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Overview
Tantra occupies a unique position in Western understandings of Hindu spirituality. Its carnal dimension has made its name instantly recognizable, but this popular fascination with sex has obscured its philosophical depth and ritual practices, to say nothing of its overall importance to Hinduism.
This book offers a clear, well-grounded overview of Tantra that offers substantial new insights for scholars and practitioners. André Padoux opens by detailing the history of Tantra, beginning with its origins, founding texts, and major beliefs. The second part of the book delves more deeply into key concepts relating to the tantric body, mysticism, sex, mantras, sacred geography, and iconography, while the final part considers the practice of Tantra today, both in India and in the West. The result is an authoritative account of Tantra’s history and present place in the world.
Praise for The Hindu Tantric World
“Padoux has long been recognized as one of the most important scholars of Tantra in the world. He is universally recognized in the field as one of the most reliable and erudite guides to this complex, controversial, and often misrepresented tradition. In The Hindu Tantric World, Padoux presents an accessible, clear, and up-to-date introduction to the topic that demonstrates his mastery of the primary materials and his decades of scholarship.” —Hugh Urban, Ohio State University
“For the past forty years, Padoux has been on the cutting edge of Tantric studies worldwide. The Hindu Tantric World is quite simply the most comprehensive and accessible overview of Hindu Tantra ever written and the culmination of a lifetime of outstanding achievement.” —David Gordon White, University of California, Santa Barbara
“The Hindu Tantric World presents a refreshingly critical, balanced, and concise survey of the field. Doyen of Hindu Tantric studies, Padoux translates the fruits of his decades of specialized research into an elegant and useful guidebook that helpfully situates these traditions within the broader fabric of South Asian religious culture. Nowhere else can a general readership find such an accessible and state-of-the-art treatment of the histories, theories, and practices of Tantric Hinduism.” —Christian K. Wedemeyer, University of Chicago
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780226424125 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
| Publication date: | 12/22/2022 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 239 |
| Sales rank: | 379,928 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Hindu Tantric World
An Overview
By André Padoux
The University of Chicago Press
Copyright © 2017 The University of ChicagoAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-226-42412-5
CHAPTER 1
The Hindu Tantric Field: Terminology and Attempts at Defining a Tantric Domain
Et si j'affirme, je m'interroge encore.
JACQUES RIGAUD
The very nature, extent, and continuity in time of the Tantric phenomenon raise a problem. How can one explain the appearance and the gradual overall diffusion of practices and notions that, albeit diverse, have enough common traits to permit their being considered as forming a specific, recognizable, perhaps definable socioreligious phenomenon in the Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, even Jainism) in India and in a large portion of Asia? How can it happen that, facing a particular notion and practice, we can say "This is Tantric"? When reading certain texts (but what kind of texts?), when observing certain ritual practices together with the notions that accompany them, how can we perceive enough characteristic elements for us to feel that what lie before us are aspects of a common phenomenon? Or are we mistaken? Do we perceive a global phenomenon where there are, in fact, merely similar elements — having, as one says, a family likeness — that cannot properly be considered as being aspects of a common phenomenon? A phenomenon born in India that has (notably with Mantrayana Buddhism) overstepped the limits of the subcontinent and spread across almost the whole of Asia: central Asia (Tibet, Mongolia), Southeast Asia (Indochina, Indonesia — Bali down to our days), and even the Far East.
Considering there is here a common general phenomenon is perhaps a Western, "etic," way of thinking. In effect, European scholars were the first to discover or to believe they had found in what they knew of Indian religions — Hinduism and Buddhism — traits that they called "Tantric" and that they first believed to be limited to a particular area. Then they discovered their wider presence, and finally, today, saw their pervasiveness, and even sometimes denied their specificity. Though questionable, this "etic" approach is not entirely unfounded, for in spite of the fact that the notion of Tantrism as an entity is Western and unknown in traditional India, Indian works called "Tantra" were being written for centuries, and the character of these texts, rites, or observances was recognized as "Tantric," some texts being even recognized as a form of divine Revelation.
