Paper short abstract:

Several religious practices aim for a transformation of the body. Their ritual structure translates cultural values into a transitional mechanism that enables the transformation of the body and these practices should thus be viewed as technologies – of transformation and of communication.

Paper long abstract:

There exist several bodily religious practices across various traditions that are structured as an individual ritual and that have the transformation of self and the body as goal. Examples of such rituals include alchemical or tantric practices. Common elements in these transformation practices can be creating a sacred space, existence of body-deities, microcosm-macrocosm analogy, directing the circulation of breath and other substances in the body, inner ascent and cosmic journey, and eventually changes in the physical body.

These practices are not only techniques but they should be viewed as technologies. This can be illustrated by Daoist neidan alchemy, where traditional alchemical instruments have been transferred into human physiology and the body itself becomes the alchemy laboratory. The presentation will argue that it is the ritual structure that translates cultural values into a transitional mechanism that enables the transformation of the human body.

The ritual in these practices is not only a technology of transformation that produces a qualitatively new state of existence but also a communication technology. By translating cultural values into bodily practices such as movement or breathing, it also communicates the teachings of a religious tradition in a nonverbal and non-symbolic way. Viewing the ritual as technology enables thus to analyze the link between bodily religious practices and respective teachings.