Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tt00014)

In a message dated 11/30/98 5:45:52 PM, Daniel quotes:

<<In an 1882 letter to A.O. Hume, the Master KH writes:

"The 'tantrikas' --- at least the modern sect, for over 400 years ---
observe rites and ceremonies, the fitting description of which will
never be attempted by the pen of one of *our* brotherhood.">>

I don't know the answer to the discrepancy with certainty.  One line of
approach may be to distinguish the super-set of "Tantric practitioners " from
the sub-set of "tanktrikas" to which KH is referring.  There is a well-
established designation among Buddhists between the right and left hand
tantras, largely involving the motive if I am not mistaken -- bodhisattva vows
or lack thereof.  It is hard to imagine that KH speaks against ALL Tantric
study, when the Tibetan Buddhist canon itself contains an entire section
devoted to Tantra, several hundred works, and HPB quotes from the Book of Kiu-
Te, which is none other than a phonetic spelling of brGyur-sDe, or "Tantra" in
Tibetan.

Then again, it is a grave error to suppose that all tantra has to do with
sexual imagery and practice.  This is a western misconception made deeper by
all the books (written by Westerners, even if they have taken up "sanskritic"
names) which promise the reader this or that special sexual ecstasy through
Tantra.  Very sad.  Most tantra, in my experience, has to do with visualizing
oneself in various stages of relationship to a deity, drawing in closer and
closer until the final (ati) stage, where one visualizes that one IS the
deity, with all the purity and powers of a full Buddha.  Tantra is called the
Fruit approach, as opposed to most Mahayana, which is a Path approach.
Tantra, as the Vajrayana of Diamond Vehicle, assumes that one already *is* a
Buddha, and operates on that basis, encouraging the practitioner to REMAIN IN
THE STATE of Buddha mind.  This has little to do with sex, except for some
isolated practices aiming at this very state.

Rich