Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

Conventions and Abbreviations

List of Contributors

Introduction

Backdrops and Parallels to Embryological Discourse and Reproductive Imagery in East Asian Religions

Anna Andreeva and Dominic Steavu

1 Early Chinese Embryologies

2 Embryologies in Early Indian and Buddhist Materials

3 Buddhist Embryologies in China

4 Embryologies in Early and Medieval Japan

5 Overview of Chapters

Concluding Remarks: On Embryologies and Gender

part 1

China

∵

Chapter 1

Prenatal Infancy Regained: Great Peace (Taiping) Views on Procreation and Life Cycles

Grégoire Espesset

1 Impregnation

2 The Symbolism of Gestation

3 Prenatal Infancy

4 Birth and Beyond

5 Cyclical Logic and Time Cycles

6 Prenatal Infancy Regained

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 2

Conceiving the Embryo of Immortality: “Seed-People” and Sexual Rites in Early Taoism

Christine Mollier

Introduction

1 The Sexual Rites Described in the Huangshu

2 Sex and Procreation in Early Celestial Masters Literature

3 The Shenzhou jing and the Ritual of the Huangshu

4 The Eschatological Background of the Notion of “Seed-People”

5 La Dolce Vita in the Messianic Kingdom

Concluding Remarks: Counting the Elect

Chapter 3

Cosmos, Body, and Gestation in Taoist Meditation

Dominic Steavu

Introducing the Problem: Literal and Symbolic Embryology

1 The Gods Within: Anthropomorphising the Cosmos

2 Correlating Models, Imbricating Discourses

3 Taiyi and Cosmogonic Reversion

4 Sanhuang, Embryology, and the Birth of Neidan

Conclusion

Chapter 4

Symbolic Pregnancy and the Sexual Identity of Taoist Adepts

Catherine Despeux

Introduction

1 Appearance and Development of the “Sagely Embryo” Allegory

2 The Formation of the Sagely Embryo

3 Symbolic Pregnancy in Men

4 Symbolic Pregnancy in Women

5 Sacred (Re)birth in Women and Men

Conclusion

Chapter 5

Creation and Its Inversion: Cosmos, Human Being, and Elixir in the Cantong Qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three)

Fabrizio Pregadio

1 General Principles

2 Creating the World

3 Generation and Periodic Regeneration: The Function of Kun

4 Conception and Birth of the Human Being

5 Compounding the Elixir

Conclusion: “Inverting the Course” and “Following the Course”

Chapter 6

On the Effectiveness of Symbols: Women’s Bodies as Mandalas

Brigitte Baptandier

1 The Myth of the Lady of Linshui and Its Discourse on Maternity

2 The Nainiang zhuan, Biography of the Mother

3 The Context of the Nainiang zhuan

4 The Ritual Performance

5 The Secret Revealed

6 Ritual Sequences from Nainiang zhuan

7 Furen Guoguan, The Lady Crosses the Passes: A Ritual Painting

8 The Thirty-Six Consorts, Acolytes of Chen Jinggu

9 The Talisman of the Eight Trigrams for Pacifying the Womb and the Dipper Ritual for the Correction of Fortune

10 Conclusion: On Symbolic Efficacy

11 Conclusion: The Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic

part 2

Japan

∵

Chapter 7

The Embryonic Generation of the Perfect Body: Ritual Embryology from Japanese Tantric Sources

Lucia Dolce

Introduction

1 The Embryological Charts

2 Indian Medicine and Abhidharma Interpretations

3 The Chinese Body: The Five Agents and Five Viscera System

4 The Tantric Body: Fluids, Visualisation Practices, and Initiatory Rituals

5 Before Gestation: Sexual Practices in Tantric Buddhism

6 The Performance of Gestation I: The Yoga Sutra Commentaries

7 The Performance of Gestation II: Kami Initiations

Concluding Remarks

Chapter 8

Buddhism Ab Ovo: Aspects of Embryological Discourse in Medieval Japanese Buddhism

Bernard Faure

1 Embryological Symbolism

1.1 From Two to Five

1.2 Aizen, Fudō, and Foetal Gestation

1.3 The Five Stages in Medieval Shintō Rituals

1.4 The Five Stages in Shugendō

2 The Deification of the Placenta

2.1 The Placenta Deity

2.2 Aizen and Fudō as Placenta Deities

2.3 Ugajin

2.4 Shōten (Vināyaka)

2.5 Myōken, the Pole Star inside the Womb

Epilogue

Chapter 9

“Human Yellow” and Magical Power in Japanese Medieval Tantrism and Culture

Nobumi Iyanaga 彌永信美

1 The Origin of “Human Yellow”: Commentary on the Mahāvairocana Sūtra

2 What Was “Human Yellow”?

3 Dakini-ten and “Human Yellow” in Japan, before the End of the Heian Period

4 “Human Yellow” in the Third Left Hand of Aizen Myōō

5 The “Abominable Skull Cult” for the Production of a Magical Life

6 Skull Ritual and “Human Yellow”

Conclusion

Appendices

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Chapter 10

“Lost in the Womb”: Conception, Reproductive Imagery, and Gender in the Writings and Rituals of Japan’s Medieval Holy Men

Anna Andreeva

Introduction

1 Medieval Scholars and Holy Men on Enlightenment and Conception

2 Esoteric Theories on the Move

3 Ritualising Fathers and Mothers

4 Mandalising Women’s Bodies?

Conclusion

Chapter 11

Embryology in Early Modern Sōtō Zen Buddhism

Kigensan Licha

Introduction

1 Discourses on the Human Body in Early Modern Sōtō Zen

1.1 The Universal Principles of the Body

1.2 The Instantiation of Universal Principles in the Body

1.3 The Roots of the Body

2 Embryology in the Womb and the Grave: The Pagoda and the Thirteen Buddhas

2.1 The “Five Stages in the Womb” (tainai goi 胎内五位) and the Aun jigi 阿吽字義

2.2 Gestation and the Thirteen Buddhas

3 Practice in the Womb and Propagating the Buddha Seed

3.1 Meditation as Residing in the Womb

3.2 Embryological Metaphysics

3.3 Variant Embryologies

3.4 Propagating the Buddha Seed

Conclusion

Chapter 12

Foetal Buddahood: From Theory to Practice – Embryological Symbolism in the Autumn Peak Ritual of Haguro Shugendo

Gaynor Sekimori

Introduction

1 Embryological Symbolism Associated with Attire and Accoutrements

2 Conception and Gestation in the Akinomine

2.1 The Womb

2.2 Intercourse and Conception

2.3 Stages of Gestation

2.4 Birth

3 Sexual Symbolism Associated with Places

Conclusion

Index