Meeting the Great Bliss Queen: Buddhists, Feminists, and the Art of the Self

by Anne Carolyn Klein

Despite the daunting barriers of geography and language that separate them, Buddhism and contemporary feminism have much to say to each other. Buddhist practices such as mindfulness (in which calm centering and keen awareness of change coexist) and compassion (in which the self is recognized as both powerful in itself and interdependently connected with all others) can be important resources for contemporary women, while feminism can expand the traditional horizons of Buddhist concerns to include social, historical, and psychological issues. The image and ritual of the Great Bliss Queen, an important Buddhist figure of enlightenment, form the unifying theme of the book modeling the practices and theory that can assist each of us in being at one with ourselves and fully engaged with others.

Genres: Buddhism, Feminism, Philosophy, Spirituality, Nonfiction

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 1995

About the author

Anne Carolyn Klein, Ph.D. (Religious/Tibetan Studies, University of Virginia; M.A. Buddhist Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison) is Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University, where she was formerly Chair of the Department of Religion. In 2010, she received the title of Dorje Lopon as Lama Rigzin Drolma from her teacher, Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. She is a co-founder of Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple in Houston, Texas, where she remains a resident teacher.

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure whether to give this three or four stars. I feel quite ambivalent about it, though I am very glad to have read it and it has much to commend it. As has happened before, I have picked up a book with one set of expectations, but found myself reading another. I wanted grounded academic analysis - and indeed I did receive this from Klein's book - but I also received a kind of theological work, threaded through with passionate 'right' beliefs and meditation practices. Perhaps it only felt so evangelical to me because I stand outside the system. Perhaps to a Western woman who is seeking carefully considered wisdom about her practice of Tibetan buddhism, it would have hit the spot very well. My criticism is not to say it is not a very important and useful piece of work. It was fascinating learning about Yeshe Tsogyal, and engaging in a dialogue between a particular kind of buddhist, and essentialist and postmodern feminist writers whose work is familiar to me. I just found myself occasionally wishing for a little less conviction about things, and a bit more precision about some of the terms used and representations and arguments offered. I have only lived in South East Asia for two and a bit years, but I know how difficult it is to generalise about what it might mean to be buddhist.

I found this review at academic room.com, which made me nod and say 'yes, yes, yes', several times:
http://www.academicroom.com/bookrevie...

[Mark Derderian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can modern and post-modern feminism and Buddhism provide a mutually revealing and mutually transforming interpretive framework as a conflictual and tension producing interface? Ann Klein Harvard scholar and student of Tibetan Buddhism gives some interesting answers.

[Frank R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used this book for a graduate seminar on Tibetan Buddhism and was not impressed. On the positive side, I found many insightful pieces of information about how western Buddhists interpret and navigate Buddhist practices differently than Tibetan Buddhists, the difference in cross cultural constructions of the “self”—though some of the author’s claims seem to be personal opinions—and an emic perspective on mindfulness, compassion, and nonduality.

I am am completely flabbergasted by all the 4 and 5 star reviews here, however. Perhaps I’m just not as passionate about the artificial dialogue the author conceived of as possible between feminism and Buddhism, but I thought this book was a rambling, impressionistic, unfocused romp through what could have been a much shorter exposition on the place of the Great Bliss Queen in Tibetan religious traditions.

[Paul Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few feminist masterpieces in a Buddhist package. Beautiful and well rounded.

[elise rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read sections for a research project

[Kay Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

see my LiveJournal Review

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing. I want to know more about how the self develops.