This paper puts forth a new interpretation of the problem of the ineligibility of the female body for Buddhahood as it is seen in the texts of the Mahāyāna tradition of Buddhism. Recognizing that advanced female practitioners in Mahāyāna sūtras both lecture their detractors on the emptiness of physical forms while simultaneously changing their female forms to male ones, this paper provides an interpretation of the available textual material that reads the actions of such female practitioners as consonant and not contradictory. In so doing, this paper offers an innovative reading of the famous story of the Dragon King's Daughter from the Lotus Sūtra, one that sees it in conversation with a lesser known text specifically on the topic of female-to-male sex change on the path to Buddhahood, the Sūtra on Transforming the Female Form.
目次
Abstract 1 1. Paper 1 2. Why is the Female Body not Eligible for Buddhahood? 2 3. Teachers of Sex Change and the Teaching of Emptiness 4 4. A Practical Reading 7 Works Cited 8
