Welcome to the oldest continually practiced faith in the world, the sole inheritor of the prehistoric fertility rites, the religion that still worships the female as the primary divine force. When your religious convictions go against your sexual desires, immerse yourself in pleasure and convert. To do everything and anything you do as if that is exactly what you want to be doing at that exact moment is the secret to being a tantric, and to being happy. To turn your will over to the moment is bliss.
THE LUSTY UNIVERSE: SUPER/p/LAY AND THE QUEST FOR ULTIMATE ORGASM
Tantra is Logos. Or Logos means Tantra. Tantra is Genesis. Or the Big Bang is Tantra. The expanding universe is Tantra. The shift of energies & universes is Tantra. Tantra is the play at the heart of all life and death. Tantric play is what made our world and sustains it and us all.
THE TAO OF SEX
The Taoists see sex as a natural and pleasurable means to further their knowledge of the mysteries of the universe. In the face of adversity and suffering Taoists maintain serenity and acceptance. The same serenity they maintain in the throes of carnal passion. ‘The one who knows the Tao sees and feels but is not carried away by passion. Through the Tao a couple can be locked in lust that is not earthly lust and which can bring great good fortune.’ The Tao means the ‘way.’ It is the spirit, or God, that flows through everything. To the Chinese, the Tao is the harmonious balance of the Universe. The Taoists believe that the journey is as important as the destination, and place less emphasis on orgasm than on the process. They believe an orgasm can detract from the pleasure. Whereas in the West we are goal-oriented in our sex, and we consider achieving climax as the ultimate objective of sex, the Taoists place equal emphasis on kissing, caressing, yang and yin balancing and exchange, and much more.
The Huang-Ti Nei Ching Su Wen (the Yellow Emperor’s classic of Internal Medicine, dating to the Shang dynasty, 1523-1028BC, contained the first recorded Taoist sex techniques. In it Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, asks questions of his adviser, Qi Po, who instructs that when sex is practiced correctly it leads to a longer, healthier, younger, wiser life. Qi Po instructed that lovers must breathe long and deeply, have a sense of security and agreement of will between them, eat neither too much nor too little before and after sex, be neither cold nor hot in the room, and make sure that the woman is completely satisfied by the end while the man is not completely exhausted. The female orgasm was deemed most important; the male ejaculation was secondary and should be postponed until the full flow of female orgasm had been unleashed. The male ejaculation was a tool for procreation, not spiritual union, and the retaining of seed was a prerequisite to bliss. Ejaculation-free male orgasm could be enjoyed as often as desirable. The non-ejaculatory male orgasm was called the Plateau of Delight. The ejaculatory orgasm was called the Peak of Ching.
An easy method to delay ejaculation during penetration: nine shallow thrusts to one deep thrust then rest for a moment, and continue this without stopping. If you feel yourself on the edge of orgasm, lift your waist, withdraw your penis an inch, and lock, or stop, the orgasm. You can control your ejaculation by squeezing hard with your forefinger and thumb a point midway between your scrotum and anus. If you get soft, quote the Tao: ‘A good lover enters soft and exits hard.’
Unlike men, women don’t lose energy during orgasm, but rather take in, or absorb, the energy of the man. (Masturbation was regarded as beneficial for women, but not for men.)
The Japanese have always had a liberal attitude toward sex. Virgin brides were traditionally sent off to their weddings with sex manuals of explicit pornographic drawings, which would prepare them for an open, full, and fun sex life. These sex manuals are called shunga, which means spring pictures. They were both educational and arousing. The partners were usually half-naked and had naked exaggerated genitals, which helped point the attention of the reader to the act depicted. No human sexual activity was spared by the shunga—they depicted masturbation scenes, lesbianism, aphrodisiacs, orgies, sex aids, fantasies, and some fifty different positions of intercourse. The shunga were based on traditions passed down from the old religion of Japan, the Shinto, which presented sex as a natural and pleasing way to enhance spirituality.
TANTRIC SEX REDUX
Sex is energy. Sex is meditation. Tantra views sex as a transmission of energy between the partners, and between them and the universe. That’s why, after we climax, we hug the other person, relax, and fall fast asleep. Tantric sex requires patience and knowledge and dedication. The best lovers are those who have learned to separate their orgasm from ejaculation, how to transmute their sexual energies, and how to maintain a life of perpetual arousal through the peaks of sexual excitement and the dips of sensuality and the lows of lying in rest and wait.
