For the sake of brevity, I'm gonna use the label "Spiritpunk" for all the examples, even though they're more of a cluster of historically related religions. Buddhism isn't Taoism isn't Hinduism, but there's so much history there's similar visual language and related themes found in all of them. Just roll with me here, I don't wanna type it all out over and over.

**What is Spiritpunk?**

It is a subgenre of fiction that explores the philosophical and cultural concepts found in ancient Asiatic belief structures such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Hinduism and so on, expressing them in a retrofuturistic, science-fantasy setting, often including powerful transhumanist technology, and advanced feats like FTL travel, instant communication over long distances, and terraforming.

The themes often include concepts of purity/corruption, stagnation vs evolution, transcendence, enlightenment and the blending of the spiritual with the material, and most of all mundane attachments to a transient existence causing pain and suffering. Whereas the actual philosophical basis of these religions and philosophies are internally centered in real life, in Spiritpunk they are conversely externalized in the world building.

 Cyborgs transcending the limits of mortal flesh, paper talismans acting as powerful technological devices, machines operating on spiritual energy for fuel, martial arts and spiritual alignment granting reality altering power, emotionally sympathetic links acting much like quantum entanglement, these are things you'll see side by side. Transhumanist flesh crafting is normal- identity signifiers such as one's gender are transient, one's essential identity extends beyond crude matter. There is often a bureaucracy of power, with deities forming ranks based on power and prestige. Soldiers and warriors have world shattering personal power, combining ancient martial arts and futuristic or modern armaments. You'll see dudes firing guns powered by spirits at walking weapons of mass destruction that can shatter a continent with their fists.

**What is it not?**

It is not Urban Fantasy, where there is a clash of the old and the new, but rather an organic, merging of truly ancient Asian spiritual practices and philosophies with Far Future technology. 

  
**Examples**

1. *Orion* by Masamune Shirow. The Ghost in the Shell guy. This is one of my favorite stories by him. It takes place on the titular planet, a wildly advanced fantastical technobuddhist kingdom. However, it's just some podunk backwater compared to the off-screen greater galactic space Empire. As such, Orion is the host of an techno-mystic experiment to gather in one place and destroy all the negative karma of a corrupt galaxy-spanning space empire. What could go wrong with this plan? Includes gods, demons, and all sorts of techno-magic schenanigans. If you're not familiar with basic buddhist concepts, it's like looking into a fever dream, in the best possible way.

2. *Asura's Wrath* \- An XBOX 360 game which was very experimental, and is still something you won't see today. A rather simple brawler/QTE fest in terms of gameplay, the meat of it lies in its presentation. And what presentation it is. It is trying to be an interactive anime series, leaning into an episodic format, complete with commercial bumpers, episode recaps, previews, and even a totally unnecessary hot springs episode. 

You play as Asura, a high ranking warrior of an empire of demigods that transcended mortal limits using "mantra" which is basically mana. Asura and his brethren are superhuman cyborgs who have to battle a race of demons known as "Gohma", who emerges in regular intervals to threaten the world, growing more powerful everytime they are put down. Asura's daughter is the key to the villain's plan to stop Gohma once and for all, but Asura refuses to go along with it, and so he's betrayed and cast down to Hell, but he climbs out to take revenge and rescue his daughter. 

This is one of the coolest merging of Technobuddhism/Hinduism I've ever seen. For a neat, in depth break down from a Buddhist artist, check [this](https://art-eater.com/articles/a-buddhist-s-guide-to-asura-s-wrath-part-1-buddhist-cyborgs-and-the-story-of-the-asura), [this](https://art-eater.com/articles/a-buddhist-s-guide-to-asura-s-wrath-part-2-the-bishop-s-staff-and-hungry-ghosts) and [this ](https://art-eater.com/articles/a-buddhist-s-guide-to-asura-s-wrath-part-3-the-mighty-vajra)out. 

3. *Nine Sols* \- a metroidvania/soulslike action platformer starring a warrior-scientist, a high ranking member of a corrupt culture that wishes to transcend the limits of mortality. Things go wrong, you are betrayed and almost killed. You wake up long after the entire Empire has fallen to ruin, and seek your revenge against those that betrayed you (starting to see a pattern here?). There's themes of science vs spiritualism, all against the backdrop of a Techno-Taoist setting. Very difficult, very satisfying.



[Loved Subgenre] Spiritpunk (e.g. Buddhapunk/Taopunk/Hindupunk etc)