Series Four Volume 2

Review: Women and Buddhist Philosophy

Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryop. By Jin Y. Park. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2017. 292 pages. $28.00 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-8248-7936-5.

In Women and Buddhist Philosophy, Jin Y. Park focuses on Zen Master Kim Iryop (1896–1971), who grew up in a Christian family and eventually became a Buddhist nun. In light of the experiences of Iryop, Park asks the following questions: How and why do women engage with Buddhism? Is women’s engagement with Buddhist philosophy and philosophy in general different from that of the patriarchal approach? Park’s aim is to point to the differences while asserting that these differences are not impenetrable. To attain this penetration, Park claims that we first need to gain the awareness of the differences. Park’s discussion of the life and thought of Iryop gives the reader a chance to consider how to start achieving this task.

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