Prana is not exactly breath. It is the name for the energy that is in the universe.
Swami Vivekananda (1863â1902)1
âµ
1 Introduction: from Projections of a âMystic Eastâ to Entangled History
When occultists, yoga instructors, and holistic healers speak of âenergiesâ they frequently resort to an alleged ancient knowledge of the East. Their sympathetic view of the Orient serves as the canvas on which their own predefined ideas of a cultural âotherâ are projected. Already in antiquity, an ancient wisdom narrative that praised a tradition transmitted from India via Chaldea and Egypt to Greece was a common topos, later revived in the Renaissance with the belief in a philosophia perennis (Strube 2023a). In the nineteenth century, German Romantic historiographers associated âOrientalâ doctrines with contemporary theories of mesmerism, somnambulism, clairvoyance, magic, and contemplation (Baier 2009, 200â243). The occult orientalism propagated by New Thought authors and Theosophists reified earlier Romantic and American Transcendentalist imaginations of a superior wisdom of the East (Christy 1932; Jackson 1975; Versluis 1993). Such enchanted visions of South and East Asia were additionally fueled by the academic construction of âHinduismâ and âBuddhismâ in the nineteenth century, leading to the propagation of a âmystic Eastâ that harbors profound spiritual teachings allegedly absent in the âmaterialistic Westâ (cf. Jackson 1981; King 2005; Partridge 2019, 22â25).
âOrientalismâ initially described the assumption of a supposedly superior European cultural identity juxtaposed to an Oriental âotherâ (Said 1978). Surpassing colonial and post-colonial identity politics, the term has advanced to encompass a far more complex process of exchange and amalgamation. Karl Baier (2016) demonstrated these nuances of orientalism in the case of the early Theosophical reception of cakra theories.2 Following the argument put forth by the anthropologist Gerd Baumann (1953â2014), Baier questioned the interpretation of orientalism as a binary opposition between East and West. He pointed out that Helena P. Blavatskyâs (1831â1891) and her co-Theosophists did not simply promote a romanticized, âpositiveâ orientalism but rather held the view of a technically and socially advanced West, while conceptualizing the East as a repository of wisdom that mirrors the spiritual deficits of the West. Departing from this partially ânegative,â partially âpositiveâ orientalist vision, the early Theosophists ultimately opened a transcultural conversation that transformed the notion of cakras from an element of South Asian traditions to an iconic feature of global popular culture (ibid.). The Theosophical Society was thus a key player in a broader discourse of what is here referred to as âoccult orientalismââa discourse in which both âWesternâ and ânon-Westernâ actors participated.
Baierâs application of a refined model of orientalism to the Theosophical context integrates two distinct scholarly perspectives (Cantú 2021). The first view focuses on Euro-American conceptions of a spiritually advanced Asia that criticized Western culture while clothing preconceived ideas in the garb of Eastern wisdom (see Rudbøg and Sand 2019). This gaze upon the Orient as the wellspring of wisdom has more to do with imagined identities than actual references to Asian thought. The second view recognizes that simple demarcations between historical and imagined traditions of the East are complicated by the fact that both Euro-American and Asian authors engaged in constructing the Orient. It turns the attention to protagonists of diverse cultural backgrounds and their collaboration and competition which ensued in global, transcultural entanglements (e.g., see Krämer and Strube 2020; Strube 2022). Both approachesâexamining visions of the spiritual supremacy of the âEastâ and the hybrids emerging from the encounter between âEastâ and âWestââshine a light on how âsubtle energiesâ (a theme closely related to but not identical with subtle bodies including cakra conceptions) have been conceptualized in the alternative religious milieu.
The blurring of the lines between âWesternâ and âEasternâ thought has contributed to a thrust of hybridized ideas and practices that led to the formation of a global âesotericâ current (Asprem and Strube 2021). Exemplifying this process for the South Asian context, Julian Strube (2021) has argued that an âentangled historical exchangeâ in the late nineteenth century gave rise to a distinctively transcultural brand of occultism. This process was accelerated by Orientalist Studies, comparative studies of philology and religion, and European colonialism on the one hand, and Indian reformers and intellectuals, as well as the multinational Theosophical Society on the other hand.
Western imaginations of a mystic East naturally led to the interest in Chinaânext to India another candidate for the cradle of philosophia perennis, i.e., the belief in an eternal, universal truth constituting the core of the worldâs philosophical and religious teachings. Only recently has scholarship extended the investigation of the emergence of esotericism (including occultism) as a transcultural network of movements to include China (Pokorny and Winter 2024a). Compared to China, Korea, and Vietnam, research on âoccult East Asiaâ has been mostly conducted in relation to Japan, where esoteric themes from Euro-American authors were welcomed, creatively integrated with local traditions, and exported back to the West (e.g., Gaitanidis and Stein 2019; Yoshinaga 2021).
The complexity of the East-West encounters sketched above must be kept in mind when exploring conceptions of subtle energy attributed to Asian origins. A historical examination of how South and East Asian notions of hidden forces entered a global occult discourse does not allow for their clichéd characterization as pristine âEasternâ wisdom teachings or their distorted âWesternâ appropriations. This chapter outlines how three of the most salient orientalist types of an ethereal powerâkuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, and qì/kiâhave been translated as âenergy.â These cases will illustrate how occult orientalism has influenced the idea of subtle energies, and how this idea is interlocked with reactions to the globalization of Western-style science.
2 Kuá¹á¸alinÄ«: from âElectricity Personifiedâ to âEvolutionary Energyâ
Kuá¹á¸alinÄ« (literally: the coiled one) plays a central role in various psychophysical techniques that were first conceived in South Asian traditions of yoga and tantra from the eighth century onward. It is the name of a subtle entity generally believed to lie dormant in the mÅ«lÄdhÄra, the lowest cakra of the body located at the base of the spine. The practitionerâs aim in awakening and cultivating kuá¹á¸alinÄ« by the appropriate means is twofold: to realize transmutative, divine enjoyment (bhoga) and attain spiritual liberation (moká¹£a) (White 1997, 134, 208, 219â20).
