Tantric Sex

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You may have heard of the term Tantra used in the context of New Age sexual techniques.  It is often portrayed as some mysterious practice that enables people to reach higher levels of sexual satisfaction. Even popular television shows such as Sex and the City had an episode that mentioned a few of its aspects. As is often the case with practices that were imported from Eastern religions, some keys elements were lost in translation.

Therefore I will explore the topic of Tantra, and more specifically Tantric Sex in order to gain a better understanding of this spiritual movement. This analysis may reveal how some of Tantra’s concepts and techniques can be used to enhance our spiritual and sexual well-being.

According to Wikipedia, Tantra is a Sanskrit word that is the combination of two root words Tanoti meaning stretch, extend, expand, and Trayati liberation. Thus, it is about becoming a fully developed human being who embraces all aspects of life, and by doing so reaches enlightenment and merges with the divine.

Tantrism is an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India based on sacred scriptures called Tantras.  According to a German professor of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, Ulrich Timme Kragh Ph.D., Tantric spirituality was a reaction against older elite religious traditions. There was a need in the general population for a religious practice that involved the body and the physical world.

Tantrism became a fully developed tradition by the end of the Gupta era. Tantrism has led to the creation of esoteric schools (i.e., Hinduism and Buddhism) and has influenced other religions (i.e., Hindu, Sikh, BÃ, and Jain). It also embraces the gender symbolism of male and female as well as takes into consideration feeling components in human experience.

Tantrics believe that the three-dimensional world that we experience is a concrete manifestation of the divine.  The goal of Tantric practice is to use prana (energy that flows through everything and person in the universe) and channel this energy through the human body by way of ritual to reach spiritual and/or material goals.

The mastery of Tantric methods requires long training.  Typically, a guru initiates the Tantrika (tantric practitioner) and the training involves:

• Yoga
• Breathing techniques
• Asana (body postures)
• Mudras (gestures)
• Mantras (syllables, words, and phrases)
• Mandalas and Yantras (symbolic diagrams of the forces at work in the universe)
• Visualization (identification with numerous Hindu gods and goddesses)

The above techniques/postures are used for meditation in order for the initiate to grow spiritually and increase their magical power.

Only some left-hand path or Vamachara Tantric schools use ritual sexual practices as a way of attaining a greater understanding of the Universe. The Dakshinachara or right-hand path does not engage in such practices.

Tantric sex or left-hand path may have its origins in early Hindu Tantra. The goal was to use sexual rites as a way to increase biochemical changes in the body to facilitate the experience of higher levels of consciousness. These rites may have evolved from clan initiation ceremonies that entailed the mixing of sexual fluids. Only a minority of sects were involved in such practices. Over time, the mixing of sexual fluids progressed into mainly psychological symbolism.

According to Tantric texts, sex has three distinct functions: procreation, pleasure, and liberation. In order to attain liberation (or a higher form of ecstasy), a couple should avoid active vaginal penetration and orgasms, but instead engage in static (or passive) penetration. Several elaborate preparatory and purification rites prepare the couple for this type of practice.

In Tantric sex, the sexual act balances subtle energies coursing through the spinal cord of both participants.  There are three main channels for this energy: ida (left side of the body, female aspect), pingala (right side of the body, male aspect), and sushumna nadi (the central channel).  During sex, the sushumna nadi awakens, and Kundalini energy at the base chakra rises upwards. Like two serpents, ida and pingala channels are activated and this ultimately leads to Samadhi (a state of union with the divine).

While physically conjoined, Tantrics perceive themselves as either Shiva (male destroyer deity) or Shakti (female creative deity). This union of male and female principles results in a united energy field between both participants as well as within their own individual bodies.

In the 1960s, American mythologist and writer Joseph John Campbell was one of the first Westerners to bring Tantra into the imagination of North Americans.  Tantra became viewed as a cult of ecstasy that mixed sexuality with spirituality, and a potentially corrective force for Westerners’ conflicted attitudes about sex.

Neo-Tantrism that is promoted in the West has undergone major changes. For example, practitioners do not rely on the guidance of a guru, do not subject themselves to extensive meditative practice, or follow traditional rules of moral and ritualistic conduct. As Charles D. Orzech Ph.D., Professor of Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism at the University of Chicago points out, Neo-Tantrism can be interpreted as the ideal religion for a Western consumerism society that may be overly focused on sense gratification.

The word Tantra in the Western World evokes images of a kind of mystical sexual practice.  Unfortunately, like many practices that are imported from other cultures, some key aspects have been removed to appeal to a different audience.  Tantrism as a religious movement involves (among other elements) the guidance of guru, postures, and a set of moral codes that one needs to follow.

Ironically, Tantric sex is only a smaller part of Tantrism.  The left-hand path followed by Vamachara Tantric schools incorporates sexuality as a means to higher consciousness.  When properly used, these techniques can help all of us nourish a deeper bond with our partner, and raise individual spiritual awareness, while experiencing union with the divine.

Literary Truths

According to Dr. Joy Davidson, Certified Sex Therapist, here are some interesting facts about Tantric sex:

• British colonization wiped out traditional sexual Tantric practices in India. Therefore today, many East Indians are unfamiliar with original sexual Tantra rituals and practices.

• Modern traditions of Tantra do not require a male and female partner. What matters are the energies embodied in a man, woman, two men, or two women.

• Western Tantra is goal-oriented whereas the Eastern version focuses on raising consciousness.

• The mixture of bodily fluids during sex is believed to contain magical powers.

• Right-hand path Tantra uses slow meditation practices and postures and expects that spiritual awakening will take many lifetimes.

• In sexual Tantra, the energy of orgasm should be directed toward an activity, idea, or deity and ideally may increase focus and willpower.

Truth in Motion

References

Kragh, Ulrich Timme. “Appropriation and assertion of the female self: materials for the study of the female Tantric Master Laksmi of Uddiyana.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 27.2 (2011): 85.

Larson, Gerald James. “Differentiating the concepts of ‘yoga’ and ‘tantra’ in Sanskrit literary history.” The Journal of the American Oriental Society 129.3 (2009): 487.

Larson, Gerald James. “Kashmir Saivism: The Central Philosophy of Tantrism.” Philosophy East and West 47.2 (1997): 259.

Orzech, Charles D. “Tantra: Sex, Secrecy, Politics, and Power in the Study of Religion.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 15.1 (2006): 156.

Picture 2: https://s1210.photobucket.com/user/endorphinboy/media/Goddess%2520Kali/couples_embrace_sepia.jpg.html?filters=Array

Tantra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra