Bride of the Buddha: A Novel

"In this fine debut, poet McHugh imagines the life of the Buddha’s abandoned wife, Yasodhara, as she’s torn between the spiritual path and the impositions of patriarchal society. After the death of her sister Deepa, Yasodhara is driven to find her sister’s lost spirit so that her soul does not wander endlessly, as she believes it would. Political machinations push her into a marriage with Prince Siddhartha, the future Buddha, and after he abandons her, she deepens her spiritual practice as the palace demands she give up prayer to pursue a purely domestic life. In traditional accounts, the Buddha abandoned Yasodhara to undertake the quest for enlightenment, and Yasodhara is ordained only after the Buddha’s devoted attendant, Ananda, pushes the teacher to establish an order of nuns. In McHugh’s smart retelling, Yasodhara, after a period of intensive ascetic practice, hides her identity and joins the Buddha’s order as the male monk Ananda to practice the Dharma and to persuade the Buddha to let women ordain. Though sometimes the exposition on the Dharma can feel forced, McHugh combines scholarship with intriguing fictionalizations. This engrossing exploration of gender dynamics, identity, and the spiritual quest for meaning will appeal to Buddhists and general readers alike." — Publishers Weekly

"A novel reimagines the life of the Buddha’s wife, a powerful spiritual figure in her own right.
As Yasodhara, the daughter of the 'village oligarch,' mourns the accidental death of her younger sister, Deepa, she is thrown into confusion and despair. She vows to find and rescue her sister’s spirit one day, a commitment poignantly depicted by McHugh: 'Under the white misshapen moon, I knelt down and promised my sister that if at all possible I would find her soul so she could be with her family again and not have to travel through realms of samsara, lonely forever.' But years later, when her older sister, Kisa, on the cusp of marriage, dies as well, she offers to take her place and marry Siddhartha, hoping to lift the weight of her mother’s grief. Siddhartha has a reputation for frivolously enjoying sensuous pleasures but becomes a devoted husband, though he is plagued by the suffering of the world and tired of therapeutically creating 'false paradises' to avoid it. He abandons Yasodhara and their son, Rahula, only days old, to seek spiritual enlightenment; he’s gone for so long she considers remarriage. Siddhartha eventually finds both spiritual awakening and a considerable following, but when Yasodhara decides to join his order, she is prohibited because she is a woman, a problem thoughtfully portrayed by the author. Refusing to be daunted, Yasodhara disguises herself as a male aspirant and assumes the name Ananda. She not only attempts to become a monk, but also persuades Siddhartha, now the Buddha, to open his ranks to women, a possibility some consider 'preposterous.' McHugh deftly manages to vividly convey a moving drama with a message about female empowerment at its core without indulging in any heavy-handed, didactic sermonizing. This is an impressive tapestry of history, spiritual philosophy, and literary drama and an edifying look at the patriarchal limitations of Buddhism’s genesis.
An intelligently conceived and artistically executed reconsideration of religious history.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Bride of the Buddha is a luminous, imaginative story of love, courage, and devotion that brings the turbulent times around the birth of Buddhism to life as they were lived by the wife whom Siddhartha abandoned to follow his spiritual path.
In a time when women were expected to marry, have children, serve their husbands in silence, and hope to be reborn as a man, Yasodhara, traumatized by the death of her younger sister, vows never to marry. Her greatest desire is to become a homeless spiritual seeker and wander in search of meaning and truth. When treachery causes the death of her older sister just as she is about to wed Siddhartha, fifteen year-old Yasodhara agrees to take her place, sacrificing her quest for enlightenment for the sake of her family. Two days after the birth of their son, Siddhartha tells her that he is leaving. It is he who will wander, seek, and find the truth.
Locked into the women’s quarters, Yasodhara learns of Siddhartha’s enlightenment, and of the many women who desire to follow the master. Left desolate when her small son determines to follow his father and become a monk, Yasodhara escapes to undertake her own spiritual journey. Disguised as a monk, she takes the name 'Ananda,' meaning 'bliss,' and marshalls all her courage and devotion to engage in a quest that involves life-threatening challenges and rebellion against a society entrenched in patriarchy. Infiltrating the all-male sangha, she works for women’s ordination and learns of hidden intrigues and dangers that threaten the Buddha’s life and teachings.
Blending fact, fiction, symbolism, and creative imagination, Bride of the Buddha is an immersive novel about the founding of Buddhism, told in the voice of a woman who would not be excluded from the spiritual quest, nor from the presence of the man whom she loved.”—Foreword