In the fin-de-siècle, kuá¹á¸alinÄ«-based practices attracted the attention of both Indian and Western Theosophists as a key to unlocking superhuman abilities (siddhis). Blavatskyâs last major book, The Voice of Silence (1889), described kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as âthe âfiery powerâ,â âthe âSerpentineâ,â and âone of the mystic âYogi powersââ (76). She warned her readers of the potentially lethal nature of this âelectro-spiritual force, a creative power which when aroused into action can as easily kill as it can createâ (78).3 While associations with âforce,â âfire,â or âelectricityâ dominate in Blavatskyâs accounts, her description of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as a latent power transcending the biological framework of the human self and hovering between the material and mental levels of reality already covers central features of what later occult and yogic authors would identify as âenergy.â
The conception of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as a natural force belonging to the sphere of physics was suggested decades before in a series of articles titled âThe Dream of Ravan: A Mysteryâ and published in the Dublin University Magazine between 1853 and 1854. According to Baier, this is âone of the earliest, if not the first, English texts to refer to kuá¹á¸alinÄ«,â whereas the term is mentioned only once in a short footnote to a translated citation of the JñÄneÅvarÄ« (1290), a tantric commentary on the BhagavadgÄ«tÄ written in the Marathi language (Baier 2016, 327; cf. Cox 2022, 77â81). The section passionately described the blissful, rejuvenating, and thaumaturgical condition attainable by a yogi when rousing the âserpentine Power.â In addition to its snake- and goddess-like features, the author noted that the âextraordinary Powerâ of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« might be imagined to be âelectricity personifiedâ (N. A. 1854, 463).
In the January 1880 issue of The Theosophist, a European Theosophist by the pseudonym âTruth seekerâ quoted from âThe Dream of Ravanâ and thus âunintentionally triggered a pro-tantric shiftâ in the Theosophical Society (Baier 2016, 327). The Bengali Theosophist and tantra apologist BaradÄ KÄnta MajumdÄr further developed the interpretation of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as a fundamental physical principle. In his first contribution to The Theosophist in April 1880, MajumdÄr identified her as âthe grand pristine force which underlies organic and inorganic matter. Modern science also teaches us that heat, light, electricity, magnetism, &c., are but the modification of one great forceâ (MajumdÄr 1880, 173, quoted in Baier 2016, 331).
In contrast to the physicalist notions of fluidum, Od, or ether discussed in the preceding chapter, claims to scientific legitimacy of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« drew not only from physical but also to a large extent from psychological theories. With its decidedly psychological bent, kuá¹á¸alinÄ« advanced to become a key term in the Euro-American religious-therapeutic milieus of the twentieth century, most notably in the so-called Human Potential Movement and the field of Neo-Tantra, both emerging in the 1960s (Kripal 2007; Urban 2022), and transpersonal psychology which peaked during the 1980s (Grof and Grof 1986; Sanella 1987; Hofmann 2013). This development resulted in a semantic shift of this ambiguous Sanskrit term toward what Dimitry Okropiridze called an âamalgamation of South Asian religion with metaphysical psychologyâ (2017, 122). The transcultural transfer of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« was not merely a unilateral process of âWesternâ translation, appropriation, and reinterpretation. Rather, it meant the formation of a hybrid idea that involved the contributions of South Asian yogis, including Swami Vivekananda and Gopi Krishna (1903â1984), as well as European authors such as the British lawyer and Orientalist Sir John George Woodroffe (1865â1936) and the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875â1961) (ibid., 133).
Besides other common descriptors, such as âserpent,â âShakti [Åakti],â âpower,â and âforce,â the term âenergyâ can be traced to English-language material on kuá¹á¸alinÄ« written by Woodroffe with the support of a large network of fellow Tantrikas (Strube 2022, 220â26). In their eponymous book first published in 1918, they rendered kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as âSerpent Powerâ while also denoting her as âthe Divine Cosmic Energy in bodiesâ (Avalon 1924 [1918], 1). The idea of a godlike energy likewise applies to the notion of âPraÌnaâ (breath), a form of âVaÌyuâ (wind) that courses through the body as the âmanifestation, self-begotten, the subtle, invisible, all-pervading, divine energy of eternal life,â derived from the female deity of Åakti (ibid., 76, 78). Thus, both kuá¹á¸alinÄ« and prÄá¹a were translated as âenergy,â presumably first in the Bengali tantric/Theosophical context and subsequently as a firm practice among twentieth-century authors.4
In a seminar held at the Psychological Club in Zurich in 1932, Jung discussed kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as a symbol of self-transformation. He also associated kuá¹á¸alinÄ« with energy by characterizing the mÅ«lÄdhÄra, the âroot cakraâ located in the perineum where the âsleeping beautyâ supposedly rests, as âpsychical energy, or the libidoâ (Shamdasani 1996, 23).5 Among the attendees of Jungâs lectures on kuá¹á¸alinÄ« was the scholar of religion Frederic Spiegelberg (1897â1994) (ibid., xxxvii), who participated in Jungâs Eranos symposia and taught Asian religions at Stanford University between 1941 and 1962. Almost four decades after Jungâs seminar, Spiegelberg contributed the introduction to the 1970 edition of the influential autobiography Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man (1971 [1967]) by Gopi Krishna.
The title of Krishnaâs book brings to the fore the identification of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« with âenergy.â Spiegelbergâs introduction gave Krishna the stage to present himself as an original Indian yogi unadulterated by Western thought. Elaborating on the problem of intercultural translation, he remarked that Krishna was âuneducated in Yoga, who yet through intense labour and persistent enthusiasm, succeeds in achieving, if not Samadhi, yet some very high state in Yoga perfectionâ (Spiegelberg 1970, 6). Due to the lack of a corresponding vocabulary in Western languages, he opined that the yogic ârealm of inner body feelingsâ had never been fully translated (8). Spiegelberg portrayed Krishna, who lived most of his life in Kashmir and reportedly had his first kuá¹á¸alinÄ« awakening at the age of thirty-four, as a self-taught yogi-experimenter who struggled to render his mystical experience understandable to Western readers. However, as Okropiridze (2017, 135â37) aptly observed, Krishnaâs account heavily engaged in the syntax of positive orientalism and scientized language in a manner that clearly bears the imprint of Theosophy, Woodroofe, and Jung. Furthermore, Krishnaâs autobiographical account was interspersed with commentaries by James Hillman (1926â2011), a Jungian therapist, that underscore Krishnaâs acquaintance with Jungian thought while omitting traditional tantric sources.
