Tantra in Practice / David Gordon White.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

White, David Gordon, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tantric Buddhism.

Tantrism.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 640 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

As David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice, Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe, in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China, India, Japan, Nepal, and Tibet, ranging from the seventh century to the present day, and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated, often for the first time, by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative. 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. Thus, the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems, a series of songs, warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees, yogurt, and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense, making offerings to scriptures, and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation, a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils, wine, or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a king's faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text, identifying its period and genre, discussing the history and influence of the work, and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty. The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena, Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included, geographic areas spanned, and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.

Contents:

Frontmatter

PRINCETON READINGS IN RELIGIONS / Lopez, Jr

NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

CONTENTS

CONTENTS BY TRADITION

CONTENTS BY COUNTRY

CONTRIBUTORS

INTRODUCTION Tantra in Practice: Mapping a Tradition / White, David Gordon

Gurus and Adepts

1. The Tantric Guru / Padoux, André

2. King Kufiji's Banquet / Kapstein, Matthew T.

3. Interviews with a Tantric Kali Priest: Feeding Skulls in the Town of Sacrifice / McDaniel, June

4. A Parody of the Kapalikas in the Mattavilasa / Lorenzen, David N.

5. A Trance Healing Session with Mataji / Erndl, Kathleen M.

Kings and Priests

6. The Consecration of the Monastic Compound at Mount Koya by Kûkai / Gardiner, David L.

7. Praises of the Drunken Peacocks / Davis, Richard H.

8. Precepts for an Emperor / Grapard, Allan G.

Devotees and Deities

9. Raising Snakes in Bengal: The Use of Tantric Imagery in Sâkta Poetry Contests / McDermott, Rachel Fell

10. The Wedding of Siva and the Goddess in the Kulâlikâmnâya / Goudriaan, Teun

11. An Advertised Secret: The Goddess Taleju and the King of Kathmandu / Bledsoe, Bronwen

12. Tantric Rites in Antal's Poetry / Hudson, D. Dennis

Traditions in Transition and Conflict

13. The Jain Monk Jinapati Suri Gets the Better of a Nâth Yogi / Dundas, Paul

14. Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis / Germano, David / Gyatso, Janet

15.The Anonymous Agama Prakâsa: Preface to a Nineteenth-Century Gujarati Polemic / Rinehart, Robin / Stewart, Tony K.

16. Conversation between Guru Hasan Kabîruddîn and Jogï Kâniphâ: Tantra Revisited by the Isma'ili Preachers / Khan, Dominique-Sila

Tantric Paths

17. Emptiness and Dust: Zen Dharma Transmission Rituals / Bodiford, William

18. The Necklace of Immortality: A Seventeenth-Century Vaisnava Sahajiyâ Text / Hayes, Glen A.

19. The Tibetan Practice of the Mantra Path According to Lce-sgom-pa / Bentor, Yael

20. The Ocean of the Heart: Selections from the Kulârnava Tantra / Brooks, Douglas Renfrew

21. Tantric Buddhism and Chinese Thought in East Asia / Rambelli, Fabio

Rites and Techniques

22. Worship of the Ladies of the Dipper / Orzech, Charles D. / Sanford, James H.

23. The Great Wisdom Mother and the Gcod Tradition / Orofino, Giacomella

24. Worship of Bell-Ears the Great Hero, a Jain Tantric Deity / Cort, John E.

25. Secret Yantras and Erotic Display for Hindu Temples / Rabe, Michael D.

26. The Six Rites of Magic / Buhnemann, Gudrun

27. The Worship of Kali According to the Todala Tantra / Gupta, Sanjukta

28. Ritual Manual for the Protective Fire Offering Devoted to Manjusrï, Chuin Lineage / Payne, Richard K.

29. The Purification of the Body / Flood, Gavin

Yoga and Meditation

30. A Tantric Meditation on Emptiness / Lopez, Jr.

31. Japanese Tantra, the Tachikawa-ryu, and Ryôbu Shinto / Faure, Bernard

32. Assorted Topics of the Great Completeness by Dodrupchen III / Klein, Anne Carolyn

33. On the Seal of Sambhu: A Poem by Abhinavagupta / Muller-Ortega, Paul E.

34. Vajrayoga in the Kalacakra Tantra / Newman, John

35. Jain Tantra: Divinatory and Meditative Practices in the Twelfth-Century Yogasâstra of Hemacandra / Qvarnstrôm, Olle

36. Cheating Death / Walter, Michael

GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9780691190457

0691190453

OCLC:

1132219004