Ebook: Religion and the subtle body in Asia and the West: between mind and body

General Introduction / Geoffrey Samuel and Jay Johnston -- Part 1: Subtle Bodies in China and India -- Introduction to Part One / Geoffrey Samuel -- The Daoist Body of Qi / Livia Kohn -- The Subtle Body in India and Beyond / Geoffrey Samuel -- The Life-bearing body in Dais' Birth Imagery / Janet Chawla -- Part 2: Subtle Bodies in the Tibetan Tradition -- Introduction to Part Two / Geoffrey Samuel -- On Souls and Subtle Bodies: A Comparison of Shamanic and Buddhist Perspectives / Angela Sumegi -- On the 'subtle body' and 'circulation' in Tibetan medicine / Barbara Gerke -- Open Channels, Healing Breath: Research on Ancient Tibetan Yogic Practices for People with Cancer / Alejandro Chaoul -- Part 3: Subtle Bodies in Europe and Islam -- Introduction to Part Three / Jay Johnston -- Sex, Askesis, and the Athletic Perfection of the Soul: Physical Philosophy in the Ancient Mediterranean and South Asia / Joseph S. Alter -- In the Light of the Sphere: The 'Vehicle of the Soul' and Subtle Body Practices in Neoplatonism / Crystal Addey -- The Subtle Body in Sufism / Milad Milani -- Part 4: Subtle Bodies and Modernity -- Introduction to Part Four / Jay Johnston -- Sinister Modernists: Subtle Energies and Yogic-Tantric Echoes in Early Modernist Culture and Art / John Bramble -- On Becoming an Owl: Magical Consciousness / Susan Greenwood -- Invisible, Dispersed and Connected: The Cultural Plausibility of Subtle-Body Models in the Contemporary West / Ruth Barcan -- Subtle Subjects and Ethics: The Subtle Bodies of Post-Structuralist and Feminist Philosophy / Jay Johnston -- Subtle-Body Processes: Towards a Non-Reductionist Understanding / Geoffrey Samuel.;Subtle-body practices are found particularly in Indian, Indo-Tibetan and East Asian societies, but have become increasingly familiar in Western societies, especially through the various healing and yogic techniques and exercises associated with them. This book explores subtle-body practices from a variety of perspectives, and includes both studies of these practices in Asian and Western contexts. The book discusses how subtle-body practices assume a quasi-material level of human existence that is intermediate between conventional concepts of body and mind. Often, this level is conceived of in terms of an invisible structure of channels, associated with the human body, through which flows of quasi-material substance take place. Contributors look at how subtle-body concepts form the basic explanatory structure for a wide range of practices. These include forms of healing, modes of exercise and martial arts as well as religious practices aimed at the refinement and transformation of the human mindbody complex. By highlighting how subtle-body practices of many kinds have been introduced into Western societies in recent years, the book explores the possibilities for new models of understanding which these concepts open up. It is a useful contribution to studies on Asian Religion and Philosophy.--Publisher website.