Wendy Garling - The Woman Who Raised the Buddha: The Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati

Garlings book transports us into the intimate and remarkable life of the most important Buddhist woman nobody knowsmother of the sage and first Buddhist nun. From a cache of newly discovered lore, Mahaprajapati inspires all women to awaken, undaunted by hesitancy or obstacles.

Judith Simmer-Brown, Naropa University professor and author of Dakinis Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism

This is an important historical corrective, examining the early Buddhist world through the lens of one of its most powerful women, Mahaprajapati Gautamithe Buddhas aunt and foster mother, wife of the Buddhas father, queen of the Shakya republic, and initiator of the order of nuns. Garling has written a page turner. Her deft handling of the materials and insightful readings offer a compelling herstory and a fresh look at the Buddhas life and legacy.

Andy Rotman, Professor of Religion, Buddhist Studies, and South Asian Studies at Smith College

A brave, extraordinary, and powerful rendering of the life of the mother of the Buddha, this remarkable book is eye-opening and heart-opening.

Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot, Upaya Zen Center

The Woman Who Raised the Buddha tells the story of Mahaprajapati, who enjoyed not only a familial relationship with the Buddha as his stepmother and aunt, but also shared a treasured Dharma connection as his closest female disciple who helped him to establish and educate the Order of Bhikkhuis (fully ordained women). As both a scholar and Buddhist practitioner, Wendy Garling skillfully weaves the story of Mahaprajapatis life, sometimes through the eyes of a historian, other times inviting us to imagine being in the presence of these holy beings, hearing their conversations and witnessing their personal exchanges. A delightful book, like no other.

Ven. Thubten Chodron, founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, Dharma teacher, and author of Buddhism for Beginners and Working with Anger

The Buddha said, Still there are fools who doubt that women too can grasp the truth. Gotami, show your spiritual power, that they might give up false views. How good it is to see this book appear now in our world. How welcome. How timely. These stories need to be told. For all those who have wanted to know more about the awesome lady who was both the mother of the Buddha and founding woman elder of the ancient Buddhist monastic order of awakened women, the Bhikkhuni Sanghathis book is for you.

Ven. Bhikkhuni Ayya Tathaloka Theri, founding teacher, Dhammadharini Sangha

Using numerous and varied translations of Buddhist texts, Wendy Garling has here reimagined and reconstructed a rich and inspiring life story of Mahaprajapati, the Buddhas foster-mother and the first Buddhist nun. By doing so, Garling has proven her superb skills as a storyteller and writer.

Jan Willis, author of Dharma Matters: Women, Race, and Tantra and Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist

This narrative rendering of Mahaprajapatis life gladdens the heart, illuminating the silence that has concealed her remarkable achievements.

Karma Lekshe Tsomo, professor of Buddhism and World Religions at University of San Diego

How precious to have a deep look into the life of the most important woman in the Buddhas life. Usually we just hear her name and know she was turned down in her first attempts to receive ordination, but other than that we have had little information. Now, through Wendy Garlings masterful research into redacted sources and her beautiful writing, we gain a full portrait of this fascinating foremother of Buddhism. The Woman Who Raised the Buddha adds a precious missing link to the history of women in Buddhism.

Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Wisdom Rising: Journey into the Mandala of the Empowered Feminine

The contemporary revival of the bhikkhuni order makes this beautiful and compelling book especially timely. Mahaprajapati, the first Buddhist nun, emerges as a strong advocate for women on a spiritual path, a wise and beloved teacher, and an accomplished practitioner with emotionally rich and caring relationships. Weaving together stories from multiple traditions, Garling invites us to reimagine the foundation and qualities of these traditions, with women at the heart of Buddhism.

William Edelglass, Director of Studies, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and Associate Professor, Emerson College

Wendy Garlings The Woman Who Raised the Buddha is spell-binding. It is magnificent the way she uses extensive research to piece together the life story of Mahaprajapati, the sister of Buddhas birth mother, Mayadevi, and the actual mother who took over his nursing and raising when her sister Maya passed away seven days after Buddhas birth. It may be that it has always taken a village for any individual to make a profound transformation of any society and even the world, and it definitely is the case that the women of that village are the too often unacknowledged drivers of the transformation. The men later tell the story as if the individual man did it all along, and they write it that way as history. What Garling has done in this, and in her previous work, is correct that picture, showing how the network of angels (akinijala) of the brave and intelligent women of a community make the life of the community possible. Reading this book, you are transported back into the Buddhas life and the real herstory of how the sangha movement launched the social revolution that he sparked. This book is a delight, an illumination, and a must-read.

Padma Shri Robert Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

S HAMBHALA P UBLICATIONS , I NC .

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2021 by Wendy Garling

Cover art: Roland and Sabrina Michaud / akg-images

Cover design: Kate E. White

Interior design: Greta D. Sibley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Garling, Wendy, author.

Title: The woman who raised the Buddha: the extraordinary life of Mahaprajapati / Wendy Garling.

Description: First edition. | Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020015265 | ISBN 9781611806694 (trade paperback)

eISBN 9780834843479

Subjects: LCSH : Mahapajapati Gotami. | Gautama BuddhaFamily. | Buddhist womenBiography.

Classification: LCC BQ 933 . G 375 2021 | DDC 294.3/63dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015265

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FOR RIO AND ZEPHYR

May All Beings Benefit

THE DALAI LAMA

In the more than three hundred translations of classical Indian texts existing in Tibetan we find little about the lives of individual practitioners during the Buddhas time. The main content of these texts is the Buddhas sublime teaching.