Laywomen .............................................................. 96 II. Anis v. Monks: Differences in Mind and Body......................................................... 103 III. Revisiting Gender in Buddhism: Their Spiritual Capabilities ................................... 109 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 116 Works Cited......................................................................................................................... 120 Appendices........................................................................................................................... 122 A. List of Interviews...................................................................................................... 122 B. Biographies of Rinchen Khando Choegyal and the Nuns of Dolma Ling........... 123 3 Photograph of Temple at Dolma Ling Nunnery in Sidhpur, H.P. Photograph taken by author. Introduction The figure of the Tibetan Buddhist nun as a female monastic is situated within a matrix of complexities and contradictions that are constituted by textual and doctrinal sources, Tibetan social views on gender and female monasticism, and experiential realities. In order to understand the situation of nuns, one first must understand that monasticism, mainly the order of monks, has been a highly respected and financially supported institution in Tibetan society for centuries. However, because the histories of Tibetan nuns and female renunciants have gone primarily undocumented, their lineages and stories are much more opaque than those of Tibetan monks. Therefore, most of the scholarship on female Buddhist practitioners, with the exception of a few extraordinary yoginis, dates after the Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1950s. Historically it is believed that there were a few great 4 nunneries that existed centuries ago, but the majority of Tibetan nunneries have been smaller and lacking in the lay support and funding granted to monasteries. Currently, however, the landscape of Tibetan nuns is beginning to shift, as new resources and educational opportunities are beginning to be made available for Tibetan nuns in exile. It is on these nuns and nunneries in exile that this thesis will focus. The heart of this thesis is ethnography. I carried out the entirety of my fieldwork at Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute, a branch of the Tibetan Nuns Project in Sidhpur, India, near Dharamsala. Dolma Ling Nunnery is a branch of the Tibetan Nuns Project, which is a non-profit organization that was formed in 1987 by current director Rinchen Khando Choegyal, in order to provide humanitarian aid and education to refugee nuns from Tibet and the surrounding Himalayan regions of India. Since 1987, through international support, the Tibetan Nuns Project has established Shugsep and Dolma Ling nunneries and also assists four other nunneries. Nuns in the six different nunneries represent all of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Moreover, the Tibetan Nuns Project sponsorship program has grown over the years to support over 650 nuns. Dolma Ling Nunnery was the first nunnery built by and fully supported by the Tibetan Nuns Project. The nunnery, which took twelve years to complete, currently houses approximately 250 nuns. The facilities include housing, classrooms, an infirmary, kitchen, dinning hall, library, and temple. Dolma Ling is dedicated to the higher education of Buddhist nuns from all traditions and offers educational programs previously unavailable to nuns. Such programs include philosophical debate and the prestigious geshe degree in Buddhist philosophy, which is the highest scholarly degree available to Tibetan monastics. 5 There are currently approximately five nuns at Dolma Ling working on this degree.1 Moreover, Dolma Ling Nunnery was designed by a Delhi-based architect and aims to be environmentally sustainable. The nunnery works to be self-sustaining, growing most of its own food, and has recently earned funding for a project to install a solar-heated shower system. Dolma Ling also has a number of income-generating projects, which include a vegetable garden, paper-making, and the making of rosaries. All of my interviews at Dolma Ling were conducted between April 20 and May 1, 2008. I met approximately one third of the nuns interviewed at meals in the mess hall or in the kitchen where I volunteered, so I had started to develop a relationship with these nuns before interviewing them. The rest of the interviews were set up with the help of Dolma Tsering of the Tibetan Nuns Project office, who organized
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mahayana Buddhism: the Doctrinal Foundations, Second Edition
    9780203428474_4_001.qxd 16/6/08 11:55 AM Page 1 1 Introduction Buddhism: doctrinal diversity and (relative) moral unity There is a Tibetan saying that just as every valley has its own language so every teacher has his own doctrine. This is an exaggeration on both counts, but it does indicate the diversity to be found within Buddhism and the important role of a teacher in mediating a received tradition and adapting it to the needs, the personal transformation, of the pupil. This divers- ity prevents, or strongly hinders, generalization about Buddhism as a whole. Nevertheless it is a diversity which Mahayana Buddhists have rather gloried in, seen not as a scandal but as something to be proud of, indicating a richness and multifaceted ability to aid the spiritual quest of all sentient, and not just human, beings. It is important to emphasize this lack of unanimity at the outset. We are dealing with a religion with some 2,500 years of doctrinal development in an environment where scho- lastic precision and subtlety was at a premium. There are no Buddhist popes, no creeds, and, although there were councils in the early years, no attempts to impose uniformity of doctrine over the entire monastic, let alone lay, establishment. Buddhism spread widely across Central, South, South-East, and East Asia. It played an important role in aiding the cultural and spiritual development of nomads and tribesmen, but it also encountered peoples already very culturally and spiritually developed, most notably those of China, where it interacted with the indigenous civilization, modifying its doctrine and behaviour in the process.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms'
