Knives Out! Knives Out!

In "Tantra in Practice: Mapping a Tradition", the editor's introduction of Tantra in Practice (biblio below), White establishes the validity of having a book on "tantra" by providing a definition of it. He conducts a lengthy exploration of the topic and cites a particularly nice comment made by an earlier author, Andr� Padoux.

"Padoux (1986: 273), citing Biardeau, begins by saying that the doctrinal aspect of Tantra is 'an attempt to place kAma, desire, in every sense of the word, in the service of liberation... not to sacrifice this world for liberation's sake, but to reinstate it, in varying ways, within the perspective of salvation.'"

White then gives his own definition of tantra: "that Asian body of beliefs & practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy of the godhead that creates and maintains the universe, seeks to ritually appropriate & channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative & emancipatory ways. ... [M]any Tantric practitioners... would find [this definition] at variance with their own particular doctrines & perspectives. Buddhists, for example, would be inclined to replace the term 'energy' with 'teaching' or 'enlightened consciousness'."

White later goes on to clarify that the Buddhist "godhead" is in fact the fundamental quality of enlightenment present in all beings.

White also calls the mandala or utopian template of the universe through which the power flows a "mesocosm": it is a "middle ground" between the individual's microcosm and the universal macrocosm.

I am writing about such apparently esoteric things because there is a practical application to this information. Tantra is a method and approach to the practical matter of cracking open the universe and a fundamental way to change and learn. Images called 'yantras' are liberation machines; mantras are the sonic equivalents of higher orders of energy; letters, yoga and mudra are visual representations of the same energy.

All of this is eminently practical information. The Invisibles should have taught you that. Liberation from suffering does not take back seat to suffering. Tantrikas have existed in cultures and societies that sucked, that were fundamentally oppressive, that rewarded bad people and censured the good. Somehow, in those worlds, liberation flourished and the teachings of Buddhism changed cultures in very substantial ways.

Desire doesn't just mean lust. Desire is the whole package. I cannot bury my desire, choke my existence into nothingness as some white-wrapped virgin starving in the woods. I am built to burn. I am built to fuck, eat, sleep, shit, laugh, grieve and fight. No matter how fucked up the world becomes, I will still exist. I am scrappy, to quote someone I spoke to today: I am resiliant and nothing is going to slow me down.

This pep talk is a reminder to me that I fucking well exist. I'm not going to grey and fade away because some freaking lunatics run the country. No matter if this whole goddamn nation is stark fucking raving mad, which it is, and madmen seize control of the government because they think some god told them to rule the people because They Are Entitled, which they damn well might, I'll still be kicking people in the balls who give me shit.

Knives out, knives out, knives out. Radiohead wrote that song and I love them for it. It's my mantra.

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I am currently listening to: night insects
I am currently reading: White, David Gordon 2000: Tantra in Practice, Princeton Readings in Religions; Princeton NJ: Princeton U Press