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Buddhist Female Teachers
Sile
Veteran
I thought it might be nice to talk about some of the past and present women in Buddhism, particularly those who are especially renowned for their skills in leadership, teaching, medicine, and so on.
Dorje Pakmo
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dorje Pakmo is the name for Vajravārāhī, a form of Vajrayoginī. Vajrayoginī acts as a meditation deity, or the yab-yum consort of such a deity, in Vajrayāna Buddhism. As Vajravārāhī, her consort is Chakrasaṃvara (Tib. Khorlo Demchog).
Dorje Pakmo represents the oldest female incarnation lineage in Tibet. (Buddhadharma, A Lineage of Yoginis, fall 2008).
Vajravārāhī statue, 1400-1499, Tibet
She is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China.
Dorje Pamo and her attendants at Nyenying Monastery, June, 1927
Her seat, Samding Monastery, built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso, was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. (Edited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorje_Pakmo)
Samding Monastery before destruction in 1959
The first reincarnation, Chokyi Dronma (1422–55) was "a princess, a fully ordained nun, a lineage holder in the little-known Bodongpa tradition, an avid patron and organizer of Buddhist construction projects, and possibly the consort of several important tantric masters of her time. But more importantly, for the longevity of her line, she was recognized as an incarnation of the female tantric deity, Vajravarahi—or, in Tibetan, Dorje Phagmo—imbuing her life and deeds with special sanctity. Though Chokyi Dronma died at the early age of thirty-three, her legacy continued in the formation of one of the few female incarnation lines in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dorje Phagmo line, later associated with Samding Monastery. So highly esteemed was the Samding Dorje Phagmo that Sir Charles Bell, an early Tibetologist and influential British officer in colonial India, dubbed her “the holiest woman in Tibet.” (Buddhadharma)
Mural of Chokyi Dronma preserved at Nyemo Chekar monastery
"Every girl who was recognized as the reincarnation of the Samding Dorje Phagmo went through a complex process managed by Samding monastery and religious authorities such as the Dalai Lama. The process of identification and training merged individual experience with the features of the deity and the memory of its previous historical incarnations. Some of the women came to embody the sacred persona in such a way that their individual identity almost disappeared as a simple name in the lineage, while others became significant personalities and scholars of their time over and above the sacredness attributed to them by their office...The institution established with the death of the Gungthang princess [Chokyi Dronma] was thus integrated in different political and religious frameworks: Bodongpa, Karmapa, Gelugpa, the Qing empire, and eventually the PRC." (http://www.innerasiaresearch.org/woman lama/holy.html)
Great resources:
1. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty: The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. By Hildegard Diemberger. Columbia University Press, 2007.
2. A Tibetan Woman-Lama and Her Reincarnations, http://www.innerasiaresearch.org/woman lama/
Dorje Pakmo
In Tibetan Buddhism, Dorje Pakmo is the name for Vajravārāhī, a form of Vajrayoginī. Vajrayoginī acts as a meditation deity, or the yab-yum consort of such a deity, in Vajrayāna Buddhism. As Vajravārāhī, her consort is Chakrasaṃvara (Tib. Khorlo Demchog).
Dorje Pakmo represents the oldest female incarnation lineage in Tibet. (Buddhadharma, A Lineage of Yoginis, fall 2008).
Vajravārāhī statue, 1400-1499, Tibet
She is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and the third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China.
Dorje Pamo and her attendants at Nyenying Monastery, June, 1927
Her seat, Samding Monastery, built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yamdrok Tso, was in many ways unique in that about half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns, while the head of the monastery with all its branches was (and still is) a woman. (Edited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorje_Pakmo)
Samding Monastery before destruction in 1959
The first reincarnation, Chokyi Dronma (1422–55) was "a princess, a fully ordained nun, a lineage holder in the little-known Bodongpa tradition, an avid patron and organizer of Buddhist construction projects, and possibly the consort of several important tantric masters of her time. But more importantly, for the longevity of her line, she was recognized as an incarnation of the female tantric deity, Vajravarahi—or, in Tibetan, Dorje Phagmo—imbuing her life and deeds with special sanctity. Though Chokyi Dronma died at the early age of thirty-three, her legacy continued in the formation of one of the few female incarnation lines in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dorje Phagmo line, later associated with Samding Monastery. So highly esteemed was the Samding Dorje Phagmo that Sir Charles Bell, an early Tibetologist and influential British officer in colonial India, dubbed her “the holiest woman in Tibet.” (Buddhadharma)
Mural of Chokyi Dronma preserved at Nyemo Chekar monastery
"Every girl who was recognized as the reincarnation of the Samding Dorje Phagmo went through a complex process managed by Samding monastery and religious authorities such as the Dalai Lama. The process of identification and training merged individual experience with the features of the deity and the memory of its previous historical incarnations. Some of the women came to embody the sacred persona in such a way that their individual identity almost disappeared as a simple name in the lineage, while others became significant personalities and scholars of their time over and above the sacredness attributed to them by their office...The institution established with the death of the Gungthang princess [Chokyi Dronma] was thus integrated in different political and religious frameworks: Bodongpa, Karmapa, Gelugpa, the Qing empire, and eventually the PRC." (http://www.innerasiaresearch.org/woman lama/holy.html)
Great resources:
1. When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty: The Samding Dorje Phagmo of Tibet. By Hildegard Diemberger. Columbia University Press, 2007.
2. A Tibetan Woman-Lama and Her Reincarnations, http://www.innerasiaresearch.org/woman lama/
2
Comments
And the mothers of the mothers.
And those mothers of the mothers.
Also the inner feminine within all of us.
Praise the goddess!