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 Since the first centuries of the Common Era, a mystical path that originated in the Indus valley as far as back 3000 or 3500 BCE revolutionized many schools and sects of Hinduism and of Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian Buddhism. It is now known in the West under the commercialized umbrella-name Tantra. It is known in the East as Kashmiri Shaivism, among other names. From the beginning, the Tantric movement dissociated itself from the religious habit of proselytizing and establishing a hierarchical priesthood. The yoginis, women of knowledge, first taught the path of ‘the whole person’. They passed on this knowledge to the Siddhas, realized or perfected men and women similar to bodhisattvas, who were the primary teachers of Tantra.
The roots of the word "Tantra" are Sanskrit: Tan - thread, web, stretch, spread or expand - and Tra - tool or instrument. Tantra means tool for expansion or interweaving. Through Tantric practice, a person may experience an expansion of consciousness and recognize the interconnectedness of the web of existence. Tantra can refer to any number of sacred texts in the Hindu, Jain and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Many of these texts contain detailed guidelines for spiritual practice. In fact, Tantra is a vast body of spiritual and physical knowledge, encompassing an array of practices, including forms of yoga. These practices are aimed at expanding consciousness and liberating oneself through life and not through escape, using the body as an instrument. In Tantra, the energies of the body are used as the fuel for spiritual development.
In the West, Tantra is often called the "Yoga of Sex." While there is a kernel of truth in this, it gives the misleading impression that Tantra is about having better orgasms or becoming a better lover. Since Tantric practices are designed to expand consciousness, they can expand a person's capacity to give, receive and experience pleasure, in the sexual realm, and in all other areas of life, provided that person is willing to work hard at it. Tantra is not an easy path; it is the way of a “hero” who neither rejects nor fears any aspect of life. Most Western Tantra teachers emphasize very powerful techniques for enhancing sexual pleasure and intimacy, while most traditional lineage-based Eastern teachers discourage students from exploring sexual Tantra at all.
Tantra stands equally apart from both the merely hedonistic sexual quest and conquering, and from the ascetic spiritual quest accompanied by self-negation. Tantra reunites the totality of a person and helps him and her evolve through both sensorality and consciousness. Tantra teaches that one can and must be released from sense while enjoying the pleasures of sense.
EMBODIED THEOLOGY: TAOIST SHTUPPING & JUDAEOCHRISTIAN TANTRA
The fountainhead of all religion is our sense of amazement at being in this marvel-filled world, our wonder in the mysteries of the universe. Prayer, and worship rituals of any kind, is the method we’ve devised to cross the gap between manmade (or God-given) doctrine and (our sense of) the divine. Prayer, chanting, and genuflection, for example, are ways of opening ourselves up to the blessings of everyday life. The task of all spiritual paths is to keep the practitioner open, to enable the lifting up of the heart and mind to the harmony and the passion for life that is God. Perennial prayer in Christianity is the inner gesture that is the essence of all religious practice in every culture. God’s central message is that we all face one primary task: to enjoy life, together.
Since sex is one of the most natural activities human beings enjoy together, sex has since prehistoric times been part, actually or symbolically, of any religious worship. What is natural can’t be forbidden. What is joyful can’t be wrong. Only if we debase or waste the sexual ecstasy should we feel badly about having sex. Sex is bliss and what is bliss leads directly to God.
Eastern religions like Taoism and Tantric Buddhism view sex as a means of exploring and expanding spirituality—not only as a source of pleasure and procreation, which is how the West perceives sex. In the West we see sex as an expression of love. In the East we see sex as a technique of meditation and a path to enlightenment. The better-known ancient sexospiritual texts are the Indian (Hindu) Kama Sutra (written in 300 AD) and its companion, the Ananga Ranga (1150 AD), the Japanese Shunga, the Chinese Tao of Sex (or pillow books), the Arabic Perfumed Garden (1600 AD) and the teachings of the various Tantric Buddhists. Most of these were first translated into English by Sir Richard Burton, just over 100 years ago.
