Sanskritic civilization · Tantric studies · Newar & Nusantaran Buddhism
Michael Slouber. 2017. Early Tantric Medicine. Snakebite, Mantras, and Healing in the Gāruḍa Tantras. Oxford University Press. 392 pp. ISBN: 9780190461812. [official site] [OCLC: 931476268]
Author website: garudam.info
Note: A revised version of the author’s 2012 UC Berkeley dissertation.
Michael Slouber is doing some of the most interesting work in tantric studies today. His PhD-to-book Kickstarter runs until the first week of June: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1326752800/tantric-medicine.
I can commend the future book solely on the basis of Dr Slouber’s freely available and superbly typeset (see below) Hamburg M.A. thesis. I’m not yet sure that I’ll commit, though. On the one hand, I can’t condone the parading of indebtedness that is at epidemic levels in the West; on the other hand, there is something to be said for a social network that encourages dānapāramitā more than keeping up with the Joneses. It’s also nice that at least one or two people with tenure have committed funds together with the much more numerous impoverished students and recent graduates.
