Sallie Tisdale

Women of the Way

Discovering 2,500 Years of Buddhist Wisdom

Talking Points

Sallie Tisdale is the author of several books, including The Best Thing I Ever Tasted and Talk Dirty to Me. She is a contributing editor at Harper’s and a consulting editor at Tricycle. Sallie’s work has appeared in numerous other publications including The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, New Republic, The Nation, London Sunday Observer, Outside, Vogue, and Mirabella. She is a frequent keynote speaker and the recipient of many awards, including an NEA and a James Phelan Literary Award. She is a three-time nominee for the National Magazine Award and her essays have been noted five times in Best American Essays.

Description

It is tradition in Zen monasteries to chant a lineage of male teachers from the Buddha’s time to the present day. As Buddhism took root in the West, increasing numbers of American Buddhists began to ask: “What about the women?”

Scholarly research has uncovered accounts of extraordinary women Buddhists, many of whom were recognized by their contemporaries for their powerful practice but excluded from their place in history. Drawing on these discoveries, several Buddhist centers have created women’s lineages of their own, and it is this bright thread of untold legend that Sallie Tisdale follows in this groundbreaking work.