Peer-Reviewed Publications
Pacific World: Journal of the Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2022
The present study proposes that the goddesses Sarasvatī and Śrī appear in the Sutra of Golden L... more The present study proposes that the goddesses Sarasvatī and Śrī appear in the Sutra of Golden Light (Suvarṇaprabhāsottama sūtra, 金光 明經, ca. early fifth century CE) as exemplars of the relationship of female deities to bodhisattvahood, dhāraṇī bestowal, and developments in deity invocation via mantra-based rituals. The goddesses demonstrate agency as Mahāyāna practitioners (i.e., bodhisattvas) who work on behalf of the Dharma and, specifically, the sutra itself. Nonetheless, Mahāyāna sutras are generally hesitant to name female practitioners as "bodhisattvas" explicitly. This paper therefore compares the level and type of aid that Sarasvatī and Śrī offer to devotees who uphold the text. From there, we can then begin to assess each goddess's soteriological status as implied bodhisattvas. What emerges is the goddesses' active participation and presence within a distinct ritual hierarchy, wherein they support and enhance the power of all buddhas and this revered text. Part one problematizes the scholarly assertion that dhāraṇī (zŏnchí 總持) invokes female deities in the sutra. Scholars have often described dhāraṇī as synonymous with mantra, yet in this context dhāraṇī instead likely functions solely as the attainment of the superhuman power of memory for bodhisattva preachers (dharmabhāṇakas). Thus, the development of ritual praxis in Mahāyāna contexts may be a more complex and nuanced process than scholars have previously indicated. Part two then highlights the use of mantra-based rituals in this text as an important node in the burgeoning network of early tantric ritual technologies and female deity reverence in South Asian Buddhism.
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The Eastern Buddhist, Third Series, 2021
Mahayana Sutras, largely composed in the first half of the first millennium CE, are situated with... more Mahayana Sutras, largely composed in the first half of the first millennium CE, are situated within the normative gender hierarchies of the ancient cultures of South Asia. Therefore, for the most part, they do not espouse gender equity. is vast textual corpus has constituted and informed the teachings and praxis of Buddhism across Asia both historically and today, inclusive of the fairly recent entrance of Zen and Tibetan traditions in the West. Such texts include the highly revered Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra, which has itself long been personified as a goddess who continues to be honored in both Eastern and Western Buddhist traditions. As explored further below, Mahayana sutras made certain doctrinal concessions to female practitioners who aspired to take up the bodhisattva vow, particularly when we compare female access to the path toward buddhahood in Mahayana versus mainstream texts. Nonetheless, as numerous scholars have noted, Mahayana sutras appear to generally prohibit female devotees from advancing to the highest levels of bodhisattvahood until they have been reborn as male. The present article suggests that the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra puts female bodhisattvas on an equal footing with most of its advanced and enlightened male bodhisattvas. I also assert that there is an urgency to revisit this text as evidence of a shift in the attitudes of Mahayana Buddhist authors toward the representation of female bodhisattva enlightenment, particularly because issues of soteriological equity had—and continue to have—a gendered impact on Buddhist audiences.
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Dissertation Abstract
Dissertation Abstract - Dept. of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin (December 2018)
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M.A. Thesis
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Conference Paper Abstracts
Paper Abstract for 229th Mtg. of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, IL, March 16th, 2019
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2016 Madison South Asia Conference Abstract - Indian Buddhist ritual texts (ca. 6th-7th centuries... more 2016 Madison South Asia Conference Abstract - Indian Buddhist ritual texts (ca. 6th-7th centuries CE) detail a systematization of mantra families (kulas) through which female deities gain new importance in Mahāyāna ritual and soteriological contexts. These systems consist of a minimum of three ritual families: the Buddha (headed by the Buddha Śākyamuni or Vairocana), the Lotus (headed by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara), and the Vajra (headed by the Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi). They are populated by a range of male and female deities who both effectuate practitioners' mantras and personify the physical and mental attributes of their kula leaders. The Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa, perhaps the earliest of these kula-system texts to survive in Sanskrit, characterizes the kula goddesses as female Bodhisattvas who respond to the mantras of their respective families and simultaneously work to establish beings on the path to Enlightenment. This paper focuses on the structure of a specific maṇḍala (sacred deity diagram) that encompasses all or most of these three kulas. It examines the ritual functions of a little-studied class of mantra goddesses (vidyārājñīs) including their processes of embodiment, personification, and positioning in relation to their kula leaders and male counterparts (vidyārājas). Navigating issues of erosion and absence, my analysis compares cognate forms of this early maṇḍala across mediums. Examples include: a stone relief sculpture in situ at the Pandavleni caves in Nāsik, Maharashtra (with figures missing), the sole remaining complete redaction of the Sanskrit Mañjuśriyamūlakalpa, and the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra (a text that survives only its Chinese and Tibetan translations). Therefore, within this process of text-image comparison, my study emphasizes methodological points of difficulty due to the decay or erasure of my primary source materials (including lost sections of manuscript, manuscripts no longer extant, and the wearing away of sculptural imagery).
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Conference Papers
This study focuses on the use of the term vaineya in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra and Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa... more This study focuses on the use of the term vaineya in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra and Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, two early medieval Buddhist texts that appropriate Brāhmaṇical deities into the Buddhist fold (ca. 7-8th centuries CE). Depending upon the grammatical form, scholars have translated vaineya as "pupil," "trainee," or "convert," but more typically as "teaching" or "conversion." Within these texts, the term most often occurs in descriptions of the limitless emanations of Avalokiteśvara or Mañjuśrī. The bodhisattvas assume these forms for the purpose of, depending on the scholar's choice of translation, the "teaching" or "conversion" of all beings. This paper suggests that these are very different concepts to consider in textual analysis, particularly in terms of the competitive ritual climate of medieval India. If translating vaineya as "teaching" we might infer that, for those being taught, the choice of identifying with one set of beliefs and practices over another is not necessarily in order. The use of "conversion" however—with its roots placed securely within Western theological discourse—tells us that a complete shift in one's religious identity is required and non-negotiable. Therefore the connotation of the term vaineya forms a significant component in understanding the relative tolerance or inclusivity afforded the worship of Brāhmaṇical deities in each text. In previous scholarship, assessments of the Buddhist authors' intentions in this regard have diverged according to the meaning scholars assigned to the term. By looking closely at grammatical and syntactical structures as well as content, this paper proposes a careful, contextualized interpretation of vaineya. My purpose is to show how the changing approaches of Buddhist authors toward Brāhmaṇical deity worship in this period require an exegesis of terminology directly dependent upon the characteristics of the text in question.
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