BREATH AND BREATHING 1041
generates. Little else is known about the Eleusinian mysteries
because adherents took a vow of secrecy.
Bread was among the food offerings that the ancient
Egyptians provided for their deceased. An incantation in the
Book of Going Forth by Day was to be recited if an enemy
challenged the deceaseds right to bread. In the Book of Tobit
(4:18), Tobias is told to be generous with bread and wine
on the graves of virtuous men.
The ritual use of bread may have originated as an offer-
ing of nourishment to the deity. But since the God of the
Israelites refused all nourishment (Jgs. 13:16), the loaves be-
came a symbol of communion between Yahveh and his peo-
ple. In cultures where bread was the staple of life, it was natu-
ral that communion be symbolized by the sharing of bread,
since eating together has always been a sign of fellowship.
Bread was elevated to a symbol of supreme importance
when Jesus spoke of himself as the bread of life that would
give eternal life to those who believed in him, quite unlike
the manna that the followers of Moses fed upon in the desert
(Jn. 6). In New Testament accounts of sharing bread at a
meal, a recurrent series of words (took, gave thanks or blessed,
broke, and gave) describes the actions of Jesus at the Last Sup-
per when he instituted the Eucharist. By the ritual act of
breaking bread (Acts 2:42, 20:7) and eating it, Christians
would become one with Christ and his Father in heaven.
The bread that becomes the body of Christ has an inter-
esting parallel among the Aztec, who made a doughlike paste
from the crushed seeds of the prickly poppy and molded it
into a figure of the god Huitzilopochtli. The ritual involved
god-eating: the bread body was broken into pieces and
eaten.
Bread presented by the faithful for the Eucharist but not
used for that purpose was called the eulogia. The bishop
blessed it and had it distributed to catechumens and to ab-
sent members of the community. By the fourth century,
Christians were sending the eulogia to one another as a sym-
bol of their union. Hippolytus of Rome (170235) pointed
to another sign of the special unity that bound early Chris-
tians together when he spoke of the bread of exorcism that
should be given to catechumens in place of eucharistic bread.
Bread as a symbol has also had negative aspects. The
good wife does not eat the bread of idleness (Prv. 31:27).
The ungodly eat the bread of wickedness (Prv. 4:17). The
bread of deceit has a sweet taste but leaves the mouth full
of gravel (Prv. 20:17). Yahveh, when angry with his people,
sends the bread of adversity (Is. 30:20) or the bread of
tears (Ps. 80:5). These expressions evolved from a recollec-
tion of Gods curse on Adam, who was to earn his bread by
the sweat of his brow (Gn. 3:19).
SEE ALSO Leaven.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Borgen, Peder. Bread from Heaven: An Exegetical Study of the Con-
cept of Manna in the Gospel of John and the Writings of Philo.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
Leiden, 1965. A careful study of Johns sixth chapter in rela-
tion to Jewish concepts about the bread from heaven.
Jacob, Heinrich E. Six Thousand Years of Bread: Its Holy and Un-
holy History. Garden City, N.Y., 1944. A popular history that
should be used with caution.
New Sources
Broshi, Magen. Bread, Wine, Walls, and Scrolls. New York, 2001.
Douglas, Mary. The Eucharist: Its Continuity with the Bread
Sacrifice of Leviticus. Modern Theology (April 15, 1999):
209224.
Kelly, Tony. The Bread of God: Nurturing a Eucharistic Imagina-
tion. Linguori, Mo., 2001.
JAMES E. LATHAM (1987)
Revised Bibliography
BREATH AND BREATHING. The concept of
breath figures prominently in the development of thought
in many religions. Egyptian ka, Hebrew nefesh and ruah,
Greek psuche and pneuma, Latin anima and spiritus, Sanskrit
prana, Chinese qi, Polynesian mana, and Iroquoian orenda
all demonstrate that the theme of breath has had a major
place in humanitys quest for religious understanding. More-
over, theological conceptions of breath have led many of the
worlds traditions to feature respiratory exercises in their reli-
gious disciplines, especially in Asia and among groups influ-
enced directly or indirectly by practices from the Indian sub-
continent.
BREATH AND THE RELIGIOUS UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN-
ITY. The centrality of breath in defining humanity has fo-
cused on understanding what it is that gives humans life and
under what circumstances humans define their own deaths.
Moreover, the theme of breath, along with related notions
of vitality and energy, has been associated with views of the
soul and with questions regarding the mortal and immortal
aspects of human life.
Greek views. Although the theme of breath is seldom
mentioned by Plato and Aristotle, some of their predecessors,
for whom the universe was a quasi-living organism, saw air,
wind, or breath as central to the definition of the soul. Pre-
Socratic philosophers identified two qualities of the soul,
movement and knowledge. Empedocles, for example, be-
lieved that because the soul knows all natural things, and be-
cause natural things can be analyzed into four constituent
partsfire, air, water, and earththe soul must be made up
of a combination of these four elements, together with the
principles of love and strife.
Diogenes, taking up the position of the Ionians (one of
whom, Anaximenes, described the soul as having an airlike
nature that guides and controls the living being), credited air
itself with sentience and intelligence. For Diogenes, air was
the element most capable of originating movement, because
it was the finest element in grain; in this characteristic, he
thought, lay the grounds of the souls own powers of know-
1042 BREATH AND BREATHING
ing and of originating movement. Moreover, he stated, the
internal air in the body had an important role in the func-
tioning of each of the sense organs. Similarly, some of the
Pythagoreans believed that the particles in the air, or the
force that moved them, were soul, and Heraclitus declared
that the soul as first principle was a warm exhalation of
which everything else was composed.
