Talk:Tantra

Recommandation

For a good reference I would recommend "Tantra in Tibet" by Tsongkapa with forward by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Too often in popular Western culture, the practice of Tantra is confused with or too overtly linked with sexual practices. Sexual practices are used in some reputable traditions, but only come late in advance training via a compassionately established relationship. Such sexual practices are first preceded with rigorous step by step practices of energy exchange methods that are developed and mastered over time with one's tantric partner. Tantra is not sex, good tantric practice with a partner does not require sex, and the incorrect or inappropriate use of attempting to couple sexual practice with a partner can cause more harm that good. One's right intentions must always be to bring good to those we encounter and to the world as a whole. Remember always that this is the 'secret mantra', or maybe more accurately the 'private manta' of compassion with our tantric partner. Most Compassionately, Sigung Dan.

Confusing disagreements

Early on there is criticism about the Western perception of tantra and even the claim that it is an invention of orientalist views. It then becomes unclear whether the following sections are building off the Western definition or the critical definition- assuming there is one. What I'm getting at is that the defining of terms is unclear and confuses just what the individual sections, especially the history, are supporting. If that makes sense. I had a vague idea of what tantra means, and I clicked on the link from the article on Yamantaka, described as a "tantric" deity. I can't say I understand exactly what defines a "tantric deity" after reading this article that to say "'tantra' isn't a valid category at all, but here are a chronology of things wrongly associated with this erroneous category." Tonsil Crypt Ossuary (talk) 23:31, 29 December 2021 (UTC)

Article too long & confusing

Dear all contributors, i find the article is too long & complex to even start with, we need to split them into Tantra Hinduism & Tantra Buddhism, kindly let me know your thoughts Shrikanthv (talk) 11:45, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

Radha Tantra is not a Pancaratrik text

"The main Vaiṣṇava tradition that is associated with tantra is the Pañcharatra. This tradition produced a number of tantric texts including Radha tantra and Lakshmi tantra, but most of the other tantras are lost."

While Lakshmi tantra is a recognised as a bona fide Pancaratrik text, Radha tantra is not. It should be removed by the editor. 67.204.220.21 (talk) 01:07, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Even the entry for Radha tantra acknowledges that it is not a Vaisnava text.

"The Radha Tantra is a Shakta text, despite its direct association with the Vaishnavite deities Radha and Krishna." 67.204.220.21 (talk) 01:09, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

How could we help a reader coming in blind to navigate this topic?

There are a lot of complaints about this article being too esoteric (ironically) but I feel like it is a sign that ignorant WP readers who are wandering their way through words from Hindu or Buddhist philosophy that they half recognize are not being served by this page. Having read the article myself, also with no background knowledge on this or related subjects, I can sympathize with their confusion and could determine the exact series of article links a reader might take while attempting to better understand the foundations of these topics, only to end up deeper in the weeds instead.

This is not my specialty and my attempt at giving non-specialist readers who bounce off of this article to a place they might be better served by including (generalist) Yoga in the lead was reverted. Fair enough but it doesn't solve the problem that spurred that change. I have considered altering the linked article Yoga (philosophy)'s header to make the link to Yoga more clearly visible but I couldn't think of how to frame such a thing. How else might this article be improved for the benefit of readers coming in with no knowledge of the intricacies of Asian esoterica without damaging its usefulness as a very detailed article? Is there a related article, section of a wider article, an expanded Simple English article or anything else that could be linked somewhere easily noticeable that would better serve generalist readers coming in blind? Gracchus123 (talk) 02:37, 19 October 2024 (UTC)