tanta meaning

This practice of transferring one's consciousness at death is still an important practice in Tibetan Buddhism. As Samuel writes, the tantric traditions are "a confluence of a variety of different factors and components." 33, No. [205], The use of mantras is one of the most common and widespread elements of tantric practice. [71] Samuel also notes that in the Mahabharata, one of the commonest use of the term "yoga" refers to "a dying warrior transferring himself at death to the sphere of the sun through yoga, a practice that links up with Upanisadic references to the channel to the crown of the head as the pathway by which one can travel through the solar orb to the World of Brahman." In his view, one needed to first begin practicing non-tantric Mahayana, and then later one might be ready for tantra. According to Samuel, while the sexual and transgressive practices were mostly undertaken in symbolic form (or through visualization) in later Tibetan Buddhist monastic contexts, it seems that in the eighth to tenth century Indian context, they were actually performed. Yi means mind and dam stands for damtsig (dam-tshig, Skt. [53][citation needed] 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". For example, a lamp placed amidst many priests. All three saw Tantra as "the most transgressive and violent path to the sacred". [55] Tantrism, adds Goudriaan, is a living system that is decidedly monistic, but with wide variations, and it is impossible to be dogmatic about a simple or fixed definition. The Tantrika, to Bhatta, is that literature which forms a parallel part of the Hindu tradition, independent of the Vedic corpus. “Proto–Tantric” Elements in The Gandavyuha sutra. [142] Saiva tantra was especially successful because it managed to forge strong ties with South Asian kings who valued the power (shakti) of fierce deities like the warrior goddess Durga as a way to increase their own royal power. We Asked, You Answered. Space Week falls at this calendar juncture because this first October week is bookended by two key dates. [62] The Rigveda uses words of admiration for these loners,[62] and whether it is related to Tantra or not, has been variously interpreted. In Mahayana sutras like the Pratyutpanna Samādhi and the three Amitabha Pure land sutras. [82][169], There are various Hindu tantric traditions within Shaivism, Shaktism and Vaishnavism. Epigraphic references to the Kaulas Tantric practices are rare. However, there are sets of practices and elements which are shared by numerous tantric traditions, and thus a family resemblance relationship can be established among them. Tanta autem inerat comitas in Scipione, ut non Syphacem modo, sed etiam hostem infestissimum Hasdrubalem sibi conciliaret. This is usually combined with mantra recitation and other ritual actions as part of a tantric sadhana (practice). All forms of Saiva, Vaisnava and Smarta religion, even those forms which wanted to distance themselves from Tantrism, absorbed elements derived from the Tantras. Frawley, David: Inner Tantric Yoga: Working with the Universal Shakti, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. [104] Literary evidence suggests Tantric Buddhism was probably flourishing by the 7th-century. [82] The Tibetan Buddhist tantric teachings have recently been spread to the Western world by the Tibetan diaspora. Different scholars give different main features of tantra. Samuel notes that they "frequently settled at sites associated with the dead and seem to have taken over a significant role in relation to the spirits of the dead." © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins 10 Types Of Nouns Used In The English Language. [73], David Gordon White views Yogini cults as foundational to early tantra but disagrees with scholars who maintain that the roots of such cults lie in an "autochthonous non-Vedic source" such as indigenous tribes or the Indus Valley Civilization. [191] The Tantric traditions within Jainism use verbal spells or mantra, and rituals that are believed to accrue merit for rebirth realms. The use of magical chants or incantations can be found in the early Buddhist texts as well as in various Mahayana sutras. [60][61], The Keśin hymn of the Rig Veda (10.136) describes the "wild loner" who, states Karel Werner, "carrying within oneself fire and poison, heaven and earth, ranging from enthusiasm and creativity to depression and agony, from the heights of spiritual bliss to the heaviness of earth-bound labor". While tantra involves a wide range of ideas and practices which are not always of a sexual nature, Flood and Padoux both note that in the West, Tantra is most often thought of as a kind of ritualized sex or a spiritualized yogic sexuality. These figures also teach magical dhāraṇīs to protect followers of the Lotus sutra. [127], One of the earliest mentions of sexual yoga practice is in the Buddhist Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra of Asanga (c. 5th century), which states "Supreme self-control is achieved in the reversal of sexual intercourse in the blissful Buddha-poise and the untrammelled vision of one's spouse. [11][12] In Buddhism, tantra has influenced the art and iconography of Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism, as well as historic cave temples of India and the art of Southeast Asia. As Theravada Buddhism became dominant in South East Asian states, tantric religions became marginalised in those regions. [166] Hindu tantric teachings are generally seen as revelations from a divine being (such as Śiva, or the Goddess) which are considered by tantrikas to be superior to the Vedas in leading beings to liberation. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. From the 8th to the 14th century, Tantric traditions rose to prominence and flourished throughout India and beyond. André Padoux notes that there is no consensus among scholars as to which elements are characteristic for Tantra, nor is there any text that contains all those elements. Much effort was given by people such as Swami Vivekananda into reconstructing yoga, generally in terms of a selective Vedantic reading of Patañjali's Yogasutra (de Michelis 2004). This practice goes through various increadingly subtle stages until it dissolves into the silence of the Absolute. They are used in rituals as well as during various meditative and yogic practices. However, tantric thinkers like Abhinavagupta, while considering tantra as superior, do not totally reject Vedic teachings, and instead consider them valid on a lower level since they also derive from the same source, the supreme Godhead. Translation of tanta at Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary. [24], 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. [152][153] This text was later adopted by Saiva yogic traditions (such as the Naths) and is quoted in their texts. [38] The word tantra, states Patanjali, means "principal, main". [199], Rituals are particularly important in the dualistic Śaiva Siddhānta which according to Padoux "is typically characterized by an overabundance of rituals, which are necessarily accompanied by mantras. having or relating to the very highest levels of security, 'Hepatomegaly' and 'hydronephrosis' are among the most frequently looked-up words in September. Today, 9 October, is the penultimate day of this year’s World Space Week, a UN event launched in 1999. [42], Teun Goudriaan in his 1981 review of Hindu Tantrism, states that Tantrism usually means a "systematic quest for salvation or spiritual excellence" by realizing and fostering the divine within one's own body, one that is simultaneous union of the masculine-feminine and spirit-matter, and has the ultimate goal of realizing the "primal blissful state of non-duality". Gavin Flood describes this "Tantric age" as follows: Tantrism has been so pervasive that all of Hinduism after the eleventh century, perhaps with the exception of the vedic Srauta tradition, is influenced by it. The dates in the left column of the table are estimates and contested by scholars. These rituals are not so much a succession of actions as a play of mentally visualized and experienced images, a situation common to all Tantric traditions, where rites, meditation, and yoga are exercises in creative identifying imagination." [138] Also by the 10th century, numerous tantric texts (variously called Agamas, Samhitas and Tantras) had been written, particularly in Kashmir, Nepal and Bengal. The Goddess centered traditions are known as the Kulamārga (Path of the Clans), referring to the clans of the goddeses and their Shakti tantras, which may have been established around the 9th century. [75] Frederick Smith – a professor of Sanskrit and Classical Indian Religions, considers Tantra to be a religious movement parallel to the Bhakti movement of the 1st millennium AD. Regarding the reception of tantra during the period of Hindu modernism in the 19th and 20th centuries, Samuel writes that this period saw "a radical reframing of yogic practices away from the Tantric context." These practices were adopted by Kapalika styled ascetics and influenced the early Nath siddhas. [97] The 6th-century Varāhamihira mentions Kapalikas in his literary works. Last 10 years [147] The later Khmer kings and the Indonesian Srivijaya kingdom also supported tantric Buddhism. Download our English Dictionary apps - available for both iOS and Android. The theory behind these rituals is the idea that all humans have a fundamental impurity (mala) that binds them to rebirth. One group of Shaiva ascetics were the Pasupatas, who according to Samuel, practiced a form of spirituality that made use of shocking and disreputable behavior that is later found in a tantric context, such as smearing themselves with ashes, dancing and singing. Padoux further notes that while sexual practices do exist and where used by certain tantric groups, they "lost their prevalence when Tantra spread to other larger social groups. [148], In the 10th and 11th centuries, both Shaiva and Buddhist tantra evolved into more tame, philosophical and liberation oriented religions. Buddhist Tantric practices and texts which developed from the 5th to the 8th centuries were translated into Chinese and are preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon as well as in the Dunhuang manuscripts. [79][80] Mahayana incantations are called dhāraṇīs. This tradition avoided the transgressive and sexual elements that were embraced by the Saivas and the Buddhists. According to David B. According to James Mallison, the original "source text" for Hatha Yoga is the Vajrayana Buddhist Amṛtasiddhi (11th century CE) attributed to the mahasiddha Virupa. [141] According to Alexis Sanderson, the Śaiva Tantra traditions of medieval Kashmir were mainly divided between the dualistic Śaiva Siddhanta and the non-dualist theology found in Śakta lineages like the Trika, Krama and Kaula. [151], Another influential development during this period was the codification of tantric yogic techniques that would later become the separate movement known as Hatha Yoga. They are also considered to be more effective during the Kali Yuga, a time of much passion (kama). [96][97][98] Besides the shocking fact that they frequented cremation grounds and carried human skulls, little is known about them, and there is a paucity of primary sources on the Kapalikas. [121], Tantric practices also included secret initiation ceremonies in which individuals would enter the tantric family (kula) and receive the secret mantras of the tantric deities.

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