Of the words Plato used for soul, including nous,
soma, psuche, and genesis, psuche was the closest to a concept
that incorporated breath. In Homer, psuche refers to the life
that is lost at death, as well as to the shade or wraith that lives
on. Like the ancient Egyptian ka (breath), the double of
humanity that was born with humans but survived death and
remained close to the tomb, the Homeric soul was an airy,
ethereal entity identified with the breath of life. In Plato,
however, psuche designates a comprehensive personal soul,
the divine aspect of humanity that is the seat of rational intel-
ligence and moral choice, entirely separate from the body.
Although, from the beginning of Greek philosophy, psuche
referred to the life force in all its psychosomatic connota-
tions, it was not always related to breath per se. Because
Greek philosophy placed such a premium on the intellectual
life of the soul, the breath of life came to be relegated to
a place of little stature.
Biblical views. In the Bible, the role of breath rests on
several concepts: ruah: , neshamah, nefesh, psuche, and pneuma.
Of these, nefesh and psuche refer specifically to the individual
as the subject of life, while ruah: and pneuma refer to a more
generic understanding of breath as a symbol of life and even
as life itself.
The Hebrew term ruah: means breath, wind, or spir-
it. As a concept of nature, it refers to the winds of the four
directions, as well as to the wind of heaven. For humans as
a species, ruah: is a general principle, covering such things as
the physical breath that issues from the mouth and nostrils,
words carried forth on this breath, animated emotions (such
as agitation, anger, vigor, courage, impatience, bitterness,
troubled disposition, discontent, uncontrollable impulse,
and jealousy), and, occasionally, mental activity and moral
character. Ruah: is also the spirit in humans that gives them
life; because this spirit is created and preserved by God, it
is thus understood to be Gods spirit (the ruah: elohim of Gen-
esis 1:2), which is breathed into humans at the time of cre-
ation. Biblical literature sees evidence of Gods spirit in such
phenomena as prophecy (whereby human beings utter in-
structions or warnings), ecstatic states of frenzy and posses-
sion, and situations of authority through which divine wis-
dom is revealed.
The term neshamah, although used considerably less
often than ruah: , nevertheless carries many of the same mean-
ings: the breath of God as wind (hot, cold, life creating, or
life destroying), the breath of humans as breathed into them
by God, and breath as found in every living thing.
The individual soul of humans is usually designated by
the term nefesh. From a root probably meaning to breathe
(cf. Akkadian napashu, expand), nefesh occasionally desig-
nates the neck or throat (which opens for breathing), but is
more often the concrete sign of life, the breathing substance,
and then the soul or inner being, in man. Moreover, since
the living are distinguished from the dead by breath, nefesh
indicates the individual, the person or I, which after death
goes to SheDol. As the life force in individual beings, nefesh
is mentioned in referring to both animals and humans, and
is that which makes flesh alive. The relation between nesha-
ma, as breath, and nefesh, denoting person, is seen in
Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed man of dust from
the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [nesha-
mah] of life; and man became a living being [nefesh]. This
belief in the unity of body and soul is continued from the
biblical period into later Jewish philosophy.
Like ruah: , pneuma in the New Testament denotes spir-
it, and it refers both to the Holy Spirit and the spirit of an
individual person, as well as to the evil spirits or demons that
are responsible for mental illness. Although it has the same
psychosomatic implications as ruah, its ties to the notion of
breath are less obvious.
The New Testament term psuche, on the other hand, al-
though it continues to carry the old Greek sense of life force,
corresponds more to the Hebrew notion of breath of life than
it does to its use in Plato or the pre-Socratics. Like nefesh,
psuche is the individual soul, the I that feels, loves, and de-
sires, and that lives only because it has been infused with
breath. Nevertheless, under Greek influence, the nefesh-
become-psuche concept was gradually opposed to the mortal
body and used to designate the immortal principle in hu-
mans.
Breath is of little importance in later Christian investiga-
tions of the soul. Tertullian, however, relying on the Stoic
tradition, emphasized the union of soul and body, and said
that the soul is born of the breath of God, immortal, corpo-
real, and representablethough it was only Adams soul
that was created by God, as all others have come into being
by an act of generation.
Islamic views. Arabic terms related to breath parallel
the Hebrew. In pre-QurDanic poetry, for example, nafs is the
self or person and ruh: is breath and wind. Beginning
with the QurDan, nafs takes on the additional meaning of
soul, while ruh: comes to refer to an angel, or heavenly mes-
senger, or to a special divine quality. The two words are even-
tually synonymous in post-QurDanic literature, where they
refer equally to the human spirit, to angels, and to jinn (su-
pernatural beings). The term nafas, breath and wind, is
cognate to nafs through its root and to ruh: in some mean-
ings. It first appears in Islamic literary history in the early
poetry.
Classical Islamic philosophy gives a central role to
breath in the perfection of humanity within the cosmos. Ac-
cording to Ibn Sina, God created the left side of the heart,
the main organ of breathing, to be a source and storehouse
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION

for breath, which is the rallying point for the faculties of the
soul and the conveyor of these faculties to various parts of
the body. Breath begins as a divine emanation moving from
potentiality to actuality, proceeding without interruption
until each form is complete and perfect. There is one breath
that acts as the origin of the others; this principal breath
arises in the heart and moves throughout the body, giving
its parts their proper temperament. It is identified with the
force of life itself and is thus the link between the bodily and
spiritual aspects of an individuals being. The principal
breath of humans, then, makes possible the perfect equilibri-
um and balance of the elementsa condition necessary for
the manifestation of the divine.
