Although Zen Buddhism emphasizes that awareness is not related to biological sex, historical sources of the Zen school still show that the number of writings on female Zen practitioners bears a significant difference compared to male Zen masters. This study compiled the Zen sketches and records of the lamp on female practitioners in the Song Dynasty to understand the development of female practitioners in the Zen Buddhism at the time. The Zen sketches and the records of the lamp have a total of 22 meditation women in the Song Dynasty, including 15 female zen master and 7 women practicing at home. In comparison with the records of the lamp, which focused on conversations of Zen wisdom between masters, Zen sketches focused more on the descriptions of the subjects' biographical details. Zen sketches and records of the lamp in the Song Dynasty could help piece together a more clear portrayal of female Zen practitioners in the Song Dynasty. Compared to female Zen practitioners in the Tang Dynasty, who only appeared in the records of the lamp sporadically as minor parts in the Zen masters' process of reaching enlightenment, female Zen practitioners in the Song Dynasty came from different backgrounds, including the imperial harem, political families, and down to working-class women such as Yu Dao Po. Most of them gained the Zen master's recognition before their death, with clear lineage and transmission in the lineage charts of the records of the lamp, showing an image of wisdom beyond gender appearance.
