Tantra, by that name, derives from Vedic/Hindu religions, and was most common in Northern India, although it became mixed together with Southern Indian local religions such as the worship of Kali. A strange offshoot of it - is in the Tibetan mixed-religion sometimes called Tibetan Bud­dhism, but also referred to as Tibetan Lamaism.

In ancient times, Tibet had a native local god/goddess reli­gion, parallel to the Indian local/regional god/goddess sys­tems. Around the time of the Aryan invasion of India, Ary­ans consolidated the triple-god concept (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva) by absorbing the various Dravidian local goddesses as "shaktis" (originally the word meant "power" but it came to imply "female consort") for their triad. Meanwhile, the Tibetans were left on their own, hence their "Lamaism" does not resemble classic Hinduism.

Buddhism then swept in and the Tibetans really took to it in a big way, but rather like the parallel example of the Mayans in Mexico adopting the Catholic religion but warping it to fit their own local religions (viz. The Virgin of Guadelupe) - the Tibetans never abandoned their ancient god/goddess pairings, so suddenly you have these big Buddhist tankas (religious paintings) showing the 108 Bodhisatvas (108 is a sacred number for mathematical reasons in many cultures, most notably Asia, while Bodhisatvas are nearly enlight­ened monks who could achieve nirvana ("nothingness") but choose as good Samaritans to reincarnate and help other souls evolve to the point of nirvanahood) -- and each of these 108 Bodhisatvas is shown with a naked woman, his shakti, in his lap having sex with him...

The 108 Tibetan shaktis are the remnants of local goddess, and they still bear the mnemonic attributes (colour, sacred objects they hold, mudras (gestures) they are making with their hands, accompanying animals or flowers, etc.) of their former status.

Now, just as the Catholic church took "The Song of Solo­mon" from the Bible and said, "This is not about having sex with a woman, folks, this is about the Church's longing for Jesus," so did the Tibetan Buddhists explain away the sexual congress between these 108 Bodhisatvas and their shaktis as a kind of ephemeral spiritual congress.

Judaism does this in a similar way: the Shekinah (sounds like Shakti, probably from the same proto-Indo-European root) is a female principle representing light or god's holy spirit, and is known by Judaic scholars, even those who are devoutly monotheistic, to represent an indigenous goddess-worship system that was absorbed into the worship of the male god Jehovah.

The major difference between the Judaic system and the Ti­betan Buddhist one is that the Tibetans never stopped draw­ing representations of the shakti. Over the years she was drawn smaller and smaller, however. In the Vedic (Hindu) Tantra sects, the shakti is represented by a woman of normal size, or perhaps a little smaller-than-average. In the Tibetan tankas, the shakti is smaller-than-average on down to little more than doll-size. She is always there, though, in the Bod­hisatva's lap. Asking about this from a Pokara Monk, China Expat was told: "Well, without his shakti, the Bodhisatva would not be enlightened." So they are acknowledging this ancient tantric (for lack of a more universal word) union as a prerequisite for what they now (being nominally Buddhists) call "enlightenment."

Tibetan Buddhists, who are, more properly speaking, prac­ticing a Buddhist veneer over their native nature-sex reli­gion, have come up with ways of allowing the Buddhist search for "nothingness" and the "absense of desire" to meld with their earlier sex-worship religion.

The way it used to work (pre-Chinese Communist invasion, of course) was that they would take young male candidates for the monastery at about the age of 17 and give them a good two years training in Tantric sex with a female teacher (generally a woman in her 30s or 40s, who taught many men - nice work if you can get it) and then they gradually weaned them from actual physical sex into spiritual sex, so that they could experience the same sort of sexual-spiritual bliss through imaginative meditation.

In accounts written by travellers to Tibet during the 19th and early 20th century, it was said that these young men were treated as hermits, made to dwell in isolated caves, their food brought to them twice a day, and the sexual teacher coming to them at intervals. They were to meditate upon sexual union with her while she was away, and eventually they achieved a state of protracted sexual union bliss in the absence of any physical entity. In short, they were aiming to become Bodhisatvas themselves, with their shakti reduced from a real woman to a kind of holy spirit memory of their teacher. Their lover in her spiritual guise (not physical) was called a tulpa.

