Subtle Bodies Research Articles

Effect of Marma Chikitsa in the management of Udavarta Yonivyapad (Primary Dysmenorrhea)

Marma Chikitsa is very useful in present era specially in pain management. While describing Sharir Rachna different Acharya has described about Marma and vital regions of the body. Marma Sthan is a confluence on body where two or more structures Mamsa, Sira, Snayu, Asthi or Sandhi. In human body many structures have Prana (Vital Power) these are known as Marma and Pranayatana. These Marma Sthan harmonize the nervous and endocrine system and normalize different pathology in the body through vital power itself, with proper stimulations/manipulation. This technique is known as Marma Chikitsa. Marma Chikitsa is an ancient Indian practice whose purpose is stimulations / manipulation of vital energy (Prana) in the body for enhancing the healing process. Marma’s knowledge helps the clinicians to regulate the flow of Prana through the coarse and subtle bodies in order to restore the patient’s health and serenity. All authorities of Ayurveda have described Udavarta Yoni Vyapad and it’s management. Dysmenorrhea means painful menstruation which can be corelated with Udavarta Yoni Vyapad. It occurs in 50% of post pubescent females. Dysmenorrhea literally means painful menstruation but a more realistic and practical definition includes case of painful menstruation of sufficient magnitude so as to incapacitate day to day activities. Primary Dysmenorrhea refers to menstrual pain without pelvic pathology. Udavarta Yoni Vyapad is characterized by painful menstruation. According to Charak, Rajas is pushed in upward direction by the aggravated Vayu due to obstruction in its normal flow (Anulomana Gati) in Pakwashya.

Immortal animals, subtle bodies, or separated souls: the afterlife in Leibniz, Wolff, and their followers

ABSTRACT In eighteenth-century post-Leibnizian German philosophy, the debate on immortality did not concern only the fate of the soul after death but also the fate of the body. Leibniz had famously maintained that no animal ever dies, for the soul is never entirely deprived of its living body. In spite of Bilfinger’s almost isolated defense, this doctrine never became dominant, even among Leibniz’s followers. Christian Wolff, long considered a mere popularizer of Leibniz’s philosophy, departed from this account of immortality and replaced it with the traditional Platonic model, based on the survival of separated souls. After reconstructing Leibniz’s, Wolff’s, and Bilfinger’s positions, this paper considers how the debate evolved within the so-called Wolffian school during the 1730s and 1740s. Both partisans and detractors of separated souls diverged from Leibniz on a crucial point: namely, they argued that another key Leibnizian doctrine, pre-established harmony, entails that the soul need not be forever united to its body. Furthermore, the cases of Johann Heinrich Winckler, Johann Gustav Reinbeck, Israel Gottlieb Canz, and even Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten show that the post-Leibnizian detractors of separated souls drew, in fact, more inspiration from the neo-Platonic and esoteric doctrine of the subtle body than from Leibniz’s original immortalism.

Concept of biological individuality in Jain philosophy

The biological basis of individuality in all organisms is their ‘genes.’ Genes are small portions of DNA which are responsible for all individual characteristics in living organisms. This paper attempts to establish a relationship between the scientific basis of biological individuality and the basic ideas of varganas in Jain philosophy. A vargana is a cluster of similar parmanus. A parmanu is a subtle most and indivisible unit of any matter (pudgala). Varganas have been classified into two major groups i.e., associable and non-associable varganas. Associable varganas are associated with the soul and form several types of subtle bodies and gross bodies (audarik shareer). All the structures which are visible to us by any means are form of pudgala which are made up of varganas. The numbers of variation of associable varganas which are responsible for formation of subtle and gross body are known as kulkoti. There may be 14 trillion different combinations of associable varganas for human beings, which can result in innumerable numbers of physical, anatomical, biological and behavioral aspects of an organism.

On Subtle Bodies, Out-of-Body Experiences, and Apparitions of the Living: A Review of Ernesto Bozzano's Study of "Bilocation"

For many years there have been phenomena such as apparitions of the living, photographs of the living at a distance, near-death experiences, emanations of light from the dying, fog, or incorporeal “doubles,” which have suggested the existence of a spirit, or “subtle body,” able to separate itself from the physical body, sometimes bringing consciousness with it. This idea also underpins the projection model for Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) cases, which has an interesting history (Alvarado, 2009, 2011, 2019). Here I briefly review that concept through the analysis of a work written by the Italian student of psychic phenomena Ernesto Bozzano, published for the first time in 1934 (Bozzano, 2020) and recently re-edited in the original language by Golem Libri, a young publishing house specializing in “psychic” topics.
 In discussing this book my approach is mainly historical. I hope both to help modern readers to get more acquainted with Bozzano’s work, and to highlight those passages that deepen our understanding of specific aspects of the topic, especially with reference to the ideas on OBEs published before the 1930s. I am convinced that while the issues discussed by Bozzano have a limited value today, they can stimulate further discussions.

