Courtesans and Tantric Consorts: Sexualities in Buddhist Narrative, Iconography, and Ritual
By considering both the textual and the art historical data, this interdisciplinary study offers us many new insights concerning both women and women's relationships to men. An erudite book that, while taking into account all of the most recent scholarship in the field, goes beyond it to offer us fresh new insights....A major contribution to the literature on women in Buddhism.–José Ignacio Cabezón, XIVth Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa BarbaraThis book is excellent...wonderfully detailed, full of substantial narrative and anecdote and liberal in its comparisons.–Ellison Findly, Professor of Religion and International Studies, Trinity CollegeClearly structured, lucidly written, judiciously illustrated with examples from the primary texts, and accessible to the nonspecialist...it will be an important resource for students and teachers alike.–Eugene V. Gallager, Connecticut CollegeThis book is a tour de force, marshalling a broad range of materials--textual, ritual, and iconographical--to tackle a complex issue in the forefront of Buddhist studies today, that of sexuality and gender. This book is not to be missed and is a significant contribution to our understanding of the Indo-Tibetan culture of Buddism.–Ellison Findly, Trinity College, Hartford