Abstract
This paper is a call for the development of a neuroscientific research protocol for the study of the impact of Tantric practice on the autonomic nervous system. Tantric texts like Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka map out a complex meditative ritual system in which inward-gazing, apophatic, sense-denying contemplative practices are combined with outward-gazing, kataphatic sense-activating ritual practices. Abhinavagupta announces a culminating “bi-directional” state (pratimīlana-samādhi) as the highest natural state (sahaja-samādhi) in which the practitioner becomes a perfected yogi (siddhayogi). This state of maximized cognitive capacities, in which one’s inward gaze and outward world-engagement are held in balance, appears to be one in which the anabolic metabolic processes of the parasympathetic nervous system and the catabolic metabolic processes of the sympathetic nervous systems are simultaneously activated and integrated. Akin to secularized mindfulness and compassion training protocols like Emory’s CBCT, I propose the development of secularized “Tantric protocols” for the development of secular and tradition-specific methods for further exploring the potential of the human neurological system.
Highlights
This paper is a call for the development of a neuroscientific research protocol for the study of the impact of Tantric practice on the autonomic nervous system
Bearing in mind the hermeneutical concerns raised above, I formulate this paper as a call for further neuroscientific research on dimensions of Tantric meditation practice that appear to result in a simultaneous activation of the anabolic processes of the parasympathetic nervous system as well as the catabolic processes of the sympathetic nervous system
This condition of seeing within and without at once is akin to what Robert Forman has noted [8] the sahaja-samādhi appears to be a kind of advanced “dualistic mystical state” (DMS) in which adept practitioners achieve the ability to be at once grounded in a deeply interior contemplative state, seemingly aware of awareness itself while their senses are fully engaged in the world
Summary
This essay constitutes a hermeneutical exercise in comparison. The aim is to explore intriguing parallels between the medieval system of Indian Tantric subtle physiology, on the one hand, and contemporary neuroscientific theories and research regarding the autonomic nervous system, on the other. Suffice it to say that few neuroscientists share the Tantric view that body contains a system of energy channels that can be harnessed through the practice of meditation for the generation of paranormal powers (siddhis) and, the attainment of liberating self-awareness. Despite these and other obvious, irreducible distinctions between Indian Tantric and contemporary western neuroscientific understandings of the human body, it is my contention that these two systems share intriguing, overlapping concerns. It is my hypothesis that the juxtaposition of Tantric and contemporary neuroscientific understandings of the body may prove a comparative endeavor worth pursuing
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