Subtle bodies: Corporeal and material becoming in threshold landscapes

This visual essay charts a series of relational, immersive engagements made between myself and the landscape of the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges in South Australia as part of my practice-led Ph.D. titled ‘Subtle bodies: Corporeal and material becoming in threshold landscapes’. Within my research I consider this remote environment as a threshold between the earth and its atmosphere and engage with it as a way of exploring the lesser trodden territories of sensed experience and the ways in which knowing and being may unfold here. In this essay I will discuss these encounters with reference to Elizabeth Grosz’s thinking regarding the concepts of affect, becoming and sensation, alongside photographic images of my performative encounters with material in the landscape.

The concepts of the subtle bodies in the ancient spiritual traditions

The idea that humans are multidimensional, i.e., that beyond their physical body, humans have other, subtler bodies, through which they can interact with the universe, is very ancient. Understanding of a human as a complex multidimensional phenomenon laid the foundations for the development of many Eastern and Western esoteric schools. Contemporary spiritual teachers and researchers continue the ancient tradition. Each esoteric tradition describes a human and his/her bodies from different angles, and none fully describes it which is probably impossible. This paper aims at investigating the concepts of the subtle bodies in the ancient spiritual traditions.

HUMAN BEINGS’ BIRTH, DEATH AND BEYOND

Everything in the physical creation, including the human body, is composed of the five great natural elements called ‘Panchabhutas’. These elements have originated in a particular order of ‘akāsh’ (ether) to the last element ‘prithivi’ (earth) and the birth as a human being, which is exceedingly rare, is thus born on earth with its matching fundamental frequency of the earth. As the existing literature is quite unclear regarding the human birth, death and beyond, it is attempted to show a plausible way connecting the dots of the process of birth, death, rebirth and liberation based on vibrations of frequency of mind, word, and deed. The final moments of death, step by step, where these pancha- bhutas are dissolved, in the reverse order of their formation, following the chakra system (wheels of energy) of Kundalini in a human being, similar to DNA, withdrawing the soul from the base (mulādhāra) upwards. Subtle bodies (sookshma sarira) and soul have infinite possibilities for their onward journey at the moment of death go to the dimension that corresponds to how one lived one’s life on Earth. The subtle body finds its dimension and level of frequency according to merits of purity of the subtle body derived by one’s life’s activities rise to higher lokas for enjoying the fruits of good actions or attain liberation or to be reborn. An enlightened soul attains liberation from bondage as in the case of Swāmi Vivekānanda, and also has the freedom to be born again or not.

Malarska „dwujęzyczność” Jerzego Nowosielskiego. Związki między abstrakcją a ikoną w monumentalnych projektach sakralnych

