10 Buddhist Women Every Person Should Know

[ratanasutra]

Thank you Big uncle to share with us the link,  i knew none of them and never heard or read about them before, hence its time for me to read more about Buddhism.

I do like the list which propose by others as well especially for Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma who recently accepted her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on June 16, after spending a total of 15 years under house arrest.

Here is part of her interview with the Council on Foreign Relations http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/aung-san-suu-kyi--buddhism-has-influenced-my-worldview/2011/12/01/gIQAR9m5GO_blog.html
I am a believing Buddhist, so I am sure the teachings of Buddhism do affect the way I think.

She is one of lady i admired, she really put Dharma in her daily life as it been mentioned in the link despite all of the horrors she has been through, there wasn’t a trace of anger or bitterness in her remarks.

[bambi]

Thank you Big Uncle for the post. Interesting. Most of the names there I have not heard of. Sorry for my ignorance.

Your are right, I wonder why Master Cheng Yen is not listed as 1 of them. And also Aung San Suu Kyi. There are many celebrities out there promoting Buddhism to the world and I think they deserve to be recognized as some of the influential people and not just confined to 10 people.  It's really wonderful as people see these names and the 1st thing that they relate to is Buddhism.

I did however, googled a few sites and found more interesting names that I can relate to 

http://www.examiner.com/article/ten-influential-buddhist-women

- Venerable Cheng Yen, founder of the international charity Tzu Chi Foundation (Compassionate Relief).
- Ngawang Sangdrol, Tibetan activist
- Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese activist
- Pema Chödrön, American-born Tibetan nun
- Jan Willis, Professor of Religion, Weslyan University
- Helena Norberg-Hodge, groundbreaking Environmental Analyst
- Tara Brach, Psychologist and Meditation expert
- Ayya Khema, Buddhist nun
- Anne Arundel Hopkins Aitken
- Dekyi Lee Oldershaw, teacher and speaker

The above 10 women have done a lot by being outspoken in their own ways and changing the lives of many people young or old. Not forgetting the celebrities

http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/top-10-celebrity-buddhists

- Aung San Suu Kyi
- Steven Seagal
- Kate Bosworth
- Richard Gere
- Herbie Hancock
- Leonard Cohen
- Tina Turner
- Orlando Bloom
- Tiger Woods 

[Jessie Fong]

Thank you for posting the list, Big Uncle.  I have not heard of any of those listed by you, while some of the other names proposed by other forum friends are familiar to me.

I guess the difference is that while your list shows important Buddhist women, the others proposed are famous women who are Buddhist.

This list is not exhaustive as people like Master Chen Yen and Aung San Suu Kyi are not listed. These are influential and important people in the Buddhist field, not only they are Buddhists but because of the untiring work they have done for their country and the world.

It's great to have famous personalities to come out and declare they are Buddhists, but we also need to know what they have contributed to the growth of Buddhism.

[Vajraprotector]

I have heard before that women are inferior to men in Buddhism, so I have recently reading up on the subject and there is a relevant part in the Lotus Sutra that I thought I share with all of you.

The context is the Buddhist disciple Manjusri extolling the power of the Lotus Sutra and its message to guide all sentient beings to speedy enlightenment.

To emphasize and illustrate his point, Manjusri explained that even the daughter of the dragon king has attained quick enlightenment. Indeed "Her merits are perfect. . . . Her will and thought are harmonious and refined, and she is able to attain to bodhi [enlightened wisdom]."

The bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulation objects to Manjusri's claim, saying that Shakyamuni himself went through many lifetimes and hardships before becoming enlightened. "I do not believe that this girl in the space of a moment directly and immediately achieved right, enlightened intuition."

No sooner had Wisdom Accumulation voiced this objection then the dragon king's daughter appeared before the assembled crowd to testify to her enlightenment.

But another prominent disciple of the Buddha,  Sariputra, was incredulous. Speaking to her, he stated the Five Obstructions/Obstacles doctrine as follows:

A woman's body is filthy, it is not a Dharma-receptacle. How can you attain unexcelled bodhi? The Path of the Buddha is remote and cavernous. Throughout incalculable kalpas [of time], by tormenting oneself and accumulating good conduct, also by thoroughly cultivating the perfections, only by these means can one then be successful. Also, a woman's body even then has the five obstacles. It cannot become first a Brahma god king, second the god Sakra, third King Mara, fourth a sage-king turning the Wheel, fifth a Buddha-body. How can the body of a woman speedily achieve Buddhahood?

At that time, the assembled multitude all saw the dragon girl in the space of an instant turn into a man, perfect bodhisattva-conduct, straightaway go southward to the world-sphere Spotless, sit on a jeweled lotus blossom, and achieve undifferentiating, right, enlightened intuition, with thirty-two marks and eighty beautiful features setting forth the Fine Dharma for all living beings in all ten directions.

At that time . . . bodhisattvas, voice-hearers, gods, dragons, the eightfold assembly, humans and nonhumans, all from a distance seeing that dragon girl achieve Buddhahood and universally preach Dharma to the men and gods of the assembly of that time, were overjoyed at heart and all did obeisance from afar. . . . The bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulation, as well as Sariputra and all the assembled multitude, silently believed and accepted. (Hurvitz, Lotus Blossom, p. 201.)

[Dondrup Shugden]

Out of 10 of the Buddhist Women, 8 are from the West.  This shows how far Buddhism has spread and how in the West it is practised with more passion than we do in the east.  Buddhism seem more like part of life in the east whereas in the West the new converts treat Buddhism as life.