Karmamudra refers to the Tantric Buddhist practice of engaging in cultivated forms of sexual arousal and intercourse as part of spiritual practice. It has been called “the yoga of bliss,” “the path of skillful means,” and “the path of the great bliss of the lower gates” (Chenagtsang, 2018). As in Dzogchen, the couple practiced with altruistic intention in order to transform their sexuality for their mutual spiritual advancement. Sexual union is considered a profound kind of meditation, a sexual yoga practice. Karmamudra includes a strong focus on embodied feeling and joy. Chenagtsang’s work is ..read more

Tibetan Buddhism In Tibet, with the entry of Buddhism brought by Padmasambhava, a similar melding of the indigenous Bon tradition and the inner, interior, monastic philosophy occurred. Much of Tibetan Buddhism was similarly patriarchal and used sex only as a transgressive act, except for strains that later became Dzogchen and karmamudra. When Buddhism traveled to Tibet from India it arrived in both celibate and non-celibate forms. Dzogchen  The sect of Tibetan Buddhism called Dzogchen fully integrated desire and the senses into the totality of the moment. Human life was for total engageme ..read more

One of the lesser-known sects of the Kaula tradition that has been ignored by scholars and art historians are the yogini cults (Dehejia,1986). These cults appear to have survived untouched by the influence of the patriarchal (or Buddhist) invasion. A series of circular temples honoring the yoginis were built in the northern part of India that were ringed by voluptuous images of the 64 yoginis, often with nonhuman heads and wearing necklaces of human skulls. The temples were unlike any other shrines in India, more closely resembling the circular, open monuments of Stonehenge, Avenbury, or Delph ..read more

The Kaula sect retained its loyalty to the goddess, sexuality, the role of women, and the love of sensuality and the earth. Kaula divinized passion and sexual desire and taught the primacy of the body. The world was seen with what might be termed a “sexualized” view (Wallis, 2012), seeing the whole of reality as “the harmonious and joyous pulsating union of various sets of complementary opposites” (p. 237). The real goal of this form of tantra was to experience the divine in every aspect of life and liberation in this lifetime. Desire was seen as the motive force of the universe. There was com ..read more

The teachings call the “tantras” began in northern India in the 500s. They spread to Tibet, China, and Japan around the same time. Patriarchy took over, and suddenly Shiva, a male god, was the source of all life and was now said to precede the Goddess. “Since ancient times, spiritual life has been associated with the capacities of men to realize an alternative experience, an “Alternative Reality,” that corresponds to their psycho-physiological orientation. For thousands of years, spiritual life on Earth has been essentially a “male club,” and esoteric spiritual philosophies and practices refle ..read more

There exists a “myth” that the world was originally a matriarchal paradise and therefore was sex-positive, before the conquest of the patriarchy about 5000 years ago. Feminist researchers such as Eisler and Gimbutas have written extensively about this subject. Jeffrey Kripal (2020) even states, “Among all races, primitive religion begins with glorifying the abundant eros of Mother Earth.” Although this matriarchal time is controversial in academia as well as within traditional religions, especially as there is no written evidence, it is easy to see from the art and sculpture of that time that ..read more

My question became: which, if any, of the spiritual traditions of the world understood sex to be a valid path of spiritual development? Did any of the traditions value sensuality and the body, the couple rather than the lone practitioner? There’s big difference between spiritual traditions that use the body as a means to ascend and cultures that revel in and relish the sheer enjoyment and wonder of being embodied. During my research I studied various traditions but found that different accounts by different authors appeared to conflict. Tantra appears to have risen out of a previous tradition ..read more

Being involved with Western tantra for decades, the idea that sex is a valid path of spiritual development has deeply informed my life. This is a minority opinion, however, and it turns out that it has been so worldwide and throughout most of recorded history. Sex is and has been considered “lower,” while spirituality is “higher.” To align with Western tantra in contemporary society is to meet with disapproval and salacious interest. Mainstream society has been led to believe that “tantra” means sleazy sex, the quest for bigger and better orgasms, orgies, and prostitution, none of which I have ..read more

As with the case of Dr. Mitchell’s research on reticular hominoids being “too weird” for transpersonal psychology, the widely reported phenomena of people having sex with ghosts appears to be too weird for even that great chronicler of the strange, the Fortean Times. Murdie (2015), in his article Ghost Watch, stated “Regarding a handful of ghost encounters claiming a sexual element I have heard personally, I unfortunately concluded that these came from attention-seeking individuals or arose with people who had undergone traumatic childhood experiences and abuse” (p. 12). The article continues ..read more

When I was in a bookstore in the 70s and first encountered a book on tantra and the concept that sex was spiritual, it stopped me dead in my tracks. “Of course,” I said out loud, under my breath, “what else could it be?” I had not yet had the transpersonal sexual experiences I would later have, but early on there was that awareness, that sensitivity. Somewhere in my outside reading since beginning this program, I’ve encountered the idea that exceptional human experiences are most readily available to anyone through sex, and I believe it is Maslow who said that it is the most commonly reported ..read more