Meeting the Lady of the Skies: Trans and Queer Readings in Tibetan Buddhist Life Writings
research article
Learned Foote
abstract
This article places works of early twentieth-century Tibetan Buddhist literature in conversation with trans and queer studies in religion. The life writings of Adzom Drukpa (1842–1924) deal with gender and sexuality in complex and significant ways. Ranging from Adzom Drukpa’s intimate, nondual relations with the goddess Yeshe Tsogyel to his relations with human women (especially consorts), this article traces these life writings’ vivid evocations of gender, sexuality, and divinity. I show how Adzom Drukpa transgresses gender boundaries with the help of sacred entities known as khandroma, yet at times reinscribes oppressive sex/gender dynamics in his treatment of consorts. Scholarship from trans and queer studies in religion illuminates critical themes in these life writings addressing both oppressive and liberatory aspects of Buddhist traditions. Factors like transmisogyny and stigmatized sexualities are not alien to the social worlds these texts depict, but rather resonate with fundamental concerns raised in the narratives.