Presentation Schedule
Prakriti, an Outcaste Girl with a Desiring Gaze in Buddhist Literature of Thick Nhat Hanh and Rabindranath Tagore (94642)
Session Chair: Jason Scott Polley
Thursday, 6 November 2025 10:15
Session: Session 1
Room: Room B (4F)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
The story of Prakriti’s desire for Bhikkhu Ananda appears in both the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. Thick Nhat Hanh’s Old Path White Cloud: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (1991) has won him a worldwide readership. Prakriti’s story also appears in this artistic masterpiece. Hanh tells how Prakriti is persuaded to abandon her selfish desire for Ananda and to hope that he can continue the path of liberation. In this way she becomes the first bhikkhuni from “the untouchables.” Tagore focuses more on Prakriti’ awakening, which helps him break the fetters of “dry meditations” and take a step towards a bodhisattva’s enlightenment. Tagore presents Prakriti as a desiring subject narrating Tagore’s deeper view of Buddhism, rather than an object to be persuaded to become a nun. This makes Tagore’s story sound controversially subversive and unique compared to Hanh’s story which is very imaginative within the constraints of a Buddha biography. In Hanh’s story Ananda resists Prakriti’s seduction while in Tagore’s story Prakriti never gives up her longing because she believes that it is the path for him toward his ultimate purification. Chandalika deserves more attention as a powerful text depicting a desiring woman from a gender studies perspective.
Authors:
Eiko Ohira, Otsuma University, Japan
About the Presenter(s)
Professor Eiko Ohira is a University Professor/Principal Lecturer at Otusma University in Japan
See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule
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