The sacred art of Jerzy Nowosielski, an outstanding Polish painter of the second half of the 20th century, is an example of the creative continuation of the Byzantine tradition in Poland, but also an embodiment of the debate with the painting tradition of the East and with the experience of the Church. Both in theory and in painting practice, the artist redefined the concept of the icon, attempting to expand its formula so that it not only spoke of the Kingdom, but also included the image of the earthly, imperfect reality of the pilgrim Church. In his designs of sacred interiors for churches of various Christian denominations, Nowosielski wanted to combine three theological disciplines and their respective ways of representation: Christology, sophiology and angelology. Beside a classical icon, called by the painter a “Christological- Chalcedonian” icon, Nowosielski demanded a “sophiological” icon, bringing into the space of a church an earthly, painful reality, traces of inner struggle and doubt – hence the presence of doloristic motifs in his icons. The “inspired geometry” also became a complement to the holy images; the artist noticed a huge spiritual potential in abstract painting, to which he eventually assigned the role of icon painting. The poetic concept of “subtle bodies” – abstract angels testifying to the reality of the spiritual world – drew from the early Christian theological thought, which argued about the corporeality of spiritual entities, from Byzantine angelology, the tradition of theosophy and occultism, but also from the art of the first avant-garde, especially that from Eastern Europe, which inherited the Orthodox cult of the image. Nowosielski’s bilingualism as a painter – practicing abstraction and figuration in tandem, including within the church – paralleled the liturgical practice of many religious communities using different languages to express different levels of reality: human affairs and divine affairs. The tradition of apophatic theology, proclaiming the truth about the “unrepresentability” of God, was also important in shaping Nowosielski’s ideas. For Nowosielski’s monumental art, the problem of the mutual relationship between painting and architecture proved crucial. The artist based his concept on the decisive domination of painting over architecture and the independence of monumental painting. His goal was the principle of creating a sacred interior as a holistic, comprehensive vision of space which leads the participants of liturgy “out of everyday life” and into a different, transcendent dimension, in which the painter saw the main purpose of sacred art. From his first projects from the 1950s till the end of his artistic practice Nowosielski tried to realize his own dream version of the “ideal church”. In many of his projects he introduced abstraction into the temple, covering the walls, vaults, presbyteries, sometimes even the floors with a network of triangular “subtle bodies”. Forced to compromise, he introduced sacred abstraction into murals, as accompanying geometries, or into stained glass windows. The interiors, comprehensively and meticulously planned, were supposed to create the effect of “passing through”, “rending the veil” – from behind which a new, heavenly reality dawned. In practice, it was not always possible to achieve this intention, but the artist’s aim was to create an impression of visual unity, a sense of “entering the painting”, of being immersed in the element of painting. Painting in space was supposed to unite a broken world, to combine physical and spiritual reality into an integral whole. When designing sacred interiors, Nowosielski used the sanctity of the icon, but also the pure qualities of painting which were to cause a “mystical feeling of God’s reality”. The aim of sacred art understood in such a way turned out to be initiation rather than teaching. In this shift of emphasis Nowosielski saw the only chance for the revival of sacred art, postulating even a shift of the burden of evangelization from verbal teaching to the work of charismatic art.

Fox-Sparrow

Fox-Sparrow James McCorkle (bio) What is known, comesabrupt, jump-cut to here, then gone— one, banded, caught and released, was tenhow many migrationsfrom conifer forests south or blown across the north Atlantic to Iceland or Greenland, scrabblein the Orkneys, a vagrant there fox-red bandings, with fox-gray hooding,autumn chrysanthemums clutteredwith maple leaves waiting for the cherry to drop its last gold leaves— what to be attentive tothis autumn, howto be attendingto the song, the arc before time runs to its one last dark stop— to pick out essential markings rememberedfrom the guide, is to pick outdifferences, when ranges overlap and geography is song— Due south, through shale hills, crossing intoSusquehanna and Delaware watersheds [End Page 99] flare-light in the hardwoods and tonight I read Wei Ying-wu, who wrote the jade diggeron the Lan Riversleeps in the cold thicket conscript to dig, one from each familyto dig out the verdantstone, moss stone, Wei watches the vanishingriver, the moon bell-struck and the conscript's wife, miles south, he wrote in 775, weepsin the cold hut, husbandgone for months— in hard times, hoe the garden of stones eat the print of a tiger in the snow sip from the vanished river above before dawn take from one hand and place in the otherthe light of a lantern, the only gold we have on this path— everything travels, slippagesthrough shale, fissured and laced, pores of seep and migration upwards into limestoneand aquifer, vagrant element in the rock, displaced and shunted up, methane rings, carbon releases, condensingsof time and mass— tanker-trucks on the gravel access roads, deep intothe hardwoods, the clear-cut for long-haulsto flush the toluene and radium from the wells' slick water— the snow starts to fall, in the high ridgesthe whippoorwills have left their calls in the leaf litter, and buckshot cans [End Page 100] surveyors' lines, posted signs shot-out with "who the fuck cares" in dotted Morse and contrailslash of white across the sky, all the leavingsoracles of what came to be, passed the one truth that continues its seep, bloodline drip, a melodythat holds a tune, one sound the unwrapping of stars— Wei Ying-wu whispers to me, to slip into a boat, with the early snowand oar into the lake's long reach chrysanthemums still bloom in the cold, come back,show me your feelings wine has no taste when drinking alone— the lake a sheen of gray, early snow, geesegray and white risefrom the waters as a single liftingand down-pressingof wings, like a rush of summer rain across the water the years are migrations, each one to the north again, the workof creation never stops, the green half-moons scalethe bare lilac, the viburnum's green knots on leafless branches—the foxsparrow lands, flying south, its song to teach to singno destination, onlydirection, sparrow in the barebush, watches me, readied to fly, and gone— a bowl of air where its song was held. [End Page 101] James McCorkle James McCorkle is a poet and editor. His books of poetry include Evidences, recipient of the American Poetry Review / Honickman Award, and The Subtle Bodies. He is also author of The Still Performance, a study of post-modern American poetry, the editor of Conversant Essays: Contemporary Poets on Poetry, and an associate editor of The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Poets and Poetry. He has received fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation and the NEA and co-directs the Africana Studies Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. His forthcoming book is In Time. Copyright © 2019 University of Hawai'i Press

