ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches the history of subtle-body concepts in India, beginning with the early indications of subtle-body and prāṇa-concepts in the Upaniṣads and the Yoga-Sūtras of Pataæjali, through to the complex internal structure of cakras and nāḍīs in the Kaula, Tantra and Hat.ha Yoga texts. Both Śaiva (Hindu) and Buddhist Tantric traditions are discussed, and I also look briefly at the contrasting construction of the subtle body found in texts associated with Śaṃkara and the Advaita Vedānta school. The closing section comments briefly on the ways in which Tantric subtle-body concepts were taken up and developed in Tibet and in East Asia.
