Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions

by Brill

Overview

Transforming the Void: Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions considers paths to self-cultivation and salvation that are patterned on human embryological development or procreative imagery in the religions of China and Japan.
Focusing on Taoism, Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Shugendō, and local religious traditions, the contributors to the volume provide new insight into how the body’s generative processes are harnessed as powerful metaphors for spiritual attainment. This volume offers an in-depth examination of the religious dimensions of embryology and reproductive imagery, topics that have been hitherto solely approached through the lens of the history of medicine.
Contributors include: Brigitte Baptandier, Catherine Despeux, Grégoire Espesset, Christine Mollier, Fabrizio Pregadio, Dominic Steavu, Lucia Dolce, Bernard Faure, Iyanaga Nobumi, Anna Andreeva, Kigensan Licha, Gaynor Sekimori.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789004300675
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/04/2015
Series:	Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series , #16
Pages:	578
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Anna Andreeva, Ph.D. (2007), is a Research Fellow in Japanese Religions and Cultural History at the Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context,” at University of Heidelberg. She has published articles on Japanese esoteric Buddhism and Shinto and women’s health. Her monograph on medieval Shinto is forthcoming from Harvard University Asia Center Publications Program.

Dominic Steavu, Ph.D. (2010), is Assistant Professor of Chinese Religions and Chinese Buddhism at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published articles on Taoism and Esoteric Buddhism and is the editor of a special issue of the Medieval History Journal on “The Literary Subversive: Writings of Resistance in East Asia” (2015).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

List of Figures and Tables xi

Conventions and Abbreviations xiv

List of Contributors xvi

Introduction: Backdrops and Parallels to Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions Anna Andreeva Dominic Steavu 1

Part 1 China

1 Prenatal Infancy Regained: Great Peace (Taiping) Views on Procreation and Life Cycles Grégoire Espesset 53

2 Conceiving the Embryo of Immortality: "Seed-People" and Sexual Rites in Early Taoism Christine Mollier 87

3 Cosmos, Body, and Gestation in Taoist Meditation Dominic Steavu 111

4 Symbolic Pregnancy and the Sexual Identity of Taoist Adepts Catherine Despeux 147

5 Creation and Its Inversion: Cosmos, Human Being, and Elixir in the Cantong Qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three) Fabrizio Pregadio 186

6 On the Effectiveness of Symbols: Women's Bodies as Mandates Brigitte Baptandier 212

Part 2 Japan

7 The Embryonic Generation of the Perfect Body: Ritual Embryology from Japanese Tantric Sources Lucia Dolce 253

8 Buddhism Ab Ovo: Aspects of Embryological Discourse in Medieval Japanese Buddhism Bernard Faure 311

9 "Human Yellow" and Magical Power in Japanese Medieval Tantrism and Culture Nobumi Iyanaga 344

10 "Lost in the Womb": Conception, Reproductive Imagery, and Gender in the Writings and Rituals of Japan's Medieval Holy Men Anna Andreeva 420

11 Embryology in Early Modem Soto Zen Buddhism Kigensan Licha 479

12 Foetal Buddhahood: From Theory to Practice - Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo Gaynor Sekimori 522

Index 559