When the Buddha Was a Woman
Reimagining Tradition in the Theravāda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12800830 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Karen Derris (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 29-44 |
| Publication date | 2008-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1553-3913 • E-ISSN: 8755-4178 |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/fsr.2008.24.2.29 |
| OpenAlex | W1971680947 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
Buddhist women are reclaiming Buddhist textual traditions as one strategy for improving status and opportunities in their communities. In this article, Derris examines one popular narrative from the Theravādin medieval world almost entirely forgotten in present-day conversations about the representation of women in the Theravāda. This apocryphal jātaka tells the story of the only previous lifetime of the Buddha Gotama when he was reborn as a woman. The story makes the dramatic point that, in the past, Theravādin tradition acknowledged the possibility of female bodhisattas striving for buddhahood. The story is an example of a highly innovative engagement with received Pāli textual tradition. That such a high degree of narrative innovation existed in Theravādin history suggests possibilities for present-day innovation without rejecting or being rejected by the tradition
Art · Buddhism · Gautama Buddha · Literature · Narrative · Representation (politics · Sociology · Theology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |