Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition. It was developed in the Indian subcontinent, beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE; initially within Shaivism and Shaktism practices, and subsequently in Buddhism and Vaishnavism.
Tantra presents complex cosmologies, viewing the body as divine and typically reflecting the union of Shiva and Shakti. Tantric goals include siddhi (supernatural accomplishment), bhoga (pleasure), and kundalini ascent; while also addressing states of possession (āveśa) and exorcism.
The term tantra in the Indian traditions also refers to a set of texts describing systems, methods, instruments, techniques and practices. The tantras focus on sādhanā, encompassing dīkṣā, rituals and yoga. A key feature of tantric traditions is the use of mantras, thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ('Path of Mantra') in Hinduism, Mantrayāna ('Mantra Vehicle') in Mahayana Buddhism.
In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions focuses on tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Buddhist Tantras. They include Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them.
Tantric Hindu and Buddhist traditions have also influenced other Eastern religious traditions such as Jainism, the Tibetan Bön tradition, Taoism, and the Japanese Shintō tradition.
Though Western views often equate Tantra with sex, scholars emphasize that sexual practices in tantric traditions are rare, highly restricted to initiated adepts, and serve as a means of spiritual transcendence rather than an end in themselves.
Etymology Tantra () literally means "loom, warp, weave". According to Padoux, the verbal root Tan means: "to extend", "to spread", "to spin out", "weave", "display", "put forth", and "compose". Therefore, by extension, it can also mean "system", "doctrine", or "work".
The connotation of the word tantra to mean an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a colonial era European invention. This term is based on the metaphor of weaving, states Ron Barrett, where the Sanskrit root tan means the warping of threads on a loom. It implies "interweaving of traditions and teachings as threads" into a text, technique or practice.
The word appears in the hymns of the Rigveda such as in 10.71, with the meaning of "warp (weaving)". It is found in many other Vedic era texts, such as in section 10.7.42 of the Atharvaveda and many Brahmanas. In these and post-Vedic texts, the contextual meaning of Tantra is that which is "principal or essential part, main point, model, framework, feature". In the Smritis and epics of Hinduism (and Jainism), the term means "doctrine, rule, theory, method, technique or chapter" and the word appears both as a separate word and as a common suffix, such as atma-tantra meaning "doctrine or theory of Atman (Self)".
The term "Tantra" after about 500 BCE, in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism is a bibliographic category, just like the word Sutra (which means "sewing together", mirroring the metaphor of "weaving together" in Tantra). The same Buddhist texts are sometimes referred to as tantra or sutra; for example, Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra is also referred to as Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra. The various contextual meanings of the word Tantra vary with the Indian text and are summarized in the appended table. +Appearance of the term "Tantra" in Indian texts Period Text or author Contextual meaning of tantra 1500–1100 BCE Ṛigveda X, 71.9 Loom (or weaving device) 1200–1000 BCE Sāmaveda, Tandya Brahmana Essence (or "main part", perhaps denoting the quintessence of the Śāstras)1200–900 BCE Atharvaveda X, 7.42 Loom (or weaving)1200–800 BCE Yajurveda, Taittiriya Brahmana 11.5.5.3 Loom (or weaving)800-600 BCE Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa Essence (or main part; see above)600–500 BCE Pāṇini in Aṣṭādhyāyī 1.4.54 and 5.2.70 Warp (weaving), loom350–283 BCE Chanakya on Arthaśāstra Science; system or shastra 300 CE Īśvarakṛṣṇa author of Sānkhya Kārikā (kārikā 70) Doctrine (identifies Sankhya as a tantra) 320 CE Viṣṇu Purāṇa Practices and rituals 320–400 CE Poet Kālidāsa on Abhijñānaśākuntalam Deep understanding or mastery of a topic 423 Gangdhar stone inscription in Rajasthan Worship techniques (Tantrodbhuta) Dubious link to Tantric practices. 500 Hilko Wiardo Schomerus and Humphrey Palmer (2000), Śaiva Siddhānta: An Indian School of Mystical Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 7–10 Hindu Agamas A set of esoteric doctrines and practices, featuring archaic prosody and linguistic evidence dating back to 500 BCE.Hilko Wiardo Schomerus and Humphrey Palmer (2000), Śaiva Siddhānta: An Indian School of Mystical Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 7–10 Tantra here implies "Extensive knowledge of principles of reality". 550 Sabarasvamin's commentary on Mimamsa Sutra 11.1.1, 11.4.1 etc. Thread, text; beneficial action or thing 606–647 Sanskrit scholar and poet Bāṇabhaṭṭa (in Harṣacarita and in Kādambari), in Bhāsa's Cārudatta and in Śūdraka's Mṛcchakatika Set of sites and worship methods to goddesses or Matrikas. 650 Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes, Motilal Banarsidass 1996, p.321 Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra The first evidence of Buddhist esoteric doctrines or practices, known as Vajrayāna and sometimes also as Tantrayāna. post-650 Buddhist tantric literature Various Vajrayāna esoteric doctrines or practices. 975–1025 Philosopher Abhinavagupta in his Tantrāloka Set of doctrines or practices, teachings, texts, system (synthesis of the 64 monistic āgamas and based on Kashmir Shaivism) 1150–1200 Jayaratha, Abhinavagupta's commentator on Tantrāloka Set of doctrines or practices, teachings 1690–1785 Bhaskararaya (philosopher) System of thought or set of doctrines or practices, a canon
Definition Ancient and medieval era The 5th-century BCE scholar Pāṇini in his Sutra 1.4.54–55 of Sanskrit grammar, cryptically explains tantra through the example of "Sva-tantra" (Sanskrit: स्वतन्त्र), which he states means "independent" or a person who is his own "warp, cloth, weaver, promoter, karta (actor)".
