Download or read book Global Tantra written by Julian Strube and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Beyond introducing the subject matter and critically surveying the state of scholarship, this introduction offers a substantial theoretical and methodological elucidation of the book's approach that is also relevant for readers not strictly interested in the specialized subject. Combining perspectives from religious studies, global history, South Asian studies, and the study of esotericism, the foundations of global religious history are discussed both in abstraction and in light of the source material. This especially considers historiographical challenges such as (post)colonialism, Eurocentrism, or Orientalism, as well as issues such as the blurry meaning of "global connections" and differentiations between the global, regional, and local. Leading themes such as the contested meaning of tradition, revival, reform, and modernity are scrutinized, as are the relationship and meanings of religion, science, esotericism, and nationalism that remain the subject of scholarly debate. Global religious history makes proposals for resolving such debates by eliding disciplinary boundaries"--

Download or read book An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival written by D.E. Osto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-06 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the contemporary global revival of Nondual Śaivism, a thousand-year-old medieval Hindu religious philosophy. Providing a historical overview of the seminal people and groups responsible for the revival, the book compares the tradition’s medieval Indian origins to modern forms, which are situated within distinctively contemporary religious, economic and technological contexts. The author bridges the current gap in the literature between "insider" (emic) and "outsider” (etic) perspectives by examining modern Nondual Śaivism from multiple standpoints as both a critical scholar of religion and an empathetic participant-observer. The book explores modern Nondual Śaivism in relation to recent scholarly debates concerning the legitimacy of New Age consumptive spirituality, the global spiritual marketplace and the contemporary culture of narcissism. It also analyzes the dark side of the revived tradition, and investigates contemporary teachers accused of sexual abuse and illegal financial activities in relation to unique features of Nondual Śaivism’s theosophy and modern scholarship on new religious movements (NRMs) and cults. This book shows that, although Kashmir Śaivism has been adopted by certain teachers and groups to market their own brand of "High Tantra," some contemporary practitioners have remained true to the system’s fundamental tenets and teach authentic (albeit modern) forms of Nondual Śaivism. This book will be of interest to academics in the fields of religion and Asian philosophies, especially South Asian, tantric, neo-tantric and yoga philosophies, alternative and New Age spiritualities, religion and consumerism, and NRMs and cults. Winner of the inaugural 2021 New Zealand Asia Society Book Award, second prize.

Download or read book Tantra written by Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D. and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1998-07-28 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Hindu Tantric World written by André Padoux and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tantra occupies a unique position in Western understandings of Hindu spirituality. Its carnal dimension has made its name instantly recognizable, but this popular fascination with sex has obscured its philosophical depth and ritual practices, to say nothing of its overall importance to Hinduism. This book offers a clear, well-grounded overview of Tantra that offers substantial new insights for scholars and practitioners. André Padoux opens by detailing the history of Tantra, beginning with its origins, founding texts, and major beliefs. The second part of the book delves more deeply into key concepts relating to the tantric body, mysticism, sex, mantras, sacred geography, and iconography, while the final part considers the practice of Tantra today, both in India and in the West. The result is an authoritative account of Tantra’s history and present place in the world.

Download or read book The Art of Tantra written by Philip S. Rawson and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1978 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares tantric secrets for deepening relationships, intimacy, and passion, and discusses harmony, communication, and healing

Download or read book Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond written by István Keul and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-01-27 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this volume, written by specialists working in the field of tantric studies, attempt to trace processes of transformation and transfer that occurred in the history of tantra from around the seventh century and up to the present. The volume gathers contributions on South Asia, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Japan, North America, and Western Europe by scholars from various academic disciplines, who present ongoing research and encourage discussion on significant themes in the growing field of tantric studies. In addition to the extensive geographical and temporal range, the chapters of the volume cover a wide thematic area, which includes modern Bengali tantric practitioners, tantric ritual in medieval China, the South Asian cults of the mother goddesses, the way of Buddhism into Mongolia, and countercultural echoes of contemporary tantric studies.

Download or read book Modern Tantra written by Donald Michael Kraig and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Tantra shows how to practice the ancient Pagan spiritual system of Tantra for greater freedom, health, and happiness. Correcting the many misconceptions that surround Tantra, author Donald Michael Kraig shows that its wisdom can be experienced today, helping you access your natural energy for healing and spiritual advancement. Encouraging growth, experimentation, and personal evolution through exercises and meditations, Modern Tantra is a new look at a time-honored spiritual path. With a non-dogmatic approach, this book shows you how to work with Tantric: • Chakras • Mythology • Herbalism • Healing • Astrology • Divination • Mudras and mantras • Sexuality • Ritual magick • Festivals • Spells • The three gunas and three doshas • Goddesses and gods • Sacred images • And much more

