I had the great fortune once to witness a Hopi dance ceremony in person. The authenticity and reverence were awe-inspiring. I watched the noble carriage of the body, an erect posture rarely seen in white culture, proud but not arrogant. There was rhythm from the...
Watching the Gurdjieff movement videos, I found them fascinating and strange, and strangely disembodied. The staccato of the movements was a little off-putting. The body is being used to represent expanded consciousness or cosmic laws, so is symbolizing anything other than interoception. The body is...
In the three forms of Buddhism presented this week, both Mahayana and Theravada share a worldview that the body is more than just an impediment on the spiritual path, it is foul, polluted and disgusting. In Theravada, the goal is to root out and eliminate...
At least two of the traditions that consider sex a valid path of spiritual development have been in the process of reinventing themselves for the kinds of people who live today. Western tantra reinterpreted by Osho and spread by teachers influenced by his lineage such...
The modern western sacred sexuality tradition appears to be developing as a valid spiritual path. The ancient traditions were designed for people who were very different than those today and need to be updated. Monasteries and convents are closing because few people define spirituality that...
The philosophy and teachings of Kūkai are another tradition that has been identified as sex-positive, although it cannot be said that it was. Kūkai lived in the 9th Century and was a Japanese Buddhist monk. Yuasa (1987) stated that while there was no theoretical analysis...
Karmamudra refers to the Tantric Buddhist practice of engaging in cultivated forms of sexual arousal and intercourse as part of spiritual practice. It has been called “the yoga of bliss,” “the path of skillful means,” and “the path of the great bliss of the lower...
Tibetan BuddhismIn Tibet, with the entry of Buddhism brought by Padmasambhava, a similar melding of the indigenous Bon tradition and the inner, interior, monastic philosophy occurred. Much of Tibetan Buddhism was similarly patriarchal and used sex only as a transgressive act, except for strains that...
One of the lesser-known sects of the Kaula tradition that has been ignored by scholars and art historians are the yogini cults (Dehejia,1986). These cults appear to have survived untouched by the influence of the patriarchal (or Buddhist) invasion. A series of circular temples honoring...
The Kaula sect retained its loyalty to the goddess, sexuality, the role of women, and the love of sensuality and the earth. Kaula divinized passion and sexual desire and taught the primacy of the body. The world was seen with what might be termed a...