Recommendations for Sources on Tantric Consortship?

A forum for those wishing to discuss Buddhist history and teachings in the Western academic manner, referencing appropriate sources.
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Hrafzin
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2018 2:58 am

Recommendations for Sources on Tantric Consortship?

Post by Hrafzin »

Hello Dharma Wheel!

I am a college student, a Religious Studies major, and I'm writing a research paper on the gender dynamics of the Tantric consort relationships.

I've already read *Love and Liberation* by Sarah Jacoby, about Sera Khandro, and *Love Letters from Golok* by Holly Gayley, about Tare Lhamo & Namtrul Rinpoche.

Do y'all have any other recommendations for reputable academic sources for further studying? I'm happy to consider both Western and Tibetan scholars, as well as any translated publicly available sacred texts that cover the tradition.

Thanks for reading!
Hrafzin
tingdzin
Posts: 1947
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:19 am

Re: Recommendations for Sources on Tantric Consortship?

Post by tingdzin »

Judith Simmer-Brown's "Warm Breath of the Dakini" is a good introduction to (among other things) gender issues in Tibetan Buddhism, and had some references for further info. It's rather dated now -- a lot of water under the bridge since then on what is still a hot (and loaded, and heavily ideologically-driven) discussion. Janet Gyatso has some great stuff in her "Apparitions of the Self", but it may be above the head of an undergraduate (no disrespect intended). Yael Bentor has a good article on the actual scriptural material that deals with this stuff, as opposed to our modern projections about it, called "women on the Way to Enlightenment". Actually, almost every female scholar of things Indic or Tibetan has weighed in on the issue in one way or another, and I'm sure you can get a lot of stuff on a web search. If I can help further, message again.
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