Download or read book Tantric Wisdom for Today s World The New Yoga of Awareness written by Peter Wilberg and published by Exposure Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tantric Tradition known as 'Kashmir Shaivism' bore within it the understanding that God is not a being 'with' awareness. Instead God is awareness, pure and unbounded. This pure awareness is like a stainless mirror - invisible in itself - in which all experienced realities are not only reflected but actively and continuously manifested. The New Yoga of Awareness is not merely a commentary on or an explanation of this tradition, but the most comprehensive and original contribution to it since its synthesis by the great 10th century teacher and tantric adept Abhinavagupta. It unites religion, science, philosophy and theology, psychology and metaphysics in a way that truly makes it not just 'a' new yoga but THE New Yoga - an entirely new school of 'tantra' evolved from and for today's world. Tantra does not separate religion and science. It is yogic religious science. The aim of The New Yoga is to make this new and highly practical religious science known to the world in order that it can begin to work for it. It does so by challenging the foundations of both Western science and the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), along with the "monotheism of money" (Marx) and the godless 'science' that is its religion. Peter Wilberg's wide-ranging writings on tantra, introduced in this book, constitute a new and highly practical body of theosophical and religious scientific knowledge of the sort that alone can help bring an end to today's rising ocean of religious and scientific ignorance - and to the ecological devastation, economic inequalities and global mayhem that go with it. Above all, they offer a way of accomplishing this world-transforming aim - not through jihad, violence or war but through learning to experience that pure and Divine Awareness ('Shiva') which pervades all things, and the Divine Power ('Shakti') of Awareness that manifests them all.

Download or read book The Hindu Tantric World written by André Padoux and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible and authoritative study of the history, rituals, and sacred texts of Tantra, as well as its place in the modern world. Tantra occupies a unique position in Western understandings of Hindu spirituality. Its carnal dimension has made its name instantly recognizable, but this popular fascination with sex has obscured its philosophical depth and ritual practices, to say nothing of its overall importance to Hinduism. This book offers a clear, well-grounded overview of Tantra that offers substantial new insights for scholars and practitioners. André Padoux opens by detailing the history of Tantra, beginning with its origins, founding texts, and major beliefs. The second part of the book delves more deeply into key concepts relating to the tantric body, mysticism, sex, mantras, sacred geography, and iconography, while the final part considers the practice of Tantra today, both in India and in the West. The result is an authoritative account of Tantra’s history and present place in the world. Praise for The Hindu Tantric World “Padoux has long been recognized as one of the most important scholars of Tantra in the world. He is universally recognized in the field as one of the most reliable and erudite guides to this complex, controversial, and often misrepresented tradition. In The Hindu Tantric World, Padoux presents an accessible, clear, and up-to-date introduction to the topic that demonstrates his mastery of the primary materials and his decades of scholarship.” —Hugh Urban, Ohio State University “For the past forty years, Padoux has been on the cutting edge of Tantric studies worldwide. The Hindu Tantric World is quite simply the most comprehensive and accessible overview of Hindu Tantra ever written and the culmination of a lifetime of outstanding achievement.” —David Gordon White, University of California, Santa Barbara “The Hindu Tantric World presents a refreshingly critical, balanced, and concise survey of the field. Doyen of Hindu Tantric studies, Padoux translates the fruits of his decades of specialized research into an elegant and useful guidebook that helpfully situates these traditions within the broader fabric of South Asian religious culture. Nowhere else can a general readership find such an accessible and state-of-the-art treatment of the histories, theories, and practices of Tantric Hinduism.” —Christian K. Wedemeyer, University of Chicago

Download or read book Tantra written by Prabhuji David Ben Yosef Har-Zion and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tantra, Liberation in the World takes us back to medieval India, full of spirituality, magic, esotericism, alchemy, and devotion. It guides us through the stages of the Tantric revelation, which shook the established religious order like a powerful earthquake and left its mark on almost all spiritual traditions of the world. Prabhuji provides us with an historical overview and a philosophical outline of Tantra. His intention is not to present academic research, but to describe the context of the revelation and share its essence with spiritual seekers who want to be enriched by its treasures. The Tantric path aspires for harmony between nature and spirit, or ?akti and ?iva. The polarity between them manifests at the macrocosmic and the microcosmic level. Therefore, Tantra invites us to explore the body in order to discover what lies beyond. It tells us that our humanity is not an obstacle to the Divine but a necessary stage in our evolution. Divinity dwells within us and in order to recognize it, we just need to pay attention.

Download or read book The World of Tantra written by Brajamādhaba Bhaṭṭācārya and published by . This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrations: 18 B/w Illustrations Description: It is a faithful presentation of personal experiences of a devoted man who has been throughout his life of 76 years searching for receiving an answer, an understandable logic behind those mystic events before which logic stands spell bound. These personal records-secret, mind boggling, enigmatic-none the less reserve for the reader an unfailing touch of reliance. Man stands here face to face with the mystery which takes the mind above matter, and wonderful gasps although the Hamlet like assurance comes in time to point out confidently to 'more things between heaven and earth'. Chapter by chapter, the author unfolds layer after layer the secrets of the tantra world, as he has found himself in, at times to satisfy his quest, at times as just a beam of blessing. The personal note of these pages, together with the lessons in Tantric practices, some sweet and startling, some horrid and blood-curdling, make this book an addition to the authentic report of his much maligned but equally intimate world. Those who want to profit and learn of and about what is and what could be held in store by tantra will find The World of Tantra a secret mind of relevant information at first hand.

