The Women in Buddha’s Life: Stories and Reflections

Instructor(s): Wendy Garling

Program Description:

Who were the women in Buddha’s life? What do we know about them? The conventional Buddha biography tells us very little, but casting a wider net we find an abundance of wonderful stories that flowed from early oral traditions to now overlooked Pali and Sanskrit sources. During this weekend-long program we will discuss and reflect on the stories of Maya, Gotami, Yashodhara and the harem wives, Sujata, Visakha, and others whose lives were inextricably bound with the Buddha’s, first as laywomen and some later as nuns. We’ll also explore stories of the sacred feminine or yakshis who helped guide the struggling Siddhartha on his path to enlightenment. These stories invite us to re-frame the earliest Buddhist paradigm as one that was not only inclusive of women, but that valorized women, their spiritual aspirations, and their potential. They offer us an opportunity to reclaim a past and bring to light a refreshed, more gender-balanced view of the roots of Buddhism. Together we’ll reflect on the past and share insights into contemporary meaning and relevance of the stories for today’s practitioners. This program is gender-neutral and men are welcome.

About the Instructor(s):
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  Wendy Garling

  Wendy Garling has a BA from Wellesley College and MA specializing in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a vajrayana practitioner and dharma teacher in the Gelug Lam Rim tradition; her root teacher was Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden. In 1976, she took refuge with His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and in 1979 after a first meeting in Dharamsala began lifelong teachings with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is the author of two books: the award-winning "The Woman Who Raised the Buddha: The Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati," with the foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Shambhala Publications, 2021) and  "Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha’s Life" (Shambhala Publications, 2016). Wendy lives in Concord, Massachusetts and can be contacted at wendy.garling@yahoo.com.