What do you think?
Rate this book
Buddha's Daughters: Teachings from Women Who Are Shaping Buddhism in the West
Compelling and informative teachings by the most influential female Buddhist teachers on a wide range of topics.
Buddhism began to take root in the West at just the same time that women’s voices were arising to find expression here—after millennia of being relegated to the background. If that was a coincidence, it was an auspicious one, for the women who emerged as Buddhist teachers have been among the most articulate of Dharma-communicators—and they remain an indelible feature of Western Buddhism as the practice matures here. The remarkable range of their teaching is showcased in this anthology. The pieces featured touch on the topics that are at the heart of our lives—relationships, uncertainty, love, parenting, food, stress, mortality, living fully, and social responsibility. These approachable, engaging teachings illuminate Buddhist concepts and practices, such as meditation, tonglen, lovingkindness, cultivating gratitude, and deep relaxation.
The book contains wisdom from such well-known and respected contemporary Buddhist teachers as Pema Chödrön, Ayya Khema, Sharon Salzberg, Toni Packer, Maurine Stuart, Karen Maezen Miller, Khandro Rinpoche, Jan Chozen Bays, Sister Chan Khong, Sylvia Boorstein, Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Darlene Cohen, Joanna Macy, Bonnie Myotai Treace, Tsultrim Allione, Tenzin Palmo, Tara Brach, Joan Sutherland, Carolyn Rose Gimian, Joan Halifax, and Charlotte Joko Beck.
Buddhism began to take root in the West at just the same time that women’s voices were arising to find expression here—after millennia of being relegated to the background. If that was a coincidence, it was an auspicious one, for the women who emerged as Buddhist teachers have been among the most articulate of Dharma-communicators—and they remain an indelible feature of Western Buddhism as the practice matures here. The remarkable range of their teaching is showcased in this anthology. The pieces featured touch on the topics that are at the heart of our lives—relationships, uncertainty, love, parenting, food, stress, mortality, living fully, and social responsibility. These approachable, engaging teachings illuminate Buddhist concepts and practices, such as meditation, tonglen, lovingkindness, cultivating gratitude, and deep relaxation.
The book contains wisdom from such well-known and respected contemporary Buddhist teachers as Pema Chödrön, Ayya Khema, Sharon Salzberg, Toni Packer, Maurine Stuart, Karen Maezen Miller, Khandro Rinpoche, Jan Chozen Bays, Sister Chan Khong, Sylvia Boorstein, Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Darlene Cohen, Joanna Macy, Bonnie Myotai Treace, Tsultrim Allione, Tenzin Palmo, Tara Brach, Joan Sutherland, Carolyn Rose Gimian, Joan Halifax, and Charlotte Joko Beck.
300 pages, Paperback
First published April 8, 2014
24 people are currently reading
255 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 10, 2014
Buddha’s Daughters: Teachings from Women Who Are Shaping Buddhism in the West offers a wide range of teachings from numerous notable female Western Buddhist teachers such as Pema Chodron, Khandro Rinpoche, Pat Enkyo O’Hara, Joanna Macy, Tsultrim Allione, Charlotte Joko Beck among many, many more. This anthology, edited by Andrea Miller and the editors of the Shambhala Sun is an important and comprehensive collection of stories, instructions and practices on diverse topics such as: birth, old age, sickness, death, anger, love, divorce, health, children, attachment, fear, sex, the environment, psychology, poetry, beginnings, ends and middles – and more. Yes. It’s all in here.
I was struck by Andrea Miller’s introduction which, on the topic of gender and Buddhism deftly points out the following:
"…Buddhism like all world religions, has largely been shaped and defined by men. Century after century – right up to the present day – women have been denied teachings and ordinations and have found themselves relegated to monastery kitchens. They’ve been deemed to be of “lower birth,” and in some lineages even the most experienced, aged nun must bow before any monk, even the youngest, least experienced among them. Blocked by such discrimination, women have had limited opportunities to develop into advanced practitioners and teachers. Yet despite the challenges, women have been diligently practiced from the beginning- since the days of the Buddha. I hope this anthology serves as an inspiration for contemporary women practitioners."
One of the best aspects of compilations such as this one is that they pull from various traditions and allow readers to discover teachings and wisdom from spiritual paths outside of one’s own. With teachings from a multitude of flavours of Buddhism comes the ability to open up one’s perspective and to see wisdom in places one may not initially look for them in. Through this book, I was able to discover many practices, teachings, pieces of poetry and philosophies that I wasn’t previously aware of. I love it when a book allows me to go down the rabbit hole of discovering new things to read and helps me to create list of things to check out. One example of this is my discovery of Buddhist nun and poet Rengetsu who I am now absolutely fascinated with and will be adding to my ‘must find out more about her’ list.
One of my favourite chapters was that of Tenzin Palmo who writes clearly and powerfully on the topic of Vajrayana. She delivers a glimpse into this yana without ‘giving away too many secrets’ and does so in a way that is both magical and real-world. It is truly a rewarding read and should be required for practitioners regardless of their time or location on the path.
"But in Vajrayana, there are so many practices. Ther is vipassana, there is Zen-like meditation, there is study, there is the whole panoply of Technicolor Vajrayana visualizations with buddhas and bodhisattvas in every possible color combination. There is something for everybody- peaceful, angry, sort of peaceful, and sort of angry, standing up, sitting down, lying down, any way you want."
Buddha’s Daughters offers the best of spiritual guidance as well as just ‘plain old’ life advice. It is an important contribution to the collection of books featuring female voices and is a highly worthy addition to any bookshelf. These stories of powerful women from the past and present will hopefully inspire future great female teachers.
I was struck by Andrea Miller’s introduction which, on the topic of gender and Buddhism deftly points out the following:
"…Buddhism like all world religions, has largely been shaped and defined by men. Century after century – right up to the present day – women have been denied teachings and ordinations and have found themselves relegated to monastery kitchens. They’ve been deemed to be of “lower birth,” and in some lineages even the most experienced, aged nun must bow before any monk, even the youngest, least experienced among them. Blocked by such discrimination, women have had limited opportunities to develop into advanced practitioners and teachers. Yet despite the challenges, women have been diligently practiced from the beginning- since the days of the Buddha. I hope this anthology serves as an inspiration for contemporary women practitioners."
One of the best aspects of compilations such as this one is that they pull from various traditions and allow readers to discover teachings and wisdom from spiritual paths outside of one’s own. With teachings from a multitude of flavours of Buddhism comes the ability to open up one’s perspective and to see wisdom in places one may not initially look for them in. Through this book, I was able to discover many practices, teachings, pieces of poetry and philosophies that I wasn’t previously aware of. I love it when a book allows me to go down the rabbit hole of discovering new things to read and helps me to create list of things to check out. One example of this is my discovery of Buddhist nun and poet Rengetsu who I am now absolutely fascinated with and will be adding to my ‘must find out more about her’ list.
One of my favourite chapters was that of Tenzin Palmo who writes clearly and powerfully on the topic of Vajrayana. She delivers a glimpse into this yana without ‘giving away too many secrets’ and does so in a way that is both magical and real-world. It is truly a rewarding read and should be required for practitioners regardless of their time or location on the path.
"But in Vajrayana, there are so many practices. Ther is vipassana, there is Zen-like meditation, there is study, there is the whole panoply of Technicolor Vajrayana visualizations with buddhas and bodhisattvas in every possible color combination. There is something for everybody- peaceful, angry, sort of peaceful, and sort of angry, standing up, sitting down, lying down, any way you want."
Buddha’s Daughters offers the best of spiritual guidance as well as just ‘plain old’ life advice. It is an important contribution to the collection of books featuring female voices and is a highly worthy addition to any bookshelf. These stories of powerful women from the past and present will hopefully inspire future great female teachers.
October 8, 2024
I got a lot out of these, maybe more so from reading them in the park, in a hammock, as the sun set around me. My biggest takeaway is the joys of mindfulness amongst eternal suffering.
///
She is still feeling lonely, although less so within the awareness of all the beings whose life energy brought her the chips.
When I trust I'm the ocean, I'm not afraid of the waves.
When we push away our pain, we likewise push away our pleasure, so relief is actually lies in paying closer attention.
For many years now, I have been consciously practicing not always choosing what I prefer.
We may have drunk a million cups of tea, but we have never tasted this one before.
///
She is still feeling lonely, although less so within the awareness of all the beings whose life energy brought her the chips.
When I trust I'm the ocean, I'm not afraid of the waves.
When we push away our pain, we likewise push away our pleasure, so relief is actually lies in paying closer attention.
For many years now, I have been consciously practicing not always choosing what I prefer.
We may have drunk a million cups of tea, but we have never tasted this one before.
February 18, 2024
This I think would be a great book if you had already studied Buddism. But I have not so you needed to know about the teachings before getting into this book. And some of it just did not rest well with me, some of it just seemed ridiculous to me. Like they were talking in circles, just not my thing, I need to go back and start at the beginning of learning what Buddism is all about. I sort of started at the end where I need to start at the beginning.
January 13, 2019
great book for browsing but i did read it cover to cover
June 27, 2019
Love it, so close to what I need now for my spiritual practice: to tame my wild mind.
October 13, 2020
Wonderful collection, absolutely inspiring!
May 15, 2022
I appreciated the women Buddhist teachers’ insights into living one’s body.
Read
July 24, 2014An inspiring compilation of bios and excerpts from the writings of contemporary Buddhist women. Even if you are not a Buddhist, there is much to engage and enlighten in this anthology of wisdom. Both popular and unknown, these women have broken ground in building Buddhism since teachers first arrived on American shores in the early 20th century. Honest accounts of dealing with life challenges in relationships, love, parenting, food, and stress of modern life make the writings accessible to a wide audience.
August 3, 2014
Such inspiring and enlightening writings. Spend some time with them and you will be better for it.
July 26, 2014
Reaffirmed my desire to 'not kill, steal, rape, slander, or hang out in crack houses'.
October 31, 2016
Excellent compilation of teachers. It was lovely to read those I'm familiar with and to find several new teachers to study further.
April 26, 2023
There are some lovely thoughtful heartfelt essays in this collection.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews