Tag Archives: neo-tantra

Guru Viking Interview on Sexual Yoga, Dakinis, and Queer Tantra

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yeshe tsogyal

The great Khandro, Dakini or Yogini of Tibet, the princess who became a Buddha Yeshe Tsogyal

(This particular image of Yeshe Tsogyal is from a specific practice involving the Khandro that was revealed by the 17th century Tibetan treasure-revealer Tagsham Nuden Dorje who is said to have been a reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal’s sexual yoga partner Atsara Salé. The lineage for this practice is held by Namkha Drimed Rinpoche, see here for more information. See here as well for more on this blog regarding Yeshe Tsogyal’s life and exploits)

Hi, friends!

Here’s the information regarding a further podcast I recently did with Steve James of the Guru Viking podcast, as part of a series of interviews connected with my PhD dissertation on Tibetan tantric Buddhist non-monastic, non-celibate yogis and yoginis. In this interview, Steve quizzed me a little about some issues connected with gender and sexuality in Tibetan tantric Buddhism. I am hardly an expert in (or the best person to be mouthing off about!) the experiences of women in Vajrayana, but I hope that some of what we discussed here will be of use and interest.

Here’s Steve’s list of the topics we talked about along with the relevant links:

Continue reading →

De-calcifying your Pineal Gland, and other New Age Literalisms

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“It’s not you…I just don’t think our pineal glands are in the same place right now.”#NewAgeDatingProblems

A while back, I was kinda bored and for reasons I still don’t fully understand, I made this meme. I thought it came out quite well.

decalcifying your pineal gland.jpg

I was just going to post this meme here, but then it got me thinking. Jokes aside, I find the idea of doing something like ‘de-calcifying your pineal gland’ quite fascinating. The concept is one of a panoply of New Age lifestyle/purificatory options, which rely at least in part on a veneer of scienc-i-ness for their legitimacy. Continue reading →

Secrets of the Sex Magic Space Lamas Revealed! Tibetan Buddhist Aliens and Religious Syncretism

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tibetan aliens

This was probably my favourite of the four October essays to write, probably because it involved so many things that I love to think and talk about, but was also something I never, ever imagined I’d be writing for an anthropological audience, or maybe at all.

Years ago I was warned by a lovely acting HoD in an anthropology department to be careful of pursuing the study of esotericism Continue reading →

So, You Want to be a Tantric Wizard, Huh?

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so you want to be a tantric wizard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of my current PhD research focuses on the overlaps – and divergences – between ideas about what practicing tantra means in ‘traditional’ or ‘indigenous’ Asian contexts and in what can be called ‘neo’ or ‘New Age’ tantric settings.

Recently, I’ve been coming across a great number of (white) people who describe themselves as ‘Tantrikas’ and ‘Dakinis’, traditional terms for somebody following the path of (an often but not always non-celibate) tantric practitioner and vow-holder. The (often, but not always) white people who use these terms most liberally frequently seem to be operating well outside of the boundaries of traditional Indian or Tibetan tantra, that is, the native religious system of someone like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As an anthropologist, I’m not interested in categorically dismissing or merely debunking these white self-avowed tantric masters and goddesses Continue reading →