Author: Imma Ramos
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0500480621
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A captivating study of the ancient Indian movement that has influenced and intrigued the world for more than a millennium. The Tantras, a set of sacred manuscripts that emerged in India from around the sixth century CE, detail rituals for attracting spiritual, worldly, and supernatural power. These rituals, which focus on the power of fierce gods and goddesses and center around yoga, self-deification, sexual rites, and the consumption of intoxicants, became an integral part of the meditations and philosophical practices of Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism. This book examines the philosophies, core beliefs, and artistic expressions of Tantra, and its impact on religious, cultural, and political landscapes across the globe. In tracing the history of the movement, author Imma Ramos reveals Tantra’s origins and continued relevance in India, as well as its redefinition as it was adopted by Western popular culture during the 1960s. Tantra: enlightenment to revolution accompanies a major exhibition at the British Museum, and is illustrated extensively with masterpieces of sculpture, painting, print, and ritual objects from India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, dating as far back as the eighth century CE.
Author: Miranda Shaw
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691010908
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
Anyone who reads a Tantric text or enters a Tantric temple immediately encounters a pantheon of female Buddhas and a host of female enlighteners known as "dakinis," who dance and leap in joyous poses that communicate a sense of mastery and spiritual power. This striking female imagery is fully compatible with Shaw's findings. Drawing on interviews and archival research conducted during two years of fieldwork in India and Nepal, including more than forty previously unnoticed works by women of the Pala period (eighth through twelfth centuries C.E.), she substantially reinterprets the history of Tantric Buddhism during its first four centuries. In her view, the Tantric theory of this period promotes an ideal of cooperative, mutually liberative relationships between women and men while encouraging a sense of reliance on women as a source of spiritual insight and power.
Author:
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 1609259637
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
Unlocking the secrets of Tantra—one of the most alluring forms of Buddhism Often misunderstood, Tantrism focuses on a particular style of meditation and ritual. Having far more to do with the sacred than the sexual, Tantric Buddhism is believed to have originated around the 5th Century AD in the rich cultural basin of Bengal and spread throughout the Asian world. Today it is widely practiced in Tibet, Japan, and the West. The Secrets of Tantric Buddhism presents accessible translations of 46 classic texts found in the Carya-Giti, a collection of teachings by more than twenty famous Siddhas, or Tantric adepts, who lived during the illustrious Pala dynasty of the 10th and 11th centuries. Renowned translator and scholar Thomas Cleary unlocks the mysteries of these texts and provides commentary for each that explains the ancient teachings in a way that makes them seem fresh and contemporary. These teachings emanate from one of the most dynamic sources of Buddhism, at the height of its religious development. They are completely nonsectarian and will be greeted enthusiastically by those interested in spirituality, world religions, and classic Buddhism.
Author: William Schindler
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 125790356X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
In this volume that follows Gay Tantra (Xlibris 2000) and Essays on Gay Tantra (Xlibris 2000), William Schindler, a.k.a. Brother William, invites the reader into deeper and previously mostly secret aspects of Tantric philosophy and practice. Traditional Tantra teaches methods of spiritual enlightenment-not sexual practices. In traditional Tantra sexuality and other types of sensuality are integrated into a whole-life approach to spirituality. But merely calling a practice or technique "Tantra" does not make it so. Traditional Tantra can only be learned from one who has studied and practiced in a line of enlightened Gurus. Brother William has been studying and practicing traditional Hindu Tantra since 1969 both in India and America, and since 1997, when he founded Ashram West, he has been teaching his adaptation of traditional Tantra for gay-identified persons, making intelligible the esoteric teachings of the ancient tradition.
Author: Thomas Cleary
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 160925564X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279
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Book Description
The Ecstasy of Enlightenment is an inside look at the spiritual world of Tantra--one of the most sophisticated, alluring, and controversial forms of Buddhism. Cleary unlocks the mysteries of the Carya-Giti, a collections of teachings by more than twenty famous Siddhas, or Tantric adepts, who lived during the illustrius Pala dynasty of old Bengal. These teachings emanate from one of the most dynamic sources of international Buddhism, at the height of its religious development, and as such, they are completely nonsectarian. Particularly noteworth is Cleary's demonstration of the parallels between Tantric Buddhism in Old Bengal and the original Zen Buddhism of China.
Author: Thubten Yeshe
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 086171136X
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
Based on Lama Je Tsongkhapa's text Having the Three Convictions, this book is a commentary on the renowned Six Yogas of Naropa, a completion stage practice of Highest Yoga Tantra.
Author: Lex Hixon
Publisher: Quest Books
ISBN: 9780835607025
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
Those who love poetry will appreciate the wildly metaphysical, allegorical, and yet intensely honest and personal songs of the eighteenth-century poet and saint Ramprasad. These songs vividly present the mystery of the Feminine Divine, an intimate experience of the Mother, and a vast play of energy sustained by the Goddess Kali.
Author: Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver
Publisher: Balboa Press
ISBN: 1452585431
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 145
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Book Description
Sexual Enlightenment provides a guide for anyone-from couples to singles, from parents to students, from professionals to entrepreneurs-looking for bringing lasting fulfillment into their lives, relationships and work. Introducing cutting-edge principles and inspiring practices on how to access innate creative energy, listen to the wisdom of the heart, and connect with the power of the conscious mind, Dr. Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver offer a road map that can alter and enlighten the way you look at sexual energy, love, and your conscious self. They provide practical advice on how to - access peace and joy anytime and anywhere by calming the unending chatter in your mind; - circulate your life force energy within for achieving greater physical health, increased emotional well-being, and deeper spiritual connection; - feel confident, grounded, and vital in yourself by accessing and training your love muscle; - experience an instant love connection with your partner, avoiding debilitating fights and mutual accusations; - come into balance of your yin and yang nature for creating the life and relationships you always wanted; - release blocks from the past that no longer serve you and keep you from experiencing fulfillment in life, love, and intimacy; - bring pleasure into your daily life by tapping into your creative life force energy; - enjoy reawakening your feminine joyous self as a woman; - cultivate sustaining your masculine pleasurable energy as a man; and - draw on your life-giving sexual energy to infuse your wishes and realize your dreams.
Author: Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D.
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834825457
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
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.
Author: Alex Wayman
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 414
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Book Description
The Enlightenment of Vairocana is a covering for two books that study a famous Buddhist scripture with given Sanskrit titles of Vairocanabhisambodhitantra or Mahavairocanasutra. The first book, by Alex Wayman, translates the second chapter, which contains the body mandala of Vairocana's Compassion, copiously using Buddhaguhya's commentary, study of some other chapters such as the final one on fire lineage, and includes much introductory material, stressing the Indo-Tibetan approach, on such topics as the Dharmadhatu and the deities of the second chapter. The second book, by Ryujun Tajima, translates the first chapter, with the scripture's theory of becoming a Buddha in one life, copiously using Subhakarasimha's commentary, summary of the remaining chapters, and includes introductory material stressing the Sino-Japanese approach, especially introducing the reader to the positions of the Shingon sect. The two books complement each other, and provide the interested reader with a veritable feast of information. Hopefully the reader will appreciate the beauty of religious message, and the efforts of the two authors to render the words of the scripture sensitively and carefully. It should be admitted that this is a profound Buddhist scripture with numerous well-crafted verses, and that it is resistent to the understanding, requiring lengthy attention for its penetration.