Hindu views. The Sanskrit term pran: a is a word of
broad import that can refer to breath, respiration, life, vitali-
ty, wind, energy, and strength. In general, it is used in the
plural to indicate the vital breaths in the body, but is also re-
lated to speculation about the individual soul. Early Indian
literature proposed a variety of notions about the relation be-
tween human breath (pran: a), its natural correlate the atmo-
spheric wind, and the cosmic order. The most important of
these equated the atmospheric wind with the breath of
Purus: a, the cosmic man (R: gveda 10.90.13) who was, like the
Egyptian god Amun, a deity manifest in the wind and, as
breath, the mysterious source of life in men and animals.
Indian medical theory, the basis for hat:hayoga, identifies
five pran: as operative within the body: pran: a, the breath of
the front, or thoracic breath, which ensures respiration and
swallowing; udana, the breath that goes upward, which
produces speech; samana, concentrated breath, which pro-
vides air to the internal cooking fire for digesting food;
apana, the breath that goes downward, or abdominal
breath, which controls the elimination of urine and feces;
and vyana, the diffused breath, which circulates through-
out the entire body and distributes the energy derived from
food and breath. The general process of inhalation and exha-
lation is referred to by the compound pran: apanau.
In addition, there are five subsidiary winds or vayus:
naga, which relieves abdominal pressure through belching;
kurma, which controls the movements of the eyelids, thereby
preventing foreign matter and bright light from entering the
eyes; kr: kara, which controls sneezing and coughing, thereby
preventing substances from passing up the nasal passages and
down the throat; devadatta, which provides for the intake of
extra oxygen into the tired body by causing a yawn; and
dhanam: jaya, which remains in the body after death, often
bloating up the corpse.
There is some debate about the relation of yogic pran: a
to the cosmic forces in the universe. In modern literature on
yoga, pran: a, even in the compound pran: ayama, the restraint cleansed and aerated, the blood oxygenated, and the nerves
of breath, is often interpreted as a subtle psychic force or
cosmic element. This is not borne out by the early texts,
however, and Patajali, who provided the first real exposure
to yoga, uses the term pran: ayama to refer only to respiratory
movements. Later hat:hayoga texts do use the word pran: a to
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
BREATH AND BREATHING 1043
indicate a subtle psychic force, but this is the force awakened
by the process of pran: ayama and not pran: ayama itself.
The Brahman: as and Upanis: ads equate breath, as vital
breath, with the atman or soul (cf. German Atem, breath)
and with brahman, the cosmic essence. The vital air in the
upper part of the body is here thought to be immortal and
to be the inspirer of thoughts. Moreover, it is by the breath
of his mouth that Prajapati created the gods and by the pran: a
of his lower body that he created the demons. Finally, in the
Vedic sacrifice, bricks for the altar are sniffed by the sacrifi-
cial horse, who thereby bestows breath upon them
explained as a sniff-kiss in which the horse transfers benefi-
cent power to ritual objects.
Chinese views. In ancient China, each person was
thought to have two souls, both composed of very subtle
matter: the hun (air soul) came from the upper air and was
received back into it at death, while the po (earth soul) was
generated by the earth below and sank back at the end to
mingle with it. Of the two, it was the hun that was the object
of ancestor worship. This two-part system corresponded to
the yinyang equilibrium, the hun soul being the yang aspect,
in which the spiritual dominates, and the po being the yin
aspect, in which the demonic dominates. In later tradition,
the hun soul was thought to give rise to the seminal and men-
tal essences, while the po was responsible for the existence of
the flesh and bones of the body.
BREATH AND RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINES. Many of the major
religious traditions are familiar with some type of respiratory
practice. The oldest known and most comprehensive of these
breathing disciplines is that of Hindu yoga, from which the
disciplines of Jainism and Buddhism are derived. Some
scholars have suggested that other traditions as well (particu-
larly Daoism and Islam) have been influenced, at least in
part, by Indian practices.
Hindu yoga. The Indian science of respiratory disci-
pline, pran: ayama, fits within the larger complex of Hindu
yoga, the most important type of which, for understanding
breath control, is hat:hayoga. In general, yoga has as its goal
the steady control of the senses and mind, leading to the abo-
lition of normal consciousness and to freedom from delu-
sion. Pran: ayama, the rhythmic control of the breath, is the
fourth in the traditional eight states of yoga, coming after
asana, posture, and before pratyahara, withdrawal of the
senses. Its main purpose is to change the ordinarily irregular
flow of breathwhich can be upset by indigestion, fever,
cough, and cold, or by emotions like fear, anger, and lust
by bringing the breath under conscious control so that its
rhythm becomes slow and even and respiratory effort is elim-
inated. By means of pran: ayama not only are the lungs
purified, but longevity as well as subtle states of conscious-
ness leading to spiritual release are promoted. Although
pran: ayama came to be a yogic exercise of great importance,
Patajali allots only three sutras to it (1.34, 2.29, 2.49). The
technical details for pran: ayama were then elaborated in the
1044 BREATH AND BREATHING
commentaries of Vyasa, Bhoja, and Vacaspati Misra, and es-
pecially in the classical works on hat:hayoga.
Although extraordinary feats resulting from respiratory
discipline have been documented in numerous sources, in-
cluding submersion in water or burial alive for unbelievable
lengths of time, more frequent mention is made of the dan-
gerous results of improper breathing. Practitioners are cau-
tioned to undertake pran: ayama only under the instruction
of a knowledgeable teacher, and to proceed with the exercises
very slowly at first and according to their own capacity; oth-
erwise they will incur disease or even death. By improper
practice of pran: ayam, for example, a pupil can introduce dis-
orders into his system, such as hiccups, wind, asthma, cough,
catarrh, pains in the head, eyes, and ears, and severe nervous
irritation; by proper practice, however, one is freed from
these and most other diseases. The classic example of im-
proper respiratory discipline is that of the nineteenth-century
Hindu saint Rama-krishna. When he was young, Rama-
krishnas practice of yoga almost always ended in blackout.
He later developed bloodshot eyes, then bleeding of the
gums, and finally the cancer of the throat from which he
died. In this regard, the classical tradition holds that when
pran: ayama is too intensive, that is, when the body becomes
overloaded with pran: a, colored flames dance before the eyes
and blackout inevitably occurs.
The respiratory rhythm of pran: ayama is measured in
units of time called matrapraman: a, one matra being the time
necessary for one respiration. This rhythm is achieved by
harmonizing the three basic activities of inhalation (puraka),
retention of breath (kumbhaka), and exhalation (recaka). The
most favored proportion of puraka to kumbhaka to recaka
is 1:4:2, although other traditions recommend 1:2:2 (for be-
ginners) or an equal measure for all three parts. Still another
tradition recommends that beginners not practice kumbhaka
at all. Although this particular terminology is not used by ei-
ther Patajali or Vyasa, it is traditional in hat:hayoga texts,
where kumbhaka alone can sometimes refer to all three respi-
ratory processes. A more detailed analysis describes two dif-
ferent states of breath retention, antara kumbhaka, when
breathing is suspended after full inspiration (the lungs being
full), and bahya kumbhaka, when breathing is suspended
after full exhalation (the lungs being empty).
The technique of pran: ayama is thought to transform the
natural processes already at work in the body. It is believed
that every living creature breathes the prayer SoDham (The
immortal spirit, he am I) with each inward breath, and
EHamsah (I am he, the immortal Spirit) with each outgo-
ing breath. This unconscious repetitive prayer goes on
throughout life, and is to be brought into full consciousness
through the discipline that begins with breathing.
Pran: ayama should be undertaken only when the third
stage of yoga has been mastered, for it is only when correct
posture has been achieved and complete relaxation has set in
that breath can be made to flow freely. The student of
pran: ayama should be sure that the bowels and bladder are
empty, and especially that the stomach has little or no food
in it when he or she begins the practice: for the physical cul-
turist, pran: ayama should take place at least one half hour be-
fore the next meal and four and a half hours after the last;
for the spiritual culturist, one meal a day is best, but at least
six hours should have elapsed since the last meal was eaten.
For serious students, pran: ayama should be practiced four
times a day (early morning, noon, evening, and midnight),
with a count of eighty cycles per sitting. The best seasons to
begin are spring and fall, when the climate is equable, and
the best place to practice is one that is well ventilated but
without a strong draft. Traditionally pran: ayama was per-
formed on a carpet of kusa grass covered with a deer hide
and then with a clean thick cloth, but current rules prescribe
a folded blanket on the floor. The eyes should be fixed in
a special gaze (usually directed ahead or at the tip of the
nose), while the mind is passive but alert. The breathing itself
is directed through the nostrils only, not through the mouth.
Specific rules for pran: ayama differ according to the authority
in question, but in most treatises, special respiratory rules are
given for pregnant women and those just completing child-
birth.
Breath is made to flow through the yogins body by an
elaborate system of controls designed to prevent internal
damage: the bandhas are postures in which certain organs or
parts of the body are contracted and controlled; the nad: is are
tubular channels in the body through which the breath ener-
gy flows; and the cakras are the flywheels controlling the
bodys machinery. The three most important bandhas are the
jalandhara bandha (chin lock), whereby the chin is pressed
against the chest and the abdomen is withdrawn; the
ud: d: yana bandha (raising of the diaphragm), whereby the
diaphragm is pulled up and the abdominal organs are
brought against the back and held toward the spine; and the
mula bandha (anal contraction), whereby the sphincter
muscle is tightened. These postures affect what most authori-
ties believe are the seventy-two thousand nadis, along which
the breath or life current flows to all parts of the body. Some
nad: is are more important than others, the single most impor-
tant being the sus: umna, identified with the spinal cord. The
breath energy flowing through the nad: is is then regulated by
the cakras, control points placed at crucial locations in the
body.
Respiratory discipline is central in bringing about the
unification of consciousness, the goal of yoga. From an early
period, mind and breath were held to be intimately connect-
ed, and the arousal or cessation of one was known to affect
the other. Patajali, for example, recommended pran: ayama
for achieving equanimity and inner peace, and Bhoja noted
that through the suspension of sense activity, breath control
could bring about single-pointed concentration (the fifth
stage of yoga, pratyahara). The classical image used here is
that of the chariot, according to which the mind is a chariot
yoked to a pair of powerful horses, one of which is breath
(pran: a), the other, desire. The chariot moves in the direction
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION

of the more powerful animal; if breath prevails, desires are
controlled, but if desires prevail, breath becomes irregular.
Through pran: ayama, which ensures the controlled progress
of the chariot, the advanced yogins can penetrate the four
basic structures of consciousnesswaking, sleeping with
dreams, sleeping without dreams, and the tuya state
thereby unifying all four within themselves.
With the development of Tantrism, the yogic disci-
plines of posture and breath control were combined with sex-
ual practices that served to unite the practitioner with cosmic
energy or sakti, as symbolized by the great goddess. Accord-
ing to Tantric texts, the object of pran: ayama is to arouse
kun: d: alin, the divine cosmic force in the body, symbolized
by a coiled and sleeping serpent that lies dormant in the low-
est nerve center (cakra) at the base of the spinal column.
Once aroused by pran: ayama, this energy rises up through the
spinal column, piercing each cakra on its way until it reaches
the head and there unites with the supreme soul.
Buddhist meditation. For Theravada Buddhists, respi-
ratory discipline is counted as part of the contemplation of
the bodyanapanasati (mindfulness of breathing). The
Pali canon describes the meditation as mindfully he
breathes in, mindfully he breathes out, and then enumerates
sixteen ways in which mindful breathing can be practiced.
The work begins with developing an awareness of breathing
in a long breath, breathing out a long breath, breathing in
a short breath, breathing out a short breath, and continues
through the practices until discursive thinking has been cut
off and full concentration attained. Unlike yogic breathing
techniques, however, Buddhist mindfulness of breath does
not hold or control the breath but lets it come and go natu-
rally, with the goal only to become fully aware of all states
of the breathing process.
In Tibetan Buddhism, breathing is a part of the com-
plex process of visualization by which a deity is mentally cre-
ated in front of the practitioner out of his internal psychic
elements. Tibetan Buddhists believe that breath or vitality
in the body enters not only through the nose but also
through the eyes, ears, mouth, navel, male or female organ,
anus, and head and body hair pores. Since these winds act
as a mount or basis for consciousness, the minds scattering
is stopped when they are restrained. Visualization, therefore,
can proceed only when vitality (or breath) and exertion (or
distraction) have been controlled. To achieve the mental sta-
bility needed for visualization, meditators are advised to
practice wind yoga, that is, to hold their breathhold the water without drowning or walk on fire without being
windwhile simultaneously holding their mind on the di-
vine body that is the object of meditation. When they can
no longer retain the breath, they should let it out gently, see
themselves clarified as the deity, and then hold their breath-
ing again, keeping in mind, as before, one aspect of the deity.
It is only when the mind is thus stabilized that the divine
body will appear.
Daoist yoga. In China, breathing exercises go back to
an early period. Laozi and Zhuangzi were familiar with a
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
BREATH AND BREATHING 1045
methodical breathing, and a Chou dynasty inscription,
dating from as early as the sixth century BCE, prescribes a pre-
cise collection and circulation of the breath inside the body
that is designed to achieve long life. Also known were archaic
shamanic techniques that imitated the movements and
breathing of animalsa practice reflected later in the Daoist
notion that the deep and silent breathing of ecstasy is like
the breathing of animals in hibernation.
Unlike the many alchemical practices of Chinese tradi-
tion, which use aphrodisiacs to restore sexual activity, Daoist
yoga aims primarily at restraining and rechanneling the sexu-
al urges of the body. Through the regulation of breathing
and other yogic techniques, the practitioner learns to subli-
mate the generative force that produces sexual fluid, and to
prevent this fluid from following its normal course of satisfy-
ing desires and producing offspring. The correct method of
breathing is essential in Daoist yoga, for it serves to circulate
an inner fire through a microcosmic orbit and so immobilize
the generative force, causing the genital organ to retract and
stopping the drain of vitality caused by the emission of
semen.
The ultimate purpose of stemming the generative force
is to obtain chang sheng (long life), a state understood as
a material immortality of the body. The practitioner begins
by holding the breath through a period of 3, 5, 7, 9, and 12
normal respirations, then up to 120 or even more. To attain
immortality, however, one must hold the breath through
1,000 respirations. The practitioner will, in the end, enter
a state of serenity characterized by the qualities of nianchu
(thoughtlessness), xizhu (breathlessness), mozhu (pulse-
lessness), and mie jin (unmindfulness of worldly exis-
tence).
Daoist respiratory disciplines are not, like pran: ayama,
preliminary or auxiliary exercises in meditation to prepare
the yogin for spiritual concentration but, rather, techniques
that actually accomplish the purpose of the yoga itself: the
indefinite prolongation of bodily life. The question whether
there may be a historical relation between Daoist and Indian
practices has not been resolved. Some scholars believe that
Neo-Daoism borrowed from Tantric yoga practices. Others
have noted that Daoism must have taken the notion of a
physiological role of breath from India, for ancient Chinese
medicineDaoisms most likely sourcehad no such no-
tion. Whatever the case, the results of both yogas are, in some
instances, very similar, for the Daoists ability to enter the
burned resemble Indian yogic powers or siddhis.
The aim of the breathing exercises is to try to return to
the type of breathing experienced by the embryo in the
womb; when the umbilical cord was cut at birth, this initial
type of breathing was replaced by breathing through the nos-
trils. During the practice, inspiration and expiration are kept
as quiet as possible, and breath is held closed up in the
bodyswallowed, some texts sayuntil it is intolerable,
and then let out through the mouth. Embryonic breathing
1046 BREATH AND BREATHING
or immortal breathing is thus a restoration of profound
fetal breathing; it wipes out all postnatal conditions so that
prenatal vitality can be transmuted and the seed of immortal-
ity nurtured. As a stage in the quest for immortal breath, the
embryonic breathing of Daoism is not merely a checking of
respiration, but an internal circulation of vital principles
whereby the individual can remain completely airtight. If,
however, breathing through the nostrils and mouth is used
(and used randomly) in advanced stages of this yoga, then
the psychic center in the heart will burst and the practitioner
will become deranged.