"Blending new scholarship, established myth, and skillful storytelling, McHugh delivers an inspiring portrait of a woman challenging the patriarchy." —Lion's Roar

“A remarkable and riveting love story—I literally could not put this book down. Barbara McHugh’s Bride of the Buddha is told in luminous and mindfully crafted prose. By reimagining the Buddha’s disciple Ananda as Yasodhara, the wife Siddhartha abandoned in order to seek the Way, McHugh offers a story equally poised between transcendence and simple humanity. The reading became for me a meditation and an invitation to examine the Buddha’s teaching in a new light. Highly recommended for anyone interested in living a more awakened life.” — Mobi Warren, translator of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha

“For the most part, the women who support and inspire great men remain anonymous. We have Barbara McHugh to thank for bringing Yasodhara out of the shadows. Making use of historical texts, oral traditions, and a vivid imagination, she has created a portrait of the bride of Buddha and the world in which he lived. Crisp, charming, and unforgettable.” — Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly and Your Mythic Journey

“From the first page to the last, the tale of this feisty bride and seeker held my heart. Yasodhara/Ananda repeatedly risks the hell realms out of love for others and a passion for justice. In her scrupulous honesty with herself about her own faults, she is often blind to her own goodness, but her sometime husband, aka the Buddha, sees her more clearly and tenderly. As someone who has found Buddhism baffling, I was deeply informed and moved by Barbara McHugh’s brilliant imagining of Yasodhara’s life.” — Elizabeth Cunningham, author of The Passion of Mary Magdalen

“How wonderful to have the feminine written back into the early Buddhist tradition. Where the Pali Canon leaves women out on the periphery, denied their place in the meditation grounds (and therefore denied a path to enlightenment), Barbara McHugh’s imaginative placement of Yasodhara as Ananda, the historical Buddha’s right hand ‘wo/man,’ is timely and welcome. As the narrative aligns so closely to the Pali texts, it is truly delightful to imagine Yasodhara / Ananda helping the female sangha become established. I shall happily consider this course of herstory from now on. Truly wonderful!” — Ruth Phypers, author of the dissertation “Dragon King’s Daughter and Women, Meditative Practice and the Path to Enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism,” Universityof London’s School of Oriental and African Studies

“In prose that glides like poetry, McHugh weaves the bold story of a remarkable woman. Transported to a period when women were meant to be vessels only for breeding and serving, we follow her perilous spiritual journey to enlightenment. So much of women’s truth has been lost to history, but McHugh lifts the veil to reveal Yasodhara, the Buddha’s wife.” — Dorothy Edwards, author of Langston’s Moon

“Bride of the Buddha is a masterfully woven story that offers insights into Yashodhara and Siddhartha’s culture, community, and characters. It’s a story of love and a yearning for freedom, both societal and spiritual; a relationship that changes and grows with time; a quest beyond the home on the path of the homeless that develops into a shared awakening. This evocatively written and moving story offers us a perspective that is not easily available to us of a girl who is searching within herself and in relationship to others as she grows from an inquisitive, sensitive, and playful child and sister to a rebellious daughter, a dutiful wife, a loving mother, a sincere seeker, a builder of the Sangha, a mindful attendant, and the relayer of teachings and practices that still ring true to us. Barbara McHugh’s skill in telling a moving and gripping narrative; transmuting characters into each other; and weaving in facts with fiction, teachings with tales kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. I very much enjoyed reading the book and will definitely recommend it to others.” — Shantum Seth, Dharma teacher in the lineage of Thich Nhat Hanh, founder of BuddhaPath Pilgrimages (1988), and “In the Footsteps of the Buddha” guide

