The First Buddhist Women: Translations and Commentaries on the Therigatha

by Susan Murcott

early works by first female disciples of Buddhism

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Feminism

219 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

Reviews

[Shelley Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short poems written by the first women, 2,500 years ago, to join the Newly formed sangha as nuns, are fascinating, deeply moving and very relevant today

[Niklas Braun · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good overview of women surrounding the Buddha at the time of enlightenment. She goes through their stories in the texts, and some analysis of their situations. The book itself is short and the printing was odd (pages 53-90 or so were printed twice) but the author is pretty good at articulating her points. It felt somewhat hallow and without direction.

[Mr. Davies]

I read this -- or the first half of this -- with the Buddhist Book Club at the Louisville Zen Center. We agreed that the commentary was often too dense and obscuring, but I personally found some of its historical and political context enriching. Every time I turned to the actual poetry, though, I was mesmerized and awed, and I wondered whether I should simply skip the commentary and enjoy those.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this over 2 days, very interesting especially the sections on sexuality and the ageing female body. Think it could’ve gone deeper into the analysis in some sections though.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent academic account of the first women in Buddhism. It shares stories of those women who pushed to create the first order of Buddhist nuns and who became renunciants and wanders durring the time of the historical Buddha, Sidharthra Gautama. It includes poems about and authored by those women that were passed down orally until they were transcribed. The book explains these poems and stories and puts them into the societal context of that historical period.

[Collin Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read for anyone interested in learning about Buddhism and the history of Buddhism, as well as anyone interested in feminist history. Being someone interested in both, this is proving to be fascinating for me. At the most basic level, it also provides some lovely stories.

[elbren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Buddhist women : translations and commentaries on the Therigatha by Susan Murcott (1991)