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This book examines the significance of metaphysical list-making as a determining feature of spiritual exercises in South Asian gnostic yogas. It examines how these ancient traditions sought spiritual transformation through the dialectical practice of taxonomy. It highlights the gnostic thread that intersects spiritual exercises and ways of life in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina circles. It fills a gap in yoga studies by proposing a new understanding of jñana-yoga (yoga of knowledge). Departing from mainstream Anglophone philosophical traditions, it articulates an original meta-theory of philosophical practice, explaining how philosophy can be 'therapeutic' in concrete terms. The book theorizes yogic Gnosticism, as a South Asian religious undercurrent and as a distinctive form of philosophical practice and ascetic way of life internalizing a sacrificial worldview. Finally, the book analyzes four literary case studies, presenting therapeutic methods in competing gnostic traditions, namely, the Verses on Sa khya of svarakrsna; the Advaita Instructions on the Doctrine of Gaudapada; the Buddhist Heart Sutra; and the Twelve Contemplations of the Jaina Kundakunda. The groundbreaking multidisciplinary and trans-sectarian book offers a must-read for scholars across the fields of world philosophy and religious studies.
List of contents
List Making: From Universal to Spiritual Exercise.- Gnostic Yoga as Philosophical Practice.- Case Studies in South Asian Gnostic Spiritual Exercises.- Conclusion.
About the author
Karl-Stéphan Bouthillette is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy (DoP), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). Following his Ph.D. in Munich, he pursued post-doctoral research in Leiden and Gent. His first monograph was Dialogue and Doxography in Indian Philosophy (Routledge, 2020).