Central to the yogic endeavor of Daoism is the theory
of the five vital breaths located in the heart, spleen, lungs,
liver, and kidneys that keep these organs functioning, and
without which the body perishes. These vitalities have their
source in the brain, and when they converge again in the
head into one vitality, a golden light is made manifest. This
system of vital breaths is held to correspond to the interac-
tion in the body of the five basic elements: heart (fire), spleen
or stomach (earth), lungs (metal), liver (wood), and kidneys
(water).
The vital breaths are linked to one another by a network
of eight main psychic channels that, when clear, have two
distinct roles: the unimpeded flow of the generative force and
the unrestricted circulation of the vital breaths. This network
contains a microcosmic orbit with four cardinal points: at the
root of the penis, where the generative force is gathered; at
the top of the head; and at the two points between them in
the spine and in the front of the body, where the genera-
tive force is cleansed and purified during the microcosmic
orbiting.
Dysfunctional breathing in Daoism is designated by the
nine unsettled breaths. They are caused by anger, which
lifts the breath, and fear, which lowers it; joy, which slows
it down; grief, which disperses it; terror, which throws it out
of gear; thinking, which ties it up; toil, which wastes it; cold,
which collects it; and heat, which scatters it.
Islamic prayer. The Muslims belonging to the school
of Ibn al-EArabi practiced a technique comparable to the
pran: ayama of Hinduism. In breathing out, the words scend into your heart at the same time as the inhaled air.
la-ilaha (There is no god) are formed, while the inward When it is there, you will see what joy will follow.
breath coincides with the words illa Allah (but God), re-
sulting in a profession of faith. Breath control is practiced
by Islamic mystics in dhikr (remembrance), a practice ded-
icated to the glorification of God that repeats certain fixed
phrases in a ritual order, either out loud or in the mind, and
is accompanied by certain breathing and physical move-
ments. Although it is not known exactly when methods of
breath control (h: abs-i dam, keeping ones breath in recollec-
tion) were adopted into Sufism, there is a twelfth-century
text prescribing the following: the breath is emitted above
the left breast (to empty the heart); then the word la is ex-
haled from the navel (against the sexual demon); then ilaha
is uttered on the right shoulder, and illa at the navel; finally
Allah is strongly articulated in the empty heart.
For the S: uf, every breath that goes out without remem-
bering God is dead, while every breath that goes out in rec-
ollection of the Lord is alive and connected with him. In
dhikr one is enjoined not to speak much but rather, in a vari-
ant form of the above text, to say, three times in one breath,
La ilaha illa Allah from the right side and then, having
brought the breath down to the heart, to bring forth
Muh: ammad rasul Allah from the left side. The importance
of breath regulation in dhikr to the advanced S: uf is seen in
the following example from Pashto poetry: Thy every
breath is a pearl and a coral of inestimable price / Be careful,
therefore, and guard every respiration well! Directions are
given in various texts for the exact count and duration of the
respiratory cycle in dhikr, and some sources state that the ex-
perienced mystic is often able to hold his breath for almost
three hours. Dhikr is also used for healing purposes. Even in
the early twenty-first century the recitation of the Fatih: ah or
some other prayer, together with a breathing upon the sick,
is common in the Muslim world.
The extent to which the breath control used by S: ufs
in their dhikr developed under the influence of Indian prac-
tices is not certain. It is known that regulated breathing exist-
ed among the S: ufs of eastern Iran before Sufism spread to
India, but in the later period when there was contact with
India, yogic practices undoubtedly further colored numerous
aspects of S: uf life.
Christian prayer. Respiratory techniques similar to
those used in Hindu yoga can be found in the Christian tra-
dition of hesychasm. Hesychasm is a type of prayer in East-
ern Christianity based on a control of physical faculties and
a concentration on the Jesus Prayer to achieve peace of soul
and union with God. Although the earliest descriptions of
the hesychastic method of contemplation go back at least to
the fifth century, to John of Jerusalem, the earliest datable
combination of the Jesus Prayer with respiratory techniques
is in the writings of Nikephoros the Solitary (fl. 1260). Nike-
phoros writes: Sit down, compose your mind, introduce
ityour mind, I sayinto your nostrils; this is the road that
the breath takes to reach the heart. Push it, force it to de-
The traditional breath control that begins hesychastic
contemplation is used, like pran: ayama, to prepare for mental
prayer, that is, to bring about a return of the mind. In a
quiet cell, with the door closed, one sits in the corner and
presses the (bearded) chin against the upper part of the chest,
much as in the jalandhara bandha of Hindu yoga. One then
directs the eyeand with it all the mindto the navel, and
compresses the inspiration of air in the nose so that normal
breathing does not come easily, all the while ceaselessly re-
peating the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me! This exercise prepares one for the attain-
ment of absolute quietude of the soul and for the experience
of divine light.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION

SEE ALSO Buddhist Meditation; Inspiration; Life; Medita-
tion; Pran: a; Samadhi; Yoga.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Good summaries of the role of breath in biblical theology can be
found in The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, 4 vols., ed-
ited by George A. Buttrick (New York, 1962), under such
headings as man, soul, and spirit. Likewise, important upon a thorough exploration of the Corpus inscriptionum La-
discussions of breath and the soul in Christian and Jewish
theology appear in the New Catholic Encyclopedia, 17 vols.