Even though it appears that Eastern sexual theory contradicts every Judaeo-Christian traditional belief, Christian Incarnational Theology (or Divine Embodiment Theology) studies bodily experiences of the divine and views sexuality as central to the mystery of human experience and to the human relationship to God. Based on the ecstatic Christian tradition and the monastic tradition of the believer as the bride of Christ, Incarnational Christianity embraces sex as a means to embracing God. It teaches that joy should be our moral compass. It teaches that sexuality is far more comprehensive and fundamental to our existence than a mere genital act, far more than traditional theology and philosophy have acknowledged; that sexuality is intended by God to be neither accidental nor incidental nor detrimental to our spirituality, but a fully integrated, basic dimension of that spirituality. Basically, our sexual experience reveals all we need to know about God. What Tantra does is to ritualize this revelation in a formal way, and use sexuality as another spiritual exercise, not through self-denial and abstinence, but through harmony and oneness with all. In the Tantric way, every time we have intercourse, we have intercourse with the world.
LOVE ME, LOVE MY TANTRA
Tantrics, or Tantriks, are known in the scriptures as ‘awakened adepts of spontaneity.’ You can’t tie down and possess a Tantric. You can’t predict the action or reaction of a Tantric except as being unpredictable. A Tantric can easily predict you. A Tantric can predictably welcome everything you do. There are no surprises for a Tantric, because all life to him or her is a fun play of pleasure and freedom—divine pleasure and divine freedom, no less. The way of the tantric yogis is basically twofold: 1. Go toward what seems difficult, insurmountable, unpleasant, unlike you, foreign, embrace what you most resist and fear, and ease into it quietly and softly and with commitment. That’s how you live in the moment. Before you act, be conscious of what you’re about to do and why you choose to do it. 2. Treat everything with loving-kindness. Develop unconditional love toward everything in life. If it rains, practice happily in the rain. If you’re hungry, practice happily in your hunger. Live fearlessly and joyfully.
TANTRA IN A SENTENCE
To live in Tantra is to be in such spontaneous and continual touch with the universe that everything that happens to you or around you happens at the very instant you wish for it to happen.
TANTRA THERAPY
Say Yes to Reality. Love what is. Tantra is Bliss.
The stress we feel in life is caused by arguing with what is. We suffer when we embrace a thought that argues with what is. When we argue with reality, we lose. Opinions and theories come to pass. They come out of nothing and go back to nothing. Projections, fantasies, predictions, and all the other untested methods of harnessing and controlling the future only harness and control you. Whenever you hold on to something, you suffer. Whenever you try to change someone or something outside yourself, you suffer. Whenever you believe you’re other than what you are, you suffer. When the heart and the mind are open, pure, and clear, what is is exactly what you want.
If a storm is coming, you might as well be wishing for a storm, or you’ll be disappointed. If you’ve just been downsized, you might try feeling inspired to take up a hobby and simplify your life. If you’ve just been fired, you may as well be in the mood for big changes in your work, or you’ll be devastated. If your children get sick, you might tell yourself it’s going to strengthen their immune systems. Let go of your resistance and welcome the experience. Do not be attached to a consistent reaction to life’s twists and turns. Stay fluid and adaptable, and respectful of the bigger picture. Draughts and raindrops and accidents aren’t personal. Don’t take reality personally.
And adversely, what you think shouldn’t have happened should have happened because it did. When you stop arrogantly opposing reality, you stop experiencing tension and frustration and your actions become simple, balanced, fearless, patient, kind, and useful. Whenever you don’t know which direction to take, how to choose which way to go, ask yourself which direction makes you happier, lighter, freer, more excited and reassured. If you feel hurt or abandoned, it means you’re separating yourself from your life. Embrace everything that’s out of your control.
Live free of past and of future, alive to everything the moment has to offer. The less you try to control, the more you’ll thrive. Channel all your emotions into love. Follow your joy.
God is desire. In devotion, you are desire. At your best, you desire everything that you see, hear, touch—at the same time that you see, hear, and touch nothing personally--and you sense that everything desires you back. You don’t touch your hairbrush the same way if you’re full of desire for it. You don’t push the elevator button the same old way if you’re brimming with desire for it. That’s the ecstatic life. It’s the lover’s way. Your gaze is open and ardent. You are speechless.
Reality is God. Dive into it. Bathe in it. Float on it. Surrender to it. God leads you through life to your highest purpose by lighting up your path with pleasure and joy. The outer world is a mirror for the inner world. The most direct way to know yourself is to know your bliss. The most direct way to discover your true self is to discover and follow your bliss. The one easy answer is: Let it be. God is reality. And so are you.
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