About this item
A contemporary and provocative examination of the life of the Buddha highlighting the influence of women from his journey to awakening through his teaching career--based on overlooked or neglected stories from ancient source material. In this retelling of the ancient legends of the women in the Buddha's intimate circle, lesser-known stories from Sanskrit and Pali sources are for the first time woven into an illuminating, coherent narrative that follows his life from his birth to his parinirvana or death. Interspersed with original insights, fresh interpretations, and bold challenges to the status quo, the stories are both entertaining and thought-provoking - some may even appear controversial. Focusing first on laywomen from the time before the Buddha's enlightenment - his birth mother and stepmother, his co-wives, and members of his harem when he was known as Prince Siddhartha - then moving on to the Buddha's first female disciples, early nuns, and to female patrons, Wendy Garling invites us to open our minds to a new understanding of their roles.
About the Author
Wendy Garling has a BA from Wellesley College and MA in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner and authorized dharma teacher who has studied with Buddhist teachers of different schools and lineages, primarily His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the late Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden.For many years Wendy has taught women's spirituality focusing on Buddhist traditions, including original research into ancient Sanskrit and Pali literature investigating seemingly "forgotten" women's stories, especially those embedded in the earliest biographies of the Buddha. In Stars at Dawn, Wendy re-introduces these ancient women's stories, weaving them into a refreshing new biography that shifts the traditional patriarchal paradigm to a more accurate, gender-balanced and female friendly understanding of the Buddha's life and early Buddhism. Her dream is to restore the stories of women in early Buddhism to their rightful place in Buddhist history and reawaken the women's voices to ensure that their stories are not just told, but remembered and valorized as integral to the roots of Buddhism.Wendy is the mother of 3 sons, lives in Concord, Massachusetts, and is currently writing her second book. She is available for author events and workshops related to women and the sacred feminine in early Buddhism. Contact her at wendy.garling@yahoo.com.
