Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness

Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness PDF Author: Louise Child
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317046773
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book explores the role of altered states of consciousness in the communication of social and emotional energies, both on a societal level and between individual persons. Drawing from an original reading of Durkheimian social theorists (including Mauss, Hertz, and Hubert) and Jungian psychology, Louise Child applies this analysis to tantric Buddhist ritual and biographical material. She suggests ways in which dreams and visionary experiences (including those related to the 'subtle body') play an important and previously under-explored role in tantric understandings of the consort relationship.

Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness

Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness PDF Author: Louise Child
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317046773
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the role of altered states of consciousness in the communication of social and emotional energies, both on a societal level and between individual persons. Drawing from an original reading of Durkheimian social theorists (including Mauss, Hertz, and Hubert) and Jungian psychology, Louise Child applies this analysis to tantric Buddhist ritual and biographical material. She suggests ways in which dreams and visionary experiences (including those related to the 'subtle body') play an important and previously under-explored role in tantric understandings of the consort relationship.

Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness

Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness PDF Author: Louise Child
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317046781
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
This book explores the role of altered states of consciousness in the communication of social and emotional energies, both on a societal level and between individual persons. Drawing from an original reading of Durkheimian social theorists (including Mauss, Hertz, and Hubert) and Jungian psychology, Louise Child applies this analysis to tantric Buddhist ritual and biographical material. She suggests ways in which dreams and visionary experiences (including those related to the 'subtle body') play an important and previously under-explored role in tantric understandings of the consort relationship.

Altered States

Altered States PDF Author: D. E. Osto
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231541414
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
In the 1960s, Americans combined psychedelics with Buddhist meditation to achieve direct experience through altered states of consciousness. As some practitioners became more committed to Buddhism, they abandoned the use of psychedelics in favor of stricter mental discipline, but others carried on with the experiment, advancing a fascinating alchemy called psychedelic Buddhism. Many think exploration with psychedelics in Buddhism faded with the revolutionary spirit of the sixties, but the underground practice has evolved into a brand of religiosity as eclectic and challenging as the era that created it. Altered States combines interviews with well-known figures in American Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality—including Lama Surya Das, Erik Davis, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei, Rick Strassman, and Charles Tart—and personal stories of everyday practitioners to define a distinctly American religious phenomenon. The nuanced perspective that emerges, grounded in a detailed history of psychedelic religious experience, adds critical depth to debates over the controlled use of psychedelics and drug-induced mysticism. The book also opens new paths of inquiry into such issues as re-enchantment, the limits of rationality, the biochemical and psychosocial basis of altered states of consciousness, and the nature of subjectivity.

The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness

The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness PDF Author: Philip David Zelazo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113946406X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness is the first of its kind in the field, and its appearance marks a unique time in the history of intellectual inquiry on the topic. After decades during which consciousness was considered beyond the scope of legitimate scientific investigation, consciousness re-emerged as a popular focus of research towards the end of the last century, and it has remained so for nearly 20 years. There are now so many different lines of investigation on consciousness that the time has come when the field may finally benefit from a book that pulls them together and, by juxtaposing them, provides a comprehensive survey of this exciting field. An authoritative desk reference, which will also be suitable as an advanced textbook.

Zig Zag Zen

Zig Zag Zen PDF Author: Allan Hunt Badiner
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 9780811832861
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Buddhism and psychedelic experimentation share a common concern: the liberation of the mind. Zig Zag Zen launches the first serious inquiry into the moral, ethical, doctrinal, and transcendental considerations created by the intersection of Buddhism and psychedelics. With a foreword by renowned Buddhist scholar Stephen Batchelor and a preface by historian of religion Huston Smith, along with numerous essays and interviews, Zig Zag Zen is a provocative and thoughtful exploration of altered states of consciousness and the potential for transformation. Accompanying each essay is a work of visionary art selected by artist Alex Grey, such as a vividly graphic work by Robert Venosa, a contemporary thangka painting by Robert Beer, and an exercise in emptiness in the form of an enso by a 17th-century Zen abbot. Packed with enlightening entries and art that lie outside the scope of mainstream anthologies, Zig Zag Zen offers eye-opening insights into alternate methods of inner exploration.

The Esoteric Symbolism of Shamanic Trance and Altered States Phenomena

The Esoteric Symbolism of Shamanic Trance and Altered States Phenomena PDF Author: Ratka Relic
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527553914
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Bringing together extensive research on psychology, psychophysiology and phenomenology of the shamanic trance and altered states of consciousness, this book represents a cross-cultural approach to the study of shamanism. It discusses Buryat shamanism in Siberia in comparison with Buddhist and Hindu Yogic techniques, as well as other esoteric traditions. The phenomenon of the shamanic trance is here investigated from the esoteric point of view as a form of mystical or religious experience. The book explores the inner feelings and psychic states of the shaman during the trance, describing the inner psychic processes and referring to the systems of chakras and subtle channels in shamanism and classical Buddhist and Hindu yoga, as well as other cultural traditions. In addition to its adoption of psychoanalytic and transpersonal approaches, it also uses phenomenological methods in its investigation, representing works from scholars in Oriental studies, as they provide deeper insight into the research of shamanism and mystical experiences.

Buddhism and Postmodern Imaginings in Thailand

Buddhism and Postmodern Imaginings in Thailand PDF Author: Jim Taylor
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754662471
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This book presents a rethink on the significance of Thai Buddhism in an increasingly complex and changing post-modern urban context, especially following the financial crisis of 1997. Defining the cultural nature of Thai 'urbanity'; the implications for local/global flows, interactions and emergent social formations, James Taylor opens up new possibilities in understanding the specificities of everyday urban life as this relates to perceptions, conceptions and lived experiences of religiosity. Changes in the centre are also reverberating in the remaining forests and the monastic tradition of forest-dwelling which has sourced most of the nation's modern saints. The text is based on ethnography taking into account the rich variety of everyday practices in a mélange of the religious. In Thailand, Buddhism is so intimately interconnected with national identity and social, economic and ethno-political concerns as to be inseparable. Taylor argues here that in recent years there has been a marked reformulation of important conventional cosmologies through new and challenging Buddhist ideas and practices. These influences and changes are as much located outside as inside the Buddhist temples/monasteries.

Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism

Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism PDF Author: Dr Naomi Appleton
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 140948131X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Jataka stories (stories about the previous births of the Buddha) are very popular in Theravada Buddhist countries, where they are found in both canonical texts and later compositions and collections, and are commonly used in sermons, children's books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals and festivals. Whilst at first glance many of the stories look like common fables or folktales, Buddhist tradition tells us that the stories illustrate the gradual path to perfection exemplified by the Buddha in his previous births, when he was a bodhisatta (buddha-to-be). Jataka stories have had a long and colourful history, closely intertwined with the development of doctrines about the Buddha, the path to buddhahood, and how Buddhists should behave now the Buddha is no more. This book explores the shifting role of the stories in Buddhist doctrine, practice, and creative expression, finally placing this integral Buddhist genre back in the centre of scholarly understandings of the religion.

Spirit Possession and Trance

Spirit Possession and Trance PDF Author: Bettina E. Schmidt
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441191356
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Spirit possession is a phenomenon that often elicits a response of fear, particular in those who are ignorant of its meaning and role within its particular religious and cultural traditions. Possession by divine beings (such as spirits or gods) is, however, a key practice in religions worldwide. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of this practice in its cultural context before trying to develop a wider theory about it. This fascinating book contains several case studies that present new interpretations of spirit possession worldwide. The authors show the diversity of possible interpretations and methodological approaches that provide a new insight into the understanding of possession and trance.

Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah

Shamanic Trance in Modern Kabbalah PDF Author: Jonathan Garb
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226282074
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Theory of shamanism, trance, and modern Kabbalah -- The shamanic process: descent and fiery transformations -- Empowerment through trance -- Shamanic Hasidism -- Hasidic trance -- Trance and the nomian.