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Tantras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tantras ("Looms" or "Weavings") refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. Although Buddhistand Hindu Tantra have many similarities from the outside, they do have some clear distinctions.[citation needed] The rest of this article deals with Hindu Tantra. Buddhist Tantra is described in the article on Vajrayana.
Contents [hide] 1 Classes of Hindu Tantra 2 Revelation 3 Origin 4 Function 5 Notes 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading

Classes of Hindu Tantra

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The word Tantra is made up by the joining (sandhi in Sanskrit) of two Sanskrit words tanoti (expansion) & trayati (liberation) which means liberation of energy and expansion of consciousness from its gross form.[citation needed] It is a method to expand the mind & liberate the dormant potential energy, and its principles form the basis of all YOGIC practices. Hence, the Hindu Tantra scriptures refer to techniques for achieving a result. The Hindu Tantras total ninety-two scriptures, where sixty four are purely Abheda (literally "without differentiation", or monistic), known as the Bhairava Tantras or Kashmir aiviteTantras, eighteen are Bhedbheda (literally "with differentiation and without differentiation" ormonistic cum dualistic), known as the Rudra Tantras), and ten are completely Bheda(literally "differentiated" or dualistic), known as the iva Tantras. The latter two (RudraTantras and iva Tantras) are used by the aiva Siddhntins, and thus are sometimes referred to as Shaiva Siddhanta Tantras, or aiva Siddhnta gamas .

Revelation

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Hindus consider the tantras to be divine revelations, or ruti, imparted by iva (iva) in the form of Svacchandanath, who created each tantra as a combination of his five universal energies, or shakti: cit akti (energy of allconsciousness), nanda akti (energy of all-bliss), ccha akti (energy of all-will), jna akti (energy of allknowledge), kriya akti (energy of all-action). The Tantrika Parampara, or 'Tantric tradition' may be considered parallel or intertwined with the Vaidika Parampara or 'Vedic tradition'. It is said that Svacchandanathilluminated the universe, beginning the Sat Yuga, or 'golden age', by revealing these tantras. Through the ages, as the mahasiddha or 'great masters' of the tantras hid themselves to escape the touch of the increasingly worldly people, these teachings were lost during theKali Yuga or 'degenerate age'. As a part of iva's grace, iva took the form rikanthanatha atMount Kaila and revealed the ninety-two Hindu tantras to Durvasa and then disappeared into the kaa or ether.[citation needed]

Origin

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In the Nth Tradition, legend ascribes the origin of Tantra to Dattatreya, a semi-mythological yogi and the assumed author of the Jivanmukta Gita ("Song of the liberated soul"). Matsyendranath is credited with authorship of the Kaulajna-nirnya, a voluminous ninth-century tantra dealing with a host of mystical and magical subjects. This work occupies an important position in the Hindu tantric lineage, as well as in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
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10/15/13

Tantras - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Function

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In contradistinction to the Vaidik ritual, which is traditionally performed out-of-doors without any idols nor emblems, the Tantrik ritual is largely a matter of temples and idols. The Tantras are largely descriptions and specifications for the construction and maintenance of temple-structures together with their enclosed idols and lingasan example of type of text is theAjita Mhtantra.[1] Another function was the conservation as state-secrets of texts for use by royalty to maintain their authority through rituals directed to deities controlling the political affairs-of-statean example of this is the rada-tilak a Tantra.[2]

Notes

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Ajita_Mahatantra,_19-35 Ajita_Mahatantra,_36-66 Ajita_Mahatantra,_67-89

1. ^ Ajita_Mahatantra 118 2. ^ S`arada-tilaka_Tantra,_1

S`arada-tilaka_Tantra,_2

S`arada-tilaka_Tantra,_3-5

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