Women under the Bo Tree

Tessa Bartholomeusz explores the relationship between female world-renunciation in Buddhist Sri Lanka and attitudes about women and the religious vocation. She gives a history of Buddhist female renouncers in Sri Lanka and recounts her own field experiences of contemporary Buddhist women who have chosen to live celibate and cloistered lives. By presenting the point of view of the women themselves and describing their role and vocation in present-day Sri Lanka, the author puts a new perspective on the island's Buddhist culture.