scholarly journals Bodily Changes: Castration as Cultural and Social Practice in the Space of the Forbidden City

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110407
Author(s):  
Peng Liu ◽  
Lan Lan

This article examines the Chinese imperial body as “simultaneously part of nature and part of culture” and considers the interactions between the cultural body and physical body in sociological terms. The examination elaborates on the physical body as the manifestation of the demands of society mediated by cultural meanings. Bodily changes, such as castration, which Peng Liu argue is a trade between the physical body and cultural body in meeting the demands of Imperial Chinese society, affect the cultural embodiment of the body. This article examines the bodily actions of head eunuchs and how they interact with the emperor in the space of the Forbidden City during Imperial China. Eunuchs have undertaken an invasive physical operation to not only survive but thrive in imperial society. This reflects the constraints, struggles, and disciplining of the physically castrated and culturally embodied being.

Author(s):  
Natalie Köhle

The history of Buddhism in China is deeply connected with healing. Some of the scriptures that were translated into Chinese discuss Indic conceptions of the body as an amalgamation of elements, and causes of illness in the tridoṣa, that is pathogenic body fluids and internal winds. Others discuss materia medica, and monastic rules on healing and hygiene in the monastery. Yet others set forth the ritual worship of the Medicine Buddha (Skt. Bhaiṣajyaguru; Ch. Yaoshi fo 藥師佛), the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin pusa 觀音菩薩), and other deities that promise healing. Apart from the translated scriptures, there is a huge body of indigenous works that synthesized the wealth of information on Indic healing which arrived in China between the 2nd and 10th centuries ce. Foremost among those are Yijing’s義淨 (635–713) account of Indian monastic practices, Daoxuan’s道宣 (596–667) vinaya commentary, and Daoshi’s道世 (?–683) encyclopedia chapter on illness. Chinese compositions, such as Zhiyi’s 智顗 (538–597) treatises on meditation, and Huizhao’s 慧皎 (497–554) hagiographies bear witness to the hybridity to which the reception of Indic ideas in China gave rise. With the widening reach of Buddhism into every layer of Chinese society during the Sui and Tang dynasties, eminent Chinese physicians, such as Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (452–536), Chao Yuanfang 巢元方 (550–630), Wang Tao 王焘(670–755), and Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581–682) also began to incorporate Buddhist ideas into their medical treatises. Chinese Buddhist monasteries introduced hospital services to China, and certain lineages of monks continued to provide medical care to the laity in late imperial China. Their healing was based on Chinese medical theories, however, and there is no evidence that they persisted in applying Indic medical ideas.


Author(s):  
Anurag Asija

In modern life, people generally try to accomplish too much in too little time, consequently they accumulate a lot of stress in their lives. In that time, yoga plays an important role to alleviate the stress and rejuvenate the body. In the times, yoga was a form of Bhakti. Rishi Patanjali, rightly called the father of yoga, who around 200 b.c. gave us the present literary form of yoga doctrine in his famous treaties Yoga Sutra. In modern times, the value of yoga is being increasingly recognized for general and it’s preventive and curative effects. Yoga does not conceive man having a physical body but on the contrary, it emphasizes the greater values of the mind which characterizes his personality, Thus, yoga leads to ultimate physical health and happiness together with the achieve of mental and patience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 183449092199329
Author(s):  
Tulips Yiwen Wang ◽  
Allan B. I. Bernardo

The present investigation explored Chinese people's attitudes toward the social practice of going “through the back door” or zouhoumen. Zouhoumen is an informal approach to achieve one’s goal through personal connections (called guanxi). We propose that Chinese people distinguish between different acts of zouhoumen and propose at least two types that differ in terms of social cognitive aspects, and that the two types evoke different perceptions of fairness that shape attitudes towards zouhoumen. Two experiments (total N = 414) provided evidence for the differentiation between facilitative zouhoumen and expropriative zouhoumen and also explore the role of type of guanxi in attitudes towards the two types of zouhoumen. Both experiments indicated that facilitative zouhoumen was less unacceptable than expropriative zouhoumen, but there were no marked differences in attitudes between zouhoumen involving expressive or instrumental guanxi. The results support a more nuanced theoretical account of a pervasive social phenomenon in Chinese society that we assume is adaptive responses to features of Chinese historical socioeconomic context.


