Illness and Enlightenment - by Susannah Deane (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Tibetan conception of nyonâe - 'madness'- encompasses a broad range of ideas about mind and body and an individual's place in the world. Here, Tantric and medical understandings of mind-body structure and (dys)functioning, and engagements with non-human entities, inform complex notions of the prevention, causation, and treatment of madness as an illness, as well as understandings of 'madness' as an indicator of Buddhist or Bon enlightenment. This work brings together interview material from ethnographic fieldwork in the Tibetan region of Amdo in northwest China, with an examination of Tibetan medical and religious texts, to explore the multi-faceted concept of nyonâe through key Tibetan concepts of wind, heart, and mind, as well as human-spirit relationships"--

Book Synopsis

Tibetan understandings of nyoné - 'madness'- encompass a broad range of concepts. Perspectives on the causation and treatment of madness as an illness are informed by Tantric and medical understandings of mind-body structure and (dys)functioning, as well as people's relationships with non-human entities. In addition, 'madness' may be seen as a sign of enlightenment in the case of some Tantric practitioners. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Tibetan region of Amdo in northwest China, as well as examination of Tibetan medical and religious texts, Illness and Enlightenment explores the multi-faceted concept of nyoné through key Tibetan concepts of wind, heart, and mind, as well as human-spirit relationships.

Review Quotes

"The book takes up an interesting, important, complicated and somewhat understudied aspect of Tibetan cultural and religious life." - David DiValerio, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

About the Author

Susannah Deane completed her PhD at Cardiff University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on mental health and illness within Tibetan communities in China and in exile. Her publications include Tibetan Medicine, Buddhism and Psychiatry: Mental Health and Healing in a Tibetan Exile Community (Carolina Academic Press, 2018).