Customer Reviews

The Great Book of Tantra: Translations and Images from the Classic Indian Texts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author of this book has written a fascinating study of tantric ideas and practices, focusing on their relation to gnosis, ie., mystical knowledge of god acquired via the winding left-hand path.

Apparently the author was upset when her book was published - it has been marred (gasp!) by the inclusion of dozens and dozens of beautiful, full color illustrations of hindu religious and erotic artwork.

I hope I'm not out of line in suggesting that, from the standpoint of the reader, the artwork is a GOOD THING. Actually, this is the best single source of information conmnection tantra with gnosticism I have have ever seen AND the best single collection of indian erotica I have ever seen.

TWO BOOKS IN ONE! YEAH!

This is NOT a book of sexual Eastern imports. It deals with the spiritual discipline known as tantra, illustrating its explanations with images and excerpts from the sacred texts. Invaluable.

For the reader who would enjoy a book which contains an overall treatment containing history of tantra, some tantric scripture and descriptions of tantric worship, this is quite possibly the best choice. I was delighted with the series of colorful ritual paintings loaded with hidden tantric meaning. The other blatantly erotic paintings did not detract but seemed to be simply a publisher's attempt to sell the book to a larger market. (The author asked the publisher not to include any erotic pictures.) These more erotic illustrations were perfect examples of works done by skilled painters and craftsman and could be enjoyed as such. The most fascinating aspect of this book is the manner in which tantra is not only compared with other religions and mythology, but how the author has shown that tantra has evolved from these sources. This book is written simply enough for the novice but also contains more specific information of interest to an advanced reader.

This book is really two books.
The first, an eclectic (and hopefully reasonably academic) collection of thoughts and writings from around the world, more than that I cannot yet say, having recieved the book this morning.
The second, a collection of asian pornography, -some of which is 'tantric', little or none of which from classical Indian texts' gathered by the publisher to 'spice' up the text. The footnotes under most of the pictures look pretty much made up, seem to be unresearched or ill-researched, and bear little or no relevance to the copy.
Had I seen that the publisher decided to promote the subject heading as'Sexuality/Art', I would have not bought the book.
I will not buy books published by Destiny again.
For those of you who think that Tantra to do with sex, I recommend you look at the world around you, and ask yourself "What is? What is not?" Why? Because you are grasping at something that isn't there.
I sincerely hope that the copy is considered and provocative. If so, I shall revise my rating.