In this paper I gather core definitional components of yogic Gnosticism (aka jñāna-yoga/ the yoga of knowledge), which I produced for a forthcoming monograph (Metaphysics as Therapy, Springer, April 2025) on the use of taxonomy in the spiritual exercises of gnostic yogas. I highlight the historical significance of this elite form of yogic cultivation and its general neglect within the emerging...
In Tibetan Tantric Buddhism and Bön, yoga refers to expedient means (thabs, S. upāya) for liberating oneself and others from the wheel of cyclic existence (kor ba, S. saṃsāra). Central to that agenda is mastery of a subtle physiology of energy channels (rtsa, S. nāḍī) and their nodal points at radiant “wheels” (’khor lo, S. cakra) along the body’s central axis. The method whereby subtle energy...