Toward Buddhist Womanism
Tonglen Practice in The Color Purple
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3543809 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Z Huang (0000-0001-9684-9161, Soochow University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 660 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel13070660 |
| OpenAlex | W4285803426 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist practice that aims at developing the practitioner's bodhicitta. In this article, I argue that it not only finds expression in Alice Walker's The Color Purple through the protagonist Celie, but adds more complexity to the womanist philosophy for which Walker has been ensconced in positions of influence. More specifically, Celie follows an implied Buddhist practice of tonglen; in the process of "taking in and sending out", her bodhicitta has been generated and cultivated. Underlying her tonglen practice is Buddhist womanism demonstrating how African American women can survive the social oppression and injustice by way of acknowledging their own terrible afflictions, empathizing with those enduring intense suffering, male and female, extending their loving kindness, comprehending the absence of intrinsic entity and the principle of dependent origination, etc. In addition, the article suggests that the fight for the survival of the oppressed is a type of Buddhist practice in Walker's Buddhist womanism
Aesthetics · Buddhism · Injustice · Kindness · Oppression · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |