The Buddha-Dhamma and Women in India

Re-establishing the Buddha-Dhamma in India

For more than 700 years, Buddhism had virtually died out in India, the land of its origin. In 1956, following the conversion to Buddhism of the great leader Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, millions of Indian people began to follow the Buddha-Dhamma. After his sudden death a short time after the conversion, the new Buddhist movement was left leaderless, without direction.

This situation led to the formation in the late 1970’s of Trailokya Boudha Mahasangha Gana (TBMSG) whose members since that time have been teaching the Buddha-Dhamma, running meditation and study retreats, encouraging and training men and women to teach the Dhamma to others.

The work of TBMSG has encouraged the growth of the Dhamma throughout Maharashtra and into other states in India. With its emphasis on education and social change, TBMSG has helped many people to escape from the prejudice and inequalities of the Hindu caste system. Now many more millions of people from all caste backgrounds are talking of conversion to Buddhism.
Under the auspices of TBMSG, the Arya Tara Mahila Trust (ATMT), a new trust run by women, has been established to address specifically the difficulties faced by women in India today. The members of ATMT are actively engaged in teaching and promoting the Buddha-Dhamma to Indian women.

After the conversion to Buddhism of Dr BR Ambedkar, many millions of those formerly known as "untouchable" in the Indian caste system converted to Buddhism under his leadership. To be born an "untouchable" literally meant that even the touch of such a person was considered to pollute a caste Hindu. This prejudice led to persecution and even violence. The most menial and degrading work had for centuries been assigned to this community and opportunities for education and social change were rare.

The situation for Buddhist women in India

Because of poverty and very challenging past conditioning which reinforced feelings of inferiority, many women who have converted to Buddhism face personal and social difficulties -lack of confidence, low self-esteem, inability to take initiative.
Through the Arya Tara Mahila Trust, we are building on some 25 years of experience of humanitarian work to alleviate poverty in the social, medical, educational and economic fields for women and their families.

Our Buddha-Dhamma activities

Ongoing part time Dhamma work

Currently, nearly 50 women members of our order along with several hundred other actively involved women are engaged in teaching and supporting meditation and Buddhist study in many parts of India.


Meditation and study retreats

We offer a varied range of residential retreats for women from 2 to 10 days, (occasionally longer). These provide an excellent opportunity for women to deepen their understanding and practice of the Buddha-Dhamma in a peaceful environment away from the pressures and stress of their everyday lives.

The Dhammajyoti team is a group of seven women whose main purpose is to help run retreats, take the Buddha-Dhamma to other Indian states and to remote rural areas.


Residential women's communities

These allow women to support one another as they live and practice the Buddha-Dhamma in a residential situation.