(New York, 1967), and in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, 16 vols.
(Jerusalem, 1971). David B. Clauss Toward the Soul: An In-
quiry into the Meaning of before Plato (New Haven,
Conn., 1981) is an important, but often very technical, sur-
vey of the development of the concept psyche in pre-
Socratic thought. Jean Gouillards Petite Philocalie de la
prire du cur (Paris, 1953), on the tradition of hesychasm,
has a good bibliography and an excellent sampling of textual
translations. On the respiratory technique in Islamic dhikr,
see Louis Gardets La mention du nom divin, dhikr, dans
la mystique musulmane, Revue Thomiste (Paris) 52 (1952):
642679 and 53 (1953): 197216.
The best book on hat: hayoga is B. K. S. Iyengars Light on Yoga
(Yoga Dipika) (New York, 1966). It has an excellent intro-
duction and detailed yet accessible sections on pran: ayama.
Svami Kuvalayanandas Pran: ayama, 4th ed. (Bombay, of survival (i. e., the notion of vestigial cultural elements sur-
1966), is a comprehensive handbook on the breathing pro-
cess and respiratory technique in Hinduism. Kuva-
layanandas work also appears in the quarterly journal
Yoga-Mmamsa (Lonavla, Poona District, India, 1924), in different mythological and religious horizons on the part
which contains vast scientific information on actual labo-
ratory and clinical experiments done on yogic breathing.
Hans-Ulrich Riekers excellent translation of the
Hat: hayogapradpika called The Yoga of Light, translated from
the German by Elsy Becherer (New York, 1971), describes
the combination of the two yogic paths hat:ha and raja, and
makes special reference to the arousal and control of the
kun: d: alin. Mircea Eliades Patajali and Yoga (New York, of the classical world within the problematic of the history
1969) and Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, 2d ed. (Princeton,
N. J., 1969), contain excellent summaries of respiratory tech-
niques in various traditions, as well as abundant bibliograph-
ic references. Finally, for those who may wish to go directly
to the source, Georg Feuersteins recent translation of The
Yoga-Sutras of Patajali (Folkestone, U.K., 1979) has an ex-
ceedingly helpful commentary.
A good introduction to breathing and mindfulness meditation in
Buddhism is Bhikkhu Khantipalos Calm and Insight: A Bud-
dhist Manual for Meditators (London, 1981). For a basic
sourcebook on breathing in Daoist yoga, see Daoist Yoga, Al-
chemy, and Immortality, translated by Charles Luk (Kuan
Yulu) (London, 1970); the classic article on the topic is, of
course, Henri Masperos Les procds de Enourrir le princi-
pe vital dans la religion taoste ancienne, Journal asiatique
229 (1937): 177252, 353430.
ELLISON BANKS FINDLY (1987 AND 2005)
BRELICH, ANGELO (19131977), was an Italian
historian of religions. After completing his academic studies
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION
BRELICH, ANGELO 1047
in Hungary under Kroly Kernyi and Andreas Alfldi,
Brelich became the assistant to the chair of history of reli-
gions at the University of Rome, a chair then held by Raffaele
Pettazzoni, whom he succeeded as professor ordinarius in
1958. His first publication, Aspetti della morte nelle iscrizioni
sepolcrali nellImpero romano (Aspects of Death in the Sepul-
chral Inscriptions of the Roman Empire; 1937), was based
tinarum and anticipated Brelichs future interest in method-
ological reflection. There followed in 1949 Die geheime
Schutzgottheit von Rom (The Secret Protecting Deity of
Rome) and Vesta, which show the strong influence of his
teacher Kernyi and bear witness to Brelichs own search for
scientific originality. In these two books, which were con-
ceived as a unit, Brelich distinguishes between analytical re-
search, aimed at delineating the fundamental elements of
themes present in a divine figure, and historical research,
which is concerned with the figures specific content and fur-
ther developments.
A new period in Brelichs studies began in the 1950s.
Tre variazioni romane sul tema delle origini (Three Roman
Variations on the Theme of Origins; 1955) emphasizes the
theme of historical creativity. Unlike the evolutionist notion
viving merely as erratic blocks in the living stream of more
recent cultural formations), Brelichs notion of historical cre-
ativity implies the validation of elements already found with-
of new, emerging cultural-historical settings. Brelich also
makes use of a basic opposition between primordial chaos or
non-order and the order that results from the organization
of the cosmos. These methodological principles recur in the
volume Gli eroi greci (The Greek Heroes; 1958), where
Brelich advocates the inclusion of the study of the religions
of religions. In the same book, Brelich also reflects on the
type of the hero, especially as the object of a funerary cult
and in its connection with cosmogonic themes. He was later
to alter those views expressed here, however, because of the
radicalization of his analytic hermeneutics.
During this period Brelich became deeply interested in
polytheism, which had been a rather neglected topic in the
field of comparative, cultural-historical studies. He saw in
polytheism a religious phenomenon typical of the archaic
high cultures such as were found in Japan, India, Mesopo-
tamia, Egypt, and Greece, as well as in Central America and
Peru. He believed that the polytheistic conception of god
or deity was to be distinguished from both the ghosts of ani-
mism and the dei otiosi (idle gods) of some nonliterate cul-
tures. Polytheism for Brelich is a sui generis phenomenon and
the proper object of historical research aimed at discovering
its structure and raison dtre in the religious history of hu-
mankind.
