Buddhist Goddesses of India chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities in this definitive and essential guide.
Buddhist Goddesses of India chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities in this definitive and essential guide.
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Overview
Buddhist Goddesses of India chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Beautifully illustrated and drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities in this definitive and essential guide.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780691168548 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 08/25/2015 |
| Edition description: | New Edition |
| Pages: | 608 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.60(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Buddhist Goddesses of India
By Miranda Shaw
Princeton University Press
Copyright © 2006 Princeton University PressAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-12758-3
Introduction
The Buddhist pantheon of India features a fascinating and diverse array of female divinities. The pantheon is dazzling in its breadth, encompassing voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, exalted wisdom figures, compassionate healers, powerful protectors, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Goddesses preside over childbirth, agriculture, prosperity, longevity, art, music, learning, love magic, and occult practices. There are goddesses who offer protection from epidemics, snakebite, demons, curses, untimely death, and every mortal danger. There are also goddesses who support practitioners in their pursuit of knowledge, mental purification, a higher rebirth, and full spiritual awakening.Female deities occupy every echelon of the divine hierarchy, from nature spirits embedded in the landscape to cosmic figures representing the highest truths and attainments of the tradition. Variously beatific and wrathful, tender and fearsome, serene and ecstatic, they represent the energies, powers, and beings that surround and suffuse human life. They also reflect the inner depths of the human spirit, embodying qualities that may be awakened through spiritual practice. Thus, they are envisioned at once as supernal beings who minister to thoseenmeshed in worldly existence, as potent forces that may be invoked through ritual and meditation, and as models of human aspiration.
For these female divinities, I use the term "goddess." These goddesses are not marginal to Buddhist thought and practice but play an integral and often prominent role in their varied religious settings. Despite their tremendous importance in living Buddhism and pervasive presence in Buddhist texts and art, relatively little scholarly attention has been devoted to the female deities of the tradition. The last decade has, however, witnessed a dramatic upsurge of interest in the topic and the appearance of numerous substantive articles and several major monographs. This rapidly expanding field of inquiry makes evident the need for a comprehensive survey of the Buddhist goddesses of India that documents the forms, attributes, and roles of the main divinities and traces the historical development of the pantheon.
Although Buddhist goddesses regularly find mention in publications spanning the last century, their treatment has been concentrated in works on Indian and Buddhist art. These include art historical surveys and catalogs of museum collections and exhibitions. Such writings are primarily concerned with issues of iconography, provenance, and style rather than religious meaning and history. Therefore, although Buddhist goddesses appear frequently in print, one finds the same core of basic information with little advance in interpretation. Moreover, because female deities have long been of marginal interest to the field of Buddhist studies at large, knowledge of the female pantheon has not kept pace or been integrated with other advances in scholarship. The information presently available about most of these goddesses is limited to brief iconographic descriptions and thumbnail sketches of their religious meaning.
The present volume provides a fuller portrait of the individual divinities and identifies broader thematic and historical trends in the pantheon. I present a comprehensive overview of each goddess, including the dates of her emergence in literary and artistic sources, her iconographic evolution and range of epiphanies, the types of practices in which she figures, and original and evolving ideas of her nature and religious roles. The historical development of each figure unfolds not simply on a Buddhist stage but also against the backdrop of Indic culture at large. In many cases I identify deities, mythic themes, and symbolic motifs from the surrounding cultural landscape that influenced the character of a given goddess. This aspect of my study brings a new perspective to attributes that might otherwise seem to be Buddhist innovations, revealing the degree to which the pantheon is rooted in broader Indic cosmological, mythological, and symbolic patterns.
This study primarily features the major goddesses that appear in Indian Buddhist literature, visual arts, and practice traditions. In addition, several chapters are devoted to a class of divinity, a significant text, or human figures relevant to the goddess theme. Minor deities that serve only as attendants or mandala retinue figures are not included. In historical scope, the volume covers Indian Buddhism in its entirety, from the earliest traceable origins to the twelfth century c.e., documenting the female pantheon as it evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric movements. The deities introduced in India constituted the core pantheon that was adopted, modified, and expanded as Buddhism spread throughout Asia. This volume also addresses the transmission of these goddesses to Tibet and Nepal, charting continuities and changes in their iconography and practice in the different cultural spheres and examining their ongoing roles in contemporary settings.
