A Buddhist woman's path to enlightenment

"This volume of Historia Religionum 13 contains the proceedings of a workshop on a Tamil text called (the) Manimekalai. The workshop took place at Uppsala University, Department for the History of Religions, 18-22 May, 1995. Historical problems concerning the Manimekalai, problems regarding its authorship, genre, dating, historical setting and sectarian affiliation were of primary interest, and several of the 13 contributions (by 10 contributors) in this volume have presented valuable suggestions for a solution to these problems. To the aim of solving historical problems another was added, namely that of generating a number of interpretative themes based on the Manimekalai; themes on the Buddhist concept of causation in the Manimekalai, on the concepts of gods, the soul and the amuta curapi, "the bowl of immortality". The concept of "Reform Buddhism" was highlighted, rituals were classified and reconstructed, and of course a gender analysis was included."--ABSTRACT.