Full Description
This book establishes how Buddhism in the Insight Meditation tradition supports "remarkable relational resilience" for women who are of African descent and same-sex loving, yet living in a society that often invalidates women, African-Americans, LGBTQ people, and non-Christians. Pamela Ayo Yetunde explores the psycho-sexual experiences of African-American Buddhist lesbians, and shows that their abilities to be in healthy relationships are made possible through their Buddhist practices and communities, even in the face of invisibilizing forces related to racial, gender, sexuality, and religious discrimination and oppression.
Contents
1. What is Buddhism, and what is Buddhism in the Insight Meditation Community (IMC)?.- 2. Womanism and the Absence of Explicit Black Buddhist Lesbian-Black Christian Straight Interdependence in Foundational Womanist Theological Scholarship.- 3. The Spiritual Practices and Experiences of African-American Buddhist Lesbians in IMC.- 4. Self, No Self, and the Paradoxes of Self and No Self Preservation.- 5. African-American Women Buddhist Dharma Teachers and Writers on Self and No Self.- 6. Object Relations in East and West - Self, No Self, The Abhidhamma, and W. R. D. Fairbairn.- 7. Wholeness as Object Liberation - The Efficacy of Buddhist Lovingkindness Meditation.- 8. Conclusions and Counseling Recommendations.