The romantic rules don’t apply in tantra. Your ‘true tantric love’ can be much older or younger than you, poorer or richer than you, come from another country or religion than you, have children or a balding spot, and you’ll only meet her/him when you’re open to every possibility
According to ancient Eastern tradition, the male is supposed to bring the woman to nine levels of orgasm, until she surrenders and collapses. Both genders consistently enjoy orgasms in tantric sex that are simply unattainable in regular, unknowing, bull-in-china-shop sex. Here are examples of some tantric exercises and some tantric orgasms:
Practice the Shiva Shakti mudra: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bent. Inhale and sweep your arms up, and bring them to your heart area (chakra). Exhale. Inhale, reach up to the sky, and sweep your arms down, cross them over your face, and stop at your heart again. This symbolizes drawing in the energies of the earth (female, Shakti) and the sky (male, Shiva) and joining them at your heart, energizing your love center. Chant: Hey, nah, nah, nah.
Practice the ooo-ahhh, ooo-ehhh, ooo-uhh vibrational exercise: Thrust the pelvis forward, saying Ooo (‘ou’). Inhale, arch your back, thrust the chest forward, and say Ahhh. Do this in a continuous flow, facing and echoing your partner, or alone. “Ah” is the sound of the heart center. The exercise energizes your sexual and emotional openness. Follow with “Ehh” in the place of “Ahh” in order to open your throat chakra, and express yourself more freely. Follow with “Uhh” in order to ground yourself into the earth (or your base, root, anal chakra) and be free of distractions.
Practice working the ‘love’ muscles: Take continual rapid snorting breaths in and out of the nose, causing your stomach to pulsate fast and hard. This is the fire breath. Do it 10 times or more. You can kneel or sit in lotus. You can also raise your arms up and down in tandem. Then hold your breath and pulse your pelvic muscles 10 times. Remember to constrict both the urethral muscles and the anal ones. Relax the muscles and do the breath of fire again 10 times. Repeat, alternating, for 10 minutes. If you are with a partner, you can pulse your PC muscles simultaneously while breathing together, looking in each other’s eyes, synchronizing your energies, sending your sexual energy up your spine to your crown, which then you can cycle into each other, feeding on the rising intimacy and excitement.
Practice the Mindful Orgasm: This technique was recommended in 1500 BC. It simply requires both partners to keep their eyes open at the moment of orgasm and look into each other’s eyes. Resist the overwhelming desire to shut your eyes and stay in your mind, and stay present. Standing is the ancient Tantric position for remaining in the here and now during sex: it offers a straight upward path for the kundalini energy to rise all the way to the crown.
Practice the Kundalini Orgasm: There are seven (or eight) energy centers, or charkas, operating in the human body. The first chakra is the root, or base, chakra, situated at the coccyx just above the anus. The second chakra is the sex chakra, situated in the genitals and lower back. For most people, during sex this is as far up the chakra ladder as the kundalini energy (also known as serpent, or sex, energy, or Shakti) will rise. The Kundalini Orgasm ultimately involves the rising of the kundalini energy all the way to the seventh, or crown, chakra, situated on top of the head, which governs our spiritual life. It is said to be the home of Shiva and when the kundalini energy and the god Shiva are reunited we are free, enlightened, released from the bonds of life and death. The perfect state of union between Shiva and our kundalini is called moksha, which is also the name of a woman’s orgasm. The kundalini must thus rise through the third chakra, the solar plexus chakra, situated in the pit of the stomach, then through the heart chakra, then the throat chakra, and then the brow--or third eye--chakra, assuming that they are open and vibrant enough. (The eighth chakra is supposed to be your aura, the magnetic energy field around your body.)
Practice the Valley Orgasm: Also called the tantric wave, it comes as an undulation. The body flows like a fish moves in water, in smooth motions up and down, in curves that keep coming in regular unexpected intervals.
Practice the Clearing Orgasm: It is unleashed from a big release of emotions and tensions. It clears out stuck emotions. It can sound painful, with screams and wails, and might frighten a partner, but is a way of freeing your body, mind, and soul. Afterwards, you feel spent, and drained, and happy.
Practice the Cosmorgasm: This is the orgasm that extends out into the universe or the cosmos. It happens when you alone or the two of you build your energy within yourself, and then when, fully charged and grounded, extend your energy out to the top of your head, through your crown chakra, into the air and sky above. Be sure you’re not throwing the energy away or ‘losing yourself’.
Practice the Big TTO—Tantric Transformative Orgasm: It comes from cycling sexual energy. It continues going upward for a long time, and ideally lasts throughout the sexual experience.
ENERGETIC ANATOMY: LEARN THE CHAKRAS
LOWER CHAKRAS
1st Chakra: Root (Muladhara):
Color it Represents: Red. Element it Represents: Earth. Body Aspect it Rules: Physical. Organs Affected: Dense, solid parts of the body; teeth, nails, legs, lowest organs, intestines, prostate. Gland Controlled: Adrenal. Mantra to Chant: LAM. Lotus Petals on Chakra Lotus Symbol: 4 (& four directions). Yoga Asanas & Bandhas to Support & Strengthen it: Standing poses, squats, one legged poses, lower mulabandha thigh lock.
