Neo Tantra

Neotantra Sanskrit:: नव,   nava   'new') or Neotantra,   navatantra (Sanskrit tantric sex, is the modern, western variation of  tantra

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Prac Practi titi tion oner erss

often associated with new with  new religious movements. movements . This includes both  New Age  and modern Western interpretations of traditional traditional Hindu and Buddhist tantra. Some of its proponents refer to ancient and traditional texts and principles,[1][2] and many others use tantra as a catch-all phrase for “sacred sexuality”, and may incorporate unorthodox practices. In addition, not all of the elements of Indian Indi an tant tantric ric prac practic tices es are used used in neotan neotantra tra,, in parti particu cular lar the the reli relianc ancee on a guru. guru. As the the inter interes estt in Tantr Tantraa has grow grown n in the West, its perception deviates remarkably from the Tantric traditions. It was seen as a “cult of ecstasy”, combining sexuality and spirituality to correct Western repressive attitudes towards sex. [3] Hence for many modern readers Tantra is now synonymous with “spiritual sex” or “sacred sexuality,” a belief that sex should be recognized as a sacred act capable of elevating its participants to a higher spiritual plane.[4]

Sir   John John Geo George rge Wo Woodro odroff ffe, also known by his pseudon pseudonym ym Arthur Arthur Avalon, valon, was a British British   Orientalist whose work helped to unleash in the West a deep and wide interest in   Hindu philosophy and philosophy  and  Yogic practices. practices . Alongs Alongside ide his judicia judiciall duties duties he studied studied   Sanskrit and Hindu philosophy and philosophy  and was especially interested in Hindu Tantra.. He translated some twenty original Sanskrit texts Tantra and publis published hed and lectured lectured prolifi prolificall callyy on Indian on  Indian philosophy and losophy  and a wide range of  Yoga  Yoga and  and  Tantra  Tantra topics.  topics.[8] Woodroffe’s  The Serpent Power – The Secrets of Tantric  and Shaktic Yoga , is a source for many modern Western adaptations of Kundalini of  Kundalini yoga practice. yoga practice. It is a philosophically sophically sophisticated sophisticated commentary commentary on, and translation translation of, the Satcakra-nirupana (“Descri (“Descripti ption on of and Invest Investig igaation into the Six Bodily Centres”) of Purnananda (dated around AD 1550) and the  Paduka-Pancaka  (“Five-fold Footsto Footstool ol of the Guru”). Guru”). The The term“Ser term “Serpent pentPo Powe wer” r” refers refers to the kundalini the  kundalini,, an energy said to be released within an individual by meditation techniques. [9]

Pierre Bernard was Bernard was a pioneering American yogi American  yogi,, scholar, occultist, philosopher, mystic, and businessman. [10] He 1 Hi Hist stor oric ic sexu sexual al prac practi tice cess in trad tradiiclaime claimed d to have have travele traveled d to   Kashmir and   Bengal betional Tantra fore founding the Tantrik Order of America in 1905. [11] He eventually expanded to a chain of tantric clinics in places such such as Cleve Cleveland land,, Philade Philadelph lphia, ia, Chicago Chicago,, and The practice of Tantric Buddhism in  Western Xia led places New York Yo rk City. Bernard is widely widel y credited with being to the spread of some sexually related related customs. Before Before Uighur women in Shanxi in the 12th century could get the first American to introduce the philosophy and pracof  yoga and  and  tantra  tantra to  to the American people. [11] He married to men of their own ethnicity when they reached tices of yoga played a critic critical al role role in establi establishi shing ng a greatl greatlyy exagg exaggerer30 years old, they would have sex and bear children children with also played ated association of tantra with the use of sex for mystical multiple Han Chinese men and their desirability as a wife American mindset.[10] corresponded corresponded to whether she had been with a large num- purposes in the American ber of men.[5][6][7] Many teachers of this version of tantra believe that sex

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and sexual experienc experiences es are sacred sacred acts, acts, which which are capable of elevating their participants to a higher spiritual plane.[12] They often talk about raising  Kundalini energy,[13][14] worshiping the divine feminine, activating the chakras the chakras..[15] In this context, the word “tantra”, generally refers to the set of techniques for cultivating a more fulfilling fulfilling sexual sexual or loving loving relations relationship. hip. On the other hand, there are also some truly dedicated scholars and teachers teachers in the field of modern tantra.

Tantr Tantric ic sexua sexuali lity ty

See also: Tantra also:  Tantra and  and Tantra  Tantra massage As tantric practice became known in western culture, which has escalated since the 1960s, it has become identified with its sexual methods in the West. Consequently, its essential nature as a spiritual practice is often overlooked. The roles of sexuality in tantra and in neotantra, while related, are actually quite different, reflecting substantial differences in their cultural contexts.

Guru Bhagwan Guru  Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Rajneesh, later known as Osho, used his version of tantra in combination with breathing techniques, bio-energy, yoga, and massage in some of the groups groups at his ashram. ashram. He is the author author of many books books on meditation, taoism meditation,  taoism,,  buddhism  buddhism,, and mysticism and  mysticism,, and at least six on tantra. tantra. One of them is Tantra, The Supreme 1

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Understanding , in which he unpacks the verses of the "Song of Mahamudra", by Tilopa. In addition out of his discourses on the Vigyan Bhiarav (or Vijnaya-bhairava), the 112 practices for enlightenment resulted in the much longer  The Book of Secrets .[16] His students continue to develop his concepts.

REFERENCES 

form... This gives would-be Tantrics the opportunity to concoct their own idiosyncratic ceremonies and philosophies, which they can then promote as Tantra.” [18]

Responding to criticism of modern Western Tantra, GeOne of Osho’s students, Margot Anand, founded a school offrey Samuel, a historian of Indian and Tibetan Tantra called “Skydancing” tantra. She is the author of dozens of writes: books including the  Art of Everyday Ecstasy , and the  Art  of Sexual Magic , today is of the opinion that sex is a lim‘Tantra’ as a modern Western sexual and itation...awakening or enlightenment means transcend of spiritual practice, however complex and conall which is fenomenal, temporary and transient. Another tested its origins in Asia, was and is more than modern tantrika is Daniel Odier who believes that desire a fringe phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s can be a valid pathway to transcendence.[17] Sexologists, counterculture. On the contrary, it took up porn star and mother of Yoni massage  Annie Sprinkle themes of considerable depth and significance and Joseph Kramer (Sex educator) and father of Lingham within Western culture, and synthesized them massage are two examples of practitioners who teach sacreatively with borrowings from Buddhist and cred erotic massage. Joseph Kramer is known to have Hindu sources. Its slow but steady growth since developed TAO EROTIC MASSAGE. Andro Andreas the 1970s suggests that its potential has not yet Rothe (German Zen Monk) developed Tantra Massage been exhausted, and I would contend that to and Tantra Erotic Massage. dismiss it as an empty and superficial expression of the “spiritual logic of late capitalism” is Erotic, which isn't necessarily sexual, refers to a massage to miss the possibility of a development of real that massages the primary erogenous zones of the body, value.[19] that is penis, anus, vagina, or mouth. Shakti Verah Andro’s direct student, and Sri Moojiji (Advaita master) direct disciple, take the view that herogenous zones are to- According to author and critic of religion and politics tally a-sexual organs. Verah works with the body through Hugh Urban: tantra massage and tantra erotic massage to point to the no body. She doesn't seem to pay any attention to sexSince at least the time of   Agehananda ual energy—in her words: “sexuality is the highest state Bharati, most Western scholars have been of duality. As such, unless we transcend sex, we cannot severely critical of these new forms of pop rise beyond our basic ordinary human condition which is Tantra. This “California Tantra” as   Georg marked by life, procreation, death. Oneness is sexless, Feuerstein calls it, is “based on a profound misgender is bodiless. understanding of the Tantric path. Their main In 1997 Deborah Anapol convened a national Celebraerror is to confuse Tantric bliss... with ordinary tion of Eros, “a Conference on Sacred Sexuality, bringorgasmic pleasure.[20] ing together for the first time, teachers from Tantric, Taoist, Sufi, Buddhist, Jewish, Pagan, Hindu, Shinto, Urban says he does not consider this “wrong” or “false”, Wiccan, Occult, Native American, and Afro-Caribbean but “simply a different interpretation for a specific histortraditions.” ical situation.”[21]

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Criticisms

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Georg Feuerstein, a German Indologist who also trained in tantra, writes in the epilogue of his book  Tantra: Path of Ecstasy: “Many are attracted to Neo-Tantrism because it promises sexual excitement or fulfillment while clothing purely genital impulses or neurotic  emotional needs in an aura of spirituality. If we knew more about the history of Tantra in India, we would no doubt find a comparable situation for every generation.” He goes on to say, “Today translations of several major Tantras are readily available in book

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See also •

  Chuluaqui-Quodoushka

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  Erotic massage

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 Orgasm control

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 Sex magic

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 Venus Butterfly

References

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6.2 Citations 

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Notes

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[1] Yoga Spandakarika: The Sacred Texts at the Origins of  Tantra, Daniel Odier (2004)

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[2] The Yoga of Delight, Wonder, and Astonishment, A Translation of the Vijnaya-bhairava, Jaideva Singh, Motilal Banarsidass Publisher (1991)

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[3] For “cult of ecstasy” see: Urban (2003), pp. 204–205. [4] For “Tantra” as a synonym for “spiritual sex” or “sacred sexuality,” see: Urban (2003), pp. 204–205 [5] Michal Biran (15 September 2005).   The Empire of the Qara Khitai in Eurasian History: Between China and the Islamic World . Cambridge University Press. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-0-521-84226-6.

