Revisiting the “Secret Consort” (gsang yum) in Tibetan Buddhism
Department of Religious Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Religions 2018, 9(6), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060179
Received: 14 April 2018 / Revised: 23 May 2018 / Accepted: 25 May 2018 / Published: 1 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Women in Buddhism)
This article revisits the question, first introduced by feminist scholars in the mid-1990s, about whether sexual practices within Buddhist tantra (heterosexually conceived) are empowering or exploitative to women. The purpose here is to complicate this question, given the different geographic settings and cultural contexts in which consort relationships have been embedded—from eastern Tibet to North America—and to nuance our understanding of the potential and pitfalls of sexuality in tantric contexts. To do so, I query the dynamics of secrecy and sexuality in tantric practice, examining twentieth century examples of female practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism who have participated in such relationships and thereby highlighting the localized ways that the “secret consort” (gsang yum) has been invoked as a social role. This issue is especially relevant today in light of the global #MeToo movement and recent disclosures of sexual improprieties and alleged abuse involving Tibetan teachers at the head of Buddhist communities in Europe and North America. For this reason, to conclude, I discuss shifting perspectives on sexuality as Buddhist tantra has spread beyond Asia and draw attention to current voices calling for greater transparency and community accountability.
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Keywords:
Buddhism; gender; sexuality; tantra; consort relationship; women in religion
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Gayley, H. Revisiting the “Secret Consort” (gsang yum) in Tibetan Buddhism. Religions 2018, 9, 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060179
AMA Style
Gayley H. Revisiting the “Secret Consort” (gsang yum) in Tibetan Buddhism. Religions. 2018; 9(6):179. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060179
Chicago/Turabian StyleGayley, Holly. 2018. "Revisiting the “Secret Consort” (gsang yum) in Tibetan Buddhism" Religions 9, no. 6: 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060179
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