Effects: Survival issues (food, shelter), security; groundedness & connection to the earth & the physical world. Root relationships: parents, siblings, tribal bonds. Deeply held beliefs, prejudices, fears; fear of death. Connection to natural laws & trust in nature. Most life issues are first root chakra psychological issues. A strong first root chakra means the universe is looking out for you; you can trust in it & let go of fears. Solid earth.
2nd Chakra: Lower Abdomen (Svadhisthana)
Color: Orange. Element: Water. Body: Emotional. Organs Affected: Reproductive organs: kidney, bladder. All liquids & fluids. Gland: Testes & Ovaries. Mantra: VAM. Lotus Petals: 6. Asanas & Bandhas: Supported bridge, pigeon, hip openers, upper mulabandha perineum lock (PC muscles or Kegels).
Effects: Sexual issues. Creativity. Male/female balance; pure emotions, powerful feelings, flow; to give & receive freely, to be open to emotions; ambition; passion; sexual desire; kundalini. By doing Kegel exercises, you redirect the sexual fluids up to the spine & unleash creativity (rather than ejaculate) & resolve emotional or psychosexual issues. This is the creative chakra, it also controls childbirth, all reproduction, real or symbolic. The juices your body makes have a bearing on your creativity, output in life, healing power, & spiritual awakening. If you ejaculate too often, you waste your creative potential. Sexual continence, control of fluids is recommended. If you understand who you are sexually, you're healthy. If you're sexually ambivalent or weak or guilt-ridden, you have a weak 2nd chakra. During headstand, with an engaged (tight) mulabandha, sexual energy trickles down to the heart & the brain, so you aren't manipulated by sex, instead you're fluid.
3rd Chakra: Solar Plexus (Manipuraka)
Color: Yellow. Element: Fire. Body: Mental. Organs Affected: Abdomen, lower back, digestive system, nervous system, stomachs. Gland: Pancreas. Mantra: RAM. Lotus Petals: 10 (& 10 planets). Asanas & Bandhas: Abs, Navasana, leg lifts, waistline stretches, psoas, uddiyama bandha stomach lock.
Effects: Trust, gut instinct, security in life; will power; manifestations of desire & projections in the physical world & work; will to live. Center: balance between upper & lower chakras, between material & spiritual self, between feeling & being. A strong 3rd chakra helps you manifest your desire into the world by vibration, to establish what you want in life, set your intention in the physical world through your gut. Work on your stomach, cultivate the fire in the belly. Build this center of the body, so you're free of ambivalence & indecision, so you don't blow with the wind nor get stuck in a rut. Do navasana every day & you'll get your manifestation. A strong gut projects powerfully & dominates (with detachment).
HIGHER CHAKRAS
(Eventually the 3 lower chakras, the human aspects, get integrated into the higher chakras)
4th Chakra: Heart (Anahata)
Color: Green. Element: Air. Body: Astral ("out of body"). Organs Affected: Heart, blood, cardiovascular & respiratory systems, chest & ribcage. Gland: Thymus. Mantra: YAM. Lotus Petals: 12. Asanas & Bandhas: Shoulder openers, arms behind the back, all backbends, twists, fish, chest rolls.
Effects: Love freely; give & receive; love of humanity; universal ample love; forgiveness, acceptance, gratitude, patience, positive attitude in life; no negativity, no territoriality.
5th Chakra: Throat (Visuddha)
Color: Blue. Element: Ether. Body: Etheric. Organs Affected: Throat, vocal chords, jaw, neck, voice, module oblongata. Gland: Thyroid. Mantra: HAM. Lotus Petals: 16. Asanas & Bandhas: Fish, neck rolls, shoulderstand, plow, jalandara bandha neck lock.
Effects: Promotes communication, use of sound, expressions of truth, of laughter or crying, & the balance between silence & speech; chanting; helps you speak your truth & teach.
6th Chakra: 3rd Eye (Ajna)
Color: Purple. Element: Light (Photon). Body: Celestial. Organs Affected: Face, eyes, nose, sinus, cerebellum, lower brain, nervous system, electromagnetic activity among brain cells, absorption of oxygen. Gland: Pituitary. Mantra: OM. Lotus Petals: 2. Asanas & Bandhas: All inversions, all poses with forehead on the floor, all meditation at browpoint, child's pose.
Effects: Promotes intuition, psychic knowingness, inner guidance, spiritual essence, imagination; helps us see our path clearly & be aligned with the divine will.
7th Chakra: Crown (Sahasrara)
Color: Blinding light. White. Element: Absolute. Body: Beyond Body. Organs Affected: Upper brain, top of skull. Gland: Pineal. Mantra: Silence. Lotus Petals: 1000. Asanas & Bandhas: Inversions (esp. sirsasana) when the head is below the heart, padmasana meditation.
