Sacred spaces and the feminine in Buddhism

This chapter discusses the concept of sacred spaces for Buddhist women. It seeks to investigate the material evidence for the spiritual attainments of female Buddhists, both lay and monastic, and bring them to the fore, by making them more visible in the archaeological records. The chapter also discusses issues concerned with women’s experience of the sacred and female symbolism associated with the sacred. What religious authority and power have women held, and how has the spiritually empowering authority of their experience been experienced and transmitted to others? These questions relate to women’s actual participation in religious life. Issues such as what religious roles and rituals women participate in, from which ones are they excluded and the expression of their participation in Buddhist religious architecture, are explored in this chapter.