    H-Buddhism Ohnuma on Clarke, 'Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms' Review published on Thursday, September 18, 2014 Shayne Neil Clarke. Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2014. xiii + 275 pp. $52.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8248-3647-4. Reviewed by Reiko Ohnuma (Dartmouth University) Published on H-Buddhism (September, 2014) Commissioned by Daniel A. Arnold In recent decades—thanks in large part to the voluminous and influential work of Gregory Schopen—scholarship in South Asian Buddhist studies has paid more and more attention to the social history of Indian Buddhism, or Buddhism as lived and practiced “on the ground” in India.[1] Shayne Clarke’s cleverly titled Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms—a substantially revised version of his 2006 PhD dissertation (written under Schopen’s supervision)[2]—makes a major contribution to this trend and establishes definitively that family did indeed matter, far more than has previously been supposed, to Buddhist monks and nuns in premodern India. Exemplifying the meticulous, multilingual scholarship, the careful argumentation, and the copious footnotes of his mentor, Clarke marshals an impressive body of evidence from all six complete texts of the vinaya[3] (with some support provided by epigraphical evidence), to argue that the common scholarly perception of the Buddhist monk or nun as one who has severed all familial ties is simply “not supported by the preponderance of our premodern evidence” (p. 3). In chapter 1, “The Rhinoceros in the Room: Monks and Nuns and Their Families,” Clarke first demonstrates the pervasiveness of the common scholarly misperception of an anti-familial monastic through a brief review of early, later, and contemporary scholarly sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Chawla 1 the Female Renunciant in Exile
    Chawla 1 The Female Renunciant in Exile: (Re-)Invention, Translation, Empowerment1 Abstract Through a focus on the Tibetan Nuns Project (TNP) founded in 1987, my paper argues that exile in India necessitated a translation of “Tibetan culture” for patrons and potential sponsors of the putative “Tibetan cause” in Europe and North America, which in turn led to pedagogical and curricular innovations in Tibetan nunneries. This has led to a re-imagination of the role of the female monastic within Tibetan nationalist culture: from a relatively marginal position (vis-à-vis monks), nuns now occupy a prominent place as ambassadors for the Tibetan cause. Mass migration led to innovations, inventions, and improvisations within Tibetan society in exile regarding the role of women in general, and religious women in particular. Through an analysis of the TNP, this paper asks how migration has occasioned a rethinking among Tibetans about gender relations within their society, and the ways in which a three-generation long stay in India has contributed to this rethinking. A second related enquiry is about the translation of western feminism in Tibetan Buddhist contexts, both through the initiatives of TNP office bearers such as Elizabeth Napper and Phillipa Russell, as well as through TNP’s participation in the worldwide rethinking of women’s roles in the Buddhist sangha. Finally, I explore what empowerment means in movements for gender-equality within TNP nunneries, and ask if these are based on a misreading of these non-Western monastic traditions in Judeo-Christian terms. I make a case for approaching Tibetan exile in India beyond the prism of forced dislocation and loss, and argue that exile became an opportunity for Tibetan Buddhist nuns to reconfigure their position in Tibetan society.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Religious Culture No
    relkultur27-07 Lobsang Dechen: Systematic Education in Dolma Ling Leading to Gender Equality. Internationales Symposium: Frauen im Buddhismus, 7.-9. Febr. 1997, Frankfurt am Main. Journal of Religious Culture No. 27-07 (1999) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal of Religious Culture Journal für Religionskultur Ed. by / Hrsg. Von Edmund Weber Institute for Irenics / Institut für Wissenschaftliche Irenik Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main ISSN 1434-5935- © E.Weber ______________________________________________________________________________________________ No. 27-07 (1999) Systematic Education in Dolma Ling Leading to Gender Equality By Ven. Lobsang Dechen, Project Coordinator, Tibetan Nuns Project, Dharamsala, India The primary aim in establishing Dolma Ling Institute is to raise the education standard and improve the opportunity for nuns to study advanced Buddhist philosophy and doctrine. During the Tibetan Women's Association fourth working committee meeting in Dharamsala in October, 