Author(s):  
Amy Hetherington

A lama is a spiritual leader or guider of the dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. When a lama dies their spirit is said to move into the body of an infant born shortly after their death, and this child is called a tulku. The word tulku translates to the Sanskrit word nirmanakaya. This means "pure physical body," and is in reference to a fully enlightened being. In the following essay, I engage in a discussion about the childhood experiences and notions of individuality of Tibetan tulkus. Due to the shortage of academic material on this topic, I draw on personal written accounts of specific tulkus and from these make my own inferences and conclusions. By exploring notions of discipline, familial relationships, personal autonomy, identity, and exploitation, I argue that the recognition and identification as a tulku does not allow one to experience an ordinary childhood and deprives one of pursuing a normative or undisturbed upbringing. In this essay, I utilize the term ‘normative’ to mean any version or rendition of childhood that the child would have experienced had they not been identified as a tulku. I hope my findings will be useful in further discussions about whether a child’s putative identity changes their right to access a typical childhood characterized by family, leisure, and personal exploration, or whether their tulku status overrides and reconditions this right.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 333-349
Author(s):  
Isabelle Choinière ◽  

The mediation of the performative body raises the question of the re-evaluation of the lived body in relation to phenomena of re-creation or re-composition involving the sensible and somatic body when it is affected by technology and incorporates its effects. To understand this phenomenon, this essay examines the interrelation of the notions of corporality (a notion which concerns the physical body in its materiality, or the anthropomorphic body), corporeality, and embodiment through a transdisciplinary approach and as an anchoring to a dynamic of self-eco-organization. Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy underpins the very foundations of this research and will allow us to reflect on the new status of the contemporary body in technological contexts. Two main notions will be used. “Corporeality”, as a form of the lived body and a transdisciplinary concept and embodiment as an act of integration by the body – here in a technological environment. In the evolution of the interrelation between the body and the changing environment, the two are in trans-relation, a trans-formation occurs. To conclude, we propose to analyze these new “realities” in a Merleau-Pontian and Nietzschean interconnected approach, that is, through a philosophy of becoming, a philosophy that flows through the body: being a body, doing, risking and creating – a philosophy that resonates with this trans-formation.


2021 ◽  
pp. medhum-2020-012038
Author(s):  
Rhonda Shaw ◽  
Robert Webb

In this article, we refer to the separation of solid organs from the body as bio-objects. We suggest that the transfer of these bio-objects is connected to emotions and affects that carry a range of different social and cultural meanings specific to the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. The discussion draws on research findings from a series of qualitative indepth interview studies conducted from 2008 to 2013 with Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Pākehā (European settler New Zealanders) concerning their views on organ donation and transplantation. Our findings show both differences and similarities between Māori and Pākehā understandings of transplantation. Nevertheless, while many Māori draw on traditional principles, values and beliefs to reflect on their experiences in relation to embodiment, gift-giving, identity and well-being, Pākehā tend to subscribe to more Western understandings of identity in terms of health and well-being, in line with international literature on the topic. Rather than reflecting individualistic notions of the body and transplantation as the endpoint of healthcare as do Pākehā, Māori views are linked to wider conceptions of family, ancestry and belonging, demonstrating how different rationalities and ontologies affect practices and understandings surrounding organ transfer technology. In the article, we focus predominantly on Māori perspectives of organ transfer, contextualising the accounts and experiences of our research participants against the backdrop of a long history of settler colonialism and health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand.


Author(s):  
Susanne Ravn

I denne artikel kombineres fænomenologi og etnografiske metoder med det formål at beskrive, hvorledes dansere bruger deres kropsbevidsthed og arbejder med deres bevægelsesfornemmelse. Artiklens formål forfølges i to empiriske undersøgelser. Den første undersøgelse har afsæt i professionelle danseres daglige praksis – relateret til henholdsvis ballet og moderne danseteknikker. Dansernes beskrivelser viser, at kroppens fysikalitet kan være nærværende for bevidstheden som en fornemmelse, uden at der er tale om et refleksivt foretagende, og uden at kroppen fremtræder som objekt. Denne fornemmelse udgør en vigtig ekstra, eller tredje, dimension af dansernes kropslige selvbevidsthed og deres bevægelsesekspertise. Den anden undersøgelse omhandler argentinsk tango og sportsdans. I begge former for pardans har partnerens bevægelser helt grundlæggende betydning for dansernes bevægelsesfornemmelse. Fænomenologisk set er der tale om en kropslig ekstension: Den bevægelsesfælleshed, der etableres i interaktionen, er en betingelse og et udgangspunkt for sansningen af bevægelserne. Dansernes beskrivelser peger dog også på, at interaktionen kan være i fokus i forskellig grad. De to fænomenologisk relaterede analyser udfordrer dermed ideen om at kroppen skulle være fraværende for bevidstheden, når dansefærdighederne beherskes. I stedet er en tredje dimension af dansernes kropslige selvbevidsthed central for danserens præstation, og fornemmelser af bevægelsesfællesheder bearbejdes strategisk. Søgeord: tværvidenskabelig metodologi, danseforskning, professionelle dansere, argentinsk tango, sportsdans. Interweaving phenomenological explorations and ethnographical methods this paper aims at contributing to explicating how dancers use their sense of the physical body and its movements when training and performing their expertise. The aim is pursued in two analyses. The first analysis focuses on the practices of professional dancers, who in different ways are trained in ballet and contemporary techniques. Their descriptions reveal how the body’s physicality is present to their experience in a non-objectifying way while dancing. This kind of experience is to be considered an extra dimension of the dancers’ bodily self-consciousness, which concerns what the body feels like in a physical sense when undergoing the movement. The second analysis, which is based on the practices of tango dancers and elite sports dancers, focuses on how they come to form a shared body when dancing with a partner. Phenomenologically described, their bodies extend: their sense of movement includes the “other” in a fundamental way and unfolds on the level of operative intentionality. However, these dancers also make us aware that experiencing the body as extended and shared does not only “happen” but is worked strategically throughout their practice. Accordingly, the two phenomenological analyses challenge the idea that in the skilled performance, the expert is absorbed in the doing. Rather, an extra dimension of bodily self- consciousness is important to the dancers’ way of performing – and the dancers’ sense of movement involves continual processes of mutual incorporation. Keywords: interdisciplinary methodology, dance research, professional dancers, Argentinean tango, sportsdance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Cossu ◽  
Emilio Loi ◽  
Mauro Giovanni Carta ◽  
Alessia Bramanti

