Tantra is an esoteric system of ritual and yoga in the Hindu, Taoist and Buddhist traditions. It is characterized by complex uses of chanted mantra, the visual meditations on symbolic diagrams or mandala, and the imporantce of female deities called Shakti. Tantric practices include cremation-ground practices such as meditation of corpses and the ritual use of wine, meat, and sexual intercourse. These practices use ritual and meditation to unify the devotee with the chosen deity. In Buddhism, rituals that appear to break basic moral precepts have for the most part been dropped, but the complex meditation practices have been retained.
Hindu Tantra
There are two different paths: dakshinachara and vamachara, translated as Right-Hand Path and Left-Hand Path respectively. Dakshinachara consists of traditional Hindu practices such as asceticism and meditation, while vamachara also includes ritual practices that go against the grain of mainstream Hinduism, including sexual rituals, consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants, animal sacrifice and flesh-eating. The two paths are viewed by as equally valid approaches to liberation. Vamachara, however, is considered to be the faster and more dangerous of the two, not suitable for all practitioners.
There are three classes of devotees: The animal devotee, one who is still mired in darkness (tamas), performs rituals with material symbols, following the teachings even when lacking understanding of their meaning. The heroic devotee, driven by activity (rajas), uses the five elements, called the five m’s: fish (matsya), meat (mamsa), wine (madya), aphrodisiac cereals (mudra), and sexual intercourse (maithuna) in his development. The divine devotee, in whom goodness (sattva) predominates, symbol and ritual are internalized, making it possible to awaken kundalini energy.
The universe is a manifestation of pure consciousness, divided into two interdependent poles. Shiva, the masculine element, is static, and is identified with unmanifested consciousness. It has the power to be but not to become or change. The other, Shakti, is the feminine aspect, which is dynamic and creative. She is the mother of the universe from whom all form is borm [Note that in Buddhist Tantra, or Vajrayana, in contrast to the Hindu, the female principle of ‘wisdom’ (prajna) is seen as static, whereas the male, or ‘means’ (upaya), is active].
The human body is a microcosm of the universe. In people, the feminine Shakti element is called Kundalini. The practice of Kundalini Yoga aims to awaken this feminine energy and make it ascend through the chakras (psychic centers) along the spine to the crown of the head, where it merges with the masculine Shiva element. Each of the chakras corresponds to one of the elements of which the world is composed. Muladhara represents solidity; Svadhisthana, liquidity; Manipura, the gaseous; Anahata, the aerial; Vishuddha, the etheric, or space. Hence, the ascent through the body is symbolic of one through the macrocosm of the universe. The Kundalini is usually pictured as a fiery serpent, while the chakras are represented as lotuses. The increasing number of lotus petals in ascending order may indicate the rising energy vibration frequencies of the chakras. When the serpent reaches a flower, the petals open and the lotus lifts, symbolizing the activation of its energies; when it leaves, the lotus closes and hangs down, it’s energies assimilated into the Kundalini. Once the snake reaches the last chakra, Kundalini merges with Shiva and the duality is dissolved in an ecstatic union. Afterwards, the serpent slowly descends back to the root chakra.
Taoist Alchemy
In Taoist tantra, the main aim is the search for immortality or at least a long life. Likely influenced by the Kundalini forms of Hindu tantra, Taoist tantric alchemy involves breath, muscle control and concentrates on retention of vitality. Most men can repopulate an entire continent with a single ejaculation, while most women are born with enough eggs to generate hundreds of lives. Consequently, when the hormones and nutrients of sexual activity are not used towards procreation, they should be harnessed to make our own life longer, healthier and more enjoyable.
The practice relies very little on external objects, focusing mainly on internal processes. The Taoist Canon recalls a group of Aryans who were shipwrecked on the South China shore thousands of years ago. They did not die, nor have children, and became known as the Shining Ones. They transmitted their secret magical and healing practices to the shamans. When Buddhism came to China, shamans were persecuted, like witches in the west, so they became Taoists, rivals to the Buddhists, and continued their practices in secret, using only internal energy, internal alchemy, without the use of accessories to identify themselves. The saying goes "you cannot tell a sage by his clothes."
A clear tantric parallel with Kundalini yoga can be seen in the Taoist Golden Light or Microcosmic Orbit Meditation. This technique uses a visualization of a ball of energy (sometimes a serpent), which represents jing, [’essence’, sometimes synonymous with semen but feminine (yin) in nature, the dense energy residing in the genitals] that slowly rises from the base of the spine to the back of the brain, where it is absorbed by the Nirvana Chamber in the brain’s center, mixing with shen, [the ’soul’, the male (yang) element, residing in the head], and then returns downward, replenishing the body’s vital energy. While there is some disagreement concerning the exact location of energy centers/chakras, the underlying concet is the same.
The third major type of energy is qi, or ‘breath’, seen by extension as ‘life force’ or ’spirit’ that is part of everything. It is harnessed through meditation and the practice of qigong, or ‘qi work’, which uses the coordination of various breathing patterns, physical postures and motions of the body to manage the breath and promote good health. While bearing some resemblance to hatha yoga, qigong is more dynamic, as it aims at a perpetual circulation of energy.
