The Woman Who Raised the Buddha

January 4, 2021
Buddhism scholar Garling (Stars at Dawn) details in this remarkable biography the life of the Buddha’s maternal aunt, Mahaprajapati Gautami, who raised him as her own. Born around 500 BCE in southern Nepal to a wealthy landowner, Mahaprajapati later joined her sister Maya as a wife to King Suddhodana. After Maya died giving birth to Siddhartha (the future Buddha), Mahaprajapati nurtured him until adulthood. Buddhist records detail that, when Siddhartha rejected his inheritance and left on his journey toward enlightenment, Mahaprajapati went blind from weeping, and only when he returned 12 years later as the Buddha was her eyesight restored. As mother of the new Buddha and one of the first women to receive his dharma teachings, Mahaprajapati became instrumental in the formation and spread of Buddhism by ordaining 500 women as Buddhist nuns, and Garling argues she played a prominent role in elevating “notions of the sacred feminine that proliferated culturally in India at the time.” Garling doesn’t skimp on her research; the book is rich with primary and ancient sources, perhaps to the point of overload for more casual readers. This is a no-brainer for historians and serious students of Buddhism.

February 1, 2021

Garling continues to cement her role as a feminist Buddhist scholar with this latest offering, after Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life, detailing the life of the now nearly forgotten woman known as Mahaprajapati, who raised the Buddha (Siddhartha). In this work, Garling digs deep into well-known and obscure Buddhist stories and archives to tell the story of this remarkable woman who lovingly raised her nephew, the future Buddha, after her sister's untimely death and was largely responsible for the inclusion of women in Buddhist monastic and lay communities. In this retelling, the author begs the question--Why, over the years, has Mahaprajapati been written out of history when she once figured so prominently, and what do patriarchal hierarchies in Buddhist scholastic communities gain from this exclusion? Readers will need at least a basic understanding of the life of the Buddha to follow the author's intent, but novices to scholars will appreciate this well-researched work. VERDICT An important contribution to filling a major gap in Buddhist studies and a triumph in understanding Buddhism through a feminist lens. Recommended for academic libraries and scholars interested in religious or feminist studies.--Kelly Karst, California Inst. of Integral Studies

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