One reason for covering such a vast array of divinities is the vantage point this affords for identifying broad regional and historical trends. As later goddesses inherit traits from, expand on, and replace earlier ones, a sequential pattern emerges, making it possible to locate each figure within the developmental trajectory of the pantheon. Furthermore, this study provides a vital perspective on the Buddhist tradition as a whole, for the pantheon reflects changes in theory and soteriology and deepens our understanding of Buddhist devotional and ritual life.
My research is based largely on primary textual and artistic sources. I have consulted a wide range of literary genres, such as meditation manuals, devotional poetry, chanted liturgies, ritual texts, scriptures, and biographies. Many of the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Newar writings that I use have not previously been translated. For these, I have relied on and present here my own translations. These sources are drawn from such compendia as the Sadhanamala, Derge edition of the Tibetan canon, Sakya sGrub thabs kun btus and rGyud sde kun btus, and Newar anthologies of hymns and ritual songs, as well as Tibetan visualization manuals and liturgies in current usage.
Archaeological remains and artistic images are also central to my analyses and constitute primary documents equal in value to literary works. Indeed, the visual record significantly complements and supplements the evidence provided by written texts. Because so many works of art are inscribed or datable on stylistic grounds, they often provide more specific evidence of the historical origins and evolution of the goddesses than do the literary sources. When works of art survive from regions or periods that are not well attested in textual sources, the material record provides crucial evidence for establishing the geographic and temporal compass of a particular goddess. Thus, images are invaluable for documenting the evolution of specific divinities and the pantheon as a whole.
Iconographic analysis plays an important part in my interpretations. Traits such as body color, stance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry, hand gestures, and handheld objects help communicate the religious import and roles of each goddess. Moreover, artistic treatments of a given figure may include iconographic features that do not appear in written descriptions, providing an eloquent "visual text" of her qualities and character. In many cases, iconographic motifs shared with figures other than Buddhist goddesses help reconstruct the influences- within Buddhism and beyond-that shaped the evolution of a divinity. I also address iconographic preferences and innovations that emerged when a deity migrated from India to Tibet or Nepal.
I conducted extensive field research in preparation for this volume, making four trips to India and Nepal between 1995 and 2000. My research in India was primarily historical. I searched photographic archives, libraries, and museums for publications and works of art relevant to my study and consulted Indian scholars and Sanskritists. In Nepal, I conducted research in Tibetan and Newar Buddhist communities in order to explore the goddesses' roles in contemporary settings. I visited Tibetan and Newar temples and manuscript collections and interviewed Newar priests and scholars and Tibetan masters representing different lineages within the Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug, and Nyingma schools. My time in the field also afforded opportunities to examine works of art in context and to observe rituals, dances, processions, and initiations. These investigations yielded significant historical insights and enhanced my understanding of the roles of the goddesses in the living tradition.
While consulting secondary sources, I regularly encountered errors regarding the identification, iconographic manifestations, and attributes of a given deity. Many of these inaccuracies are traceable to the exploratory efforts of pioneering scholars and have simply been repeated over the decades without reassessment. I directly address such misconceptions when they have a strong bearing on identification or interpretation. In other instances, I simply refer in passing to a common error or misidentification. However, because such mistakes are so numerous and pervasive I have not found it feasible to mention and cite them in every case. To do so would unduly lengthen my study without enhancing its usefulness. Therefore, I offer my references to primary sources in the stead of detailed explanations of discrepancies with information published elsewhere.
This volume is designed to serve a broad range of scholars and educators as a reference, research, and instructional tool. Therefore, each chapter is written as a complete unit that may be read independently as a source of reference on a given goddess. Each chapter opens with a brief portrait of the goddess. The content and organization of the chapters are then shaped by the types of evidence that emerged and the interpretive issues they raised. In some instances, a mythic narrative warrants close attention; in others, questions of historical origins, iconographic analysis, artistic treatments, or distinctive practice traditions come to the fore. Regardless of the differing emphases, readers may expect to find attention to the origins, iconography, and religious roles of each goddess and discussion of her place in Buddhist history and practice.
One of my aims in this work is to redress the unidimensional way in which Buddhist goddesses are customarily described in western scholarship. It is common practice simply to define a given deity by a philosophical concept that he or she represents or a benefaction that he or she confers. This formulaic approach conveys the impression that the deities are abstract entities interchangeable with or reducible to doctrinal categories or functions. I have found, however, that the divinities are typically envisioned as dynamic and complex entities with intricately drawn personae, powers, and numinous qualities. Thus, I have tried to provide fuller and more multifaceted portraits of "who" the goddesses are. This approach accords with their treatment in Buddhist sources, in which the goddesses emerge as living presences with multiple divine bodies, glorious environments, and attributes that proclaim their fabulous powers and spheres of mastery.
