I am a historian of religion specializing in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhist literature. My research focuses on the missing history of Tibetan yoginīs, non-celibate female adepts in esoteric communities focused on Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) literature. Great Perfection produced novel post-tantric reinterpretations of key elements of Buddhist philosophy and praxis constituting a Tibetan reinvention of tantra. However, how these innovations extended to women is a question yet to be answered, leaving a gap in understanding how the most influential post-tantric movement in Tibet factors in the history of Buddhist women and consort praxis. That missing history is also glaring for global Buddhism in the post #metoo era. Despite frequent public discussions about the role of women as consorts, there has not been scholarship that analyzes exactly what those practices were from canonical textual perspectives. Therefore, my research addresses that gap by analyzing prescriptions for yoginīs, the non-celibate female adepts in The Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī, (mkha’ ‘gro snying thig), a scripture that came to define Great Perfection in Tibet. I combine philology with digital humanities tools to highlight issues of representation and contestation and to point out how post-tantric Great Perfection taxonomies and consort instructions are constitutive of new forms of ideal consorts that vary significantly from presentations in tantric (mahayoga) literature.
While scholars such as White (2018) and Hatley (2016) have extensively documented the history of yoginīs and ḍākinīs[1]in Indian Buddhism, research on their Tibetan counterparts remains limited. Current scholarship on non-celibate women in Tibetan esoteric traditions, exemplified by the work of Jacoby (2014) and Gayley (2016), focuses primarily on nineteenth and twentieth-century figures. Scholars have yet to address the formative, early history of post-tantra in Tibet and the classical textual foundations that defined the rules and praxis for Great Perfection yoginīs. My research addresses this gap through analysis of The Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī (mkha’ ‘gro snying thig) and a newly discovered variant of this scripture by Rinchen Lingpa (me ban Rin chen gling pa, 1289-1368). These sources contain rich ontological frameworks, taxonomic systems, contemplative instructions, and philosophical texts developed by three pivotal figures: Pema Ledreltsal (padma las ‘brel rtsal, 1291-1315/17), the renowned philosopher, Longchenpa (klong chen rab ‘byams, 1308-1363), and Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (rang byung rdo rje, 1284-1339).
My methodological approach combines traditional philological analysis with feminist and decolonial perspectives to foreground Tibetan ways of knowing persons, bodies, ethics, and relationships.
I found that in Great Perfection, yoginīs received different rules for praxis than the male disciples but participated in advanced contemplative training akin to their male counterparts and were thought to have soteriological advantages related to their role as consorts. I show that women both accepted and resisted these discourses of subordination. Thus, in the Foucauldian sense, this research documents a forgotten history of accomplished women that did not change the order of things, but whose participation set the precedent for female adepts to come. This contributes new insights into the distinctions between the complex and instrumentalist sexual practices of tantra and the simplified, relational orientation of post-tantra.
Ultimately, this literature requires new classifications to make sense of the complex combination of subordination and advancement of women. I argue that misogyny and androcentrism are blinding terms that obscure the differences between tantra and post-tantra, showing that The Heart Essence of the Ḍākinī paradoxically contested certain misogynistic ideals of tantra while perpetuating others, and that it was androcentric yet argued for the radical inclusion of women. This project has received significant funding, including The Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, Ford Foundation Fellowship, and Tsadra Foundation Fellowship.
[1] Ḍākinī refers to accomplished women, goddesses, divine and human demons.