Editing Subtle body (section)

===Buddhism===
{{further|Luminous mind|Illusory body}}
[[File:Chakras and energy channels 2 (3749594497).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A Tibetan illustration of the subtle body showing the central channel and two side channels connecting five chakras]]

In [[Buddhist Tantra]], the subtle body is termed the "innate body" ({{Transliteration|sa|IAST|nija-deha}}) or the "uncommon means body" (''asadhdrana-upayadeha''),<ref name="Wayman 1977">{{cite book |author=Wayman, Alex |title=Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra: The arcane lore of forty verses : a Buddhist Tantra commentary |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1977 |page=65}}</ref> or {{Transliteration|sa|IAST|sūkṣma śarīra}}, rendered in Tibetan as ''traway-lu'' (transliterated ''phra ba’i lus'').<ref>{{cite web |author=Miller, Lama Willa B. |title=Reviews: Investigating the Subtle Body |date=12 November 2013 |url=https://www.lionsroar.com/reviews-investigating-the-subtle-body/ |access-date=2018-03-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319151239/https://www.lionsroar.com/reviews-investigating-the-subtle-body/ |archive-date=19 March 2018 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The subtle body is sometimes known as {{Transliteration|sa|IAST|manomaya-kāya}}, the “body made of mind” and is the means for synchronising the body and the mind, particularly during meditation.{{sfn|Simmer-Brown|2002|p=169}}

The subtle body consists of thousands of subtle energy channels ([[nadis]]), which are conduits for energies or "winds" ([[Lung (Tibetan Buddhism)|lung]] or [[prana]]) and converge at [[chakras]].<ref name="Wayman 1977"/> According to Dagsay Tulku Rinpoche, there are three main channels (''nadis''), central, left and right, which run from the point between the eyebrows up to the crown chakra, and down through all seven chakras to a point two inches below the navel.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dagsay Tulku Rinpoche |title=The Practice of Tibetan Meditation: Exercises, Visualizations, and Mantras for Health and Well-being |publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co |year=2002 |page=80 |isbn=978-0892819034}}</ref>

Lati Rinbochay describes the subtle body as consisting of 72,000 channels, various winds and a white and a red drop whilst a further very subtle body is a wind abiding in a drop at the centre of the heart chakra. The central channel is then described as being squeezed by two channels that encircle it at each chakra and thrice at the heart chakra, ensuring the winds do not move upward or downward until death.<ref name="Rinbochay 1985 p. ">{{cite book | last=Rinbochay | first=L. H. J. | title=Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism | publisher=Snow Lion Publications | year=1985 | isbn=978-1-55939-756-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nEZZwXn25QUC | access-date=1 March 2021 | page=}}</ref>

Buddhist tantras generally describe four or five chakras in the shape of a lotus with varying petals. For example, the [[Hevajra Tantra]] (8th century) states:<blockquote>In the Center [i.e. chakra] of Creation [at the sexual organ] a sixty-four petal lotus. In the Center of Essential Nature [at the heart] an eight petal lotus. In the Center of Enjoyment [at the throat] a sixteen petal lotus. In the Center of Great Bliss [at the top of the head] a thirty-two petal lotus.{{sfn|Samuel|2013|p=40}}</blockquote>In contrast, the historically later [[Kalachakra|Kalachakra tantra]] describes six chakras.{{sfn|Samuel|2013|p=40}}

In [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism, liberation is achieved through subtle body processes during [[Deity yoga|Completion Stage]] practices such as the [[Six Yogas of Naropa]].{{sfn|Samuel|2013|p=38}}