Following his autobiography, Krishna published Biologische Basis religiöser Erfahrung (1971), which was introduced by a critical but largely favorable thirty-nine-page-long commentary by the German physicist and philosopher Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1912â2007), a student of Werner Heisenberg (1901â1976).6 Notably, Weizsäcker avoided the term âenergyâ in relation to kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, which he defined as âevolutive potencyâ (evolutive Potenz; Krishna and Weizsäcker 1971, 26). In Krishnaâs chapters, the term âforceâ (Kraft) predominates, whereas âenergyâ appears only specified as âlife energyâ (Lebensenergie) or âpsychic energyâ (psychische Energie). Apparently, the dialogue between the yogi and the physicist led to a sharpening of notions. However, Weizsäckerâs insistence on preserving exact physical definitions could not stem the tide of the discursive current on energy that had captured the psychological and religious-therapeutic fields.
It is significant that Krishnaâs writings were primarily aimed at an American audience that was already deeply immersed in the theme of energy, which by this point had acquired depth-psychological and erotico-mystical connotations. In 1962, Michael Murphy (b. 1930) and Richard Price (1930â1985)âwho had both studied under Spiegelberg (Kripal 2007, 73)âfounded the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, the Mecca of the Human Potential Movement and nodal point of the American counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. The central theme that sparked Esalenâs program was the pursuit of unlocking and exploring the evolutionary âEnergyâ that the founders believed to be latent in the human species (ibid., 93). The chance to release their potential energies was promised to the participants of Esalenâs series of lectures, workshops, and group therapies. These events aimed to increase a sense of âvitalityâ and âfulfillmentâ on the bodily, sexual, emotional, social, and spiritual levels (Leland 2016, 317). With a countercultural target audience hungry for self-realization, the Institute served as a major platform for authors who transmitted their own ideas of kuá¹á¸alinÄ«-qua-energy to American seekers including the Gestalt therapist Claudio Naranjo (1932â2019), comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904â1987), breath workers Christina7 (1941â2014) and Stanislav Grof (b. 1931), and psychiatrist Lee Sannella (1916â2010) (cf. White 1979; Thaler 2024).
Apart from Krishna, other notable Indian disseminators of kuá¹á¸alinÄ«-based forms of yoga included the founder of Sahaja Yoga (est. 1970) ShrÄ« MÄtÄjÄ« NirmalÄ DevÄ«8 (1923â2011), the founder of 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization; est. 1969) Yogi Bhajan9 (1929â2004), Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh10 aka âOshoâ (1931â1990), and Amrit Desai (b. 1932).11 These movement founders succeeded in making kuá¹á¸alinÄ« a household name among American and European seekers during the latter third of the twentieth century.
The major spokespersons of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« weaved together three distinct strands: (1) the accounts of autobiographical or other first-hand experiences to support the veracity of the transformative effects of a kuá¹á¸alinÄ« awakening; (2) a tendency toward a scientized framing of yoga and tantra either in terms of physics, physiology, and evolutionary biology or psychology; and (3) the orientalist construction of the âEast,â particularly India, as the home of profound spiritual teachings lacking in the rational and materialist âWestââa dichotomy that in effect fueled an intense exchange between Euro-American and South-Asian authors, and resulted in hybrid conceptualizations of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« (cf. De Michelis 2004; Madsen 2014; Okropiridze 2017; Strube 2022). Renderings of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« into Englishâincluding âenergyââwere more than unilateral translations of a simple term. In brief, rising from a fusion of the genre of spiritual biographies, Western scientific thought, and orientalist expectations of a sublime and ancient yogic path, kuá¹á¸alinÄ«-as-energy evolved to become a globally recognized topos.
3 PrÄá¹a: from âBreathâ to âCosmic Life Energyâ
The Sanskrit term prÄá¹a literally means âbreath.â Already in Vedic texts, prÄá¹a was used as a metaphor for vitality. In the discourses of the Upaniá¹£ads, yoga, and South Asian medicine (Äyurveda), prÄá¹a covered a wide semantic spectrum ranging from the cosmic vital principle and various physiological functions to the eternal, individual self (Ätman) and the supreme being (brahman) (Johnson 2009, 241). Although the notion was part of the Vedic oral tradition at least from the eighth or seventh century BCE onward, it was not until the early nineteenth century that prÄá¹a caught the attention of European authors. Romantic philosophers and occultists speculated about the functional similarity of prÄá¹a and the mesmeric fluidum, a parallel that was first perceived by the French orientalist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731â1805) in his Latin translation of the Upaniá¹£ads, the Oupnekâhat (1801/1802) (Winter 2005; Baier 2009, 203â5). However, a number of other terms also served as candidates for postulating semantic correspondences, reflective of the dominant physical or physiological theories of the day. These included, among others, âlife force,â ânerve spirit,â or âetherâ (Windischmann 1832, 1347â48).
âEnergyâ was a rather late addition to the semantic reservoir of prÄá¹a, but, as in the cases of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« and qì, became a preferred translation in the twentieth-century holistic milieu. The diffusion of the notion of energy beyond the realm of physics in the latter half of the nineteenth century correlated with what William Thomson (1824â1907; ennobled in 1882 as Baron Kelvin) coined as the âepoch of energyâ (Smith 1998, 128). This phase in the history of science was unleashed by the conceptualization of energy championed primarily by German and British physicists. An early formulation of the principle of energy conservation was proposed in Ãber die Erhaltung der Kraft (1847), a seminal treatise of the physiologist and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821â1894). Helmholtzâ work was enthusiastically perceived by Thomson and his Northern British circle as a major contribution to physical science from the early 1850s onward (Smith 1998, 127).12
Remarkably, von Helmholtzâs original research interest was not prompted by data derived from physical experiments but was motivated by physiological questions concerning the idea of âlife forceâ (Lebenskraft). Whereas his teacher, the physiologist and Naturphilosoph Johannes Müller (1801â1858), argued for the agency of a life force as the expression of purposive organization, von Helmholtz opposed this view and argued in favor of a new and rigorous theoretical foundation for physiological science. He found like-minded young allies in the Berlin-based Physical Society (Physikalische Gesellschaft)âestablished in 1845 by the physiologists Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818â1896) and Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke (1819â1892)âwho sought to radically rid physiology of all remnants of life force and âspiritâ (Geist) in order to advance physiology along purely mechanistic lines (Smith 1998, 129â31).
