Tantra has acquired many impressions and associations over the years. It has become unclear to everyone what tantra actually means. The easiest way to get back to what is really is about is to look at the meaning that it has in Sanskrit, which is where it came from.

The roots of tantra

Tantra is a highly charged word from an ancient tradition. It used by respected spiritual gurus and also unfortunately by porn sites. How can this possibly be? Tantra is sanskrit word and, like most sanskrit words, has several meanings. One is “to weave together”, another is “to expand”. These meanings are of great significance when used in a sacred context.  However these meanings are lost in profane usage, where tantra suggests a concoction of erotic massage and weird sexual practices, such as orgies or sex for a long time. I suspect that the profane usage has come from tantra's superficial appearance of a sexual practice.

What do you mean by “expansion”?

In its pure form, tantra’s concept of expansion relates not to the excitation of the sex organs but to the expanding of energy, life force if you prefer. In the tantric world view this automatically creates expansion of consciousness. It is this process that leads to the unfolding of the spiritual potential of an individual or relationship. This expansion has a lot in common with the yoga and meditation goals of enlightenment, samadi, and the religious experience of ecstacy.

What do you mean by "weaving"?

The weaving together relates not to the intertwining of limbs during the sexual act but the interconnectedness of everything, the weaving together of truths. The former is a fundmental truth of many religions, the latter is unusual. However, although tantra does not mean sexuality, there is something inherently paradoxical about tantra,  and some of its practices do look exactly like the sexual act.

How does “yoga” and “meditation” fit in with tantra?

In my quest to understand tantra I have come to realise that a lot of the confusion within the spiritual community around tantra comes from the recognition that the tantric path has two strands. The first strand is sometimes called White or Right Hand path Tantra, and it is an aesthetic, meditation based spiritual practice focussing primarily on consciousness.  The white alludes to tantric visualisation where consciousness is perceived as white light. White Tantra is sometimes called yoga. The term yoga, used in this way, embraces much more than hatha yoga, which presently enjoys a huge popularity in the West as a keep fit and relaxation regime.

How does “yoga” and “meditation” differ from Tantra?

White Tantra (yoga and meditation) tends to be hierarchical and prescriptive in its practice. It has precepts and uses teachings, posture, breathing, with some visualisation and chanting as its tools. . My experience of White Tantra is that it represents the male aspect of a duality within tantra. The right hand is the male polarity in esoteric practice, hence this alternative name. I use male in this way not as a description of gender but of something similar to, but not the same as yang in oriental philosophy.

Red or Left Hand path Tantra is often abbreviated to tantra. It is the female side of the duality. The red alludes to the hot red fire that represents energy, as it is visualised in Tantra. Red Tantra is primarily concerned with the energy of life (life force, qi, chi and prana are other terms for this) that animates the body. It is the feminine polarity of Tantra, again not as in gender, but more as yin relates to yang. In esoteric terms the left hand is the feminine aspect of duality. Red Tantra sees consciousness as the Witness of the effects of this life energy. The commonest, most powerful experience of this energy that arises naturally within us is love making, and the products of love making, i.e. babies.

Red Tantra uses movement - not so much postures - but free movements  - and  embraces the senses ,as well as using the White tantra practices of breath, visualisation and sound. It does not have a hierarchy and is creative in its practice. It uses experiences rather than teachings as a learning tool. Its cosmology is that the Universe we know comes into being constantly, as the product of the love making between Shiva (consciousness) and Shaki (energy). Interestingly, in this Hindu based cosmology, this love-making is extended foreplay. If Shiva ever climaxed this universe would explode out of existence. Maybe their last climax was the original Big Bang!This cosmology has a lot in common with, but is not identical to, the taoist cosmology of yin and yang.

What is the goal of tantra?

Tantra is practiced for many reasons, depending on the individual’s interest or focus. But here lies a paradox, as one of the practices of Tantra is goal-lessness itself. However when you consider that this tantra is a feminine path this becomes easier to understand. The feminine doesn’t have a goal. She is already there, so there is no path and no goal. Tantra is full of paradox. It is its constant closeness to paradox that enchants me. I have always known intuitively that the resolution of paradox is the same as the transcendence of duality, and it is at this place beyond duality where the Divine is found.

Isn’t Tantra an excuse for Hedonism?

If you use, rather than avoid, desire and passion, as your way of spiritual growth there is no doubt that you tread a precarious path. It is too easy, and sometimes too pleasant, to let the ego take the tantric path as a way of justifying hedonistic drives. If you are using this incredible power without both confronting your shadow and removing your ego from the driving seat (to me, these are absolute requirements for any spiritual path) you can fall further and harder than any other path I have come across.