Northwestern University

Grant(s) Awarded

In 2024, a Women in Buddhist grant in the amount of $15,000 was awarded to provide English-language readers access to a treasure trove, for the first time, of English-language translation of selected portions of the Dakinis Great Dharma Treasury. The intent is to publish a ten-volume set that consists of these as-yet untranslated biographies. This grant kick starts the project, and more funders for future volumes will be sought.

Until now most of the stories, voices, and concerns of historical Buddhist women, particularly those affiliated with Vajrayāna Buddhism, have not been available in English. Even in the Tibetan language, information about Buddhist women has been difficult to find and scarce. That is, until recently. In 2017 a group of Tibetan nuns from Larung Gar Nunnery in eastern Tibet published the largest-ever anthology of writings by and about Buddhist women, called the Dakinis Great Dharma Treasury (Khandro Chodzo Chenmo). This 53-volume collection includes a wide swath of genres and texts from across the centuries, including canonical accounts of early Buddhist nuns, the life stories and songs of experience of eminent Buddhist women in Tibet, accounts by female delogs who travel to the realms beyond death, works of Buddhist philosophy by Larung Gar khenmos, supplications to female tantric deities, and advice to nuns and yoginīs practicing meditation in retreat.

This is a collaborative team project led by Northwestern University  to be augmented by a larger group of translators and editors.