Tantra in Practice (Princeton Readings in Religions) [Paperback]

David Gordon White (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001 | Series: Princeton Readings in Religions

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This extremely welcome reader is the first substantial anthology devoted to tantra. Translations are crisp and clear, and the contextualizing essays provide expert guidance that allows the uninitiated access to the symbolism of this profound world. (Kidder Smith Religious Studies Review ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

David Gordon White is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. A specialist in the religions of South Asia, he is the author of Myths of the Dog-Man and The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 658 pages
• Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass, (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8120817788
• ISBN-13: 978-8120817784
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,564,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mapping Tantra, December 3, 2006

By 

Jai "Yoga.Twobirds" (Tularosa Basin, NM USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tantra in Practice (Paperback)

D.G. White, author of the excellent yogic study and adventure story, "The Alchemical Body," here presents an edited compilation of articles about authentic Tantra traditions taken from the length & breadth of Indian-influenced Asia. Countries & cultures include: India (obviously), China, Tibet/Nepal and Japan, with articles on Hindu, Buddhist, Jain (Jain? yes, Jain), Islamic (!) and Shinto tantric traditions. Before this volume, who would have guessed at the sheer geographical pervasiveness of Tantric traditions? Topics vary from architecture to ethnography to poetry. The quality of the contributions is uniformly very good--well-written and well-organized--and most chapters include a translation, in whole or part, of an important or obscure tantra. The strongest point is that the authors are scholars, not practitioners, with the associated advantage is that, at last (and at least) the reader can avoid the fluff, hype and BS that pervades the field of so-called "Tantra." Reading this volume will go a long ways toward removing our conditioned ignorance, delusion and gullibility about "sacred sex" and "sacred orgasms," the phallacy of worshipping the linga/yoni of your current hot-sex partner as a god/dess, and the like. The jewels herein are too numerous to recount, but some of my favorites include Hudson's chapter, "Tantric Rites in Antal's Poetry," which rather lovingly introduces the poetry of Antal, a kind of Tamil Mirabai. Kudos to numerous authors for emphasizing the relationship between bhakti and tantra. The down side is that the authors are scholars, not practitioners, with the concomitant lack of experiential understanding about what actual tantric practices consisted of, and of what "cosmological homology," as a body of psychospiritual praxis rooted in various yogic practices, actually means in lived experience. (But, as White says in his Introduction, practice without theory is like a map without a legend.) That said, this volume does not suffer from the epidemic of post-modern sophistry--that is, you won't find here pretty words cleverly arranged to signify that Tantra was mere artwork or political posturing by miscreants (this disorder characterizes much of the sociological/literary-critic studies on Tantra). In short, what this volume sets out to do, it does very well. Still, to grasp actual tantric practice, you'll have to look elsewhere. But I am afraid that my guru forbade me to indicate where....

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good overview..., August 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tantra in Practice (Paperback)

World-class scholars ANDRE PADOUX, PAUL E. MULLER-ORTEGA, DOUGLAS R. BROOKS and many others come together to write about Buddhist Tantra, Hindu Tantra, Jain Tantra, and Tantra and Islam in South Asia; //the countries covered are China, India, Japan, Nepal and Tibet.//
The topics discussed include:
--GURUS AND ADEPTS including "The Tantric Guru" by Andre Padoux, one of the best Kashmir Shaivism scholars in the world.
--KINGS AND PRIESTS
--DEVOTEES AND DEITIES
--TRADITIONS IN TRANSITIONS AND CONFLICTS
--TANTRIC PATHS including "The Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kularnava Tantra" by Douglas R. Brooks, one of the only brilliant scholars in the world to know Tantra "from the inside".
--RITES AND TECHNIQUES --YOGA AND MEDITATION
including "On the Seal of Shambhu: A Poem by Abhinavagupta" by Paul E. Muller-Ortega, the leading authority on Abhinavagupta, one of the 3 best scholars of Kashmir Shaivism with Alexis Sanderson and Andre Padoux.
//Any Indology student has to have read this book.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!, December 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tantra in Practice (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone who claims to be interested in Tantra. This is NOT New-Age junk! I recommend reading the introduction for an eredite definition of Tantra. Highly recommended.