Download or read book Ecstasy Through Tantra written by Jonn Mumford and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2021-01-08 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Achieve Cosmic Consciousness through Sexual Ecstasy This hardcover edition of an influential classic provides sexual techniques and positions for ritual intercourse that will flood you with physical ecstasy and activate expanded states of consciousness. These Tantric practices not only teach you how to build sexual love and passion to an amazing peak, but also how to push your mind even higher to reach transcendental bliss. With more than forty years of experience, Dr. Jonn Mumford helps you bring holiness and magick into your sexual relationship. This book skillfully interweaves theory and practice so you can understand why you are doing each exercise as you learn potent techniques. Discover the God/Goddess as incarnate in your beloved and experience the same divinity within yourself through physical and spiritual union. Learn how to engage in the Asanas of Love and use a powerful technique known as the Rite of Naked Fire. Featuring a new introduction and a wealth of illustrations and photographs, this book reveals the secrets of erotic mysticism.

Download or read book Tantra in Practice written by David Gordon White and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 661 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Tantra Experience written by Osho and published by Osho Media International. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This life is a gift from existence, to be lived and enjoyed. But with the seemingly impossible and conflicting demands of society, morality and culture, people struggle with feelings of unfulfilled potential, frustration and guilt, rather than living full lives. The world of Tantra has no division between higher and lower. The simple, ordinary, things of life are transformed into great things when we enter into them totally – be it car fixing, floor cleaning or lovemaking. Osho shows how, living this vision, new heights of consciousness and freedom are realized. "The days of tantra are coming. Sooner or later tantra will explode for the first time in the masses, because for the first time the time is ripe -- ripe to take sex naturally. One thing to be remembered always: if you are not very alert you may go on believing that you are moving into tantra, and you may be simply rationalizing your sexuality -- it may be nothing but sex, rationalized in the terminology of tantra. If you move into sex with awareness, it can turn into tantra. If you move into tantra with unawareness, it can fall and become ordinary sex.´

Download or read book The Ethnography of Tantra written by Carola E. Lorea and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2023-11-01 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first collection of essays to approach the topic of Tantric Studies from the vantage point of ethnography and lived religion, moving beyond the centrality of written texts and giving voice to the everyday life and livelihoods of a multitude of Tantric actors. Bringing together a team of international scholars whose contributions range across diverse communities and traditions in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan region, the book connects distant shores of Tantric scholarship and lived Tantric practices. The contributors unpack Tantra’s relationship to the body, ritual performance, sexuality, secrecy, power hierarchies, death, magic, and healing, while doing so with vigilant sensitivity to decolonization and the ethics of fieldwork. Through diverse ethnographies of Tantra and attention to lived experiences and life stories, the book challenges normative definitions of Tantra and maps the variety of Tantric traditions, providing comparative perspectives on Tantric societies across regions and religious backgrounds. The accessible tone of the ethnographic case studies makes this an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate audiences working on the topic of Tantra.

Download or read book The Origins of Yoga and Tantra written by Geoffrey Samuel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-03-27 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yoga, tantra and other forms of Asian meditation are practised in modernized forms throughout the world today, but most introductions to Hinduism or Buddhism tell only part of the story of how they developed. This book is an interpretation of the history of Indic religions up to around 1200 CE, with particular focus on the development of yogic and tantric traditions. It assesses how much we really know about this period, and asks what sense we can make of the evolution of yogic and tantric practices, which were to become such central and important features of the Indic religious scene. Its originality lies in seeking to understand these traditions in terms of the total social and religious context of South Asian society during this period, including the religious practices of the general population with their close engagement with family, gender, economic life and other pragmatic concerns.

Download or read book The Path of Desire written by Hugh B. Urban and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024-03-21 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative study of contemporary Tantra as a dynamic living tradition. Tantra, one of the most important religious currents in South Asia, is often misrepresented as little more than ritualized sex. Through a mixture of ethnography and history, Hugh B. Urban reveals a dynamic living tradition behind the sensationalist stories. Urban shows that Tantric desire goes beyond the erotic, encompassing such quotidian experiences as childbearing and healing. He traces these holistic desires through a series of unique practices: institutional Tantra centered on gurus and esoteric rituals; public Tantra marked by performance and festival; folk Tantra focused on magic and personal well-being; and popular Tantra imagined in fiction, film, and digital media. The result is a provocative new description of Hindu Tantra that challenges us to approach religion as something always entwined with politics and culture, thoroughly entangled with ordinary needs and desires.