Being human in a Buddhist world : an intellectual history of medicine in early modern Tibet / Janet Gyatso ; cover and book design, Lisa Hamm.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gyatso, Janet, author.

Contributor:

Hamm, Lisa, cover designer, book designer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhism--Tibet Region--History.

Buddhism.

Medicine, Tibetan--History.

Medicine, Tibetan.

Medicine--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Medicine.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (538 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, [New York] : Columbia University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Critically exploring medical thought in a cultural milieu with no discernible influence from the European Enlightenment, Being Human in a Buddhist World reveals an otherwise unnoticed intersection of early modern sensibilities and religious values in traditional Tibetan medicine. It further studies the adaptation of Buddhist concepts and values to medical concerns and suggests important dimensions of Buddhism's role in the development of Asian and global civilization. Through its unique focus and sophisticated reading of source materials, Being Human adds a crucial chapter in the larger historiography of science and religion. The book opens with the bold achievements in Tibetan medical illustration, commentary, and institution building during the period of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso, then looks back to the work of earlier thinkers, tracing a strategically astute dialectic between scriptural and empirical authority on questions of history and the nature of human anatomy. It follows key differences between medicine and Buddhism in attitudes toward gender and sex and the moral character of the physician, who had to serve both the patient's and the practitioner's well-being. Being Human in a Buddhist World ultimately finds that Tibetan medical scholars absorbed ethical and epistemological categories from Buddhism yet shied away from ideal systems and absolutes, instead embracing the imperfectability of the human condition.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A TECHNICAL NOTE

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

PART I: IN THE CAPITAL

1. READING PAINTINGS, PAINTING THE MEDICAL, MEDICALIZING THE STATE

2. ANATOMY OF AN ATTITUDE: MEDICINE COMES OF AGE

PART II: BONES OF CONTENTION

3. THE WORD OF THE BUDDHA

4. THE EVIDENCE OF THE BODY: MEDICAL CHANNELS, TANTRIC KNOWING

5. TANGLED UP IN SYSTEM: THE HEART, IN THE TEXT AND IN THE HAND

CODA: INFLUENCE, RHETORIC, AND RIDING TWO HORSES AT ONCE

PART III: ROOTS OF THE PROFESSION

6. WOMEN AND GENDER

7. THE ETHICS OF BEING HUMAN: THE DOCTOR'S FORMATION IN A MATERIAL REALM

CONCLUSION: WAYS AND MEANS FOR MEDICINE

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHIES

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231164979

0231164971

9780231538329

0231538324

OCLC:

902419280