For tantra yoga or yoga of ecstasy is improperly meant a ritual and spiritual form of deep eroticism, a sort of perfected sexual practice, aimed at amplifying all the relative beneficial effects that they normally have on daily life.
Many deepen it to optimize their performance "under the covers", without considering that much of the literature available on the subject is totally deviated from the "essence of true tantra.
To be clear, no monk, nun or divinity has ever wanted to teach how to have good sex. Tantra (tantrism) is rather a set of traditional, esoteric, spiritual concepts of the Hindu religion and Buddhist philosophy - which interacted significantly around the 6th century AD. In figurative terms, it indicates above all a general collection of books pertaining to philosophy, even if not always completely coherent and sometimes contradictory. The term tantra, from Sanskrit, can be literally translated as: principle, essence, system, doctrine, technique, theory, method, tool or practice.
Since the early centuries of the Common Era, numerous tantras have emerged focusing on the deities Vishnu, Shiva or Shakti. In Buddhism, however, it is the Vajrayana tradition that is known for its Tantric ideas and practices. Hindu and Buddhist traditions have then influenced others. Eastern religious traditions such as Jainism, Tibetan Bön, Daoism and the Japanese one of Shintō.
Various non-Vedic cultures such as Puja are conceptually to be considered tantric. The construction of the Hindu temple generally conforms to the "iconography of tantra. The Hindu texts describing these topics are called" Tantra "or" Āgama "or" Samhitā ". In Buddhism, Tantric influence has had an impact on the making of various Tibetan works , historical temples of India and various representations of Southeast Asia.
What, then, would be the reason for such a gross misunderstanding? It is soon said. Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the spread of the first translations - probably thanks to the desire for transgression fueled by the "moralistic attitude typical of the West" - some concepts and representations - however, very few - were taken and distorted in an attempt to feed the American and European lust for esotericism.
Below, after an indispensable paragraph on the etymology and definition of the term tantra, we will talk more deeply about its erotic and sexual aspect.
The connotation of the word tantra to indicate an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a "European invention of the colonial era". The term is based on the metaphor of weaving, where the Sanskrit root "tan" indicates the direction of the threads on a loom. It therefore implies "the" intertwining of traditions and teachings as real chains "in a text, in a technique or in a practice.
The word appears in the hymns of "Rigveda" with the meaning of "warp (weaving)". It is also found in many other texts of the Vedic era, such as in the "Atharvaveda" and in many "Brahmana". In these post-Vedic books, the contextual meaning of tantra sees it "main or essential part, main point, pattern, structure , characteristic ". In the Smritis and" epic of "Hinduism (and Jainism), the term means" doctrine, rule, theory, method, technique, or chapter "and the noun appears both as a separate word and as a common suffix, for example "atma-tantra", which means "doctrine or theory of" Atman "(soul, self).
After about 500 BC, in Buddhism, "Hinduism and Jainism, tantra takes on the meaning of a bibliographic category, just like the word" sutra "(which means" to sew together "; tantra, as well as sutra, reflect the metaphor of" weave together "). Buddhist texts themselves are sometimes referred to as tantra or sutra; for example," Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra "is also called" Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra ". Within Indian texts, the various contextual meanings of the word tantra vary. much as time goes by - loom, weave, science, shastra system, practice and ritual, deep understanding or mastery of a topic, worship technique, doctrine, discussion, broad knowledge of the principles of reality, sites and methods of worship for the goddesses or Matrikas, Agamas.
Definition of tantra
Tantra in the ancient and medieval era
The 5th century BC "Pāṇini" scholar in the Sanskrit Grammar Sutra (1.4.54-55) cryptically explains tantra through the "example of" Sva-tantra ", which he claims can mean" independent "or" warp, fabric , weaver, promoter, karta ". Patanjali in his" Mahābhāṣya "quotes and accepts the definition of Panini but based on the context he gives it the meaning of" main ".
