Snow Lion Publications

Women and Buddhism


Click to enlarge	BORN IN LHASA by Namgyal Lhamo Taklha 201 pp., 36 b&w photos. #BOLH - regular price $ 14.95 Our Price $7.47 Published by Snow Lion "Mrs. Taklha's incredible life story is very gripping and emotional. Her writing style swept me into the story--I enjoyed this book from cover to cover."--Rinchen Dharlo, President of Tibet Fund and the Conservancy for Tibetan Arts and Culture More ...
Click to enlarge	BUDDHISM THROUGH AMERICAN WOMEN'S EYES by Karma Lekshe Tsomo 180 pp. #BUAMWO - regular price $ 12.95 Our Price $10.36 Published by Snow Lion Experienced practitioners share their understanding of Buddhist philosophy, its practical application in everyday life, and the challenges of practicing Buddhism in the Western world. Thirteen women contributed a wealth of thought-provoking material on topics such as: Bringing Dharma into Relationships, Dealing with Stress, Abortion, Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, Bodhisattva Peace Training, The Monastic Experience, and Forging a Kind Heart in an Age of Alienation. Among the voices are: Karuna Dharma, Ayya Khema, Michelle Levey, Yvonne Rand, Tsering Everest, and Eko Susan Noble. More ...
Click to enlarge	CHOOSING SIMPLICITY: A Commentary on the Bhikshuni Pratimoksha by Venerable Bhikshuni Master Wu Yin, trans. by Bhikshuni Jendy, ed. by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron. 338 pp. #CHSI - regular price $ 15.95 Our Price $12.76 Published by Snow Lion Choosing Simplicity discusses the precepts and lifestyle of fully ordained nuns within the Buddhist tradition. The ordination vows act as guidelines to promote harmony both within the individual and within the community by regulating and thereby simplifying one's relationships to other sangha members and laypeople, as well as to the needs of daily life. Observing these precepts and practicing the Buddhadharma brings incredible benefit to oneself and others. Since the nuns' precepts include those for monks and have additional rules for nuns, this book is useful for anyone interested in monastic life. More ...
Click to enlarge	FEMININE GROUND: Essays on Women and Tibet ed. by Janice D. Willis 166 pp. #FEGR - regular price $ 12.95 Our Price $6.47 Published by Snow Lion Six western women scholars and practitioners explore issues of "women" and "the feminine" in Tibet. These critical and provocative essays discuss female role models, the nun's life, and gender and role identity as these manifested in Tibet. More ...
Click to enlarge	HOUSE OF THE TURQUOISE ROOF by Dorje Yudon Yuthok, trans. & ed. by Michael Harlin, foreword by Heinrich Harrer 330 pp., photos. #HOTURO - regular price $ 16.95 Our Price $13.56 Published by Snow Lion "...a superior book."--The Tibet Journal More ...
Click to enlarge	THE LIFE AND REVELATIONS OF PEMA LINGPA trans. by Sarah Harding 200 pp., 8 color pp. #LIREPE - regular price $ 14.95 Our Price $11.96 Published by Snow Lion "An amazing and precious gift...a masterpiece on the Dzogchen teachings."-- Tulku Thubten Rinpoche More ...
Click to enlarge	MEETING THE GREAT BLISS QUEEN: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self, 2nd edition by Anne Carolyn Klein 308 pp. #MEGRB2 - regular price $ 18.95 Our Price $15.16 Published by Snow Lion Despite the daunting barriers of geography and language that separate them, Buddhism and contemporary feminism have much to say to each other. Buddhist practices such as mindfulness (in which calm centering and keen awareness of change co-exist) and compassion (in which the self is recognized as both powerful in itself and interdependently connected with all others) can be important resources for contemporary women, while feminism can expand the traditional horizons of Buddhist concerns to include social, historical, and psychological issues. The image and ritual of the Great Bliss Queen, an important Buddhist figure of enlightenment, form the unifying theme of the book, modeling the practices and theory that can assist each of us in being at one with ourselves and fully engaged with others. More ...
Click to enlarge	SKY DANCER: The Secret Life and Songs of the Lady Yeshe Tsogyel by Keith Dowman, fore. by Trinley Norbu Rinpoche, illustrations by Eva van Dam. 400 pp., indices. #SKDA - regular price $ 18.95 Our Price $15.16 Published by Snow Lion Yeshe Tsogyel, consort of Guru Padmasambhava, is the most famous of the enlightened women of Tibet. Women have a special place in tantra but except for Sky Dancer there are few writings that present the spiritual practices and evolution of female aspirants. Here, women are in an eminent position, and a path of practice is given for present day initiates to emulate. Keith Dowman has added a commentary on the path of inner tantra, woman and the dakini, the Nyingma lineages. More ...
