“Nothing to Be Practiced” (bsgom du med)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The term ‘nothing to be practiced’ often appears in the instruction genres of the Tibetan Kagyupa tradition. At first glance, it appears paradoxical, as ‘nothing to be practiced’ refers to a meditative practice. This paper resolves the paradox through a combined co-textual and conceptual blending analysis of selected early Kagyupa texts and Indian mahāsiddha sources, as preserved in Tibetan translations. The analysis reveals a simple typology that differentiates (1) apophatic/effortful expressions (stopping or blocking mental activity), (2) cataphatic/affirming states (resting in innate mind, uncontrived ease, gnosis), and (3) the intermediate process of familiarizing (goms pa), which is both a result of the first and a cause for the stabilization of the second. Applying Fauconnier and Turner’s Conceptual Blending Theory, I show how selective projection of capacities and attitudes (but not techniques) yields a coherent blended structure—an ‘intentional non-practice’—that reconciles method and effortless resting. Complementing the blend analysis, I conduct a focused metaphor analysis that identifies recurring domain mappings following Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory. In some cases, these metaphorical framings illuminate why capacities and attitudes—rather than procedural techniques—tend to project into the blend, and they help explain the semantic shift from apophatic to cataphatic descriptions. The analysis also uncovers a tentative pattern in this sample of canonical and para-canonical texts: terminological and conceptual shifts not only from apophatic to cataphatic descriptions, but also from causal to resultant framing, and from concrete activity terms to more abstract state terms. However, a broader corpus analysis must be left to future research.
Source: Entangled Religions
Author: Jan-Ulrich Sobisch
Language: English
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415987383