There is undoubtedly a "Tantric problem" that we must first tackle, namely that of the term Tantrism, or Tantra. How is the socioreligious domain that we shall see here to be named and defined? Now, to define is to determine, delineate, and to understand — to name in the religious field is fundamental, foundational even. Being French, I am tempted to quote here the French poet and thinker Paul Valéry, who said (half-jokingly), "Great gods were born from a word-play that is a kind of adultery." One could also say about "Tantrism" what an American Indologist once said of karma: that it is more a problem than a notion — a notion and a fact. As we shall see, it is surely an important fact. But let us first look at what can be said on the subject.
The extension in time and space and the diversity of the Tantric presence make it difficult to define and delimit. Its textual basis, essentially but not entirely in Sanskrit, often arcane, is huge in extent. Moreover, these texts have, for the most part, been recently discovered (since the 1950s, mostly) and are still being explored and taken account of. Therefore, new elements may very well be found that will alter our view of the subject on some points. In addition, the Tantric side of Hinduism appeared some fifteen centuries ago and still survives, while having evidently evolved in the course of time. Can we really grasp it in the diversity of its historical dimension? And if so, how can we describe it properly? Also, Tantra was (and still is) approached from different angles and interpreted in different ways. It is a field where, in many cases, no final point of view can honestly be offered. All I can do, therefore, and what is attempted here, is to give a general overview as I perceive it now — to strive toward the truth, hoping to find it while not being sure of being able to do so.
What's in a Word?
First, how are we to name the domain we explore here? Tantra? Tantrism? Tantricism? Tantrisme is currently used in French, Tantrismo in Italian and Spanish, and Tantrismus in German. Tantrism or Tantricism is less frequent in English, where one usually uses Tantra. The term as such, however, is not important. The importance is in what it means or designates for those who use it. In the original French version of this book, the term tantrisme was discussed at length, for its current use was the main reason for the idea that there existed not a Tantric aspect of Hinduism but a particular Indian socioreligious entity — a "Tantric" section of Hinduism, distinct from mainstream Hinduism — or, at least, the idea that one could study the Tantric field as different from other current forms of Hinduism. Of course, such a misconception needed to be disproved. I will not do this here because Tantra is the usual English term for the Tantric domain. However, the fact remains that for centuries in India, there have been, and there still are, elements that are Tantric and others that are not — a duality some Indians were evidently not unaware of, which we will consider here.
We may note first, concerning other terms that reflect a Western approach to Asian cultures, that applying the label "Hinduism" to the infinite diversity of beliefs, cults, and practices of the socioreligious world that developed in India over the course of centuries on a Vedic basis is also foreign to India. Like Tantricism, the word Hinduism denotes an Indian reality as seen from outside — by the Muslim conquerors and the Arab travelers (Ibn Batuta, notably), rather than by those who succeeded them in India. As there is no global Sanskrit term for the Tantric phenomenon, there was also no Sanskrit term meaning Hindu before the presence of Islam, and this term emerged perhaps in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The word Hinduism only appears in the nineteenth century with the British. Having noted the "etic" character of the terms Hindu and (still more) Hinduism, we must also note that Indians were not unaware of the common traits of the brahmanical/Hindu traditions. If the upholders of the different Hindu systems abundantly condemned their opponents' doctrines, they were nevertheless conscious of their common fund or traits and of their being different from "others." There are, dating from the sixth to the sixteenth century, a few hierarchically classified Indian Sanskrit descriptions of these systems, distinguishing them as those of believers (astikas) and different from those of unbelievers (nastikas), such as Buddhists or Jains.
In contrast with these European or Indian globalizing approaches, some Western Indologists have recently tried to deconstruct the global vision of Hinduism, considering it as an ensemble of related religions rather than one religion with different aspects. Some also stress the fact that these religions are to be studied and understood by applying their own categories rather than our own. Western conceptions also explain that Hindu nationalists recently coined the word hindutva as a name for what they consider as the original nature of an Indian Hindu motherland.
