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“Gendered Dilemma”: Medieval Chinese Perspective on Gender and Sexuality in Buddhism

Submitted to Program Units
1: Chinese Religions Unit
2: Women and Religion Unit

Hsiao-wen Cheng, University of Pennsylvania, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

By coining the term “gendered dilemma,” the panel investigates the situations with the presence of multiple gender norms, leading to inconsistencies and contradictions, consequently forging a new set of power/knowledge regimes. The dilemma surrounding sexual constructs, the concept of lust, and visions configures a rich multivocality in response to the tension and reconciliation emerging from the clash between the Buddhist and pre-established socio-cultural gender norms. Three papers in this panel seek to broaden the historical scope, spanning a transformative period of Buddhism from the late second to the eleventh century, presenting an examination of the “gendered dilemma” by textual comparison and analysis of early Chinese Buddhist sūtras with Confucian classical texts, a discourse analysis of gender convertibility in Mahāyāna sūtra narratives, and art historical analysis of female agency in possessing visuality in Northern-Song scriptures.

Papers

  • Yuxuan Tay, University of California, Los Angeles

    ‘Many Women in Hell’: Problem of Lust in Early Chinese Buddhist Text

    Abstract

    This paper investigates the problem of lust embedded within a few of the earliest renditions of Buddhist scriptures translated from second to third-century China. Earlier Confucian classical texts cemented a discourse that presupposed the male gender’s natural inclination to lust. However, the early translated Buddhist texts in China introduced a new discourse that ascribed bodily lust as the female gender’s natural inclination. It is commonly accepted that the literate elites eventually accepted both discourse sets. However, the initial period when the Buddhist discourse was introduced must have presented a dilemma for the elites to reconcile similar and different gendered notions with the existing discourse. The result was a new discourse that firmly amalgamated both sets of ideals and redefined lust expressed by the male and female genders. The consequences of three different discourses would set a new basis for future literati interpretations of gender relations in medieval China.

  • Tiantian Cai, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Female Magic: Performing Sexual Convertibility in Early Mahāyāna Buddhist Narratives

    Abstract

    This study examines performativity within inconsistent narratives surrounding gender and sexuality in early Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtras, particularly exploring the theme of sexual convertibility in Sūtra on Transforming the Female Form, Chapter 6 of Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra and Chapter 12 of Saddharma-puṇḍárīka-sūtra. By analyzing the magical displays of the Goddess to Śāriputra regarding body forms, and the transformative sexuality of Taintless Light Girl and dragon girl, juxtaposed with biological categories about sexuality in Brahmajāla-sūtra, the paper argues that sexuality, distinct from gender, plays a role in constructing gender dichotomy and hierarchies; its superimposition with gendered body forms results in inconsistent narratives that persist as gender dilemmas in the sūtras. The study underscores gender/sex convertibility displayed in a performative manner, showing a tendency of reconciliation of contradictions in narratives. This study introduces a novel intra-religious approach to gender issues in Buddhist sūtra literature, providing insights into narrative modes linked with Buddhist doctrines and rhetoric devices.

  • Huajie Fan, University of Virginia

    Gendered Visions of Faith: Lady Sun's Printed and Painted Buddhist Frontispieces

    Abstract

    Ten sandalwood-scented Buddhist scrolls were discovered next to the body of Lady Sun (b. 995-1055), a Buddhist practitioner from a scholar-official family. Each scroll features frontispieces, printed or painted with ink and gold, with several bearing Lady Sun's signature. This study examines Lady Sun's visual preferences, her engagement with the materiality of these scrolls, and the sensory experiences she actively pursued within the constraints of medieval visual culture and gender norms. At a time when print culture was burgeoning, but dominated by literate male elites, Lady Sun's collection stands out. Not only did she own and sign printed scrolls that stylistic tracing to imperial printing projects of Buddhist canon, but she also commissioned hand-painted identical copies for printed sūtra with altered visual programs, thus personalizing her devotional practice and negotiating her religious and social identity with established patriarchal visual structures that restricted women's access to visual and religious autonomy.

     

Responding
Stephanie Lynn Balkwill, University of California, Los Angeles

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes

Schedule Preference

Monday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Schedule Preference Other

We are open to seeing this session celebrated Monday to have sessions on every day.
Schedule Info

Monday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Tags

#Chinese Buddhism
#gender
#sexuality
#lust
#earlyChineseBuddhistTexts
#earlyConfuciantexts
#genderhistory
#BuddhistPrints
#Frontispieces
#NorthernSong

Session Identifier

A25-306