Against this backdrop, it was a peculiar turn of events that âenergyââwhose conservation von Helmholtz regarded as the proof against the hypothesis of a life forceâwas adopted by modern yogis in order to robe the notion of prÄá¹a in scientific garments. The English orientalist Horace H. Wilson (1786â1860), the first Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University (est. 1832), had still translated prÄá¹a as âair,â âbreath,â âlife,â âvitality,â and âpowerâ (Wilson 1832, 586). However, by the early 1870s, meanings including âspirit,â âsoul,â and âenergyâ were added to the list in the Sanskrit-English dictionary of Wilsonâs successor Monier Monier-Williams (1819â1899) (Monier-Williams 1872, 654). The Indian lexicographer Vaman Shivaram Apte (1858â1892) also translated prÄá¹a as âenergyâ (Apte 1890, 771).13
A vigorous early advocate of prÄá¹a-as-energy and corresponding cultivation techniques (prÄá¹ÄyÄma) was the modern yoga pioneer Swami Vivekananda, a highly influential protagonist of both occult scientism and occult orientalism. Catering to his Western audience, Vivekananda presented an idealized form of yoga that de facto was far removed from âpureâ or âancientâ South Asian traditions. Characteristic of the British-educated Bengali intelligentsia, his thought displayed the notable influence of English thinkers including David Hume (1711â1776) and Herbert Spencer (1820â1903) as well as the syncretistic Hindu reform movement Brahmo Samaj (est. 1828) (De Michelis 2004, 45â50). Vivekananda thus absorbed the scientific empiricism of modern European science while at the same time espousing the superiority of the Advaita VedÄnta (non-duality, or the doctrine of absolute unity of brahman and Ätman) over majority religions (Baier 2019, 245â55). He claimed to possess a higher knowledge that would allow him to tap into secret powers unknown to Western science, springing from timeless Hindu teachings and evidenced by direct experience. The structure of his narrative was clearly modeled after Theosophical and other occult templates but characterized by an explicit nationalist spin (ibid., 248).
Vivekanandaâs role model, the leader of the Brahmo Samaj, and representative of Calcuttaâs rising middle class, Keshab Chandra Sen (1838â1884) had conceptualized prÄá¹a as a divine, omnipotent âprime forceâ fully accessible to the âyogi scientist,â thus foreshadowing Vivekanandaâs scientistic program (quoted in Kraler 2022, 91â93). In his seminal book Râja Yoga (1896), Vivekananda crafted the cosmological foundation for his technique of tapping into the powers of âPranaâ by synthesizing the mesmeric fluidum, occult interpretations of ether, force, and energy, and SÄá¹khyan metaphysics (Kraler 2022, 195â96). Believing âPranaâ to infuse the mental and material levels of reality, he claimed that it was the
infinite, omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. [⦠O]ut of this Prana is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that we call force. It is the Prana that is manifesting as motion; it is the Prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the Prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. From thought, down to the lowest physical force, everything is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum-total of all force in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back into its original state, is called Prana. (Vivekananda 1899 [1896], 30)
Keen to garner scientific backing for his theory of energy, Vivekananda succeeded in gaining the attention of Nikola Tesla (1856â1943). In a letter to the Sanskrit scholar and (by then former) Theosophist Edward T. Sturdy (1860â 1957) dated February 13, 1896, he mentioned a brief encounter and conversation with the Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer. He expressed his hopes that Tesla could âdemonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energyâ (Vivekananda 1989, Letter LVIII). Such a proof from an authority of Teslaâs stature was crucial to his project as it would have endowed him with a firm scientific foundation for dissolving his material dualism of âPranaâ and âAkashaâ14 âand their proposed physical equivalents of âforceâ/âenergyâ and âmatterââinto his preferred VedÄntic monism, where the âUniversal Mind, the Brahmââ corresponds to absolute reality (ibid.; cf. Pokazanyeva 2016, 339). Teslaâs equation never materialized and became redundant when Albert Einstein (1879â1955) proved the equivalence of mass and energy (E = mc²) in 1905âthree years after Vivekanandaâs death and thus without further consequences for his cosmology.
Nevertheless, the association of prÄá¹a with âmagnetism,â âlife force,â and âenergyâ continued to be underscored in the occult arena by the prolific American author William Walker Atkinson (1862â1932), who published a series of books under the pen name Yogi Ramacharaka. Following Vivekanandaâs model, Atkinson conceived of prÄá¹a as a healing agent, a tool for self- development, and a means to attain psychic abilities (Zoehrer 2020; 2021; Kraler 2022, 294â98). Interpretations of prÄá¹a as âsubtle forceâ and âenergyâ were further reinforced by leading yoga proselytizers of the twentieth century who pursued the strategy of combining Sanskrit and scientific terms, including Sri Yogendra (né Manibhai Haribhai Desai; 1897â1989), Paramahamsa Yogananda (né Mukunda Lal Ghosh; 1893â1952), and Swami Sivananda (né Kuppuswami Iyer; 1887â1963).15 Steeped in this scientistic discourse of modern yoga, the aforementioned Gopi Krishna elaborated on the proposed connection between biology and the attainment of enlightenment. He construed âPranaâ as an âextremely fine biochemical essence of a highly delicate and volatile natureâ stored in the brain and nervous system, or more exuberantly, as the âsuper-intelligent cosmic life energyâ (Krishna 1970, 46â47).16
In a nutshell, and resembling the case of kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, this rough sketch of the semantic evolution of prÄá¹a demonstrates the entanglement of both scientistic and orientalist strands, chiefly spurred by the charismatic type of yogi scientists.17
4 Qì/Ki: from âSteam of Boiling Riceâ to âUniverse Energyâ
As indicated above, the orientalist variants of subtle energy emerged from appeals to non-Western traditional, pre-scientific forms of knowledge. References to culturally specific terms such as mana, prÄá¹a, and qì have been portrayed in the twentieth-century holistic milieu and alternative medicine as quasi-canonical synonyms of a universally acknowledged vitalistic agency (cf. Hammer 2001, 164â65). The universalism of subtle energies due to its quasi-physical quality is additionally emphasized by framing them as a phenomenon that is known under different names in a plethora of particular cultures. In the case of qì (Japanese variant: ki), the invocation of tradition ranges from long-standing philosophical, anthropological, and medical discourses (i.e., the Chinese notion of qì in the context of acupuncture) on the one hand to âimagined originsâ of practices that in fact emerged at much more recent dates (i.e., the transcultural development of ki as the occult power believed to be effective in Reiki) (Lüddeckens 2020).