Historical Overview
The book is divided into three sections, documenting the female pantheon as it evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric periods. The most ancient phases of Buddhism are not preserved in the historical record. Not until around the third century b.c.e. is early Buddhism evinced in archaeological sources. The same century saw the beginning of a textual canonization process, although the early literary productions survive in later recensions. The Mahayana movement gained momentum in the first and second centuries c.e. and remained on the forefront of intellectual innovation and an expanding practice repertoire until the seventh century, when Tantric elements came to the fore and were forged into a significantly new pattern of theory and practice. The metaphysics and soteriology of each movement are reflected in the deities it advanced and the status and roles accorded to those deities. I place each goddess in the section that covers the movement, or period, during which she was introduced and her central features defined, although I address her survival in later periods and any alterations to her character that occurred.
Part One, titled "Ascent of the Sacred Female in Early Buddhism," chronicles the goddesses who appear in the earliest sources and iconographic programs. A variety of supernatural beings participated in the career of Shakyamuni Buddha and offered various forms of assistance to his followers. Among them are several female figures and figural types that are drawn directly from Indic cosmology and receive little elaboration beyond their incorporation into Buddhist narratives and works of art. Thus, we find Pr thivi, mother earth, an important figure in Vedic religiosity, playing a pivotal role in the enlightenment of Shakyamuni, defending him against the assault of the demon king Mara and granting him the throne of earthly sovereignty. Another figure of Vedic origin, Sri Laks mi, the goddess of abundance and good fortune, also found an honored place in early Buddhist worship and iconography. The ancient cult of female nature spirits and local guardians known as yaks inis flourished and found unparalleled artistic expression in Buddhist settings. Hariti rose from the ranks of the yaks inis to become the yaks ini queen and the focus of a distinctively Buddhist cultus, with an elaborate mythology and shrines in monasteries across the Buddhist world.
Two human figures are also featured in this section. Mayadevi, the mother of Shakyamuni Buddha, is included as an exalted female whose character has supernatural aspects. The section concludes with an examination of Gotami, the foster mother of Shakyamuni and founder of the female monastic order, whose career and attainment of enlightenment provides the nascent concept of female Buddhahood.
Goddesses receive substantial attention in Mahayana literature, practice, and iconography. This emphasis is already evident in the earliest Mahayana writings, dating to the first and second centuries c.e. Part Two, "Mahayana Mothers of Liberation," opens with a chapter on one such opus, the Flower Ornament Scripture, whose narrative of the pilgrim Sudhana reveals the expanded role of female divinities in Mahayana soteriology. Another foundational work, the 8000-Line Perfect Wisdom Scripture, introduces Prajnna~paramita, the first cosmic female of the Buddhist pantheon, whose embodiment of transcendent wisdom becomes a hallmark of the conception of female divinity.
Whereas the earlier pantheon was drawn largely from preexisting figures and figural types, the Mahayana movement engendered the rise of female saviors and protectors that embody explicitly Buddhist ideals and attainments. Their benefactions, which aid practitioners both materially and spiritually, flow from their Buddhist virtues of wisdom and compassion. While Mahayana writers and iconographers introduced divinities of recognizably Buddhist provenance, they often drew attributes from earlier figures and Hindu deities, adding their own distinctive stamp through an innovative combination of classical iconographic elements, a Buddhist origin myth, and salvific activities of a decidedly Buddhist cast.
