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...
Tantra began in northern India around the same time as the introduction of Buddhism in 500-600 AD. Countless numbers of texts, or tantras, many of which have not yet been translated, were written expounding on the theory and practice of tantra, so it is not...
The teachings call the “tantras” began in northern India in the 500s. They spread to Tibet, China, and Japan around the same time. Patriarchy took over, and suddenly Shiva, a male god, was the source of all life and was now said to precede the...
There exists a “myth” that the world was originally a matriarchal paradise and therefore was sex-positive, before the conquest of the patriarchy about 5000 years ago. Feminist researchers such as Eisler and Gimbutas have written extensively about this subject. Jeffrey Kripal (2020) even states, “Among...
My question became: which, if any, of the spiritual traditions of the world understood sex to be a valid path of spiritual development? Did any of the traditions value sensuality and the body, the couple rather than the lone practitioner? There’s big difference between spiritual...
Being involved with Western tantra for decades, the idea that sex is a valid path of spiritual development has deeply informed my life. This is a minority opinion, however, and it turns out that it has been so worldwide and throughout most of recorded history....
When I was in a bookstore in the 70s and first encountered a book on tantra and the concept that sex was spiritual, it stopped me dead in my tracks. “Of course,” I said out loud, under my breath, “what else could it be?” I...
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