Author Description

Becoming Human In Tibetan Literature. Medicine, Science And Religion In European Thought; Models Of Comparison: Science And Religion, Science And Buddhism; Narratives Of Embryology; Caveats And Approaches; Medical Epistemology And The Embryological Narrative; Narrative, Identity And History -- Theories Of Human Development. Indian Medical Sources For Human Development; Early Human Development In Indian Nikāya And Mahāyāna Buddhism; Practicing Gestations In Indian Vajrayāna Buddhism; Chinese Traditions Of Nurturing The Fetus; Cultural Inheritance And Adaptation -- Interactions Between Medicine And Religion In Tibet. Eurasian Cosmopolitanism Versus Indian Buddhism: A Historiographical Conflict; Striking The Path: Organizing The Influx Of Indian Culture; The Heyday Of Medical Scholasticism; Locating Humandevelopment In The Narrative Of Tibetan History -- The Fetal Body, Gender And The Normal. Functional Physiologies: Humoral And Digestive Systems; The Circulatory System; Characterizing Embodiment: Gendered, Defective And Normal Bodies; Female Physiology; Encountering The Narrative's Central Subject -- Gestation And The Religious Path. Conception And Debates Over The Sequence Of Fetal Development; Fetal Development In Tantric Sources; The Fetal Experience Of Conception, Gestation And Birth; Practicing The Exoteric Path; Esoteric Practices For Closing The Womb's Door; Purifying Death, The Intermediate State And Rebirth; The Embryologic Vision Of Reality; Inconsistency, Ignorance, Or Innovation? -- Growth, Change And Continuity. Karma And The Buddhist Problem Of Causality; Causality, The Individual, And The Cosmos; The Power Of Karma In The Context Of Conception And Development; The Shaky Foundations Of Karma's Role In Becoming Human; The Role Of The Elements In Causing Growth; Attributing Causality To The Winds; Growth Caused By The Power Of Gnosis; The Forces Of Creation -- Epilogue: Historiography Recapitulates Embryology Frances Garrett. Includes Bibliographical Refer