The translation of qì as â(subtle) energyâ was no straightforward process. To begin with, qì designates a key term of East Asian thought. Its semantic levels embrace the natural element of air as well as more abstract metaphysical principles and moral qualities. Precursors of the character qì (
In debates with neo-Confucian scholar-officials during the seventeenth century, Jesuit missionaries suggested the semantic equivalence between qì, aer or pneuma (air), and spiritus (spirit) (Zhang 1999, 76). In the 1780s, the Beijing-based French Jesuit Joseph-Marie Amiot (1718â1793), a contemporary of Franz Anton Mesmer (1734â1815) and friend of the prince and scholar Hongwu (1743â1811), described Chinese folk healers through the lens of animal magnetism, describing them as âmagnetizersâ (Strube 2024, 24). Amiot reinterpreted the mesmeric fluidum and the restoration of its balance in terms of âactivity in the Ki,â which he translated as âvital principleâ (ibid., 23).
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, qì belonged to a number of Chinese notions that were translated as âsubtle energy.â In 1856, the American missionary and sinologist Samuel Wells Williams (1812â1884) rendered âKâiâ as âsteam,â âbreath,â âvital fluid,â âanimal spiritâ and âinfluence.â Meanwhile, âsubtle energiesâ was one of the meanings he attributed to âShinâ (shén
The integration of the notion of qì into global occult thought occurred at a slower pace compared to kuá¹á¸alinÄ« and prÄá¹a, before the term became a corner stone of various religious-therapeutic practices from the 1970s onward. An article entitled âMagnetism in Ancient Chinaâ that was published in The Theosophist of October 1879 interpreted yÄ«n (
Although Suzuki was widely read, the arguably foremost popularizers of the notion of qì/ki in the twentieth century were Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the qìgÅng movement, and Reiki (Unschuld 2018; Palmer 2007; Stein 2019).21 In the 1970s, these currents aligned with Euro-American practices to form a globalized religious-therapeutic discourse on vital energies, which constitute a central axiom in the field of complementary and alternative medicine. In current histories of Chinese medicine, the âsubtleâ or âfinestâ material aspects of qì and its close association with the blood flow are still recognized. However, qì is now explained in terms of functions rather than of substance: its presumed effect lies in activating, warming, protecting, and transforming the body (e.g., see Ergil et al. 2011, 33â35).
The occult transformation of the idea and application of qì/ki in East Asia and beyond is most clearly exemplified by the genealogy of Reiki, a paragon of energy healing by means of the laying-on-of-hands. Reiki practitioners claim to transfer a power called reiki (literally: mysterious ki or atmosphere) that is capable of physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Introduced in 1922 by Usui Mikao (1865â1926), the conception of Reiki received enormous stimulus from the early twentieth-century import of American occultism into Japan, in particular the vitalist view of prÄá¹a and closely related mesmeric healing practices coined inter alia by Atkinsonâs The Science of Psychic Healing (1906) (Stein 2019, 88â99). Since the 1970s, English-language texts interpret reiki as âuniversal life energy,â a translation that was introduced by the Japanese-American Reiki proliferator Hawayo Takata (1900â1980) and reintroduced in Japan as âuniverse energyâ (uchÅ« enerugii
Justin Stein (2024) has outlined two distinct although not incompatible streams of translating ki into English: âki as energyâ and âki as mind.â While the translations of ki in terms of energy (including vital force) became the dominant current by the 1970s, another way to render ki was in terms of âfeelings,â âmind,â or âspiritâ (ibid., 5). The latter was particularly endorsed by TÅhei KÅichi (1920â2011), a pioneering figure in the history of aikido (literally: the way of matching ki) who introduced the martial arts style to the United States from 1953 onward. TÅhei inherited the interpretation of ki as âmindâ and his focus on the mindâs power over the body from his teacher Nakamura TempÅ« (1876â 1968). Nakamura was strongly impacted by New Thought teachings, specifically the books of Yogi Ramacharaka, which he had studied in the United States around 1910 (ibid., 19). The path of aikidoâs birth, development and overseas export to American audiences thus ran parallel to that of Reiki. However, it also shows that despite drawing inspiration from the same Japanese-American occult discourse, âenergyâ was not the only option for translating ki.
The American holistic milieu further merged orientalist with physicalist framings of subtle energy. This process is showcased by the journal Subtle Energies. Published by the Colorado-based International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM), the journal appeared tri-annually between 1990 and 2010.23 According to its self-description, the journal was âdesigned to meet the needs of experimental scientists, other empirical researchers, clinicians, theoreticians, healers and involved laypersons who have scientific interest in consciousness, healing, and the dynamics of human potentialâ (ISSSEEM 2023). Such appeals to science notwithstanding, the true sources of knowledge about subtle, universal, and/or vital energies are to be found in the East. The following quotation from an issue of Subtle Energies in 2003 exemplifies the journalâs claim of an imminent synthesis of Western science and traditional Asian knowledge cultures:
While Western science and medicine is just discovering chakra centers and meridians, the interest and investigation into human energy fields around the body began over 5,000 years ago. [â¦] Spiritual traditions from India, for example, speak of a universal energy called Prana, which is defined as the basic source of all life. Prana is a part of a psycho-physical system, which consists of a dynamic network of subtle channels, âwinds,â inner air, or essences. The Chinese, since 3000 BC, have spoken of a vital energy, which they called Qi that is thought to be present in all matter. Attempts to manipulate this energy have been practiced by yogis for centuries. (Leigh et al. 2003, 79)
Portrayed as elements of ancient but superior bodies of knowledge, systems based on âPranaâ and âQiâ are supposedly being rediscovered by the means of Western-style science and biomedicine. The future of science and medicine thus lies hidden in the past, waiting to be excavated through cutting-edge research. This passage illustrates how the contemporary holistic discourse on subtle energies, of which qì and prÄá¹a have been two outstanding prototypes, continues a typically occult motif: an idealizing orientalism that goes hand in hand with the belief in scientific progress.