The Mahayana pantheon features several powerful protectors, such as Marici, goddess of the dawn; Sitatapatra, guardian against supernatural dangers; and Janguli, protectress against harm by snakes and poison. A range of divinities address specific areas of human need. The most important among them are Parnasavari, a healing deity; Vasudhara, bestower of wealth and abundance; Sarasvati, patroness of learning and the arts; Us nisavijaya, who confers long life and a fortunate rebirth; and Cunda, who inspires and supports spiritual practice. Tara, the subject of the last chapter in this section, is the most beloved goddess of the Mahayana pantheon and a savioress of unlimited powers. She is the focus of an immense theological enterprise proclaiming her metaphysical supremacy and, uniquely among the Mahayana cohort, her Buddhahood.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration xi
Introduction 1
Part One: Ascent of the Sacred Female in Early Buddhism
Chapter 1: Prthiv: Mother Earth 17
Chapter 2: Mayadev: The Buddha's Wondrous Mother and Her Sacred Grove 38
Chapter 3: Yaksins: Voluptuous, Magical Nature Spirits 62
Chapter 4: Sri Laksmi: Glorious Good Fortune 94
Chapter 5: Hariti: Goddess of Motherly Love 110
Chapter 6: Female Buddhas: The Case of Gotami 143
Part Two: Mahayana Mothers of Liberation
Chapter 7: Goddesses in the Flower Ornament Scripture 155
Chapter 8: Praj~naparamita: Luminous Mother of Perfect Wisdom 166
Chapter 9: Parnasavar: Healing Goddess Clothed in Leaves 188
Chapter 10: Mairci: Lady of Sunrise Splendor 203
Chapter 11: Janguli: The Buddhist Snake Goddess 224
Chapter 12: Sarasvati: Divine Muse 234
Chapter 13: Vasudhara: Lady Bountiful 247
Chapter 14: Cunda: Saving Grace 265
Chapter 15: Sitatapatra: Invincible Goddess With a Thousand Heads and Hands 276
Chapter 16: Usnisavijaya: Bestower of Long Life and Immortality 291
Chapter 17: Tara: Mahayana Buddha, Universal Savior 306
Part Three: Tantric Female Buddhas
Chapter 18: Vajrayogini: Her Dance Is Total Freedom 357
Chapter 19: Nairatmya: Her Body Is the Sky 387
Chapter 20: Chinnamunda: Severed-Headed Goddess 403
Chapter 21: Simhamukha: Lion-Faced Female Buddha 418
Chapter 22: Kurukulla: Red Enchantress with Flowered Bow 432
Epilogue 448
Notes 453
Glossary of Tibetan 521
Bibliography 525
Index 553
What People are Saying About This
This work is a masterpiece. Shaw's fascinating study deepens our understanding of the divine feminine in South Asia. Her luminous writing carries the reader through an amazing terrain that is rich with historical discoveries and vivid portraits of a remarkable female pantheon.
— Graham M. Schweig, author of "Dance of Divine Love: India's Classic Sacred Love Story" and "Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song"
A jewel. A very significant contribution to the field.
— Adalbert J. Gail, Freie Universitat Berlin
Beautifully written and erudite, this book fills a need in the growing literature about goddesses in Buddhism. The goddesses are meticulously researched and brilliantly analyzed. Destined to become a classic in the field, Buddhist Goddesses of India leaves no doubt that goddesses have been central, not peripheral, to Buddhism, even from the earliest traceable beginnings of the tradition.
— Susan L. Huntington, author of "The Art of Ancient India"
"Beautifully written and erudite, this book fills a need in the growing literature about goddesses in Buddhism. The goddesses are meticulously researched and brilliantly analyzed. Destined to become a classic in the field, Buddhist Goddesses of India leaves no doubt that goddesses have been central, not peripheral, to Buddhism, even from the earliest traceable beginnings of the tradition."—Susan L. Huntington, author of The Art of Ancient India
"A jewel. A very significant contribution to the field."—Adalbert J. Gail, Freie Universität Berlin
"Miranda Shaw comprehensively demonstrates the importance of the feminine divine in Buddhism. She draws together art, scripture, myth, and ritual to bring these goddesses and female Buddhas alive, producing a definitive resource for scholars of Buddhism and of women's spirituality. With her eloquent translations and scrupulous analyses, Shaw has given us a treasure of religious insight into the sacred feminine."—Patricia Monaghan, Depaul University, author of Goddess Path
"This work is a masterpiece. Shaw's fascinating study deepens our understanding of the divine feminine in South Asia. Her luminous writing carries the reader through an amazing terrain that is rich with historical discoveries and vivid portraits of a remarkable female pantheon."—Graham M. Schweig, author of Dance of Divine Love: India's Classic Sacred Love Story and Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song
Miranda Shaw comprehensively demonstrates the importance of the feminine divine in Buddhism. She draws together art, scripture, myth, and ritual to bring these goddesses and female Buddhas alive, producing a definitive resource for scholars of Buddhism and of women's spirituality. With her eloquent translations and scrupulous analyses, Shaw has given us a treasure of religious insight into the sacred feminine.
— Patricia Monaghan, Depaul University, author of "Goddess Path"