How is it possible to reconcile two facts which seem irreconcilable, and an immersion in the world of Tantra even to the point of initiation? This intriguing account describes an usual spiritual journey which responds honestly and deeply to this mysterious experience, of spirit and body, of discernment and grace, of divine energy and love in all its aspects, during the course of an adventure which links a person to what is essential, unveiling the whole scope, both cosmic and divine, of Life. The author shows how, beyond their obvious differences, the Christian themes of the Word which is expressed as an eternal I am, or of the divine Energy, find striking correspondences in the Tantra, allowing them to resonate together and enrich each other. This work, therefore, follows in the wake of other pioneers such as Henri Le Saux or Christian de Cherg as regards the dialogue with Hinduism and Islam. Conciousness is the Self because God is Love. The essence of tantra is Love.
A guide to the history and modern practice of transformative Christianity • Reveals the original tantric wisdom of Jesus and the early Church and its resonance with the tantric yogas of India and Tibet • Explains how tantric Christianity views the human body as the primary “temple” of the Holy and erotic energy as the signature of indwelling Divine Presence • Provides step-by-step instructions for a series of Christian tantric practices, including a partnered sexual practice, mantra and energy work, eye gazing, and work with icons Unbeknownst to many, the original Christian spirituality as practiced in the early church and by Jesus himself was a tantric spirituality. In the West, Tantra often evokes images of arcane rituals or acrobatic sexual positions, while in reality Tantra is a holistic transformative path of life, love, and being--grounded in practice. Offering a new understanding of Jesus as guru and master of left-handed Tantra, James Reho, an Episcopal priest and tantric initiate, reframes the Christian story and restores to modern Christianity the tantric wisdom practices that were edited out of church tradition and forgotten over the centuries. He explains how tantric Christianity views the human body as the primary “temple” of the Holy, with erotic energy as the signature of Divine Presence within. Rev. Reho reveals the similarities of the earliest Christian practices to the tantric yogas of India and Tibet and explores the role of Kundalini and the chakras. He details how to work with mantras, icons, and pranayama breathing exercises, as well as with gazing as a spiritual practice. Informed by the insights of ancient texts and early masters of Christian spirituality, the author provides step-by-step instructions on how to practice Christian tantric sex with a life-partner of the opposite or same sex. Rev. Reho reveals how these heart-opening practices are rooted in eros, the life of deep desire, expressive of God’s grace within us, and are still alive in monastic practices in the Christian East. Integrating his personal spiritual experiences, years of study of ancient Christian mysticism, and an expertise in yoga and tantra, the author shows how we can re-engage the original truths of the early church to affirm the body as a holy vehicle and to utilize the energy of the erotic to achieve ecstatic union with the Divine.
In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalize and shock. For European colonizers, Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries of the Victorian era, Tantra was generally seen as the most degenerate and depraved example of the worst tendencies of the so-called 'Indian mind': a pathological mixture of sensuality and religion that prompted the decline of modern Hinduism. Yet for most contemporary New Age and popular writers, Tantra is celebrated as a much-needed affirmation of physical pleasure and sex: indeed as a 'cult of ecstasy' to counter the perceived hypocritical prudery of many Westerners. In recent years, Tantra has become the focus of a still larger cultural and political debate. In the eyes of many Hindus, much of the western literature on Tantra represents a form of neo-colonialism, which continues to portray India as an exotic, erotic, hyper-sexualized Orient. Which, then, is the 'real' Tantra? Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, Hugh B Urban shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society. In a fresh and vital contribution to the field, the author suggests that the 'real' meaning of Tantra lies in helping us rethink not just the history of Indian religions, but also our own modern obsessions with power, sex and the invidious legacies of cultural imperialism.
The articles in this volume of Documenta Missionalia are for that reader who is not just a curious learner of Tantrism and Christianity but who is also willing to allow the interaction of two religious worldviews to finally arrive at a unique realization and admiration of the ineffable mystery of God. Any reader interested in this theme would find in these articles great intellectual and spiritual depth that could eventually be highly profitable for one's academic and personal life. The authors of the articles in this volume, bearing in mind the perennial necessity of interreligious dialogue for mutual enrichment, have sought a comparative presentation of Tantric and Christian beliefs and practices like the Eucharist, divinization, mystical non-dualistic consciousness, male-female unity, Logos-Vac (Word) "inter-reading", freedom, fullness of joy, and corporeality. To our knowledge, such a diverse thematic presentation of Tantrism and Christianity in one single volume is the first of its kind to date
As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative. The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instructional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations, each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty. The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.
Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (1928) is Professor and Head of the department of Linguistics at Osmania University, Hyderabad. He received a B.A. (Hons.) Degree (1948) in Telugu language and literature at Andhra University Waltair and an M.A. (1955) and Ph.D. (1957) in linguistics from the university of Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Tantra: The Way of Action provides a complete guide to the Tantric path of liberation. Topics include esoteric physiology, Qabalism, right and left-hand Tantra, and arousal of the Kundalini serpent power. Following the spirit rather than the letter of the traditions, Francis King maintains that Tantric techniques are universal processes adaptable to Western culture and lifestyle.
This book is an invitation to explore sexuality as something sacred, a doorway that can connect you to higher realms of yourself and through which you can achieve expanded states of conscious awareness. By embodying the principles of Tantra mentioned in this book and practicing the techniques and suggestions presented here you can achieve not only the ecstasy of the senses, create a fulfilling, whole and holy relationship with your beloved but also contribute to the expansion of love, which is the energy of the Divine and a must for the ascension of humanity as a whole.
A perennial problem for spiritual traditions of all sorts is dualism—either a positing of a false distance between the Divine and the created or a rejection of creation and the human body. Many contemporary spiritual seekers have sensed this problem and sought to remedy it through myriad solutions drawn from various spiritual traditions and secular wisdom, both Eastern and Western. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, explores Christianity’s contribution to the discussion. He offers a revisioning and rearticulation of this teaching, based on the prophetic seminal work of Bede Griffiths, toward a practical and integral spirituality that reverences all aspects of our being human—spirit, soul, and body.
