Illness and Enlightenment

Exploring Tibetan Perspectives on Madness in Text and Everyday Life

Susannah Deane (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

288 Seiten

2025
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
9781805398400 (ISBN)

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Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Tibetan region of Amdo in northwest China, Illness and Enlightenment examines Tibetan medical and religious texts, to explore the multi-faceted concept of nyoné through key Tibetan concepts of wind, heart, and mind, as well as human-spirit relationships.

Tibetan understandings of nyoné — ‘madness’— encompass a broad range of concepts. Perspectives on the causation and treatment of madness as an illness are informed by Tantric and medical understandings of mind-body structure and (dys)functioning, as well as people’s relationships with non-human entities. In addition, ‘madness’ may be seen as a sign of enlightenment in the case of some Tantric practitioners. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Tibetan region of Amdo in northwest China, as well as examination of Tibetan medical and religious texts, Illness and Enlightenment explores the multi-faceted concept of nyoné through key Tibetan concepts of wind, heart, and mind, as well as human-spirit relationships.

Susannah Deane completed her PhD at Cardiff University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on mental health and illness within Tibetan communities in China and in exile. Her publications include Tibetan Medicine, Buddhism and Psychiatry: Mental Health and Healing in a Tibetan Exile Community (Carolina Academic Press, 2018).

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

A Note on Terminology, Transliterations, and Translations

Introduction

Part I

Chapter 1. Heart, Wind and Mind: Discussions on Nyonéin Contemporary Amdo

Chapter 2. Heart, Mind or Wind? Tibetan Medical Conceptions of Mind, Mental Health and Nyoné

Chapter 3. Wind, Mind and Nyonéin Tibetan Tantra

Part II

Chapter 4. Madness-Causing Spirits, Tantric Deities and ‘Impurities’ in Contemporary Amdo

Chapter 5. Uninvited: Spirits, Deities and ‘Pollution’ in Everyday Life and Illness

Chapter 6. Invoking the Gods: Spirits and Deities in Tantric Practice

Conclusion

Glossary

References

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	09.01.2025
Zusatzinfo	10 Illustrations
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Sozialpädagogik
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-13	9781805398400 / 9781805398400
Zustand	Neuware