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Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening
• Explains how the primal energy generated by physical desire can be used to achieve enlightenment
• Reveals the techniques used by Tantric adepts to attain mastery over breath, thought, and all physical processes
Nothing can match the explosive energy created in the body by pure desire. For millennia, Tantric adepts have harnessed this force as a means of attaining the summits of the mystical life. The energies fueled by passion are used to nourish the inner flame that burns away the egotistical perception of the mind.
Desire explores the subtle techniques of Tantra that enable the seeker to attain the triple mastery of the breath, thought, and the natural processes of the body. Tantrics believe that the body is the temple and divinity lies at its heart. In order to arrive at profound awareness, the body needs to be perfectly tuned and working toward a state of perfect fluidity. Desire reveals many of the secret practices intended for this purpose that have been passed down in the major Tantric treatises such as the Vijnanabhariva Tantra and Ch'an master Chinul's treatise on the Secrets of Cultivating the Mind, including the important techniques of the ritual sexual observances known as Maithuna.
• Reveals the techniques used by Tantric adepts to attain mastery over breath, thought, and all physical processes
Nothing can match the explosive energy created in the body by pure desire. For millennia, Tantric adepts have harnessed this force as a means of attaining the summits of the mystical life. The energies fueled by passion are used to nourish the inner flame that burns away the egotistical perception of the mind.
Desire explores the subtle techniques of Tantra that enable the seeker to attain the triple mastery of the breath, thought, and the natural processes of the body. Tantrics believe that the body is the temple and divinity lies at its heart. In order to arrive at profound awareness, the body needs to be perfectly tuned and working toward a state of perfect fluidity. Desire reveals many of the secret practices intended for this purpose that have been passed down in the major Tantric treatises such as the Vijnanabhariva Tantra and Ch'an master Chinul's treatise on the Secrets of Cultivating the Mind, including the important techniques of the ritual sexual observances known as Maithuna.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 29, 2008
This book looks at specific issues and aspects of Tantra by using a question and answer format. Although i would not suggest this book as a first book on the subject, it does address common questions of westerners who are interested in learning more about Tantra.
January 17, 2023
I have been dancing with this book for almost a year now...not sure at first, if it was for me. Now I am drawing it out, some great essential themes here and I am practicing fully before continuation. Ahhh, every step is sweet.
August 18, 2014
Better even the second time around
Read
September 17, 2024Friends of D&G
'As Abhinavagupta says, "In Tantrism, nothing is advised, nothing is forbidden." The ideal of the Tantric masters is precisely to blend themselves into society, not to be obvious. No marks, no disguises, no isolation.'
'It should be understood that to live as a tantrika has nothing to do with a rejection of society or a rejection of the ties that exist between men and women. Obviously, life in society does not happen without planning and without meeting necessary objectives. What Tantric "work" will lead you to discover is a growing intimacy with what you are in reality, how the society of cells and organs is organized within you, how this society is animated by movements and actions, by corporality, by thoughts, desires, and emotions.'
'The more fully you live, the more desire will find itself in constant tremoring vibration, with or without an object. This tremoring will come from you, from your consciousness, from your heart, and will shower down both on those close to you and on those you meet. Even those sitting near you on the bus will benefit from it.
And as you drink more and more from your own fountain-source, dissatisfaction will cease to exist, as will outer demands, because it is the whole of life that brings you this loving tremoring. There is no longer something missing to make up for; it is the unrestrained intensity of your desire that fulfills you now, and no longer the ideas of possessing, of seducing, of filling a void, of feeding your dissatisfaction.
Curiously, you will see that the more incandescent your desire, the less it will turn toward objects of desire, because it no longer needs them to mask incompletion. This is what the tantrikas experience and know, and this is what is so misunderstood by those who see Tantrism as a quest for ego-tied sexual satisfaction.'
'In Devi's company I perceived the supremacy of her desire, which includes all objects, while mine spent its time exhausting itself by isolating one object after another, absent to multiplicity. For us, everything is consciousness, and everything that manifests itself leads us unceasingly back to consciousness. The senses thus become a marvelous palette that we open to the world, painting it with a thousand colors so that reality unceasingly leads us back to our own Self in a loving, fluid, and unfettered dynamic.'
