ASIAN 4455 - Gendering Enlightenment: Attitudes Toward Women in Buddhist Traditions

(Crosslisted)
(also RELST 4455)(GHB) (CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequiste: one course in Asian religions.

D. Boucher.

Women have from the beginning been integral members of Buddhist traditions. But their voices have often been silenced by male clergy. This course will explore ways in which images of women and the feminine have been manipulated within normative literature to serve a variety of ends. We will also look at the lives of real Buddhist women in premodern and contemporary times as we think about the complex ways women have made space for their own interests. (RL)