Legitimizing Legitimization: Tārā’s Assimilation of Masculine Qualities in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and the Feminist ‘Reclaiming’ of Theological Discourse
This essay examines how Tārā ‘reclaims’ the discourse of enlightenment for Buddhist women and feminist theologians. Despite universal concern for the liberation of all beings, Buddhahood in mainstream texts and narratives was confined to male deities and masters, or females that switched their gende...
| Τόπος έκδοσης: | Feminist theology |
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| Κύριος συγγραφέας: | |
| Τύπος μέσου: | Ηλεκτρονική πηγή Άρθρο |
| Γλώσσα: | Αγγλικά |
| Έλεγχος διαθεσιμότητας: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Φόρτωση...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Έκδοση: |
Sage
2014
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| Στο/Στη: |
Feminist theology
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| Άλλες λέξεις-κλειδιά: | B
Vajrayāna <μοτίβο>
B Tibetan Buddhism B Gender Identity B Tārā B Mahāyāna |
| Διαθέσιμο Online: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Σύνοψη: | This essay examines how Tārā ‘reclaims’ the discourse of enlightenment for Buddhist women and feminist theologians. Despite universal concern for the liberation of all beings, Buddhahood in mainstream texts and narratives was confined to male deities and masters, or females that switched their genders in their final rebirth. Furthermore, Tārā’s senior male bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mañjuśrî, overwhelmingly monopolized compassion and wisdom as the latters’ embodiments. This study proposes how Tārā’s theology gradually came to distinguish her from her male colleagues and reclaim the state of Buddhahood. Tārā is an unequivocally female Buddha in Vajrayāna Buddhism because she has managed to assimilate these theological virtues that were essentially reserved as masculine, correcting them as genderless qualities without identity. Tārā’s legitimization sets a concrete precedent for the title of ‘Buddha’ to be included amongst the categories of feminine faith and practice. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5189 |
| Περιλαμβάνει: | Enthalten in: Feminist theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0966735013507853 |