Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro

by Sarah Jacoby

Love and Liberation reads the autobiographical and biographical writings of one of the few Tibetan Buddhist women to record the story of her life. Sera Khandro Dew(r) Dorj(r) (1892u1940) was extraordinary not only for achieving religious mastery as a Tibetan Buddhist visionary and guru to many lamas, monastics, and laity in the Golok region of eastern Tibet, but also for her candor. This book listens to Sera KhandroOCOs conversations with deities, dakinis, bodhisattvas, lamas, and fellow religious community members and investigates the concerns and sentiments relevant to the author and to those for whom she wrote. Sarah H. JacobyOCOs analysis focuses on the status of the female body in Sera KhandroOCOs texts, the virtue of celibacy versus the expediency of sexuality for religious purposes, and the difference between profane lust and sacred love between male and female Tantric partners. Her findings add new dimensions to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhist consort practice, complicating standard scriptural presentations of a male subject and a female aide. Sera Khandro depicts herself and her guru and consort, Drim(r) uzer, as inseparable embodiments of insight and method that together form the Vajrayana Buddhist vision of complete buddhahood. By advancing this complementary sacred partnership, Sera Khandro carved a place for herself as a female virtuoso in the male-dominated sphere of early twentieth-century Tibetan religion."

Genres: Buddhism, Biography, History

456 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2014

About the author

Sarah Jacoby grew up wandering the woods outside of Philadelphia, where she still lives. She now draws for a variety of people and places, including the New York Times, and she is the author and illustrator of and the illustrator of Rabbit and the Motorbike and The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown.

Reviews

[Keith^^^ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and extremely confusing at times with a multitude of Tibetan names used.

But it's a beautiful story recounting Sera Khandro's life, and how she persevered as a Treasure Revealer despite the odds being stacked against her.

Some parts are incredible and really shows how mystical and wondrous Tibetan Buddhism is. It also is a challenge for skeptics to read this. Khandro narrates how she meets deities, talks to the dead in her visions, and gains connection through tantric sex.

[Karma Gyatso]

Fascinating