Tantra in Practice

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....

I Have read the Entire Book and find it very Interesting and Informative.It deals with the most of Tantra Topics in a Short Introductive Selected Articles By Diiferent Writers and Excelently Edited By Sir David Gordon White. After Reading the Book Any One can Guess How Astoundingly Practicle and Vast is The Subject of Tantra to deal with. The Book Impartially Gives Even the Parodies and Critical Articles on Tantra and Latently Proving, How Practicle , Truthful and WideSpread is the Tantra's Influence on Almost all over the World. And By reading this Book, one will be starting to Pack his/her Baggages to start the Search for the Truth, if not yet Started. This Book , even though targetted at Western Audience to give a Brief Glimpse of the Mystical Subject Called Tantra Practised By Hindus, Jains, Budhists etc, is also valuable for Tantra Researchers and Practitionars alike. I strongly Recommend that All Saadhakas should buy this book and keep it as a Further Reference in to the Vast Field of Experience Called TANTRA, Which needs "to be experienced to be Believed". Every Article in this Book Propels the Reader to Search for Further Material to look in to Grasp the Deeper and Deeper Understanding of Eastern Mystical Tantra. There is no Doubt that this Book's Positive Contribution to Better Understanding of Tantra will go a long way.And I look forward to more and more , research-based books on Tantra.

This is the same edition written in 2000 in the - Princeton Readings in Religions - the book is SMALLER and the paper is of lesser quality. I have not read the book yet and i am relying on Princeton as a reliable publisher. Buy the Princeton edition it's the same book published in 2000

Pathetic book which denigrates a foreign culture that the author knows pittance about. Save your money and spend it on more genuine purchases

Beautiful book in excellent conditions.

I received this book from Amazon.co.uk this morning. I was delighted to receive it but on closer inspection the edition I received is marked as for sale in South Asia only. Sure enough, the book description on Amazon's page lists the publishers as Motilal Banarsidass. MB publish an excellent range of books at economic prices in the subcontinent. However, the Princeton University illustrated edition is also available from Amazon at the same price! I feel somewhat pissed to say the least. I've reflected this in giving four stars instead of five. Otherwise the contents look excellent and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.