TANTRA

“To practice tantra requires even greater compassion and greater intelligence than are required on the sutra path; thus, though many persons in the degenerate era are interested in tantra, tantra is not for degenerate persons. Tantra is limited to persons whose compassion is so great that they cannot bear to spend unnecessary time in attaining Buddhahood, as they want to be a supreme source of help and happiness for others quickly.”

14th Dalai Lama, Meditation on Emptiness

Tantra is a  controversial subject.  Tibetan shamanic and Tantric traditions say that the Buddha taught Tantra sixteen years after his enlightenment, in secrecy, to a king who wanted to become enlightened but could not give up his responsibilities. Others say that King Ja, also known as Kukuraja, was a mahasiddha, a great master within the lineages of Esoteric Tibetan Buddhism. He taught himself intuitively from “The Book of the Tantric Way of Secret Mantra” that “magically fell from the sky.”  Some say that this information was channeled from Devas, nagas, serpent like creatures that lived under the water in caves. In any case, according to the Pali suttas, the Buddha didn’t teach this. Eroticism in meditation would fall under ‘wrong effort’ or having a ‘wrong view.’ In fact some say this is what has given Buddhism a wrong reputation, with some faiths and western Christian religious leaders (pope) call it ‘auto-erotic spirituality.’

According to the Pali Canon scriptures of Theravada Buddhism, there are occurrences in which the Buddha said, “Three things shine openly, not in secret. What three? The orb of the moon, the orb of the sun, and the Dhamma and discipline taught by the Tathàgata.”[1]

Just before his passing, he reiterated the importance of not teaching in secret: “I have proclaimed the Dhamma (Pali for teachings, or truth) without any idea of a hidden and open teaching. I do not have the closed fist of the teacher who holds anything back.”[2]

Some say the Buddha decided not to teach this at the time because the society was simply not ready for it, so he transmitted it in private much later on to some yogis in India, mahasiddhas, and also later in Tibet.

The practice of Tantra is different from what the Buddha taught in the Pali Canon. It stems out of indigenous shamanism, is one of the oldest religions, and is said to have its roots in Tantric rituals that go back to very ancient times and cultures, some say 160,000 years ago in Africa and not even in India.  The Buddha himself practiced yoga with the ascetic sramanas, or homeless wanderers, from various traditions. One of the Buddha’s own teachers, Udaka Ramaputta, was a teacher of yogic meditation. His other teacher, Alara Kalama, was a teacher of yogic meditation who practiced austerities or tapas. So Buddha’s education was based on aspects of yoga. He even tried kumbhaka (breath retention) but said it was not useful and complained of pains in his head as a result of doing this. He said it was not beneficial to him, so he did not teach this or any other ascetic practice that he experimented with such as fasting. Buddha said that extreme ascetism was not the way. He claimed that even after attaining samadhi, he still had not realized full enlightenment. As a result, he created a set of practices and training (for details, see The Noble Eightfold Path by Bhikhu Bodhi for the details),[3] one of which was jhana meditation, designed for reducing one’s attachments and overcoming suffering, greed, aversion, and delusion in order to reach nirvana.

The Buddha also made it clear that the householder may engage in the right kind of sense pleasures (sex), as long as it is not harming oneself or anyone else, but this was not intended as a path or means to nirvana. One of the precepts is also about this. The Buddha didn’t even expect householders to be able to refrain from sex, because he knew it was unrealistic so he mapped out a four-path model, comprising stages along a gradual path over several lifetimes. (Participating in sex would indicate you had at least one to seven more lifetimes to go). Tantra sees this differently, since it states that “samsara is nirvana,” meaning that you can keep on being re-birthed into this sense realm and still be partially enlightened. Others point out that this is just more of an excuse to practice guilt-free non-dual sex, live in the world, be a householder, make money, and so on, and not become a renunciate, since that’s too difficult to do.

Some radical Neo-Advatins have a similar take on this with their non-dual sex and anything being permissible, including orgies, sex with animals, minors, or anything else. They mix Advaita with Tantra and create a serious mess. They say that advanced Tantra is mostly suitable for pure-minded lay people, as it is not exactly like Yoga or traditional Theravada Buddhism in terms of abstinence or self-denial/self-restraint. These paths are diametrically opposed and don’t mix very well.

In the Theravada tradition, one does not need Tantra, since Theravada promotes renunciation (for monks only) and the celibate lifestyle. But even as a celibate one can still channel this vital energy upwards and build reserves so as not to be depleted of this life force. In this practice, one meditates and harnesses these vital life force energies and refines them through meditation practices such as tummo, a meditation that Tibetans say can bring forth enlightenment through the practice of breath retention, (kumbhaka) visualization of naked woman, consort, or even a dakini, an actual spirit entity that exists and practice yoga, union, or non dual sex with them. Some have been successful at this like Milarepa and this does work, if ultimately let go off.

They say that Tantra is about controlling, transforming, exhausting, and ultimately overcoming these pleasurable feelings and sensations by purifying and using sexual energies as a practice. For example, Vajrayana Buddhism defines tantra as a means to channel the energy of desire and transform the experience of pleasure, but they say that without the right teacher or guidance it can be complicated since it's literally playing with desire and the elements of wind and fire.[4]

Without the right guidance from a traditional Tibetan or a qualified Tantric teacher, Tantra would be like giving cocaine to a recovering addict. This is why its very important to find a qualified teacher.

