Sakyadhita International: Gender Equity in Ultramodern Buddhism

Halafoff, Anna; Rajkobal, Praveena

doi:10.1177/0966735014555628

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Other key themes emerging from recent research on Buddhism in Australia also include an emphasis on scientific rationalism, a strong connection with the Australian landscape, and an emphasis on gender equality (Halafoff et al 2012;Ng and Halafoff). This article focuses on the latter theme and argues that not only have women played a prominent role in the history and establishment of Buddhism in Australia, but that the way they have done so can best be understood through a framework of 'ultramodern Buddhism,' building upon theories of modern and post-modern Buddhism, ultramodernity and cosmopolitanism (Halafoff and Rajkobal 2015).…”

Section: Ultramodern Buddhismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women and Ultramodern Buddhism in Australia

2018

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Buddhists started arriving in Australia in large numbers during the mid-1800s, and the first Buddhist societies and centres began to be formed in the mid-late 1900s. This paper examines the role of women in bringing Buddhism to and establishing it in Australia. Women have featured prominently in a small amount of scholarship, including Paul Croucher’s (1989) Buddhism in Australia: 1848–1988 and Cristina Rocha and Michelle Barker’s (eds. 2011) edited volume on Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change. This paper draws on these sources, but primarily on more recent digital oral histories of prominent Buddhist women and men in Australia, recorded as part of the first stage of the Buddhist Life Stories of Australia project in 2014–2015. These first-hand accounts bring the early female pioneers of Buddhism in Australia to life and provide a rich re-telling of this history with emphasis on women’s contributions to it. We also argue that these women’s experiences can best be understood through a framework of ‘ultramodern Buddhism,’ built upon theories of modern and post-modern Buddhism, as many of these women were trailblazers bridging dualisms of tradition and modernity, Asia and the West, and adhering to both feminist and Buddhist principles.

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Section: Ultramodern Buddhismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building upon these and other sociological theories, Anna Halafoff and Praveena Rajkobal (Halafoff and Rajkobal 2015) developed a new framework of 'ultramodern Buddhism' while analysing the global Buddhist women's social movement, Sakyadhita. As Willaime (2006, pp.…”

Section: Ultramodern Buddhismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women and Ultramodern Buddhism in Australia

2018

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“…Both of these moves serve to obscure the ways that the intersections between gender, nature and religion might be experienced outside of standard ecofeminism discourse, with the latter move, I argue, failing to do justice to any distinctive contribution that ideologically committed ecofeminists might have to make. I argue that we need to build on the reflexive awareness that postcolonial critique demands of us by remaining alert to power differentials and hierarchies, but that in an ultramodern era, boundaries between East and West, Third World and Western, traditional and modern, are actually rather difficult to maintain as part of an analytical approach (Halafoff and Rajkobal 2015). Instead, to avoid both of the moves outlined above, a greater voice needs to be given to Buddhist women, in Asia and the West, to articulate the ways that they experience the intersections between gender and nature, whether this absorbs fragments of ecofeminism or not.…”

Section: Rationale and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to better understand contemporary global Buddhism in an era of thick globalization I adopt the theoretical framework of 'ultramodern Buddhism', proposed by Halafoff and Rajkobal (2015). They argue that we need to develop a new framework that takes us beyond earlier theories of 'modern Buddhism' (Lopez 2002) or 'Buddhist modernism' (McMahan 2008), which have been used to describe the spread of Buddhism from Asia to the West and also the adaptation of Buddhism in Asia towards western versions of modernity.…”

Section: Rationale and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To begin, I present my rationale and theoretical framework. I adopt a theory of ultramodern Buddhism (Halafoff and Rajkobal 2015) to understand Buddhism in the contemporary era and the engagement of Buddhists in both Asia and the West with social issues around inequality and justice, including those relating to gender inequality, the environment and climate change. Then I address three main research questions: 1) to what extent has 'green Buddhism' been gendered?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gender and the Greening of Buddhism

Tomalin

2018

JSRNC

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Despite its popularity and appeal for many, ecofeminism has been criticized for essentializing and romanticizing women's roles as close to nature thereby reproducing colonialist and biologically determinist discourses that contribute to discrimination. In response there have been attempts to defend ecofeminism, arguing that such critiques are hyperbolic and that we need ecofeminism more than ever (Philips and Rumens 2016). In a climate of renewed interest in ecofeminism, I ask why is it that some faith traditions are represented to a far greater extent in ecofeminist literature than others? I pick up on this discrepancy within ecofeminism's engagement between different religions through examining Buddhist responses to gender and ecology. In the paper I adopt a theory of ultramodern Buddhism, developed by Halafoff and Rajkobal (2015), to understand Buddhism in the contemporary era. Three main research questions are addressed: 1) to what extent has 'green Buddhism' been gendered?; 2) why has there has been virtually no attempt to bring together feminist analysis with responses to Buddhism and environmentalism? Why have they been approached separately?; and 3) in what ways are Buddhist women (and men) combining gender analysis and environmentalism in practice in reference to or outside the framework of ecofeminism? To better understand why a Buddhist ecofeminism has not been named and claimed by Buddhists in either the West or Asia, there is a need for local level empirical studies that examine subjective understandings of relationships between gender and environmentalism in the lives of ultramodern Buddhist practitioners rather than assuming a standard ecofeminist position as the primary reference point.

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An Imperfect Alliance: Feminism and Contemporary Female Buddhist Monasticisms

Langenberg

2018

Religions

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This essay lays the elaborate textile of feminist discourse alongside the equally rich fabric of contemporary female Buddhist monasticisms, taking note of places the latter has pulled threads from the former, but also pointing out the ways in which female monastics lead agentive, creative, and sometimes rebellious female lives that in subtle and not so subtle ways resist the label "feminist," or contribute a new motif or fiber to the feminist weave. Case study reports on two innovative Buddhist female communities in Malaysia and Nepal, chosen because they offer examples of innovations within the context of Buddhist female monasticism that are interestingly complex as examples of Buddhist feminist consciousness, will serve to make visible a few particular female Buddhist monastic perspectives. Respectfully called in as interlocutors and cotheorizers, the monastic persons described here offer religious perspectives on norm-following, agency, and coalition-building that expand the feminist frame.

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Sakyadhita International: Gender Equity in Ultramodern Buddhism

Cited by 3 publications

References 21 publications

Women and Ultramodern Buddhism in Australia

Women and Ultramodern Buddhism in Australia

Gender and the Greening of Buddhism

An Imperfect Alliance: Feminism and Contemporary Female Buddhist Monasticisms

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