The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

The first historical study of the medicinal mani pill and its profound spiritual significance in Tibetan religion and culture

The maṇi pill is one of the most popular relic traditions in Tibetan Buddhism. Treasured around the globe, maṇi pills are small edible pellets formed from mixing the powdered bodily remains of buddhas and bodhisattvas with ingredients used in Tibetan medicine and sanctified through a tantric liturgy. Maṇi pills are today predominantly produced by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who consecrates and distributes hundreds of thousands annually, but the tradition of producing and consuming maṇi pills stretches back more than a millennium.

Examining the broad cultural history of Buddhist tantra in Tibet through the lens of the maṇi pill, James Duncan Gentry illustrates how these pills have influenced Tibetan conceptions of the body, medicine, healing, collective identity, and shared past; how they have functioned as a point of interaction, contestation, and negotiation between different Buddhist sects and institutions; and how they have created and shaped social bonds and religious identity across Tibet and beyond to the present day.

1148405018
The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

The first historical study of the medicinal mani pill and its profound spiritual significance in Tibetan religion and culture

The maṇi pill is one of the most popular relic traditions in Tibetan Buddhism. Treasured around the globe, maṇi pills are small edible pellets formed from mixing the powdered bodily remains of buddhas and bodhisattvas with ingredients used in Tibetan medicine and sanctified through a tantric liturgy. Maṇi pills are today predominantly produced by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who consecrates and distributes hundreds of thousands annually, but the tradition of producing and consuming maṇi pills stretches back more than a millennium.

Examining the broad cultural history of Buddhist tantra in Tibet through the lens of the maṇi pill, James Duncan Gentry illustrates how these pills have influenced Tibetan conceptions of the body, medicine, healing, collective identity, and shared past; how they have functioned as a point of interaction, contestation, and negotiation between different Buddhist sects and institutions; and how they have created and shaped social bonds and religious identity across Tibet and beyond to the present day.

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The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

by James Duncan Gentry
The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

The Bodhisattva's Body in a Pill: The Material and Spiritual History of a Buddhist Relic Tradition

by James Duncan Gentry

Overview

The first historical study of the medicinal mani pill and its profound spiritual significance in Tibetan religion and culture

The maṇi pill is one of the most popular relic traditions in Tibetan Buddhism. Treasured around the globe, maṇi pills are small edible pellets formed from mixing the powdered bodily remains of buddhas and bodhisattvas with ingredients used in Tibetan medicine and sanctified through a tantric liturgy. Maṇi pills are today predominantly produced by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, who consecrates and distributes hundreds of thousands annually, but the tradition of producing and consuming maṇi pills stretches back more than a millennium.

Examining the broad cultural history of Buddhist tantra in Tibet through the lens of the maṇi pill, James Duncan Gentry illustrates how these pills have influenced Tibetan conceptions of the body, medicine, healing, collective identity, and shared past; how they have functioned as a point of interaction, contestation, and negotiation between different Buddhist sects and institutions; and how they have created and shaped social bonds and religious identity across Tibet and beyond to the present day.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813954660
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Publication date: 06/01/2026
Series: Traditions and Transformations in Tibetan Buddhism
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 402

About the Author

James Duncan Gentry is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University and the author of Power Objects in Tibetan Buddhism: The Life, Writings, and Legacy of Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A major contribution to the fields of Tibetan Studies, Buddhist Studies, and Religious Studies. Gentry's book is an innovative and philologically thorough exploration of the controversial and important topic of anthropophagy with the potential to transform our understanding of Tibetan history and Tantric Buddhism.—William A. McGrath, New York University, editor of Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine

Hands-down the best book on Tibetan Buddhism in a decade. Gentry produces innumerable insights into not just Tibetan history but the contours of how Tibetan Buddhism really works. What emerges is a picture of Tibetan treasure revelation unmatched in its rich detail.—Jacob Dalton, University of California, Berkeley, author of Conjuring the Buddha: Ritual Manuals in Early Tantric Buddhism

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