Articles

Abstract This presentation offers two insightful accounts of the (former) prisoners on the brink of their death sentence. This illuminates how both of them went through self-transformation process in the context of Buddhist meditation. The sharing is based on the reflection of a memoir by a Thai man on hisContinue Reading

Abstract Heinrich Jäschke, a nineteenth-century Moravian missionary to Ladakh, is mostly known amongst scholars of Tibet for his pioneering 1881 Tibetan–English Dictionary. In his entry on ‘rlung’—a fundamental concept of Tibetan medicine and Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, commonly translated into English as ‘wind’, ‘breath’ or ‘vital energy’—following his definition of theContinue Reading

Abstract I start with a few phenomenological reflections on how easeful attention to breath resolves structures that constrict our experience of being. What does breath feel like, and what does it bring us? What changes when we direct breath to different parts of the body, or different parts of theContinue Reading

Abstract In this presentation, the place of the Old School Buddhist form jhāna absorptions within Theravādin meditation practice is outlined, with a note on the modern history of their practice. The heart of the presentation is a first-hand account of what the experience of jhāna through the breath entails. BriefContinue Reading

Abstract In Vipassana meditation practice, the first common object is the breath. By allowing the breath to be the focus of your awareness, one lets the social world full of discursive thought, self-reflexivity and judgement move into the background. Yet, we know that as intimate and solitary as this breathContinue Reading

Abstract Breath and wind concepts are widespread in Asia, and the Tibetans inherited both Yogic and Tantric prāṇa and Ayurvedic vāta, both translated into Tibetan as rlung. This proved a constructive confluence for Tibetan Tantra and Tibetan medicine, and may be suggestive too for modern Western understandings of consciousness andContinue Reading

Abstract This presentation briefly introduces the Japanese Vajrayana tradition of Shingon Buddhism and a few of its fundamental breathing techniques. It then summarizes some of the ways such meditative practices in the tradition have been used historically and in contemporary times. Questions for reflection What do you think Kukai meantContinue Reading

Abstract This presentation will describe how urban Mongolians navigate the capital city Ulaanbaatar’s chronic air pollution in relation to breath, clarity, bodily winds and purification. It will describe how blockages in breath relate to other kinds of obscuration and stagnation in the post-socialist period. In Ulaanbaatar the murky and obscuringContinue Reading

Abstract This presentation explores how Tibetan Buddhist and medical notions of the relationship between heart, wind and mind come together to explain the (dys)functioning of the mind, and how this is understood to lead to various forms of ‘mental illness’ through incorrect Tantric practice and other factors including an individual’sContinue Reading

Abstract Preached by the Buddha, prescribed by psychologists, and practiced by people from all faiths and walks of life, breath meditation is one of the most popular meditation practices to have emerged from Buddhism. In this video we will look at how people in the country of Myanmar practice breathContinue Reading

Abstract Introducing Thai Yoga, “Reusi Dat Ton,” and its place within the traditions of Buddhist Yoga and Mahasiddhas. Tracing its development from India into Nepal, Tibet and the Ancient Lanna Kingdom of Southeast Asia. Discussing the ways wind is managed in “Reusi Dat Ton” from breathing techniques and visualization toContinue Reading

Abstract The contemplative technique of tummo (gtum mo, caṇḍālī) – literally, the “fierce lady” – is a consummate practice of Vajrayāna Tibetan Buddhist yoga. To understand this somatic yoga and breathwork practice, this presentation discusses (a) tummo in the context of a Buddhist tantric practice curriculum; (b) the philosophy andContinue Reading

Abstract This conversation will consider Seng Kan Cheung, a contemporary Chinese American religious healer who uses qigong, reiki, and Buddhist spells. He shares these practices and exchanges healing with a community of relatives, friends, students, and patients in the New York City area. Breathing is involuntary, yet can also be voluntarily controlled.Continue Reading