1992, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, " In our society , we have as a legacy from the past the notion that nuns engage in ritual only and do not study Buddhist texts. This should be changed." His Holiness has in this way been urging the nuns to study higher Buddhist philosophy, in order to gain a deeper knowledge of Buddhism. Whenever His Holiness visits the Tibetan nunneries, he takes the opportunity to ecourage them to study. Dolma Ling Institute is specifically non sectarian and intented to provide nuns from all lineages with the opportunity to study to develop their full academic and spiritual potential. The crucial purpose of the overall project is to allow scholastically gifted nuns to attain the highest level of religious studies, that is the Geshe degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Tibetan Nuns Debate for Dalai Lama
    PO Box 6483, Ithaca, NY 14851 607-273-8519 WINTER 1996 Newsletter and Catalog Supplement Tibetan Nuns Debate for Dalai Lama NAMGYAL INSTITUTE by Thubten Chodron I began hearing rumors the At 4PM nuns, monks, and Enters New Phase morning of Sunday, October 8th laypeople gathered in the court- that nuns were going to debate in yard. The nuns were already debat- the courtyard in front of the main ing on one side, and their voices of Development temple in Dharamsala and that His and clapping hands, a mark of de- Holiness the Dalai Lama was to be bate as done in Tibetan Buddhism, Spring 1996 will mark the end Lama. The monks have received a • Obtain health insurance for the there to observe. There were many filled the place. Suddenly there was of the fourth full year of operation wide and popular reception Namgyal monks, none of whom nuns in McLeod Gam' at the time; a hush and the nuns who had been and the beginning of a new phase throughout the U.S. and Canada, currently have health insurance. the major nunneries in India and debating went onto the stage in the of development for the Institute of and there is an ever-growing circle • Fund a full-time paid adminis- Nepal were having their first ever "pavilion" where His Holiness' seat Buddhist Studies established by of students at the Institute in trator. Our two administrators inter-nunnery debate. The fact that was. His Holiness soon came out, Namgyal Monastery in North Ithaca, confirming the validity of have each put in forty hours per the best nun debaters had^athered the nuns prostrated and were America.
    [Show full text]
  • The Systematic Dynamics of Guru Yoga in Euro-North American Gelug-Pa Formations
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2012-09-13 The systematic dynamics of guru yoga in euro-north american gelug-pa formations Emory-Moore, Christopher Emory-Moore, C. (2012). The systematic dynamics of guru yoga in euro-north american gelug-pa formations (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28396 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/191 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Systematic Dynamics of Guru Yoga in Euro-North American Gelug-pa Formations by Christopher Emory-Moore A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2012 © Christopher Emory-Moore 2012 Abstract This thesis explores the adaptation of the Tibetan Buddhist guru/disciple relation by Euro-North American communities and argues that its praxis is that of a self-motivated disciple’s devotion to a perceptibly selfless guru. Chapter one provides a reception genealogy of the Tibetan guru/disciple relation in Western scholarship, followed by historical-anthropological descriptions of its practice reception in both Tibetan and Euro-North American formations.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Nuns' Ordination in the Mūlasarvāstivāda
    Journal of Buddhist Ethics ISSN 1076-9005 http://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics/ Volume 23, 2016 Buddhist Nuns’ Ordination in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Tradition: Two Possible Approaches Bhikṣuṇī Jampa Tsedroen Academy of World Religions, University of Hamburg Copyright Notice: Digital copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no change is made and no alteration is made to the content. Reproduction in any other format, with the exception of a single copy for private study, requires the written permission of the author. All en- quiries to: [email protected]. Buddhist Nuns’ Ordination in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Tradition: Two Possible Approaches Bhikṣuṇī Jampa Tsedroen1 Abstract This article examines the possibilities of reviving the Mūlasarvāstivāda lineage of fully ordained nuns (bhikṣuṇī). It explores two ways to generate a “flawless and perfect” Mūlasarvāstivāda bhikṣuṇī vow, either by Mūlasarvāsti- vāda monks alone or by Mūlasarvāstivāda monks with Dharmaguptaka nuns (“ecumenical” ordination). The first approach is based on a Vinaya passage which traditionally 1 Academy of World Religions and Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, University of Hamburg. Email: [email protected]. I am indebted to Bhikkhu Anālayo, Petra Kieffer-Pülz and D. Diana Finnegan for commenting on an earlier version of this article. My special thanks go to Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Smith College (USA), who visited our Academy during the fall semester 2015/16. He kindly took the time to comment on the text and gave me his support with the pre-final editing. I am also very grateful to Ann Heirman for her final review, to Kimberly Crow for her help with proofreading and editing earlier ver- sions of the text and to Monika Deimann-Clemens for her help with final proofreading.