The ancient Hindu school Mimamsa uses the term tantra extensively and its scholars offer various definitions. For example: "When an action or thing, once completed, becomes useful in several subjects to one person or many people, it is known as tantra For example, a lamp placed among many priests for reading On the contrary, what benefits from its repetition is called "āvāpa".
Medieval texts present other definitions of Tantra. "Kāmikā-tantra", for example, provides the following explanation of the term tantra: "as it elaborates profound and profound questions, especially relating to the principles of reality (tattva) and sacred mantras, and since it provides liberation (tra), it is called a tantra ".
Tantra in the modern era
The occultist and businessman Pierre Bernard (1875-1955) is widely recognized for introducing the philosophy and practices of tantra to the American people, while at the same time creating a misleading impression of his connection with sex.
There is a large gap between what tantra actually means and what has been represented or perceived by its Western popularization. Richard Payne states that tantra has been commonly but mistakenly associated with sex, given our popular culture's "dogmatic obsession with such" intimacy. "Tantra has also been labeled the" yoga of "ecstasy," driven by senseless libertinism. ritual. This is a far cry from the diverse and complex understanding of what tantra profoundly means to those Buddhists, Hindus and Jains who practice it.
For its true practitioners, tantra is defined as a combination of texts, techniques, rituals, monastic practices, meditation, yoga and ideology. According to Georg Feuerstein, "The scope of the topics discussed in the tantras is considerable: they concern the creation and history of the world, the names and functions of a great variety of male and female deities and other higher beings, the types of ritual (especially of the Goddesses), magic, witchcraft and divination, esoteric "physiology" (the mapping of the psychic body), the awakening of the mysterious power of the serpent (kundalinî-shakti), body and mental purification techniques; the nature of enlightenment and, not lastly, sacred sexuality ".
and the "offering of meat to the" ferocious gods ".
This representation is not, however, limited exclusively to the Western imagination. Jayanta Bhatta, the 9th century scholar of the Hindu Nyaya school of philosophy, who analyzed the literature on tantra, argued that Tantric spiritual ideas and practices are mostly well positioned. but it also contains "immoral teachings" such as the so-called "Nilambara", a sect in which practitioners wear only one blue garment and freely engage in group sex. She wrote "this practice is unnecessary and threatens the fundamental values of society. ".
Sexuality was certainly part of tantric practices; sexual fluids have been classified as "energetic substances" and used ritualistically. Some extreme texts go even further, such as the Buddhist text "Candamaharosana-tantra" which advocates the consumption of waste products of the body as "energy substances", teaching that waste should be consumed as the "diet of all Buddhas" without the minimal disgust. However, such esoteric practices must be considered exceptional and extreme, they are not found in much of Buddhist and Hindu literature and tantric practices. In the Kaula tradition and others where sexual fluids are mentioned as energetic substances and sex has a ritual function, many scholars disagree in translations, interpretations and practical meaning.
Antinomian elements such as the use of intoxicants and sex were not animistic, but have been adopted in some Kaula traditions to challenge the Tantric devotee to break the distinctions between the ultimate reality of Brahman and the mundane physical world. Combining erotic and physical techniques. ascetic, breaking down social and internal barriers, the tantric becomes similar to Shiva.In Kashmir Shaivism, antinomic transgressive ideas have been internalized, for meditation and reflection, and as a means to realize a transcendent subjectivity.
Extreme forms of sexual ritualism are absent in most Hindu and Buddhist tantra texts - for example in the "Jain" tantric text. However, emotions, eroticism and sex are universally considered in Tantric literature as natural, desirable, a means of transformation of the inner divinity, to reflect and recapitulate the bliss of Shiva and Shakti. Kama and sex, in the Tantric view , they are another aspect of life and a very root of the universe, whose purpose extends beyond procreation and is another means for spiritual journey and fulfillment. This idea flourishes with the "inclusion of" Hindu temple kama art and various manual and design architectures such as "Shilpa-prakasha".
