Source Text
Oscar Ichazo makes a comprehensible presentation about the misinterpretations of tantra in this book, A Commentary on Tantra.
This misunderstanding is widespread in Western culture, where tantra is mainly understood as the yoga of sex and also as a way that takes excesses of all sorts as a path toward liberation and Self–realization.
This would be synthesized by Pyrrho with his Skeptic method of total deconstruction of the Relative Mind in order to attain the clarity and simplicity of the Absolute Mind.
Pyrrho of Elis, the founder of the Skeptics, whose main doctrines were the deconstruction of appearances of the Relative Mind by way of inquiring into the root of any knowledge about the phenomenal world in order to enter into epoche (Gk) or ‘suspension of judgment’ conducive to the Transcendental State of Ataraxia (Gk) or Emptiness of Mind.
was presented at Delphi in a statue by Phidias which was totally nude, signifying Zeus’ absolute Transcendence beyond all appearances. A similar relationship appears between Artemis the huntress or the Mind of Contemplation, and her twin brother, Apollo, who represents the Mind of Enlightenment and Pure Innate Awareness as the Buddha Vairocana of the Tantrics.
It seems to me that they are missing the most important point of all Tantric practices, which is to produce in the body the spreading and expanding of the psychic heat, known as tumo (Tib) in the Tibetan Tradition, as tapas (Skt) in the Indian Tradition, and “Alpha Heat” in Arica Integralism. When the level of transformation appears by the force of concentration, meditation and visualization, and the Mind has entered into a State of Perfect Innate Awareness, the entire body pulsates in unison with the heart.
These two doctrines of the dual reality or truth and the ‘doctrine of emanation and return’ teach that by way of liberation and transcendence one is detached from the world through a process of purification, and finally becomes free from fetters, hindrances and obscurations of the mind in order to attain the Mind of Pure Light and enter into Divine Union with the Mind of Total Absolute or God.
In the ninth century AD in Northern India, there appeared a large body of texts called “Agamas,” containing the oldest form of Shaivism, known as the “Pancaratras.” Also in the ninth century appeared the doctrines of Kashmiri Shaivism contained in the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta, the Spanda–Karika of Kallata, and the Isvara Pratyabhijna Karika of Utpaladeva. These three doctrines are the three ways or points of view toward liberation—first from the side of Shiva, or the Absolute Mind in Integral Philosophy; second from the side of the Shakti, or the Relative Mind in Integral Philosophy; and third from the point of view of Knowledge or the recognition of the Mind as Pure Light. In Integral terms, in one line we can say that the total objective of the tantras is to realize the Unity of our own Absolute Mind of Non– conceptualization, and to recognize that the Relative Mind of Concepts and Language and the Absolute Mind are both like two sides of the same coin or the same substance.
followed by Plato, Plotinus, Porphyry, and Virgil. Padmasambhava also introduced the ‘doctrine of the Great Completeness of the Mind or Great Perfection,’ known as “Atiyoga” in Sanskrit and “Dzogchen” in Tibetan.
Thus, during the pujas and sadhanas, the sadhakas give to Lord Shiva all that pertains to the ego—all the material attachments to wealth, fame, power, and so on. Once the ego has been sacrificed in its totality, it is replaced by the essence of Lord Shiva himself in the form of total Awareness that sustains its permanent equilibrium and quietude by way of perfect movement in the form of a dance, and this is the highest manifestation of Shiva as Lord Nataraja.
AI Summary
A Commentary on Tantra by Oscar Ichazo presents key insights from the Yoga tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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