Guerre, agoni, e culti nella Grecia arcaica (Wars, Ritual
Competitions, and Cults in Archaic Greece; 1961) marked
1048 BRETHEREN OF PURITY
Brelichs growing interest in initiatory institutions. These in-
stitutions are central to his Paides e Parthenoi (1969), which
is a study of the way in which tribal initiation rites were
adapted to use in the Greek polis once their original purpose
had been lost. Here again is seen Brelichs interest in histori-
cal creativity. He showed less interest in soteriological and
eschatological aspects of these institutions.
Brelich left unfinished a complex history of the cult of
Jupiter, a history that was to trace Jupiters development
from the status of an Indo-European prepolytheistic heaven-
ly being to that of the head of an entire pantheon, noting
especially the political implications of this development. As
for his view of religion as a general phenomenon, Brelichs
introduction to Henri-Charles Puechs Histoire des religions
(1970) seems to indicate that he accepted functionalist expla-
nations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A notable work by Brelich not mentioned in the text is his posthu-
mously published Storia delle religioni: Perche? (Naples,
1979). Two memorial volumes for Brelich have appeared.
They are Perennitas: Studi in onore di Angelo Brelich, edited
by Giulia Piccaluga (Rome, 1980), and Religioni e civilt:
Scritti in memoria di Angelo Brelich (Bari, 1982).
UGO BIANCHI (1987)
BRETHEREN OF PURITY SEE IKHWAN
AL-S: AFAD
BREUIL, HENRI (18771961), French scholar of pre-
historic humans. Henri-douard-Prosper Breuil was born in
Mortain, Manche. As a youth, he developed an interest in
natural history and the history of early humankind, which
he pursued during his years at the seminary of Issy. Ordained
a priest in 1900, he devoted the rest of his scholarly life to
human paleontology. Breuil was introduced to Paleolithic
studies by mile Cartailhac, with whom in October 1902 he
opened the Altamira cave in Spain, and his studies of Paleo-
lithic art and artifacts were furthered by douard Iette and
Joseph-Louis Capitan. In these early stages, Breuils work
was actively supported by Prince Albert of Monaco.
After having taught from 1905 to 1910 at the Universi-
ty of Fribourg, Breuil became professor of prehistoric eth-
nography at the Institut de Palontologie Humaine in Paris.
From 1929 to 1947 he served as professor of prehistory at
the Collge de France. During his career, Breuil taught also
in Lisbon (19411942) and Johannesburg (19421945). He
traveled extensively in Europe and southern Africa, and even
journeyed to China, searching for survivals of Paleolithic
humans.
Through his global studies of Paleolithic cave art and
the tools and techniques of Paleolithic craftsmen, Breuil
greatly increased our knowledge of the conditions of life and
the creative work of Paleolithic people. He drew attention,
for example, to the religious aspects (i.e., the symbolic and
possible ritual functions) of paintings such as that of the
Sorcerer in the cave of Les Trois Frres, discovered in 1916
in southern France. He was also interested in the religious
meaning of funerary practices and their hieratic manifesta-
tions, to which he ascribed a common origin. Breuil gave the
first scholarly description of the famous caves of Lascaux
(1940). In his thinking about human evolution (and the evi-
dences for such evolution that he found in humanitys early
religious history), Breuil envisaged a developing cosmic order
moved by energy. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who for some
time was associated with Breuil, developed these ideas more
systematically.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Most of Breuils publications are descriptions of the more than
eighty painted caves he studied in France and Spain and the
hundreds of rock paintings he investigated in Spain, Ethio-
pia, and southern Africa. An excellent example of these de-
scriptions is his Les peintures rupestres schmatiques de la
Pninsule ibrique, 4 vols. (Lagny-sur-Marne, 19321935).
Breuils more extensive works, done in collaboration with
other scholars, include Afrique (Paris, 1931), which Breuil
edited with Leo Frobenius and which contains Breuils essay
LAfrique prhistorique (pp. 60119), and Les hommes de
la pierre ancienne (Paris, 1951). A significant example of
Breuils works on the religion of early humanity is his piece
Pratique religeuses chez les humanits quaternaires, in
Scienza e civilt (Rome, 1951), pp. 4773. Among Breuils
books that have been translated into English, the following
should be mentioned: Rock Paintings of Southern Andalusia,
written with M. C. Burkitt and Montagu Pollock (Oxford,
1929); The Cave of Altamira at Santillana de Mar, written
with Hugo Obermaier (Madrid, 1935); Beyond the Bounds
of History: Scenes of the Old Stone Age (London, 1949); and
Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art (Montignac, 1952). A
bibliography of Breuils writings is contained in Hommage
labb Henri Breuil pour son quatre-vingtime anniversaire,
compiled by G. Henri-Martin (Paris, 1957).
Publications on Breuils life and work include Recollections of
the Abb Breuil by Mary Boyle and others, Antiquity 37
(1963): 1219; Alan H. Brodricks The Abb Breuil: Prehi-
storian (London, 1963); and Nicolas Skrotzkys Labb Breuil
(Paris, 1964).
JACQUES WAARDENBURG (1987)
BRIDGES. All over the world, in different religions and
cultures, there are vivid descriptions of a perilous way that
the dreamer, the ecstatic visionary, or the deceased has to fol-
low on his journey to the otherworld. One of the perils may
be a bridge leading across a chasm, a rapacious stream, or the
void. Success in crossing the bridge may depend on the trav-
elers own behavior during life or on the sacrifices he or his
surviving relatives have performed. Ethical qualifications are
not always needed.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION