A comprehensive introduction the history, application, and cross-cultural evolution of the Pan-Indian chakra systems. In this introductory module, we will cover the evolution of the now-standardised seven-chakra system from its earliest inception in the esoteric systems rooted in Buddhism, to its eventual migration and co-evolution in the Buddhist religion. This module will also cover how the two differing systems of Hindu-Vedic and Buddhist-esoteric diverged into what would later manifest as the Pan-Indian manifestation of the chakra systems, and its eventual re-convergence into a semi-cohesive system under the influence of British Indology and occultism, which would later give rise to its current presence in the New Age collective.
In this module we will cover the following:
1. How the chakras were understood in its earliest inceptions within the Indian subcontinent.
2. How the rise of Buddhism shifted the understanding of the chakras.
3. How the schism between Hinduism and Buddhism created two very distinct, yet nevertheless mutually cohesive systems.
4. How both systems spread out towards the greater Asiatic continent, and how each system evolved concurrently.
5. How the eventual colonisation of India, first under the Mughal Empire, and secondarily under the British Raj, preserved both systems for posterity.
6. How British Indologists and hobby-scholars from the latter part of the 1800s began to take interest in the esoteric concept of chakras, and eventually popularise the notion in the Western world.
7. How organisations like the Thelema, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Order of the Temple of the East helped to shape the modern perspective on the chakras.
8. How traditional Pan-Indian notions of the chakras differ from that of the West.
9. Where the chakras are located in the human body, and how to familiarise oneself with each.
10. An in-depth deliberation on the attributes, properties, and role of each of the seven 'primary' chakras.