In short, the identification of qì/ki with energy illustrates once more the transcultural exchange of the occult orientalist type. Whereas early Theosophists showed only peripheral interest in qì/ki, the locus of its occult transformation was the reception of Atkinsonâs synthesis of yoga and mesmerism in pre-war Japan. From here the idea of ki-as-energy was imported to America (via Hawaiâi) and globalized through the Reiki movement spearheaded by Takata.24 Atkinson inspired the alternative rendering ki-as-mind, which, however, gave way to associations of ki with energy as a vital principle. This development occurred at the same time as the Western reception of qì in the field of alternative medicine. From the 1960s onward, qì was integrated via the meridian concept of TCM into modalities of energy healing, for example, Applied Kinesiology and its spin-off Touch for Health. A more systematic perusal of occult and holistic texts and movements might shed more light on Euro- American readings of qì/ki and their influence on contemporary healing systems, martial arts, and mind-body practices.
5 Discussion: Energy as a Product of Translation
Translation produces similarities between two languages while seeking to preserve the distinct original meaning of a word, text, and context. It is the attempt to solve the problem of cultural diversity by bridging difference and making the âotherâ intelligible, at least approximately. Translation is necessarily achieved through a process of disembedding, reinterpreting, and integrating meanings into a transcultural discourse. This process is itself context-dependent and may obscure original meanings of a particular word while giving rise to new associations (Mikaelsson 2014). Translated notions may be generally understandable to cultural outsiders but always constitute re-conceptualizations of specific local semantics (cf. Casadio 2016, 37).
In the modern encounter between âEast and West,â the problem of translating profoundly different languages and writing systems has expanded and enriched vocabularies. This process has given rise to appropriations (and the resistance thereof), loanwords and neologisms, as well as new forms of cultural hybridity (Liu 1999a, 3â4). However, any examination of translingual practice must take into account the particular socio-economic and political conditions of translation and the targeted readership (Liu 1995, 2â10). East-West relations have been complicated by power asymmetries inherent in a colonial or hegemonial setting, leading to a politically charged tension between the âindigenousâ and the âglobal.â This tension may be intensified, resolved, or reversed by acts of translations. Because of the power imbalance of the colonial and post-colonial eras, translations have been highly instrumental in the construction of a universalized, ecumenic modernity as the hallmark of globalizationâalthough Western-dominated and thus contested (Liu 1999b, 34â37).
Against this backdrop, identifications of terms such as kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, or qì/ki with âenergyâ reveals something about the cultural and political contexts that enabled such a translation. Alternative religious and medical notions of energy were neither fashioned in a one-sided process within indigenous traditions nor can they be considered purely Western projections of Eastern knowledge. They were instead the result of cross-cultural interpretations that have been informed by Oriental and religious studies, scientification, modernization, and anti-modernist responses. Thus, hypothetical identifications of Sanskrit, Chinese, or Japanese terms with âenergyâ constitute less a discovery of exact equivalences than a conscious production of the interaction between Asian, European, and American protagonists from the late nineteenth century onward (cf. Strube 2022, 33).
Since translations of kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, and qì/ki into the language of âenergyâ did not occur in an ideology-free vacuum, it is essential to consider the religious, philosophical, and therapeutic interests that reverberate in such connotations. Contemporaneous thought influenced the efforts of philosophers, philologists, and proselytizers (in their Christian, occult, yogic, or therapeutic variant) to capture the essence of these terms by using prevalent Western conceptual categories. As in any translingual practice, this process yielded a sequence of tentative translations, reflecting broader cultural trends.
Christian and scientific writings served European missionaries as important means in their pursuit for cultural supremacy. Likewise, their translation of authoritative native texts produced theological readings that reinterpreted or rather manipulated original semantics for evangelical purposes (Liu 1999b). Occultistsâin particular in the Theosophical Society after its Indian turnâ chose an inverse strategy: in their critique of Christian hegemony and mainline science, they appropriated local ideas and reintegrated them into their own ideological framework of perennial wisdom (Baier 2016). This pattern of synthesis and reinterpration of non-European traditions was a central feature of late nineteenth and early twentieth century occult discourse that radiated into the postwar holistic milieu.
In the global discourse of occult orientalism, the recourse to ancient wisdom went hand in hand with a scientistic dimension. Appeals to science reflected the acceptance of the authority of Western-style science but not at the expense of âhigherâ forms of knowledge. The fusion of âenergyâ and orientalist references to tradition on the part of both Asian and Euro-American authors was thus colored by an ambivalent stance toward science and its ideological implications. Kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, and qì/ki encapsulate the themes of vitalistic agents, inherent healing powers, and/or transformative potentials, which oppose a reductionist, materialist point of view. The function of these terms ran parallel to the wider occult reaction to the socially superior role of science, its perceived deficiencies, and the worldwide power imbalances that were coupled with its meteoric rise in the late modern era. Anti-hegemonial agendas supported the topos of an ancient or revealed and hence superior knowledge. They embedded (supposedly) traditional anthropologies, cosmologies, and âtechnologies of the selfâ (Foucault 1988) into an alternative narrative. This strategy was especially adopted by occultists, the pioneers of modern yoga, and early advocates of energy healing (e.g., Pranic Healing and Reiki).
