The Embodied Experience of Prostration (chaktsal)
Kei Nagaoka
The Journal of Somaesthetics October 12, 2025 DOI: 10.54337/ojs.jos.v11i1.10009 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Monpa Tibetan Buddhists in the Eastern Himalayas |
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Embodied cognition Ethnography Sensibility Politics Aesthetics Epistemology |
| Key findings | Prostration embodies the Monpa art of living as a creative act that enhances one's good life through the intersection of senses, aesthetics, and politics. |
Abstract
This study explores the embodied experience of prostration among Tibetan Buddhists through ethnographic research in the Eastern Himalayas. I extend somaesthetics theory by using a sensory ethnographic approach to analyze the intersubjective relations and bodily sensibility that intersect in the daily experience of prostration. By focusing on the interactions among their senses, aesthetics, and politics, I argue that prostration embodies the Monpa art of living as a creative act that enhances one’s good life. This study contributes to discussions of embodiment, sensory anthropology, Tibetan Buddhist studies of the body, and the politics of ritual.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... | 2017 | Qualitative study with mixed-methods | |
| A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners | 2014 | Qualitative study | |
| Common Core Thesis and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Mysticism in Chinese Buddhist Monks and Nuns Chinese Pure Land and Chan Buddhist monks and nuns | 2011 | Mixed-methods study | n = 139 |
| Anger regulation in traumatized Cambodian refugees: the perspectives of Buddhist monks. Buddhist Cambodian monks in Massachusetts | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 6 |
| The Lived Experiences of Experienced Vipassana Mahasi Meditators: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Experienced Vipassana Mahasi meditators | 2018 | Qualitative study |