Background: The physical activity has been indicated as an experience that can help achieve positive, self-oriented own body awareness. This awareness is an aspect that tends to get worse with age. Objective: Our study aims to verify the internal consistency of a questionnaire on physical awareness in a sample of Italian elders; a secondary objective is to measure if there is a relationship between physical awareness and perceived level of physical activity. Methods: Cross sectional study on a consecutive sample of elderly people was administered the “Physical Body Experiences Questionnaire simplified for active aging (PBE-QAG)”, inspired by the “Physical Body Experiences Questionnaire”, modified, simplified and adapted to be used in the elderly over 65. To elderly people the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha was also used to assess internal reliability of the total PBE-QAG. The factor structure was evaluated through Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs). Results: The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.8 for the “body-mind relationship” scale, 0.81 for the “accepting your body” scale, 0.83 for the “awareness of physical skills” scale, and 0.65 for the “awareness of physical limits” scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the total PBE-QAG was 0.89. The CFA indicated a model with the 4 factors (CFI = 0.989, TLI = 0.984, RMSEA = 0.076). People who conducted physical activity assiduously or regularly and over 10 minutes showed a better score to the PBE-QAG than those who declared a sporadic activity and for “less than 10 minute”, respectively. Conclusion: Our study revealed that the PBE-QAG shows an excellent total internal consistency. In the Italian sample of elderly people the questionnaire shows the model with the 4 factors described in literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Armand

Rituals of incorporation (utarnu) of numinous ontologies in Himalayan Tantric ritualisms represent an interesting field for developing a reflection on different phenomenologies of the body. From the physical body of the tantrika (Tantric practitioner), the formal remains of an individual atman-Self, I investigate the experiences that make it a receptacle for a numinous Other. This article is an attempt to identify some distinctive Tantric features in a ritual practice of incorporation (chema puja) among the Newar communities of the Kathmandu Valley. Such incorporations are supported by an essential narrative link which describes the figure of Siva-Mahadeva as the transmitter of knowledge of tantra-mantra, generating a direct esoteric filiation with the ritual practitioner. Through these incorporation processes, the tantrika achieves a perpetual alternation of two morphologically stable manifestations where the two natures, human and divine, merge into a single form, versus a fragmentation where the two distinct natures remain visible under two Gestalts. By proposing a neurocognitive anthropological approach, I will address the notions of Self and Alien in Hindu Tantric rituals of incorporation, where tantrikas' physical bodies become the encounter spaces where the Self merges and dissolves into the 'numinous' Other, in a bistable mode. In this way, I will be able to reconstruct the neural foundations of these endogenous experiences, mainly localized in the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) of the human brain, representing the fundamental core basis of these ritual practices of visualization and merging with a deity in Newar Tantrism and shamanism.


Author(s):  
Gavin Flood

Meditation has been integral to Hindu and Buddhist tantric traditions, in particular involving visualization or visual contemplation, practiced as part of ritual and also in its own right in order to achieve the goals of liberation from the cycle of reincarnation and also to achieve pleasure or power in this and other worlds. Visual contemplation is particularly focused on the body envisioned as being pervaded by a vertical axis at a subtle level, along which are located different levels of experience associated with different levels of the hierarchical cosmos. Power is awakened through meditation that rises up through these levels up to the very highest realization. This visual contemplation is thought to be of the subtle body as the support of the soul that leaves the physical body at death. There is also meditation without visualization that emphasizes the flow of pure awareness. This essay examines these practices in the major Hindu tantric traditions focused on the deity Śiva with some reference to the traditions of the Goddess, Viṣṇu, and Buddhism. These traditions influence the later Yoga tradition and have been transformed in the modern West.


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