Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology, and Biblical Studies)

206 Pages·2007·1.5 MB·English

by  Louise Child

TANTRIC BUDDHISM AND ALTERED STATES
OF CONSCIOUSNESS
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.
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Geoffrey Samuel, University of Newcastle, Australia
Richard Hutch, University of Queensland, Australia
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Adrian Thatcher, College of St Mark and St John, UK
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Engaging Deconstructive Theology
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Tantric Buddhism and Altered
States of Consciousness
Durkheim, Emotional Energy and Visions of the Consort
LOUISE CHILD
Cardiff University, Wales, UK
© Louise Child 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Louise Child has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
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Croft Road 101 Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405
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Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Child, Louise
Tantric Buddhism and altered states of consciousness : Durkheim, emotional energy and
visions of the consort. –
(Ashgate new critical thinking in religion, theology and biblical studies)
1. Durkheim, Émile, 1858–1917 2. Tantric Buddhism – Psychology 3. Altered states of
consciousness – Religious aspects 4. Couples 5. Interpersonal relations – Religious aspects
– Tantric Buddhism
I. Title
294.3’925

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Child, Louise, 1966–
Tantric Buddhism and altered states of consciousness : Durkheim, emotional energy and
visions of the consort / Louise Child.
p. cm. – (Ashgate new critical thinking in religion, theology and Biblical studies)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-5804-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Tantric Buddhism–Psychology.
2. Consciousness–Religious aspects–Tantric Buddhism. 3. Durkheim, Imile, 1858–1917.
I. Title.
BQ8915.8.C55 2007
294.3’925019–dc22
2006031852
ISBN 978-0-7546-5804-7
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
1 Altered States of Consciousness, Symbols, and Social Theory 1
The Mandala, Totemism, and Emotional Energy 5
Deity Yoga and the Transformative Body 12
Consorts and Communication 20
Outline of the Book 23
2 Consciousness, Power, and Renunciation 27
Introduction 27
Structure and Communitas in ‘Mad Saints’ 31
Underworld – The Shamanic Crisis 36
Conclusion 43
3 Consorts, Myth, and Sacrifice in Hindu Tantra 47
Introduction 47
Love in Separation 49
Siva and Erotic Ascetism 52
Conclusion 62
4 Sacred Physiology, Yoga, and Death 67
Introduction: Immortality and Eternity 67
The Three Bodies of the Buddha 69
Death, Alchemy, and Initiation 76
Conclusion 85
5 Identity, Biography, and Shamanic Death 87
Introduction 87
The Sacred Feminine and Shamanic Death 92
Conclusion 100
6 The Purification of Aggression 105
Introduction 105
Wrathful Deities: Ritual, Evolution, and Meaning 107
The Wrathful Female and the Magician 117
Conclusion 126
7 Transmission and Identity 131
Introduction 131
Transmission as Discovery 137
Biographical Reflections 142
Conclusion 149
vi Tantric Buddhism and Altered States of Consciousness
8 The Subtle Body and Emotional Energy 157
Sacred Ambivalence, Women, and the ‘Left’ 160
Bibliography 169
Index 179
Acknowledgements
My first debt of thanks must go to the staff in the school of Theology and Religious
Studies at the University of Leeds, who provided a productive and friendly atmosphere
in which to study and teach. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Philip
Mellor for his encouragement and support. His innovative work in Durkheimian
studies provided an important stimulus for considering the potential contributions
of social theory in exciting new ways. Professor Linda Hogan gave her interest and
additional supervision in the early stages of the thesis and Professor Kim Knott
provided particularly helpful advice on translating my doctoral work into book
form and on my teaching. I would also like to mention the kindness of the Leeds
University library staff.
My work has also been stimulated by the exciting forum for discussion provided
by the Centre for Durkheimian Studies in Oxford, where I presented a paper on
‘Mantras and Spells’ in 2002 and my thanks go to Dr Pickering in particular, both
for welcoming my participation and for his encouragement. I also presented a paper
titled ‘Subtle Bodies, Wrathful Deities, and Men in Tantric Traditions’ at the British
Association for South Asian Studies annual conference and I would like to thank Dr
Emma Tomalin for organizing this and Professor Geoffrey Samuel, who made helpful
comments and suggestions for further reading, some of which have contributed to
revisions of this book.
In addition, I was able to spend some time at the Samye Ling Tibetan Centre in
Scotland and at Thrangu House in Oxford, and would like to thank all of the people
involved in making those visits useful and enjoyable times. Special mention should
be made of the lamas from whom I received some excellent teachings and who were
kind enough to speak to me with regards to the research, in particular Ringu Tulku.
On a more personal note, this project would not have been possible without the
inspiration, kindness, and laughter of my parents and friends, Bob, Olive, Cecile,
Wendy, Sarah, and Michael – my thanks goes to all of them.
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Chapter 1
Altered States of Consciousness,
Symbols, and Social Theory
How can Durkheim’s theory of collective consciousness and Jung’s notion of the
collective unconscious contribute to the study of dreams and visionary experiences?
This is one of the primary questions that this book investigates, and in so doing
it asserts that there is something social about altered states of consciousness that
should be re-examined. However, I am not suggesting that one should equate ‘the
social’ with economic and political structures and then apply this somewhat limited
definition to an analysis of religious experience. Rather, this book argues that the
psychological and social structures proposed by Jung and Durkheim are fluid and
dynamic, being complicated by the presence of social and emotional energies that
give vitality to the person and society, but which also give rise to tensions, conflict,
and uncertainty.
Taking these insights as a starting point, I go on to suggest their implications for
the study of personal emotions and relationships, drawing from ritual and biographical
material generated by tantric Buddhism. This material contains a number of features
that render it particularly useful for this study, partly because tantra explores
the idea of ritual and religious relationships that are erotically charged, but also
because it contains a wealth of references to altered states of consciousness, and a
second theme that runs throughout this book is an attempt to suggest links between
consort relationships and dreams and visions that may provide avenues for further
investigations. Specifically it explores the links between religious symbols, visionary
experiences and the transmission of emotional energies that may take place between
an individual and society, within the individual psyche, and between persons.
Scholars such as Samuel have argued that the relationship between social and
individuated being can be understood in terms of a tension between them (Samuel,
1990: 30). He suggests that ‘visionary states’ mediate this tension, by breaking
previous thought patterns and social links, and creating new ones (Samuel, 1990:
108). An exploration of Durkheim’s theory of collective consciousness and Jung’s
collective unconscious can support such statements and open up this area of inquiry
to an analysis of levels of communication, which I suggest are closely related to both
the generation, and contents of, a number of dream, vision, and trance experiences.
I will argue that, for Durkheim and Jung, contact between persons goes beyond the
confines of language, and is rooted, more precisely, in subtle senses and emotions
that interact with the conscious mind through symbols. This suggests a dynamic
conception of both society and the individual, animated by the tension between
them. Because this tension is also thought to penetrate ‘the person’, the theories
of Durkheim and Jung can also offer a ‘depth’ perspective to the study of identity