Conference: Medicine and Yoga in South and Inner Asia
Body Cultivation, Therapeutic Intervention and the Sowa Rigpa Industry
University of Vienna, 1–3 August 2017
Building on Vienna’s historic strength in Tibet and South Asian Studies, this conference brought together local and international experts from four major international research projects working on topics ranging from South Asian longevity practices to the transnational Sowa Rigpa industry, from body images across Asia to Tibetan recipes for Precious Pills.
The conference aimed to present and discuss historical, textual, and contemporary insights on the following key themes:
- Longevity practices as a shared concern in South Asian medical, alchemical and yogic milieus
- The emergence of a transnational Sowa Rigpa pharmaceutical industry in India, China, Mongolia, and Bhutan
- Tibetan formulas explored through textual and ethnographic analysis
Programme and Presentations
Karl Baier — University of Vienna
Yoga and Alchemy within fin de siècle Occultism
“In this paper I will investigate the astonishing relationship between interpretations and practices of yoga among German speaking occultists – especially within the Habsburg Monarchy – and their new interest in alchemical theories and experiments. In particular, my analysis is based on a close reading of the writings of members of this milieu like Carl Kellner, Franz Hartmann, Gustav Meyrink and Herbert Silberer. Special interest is paid to the theoretical frame that allows them to connect yoga and alchemy.”
Suzanne Newcombe — AyurYog Project, London School of Economics and Political Science
Longevity practices in India during the modern period: Public health imperatives and individual aspirations
“The logistics and economics of how to promote health and longevity amongst the vast population of India is a perennial problem. Yoga has increasingly been seen by the government of India as a potential asset in their promotion of longevity for the general population. This presentation will outline the variety of pragmatic approaches that were taken to promote yoga as public health under the category of ‘Indigenous Medicine’ from the Usman Report of 1923, to the recent promotion of AYUSH to the level of Ministry in 2014.”
Dagmar Wujastyk — AyurYog Principal Investigator, University of Vienna
Rasāyana in Sanskrit alchemical literature
“In Indian alchemical literature, the Sanskrit term rasāyana is predominantly used to describe alchemical operations, i.e. all that is involved in the making and taking of elixirs for attaining a state of spiritual liberation in a living body. Rasāyana in this sense describes a series of related processes, including the preparation and chemical processing of raw materials; the admixture and further processing of materials to formulate the elixir; the preparation of the practitioner (cleansing procedures for body and mind); the intake of the elixir and finally, the process of transformation the practitioner undergoes after intake of the elixir.”
Christèle Barois — AyurYog Project, University of Vienna
Longevity practices from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad onwards
“Vayas, a key term for ‘age’ in the ayurvedic treatises, is a heuristic concept that is helpful in reflecting on issues of longevity, rejuvenation, and immortality. When considering longevity specifically, the Chāndogya Upaniṣad III.15–16 provides extensive material for reflection. In the context of ritual invocations aiming at longevity, it offers a meaning of vayas close to that found in medical treatises; it describes three periods of life, and provides us with a canonical human lifespan of 116 years.”
Geoffrey Samuel — Cardiff University
Tantric immortality: the factors of long life and the transcendence of time
“As a researcher on Tibetan longevity practices, I have been asked on a variety of occasions whether they work. An answer is by no means straightforward, in part because opinions vary as to what it is they are meant to do. For many lay Tibetans, the practices are indeed directed at the attainment of a long and healthy life. Yet this pragmatic concern is entangled with other matters. Lamas stress that the only proper motivation for such life extension is to enable progress towards Buddhahood.”
For the full conference report and further videos, see the blog post and The Luminescent.