Introduction This evening, we will start our discussion of tantra. In order to do that effectively, I need a bit of information. Tantra can be taught in many different ways and at different levels. First of all, how many have actually had tantric initiations? From the show of...

Review  We were speaking about gaining conviction in the efficiency of the tantra path so that we can engage in it with our full hearts. In order to gain that conviction, it’s necessary to understand why tantra is more efficient than sutra and how it actually works so...

Understanding the Purpose of Tantra I’d like to discuss how to practice tantra effectively. This is important for those of us who are already involved with tantra practice because we might not be engaging in those practices in the most effective manner, and in order to make...

Review We started our discussion of how to make our tantra practice more effective. We saw that the most fundamental thing to start with is to understand what tantra is and what the essential points of tantra practice are – how does it work. Also, we saw that the word “tantra”...

Preparation for Tantra Practice  The practice of tantra needs to be done within the context of the four noble truths, which is the context of all the teachings of Buddha. It’s the most fundamental thing that Buddha taught. It was the first thing that Buddha taught, these...

Categories in Tantra  Conceptual thought involves categories. How is that relevant in tantra? There are categories with these Buddha-figures, so there is the category Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara. There can be many different forms of that deity, with four arms, with two...

Four Gateways to Liberation We’ve been speaking about tantra, and we’ve discussed many different aspects of it, as well as refuted some of those aspects several times. There’s no need to repeat again. However, there’s just one thing that I want to add to our discussion, which...

I’ve been asked to speak a little bit about tantra in general. When we look at the word tantra, it’s a Sanskrit word, and what it means is the warp of a loom. A loom is something that we weave cloth on, and the warp are the strings of the loom that we weave other strings...

We have been speaking about the necessity for preparation for engaging in tantra practice. We have the common preliminaries (or preparation), which are shared in common with all Mahayana practices, sutra as well as tantra. In addition, we have the unshared or uncommon...

Powa (Transference of Consciousness)  We were speaking a little bit about some of the features of mother and father tantra as one of the questions. Another feature that I should mention that we have in mother tantra, because I know that many of you are practicing this, is...