Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism
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- Create Date：2022-08-02 04:41:53
- Update Date：2025-09-23
- Status：finish
- Author：Miranda Shaw
- ISBN：0691235597
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Summary
The now-classic exploration of the role of women and the feminine in Buddhist Tantra
The crowning cultural achievement of medieval India， Tantric Buddhism is known in the West primarily for the sexual practices of its adherents， who strive to transform erotic passion into spiritual bliss。 Historians of religion have long held that this attempted enlightenment was for men only， and that women in the movement were at best marginal and subordinated and at worst degraded and exploited。 In Passionate Enlightenment， Miranda Shaw argues to the contrary and presents extensive evidence of the outspoken and independent female founders of the Tantric movement and their creative role in shaping its distinctive vision of gender relations and sacred sexuality。 Including a new preface by the author， this Princeton Classics edition makes an essential work available for new audiences。
The crowning cultural achievement of medieval India， Tantric Buddhism is known in the West primarily for the sexual practices of its adherents， who strive to transform erotic passion into spiritual bliss。 Historians of religion have long held that this attempted enlightenment was for men only， and that women in the movement were at best marginal and subordinated and at worst degraded and exploited。 In Passionate Enlightenment， Miranda Shaw argues to the contrary and presents extensive evidence of the outspoken and independent female founders of the Tantric movement and their creative role in shaping its distinctive vision of gender relations and sacred sexuality。 Including a new preface by the author， this Princeton Classics edition makes an essential work available for new audiences。
Reviews
Mahayana Dugast
，
To me the best book I read on the subject （tantric history）Miranda Shaw actually set about to learn Sanskrit to read and then translated her findings， and long behold， it turns out that quite a lot [of female-sounding syllables] had been omitted from history！ Why am I not surprised？！ Amazing book。
Catherine Pawasarat
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Miranda Shaw's book Passionate Enlightenment covers material about women in Tantric Buddhism that， alas， I haven't read or heard of anywhere else。 The book is a dry， fairly academic read， and makes important contributions to this field。 In particular she make a powerful examination of the broad assumption that Tantric practitioners and teachers were predominately men， who simply "found" almost random women to practice with。 As a multi-decade， female practitioner， I was stunned to realize how I t Miranda Shaw's book Passionate Enlightenment covers material about women in Tantric Buddhism that， alas， I haven't read or heard of anywhere else。 The book is a dry， fairly academic read， and makes important contributions to this field。 In particular she make a powerful examination of the broad assumption that Tantric practitioners and teachers were predominately men， who simply "found" almost random women to practice with。 As a multi-decade， female practitioner， I was stunned to realize how I too had bought into this blatantly irrational assumption。 A Tantric practitioner needs to be skilled to successful undertake advanced practices， so there must have been many skilled female practitioners。 With observations like this， Shaw deserves our appreciation for shining some light on the darkness of our collective ignorance。 。。。more
Maerin Renee
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A thorough， historical introduction to the role of women in Tantric Buddhism。
Dw66
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It's pretty heady and a little historical It's pretty heady and a little historical 。。。more
Carrie
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Great book。 Brings tantric Buddhism alive。
Jackson
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Shaw's work， while flawed in many respects， does a great job at uncovering the lives of women in Buddhist Tantra。 She has shown that women were participants in Tantric practice， even though they probably weren't as common as she suggests。This book is very dated。 At close to 20 years old it's almost pre-historic since the last 20 years has shown an explosion of new work that has shown critical and insightful light on the subject。 It would be very naive to just read this one book and believe that Shaw's work， while flawed in many respects， does a great job at uncovering the lives of women in Buddhist Tantra。 She has shown that women were participants in Tantric practice， even though they probably weren't as common as she suggests。This book is very dated。 At close to 20 years old it's almost pre-historic since the last 20 years has shown an explosion of new work that has shown critical and insightful light on the subject。 It would be very naive to just read this one book and believe that one "knows" what Tantra is really about。 This book absolutely has to be balanced by many others to give it context。 I would suggest The Power of Tantra by Hugh Urban and Indian Esoteric Buddhism by Ronald Davidson。Her sections that talk about what Tantra "is" are among the most unsatisfactory， as her narrative is really just oversexualized California Tantra dressed up as an authentic tradition from an exotic place。 As I stated before， this book absolutely requires familiarity with other opinions to give one background knowledge and depth perception。 Only then， as a truly informed reader， can one read this book and know what she's critiquing and how she is or is not providing adequate arguments against it。This may be lost on uninformed readers， but Shaw's assertion that this work is based mostly on Pala era Indian works is completely disingenuous and false。 If one pays attention， she only ever cites Tibetan sources。 Her citations of Indian sources， when they do occur， are just from secondary sources， which makes one wonder if she has any knowledge of Sanskrit beyond key terms。 As such any claim that this work is based on Indian works is a cynical insult to conscientious and ethical scholarship。All that being said， this book is excellent for challenging one's own assumptions， even if many of Shaw's are just as unsubstantiated as the ones she critiques。 。。。more
Lesley
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I found this read a refreshing and convincing argument on behalf of the importance and potential of women within the historical and philospohical framework of Buddhist tradition。
Kay Baird
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