Effects: Union with All that is. Divine Connection. Bliss. Anananda. Knowing the self beyond words or intellect or body as it reflects the Divine. Samadhi. Ultimate Universal Consciousness.
Practice breathing through the charkas. Inhale deeply into your lower belly and chest, until it swells out like a blissed Buddha. Inhale through your mouth and exhale. Make all the connections from coccyx to crown in a clear flow. You can either draw breath up from the earth to the heavens, or draw breath down from the top of your head to your base, and ultimately you’ll find the magical center, known as ‘the jewel in the lotus.’
Throwing a Tantra for Tibet
Tantra derives from Vedic/Hindu religions, not Buddhist; it was most common in Northern India, and soon became part of Southern Indian local religions such as the worship of Kali. A strange offshoot of it is the Tibetan religion called Tibetan Buddhism, also referred to as Tibetan Lamaism. In ancient times, Tibet had a native local god/goddess religion, parallel to the Indian regional god/goddess systems. Around the time of the Aryan invasion of India, Aryans consolidated the trinity male god concept (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) by absorbing the countless Dravidian local goddesses as "shaktis" (originally the word meant "power" but came to imply "female consort") for their triad. The Tibetans were left free of influence, so their "Lamaism" doesn’t resemble classic Hinduism. Then Buddhism swept in and the Tibetans took to it, but never abandoned their old god/goddess pairings, so the 108 Bodhisatvas (108 is a sacred number in many cultures), the nearly enlightened saints who could have achieved nirvana ("nothingness") but chose as good Samaritans to reincarnate and help other souls evolve to the point of nirvana, were Buddhist versions of the ancient gods, and each of these 108 Bodhisatvas is shown with a naked woman, his shakti, in his lap in explicit embrace. The 108 Tibetan shaktis are the remnants of local goddesses, and bear the mnemonic attributes (color, sacred objects they hold, mudras or finger gestures, accompanying animals or flowers, etc.) of their former status. Just as the Catholic church took "The Song of Solomon" and reinterpreted to be not about libidinal longing but about the Church's longing for Jesus, so did the Tibetan Buddhists explain the sexual congress between the 108 Bodhisatvas and their shaktis as an ephemeral spiritual congress and symbol of wholeness, yin and yang. In Judaism the Shekinah is a female principle representing light or god's holy spirit, and is a left over of an indigenous goddess-worship system that was absorbed into the worship of the male god Jehovah. In the Vedic (Hindu) Tantra sects, the shakti is reprented by a woman of normal size. In the Tibetan tankas, the shakti is smaller-than-average or doll-size in the Bodhisatva's lap. Without his shakti, the Bodhisatva would not be enlightened. The Buddhist search for "nothingness" and "absence of desire" melded with the earlier nature-worship religion. Young male candidates for the monastery at 17 would receive two years training in Tantric sex with a female teacher (a woman in her 30s or 40s, who taught many men) and then were gradually weaned from physical sex into spiritual sex, so that they could experience the same sort of sexual-spiritual bliss through imaginative meditation. Accounts written by travelers to Tibet during the 19th and early 20th century recount that the young men were hermits, made to dwell in isolated caves, their food was brought to them twice a day, and the sexual teacher came to them at intervals. They were to meditate upon sexual union with her while she was away, and eventually they achieved a state of protracted sexual union and bliss in the absence of any physical entity to become Bodhisatvas themselves, with their shakti reduced from a real woman to a holy spirit or memory of their teacher. Their lover in her spiritual guise was called a tulpa. Then the Chinese stopped this.
By the 19th century, when Western reports of it became common, Indian tantra degenerated to glorified temple prostitution. Most women in India were socially and culturally devalued and tantra could not enhance their lost status. In Tibet, Northern India and Nepal, women were treated with greater dignity, so the tantra practiced there was less opportunistic. Even so there were splits between the "left hand" and "right hand" Tantric sects. The left hand sects were more orgiastic and the right hand sects were more devotional. In the 19th century also began the Westernization of Tantra, known as Karezza (Italian for "caress"), which was promulgated in the U.S. by Alice Bunker Stockham in 1880. Karezza flourished prior to WWI and found adherents around the world. It was popular in the social circles of the time along with interest in Theosophy, female suffrage, occultism, dress reform, temperance, and Christian Socialism. Since then, travelers and self-proclaimed gurus have come back from Asia with vastly different versions of tantra, from those that want, exclusively, the female performing oral sex on the male (and swallowing his sperm, rubbing it on her skin, etc) for her health, longevity, and spiritual enlightenment to those that promote the same for men to everything in between. And so long as they raise the sexual experience above the level of sin and filth where the medieval monotheistic religions of the world relegated it, and so long as they are not cults, they are welcome.
