Tukdam, Different Ontological Bodies, and Making Tibetan Deaths Visible

The postmortem state of tukdam, unknown to science until recently, cannot be adequately explained in biomedical terms. The article argues that tukdam is best understood as a particular kind of Indo-Tibetan death, emerging from different cultural bodies and death processes. Drawing on medical anthropology, history of science, and cross-cultural medicine, the author critiques the epistemological assumption of one reality 'out there' and instead proposes an ontological approach where epistemology and ontology collapse, so that different ways of conceiving-perceiving produce different forms of being. Exploring Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy and its Tibetan appropriations alongside science studies and ontological anthropology, the author sketches how tantric Buddhist bodies and deaths remain largely incommensurable with and invisible to the modern medical gaze and the Euroamerican regime of truth that privileges visibility, quantification, and technological measurability.

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Abstract

Unknown to science until recently, the postmortem state of tukdam has not yet been adequately explained in biomedical terms. One way to understand this phenomenon is through ideas of different cultural bodies and death processes, where tukdam emerges as a particular kind of Indo-Tibetan death. This article draws upon medical anthropological scholarship and literature in history of science and cross-cultural medicine looking at epistemological theories of perception where different ways of conceiving-perceiving and attending to the body contribute toward producing different medical bodies-and deaths. This epistemological approach has entailed the idea of one reality "out there," which I call into question. I argue instead for an ontological approach, where epistemology and ontology are collapsed so that different forms of conceiving-perceiving contribute toward different forms of being. Such an approach seems apt in the case of different cultural bodies and death processes that we encounter with tukdam and other extraordinary Tibetan death displays. I explore Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy and its Tibetan appropriations along with science studies, medical and ontological anthropology to sketch out theory for how ontologically distinct bodies might come about. Tantric Buddhist bodies and deaths emerge as largely incommensurable with, and invisible to, the modern medical gaze with its attendant Euroamerican regime of truth where visibility, quantification, and technological measurability set the grounds for the real. This regime also dominates in the European documentary film world, as I discovered while making a documentary on tukdam.