A contemporary and provocative examination of the life of the Buddha highlighting the influence of women from his journey to awakening through his teaching career - based on overlooked or neglected stories from ancient source material.

In this retelling of the ancient legends of the women in the Buddha's intimate circle, lesser-known stories from Sanskrit and Pali sources are for the first time woven into an illuminating, coherent narrative that follows his life from his birth to his parinirvana or death. Interspersed with original insights, fresh interpretations, and bold challenges to the status quo, the stories are both entertaining and thought-provoking - some may even appear controversial. Focusing first on laywomen from the time before the Buddha's enlightenment - his birth mother and stepmother, his co-wives, and members of his harem when he was known as Prince Siddhartha - then moving on to the Buddha's first female disciples, early nuns, and to female patrons, Wendy Garling invites us to open our minds to a new understanding of their roles.

Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life, Wendy Garling, Shambhala Publications, Paperback, 328 Pages, $18.95

Wendy Garling is a writer, mother, Buddhist practitioner, and independent scholar with a BA from Wellesley College and MA in Sanskrit language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an authorized dharma teacher and has taught women's spirituality with a focus on the sacred feminine and women's stories for many years.

CONTENTS: Stars at Dawn
Acknowledgments		xi
Introduction		1
1.	Maya, Mother of the Buddha	17
	A Shakya Girl	19
	Maya's Wedding	24
	A Queen in Kapilavastu	27
	On Conceiving a Bodhisattva	31
	The Bodhisattva in Utero: Maya's Pregnancy	39
	The Journey to Lumbini's Grove	46
	Buddha's Birth, Maya's Death	53
2.	Mahaprajapatti, Goddesses, and Growing Up in the Harem	62
	Who Will Be My Mother?	63
	The Voice of the Goddess	65
	Childhood Stories	71
	The Harem as Family	74
3.	Yasodhara, Mrigi Guatami, and the Harem Wives	78
	Courtship in Kapilavastu	79
	Who Is Yashodhara?	83
	Yashodhara and Siddhartha	84
	Yashodhara in the Jataka Tales	90
	Junior Wives	92
	The Mysterious Kisa Gautami	95
	Kisa Gautami as Mrigi in the Mahavastu	101
	Mrigi Gautami: A Reconstructed and Imagined Biography	104
4.	The Great Departure: A Family Affair	107
	Tension in the Palace	109
	Mahaprajapati Takes Charge	119
	Brotherly Advice	122
	The Harem as Muse	125
	Yashodhara's Dream	132
	The Great Departure	135
	Sadness in Kapilavastu	143
5.	En Route to the Bodhi Tree	155
	A Mendicant Begins His Journey	157
	Gautama's Extreme Austerities	162
	On Finding the Middle Way	167
	Meetings with Sujata	169
	Two Sisters and the Rice Milk	180
	Further Symbols of the Sacred Feminine	182
	Under the Bodhi Tree	185
6.	Return to Kapilavastu	196
	The First Female Disciples	196
	Yasodhara's Pregnancy	201
	The Rape of Yasodhara	210
	Reunion of Suddhodana and His Son	212
	Mahaprajapati's Tears	216
	Rahula Meets His Father	220
7.	Women during the Buddha's Ministry	229
	Suddhodana's Death	230
	Taking Ordination: Mahaprajapati, Yashodhara and the Five Hundred Women	232
	Visakha, Chief among Laywomen	243
	The Deaths of Buddhism's First Nuns	254
	Maya's Conversion, the Demise of the Shakyas, and Amrapali	264
	Women at the Buddha's Parinirvana	270
Notes		276
Annotated Bibliography of the Ten Principal Primary Sources		294
General Bibliography		297
About the Author		303
Index		304