To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/12/07 12:35
Subject: [K-list] Tantra left hand
From: winter mute
On 1999/12/07 12:35, winter mute posted thus to the K-list:
On Tue, 07 Dec 1999 08:04:41 Maureen Heffernan wrote:
>> The left hand path is the Tantric path using
>> sexuality-sensuality to awaken and entertain Kundalini.
>~~*+M~*
> Thanks for the fast response. Got another one. Well, why on other
>kundalini lists do they say that true Tantra does not involve sex?
>Give your cat a scratch on the cheek for me.(The cheek of the face,hee)
Ooooh, that blue eyed cat of Jacques is sooo
beautiful ! :))
You'd rather have to ask the ppl who say
that true tantra does not involve sex
what exactly they mean by this.
My personal interpretation of the possible
reply to this question, which appears
from time to time on lists, is this:
Traditional tantra, which I will call
tantra, as opposed to neo tantra =
modern forms of tantra, was, regardless of the path, left or right,
a way to use emotional energy to
first awaken the life force, Kundalini,
and then to guide it to the top chakra.
For these purposes, tantra used different
things, including
purification rituals, initiations that
consisted of mantras being given from the
teacher to the student when the time was
ripe, shaktipat initiation and
the making and meditation of yantras.
As well as asana, pranayama techniques and/or
meditational techniques.
Tantra may in many cases be regarded as not so
dissimilar to the Raja Yoga paths.
However, one way of utilizing the energy
in tantra was the crossing of boundaries,
transgression.
The transgressions consisted
amongst others of eating a little bit of
meat, fish, roasted seeds, alcohol
and perform
a sexual ritual, either in the form of a
symbolized intercourse, or in some rare
schools, a true intercourse.
This is where the modern tantras get their
sexual "orientation" from.
But knowing that "old" tantra intended
vegetarianism and total
abstinence of alcohol and sex, it is not so
diffcult to see why some ppl regard
tantra as being "without sex".
The point was to make it into something
forbidden and then to do it as part of a
ritual.
In addition, if there was any actual sex
(as did not always happen) in tantra,
it was not done b/n lovers, it was done as
part of a ritual, with hour long meditations
and puja (worship) prior to the act itself.
And the act would also be performed as part
of a greater worship
ritual, entailing many adepts.
Orgy... or not ? :)
I don't know because I was never there. ;)
But at any rate, the old woship forms may
be seen today in the usage of the Shiva
linga(m), which symbolizes a phallos
unified with a female receptacle,
indicating the unification of Shakti with
Shiva.
Also, let me add that some left hand tantra
paths consisted of complete renunciation
of everyday life, to the point of the
adept living at the charnel grounds, smearing
him or herself with the ashes from burned
corpses and in extreme cases
even living off them.
Transgressive ?
I'd say so... ;)
Oh, and one more thing.
Many ppl may not agree with this, but
tantra may after a while lead to a strong
sublimation of the sex drive and sexual emotions
to something that includes other emotions than
those that are usually deemed only sexual.
Activation of the
2nd chakra leads to a reaching out for
sexual experiences, closeness to another,
orgiastic ecstacy and oneness with another
in absence of the ego.
It is my personal experience that after
a while, the reaching out does no longer
entail a specific partner but the entire
universe.
In a way, sexuality and sex is immersed
into the direction of the soul.
It becomes nothing.
Thus, one may say, tantra does not
entail sex. :)
Best regards,
Amanda.
Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
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