But we must now first see, briefly, when and how the Tantric aspects of Hinduism were discovered and interpreted by Europeans, then how they were seen in ancient India.
A list of Tantras was published for the first time in volume five of the Asiatick Researches, the "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," founded in 1784 by Sir William Jones. The first texts that were studied were probably those read by H. H. Wilson, who wrote a Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindoos in volume seventeen of the Asiatick Researches, published in 1832. However, he does not call the practices he describes Tantric. He calls them the practices of "vàmis or vàmàcharis ... the left-hand worshippers of the Goddess," whom, he said, "are very numerous among the Shaivas," such rites being "derived from an independent series of works known by the collective name of tantras." Wilson also notes that "the worshipper of Shakti, the power or energy of the divine nature in action, are exceedingly numerous amongst all classes of Hindoos." These statements show a good and unprejudiced grasp of the facts, with a realization of the widespread nature of Sakta (therefore Tantric) practices. A few years later, the French scholar Eugène Burnouf, in his Introduction à l'étude du bouddhisme indien (1844), devoted a whole section to Tantras (Buddhist Tantras, of course), noting their relationship with Saivism — what he called "the ridiculous and obscene practices of the Shaivas." These first scholars to note the presence of the Tantric phenomenon mentioned only the practices and not the notions that accompanied them (or sometimes were at their origin). They were not, in their time, in a position to realize its nature and extent — still less its pervasiveness.
Half a century later, the first to do this was the pioneer of Tantric studies, the British judge Sir John Woodroffe (1868–1936), alias Arthur Avalon, who wrote in the preface to Principles of Tantra (1913): "Mediaeval Hinduism (to use a convenient if somewhat vague term) was, as its successor, modern Indian orthodoxy is, largely Tantric. The Tantra was then, as it is now, the great Mantra and Sadhana Shastra (Scripture), and the main, where not the sole, source of some of the most fundamental concepts still prevalent as regards worship, images, initiation, yoga, the supremacy of the guru and so forth."
The style of this passage is that of another time. But to have realized the problematic nature of the notion of Hinduism and the pervasiveness of the Tantric phenomenon a century ago is remarkable. Sir John Woodroffe's role in the development of Tantric studies must not be undervalued. He was the first to proclaim the importance of the Tantric world and to publish studies on some of its aspects as well as a number of texts, using either his name or the pseudonym Arthur Avalon. The Tantrik Texts series of books he edited was the first of its kind. It is still in print (as are his other works), some of its volumes remaining useful. Tantric studies have enormously progressed since his time — in the last twenty years especially, as we shall see — and although Avalon/Woodroffe appears as an icon of another epoch, one must not fail to remember the importance of his role.
On the nature of what is Tantric, an overall and global statement is all the more difficult to give because — as will be shown in this book — if the Tantric phenomenon was limited and therefore definable to begin with, over the course of centuries it took on (quite early perhaps) a twofold aspect. On the one hand, there were (and there are to this day) initiatory traditions or transmissions whose (sometimes transgressive) practices and doctrines were properly Tantric, assumed and lived as such. On the other hand, there existed — to a different extent and intensity and in different forms throughout the Hindu world — a number of Tantric practices and notions in addition to the former traditions (this is what Sir John Woodroffe wished to say).
I need to expand on these two aspects, but I must not oversimplify. The two aspects I have just mentioned do not exist side by side — they often interpenetrate. There are more, and less, "Tantric" traditions and systems. Further, if we come across Tantric practices and notions nearly everywhere in Hinduism, they are not always the same ones and they are not always present in the same way; their context may differ, and practices exist only in particular (social or ideological) contexts. There are also more or less "Tantric" texts. Finally, the Tantric metaphysical systems, pantheons, and ritual practices often include elements common to Hinduism in general, some of which go back to Vedic times. As I have said, the social and ritual rules of the brahmanical dharma are generally admitted in the Tantric sphere as valid on the level of social life. More important perhaps, the basic forms of reasoning and of intellectual approach to reality in the brahmanical culture as found in the darsanas are used in Tantric exegesis and philosophy. In this respect, we must not forget that the majority of Tantric texts are in Sanskrit, composed by Brahmins brought up in their communities and steeped in intellectual brahmanical culture, the culture of India.