Under the particular historical condition of colonialism, modernization, and globalization, Eastern terms connoted with âenergyâ acquired new meanings that must be sharply distinguished from earlier, pre-colonial contexts. Through their participation in a globalized discourse, kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, and qì/ki came to constitute key terms in a distinctive conceptual web that involved imaginations of cosmic forces, vital agents, and occult skills. However, whereas the coinage of these terms as âenergyâ was culturally and politically conditioned, this does not imply that the choice of this expression was necessarily arbitrary or externally imposed.
Three features of the notion of energy made it a likely choice for translating signifiers of a subtle agent. First, energy suggest the universal validity of a physical principle. The term âenergyâ gained unparalleled traction in science and engineering from the 1850s onward. Matter and energy came to be regarded as the fundamental principles of physical reality. Recognizing and reacting to the political power of science, claims of hidden vital, healing, or self-transformative powers were reshaped in secular, physical terms. Associating ethereal, yet supposedly efficacious agents with âenergyâ underscored their claimed objective nature and hence universal applicability.
Second, in its colloquial, non-physical sense, the term energy enabled the intelligibility of similar experiences across cultures. As shown in the previous chapter, energy emerged as a key theme in the Western alternative religious and therapeutic milieu in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Drawing from preceding mesmerist discourses, the semantics of energy covered a wide rangeâfrom nervous energy, life force, and the mind-over-matter principle to suggestive influence, universal mediums, and the qualities of a divine being. Next to its relevance as a scientific term, European languages retained associations of âenergyâ with subjective experiences described in vernacular language, e.g., vitality, vigor, and spirit. Thus, in the encounter with Asian theories of psychophysical practice and therapeutic interventions involving vital agents, âenergyâ appeared to be a suitable expression. The termâs semantic flexibility not only suggested the possibility of comparison but also compatibility with Euro-American experiences.
Third, energy is analogous to renewal and transformative power. The ability of physical energy to manifest in various forms and shift from one form to another was reminiscent of the principle of transmutation in tantric and Daoist alchemy, whose practitioners aimed at the refinement of lower bodily fluids to attain higher mental or spiritual elixirs. The latter would allow practitioners not only greater mental control over themselves but also over their environment. Similarly, the term energy represented technological domination over the material dimension of life. Its presumed function as a transformative medium that is capable of communicating between the levels of inner/ mental and external/material reality (including the human body) was already a recurrent theme in occult and New Thought texts (see previous chapter). This provided a template for translating Asian mind-body practices for secularized Western audiences. Furthermore, the transformative effect attributed to subtle energies was not reduced to the individual level but extended to social reform and nation-building. Modern yoga movements in India and qìgÅng movements in China have demonstrated how the belief in subtle energies could be channeled into collective efforts for political change (cf. De Michelis 2004; Baier 2019; Strube 2022; Palmer 2007; Ownby 2008; Penny 2012).
6 Concluding Remarks
Translations of kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, and qì/ki as âenergyâ exemplify the key dynamics that underlie occult orientalism. This chapter outlined how these terms were reinterpreted through yogis and energy healers, the late modern reaction to the hegemony of science, and (invented) Eastern traditions. In that process, âpositiveâ orientalist visions on the side of Western authors were outpaced by a translingual exchange that involved both Western and Asian protagonists. Among the ideological and social structures that prepared the religious- therapeutic discourse on energy were the Theosophical Society, the New Thought movement, the Bengali intelligentsia, strands of modern yoga, and the Japanese occult milieu around 1900. These networks prefigured the transcultural and âalternativeâ character of the Human Potential Movement and the globalizing holistic milieu from the 1960s onward. In this light, the discourse on energies shaped within the occult orientalist framework can be neither reduced to a unilateral Western projection nor postulated to be derived from unpolluted Asian traditions. Rather, it emerged from a vibrant exchange between Euro-American and Asian actors, and continues to be a hallmark of the contemporary culture of alternative spiritualities and holistic therapies.
A more systematic historical, philological, and comparative analysis would unearth how texts, practices, and movements surrounding subtle energies are related and how they still affect contemporary religious culture. Just as the term âsupernatural powersâ has been a crucial guiding principle for defining and conceptualizing religion during the formation phase of religious studies (cf. Meylan 2017), much could be gained from applying âsubtle energiesâ as a tertium comparationis. As a comparative category, âsubtle energiesâ could be fruitfully employed for cross-culturally examining beliefs and practices centering on the mesmeric fluidum, life forces, ether, Od, Orgone, mind vibrations, kuá¹á¸alinÄ«, prÄá¹a, qì/ki, or mana. The term encompasses a range of agents that are imagined to endow practitioners or their targets with vitalizing, curative, and self-refining powers. To avoid the pitfalls of decontextualization and essentialism, âsubtle energiesââused as a second-order categoryâshould not be taken to signify a single, uniform concept but instead refers to highly heterogeneous discourses shaped by distinct cultural and historical backgrounds.
The above two-part exposition has shown that the notion of subtle energies has roots in two discernable strands here referred to as occult physicalism and occult orientalism. However, the fault line and cross connections between occult physicalism and occult orientalism only cover one aspect of a much wider mindscape. This vast discursive web also includes other areas in which subtle energies play (or have played) a key role, including physiological and vitalist theories, psychology, psychical research, body psychotherapy, martial arts, dance, music, visual arts, as well as fantasy literature and science fiction. A comprehensive review would cover these areas in more detail and thus reconstruct the development of what could be called a âglobally entangled history of subtle energiesâ (to adapt a phrase from Strube 2023b). In the absence of a single authoritative point of reference or a widely accepted emic definition, the concept of subtle energies inevitably remains conceptually fuzzy and dynamic. Yet it is precisely this semantic ambivalence and interpretational openness of âsubtle energiesâ that allows the notion to unfold its versatile performative potential.25
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Vivekananda 1899 (1896), 132.
Cakras (Sanskrit, literally: wheel or circle) denote subtle force centers visualized on the human body, typically along its central axis.