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[6] Dunnell, Ruth W. (1983).  Tanguts and the Tangut State of Ta Hsia. Princeton University., page 228 [7] , .  . [8] T.M.P. Mahadevan, foreword to; Arthur Avalon, Garland  of Letters , Ganesh and Company Madras, 6th ed. 1974 p iii. [9] Sir John Woodroffe. The Serets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga. Dover Publications NY 1974. p 313 [10] Urban

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[11] Stirling 2006, pg. 7 [12]  Sacred Orgasms , Kenneth Ray Stubbs (1992)

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[13]   Kundalini: Evolution and Enlightenment , Edited by John White, Paragon House (1979), Page 27-47

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[14] Tantric Yoga: The Royal Path to Raising Kundalini  Power , Gavin and Yvonne Frost,   Samuel Weiser   Publishing (1989)

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[15]  Jewel in the Lotus: The Sexual Path to Higher Consciousness , Sunyata Saraswati and Bodhi Avinasha, Kriya Jyoti Tantra Society (1987), Pages 77-90

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[16] Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1998) •

[17] Desire: The Tantric Path To Awakening, Daniel Odier, Inner Tradition Publishing (2001) •

[18]  Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, Georg Feuerstein, Shambala Press (1998), Page 271 •

[19] Samuel, Geoffrey; Tantric Revisionings, New Understandings of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion, p. 360 •

[20] Quotation from Urban (2003), pp. 204–205. [21] Urban (2003), pp. 204–205

Citations Tantra, The Supreme Understanding ,   Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1975)  The Art of Sexual Magic , Margot Anand (1996)  Kama Sutra: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Art of  Sex , Nitya Lacroix (2003)   Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving , Charles and Caroline Muir, Mercury House Publishers (1990)   The Tantra Experience: Discourses on the Royal  Song of Saraha , Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), Osho International Foundation (1978)  Red Hot Tantra: Erotic Secrets of Red Tantra for  Intimate, Soul-to-Soul Sex and Ecstatic, Enlightened  Orgasms , David Ramsdale and Cynthia W. Gentry, Quiver Publishing (2004)   Kundalini Tantra,   Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Yoga Publishing Trust (2001)

 Anand, Margot (2003).  The New Art of Sexual Ecstasy. New York:  HarperCollins.   Avinasha, B. (2003). The Ipsalu Formula – A Method for Tantra Bliss .   Valley Village, Los Angeles, California.: Ipsalu Publishing.   Batchelor, S. (ed., 1987).  The Jewel in the Lotus: A Guide to the Buddhist Traditions of Tibet . London, UK: Wisdom Publications.  Bharati, A. (1993).  Tantric Traditions . Delhi, India: Hindustan Publishing Company.  Douglas, N. (1997).  Spiritual Sex: Secrets of Tantra  from the Ice Age to the New Millennium . New York: Simon & Schuster.  Douglas, N. and Slinger, P. (1979).  Sexual Secrets:  The Alchemy of Ecstasy. New York: Destiny Books, ISBN 0892810106  Eden, D., Feinstein, D., & Myss, C. (1999).  Energy Medicine . New York: Tarcher/Putnam.   Feuerstein, G. (1998).  Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy . Boston:  Shambhala. Gerber, R.   (2001). Vibrational Medicine . Rochester, Vermont: Bear & Company.   Goodchild, V.  (2001). Eros and Chaos: The Sacred Mysteries and the Dark Shadows of Love . York Beach, Maine: Nicolas Hays.   Laue, T. (2012).   Tantra im Westen. Eine religionswissenschaftliche Studie über „Weißes Tantra Yoga“,  „Kundalini Yoga“ und „Sikh Dharma“ in Yogi Bha jans „Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization“ (3HO)

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unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der „3H Organisation Deutschland e. V.“ , Münster: LIT, 2012, zugl.: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 2011,  ISBN 978-3643-11447-1 •

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  Odier, D. (2001).  Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening. Rochester, Vermont:  Inner Traditions, 2001.  Osho Rajneesh, B. S.. (1976).  Meditation: The Art  of Ecstasy. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.   Osho [Rajneesh, B. S.]. (1976).   The Tantra Ex perience: Discourses on the Royal Song of Saraha (2 volumes).   Cologne, Germany:  Rebel Publishing Company.  Saraswati, S. S. (2003).  Kundalini Tantra . Munger, India: Yoga Publications Trust.  Sarita, M. A., & Geho, S. A. (2001).  Tantric Love . New York: Simon & Schuster.   Stubbs, K. R.  (1999). The Essential Tantra: A Modern Guide to Sacred Sexuality. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.   White, D. G.   (ed., 2000). Tantra in Practice . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.   Yeshe, L.  (2001).  Introduction to Tantra . Boston: Wisdom.

REFERENCES 

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Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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