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“The Gathering for the first time portrays the lives of the early Buddhist women in such a way that they come alive. It is a novel, first of its kind, to break through the barrier of male voices, and it is told vividly in such a moving and engaging way.”
A Feminist Novel About the First Women
to Join the Buddha’s Community
Inspired by the Therigatha (the collection of 73 poems by some of the first Buddhist women --perhaps the oldest collection of women’s voices we have in the world), Victoria Sasson follows Vimala, Patachara, Bhadda Kundalakesa, and many others as they walk through the forest to request full access to Buddha’s community. The Buddha’s response to this request is famously complicated; he eventually accepts women into the Order, but specific and controversial conditions are attached. Sasson invites us to think about who these first Buddhist women might have been, what they might have hoped to achieve, and what these conditions might have meant to them thereafter. Sasson imagines a world that continues to inspire and complicate Buddhist narrative to this day.
Vanessa R. Sasson, author of Yasodhara: A Novel About the Buddha’s Wife, is a professor of Religious Studies at Marianopolis College in Montreal, Canada; she is also a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
7:00 pm, Sunday, October 8th
UH Manoa / The William S. Richardson School of Law / CR2
Free Admission—Limited to 120
Quarry Parking is FREE.
Praise for The Gathering
A bold blend of elements that are often kept apart: scholarship on Buddhist narrative traditions, familiarity with the concerns of contemporary female monastic communities, a sharp feminist sensibility, and vivid storytelling. While she does not shrink from asking some hard questions about gender inequity in Buddhism, Sasson's narrative brims with tenderness for her characters and delight in a tradition and a history that she clearly cherishes and respects. Sasson brings to life scenes and characters and conversations with humor and humanity.
—Amy Langenberg, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Eckerd College
Vanessa Sasson has once again gifted us with a tale that brings early Buddhist women to life. Animating her well-researched evidence with an evocative imagination and vivid prose, she helps us feel their suffering, understand their diverse motivations, respect their wise insights, and be inspired by their resilient strength.
—Paula K. R. Arai, Ph.D., author of Women Living Zen
