Tantra in Practice / / David Gordon White.

• TeilnehmendeR: White, David Gordon,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2018]; ©2000
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative. The book includes plays, transcribed interviews, poetry, parodies, inscriptions, instructional texts, scriptures, philosophical conjectures, dreams, and astronomical speculations, each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty. The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS / Lopez, Jr -- NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION -- CONTENTS -- CONTENTS BY TRADITION -- CONTENTS BY COUNTRY -- CONTRIBUTORS -- INTRODUCTION Tantra in Practice: Mapping a Tradition / White, David Gordon -- Gurus and Adepts -- 1. The Tantric Guru / Padoux, André -- 2. King Kufiji's Banquet / Kapstein, Matthew T. -- 3. Interviews with a Tantric Kali Priest: Feeding Skulls in the Town of Sacrifice / McDaniel, June -- 4. A Parody of the Kapalikas in the Mattavilasa / Lorenzen, David N. -- 5. A Trance Healing Session with Mataji / Erndl, Kathleen M. -- Kings and Priests -- 6. The Consecration of the Monastic Compound at Mount Koya by Kûkai / Gardiner, David L. -- 7. Praises of the Drunken Peacocks / Davis, Richard H. -- 8. Precepts for an Emperor / Grapard, Allan G. -- Devotees and Deities -- 9. Raising Snakes in Bengal: The Use of Tantric Imagery in Sâkta Poetry Contests / McDermott, Rachel Fell -- 10. The Wedding of Siva and the Goddess in the Kulâlikâmnâya / Goudriaan, Teun -- 11. An Advertised Secret: The Goddess Taleju and the King of Kathmandu / Bledsoe, Bronwen -- 12. Tantric Rites in Antal's Poetry / Hudson, D. Dennis -- Traditions in Transition and Conflict -- 13. The Jain Monk Jinapati Suri Gets the Better of a Nâth Yogi / Dundas, Paul -- 14. Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis / Germano, David / Gyatso, Janet -- 15.The Anonymous Agama Prakâsa: Preface to a Nineteenth-Century Gujarati Polemic / Rinehart, Robin / Stewart, Tony K. -- 16. Conversation between Guru Hasan Kabîruddîn and Jogï Kâniphâ: Tantra Revisited by the Isma'ili Preachers / Khan, Dominique-Sila -- Tantric Paths -- 17. Emptiness and Dust: Zen Dharma Transmission Rituals / Bodiford, William -- 18. The Necklace of Immortality: A Seventeenth-Century Vaisnava Sahajiyâ Text / Hayes, Glen A. -- 19. The Tibetan Practice of the Mantra Path According to Lce-sgom-pa / Bentor, Yael -- 20. The Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kulârnava Tantra / Brooks, Douglas Renfrew -- 21. Tantric Buddhism and Chinese Thought in East Asia / Rambelli, Fabio -- Rites and Techniques -- 22. Worship of the Ladies of the Dipper / Orzech, Charles D. / Sanford, James H. -- 23. The Great Wisdom Mother and the Gcod Tradition / Orofino, Giacomella -- 24. Worship of Bell-Ears the Great Hero, a Jain Tantric Deity / Cort, John E. -- 25. Secret Yantras and Erotic Display for Hindu Temples / Rabe, Michael D. -- 26. The Six Rites of Magic / Buhnemann, Gudrun -- 27. The Worship of Kali According to the Todala Tantra / Gupta, Sanjukta -- 28. Ritual Manual for the Protective Fire Offering Devoted to Manjusrï, Chuin Lineage / Payne, Richard K. -- 29. The Purification of the Body / Flood, Gavin -- Yoga and Meditation -- 30. A Tantric Meditation on Emptiness / Lopez, Jr. -- 31. Japanese Tantra, the Tachikawa-ryu, and Ryôbu Shinto / Faure, Bernard -- 32. Assorted Topics of the Great Completeness by Dodrupchen III / Klein, Anne Carolyn -- 33. On the Seal of Sambhu: A Poem by Abhinavagupta / Muller-Ortega, Paul E. -- 34. Vajrayoga in the Kalacakra Tantra / Newman, John -- 35. Jain Tantra: Divinatory and Meditative Practices in the Twelfth-Century Yogasâstra of Hemacandra / Qvarnstrôm, Olle -- 36. Cheating Death / Walter, Michael -- GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS -- INDEX