Human beings are genetically and bio-chemically programmed to procreate, to be attracted to, to fall in love with, and to pair bond. Much of this happens at a subconscious level due to neuro-chemical responses such as testosterone, dopamine, and all sorts of feel good hormones outside of one’s control or awareness. You also have no choice on your genetic makeup, your physical appearance, voice, scent, or body type, all of which play a significant role in your behavior and conditioning. For example, one may have high testosterone levels resulting in certain masculine traits such as more hair on the body, broader shoulders, a deeper voice, and so on.

In the West, we have been heavily conditioned to chase sensual pleasures from a very early age, including beautiful homes, cars, spouses, and so on. Our economy is based on these pursuits that get further promoted through advertising and the film industry. It’s essentially about living a more or less hedonistic lifestyle of grabbing and enjoying as many sensual pleasures as one can while still in the flesh.

This behavior is still acted out by many primates. The bonapo, a close relative of the chimpanzee, seems to have evolved beyond this by using sexual activity to relieve built up tension, frustration, or aggression in the body. Sometimes humans do this as well but not always successfully. Tantric and Yogic exercises actually mimic some of our primitive ancestors through erotic pleasuring of self or others through stretches (back bends), sounds, breathing methods (fast panting), tightening muscle groups (buttocks, thighs), etc. For example, some shamanic cultures observed that the male deer would flick his tail against his testicles to stimulate sexual energy. The female deer would sleep with her hoof against her genitals. These observations of animal nature evolved into more subtle ways of stimulating the erogenous zones of humans by using the heel of the foot, sidhasana, a seated meditation position, as well as through bhandhas, locks in the perineum, abdomen, and throat, and breathing exercises and other ways of circulating the sexual energy.

The dangers of this practice, however, are that some very advanced practitioners even end up abusing their abilities. They begin to look at the opposite sex as just a form of energy they can use for selfish reasons. The Taoist and Tibetan traditions warn of this; that you can unleash forces that will be out of your control, and that you will have to battle with your inner demons, so to speak, or even turn yourself into one if you are not careful and end up being defeated by this or seriously lose your way. It is even said that there are also other types of spirits, hungry ghosts and demons out there that prey on people who engage in these types of practices. There are also spirits that protect this practice.

Tummo, or various types of Taoist nei gong, Taoist inner alchemy, can be like rocket fuel, and can blast you into the highest recesses of your mind or right into advanced stages of samadhi. But if you are not prepared for this, you can easily blow your head gasket and cause all sorts of problems; not just for you but also for others around you. This can make you feel like superman/superwoman, indestructible and give you all sorts of super normal abilities like meditating in the snow and so much more. Some Taoist schools and mahasiddha yoga meditation practices are all about attaining these abilities.

This is why they say that some of the advanced tantric meditations and practices are not always recommended, because it’s extremely easy to get attached to the pleasant and blissful aspects of these exercises and to use the meditations for the wrong reasons. (As with getting stuck on first jhana and not being able to let go and progress to stages, 2, 3 and to 4 and perfect equanimity, beyond pleasure and pain).

This can result in increased libido, especially for women when ovulating. There can be all types of energetic and hormonal complications involving dopamine, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, beta-endorphin, dopamine, oxytocin, and baseline vasopressin levels, also known in Yoga as ‘kundalini complications.’ These complications can seriously take one off the path. The lusting after and craving of the activation of these feel good hormones can have adverse side effects, such as aggression and monstrous over-ambition, which can lead to setbacks. So in that light, Tantra and advanced Yoga practices can be very dangerous paths for some practitioners.

Another path that can be a dangerous is to try to exhaust these desires, simply burning them out through acting on them to the max. What one may find, however, is that they are inexhaustible. In a way it’s like drinking seawater: the more you drink, the thirstier you get, in addition to experiencing a lot of diarrhea and vomiting. Consequently, I would not recommend this type of excessive path to everyone. It’s much safer to simply practice mindfulness meditation and become more aware of one’s inclinations, habit patterns, natural instincts, and drives.

For instance, eating only one meal a day can help to control the sexual drives, since when one is hungry the last thing on the mind is sex. The brain naturally will want to conserve energy, not deplete it by unnecessary actions or behaviors, similar to when you have the flu, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, or nausea. Vegetarian diets or juice fasting can lower testosterone levels. Conversely, high protein animal products like cow, pig, lamb, fish, oysters, nuts, avocado, eggs, milk, garlic, and honey tend to increase sexual drive. Additionally, because of the growth hormones and preservatives that are put into animal protein products, they may even increase sexual cravings and anger. For instance, some of these animal products have high levels of endocrine hormones such as adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, cortisol (fight and flight hormone), which increase in the moments just before the terrified animals are slaughtered. Subsequently, eating this contaminated meat can result in aggression or flight anxiety in some people.

When Swami Tapovan [5]was asked about attaining liberation through sensual pleasure and Tantra, he said it was like night and day, two opposite poles. He also said that sanyasin, celibacy for life, was the only path for ‘true liberation.’ Anything other than this is not possible. This matches what the Buddha said as well. Most of these other traditions stem out of not being able to attain sannyasin, so they branch off and create new paths so that they can indulge in sensual pleasures, sex, drugs, alcohol and so on and today Neo-Advaita is just one more example of this. They believe they can be liberated and still have sex and make all kinds of excuses to do so. But again, the Buddha addresses this in the Alagaddupama Sutta, “The Snake Simile.” [6]

“Monks, it is impossible indeed, that one can pursue sense gratification without sensual desire, without perceptions of sensual desire, without thoughts of sensual desire.” 

This is enough said to end that debate as far as Buddhism is concerned.  Continue to Part 17