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: Durkheim, Emotional Energy and Visions of the Consort, Louise Child, Routledge Curzon, Paperback, 2016, 206 pages, $57.95
Louise Child is Lecturer in Religious and Theological Studies at Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
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CONTENTS: Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness
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Acknowledgements
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vii
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1
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Altered States of Consciousness, Symbols, and Social Theory
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1
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The Mandala, Totemism, and Emotional Energy
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5
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Deity Yoga and the Transformative Body
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12
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Consorts and Communication
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20
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Outline of the Book
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23
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2
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Consciousness, Power, and Renunciation
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27
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Introduction
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27
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Structure and Communitas in 'Mad Saints'
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31
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Underworld -- The Shamanic Crisis
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36
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Conclusion
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43
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3
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Consorts, Myth, and Sacrifice in Hindu Tantra
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47
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Introduction
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47
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Love in Separation
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49
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Siva and Erotic Ascetism
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52
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Conclusion
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62
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4
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Sacred Physiology, Yoga, and Death
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67
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Introduction: Immortality and Eternity
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67
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The Three Bodies of the Buddha
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69
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Death, Alchemy, and Inititation
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76
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Conclusion
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85
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5
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Identity, Biography, and Shamanic Death
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87
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Introduction
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87
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The Sacred Feminine and Shamanic Death
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92
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Conclusion
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100
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6
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The Purification of Aggression
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105
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Introduction
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105
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Wrathful Deities: Ritual, Evolution, and Meaning
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107
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The Wrathful Female and the Magician
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117
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Conclusion
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126
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7
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Transmission and Identity
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131
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Introduction
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131
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Transmission as Discovery
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137
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Biographical Reflections
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142
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Conclusion
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149
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8
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The Subtle Body and Emotional Energy
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157
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Sacred Ambivalence, Women, and the 'Left'
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160
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Bibliography
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169
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Index
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179
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