Apparently this is still practiced in Nepal and in the more remote areas of Tibet.

By the 19th century, when Western reports of it became common, the Vedic form of tantric sex - especially in South­ern India - seems to have degenerated to a kind of glorified temple prostitution. Women in India were socially and cul­turally so devalued that even tantra could not enhance their lost status. In Tibet, Northern India and Nepal, women were treated with greater dignity, so the type of tantra practiced there was less opportunistic. Even in India, however, there were splits between the "left hand" and "right hand" Tantric sects. The left hand ones were more orgiastic and the right hand ones were more devotional.

An offshoot also appeared in the 19th century Westerniza­tion of Tantra called Karezza (Italian for "caress") which was promulgated in the U.S. by a woman named Alice Bun­ker Stockham circa 1880 or so. Karezza flourished in the era prior to World War One and found adherents around the world. It was not presented as a religion, but appeared to be popular in the social circles of the time where one also en­countered interest in Theosophy, female suffrage, occultism, dress reform, temperance, and Christian Socialism.

Either way, the practice of tantric sex - and the gradual substituting of physical sex for achieving a mental state of orgasm - nirvana - still lives on and is practiced by many followers in the West, Sting and Richard Gere being just two examples.

TANTRIC SEX POSITIONS

- FOURTEEN STEPS TO ENLIGHTENMENT

Having looked at the history of Buddhist tantric sex and yoga, here we provide one of the classic texts from Buddhist Yogi's writing about 3,000 years ago. This text is specifically for the sitting position, and takes in 14 positions from the Tortoise to the Victory.

TORTOISE POSITION

Seated, mouth to mouth,arms against arms, thighs against thighs:this is "Kaurma" (the Tortoise).

TURNING POSITION

If the lovers' thighs, still joined, are raised,it is "Paravartita" (Turning).

MONKEY POSITION

If within the cave of her thighsyou sit rotating your hips like a black bee,it is "Markata" (The Monkey)

CRUSHING SPICES

And if, in this pose, you turn away from her,it is "Marditaka" (Crushing Spices).

THE STRIKING POSITION

She sits with raised thighs,her feet placed either side of your waist;"linga" (penis) enters "yoni" (vagina);you rain hard blows upon her body:this is "Kshudgaga" (Striking).

THE FOOT YOKE

When your mistress sitswith both knees drawn tight to her bodyand you mirror this posture,it is known to experts in the art of loveas "Yugmapada" (The Foot Yoke).

THE FEET YOKE

Seated erect, the lovely girlfolds one leg to her bodyand stretches the other along the bed,while you mirror her actions:this is "Yugmapada" (The Feet Yoke).

THE SWASTIKA

If, with left leg extended,she encircles your waist with her right leg,laying its ankle across her left thigh,and you do the same,it is "Svastika"*

(* The Swastika is an ancient good-luck talisman based on the symbolism of a cross whirling sun-wise. The Nazis used it the wrong way round, whirling widdershins, and the Indian pundits always said this was sacrilegious and would doom them).

Sitting face to face in bed,her breasts pressed tight against your chest,let each of you lock heelsbehind the other's waist,and lean back clasping one another's wrists.

THE SWING

Now, set the swing gently in motion,your beloved, in pretended fear,clinging to your body with her flawless limbs,cooing and moaning with pleasure:this is "Dolita" (the Swing).

THE TORTOISE

If, seated face to face,your toes caress the lovely woman's nipples,her feet press your chestand you make love holding each other's handsit is "Kaurma" (The Tortoise).

THE PEACOCK

Seated, the lady raisesone foot to point vertically over her headand steadies it with her hands,offering up her "yoni" for lovemaking:this is "Mayura" (the Peacock).

THE LOTUS

If, sitting facing her,you grasp her ankles and fasten them like a chainbehind your neck, and shegrips her toes as you make love,it is the delightful "Padma" (the Lotus)

The Knot of Flame

Sitting erect, grip your lover's waistand pull her on to you,your loins continuously leaping togetherwith a sound like the flapping of elephants' ears:this is "Kirtibandha" (the Knot of Flame).

VICTORY

Kneeling between her thighs,tickle her breasts and under her arms,call her 'my lovely darling'and print deep nailmarks around her nipples:thus "Jaya" (Victory) is expounded.

CE