Shang Shung Fall Workshops and Lectures

Enlightening Passion: Sexuality and Gender in Tibetan Buddhism

with Professor Paola Zamperini

September 30, October 1 & 2, 2011

Times TBA

By donation

 In this course/workshop we will study the lives of prominent female teachers in Tibetan Buddhism. Our focus will be on reconstructing the trajectories to realization that women like Yeshe Tsogyal, Mandarava, Yid Thogma, Machig Labdron, Sera Khandro, and Ayu Khandro, among others, undertook, often at high personal and societal cost. By utilizing biographical and, as much as possible, autobiographical records (in English translation), we will analyze both the narrative and social aspects of these women’s choice to privilege the Vajarayana path to enlightenment at the expense of more conventional and socially accepted lifestyles. The course will combine methodology from Buddhist studies, women and gender studies, and literary criticism, in an effort to unravel and explore the complex negotiations that Buddhist female teachers engaged in their spiritual pursuit within the context of traditional Tibetan culture.

Paola Zamperini is Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Civilizations  and Women and Gender Studies at Amherst College, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Shang Shung Institute of Tibetan Studies. 

Location:

Florence Community Center

140 Pine Street, Room #10

Florence, MA

To register call: 413-369-4928 or email: secretary@shangshung.org

(Please look at Florence Yoga Studio webpage for directions here:

http://www.florenceyoga.com/studio.html) 

Shang Shung institute School of Tibetan Medicine P.O. Box 278 Conway, MA 01341 info@shangshung.org P: 413-369-4928 F: 413-369-4473