The Roots of Tantra

The Roots of Tantra
Author: Katherine Anne Harper
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 079148890X

Among the many spiritual traditions born and developed in India, Tantra has been the most difficult to define. Almost everything about it—its major characteristics, its sources, its relationships to other religions, even its practices—are debated among scholars. In addition, Tantrism is not confined to any particular religion, but is a set of beliefs and practices that appears in a variety of religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. This book explores one of the most controversial aspects of Tantra, its sources or roots, specifically in regard to Hinduism. The essays focus on the history and development of Tantra, the art history and archaeology of Tantra, the Vedas and Tantra, and texts and Tantra. Using various disciplinary and methodological approaches, from history to art history and religious studies to textual studies, scholars provide both broad overviews of the beginnings of Tantra and detailed analyses of specific texts, authors, art works, and rituals.

Tantra

Tantra
Author: Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D.
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 336
Release: 1998-07-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0834825457

A leading yoga researcher offers a clear and lively introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of the Tantric spiritual tradition Tantra—often associated with Kundalini Yoga—is a fundamental dimension of Hinduism, emphasizing the cultivation of “divine power” (shakti) as a path to infinite bliss. Tantra has been widely misunderstood in the West, however, where its practices are often confused with eroticism and licentious morality. Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy dispels many common misconceptions, providing an accessible introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of this extraordinary spiritual tradition. The Tantric teachings are geared toward the attainment of enlightenment as well as spiritual power and are present not only in Hinduism but also Jainism and Vajrayana Buddhism. In this book, Georg Feuerstein offers readers a clear understanding of authentic Tantra, as well as appropriate guidance for spiritual practice and the attainment of higher consciousness.

Tantra Illuminated

Tantra Illuminated
Author: Christopher D. Wallis
Publisher: Mattamayura Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780989761307

This book takes readers on a fascinating journey to the very heart of Tantra: its key teachings, foundational lineages, and transformative practices. Since the West's discovery of Tantra 100 years ago, there has been considerable fascination, speculation, and more than a little misinformation about this spiritual movement. Now, for the first time in the English language, Tantra Illuminated presents an accessible introduction to this sacred tradition that began 1,500 years ago, in the far north of India. The book uses translations from primary Sanskrit sources, offers a profound look at spiritual practice, and reveals Tantra's rich history and powerful teachings.

Yoga Spandakarika

Yoga Spandakarika
Author: Daniel Odier
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2005-03-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1620554410

Translation and commentary of one of the most important texts of the Kashmirian Shivaism tradition of Tantra • Author was a student of the late Kalu Rinpoche • Explores the transmission of Mahamudra, the Great Cosmic Gesture • Includes the Vijnanabhaïrava Tantra, which contains the totality of the oldest source text on Yoga The Spandakarika, the "Tantric Song of the Divine Pulsation," is said to have been transmitted directly to the sage Vasugupta from the hands of Shiva on Mount Kailas. In his commentary on these fifty-two stanzas, the sage Ksemaraja described them as the heart of the Mahamudra. The oldest masters of Spandakarika viewed everything in the universe, including matter, as consciousness and created a yoga practice in accordance with this realization. The sacred dance of Yoga Spandakarika, Tandava, is extremely subtle and difficult, requiring thousands of hours of practice to master, yet it surpasses any other physical practice, allowing the practitioner to touch the divine inner pulse. Once its third stage has been mastered, the yogi or yogini is able to manifest the dance of Shiva in space, a tradition visible in the statuary of Tantric temples in India and Tibet. Energy is no longer contracted by the perception of duality, and the mind and body become unbounded, forming a sphere that contains all that was formerly outside. In Yoga Spandakarika Daniel Odier passes on these vanishing teachings as he received them from his Tibetan master, Kalu Rinpoche, and Kashmiri yogi Lalita Devi.

Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism

Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism
Author: Christian K. Wedemeyer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2014-05-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231162413

Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism fundamentally rethinks the nature of the transgressive theories and practices of the Buddhist Tantric traditions, challenging the notion that the Tantras were “marginal” or primitive and situating them instead—both ideologically and institutionally—within larger trends in mainstream Buddhist and Indian culture. Critically surveying prior scholarship, Wedemeyer exposes the fallacies of attributing Tantric transgression to either the passions of lusty monks, primitive tribal rites, or slavish imitation of Saiva traditions. Through comparative analysis of modern historical narratives—that depict Tantrism as a degenerate form of Buddhism, a primal religious undercurrent, or medieval ritualism—he likewise demonstrates these to be stock patterns in the European historical imagination. Through close analysis of primary sources, Wedemeyer reveals the lived world of Tantric Buddhism as largely continuous with the Indian religious mainstream and deploys contemporary methods of semiotic and structural analysis to make sense of its seemingly repellent and immoral injunctions. Innovative, semiological readings of the influential Guhyasamaja Tantra underscore the text’s overriding concern with purity, pollution, and transcendent insight—issues shared by all Indic religions—and a large-scale, quantitative study of Tantric literature shows its radical antinomianism to be a highly managed ritual observance restricted to a sacerdotal elite. These insights into Tantric scripture and ritual clarify the continuities between South Asian Tantrism and broader currents in Indian religion, illustrating how thoroughly these “radical” communities were integrated into the intellectual, institutional, and social structures of South Asian Buddhism.

Tantra, Yoga of Ecstasy: the Sadhaka's Guide to Kundalinin and the Left-Hand Path

Tantra, Yoga of Ecstasy: the Sadhaka's Guide to Kundalinin and the Left-Hand Path
Author: Leigh Hurley
Publisher: Maithuna Publications
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2012-04
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0983784728

Tantra is an ancient discipline with deep cosmic roots. Every movement in time and space is ritual for the Tantric sadhaka, and every moment is a moment of transmutation, of alchemy.Shiva and Shakti bring us back to first principles in a feeling way that engages all of our senses, and all levels of our being. The Tantric sadhaka is enlightened by the manifestation of these first principles in their life - physically, psychologically, sociologically, and spiritually.Tantra, Yoga of Ecstasy details ritual, practice, meditation and psychology for the serious student of Tantra. Topics discussed include:Meaning and intent of classical Tantric rituals,Tantric philosophy,How to raise kundalini,Shiva Shakti meditation and Tantric initiation,Tantra, art and creativity,Alchemy of personal transmutation,Unravelling the puzzle of Tantric morality,Tantric use of astrology;

Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala

Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala
Author: Matthew Martin
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2020-08-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004439021

For the first time, Tantra, Ritual Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala offers a comparative approach to Tantric mediumship as observed in two locales: Navadurgā rituals in Bhaktapur, Nepal, and Teyyāṭṭam in North Kerala.

Tools for Tantra

Tools for Tantra
Author: Harish Johari
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 219
Release: 1988-11-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 162055075X

Tantric yantras are precise geometric forms that have been used for centuries as tools for self-realization and the attainment of mystical powers. In Tools for Tantra, Tantric practitioner and scholar Harish Johari has re-created the exact colors and proportions of the primordial yantras along with step-by-step instructions for their accurate construction, coloring, and use.

Tantric Pulsation

Tantric Pulsation
Author: Aneesha L Dillon
Publisher: Perfect Pubs Limited
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2005
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9781905399017

This book celebrates Aneesha's thirty years of experience working with neo-Reichian methods of energy release, combined with meditation. It contains both theoretical and descriptive information about her work with people, which she calls Pulsation, and also traces the development of a new branch of her work, Tantric Pulsation. Aneesha's book,"Tantric Pulsation," is rooted in the insights of two of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century, Wilhelm Reich and Osho Rajneesh. Reich was a disciple of Sigmund Freud, the founder ofmodern psychology. Reich agreed with Freud that sexual repression lies at the root of psychological neurosis, andwent on to state that even ordinary, normal human beings are incapable enjoying their lives because of widespread sexual and emotional repression practiced by all civilized societies. Reich found that the physical body stores these repressed energies as tension in the muscles, which he called "muscular armoring." He developed a system which uses breathing and body movement to release this tension, including strong emotional expression. This, in turn, allowes energy to flow freely and naturally throughout the whole body, inducing aphysical state of tremendous aliveness, together with feelings of relaxation and well-being. Osho Rajneesh, an Indian mystic considered by many a modern Tantra master, also works with life energy through his extraordinary and transforming Active meditations. His Tantra vision, wholly life affirmative, is rooted in acceptance, let-go, meditation, and celebration of life. This is a vision which embraces all human experience, from sex to superconsciousness. Aneesha's methods have grown from these two streams ofunderstanding, one western, one eastern. The result is a unique process of self experience and transformation, both delightful and profound.