    [Show full text]
  • A Historical and Comparative Analysis of Renunciation and Celibacy in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms
    Going Against the Grain: A Historical and Comparative Analysis of Renunciation and Celibacy in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms Phramaha Sakda Hemthep Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Master of Philosophy Cardiff School of History, Archeology and Religion Cardiff University August 2014 i Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… STATEMENT 1 This dissertation is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MPhil. Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… STATEMENT 2 This dissertation is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A Bibliography is appended. Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… STATEMENT 3 I confirm that the electronic copy is identical to the bound copy of the dissertation Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… STATEMENT 4 I hereby give consent for my dissertation, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… STATEMENT 5 I hereby give consent for my dissertation, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by the Graduate Development Committee. Signed …………………………… (Phramaha Sakda Hemthep) Date ………31/08/2014….…… ii Acknowledgements Given the length of time it has taken me to complete this dissertation, I would like to take this opportunity to record my sense of deepest gratitude to numerous individuals and organizations who supported my study, not all of whom are mentioned here.
    [Show full text]
  • Learn Tibetan & Study Buddhism
    fpmt Mandala BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS JANUARY - MARCH 2013 His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Kurukulla Center Nepal: ‘The Most Holy Place in the World’ THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION Wisdom Publications The Leader in Classic and Contemporary Buddhist Works From His Holiness the Dalai Lama We are proud to be the leading publisher of English-language texts by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE THE MIDDLE WAY THE MEANING OF LIFE SLEEPING, DREAMING 128 pages | $11.95 Faith Grounded in Reason Buddhist Perspectives on AND DYING Translated by Thupten Jinpa Cause and Effect An Exploration of Hardcover | 200 pages | $19.95 Translated by Jeffrey Hopkins Consciousness Foreword by Richard Gere Edited by Francisco J. Varela 164 pages | $15.95 264 pages | $16.95 “Unbelievably simple and unbelievably important.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn “A truly inspiring book.” —Mandala “Studded with jewels.” “Stimulating and —Shambhala Sun informative.” —The Tibet Journal Gift Books for All No matter what the occasion, these books make the perfect gift for anyone...including yourself! LIKE A YETI CATCHING TIBETAN HOW TO BE HAPPY WHEN THE CHOCOLATE WISDOM ENERGY MARMOTS CALLIGRAPHY Lama Zopa Rinpoche RUNS OUT Basic Buddhist A Little Treasury of How to Write the Hardcover | 144 pages | $9.95 Lama Yeshe Teachings Tibetan Proverbs Alphabet and More Hardcover | 176 pages | $9.95 Lama Yeshe and Pema Tsewang, Sanje Elliott Lama Zopa Rinpoche Shastri Foreword by 160 pages | $15.95
    [Show full text]
  • Access to the Monkhood and Social Mobility in Traditional Tibet
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Institutional Repository 神戸市外国語大学 学術情報リポジトリ Selection at the Gate: Access to the Monkhood and Social Mobility in Traditional Tibet 著者 Jansen Berthe journal or Journal of Research Institute : Historical publication title Development of the Tibetan Languages volume 51 page range 137-164 year 2014-03-01 URL http://id.nii.ac.jp/1085/00001780/ Creative Commons : 表示 - 非営利 - 改変禁止 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.ja Selection at the Gate: Access to the Monkhood and Social Mobility in Traditional Tibet Berthe Jansen Leiden University Introduction1 Tibetan society before 1959 is often seen as highly stratified and hierarchical, offering limited opportunities to climb the socio-economic or socio-political ladder. In the 1920s, Charles Bell estimated that of the 175 rtse drung – the monastic government officials at the Dga’ ldan pho brang – forty were from families that supplied the lay-officials (drung ’khor), but that the rest of the people were the sons of ordinary Tibetans who were chosen from among the many monks of the Three Seats (’Bras spungs, Se ra, and Dga’ ldan) (Bell 1931: 175). This, along with other similar examples, is often seen as evidence that social mobility in Tibet was possible, but that becoming a monk was a first, necessary requirement to move up in life for those from a ‘working class’ background. Bell furthermore noted that: ‘Among the laity it is wellnigh impossible in this feudal land for a man of low birth to rise to a high position; but a monk, however humble his parentage, may attain to almost any eminence’ (ibid.: 169).
