Abstract

The wisdom of meditation requires the movement of energy. This energy is the mount or steed of consciousness and experientially all but indistinguishable from knowing itself. These energies must be part of what we consider when we look into the living practices of Buddhist communities. Using this bodily dynamism or energy as an organizing principle, the author points out three things. First, this often overlooked or under‐analyzed category is important for a fuller picture of Buddhist religious life. Second, its importance by no means undermines, and in fact extends, the significance of the philosophical import of Buddhist literature. Third, the significance of “energy” is not limited to esoteric Buddhism. To aid this discussion, the author introduces and explores the new term “energetic sensibility” as a way of referring to the cluster of important Buddhist terms associated with the viscerally energetic or dynamic dimension of persons and their practices.