When ‘blood speaks’: naming the father and the mystics of kinship in Dominica, Eastern Caribbean

AbstractThis article explores the mystical implication of fathers in reproduction in Dominica, Eastern Caribbean. It traces naming acts that assign paternity at various points in the filial life course, each attempting to disambiguate paternity. Confronting a recurring anthropological problematic – the problem of paternity (paternity's inherent putativity) – the article argues that Dominicans contest uncertain physical fatherhood through the proverb ‘blood speaks’. The article elaborates how relatedness reveals itself in the subtle bodies of kin at three moments: through a local version of the couvade (‘sympathetic pregnancy’); in elders’ post‐partum ritual scrutiny of children's bodies for familial resemblances; and during serendipitous encounters in later life. The article highlights how physical fatherhood is disclosed in fathers’ and children's symptoms, appearances, and sensations, revealing their kinship in transpersonal terms. Therefore, blood ‘speaks’ to counter broad‐brushed narratives of Caribbean fatherly absence by revealing the physical and spiritual significance of fatherhood. Herein, the article revives classic anthropological debates on legitimacy, the couvade, and Caribbean kinship, whilst contributing to contemporary theorizations of blood and naming.

Pātañjala Yoga’s Theory of ‘Many-Lives’ through Karma and Rebirth and Its Eccentric ‘Theism’

This paper discusses the theory of rebirth as set forth in Classical Samkhya and Yoga and offers a new interpretive perspective.

The Physical Basis of Subtle Bodies and Near-Death Experiences

Article discussing "dark matter," the discovery of which may provide the key to an age-old mystery concerning the nature of humanity. The author suggests that "dark matter" is the matter of mysticism, which constitutes the subtle bodies and was present before (and responsible for) the Big Bang that created visible matter.

Le dualisme de l’Esprit et de la Nature du Sāṃkhya

Sāṃkhya, which is one of the oldest systems (darśana) of Indian Philosophy, advocates an uncompromising dualism in its theoretical metaphysical teachings. There is a fundamental dualism or split at the very heart of reality, and this dualism or split is the fundamental fact of existence.According to Sāṃkhya, there are two co‑present and co‑eternal realities. The first one is the principle of pure Consciousness, the Puruṣa, which is inactive, indifferent, eternally free and Alone. Puruṣa is the soul, the self, the spirit, the subject, the knower. The other of the two co‑present and co‑eternal realities of Sāṃkhya is Nature or Prakṛti : it is the primordial and unconscious “stuff ” of the entire unmanifest and manifest world, whereas Puruṣa is the presupposition of individual consciousness. Nature or Prakṛti is the ultimate material principle and thus the substratum from which manifest, in the presence of the self (puruṣa), the gross and subtle bodies including the mental organs of all living beings. But Sāṃkhya is not a dualism of mind and body or even a dualism of subject and object.In classical Sāṃkhya the world is not derived from consciousness, nor is consciousness derived from the world. The classical Sāṃkhya refuses to understand the world simply as a product of consciousness. It refuses to see the world as an illusory projection of consciousness, and thus it rejects any idealistic monism. Similarly, it refuses to see consciousness simply as a product of the world, and thus it rejects any kind of materialism or naturalism. Thus, it steers an intermediate course or path between the Indian notion of a conscious, cosmic Self or its equivalent, which is the ground of all being, on the one hand, and the notion of a conscious self, which is only an empirical, relative construction, on the other. It maintains, rather, a fundamental dualism, the opposite poles of which function in a kind of dialectical interaction. The fact of consciousness and the fact of the world are two irreductible realities in constant interplay with one another. Though quite separate and unconnected, Spirit and Nature mutually interact to bring about the process of creation, self‑awareness and, finally, enlightenment. But Spirit or Puruṣa and Nature or Prakṛti are always only in proximity to one another, never in actual contact. This is a puzzling notion if one thinks of Puruṣa and Prakṛti as two things. Puruṣa and Prakṛti are two realities of a completely different order.Right knowledge is the knowledge of the separation of the Puruṣa from the Prakṛti. The individual soul (jīva) has to realize itself as the pure Puruṣa through discrimination between Puruṣa and Prakṛti.From a rational point of view, classical Sāṃkhya can be regarded as a bundle of contradictions. Some problems regarding its interpretation are the problem of the nature of the Sāṃkhya dualism and the problem of the connection or relationship of Puruṣa and Prakṛti. The Sāṃkhya system clings to spiritualistic pluralism and dualistic realism, but its very logic indeed impels it to embrace idealistic monism or absolutism.

The Immunisation Dilemma – Part Two

Two fundamental questions regarding the long-term safety of immunisation options will be investigated. Homoeoprophylaxis is nontoxic, but does the use of a long-term programme disturb the subtle bodies? Vaccination is potentially toxic and short-term adverse events are documented, but has the long-term safety of vaccination been adequately quantified? The long-term energetic effects of homoeoprophylaxis programmes have not been extensively studied. One identified English-language study is critically reviewed and findings, limitations and implications are examined. No definitive, long-term studies have been published comparing the holistic (intellectual, emotional and physical) health of appropriately matched and aged, fully vaccinated and completely unvaccinated children. As well, methodological limitations of existing studies have been identified. Four small but comprehensive studies provide data, which shows that there are evidentiary questions regarding long-term vaccine safety. Potentially significant personal and economic consequences of vaccination, as well as vaccination compliance issues, are identified. It is recommended that national health authorities and independent researchers should address these issues to facilitate a truly scientific comparison of immunisation options by parents as well as governments.

Colour and Sound Remedies to Complement the Simillimum

This article gives information about the subtle energy bodies of the human energy system and how the colour and sound remedies impact on these bodies. These remedies open a field in which healing can take place. They do not work on deep pathology or have a long term effect, but rather work in a complementary manner with the simillimum. They are the most effective when given in low potencies of 6 X, 12 C or 30 C.

The corporeal imagination: signifying the holy in late ancient Christianity

Introduction Chapter One: Bodies and Selves Chapter Two: Bodies in Fragments Chapter Three: Dazzling Bodies Chapter Four: Bodies and Spectacles Chapter Five: Ambiguous Bodies Chapter Six: Subtle Bodies Chapter Seven: Animated Bodies and Icons Chapter Eight: Saintly Bodies as Image-Flesh Chapter Nine: Incongruous Bodies Conclusion List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

Beyond Cell Doctrine

Cell doctrine is the foundational paradigm of Euro-American medicine and biology. Even without stepping outside that tradition, one may imagine alternate models of the body such as a fluid model in which cells do not exist or a model wherein cells are described as overlapping fields of molecular organization in space and time. With a complexity analysis of cell biology, we find that the existence of cells as unitary entities, as things, is contingent on the level of scale at which the body is observed. Therefore, alternate models of the body may be conceived that are specific and appropriate to other levels of scale. These ideas suggest that some bodily phenomena, particularly from Asian traditions, which have previously resisted explanation from within the cell-based Euro-American tradition (e.g., acupuncture) may be productively investigated with one or more of these other models. Additionally, the seemingly metaphorical concepts from Tibetan medicine of the coarse, energy, and subtle bodies may represent precise, though somewhat poetically expressed representations of the body at different levels of scale.