Some Attempts at a Definition
THE INDIAN VIEW
The Sanskrit word tantra is from the verbal root TAN, which means "to extend," "to spread," hence "to spin out," "weave," "display," "put forth," and "compose." By extension, it comes to mean "system," "doctrine," or "work." A Tantra is thus a work, a text — any text. It is, says the fifth-century Indian author Pak?ilasvamin, "a collection of facts." Many Sanskrit works that are not Tantric are called Tantras; for instance, the main Indian collection of fables is called the Pañcatantra, "The Five Books." Conversely, a large number of Tantric works are not called Tantra — this is especially the case in Tantric Buddhism but also in the Hindu domain where basic Tantric scriptures are called agama, sa?hita, sutra, and so on. The current Sanskrit expression asmin tantre may mean "in this Tantra," but most often it means simply "in this work." This being so, the fact is that from around the sixth century, a number of works named Tantra appeared in India that propounded new practices and notions while presenting themselves as revealed by non-Vedic deities. Such texts and their teachings were first described as Mantramarga ("the way of mantras"). Then came the adjective tantrika ("Tantric") and later the term tantrasastra ("the teaching of the Tantras").
The adjective tantrika thus came to be used as opposed to vaidika (Vedic) to contrast two forms of the revealed religious tradition, the sruti: one originally embodied in the Veda and continuing as the "orthodox," "mainstream" form of Hinduism, the other based on Tantras or such texts and revealed by various deities. The best-known expression of this dichotomy, and the most often quoted, is by Kulluka Bha??a in the fifteenth century (therefore after the times of the main Tantric developments in the eighth through the fourteenth centuries) in his commentary on the Laws of Manu (Manusm ti 2.1.), where he said that Revelation is twofold — Vedic and Tantric (srutis ca dvividha vaidiki tantriki ca). The formula is all the more important because it uses the term sruti (revelation) for the Tantric as well as the Vedic Revelation, both being recognized as having a divine origin, be it the eternal self-revealed Word of the Veda or the Tantric teachings of a god or a goddess.
A characteristic trait of Tantric traditions is, in effect, that they appear as revealed by a divine being who, by doing so, brings what he or she proclaims from the transcendent plane — where it exists eternally still unexpressed — down to the level of this world. This is called the "descent of the Tantra" (tantravatara), a metaphysical process that is often described at the beginning of the texts (Tantras, agamas, etc.) that propound their doctrines. These revealed teachings are considered superior to the Veda (and as its continuation), for they are more effective in leading humans toward liberation, leading them more rapidly and up to a higher spiritual plane than the Veda-based teachings. They also claim to be better adapted to the needs of beings living in the present dark cosmic age (kaliyuga), where desire or passion (kama) prevails.
Tantric traditions, however, do not usually entirely reject the brahmanical Veda-based teachings and rules. Those who follow Tantra consider them valid on the lower plane of social life as general, basic rules to be followed on the social plane, which can lead to salvation but not to liberation, as only the higher and more sophisticated Tantric teachings can bring the adept to liberation.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Note on the Pronunciation and Transcription of SanskritPreface
Introduction
Part I The Hindu Tantric Domain
1 The Hindu Tantric Field: Terminology and Attempts at Defining a Tantric Domain
2 Origins, History, Expansion
3 The Textual Material
4 Tantric Traditions: Fundamental Notions, Beliefs, and Speculations
Part II The Tantric World
5 The Tantric Body
6 Sex
7 The Tantric Word: Mantras
8 Tantric Ritual
9 The Spiritual Aspect
10 Tantric Places or Practices
Part III Tantra Today
11 Tantra in India
12 Tantra in the West
Notes
Glossary
Bibliographical References
Index
