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Tantra & Joy
Sile
Veteran
I find tantra immensely joyful.
My dear teacher, Geshe Lhundup Sopa, once gave a teaching on joy; I wish I could remember more of it. But I remember being amazed that joy itself was considered spiritual.
The teaching had nothing in particular to do with tantra, that I recall, so that's an aside--but, ever since then, I've thought of joy differently.
I find tantra joyful, because in contrast to the religion of my upbringing, it teaches that everything can be spiritual. Instead of looking at myself and thinking, "What a hopeless mess," I can look at myself and think, "Everything about me--even the mess (maybe especially the mess)" is absolutely a source of energy with which to work.
Tantra is nothing less than the redirection of energy. Other than helping or harming another being, no act in and of itself is inherently good or bad; but every act, in and of itself, has energy. Every reaction, also, in and of itself, has energy. You can direct that energy towards bad aims, neutral aims, or good aims. The energy itself has no inherent goodness or badness; it's how you direct it.
Most tantra is not about sex; however, the tantra that often gets talked about in the West is sexual tantra. We short-circuit ourselves at this point, for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, our national cultural history teaches us that "sex is bad, especially if you're a woman." That's very, very hard to overcome. We may, in fact, not be able to overcome this cultural hangover in our lifetime; for this reason, it could be that most of our generation will never be able to harness the very real and powerful energy of sexual tantra, nor should we. It sucks, but it's entirely possible we are just too messed up, culturally, to put it to use. Women especially have tons of negative associations with sex; we are only just barely getting to the point, culturally, where we can tentatively start to suggest that having a strong, healthy sexual appetite as a woman is even acceptable, let alone laudable. With this kind of socio-cultural malnutrition in our lives, I personally don't feel many of use will be able to honestly use sexual tantra correctly (I hope very much to be mistaken).
But it's okay--tantra is not just about sex. Tantra is about using everything that already exists in your life on the path. Someone posted in NewBuddhist about using coffee-making on the path--that's tantra. Getting angry but saying something (however loudly) nice instead of something angry, is tantra. Stubbing your toe, and instead of swearing, making a crazy whooping noise to make your kids laugh, is tantra. Anything from small irritations to immense grief, if re-directed towards something good or at least neutral, is tantra.
I guess the reason tantra makes me joyful is that it removes the implication that I'm "not good enough yet," and replaces it with, "the exact way you are, right now, can be spiritual."
I feel for example that I'm sort of extreme; hot-headed, base, reactionary, not a particularly realized being. I feel closer to the animal world than I think some of my friends are, for example. They don't get phased; I get phased. They don't overreact; I overreact. Instead of thinking, "God, I am a complete loser," I can think, "The next time I get hot-headed, I'm going to feel that energy, be happy I have that energy, and (try to) use it for something good instead of something lame or ignorant or hurtful." Instead of reacting by saying something "extremely sharp," why not react by saying something "extremely kind?" My nature seems to be extreme; there's no reason that has to translate into "sharp." Extreme is extreme. Even my ridiculously immature nature can be directed toward a good end.
Anyway, I should stop there, since I've already rambled on too long. But I've been realizing lately what an inherently (for me) liberating and joyful concept tantra is, and wanted to share it; I also would very much love to hear your thoughts.
My dear teacher, Geshe Lhundup Sopa, once gave a teaching on joy; I wish I could remember more of it. But I remember being amazed that joy itself was considered spiritual.
The teaching had nothing in particular to do with tantra, that I recall, so that's an aside--but, ever since then, I've thought of joy differently.
I find tantra joyful, because in contrast to the religion of my upbringing, it teaches that everything can be spiritual. Instead of looking at myself and thinking, "What a hopeless mess," I can look at myself and think, "Everything about me--even the mess (maybe especially the mess)" is absolutely a source of energy with which to work.
Tantra is nothing less than the redirection of energy. Other than helping or harming another being, no act in and of itself is inherently good or bad; but every act, in and of itself, has energy. Every reaction, also, in and of itself, has energy. You can direct that energy towards bad aims, neutral aims, or good aims. The energy itself has no inherent goodness or badness; it's how you direct it.
Most tantra is not about sex; however, the tantra that often gets talked about in the West is sexual tantra. We short-circuit ourselves at this point, for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, our national cultural history teaches us that "sex is bad, especially if you're a woman." That's very, very hard to overcome. We may, in fact, not be able to overcome this cultural hangover in our lifetime; for this reason, it could be that most of our generation will never be able to harness the very real and powerful energy of sexual tantra, nor should we. It sucks, but it's entirely possible we are just too messed up, culturally, to put it to use. Women especially have tons of negative associations with sex; we are only just barely getting to the point, culturally, where we can tentatively start to suggest that having a strong, healthy sexual appetite as a woman is even acceptable, let alone laudable. With this kind of socio-cultural malnutrition in our lives, I personally don't feel many of use will be able to honestly use sexual tantra correctly (I hope very much to be mistaken).
But it's okay--tantra is not just about sex. Tantra is about using everything that already exists in your life on the path. Someone posted in NewBuddhist about using coffee-making on the path--that's tantra. Getting angry but saying something (however loudly) nice instead of something angry, is tantra. Stubbing your toe, and instead of swearing, making a crazy whooping noise to make your kids laugh, is tantra. Anything from small irritations to immense grief, if re-directed towards something good or at least neutral, is tantra.
I guess the reason tantra makes me joyful is that it removes the implication that I'm "not good enough yet," and replaces it with, "the exact way you are, right now, can be spiritual."
I feel for example that I'm sort of extreme; hot-headed, base, reactionary, not a particularly realized being. I feel closer to the animal world than I think some of my friends are, for example. They don't get phased; I get phased. They don't overreact; I overreact. Instead of thinking, "God, I am a complete loser," I can think, "The next time I get hot-headed, I'm going to feel that energy, be happy I have that energy, and (try to) use it for something good instead of something lame or ignorant or hurtful." Instead of reacting by saying something "extremely sharp," why not react by saying something "extremely kind?" My nature seems to be extreme; there's no reason that has to translate into "sharp." Extreme is extreme. Even my ridiculously immature nature can be directed toward a good end.
Anyway, I should stop there, since I've already rambled on too long. But I've been realizing lately what an inherently (for me) liberating and joyful concept tantra is, and wanted to share it; I also would very much love to hear your thoughts.
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Comments
If you do, I would like to send you a private message...I can use your help on something.
Jeffrey - glad you enJOYed! I would love to hear other people's thoughts on, and experiences with, tantra and/or tantric approaches.