Subtle Bodies and the Other Jouissance

Subtle Bodies and the Other Jouissance John Carvalho (bio) In her conclusion to Gender Trouble (1990) , Judith Butler proposes to move from parody to politics through a deconstruction of identity and re-description of identities which, while they already exist, are deemed unintelligible and impossible by the hegemonic order of society and culture. “If identities were no longer fixed as the premises of a political syllogism, and politics no longer understood as a set of practices derived from the alleged interests that belong to a set of ready-made subjects,” Butler writes, “a new configuration of politics would surely emerge from the ruins of the old” (149). Arguably, Butler has tried to make good on this gambit in much of what she has written since the publication of this first major work. This is most clearly so in The Psychic Life of Power (1997), which concludes with a description of the ego as a melancholic response to power imposing on a subject a choice of objects she must lose (even if she never had them) in order to find her self,1 and the same line appears to turn up in her latest works, Undoing Gender (2004) and Giving an Account of Oneself (2005). With attention to the ethics of responsibility, Butler closes the latter with a discussion of the formation of the self out of a relation with itself occasioned by a risky encounter with what is not itself, by a “willingness to become undone in relation to others” that “constitutes our chance of becoming human” (136). My aim here is not to critique or correct Butler, but to explore and extend some possibilities opened up by this line of thought. I am less interested in where this line is taking Butler than in the strategy that supports it and keeps it in flight. I am more interested in how this tactical forming of identity from what is non-identical—or, in non-dialectical terms, the formation of a truth about our self from what is false—engages the puzzle that concludes the first volume of Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality or The Will to Know—namely, that we can, by a “tactical reversal of the various mechanisms of sexuality,” “counter the grips of power with the claims of bodies, pleasures and knowledges in their multiplicity and their possibility of resistance. The rallying point for the [End Page 112] counterattack against the deployment of sexuality,” Foucault says there, “ought not to be sex-desire but bodies and pleasures” (157). This puzzle has been fruitfully engaged by Ladelle McWhorter in a book-length study that fashions from Foucault’s concept of counter-memory the mainstay and principal engine of this proposed counterattack. In Bodies and Pleasures, McWhorter invokes counter-memory for the transformative effects it has on the bodies and pleasures constituting her own identity and, by extension, all the identities that serve as stereotypes defined by the normalizing procedures that judge them—what turn up in Butler’s scheme as fixed premises of the political system. What I offer in the following is an alternate account of countermemory that pulls the counterattack described by McWhorter closer to the line drawn by Butler in an attempt to set that line in flight toward a more radical vision of the bodies and pleasures I think Foucault has in mind. I introduce here an account of counter-memory outfitted for making false (false faces, false movements, false promises, false claims), for compromising or disqualifying what are supposed to be our truths, our name, our place, our destiny, our part of the whole. This account will draw immediate suspicion from those who accept the psychoanalytic verdict that holds a subject always misrecognizes herself and that it’s precisely the lie or the feint that stabilizes this delusion.2 Making false would seem to those so aligned to restage the aim of ego psychoanalysis: keeping the Real at bay with imaginative fictions that enslave us ever more to the Law. At the other extreme, champions of liberal political theory will say it’s precisely the false we want to avoid if we expect to represent ourselves fairly in deliberations about the best ways...

Subtle Bodies, Wrathful Deities and Men in Buddhist Tantric Traditions

Combining fearsome images, ‘magical’ rites of subjugation and challenging portrayals of sexuality, wrathful deities appear to epitomize all that makes tantric Buddhism distant from early Buddhism’s traditional orientations. On one level, this distance can be attributed to processes of incorporation of ‘demonic’ elements from other indigenous religious traditions. Drawing from the theoretical perspectives of Durkheim and Mauss, however, I will argue that it is precisely this motif of ‘incorporation’ that not only gives wrathful deities their distinctive potency, but also positions them at the centre of the ambivalence that is tantric Buddhism. While the tantric Siddha, in common with Mauss’s magician, incorporates bodily leavings and peripheral rites, he also, I suggest, absorbs and negotiates potentially poisonous emotional states such as terror and anger through the medium of the subtle body, thereby forming a model of masculinity that is both a defining force within tantric Buddhism and suggestive of further investigation within anthropological studies of male cultures more broadly.

The I Ching and the psyche‐body connection

Carl G. Jung's fateful meeting with Richard Wilhelm in 1929 has helped to build a bridge of depth psychological understanding between the East and the West. When Jung emerged from his 'confrontation with the unconscious', he felt validated by Wilhelm in his discovery of the healing power of medieval alchemical symbolism for the European psyche. Analytical psychology however offers a scientific, psychological understanding of Chinese wisdom as contained in the I Ching and Taoist alchemy. The Taoist alchemical tradition (also known as the Inner Elixir tradition of which 'The Secret of the Golden Flower' is a sample text) is based on the premise that psychological experience of the Tao can be achieved through mental and physiological means such as breathing and meditative techniques, gymnastics, dietary regimens such as fasting, consumption of medicinal herbs and minerals, and special sexual practices. This tradition incorporates the I Ching and traditional Chinese medicine in the alchemical opus. Taoist alchemy assumes the primacy of the physical body in the process of self-realization. The psychological and cosmic forces of the trigrams of the I Ching are stored in the internal organs of the body and are the basic material for the experience of Tao. The internal organs are the foundation of the material and subtle bodies and through cultivation, the body becomes spiritualized as the spirits are embodied. The body as a reflection of the entire cosmos becomes the residence of the gods. The realization of a new consciousness is symbolized by the hexagram Fu, meaning rebirth. The Chinese notion of Tao coincides with Jung's postulation of the unus mundus, the unity of existence which underlies the duality of psyche and matter, the psycho-physical background of existence. In this light, in the world of inner experience, East and West follow similar paths symbolically.