TANTRA
The Sanskrit word tantra has a multiplicity of meanings, referring to texts and practices that weave threads of connection between texts and lived experiences. They also refer to rituals that enliven our energy body and incorporated it into meditation and other spiritual practices. Tantra utilizes our sensory experiences of living in a body to facilitate transformation, rather than denying the body and its desires as so many traditions do. A tantric perspective is that embodying change and living through emotional and psychic transformation provides a fast track to enlightenment.
Tantra comprises a collection of pre-Hindu traditions that are now also woven into the Vajrayana school of Tibetan Buddhism. The very different attitude to the relationship between divine and human is most clearly seen in the practice of deity visualizations. In deity practice you focus on a god or goddess whose qualities that you aspire to emulate, and imagine that their body merges with your own, so you can incorporate their divine qualities.
Tantra comprises a collection of pre-Hindu traditions that are now also woven into the Vajrayana school of Tibetan Buddhism. The very different attitude to the relationship between divine and human is most clearly seen in the practice of deity visualizations. In deity practice you focus on a god or goddess whose qualities that you aspire to emulate, and imagine that their body merges with your own, so you can incorporate their divine qualities.
