Buddhist Goddesses of India

by Miranda Shaw

The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses―graceful nature divinities, maternal nurturers, potent healers, mighty protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available.

Buddhist Goddesses of India chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities in this definitive and essential guide.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion, Nonfiction, Mythology, Spirituality

608 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2006

Reviews

[Jackson]

First and foremost what should be said is that Shaw has done a good job putting together a sourcebook on these goddesses in question. She is clearly enthusiastic about the subject matter, allowing her to trudge through endless sources to synthezise a work of this length and detail, going through references that would be otherwise ignored by other scholars. There is a great amount of material being brought into the limelight that advances the field of goddess studies. That being said
this book has inherited much of Shaw's "creative" methodology from her previous book. While it is more balanced than her Passionate Enlightenment, this book is still incredibly uneven, ranging from great insights, incredibly well-put prose, to egregious over-generalizations and outright forgery.

For instance in her chapter on Prajnaparamita Shaw cites Simmer-Brown's Dakini's Warm Breath(a wonderfully written book by the way) in a way that could conservatively be put as "lying." In the pages referenced by Shaw Simmer-Brown puts together a very nuanced argument for how wisdom can be both "mother," "feminine," as well as ultimately devoid of gender, the insubstantiality of gender being emphasized. She also discussed why Shaw's previous book Passionate Enlightenment doesn't do justice to the concept of wisdom being both mother and beyond gender. Shaw cites all of these pages to support her argument that gender IS absolute, and that wisdom is absolutely female, even when her citation specifically criticizes her for making the same claims in her previous book! While one can use some heavy hermeneutical gymnastics to justify Shaw's "creative" usage of citations, any undergraduate professor would call out these shenanigans. It really casts some doubt in Princeton University Press's peer review standards when someone like me with only a BA can see how Shaw has abused her sources.

I was able to catch this since I had Dakini's Warm Breath on hand, but who knows how many more of her references are used this "creatively." These heavy criticisms aside, as I said earlier this book still has advanced the conversation in this subject, and deserves a place on the shelf of anyone with serious interest in goddess studies, alongside the many grains of salt this work requires.

[Jessica Zu]

superb teaching material!

[Sara]

This was an engaging resource on the iconography of Mayayana and Tantric goddesses of Buddhism. Having read mostly American interpretations of Zen, I was surprised at how much Hindu goddesses had been embraced and worshipped within historical Buddhism, which I'd always taken as totally nontheistic. Was I wrong--and I'm happy to know that, as Tantric Tibetan images of Vajrayogini and others have always drawn me, yet confused me as to why they were a part of Buddhism in the first place.

[Ella Chicken]

For class

[Raphael]

This is an amazing and delightful book. Greatly recommended!

[Sarah Koz]

Oh my, this book is super good.

[Mariah]

Had to return this one to the library before I could finish it. Will check it out again. This is a difficult read but full of interesting pieces of cultural history many part of the ancient and modern world.

[Lisa]

Used this as a reference book for certain pieces and did not read the whole book. The information that I did access from here was very useful and I would recommend it.