“A daring reimagining of the life of Yasodhara, wife of the Buddha and mother of the infant Rahula, left by Siddhartha so he could pursue enlightenment. As a young girl, Yasodhara is determined to engage a spiritual quest in the midst of a suffocating patriarchal culture in which men wielded power and upheld rigidly defined gender and class roles. It is all the more shocking, therefore, when Yasodhara infiltrates the Buddha’s Sangha as the young monk Ananda and plays his pivotal role in the life of the Buddha. At the heart of Yasodhara’s spiritual seeking is an unshakable love that fiercely defends her husband and son, women, and young seekers, and eventually expands to include the entire Sangha and the preservation of what the Buddha taught. I finished this novel with a yearning for this story to be true.” —Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Abbot Emeritus of Zen Center of Los Angeles and co-author of The Book of Householder Koans

“In the tradition of alternate-reality novels, Barbara MuHugh spins a creative tale of intrigue and family drama as she reimagines aspects the story of the Buddha. It is engaging and inventive, and very enjoyable.” — Phillip Moffitt, author of Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

“A rare and captivating story, set in India some 2,600 years ago, that explores who the Buddha might have been as a husband, father, and supremely enlightened being as seen from the point of view of Yasodhara, the beautiful wife he abandoned. Barbara McHugh skillfully weaves documentation of the historical lives of the Buddha, his family members, and his disciples as known from the earliest Pali texts, together with vividly imagined fictional events and characters, and the result is a gripping page-turner that deftly explores and illuminates important questions in contemporary Buddhism: the ordination of women, renunciation, ethics, the role of faith, gender, and the difficult challenges one inevitably has to face on the path to liberation. A literary delight that will be widely enjoyed by seekers of all stripes.” — Meg Gawler, Dharma teacher and author of the thesis “Voices of Early Buddhist Nuns,” Graduate Theological Union, Universityof California, Berkeley

“In deft prose, Barbara McHugh creates the voice of Buddha’s wife as a proto-feminist in a profoundly patriarchal culture. Yasodhara journeys from being the Buddha’s profoundly sensual spouse to becoming his valued spiritual companion and attendant, Ananda, credibly disguised as a man. Bride of the Buddha is first a story, not a philosophical discourse, a reimagining, not a retelling of Yasodhara’s story, that even a non-Buddhist can appreciate.” — Carol L. Gloor, author of Giving Death the Raspberries

“Bride of the Buddha transports us to the years after Prince Siddhartha leaves his wife, Yasodhara, to seek his Dharma and become the Buddha. In this extraordinary imagining of Yasodhara’s own journey to awakening, you’ll feel you are with her every step of the way.” — James N. Frey, novelist, writing teacher, and author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No-Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling

“The wife of Siddhartha, the man who would be Buddha, Yasodhara sees her husband’s heart and sacrifices her marriage to his quest for enlightenment, then has to face hard truths to pursue her own spiritual authenticity. Bride of the Buddha is a riveting tale of the nature of suffering and the journey to wisdom. Magically written, McHugh creates a world of mystic hope and earthly promise that leaves us looking more deeply into our own hearts.” — Tess Collins, author of Shadow Mountain

“In this unique and gripping novel of a historical figure relegated to the shadows by her famous husband, Yasodhara forges her own path, sacrificing position and privilege to undertake a perilous quest for enlightenment. Bride of the Buddha educates, illuminates, and captivates as it brings us into a legendary world.” — Max Tomlinson, author of Sendero

“In an ambitious and brilliantly conceived historical novel that is both spiritually inspirational and heart-stopping entertainment, McHugh, a lifelong student of Buddhism and accomplished teacher of poetry, brings these gifts together in a novel with characters so well-realized that readers will be drawn into their quest and make it their own.” — John Martel, author of The Alternate