For the ambivalent stance of the early Theosophical Society toward tantra, see Baier 2016. An early Theosophical adaptation of tantric techniques for raising kuá¹á¸alinÄ« based on a septenary system of correspondences between elements, principles, colors, states of consciousness, etc. was practiced in Blavatskyâs Inner Group (est. 1890) (Leland 2016, 117â27). Charles Leadbeater (1847â1934) refers to Blavatsky in The Inner Life (1922), where he provides a short exposition of the dangers and utility of arousing the kuá¹á¸alinÄ« (Leadbeater 1922, 298â309). George S. Arundale (1878â1945), president of the Theosophical Society Adyar between 1934 and 1945, offered a less dramatic introduction to the mysteries of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« in his book Kundalini: An Occult Experience (1938).
The third edition of Woodroffeâs Shakti and Shakta (1929; first published in 1918) mentions âenergyâ forty-one times. For the amalgamation of Shakta philosophy, Western science, and occultism in advocating for a âReligion of Power,â see Strube 2022, 233â37.
For Jungâs notes from the four seminar sessions in the original German, see Jung 1998 (1932).
Literally: The Biological Basis of Religious Experience. The English version of the book was published under the title The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius (1972) in Ruth Nanda Anshenâs (1900â2003) series Religious Perspectives.
Christina Grof had been a student of Campbell at Sarah Lawrence College, through whom she first encountered tantric themes. In 1973, she received an initiation by ÅaktipÄta, the transmission of the goddess Åaktiâs cosmic powers, from Swami Muktananda (1908â1982), the school founder of Siddha Yoga (see Kripal 2007, 261â63). Tova Olssonâs contribution in this volume further elaborates on Muktanandaâs lineage and influence. Keith Cantúâs chapter explores the roots of the ÅaktipÄta employed by the Tamil author Sri Sabhapati Swami (c.1828â1923/4).
B. NirmalÄ Srivastava.
B. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa.
B. Chandra Mohan Jain.
Hugh Urbanâs chapter in this volume illuminates the transformations of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« in the sphere of Neo-Tantra, focusing on Rajneeshâs interpretation of kuá¹á¸alinÄ« as sexual energy.
Von Helmholtzâs theory of vowel frequencies happened to be a crucial reference point for the occult breath therapist and opera singer Benno Max Leser-Lasario (see Magdalena Kralerâs contribution in this volume).
Neither Monier-Williams nor Apte qualified energy as âsubtle.â
In Vivekanandaâs cosmogony, âPrana,â the source of all energy, is complemented by a second universal principle, that is, âAkashaâ (from Sanskrit ÄkÄÅa: space, sky, or atmosphere), the primordial source of all matter. His choice of identifying ÄkÄÅa with âetherâ as an omnipresent magical substrate bears the mark of Theosophical influences, e.g., Blavatsky 1877 (cf. De Michelis 2004; Kraler 2022).
For an in-depth discussion of these personalities and their contribution to the development of breath cultivation techniques at the intersection of yoga, occultism, and hygienic culture, see Kraler 2022.
Krishna likened the relation of physical energy to the universe with âPranaâ to biological organisms: âIn Yoga parlance Prana is life and life is Prana. Life and vitality, the sense used here, do not mean soul or the spark of the divine man. Prana is merely the life energy by which divinity brings to existence the organic kingdoms and acts on the organic structures, as it creates and acts on the universe by means of physical energyâ (Krishna 1970, 109).
The metaphor of an architect working on matter to bring about the plethora of life indicates the teleological function of âPranaâ: âPrana, starting with protoplasm and unicellular organisms, brings into existence the marvellous domain of life, endless in variety, exceedingly rich in shape and colour, creating classes, genera, species, subspecies, and groups, using the materials furnished by the physical world and the environment to create diversity, acting intelligently and purposefully with full knowledge of the laws and properties of matter as well as of the multitudinous organic creations it has to bring into being. While remaining constant and unaltered fundamentally, it enters into countless combinations, acting both as the architect and the object producedâ (ibid., 110).
Krishna thus regarded âPranaâ as a teleological principle that was ontologically distinct from inanimate matter. At the same time, he drew on physical traits such as âradiating,â âmoving,â or âstuffâ: âPrana,â he claimed, is âinterwoven with our thoughts and actions, interpenetrating the atoms and molecules of matter, radiating with light, moving with wind and tide, marvellously subtle and agile, the stuff of our fancies and dreams, the life principle of creation, which is woven inextricably with the very texture of our beingâ (ibid.).
On the life and work of Dewanchand Varma (1872âc.1954), a yogi-scientist par excellence, see Léo Bernardâs contribution to this volume.
The three notions of jÄ«ng, qì, and shénâall denoted as âsubtle energyââtogether constitute a triad known as the âThree Treasuresâ (sÄnbÇo
The China-issue of The Theosophist (November 1942), edited by Arundale, identifies âchiâiâ with âthe life-breath (prÄna or jÄ«va [soul])â (N. A. 1942, 177).
Suzukiâs analogy between the nervous system and the macrocosm in explicating the nature of qì is reminiscent of Warren Felt Evansâ (1817â1889) generalization of ânervous energyâ as the âuniversal, divine life-principle in natureâ (see previous chapter).
For a filial ethnographical study of qìgÅng in the glocalized context of the Chinese diaspora in New York, see Kin Cheungâs contribution in this volume.
Justin Stein argued that Takata began to âde-Japanizeâ Reiki by explaining it in terms of a divine origin in order to reach her American audiences in the postwar period (Stein 2019, 92â94). It is noteworthy that Atkinson had explicitly recognized a transcendent entity (i.e., âInfinite Beingâ or âInfinite Mindâ) as the source of the salutary âPower of the Universeâ (Ramacharaka 1906, 189)âreferences that were dropped in early Reiki models.
On the founders of the journal, see the previous chapter. A notable feature of Subtle Energies is the elaborate aesthetics of its cover pages. Its blend of religious motives, science imagery, and modern/psychedelic art could prove a worthwhile research subject in itselfâespecially if extended to the aesthetics of promotional materials and therapeutic spaces of energy healers.
Steinâs contribution in this volume compares Reiki with Therapeutic Touch, another prominent school of energy healing with occult roots.
Acknowledgments: I would like to thank Karl Baier, Magdalena Kraler, Julian Strube, and Lukas Pokorny for their helpful comments on an early draft of this chapter.