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Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 8.2 (2025): 51–75; https://dx.doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.08.02.04
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buddhist Epigraphy and Women’s History)
Female Buddhists at Longmen Grottoes
Lan LI
University of Toronto
lilan.li@utoronto.ca
Abstract: By examining 601 dedicatory inscriptions and their associated projects at Longmen Grottoes that were solely sponsored by women, this study investigates the demographics and religious aspirations of these female Buddhists. It addresses three central questions: 1) Who were these women, in terms of their religious and social identities? 2) What motivated them to make these Buddhist projects and engage in relevant practices? 3) What social and religious goals did they seek to achieve through their engagement with Buddhism? To answer these questions, the study adopts a twofold approach: first, I offer an examination of the demographic distribution in order to present a comprehensive picture of women’s participation in Buddhist projects at Longmen; second, I closely analyze a collection of exemplary inscriptions that reflect specific religious aspirations upheld by women and that demonstrate their role in promoting Buddhist teachings locally. In sum, I argue that through these projects, women found new avenues to articulate their identities and assert their religious agency.
Keywords: Longmen Grottoes, dedicatory inscriptions, Buddhist images, female donor, devotional practice, identity, religious agency
About the Author: Lan Li is currently a sessional instructor at the University of Toronto. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University in 2024, specializing in Buddhism and East Asian religions. Her research examines donative epigraphy and religious patronage in medieval China, with a particular focus on the interconnections between funerary practices, gender, and family in Chinese Buddhism. Drawing on inscriptions from the Longmen Grottoes, her dissertation reconstructs the religious and social lives of donors while tracing the dynamic history of Tang Buddhist practices. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as an assistant researcher at the Longmen Grottoes Research Academy (2010–2018) and published several papers and archaeological reports based on her fieldwork there.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
