My translation of Light on Tantra chapter one continues after a two-year hiatus! This section is about magical ritual, among other things . . .
What distinguishes Tantra?
Many who believe that Tantra is mainly about sex found justification for their belief in the publication of a book called Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Contexts. This short post, drawn from my PhD dissertation, seeks to show how deeply problematic that book is, and offers a three-point definition of what distinguishes Tantra from other forms of Asian spirituality.
The Blossoming of Innate Awareness
Near Enemy #2: Speaking your truth
Near Enemy #3: I want to be my best self
Near Enemy #10: You create your own reality
Near Enemy #6: Love yourself
Near Enemy #12: Negative energy
Near Enemy #5: Listen to your heart
On the Importance of Truth in the Spiritual Life
Tantrik Shaiva Philosophy in Context
Expanding the Center
Embodied Liberation: the goal of Tantrik Yoga
This extraordinary sutra teaches the goal of Tantrik Yoga—and of every nondual path—here called jīvanmukti or 'embodied liberation', and offers a beautiful definition of that goal: "jīvanmukti is defined as the natural freedom that arises for one who has recognized her own essence-nature when the entire mass of bondage melts away yet she continues to care for the prāṇas of the body."
Attaining Your Innate Power
The Fire Within
Awareness, like a fire, ‘devours’ all things; that is to say, it is that inner space in which all experienced things converge, and in which all experiences are dissolved and ultimately resolved. Since all beings exhibit that capacity at least partially, we know that all beings are forms of that same divine Consciousness which has the capacity to 'devour' all things.
And then there is a turn . . .
Chapter Thirteen of the Recognition Sutras is the pivot point of the text; what came before describes the process by which transindividual Awareness (aka Divine Consciousness) contracts into the form of a deluded and suffering human being, while what comes after describes the process by which such a being realizes his or her nature as that unbounded Consciousness.
Finding the spacious ground within
This second reading of Sūtra Eight explores how the nature of awareness can be realized by careful reflection on the process of cognition—specifically, how thoughts, feelings, and perceptions arise and dissolve within awareness. Such profound self-reflection leads one beyond philosophy to a direct contemplation of the nature of fundamental Awareness itself. This contemplative process, if properly directed, results in awakening to your true nature.
The only real limitation is self-limitation
Chapter Twelve of The Recognition Sutras reveals how the state of bondage that most people live in is nothing other than the state of being deluded by and about the powers and potencies of one's very own consciousness. Learn how this delusion manifests as inhibition, and how the key to freedom lies in unraveling the misunderstandings you have about yourself.