Click to enlarge	WOMEN OF WISDOM by Tsultrim Allione. 340 pp., new edition, 24 pp. of photos. #WOWI - regular price $ 18.95 Our Price $15.16 Published by Snow Lion Women of Wisdom explores and celebrates the spiritual potential of all women, as exemplified by the lives of six Tibetan female mystics. These stories of great women who have achieved full illumination, overcoming cultural prejudices and a host of other problems which male practitioners do not encounter, offer a wealth of inspiration to everyone on the spiritual path. More ...
Click to enlarge	BUDDHIST GODDESSES OF INDIA by Miranda Shaw Cloth. 602 pp. 95 b&w photos, 16 color plates. #BUGOIN - $ 35.00 The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, potent healers and protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, these female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India is the essential and definitive guide to divinities that, as Miranda Shaw writes, "operate from transcendent planes of bliss and awareness for as long as their presence may benefit living beings." More ...
Click to enlarge	CAVE IN THE SNOW: A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment by Vicki Mackenzie 210 pages, paper. #CASN - $ 15.95 The daughter of a fishmonger from London's east end, Ani Tenzin Palmo became a spiritual leader and champion of the right of women to achieve spiritual enlightenment. In 1976, she secluded herself in a remote cave in the Himalayas where for 12 years she faced unimaginable cold, wild animals, floods and rockfalls. She emerged with a determination to build a convent in India to revive the Togdenma lineage, a long-forgotten female spiritual elite. More ...
Click to enlarge	FEMALE DEITIES IN BUDDHISM: A Concise Guide by Vessantara 132 pp. #FEDEBU - $ 12.95 Queens and old crones, Buddhas and goddesses, mothers and wild women. Female deities in Buddhism take many forms to inspire, beguile, rouse and protect us. Respected Western Buddhist teacher Vessantara invites us to learn more about ourselves as women and men by reflecting on these figures, for within us lie the seeds of love, wisdom and freedom that these figures symbolise in their fullness, qualities we can nurture through contemplating the beauty of these enlightened beings. More ...
Click to enlarge	HIMALAYAN HERMITESS: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun Kurtis Schaeffer 232 pp. #HIHE - $ 22.00 Himalayan Hermitess is a vivid account of the life and times of a Buddhist nun living on the borderlands of Tibetan culture. Orgyan Chokyi (1675-1729) spent her life in Dolpo, the highest inhabited region of the Nepal Himalayas. Illiterate and expressly forbidden by her master to write her own life story, Orgyan Chokyi received divine inspiration, defied tradition, and composed one of the most engaging autobiographies of the Tibetan literary tradition. More ...
Click to enlarge	LADY OF THE LOTUS-BORN: The Life and Enlightenment of Yeshe Tsogyal by Gyalwa Changchub and Namkhai Nyingpo, translated by The Padmakara Translation Group 176 pp., now in paper. #LALOBO - $ 24.95 The first Tibetan Buddhist to attain enlightenment was probably Yeshe Tsogyal, the female consort of Padmasambhava. Her biography is a colorful and intriguing picture of Tibet at the beginning of the Buddhist era--a time of upheaval, when royal patronage was striving to foster the new teachings in the face of powerful opposition. Profound teachings are offset by episodes of exploit and adventure, spiritual endeavor, court intrigue and personal encounters.
Click to enlarge	PASSIONATE ENLIGHTENMENT: Women in Tantric Buddhism by Miranda Shaw 312 pp., 18 illus. #PAENL - $ 23.95 Tantric Buddhism is known in the West primarily for its sexual practices which transform erotic passion into spiritual ecstasy. Historians of religion have held that the enlightenment thus attempted was for men only, and that women in the movement were subordinate and at worst degraded and exploited. Miranda Shaw presents extensive new evidence of outspoken and independent female founders of the Tantric movement and their creative role in shaping sacred sexuality. In her view, the Tantric theory has promoted cooperative, mutually liberative relationships that rely on women as a source of spiritual insight and power.
Click to enlarge	A PATH FOR PARENTS: What Buddhism Can Offer by Sara Burns 168 pp. #PAFOPA - $ 17.95 A refreshingly honest and accessible account of how parents can grow spiritually among the everyday experiences of life with children, addressing letting go, the need for time out, and transforming everyday tasks into spiritual practice. More ...
Click to enlarge	WOMEN IN TIBET: Past and Present edited by Janet Gyatso and Hanna Havnevik 352 pp, paper. #WOTIPA - $ 25.50 Filling a gap in the literature, this volume explores the struggles and accomplishments of women from both past and present-day Tibet. Here are queens from the imperial period, yoginis and religious teachers of medieval times, Buddhist nuns, oracles, political workers, medical doctors, and performing artists. Most of the essays focus on the lives of individual women, whether from textual sources or from anthropological data, and show that Tibetan women have apparently enjoyed more freedom than women in many other Asian countries. The book is innovative in resisting both romanticization and hypercriticism of women's status in Tibetan society, attending rather to historical description, and to the question of what is distinctive about women's situations in Tibet, and what is common to both men and women in Tibetan society. More ...