Religion and the Subtle Body in Asia and the West

Geoffrey Samuel is Professor of Anthropology in the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University, UK, and Honorary Associate in the Department of Indian and Subcontinental Studies, University of Sydney, Australia.Jay Johnston is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney, Australia, and Senior Lecturer in the School of Art History and Art Education, College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

• General Introduction Part 1: Subtle Bodies in China and India Introduction to Part One 1. The Daoist Body of Qi. 2. The Subtle Body in India and Beyond 3. Subtle-Body Concepts in the Work of Indian Dais. Part 2: Subtle Bodies in Tibet Introduction to Part Two 4. Of Souls and Subtle Bodies: A Shamanic Perspective 5. On the 'subtle body' and 'circulation' in Tibetan medicine 6. Magical Movements: Ancient Yogic Practices in the Bon Religion and Contemporary Medical Perspectives Part 3: Subtle Bodies in Europe and Islam Introduction to Part Three 7. Sex, Athleticism and the Soul: Physical Philosophy in the Ancient Mediterranean and South Asia. 8. In the Light of the Sphere: The Vehicle of the Soul and Subtle Body Practices in Neoplatonism. 9. The Subtle Body in Sufism. Part 4: Subtle Bodies and Modernity Introduction to Part Four 10. Subtle Reality in Early Modernism and the Occult Revival. 11. Magical Consciousness: Relationships with the Natural World, Animals and Ancestors 12. Invisible, Dispersed and Connected: The Cultural Plausibility of Subtle Body Models in the Contemporary West 13. Subtle Subjects and Ethics: The Subtle Bodies of Western Post-Structuralist and Feminist Philosophy 14. Subtle-Body Processes: Towards a Non-Reductionist Understanding.

"This collection of consistently excellent essays is the first academic study of the concept of the subtle body across many cultures, in pre-modern and contemporary societies, and in elite and vernacular traditions...The book has four parts, each with a helpful introduction by one of the editors...Summing up: Highly recommended."- J. Bussanich, University of New Mexico, CHOICE