Patanjali in his Mahābhāṣya quotes and accepts Panini's definition, then discusses or mentions it at a greater length, stating that its metaphorical definition of "warp (weaving), extended cloth" is relevant to many contexts. The word tantra, states Patanjali, means "principal, main".
He uses the same example of svatantra as a composite word of "sva" (self) and tantra, then stating "svatantra" means "one who is self-dependent, one who is his own master, the principal thing for whom is himself", thereby interpreting the definition of tantra. Patanjali also offers a semantic definition of Tantra, stating that it is structural rules, standard procedures, centralized guide or knowledge in any field that applies to many elements.
The ancient Mimamsa school of Hinduism uses the term tantra extensively, and its scholars offer various definitions. For example:
Medieval texts present their own definitions of Tantra. , for example, gives the following explanation of the term tantra:
Modern era Many definitions of Tantra have been proposed, and there is no universally accepted definition. Tantric traditions have been studied mostly from textual and historical perspectives. Anthropological work on living Tantric tradition is scarce, and ethnography has rarely engaged with the study of Tantra. This is arguably a result of the modern construction of Tantrism as occult, esoteric and secret. Some scholars have tried to demystify the myth of secrecy in contemporary Tantric traditions, suggesting new methodological avenues to overcome the ethical and epistemological problems in the study of living Tantric traditions.
André Padoux, in his review of Tantra definitions offers two, then rejects both. One definition, according to Padoux, is found among Tantra practitioners – it is any "system of observances" about the vision of man and the cosmos where correspondences between the inner world of the person and the macrocosmic reality play an essential role. Another definition, more common among observers and non-practitioners, is some "set of mechanistic rituals, omitting entirely the ideological side".
According to David N. Lorenzen, two different kinds of definitions of Tantra exist, narrow and broad. According to the narrow definition, Tantrism, or "Tantric religion", is the elite traditions directly based on the Sanskrit texts called the Tantras, Samhitas, and Agamas. Lorenzen's "broad definition" extends this by including a broad range of "magical beliefs and practices" such as Yoga and Shaktism.
Richard Payne states that Tantra has been commonly but incorrectly associated with sex, given popular culture's prurient obsession with intimacy. Tantra has been labelled as the "yoga of ecstasy", driven by senseless ritualistic libertinism. This is far from the diverse and complex understanding of what Tantra means to those Buddhists, Hindu and Jains who practice it.
David Gray disagrees with broad generalizations and states that defining Tantra is a difficult task because "Tantra traditions are manifold, spanning several religious traditions and cultural worlds. As a result they are also diverse, which makes it a significant challenge to come up with an adequate definition". The challenge of defining Tantra is compounded by the fact that it has been a historically significant part of major Indian religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, both in and outside South Asia and East Asia. To its practitioners, Tantra is defined as a combination of texts, techniques, rituals, monastic practices, meditation, yoga, and ideology.
According to Georg Feuerstein,
Hindu puja, temples and iconography all show tantric influence. These texts, states Gavin Flood, contain representation of "the body in philosophy, in ritual and in art", which are linked to "techniques of the body, methods or technologies developed within the tantric traditions intended to transform body and self".
Tantrism
The term tantrism is a 19th-century European invention not present in any Asian language; compare "Sufism", of similar Orientalist origin. According to Padoux, Tantrism is a Western term and notion, not a category that is used by Tantrikas themselves. The term was introduced by 19th-century Indologists, with limited knowledge of India and in whose view Tantrism was a particular, unusual and minority practice in contrast to Indian traditions they believed to be mainstream.
Robert Brown similarly notes that "tantrism" is a construct of Western scholarship, not a concept of the religious system itself. He defines Tantrism as an apologetic label of Westerners for a system that they little understand that is "not coherent" and which is "an accumulated set of practices and ideas from various sources, that has varied between its practitioners within a group, varied across groups, across geography and over its history". It is a system, adds Brown, that gives each follower the freedom to mix Tantric elements with non-Tantric aspects, to challenge and transgress any and all norms, experiment with "the mundane to reach the supramundane".