    [Show full text]
  • Ladakh Info & Itinerary
    Ladakh Pilgrimage August 2-18, 2020 (17 Days) Dr. Miles Neale & Local Guests BREIF OVERVIEW Julley! (Greetings in Ladakhi). This 17-day pilgrimage takes us to Ladakh (aka “Little Tibet”) in the Himalayan region of Northern India where we will be immersed in Tibetan Buddhism, along with a host of Ladakhi cultural practices including traditional medicine, divination, astrology, ritual, art and eco-sustainability. Ladakh offers a unique time capsule for life as it once was in Tibet before the invasion by China and we are so fortunate to catch a glimpse of this mystical land and its people. Dr. Miles Neale leads this trip in partnership with our local tour operator Tsewang Gonbo of Lungta Travels and featuring local guest teachers, scholars, healers and more who will showcase an insider perspective of Ladakhi culture and sacred practices. The pilgrimage doubles as a fundraiser in collaboration with the Tibetan Nuns Project (www.tnp.org) to support the nuns of Dorjee Zong Nunnery in nearby Zanskar. Each pilgrim will commit to raising at least $500 USD before we embark, thereby exercising the principle of generosity that is the engine of the path to awakening. We are limited to 20 spots, in addition to the CSP team. After the pilgrimage we are offering a special seven-day extension to Zanskar to meet the nuns of Dorjee Zong Nunnery. Dr. Miles Neale | Contemplative Psychology, PC | +1-917-750-3594 | [email protected] 2 TOUR DESCRIPTION To reach Ladakh we will travel in stages. All pilgrims will meet in New Delhi, India on August 2, 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhism and the Formation of the Religious Body
    MALCOLM VOYCE Buddhism and the formation of the religious body A Foucauldian approach Introduction Western conceptions of the body have often prejudiced our understanding of the body in Buddhist thought. We are often inclined, as Andrew Tuck has noted, to engage in a kind of isogesis, a kind of reading into texts values that reveal as much about ourselves as interpreters as it does about the text be- ing examined (Tuck 1990: 9–10). I suggest these projections include ideas about monasticism, the transition from ‘Hinayana to Mahayana’, the notion of the authority of the Buddha in regard to his disciples, and the conception of the Vinaya as ‘law’. Along with this list of topics we may also include the ‘body’. The terms and issues I have listed reflect preoccupations of the modern age and are too often burdened with modernist meanings to be of much use (Reynolds 2005: 226).1 Some dominant discourses in Western society have often emphasized the body as a physically and biologically given fact, to be understood like other ‘natural’ phenomena, through empirical investigation (Wright 2000: 1). The body in certain readings has been constructed as a caricature of the true inner being as a volatile animal with the soul as its prisoner (Bordo 2004: 3). For instance Plato in the Phaedo saw the passions of the body as a distraction to the philosopher.2 Augustine emphasised the animal aspect of human nature and by contrast seventeenth century thought saw the body as a programmed system that could be controlled (Bordo 2004: 4). Poststructuralist debates around the body (Foucault 1977, Bordo 1990, Grosz 1994) have demonstrated how our knowledge of the body is consti- tuted in specific cultural and historical circumstances and in the context of particular relations of power.
    [Show full text]