The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi

British Feminist, Indian Nationalist, Buddhist Nun

By: Vicki Mackenzie

Narrated by: Vicki Mackenzie, Maggie Ollerenshaw

Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

A fascinating biography of Freda Bedi, an English woman who broke all the rules of gender, race, and religious background to become both a revolutionary in the fight for Indian independence and then a Buddhist icon.

She was the first Western woman to become a Tibetan Buddhist nun - but that pioneering ordination was really just one in a life full of revolutionary acts. Freda Bedi (1911-1977) broke the rules of gender, race, and religion - in many cases before it was thought that the rules were ready to be challenged. She was at various times a force in the struggle for Indian independence, a spiritual seeker, a scholar, a professor, a journalist, an author, a social worker, a wife, and mother of four children. She counted among her friends, colleagues, and teachers Mohandas Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and many others. She was a woman of spiritual focus and compassion who was also not without contradictions. Vicki Mackenzie gives a nuanced view of Bedi and of the forces that shaped and motivated this complex and compelling figure.

Cover image courtesy of Bedi Family Archives

©2017 Vicki Mackenzie (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

An outstanding read! My horizons were expanded.

I loved the different perspectives from family, friends and author on Freda's embracement of Buddhism.