Correlation between Hindu and Daoist alchemical concepts

[dwai]

I was playing with Bard recently and started exploring the correlates between Hindu Yoga/Tantra and Daoist alchemical traditions 

 

Spoiler

Kosha	Meaning	Location	Function	Taoist Alchemy Level	Chinese Name	Color	Other Names
Physical body (annamaya kosha)	The physical sheath	The skin, bones, muscles, and organs	The vehicle for experience	Foundation level	炼精化气 (liàn jīng huà qì)	Red	Gross body
Energy body (pranamaya kosha)	The energy sheath	The nadis, or energy channels, and the chakras, or energy centers	The medium for the flow of prana, or life force	Qi level	炼气化神 (liàn qì huà shén)	Orange	Subtle body
mental body (manomaya kosha)	The mental sheath	The mind	The seat of emotions	Shen level	炼神还虚 (liàn shén huán xū)	Yellow	Mental body
Intellectual body (vijnanamaya kosha)	The intellectual sheath	The intellect	The seat of thoughts and ideas	Dantian level	炼虚合道 (liàn xū hé dào)	Green	intellectual body
Golden body (karanamaya kosha) aka anandamaya kosha	A radiant, golden light that surrounds the physical body.	The causal field	The seat of karma, or past actions	Wuji level	无极无为 (wú jí wú wéi)	Blue	Causal body

I"m just presenting this as a way to look at the two traditions. I'm not saying the above is authoritative in any way  (just the output of a genAI bot)

Edited May 12, 2023 by dwai

[Invisible Acropolis]

now see if you can figure out how this alchemical knowledge was later synthesized into the various dramatic characters known as the Tarot, during the renaissance in Venice (as an attempt to preserve it) - in the earliest known system of modern psychological archetypes, for the purpose of "personal transformation" and "self cultivation" 

 

Quote

from Medieval Latin alkimia, from Arabic al-kimiya, from Greek khemeioa (found c.300 C.E. in a decree of Diocletian against "the old writings of the Egyptians"), all meaning "alchemy," and of uncertain origin.

Perhaps from an old name for Egypt (Khemia, literally "land of black earth," found in Plutarch), or from Greek khymatos "that which is poured out," from khein "to pour," from Proto-Indo-European root *gheu- "to pour" [Watkins, but Klein, citing W. Muss-Arnolt, calls this folk etymology]. The word seems to have elements of both origins.

Greek khymeia was probably the original, being first applied to pharmaceutical chemistry, which was chiefly concerned with juices or infusions of plants; that the pursuits of the Alexandrian alchemists were a subsequent development of chemical study, and that the notoriety of these may have caused the name of the art to be popularly associated with the ancient name of Egypt. 

The al- is the Arabic definite article, "the." The art and the name were adopted by the Arabs from Alexandrians and entered Europe via Arabic Spain. Alchemy was the "chemistry" of the Middle Ages and early modern times, involving both occult and natural philosophy and practical chemistry and metallurgy.

 

[Lairg]

The earliest modern reference to alchemical substances may be in the Sumerian writings when the gods were dying on this planet under its aging sun

 

They went on strike and eventually were provided with the water of life and the food of life to maintain their immortality.

 

They carried emergency supplies in a little bag, sometimes marked with an ankh

 

Here is a god symbolically collecting the food of life from the tree of life

 

This god is depicted as an eagle because he is one of the astronauts.

 

 

 

The same gods were in South America with their handbags

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Lairg

[Invisible Acropolis]

those are water buckets - and those images are directly related to irrigation and farming and agriculture, as well as sacred knowledge of entheogens and other cosmic phenomena