'Indeed, not only do women have access to the teachings, but Kashmiris have also always believed that their capacities are deeper and more direct than men's. The tradition therefore includes a great number of yoginis and women of knowledge who serve the gods through the exercising of their art, the depth of their practice or their life force, all of which permit them to penetrate the most subtle mysteries.'
'In the Tantric sadhana there is a particular practice...wherein the yogi sees the world as desire. Everything—a leaf falling from a tree, the sky, the snow, the water he drinks, his food—desires him. In this way he enters into an extremely subtle and refined relationship with objects. We do not touch in the same way a teacup that desires us, we do not look in the same way at a tree that desires us, because each contact with reality becomes a celebration of the universality of desire. Fixation on a single object thus ceases to exist.'
'I let my gaze find rest by taking the time to require nothing of it. I allow my gaze to go out and meet the world by avoiding the hyperactivity that masks my reality.'
'The fact of becoming free by finding completeness will enable you to have unusual relationships with other people—that is to say, truly warm and sensual relationships that involve the whole body-mind and that escape all classification. These relationships will lead you to discover that with each true look, with each profound contact of your relaxed and easeful body, you will receive and transmit the teaching: a peaceful, sensually nourishing, authentic human presence.
Your desire will therefore pour out in a new, continuous way. There will no longer exist an accumulation of energy that can find calm only in orgasmic release. You will enter into a sphere in which you will be unceasingly in the process of making love, and enjoying pleasure, coming, with the whole world—which leaves hardly any room for what we call "affairs." You will live the Great Affair, the one that never ends. That is the life of an aspirant, of a tantrika, of a yogini, of a master.'
'As Abhinavagupta says, "In Tantrism, nothing is advised, nothing is forbidden." The ideal of the Tantric masters is precisely to blend themselves into society, not to be obvious. No marks, no disguises, no isolation.'
'It should be understood that to live as a tantrika has nothing to do with a rejection of society or a rejection of the ties that exist between men and women. Obviously, life in society does not happen without planning and without meeting necessary objectives. What Tantric "work" will lead you to discover is a growing intimacy with what you are in reality, how the society of cells and organs is organized within you, how this society is animated by movements and actions, by corporality, by thoughts, desires, and emotions.'
'The more fully you live, the more desire will find itself in constant tremoring vibration, with or without an object. This tremoring will come from you, from your consciousness, from your heart, and will shower down both on those close to you and on those you meet. Even those sitting near you on the bus will benefit from it.
And as you drink more and more from your own fountain-source, dissatisfaction will cease to exist, as will outer demands, because it is the whole of life that brings you this loving tremoring. There is no longer something missing to make up for; it is the unrestrained intensity of your desire that fulfills you now, and no longer the ideas of possessing, of seducing, of filling a void, of feeding your dissatisfaction.
Curiously, you will see that the more incandescent your desire, the less it will turn toward objects of desire, because it no longer needs them to mask incompletion. This is what the tantrikas experience and know, and this is what is so misunderstood by those who see Tantrism as a quest for ego-tied sexual satisfaction.'
'In Devi's company I perceived the supremacy of her desire, which includes all objects, while mine spent its time exhausting itself by isolating one object after another, absent to multiplicity. For us, everything is consciousness, and everything that manifests itself leads us unceasingly back to consciousness. The senses thus become a marvelous palette that we open to the world, painting it with a thousand colors so that reality unceasingly leads us back to our own Self in a loving, fluid, and unfettered dynamic.'
'Indeed, not only do women have access to the teachings, but Kashmiris have also always believed that their capacities are deeper and more direct than men's. The tradition therefore includes a great number of yoginis and women of knowledge who serve the gods through the exercising of their art, the depth of their practice or their life force, all of which permit them to penetrate the most subtle mysteries.'
'In the Tantric sadhana there is a particular practice...wherein the yogi sees the world as desire. Everything—a leaf falling from a tree, the sky, the snow, the water he drinks, his food—desires him. In this way he enters into an extremely subtle and refined relationship with objects. We do not touch in the same way a teacup that desires us, we do not look in the same way at a tree that desires us, because each contact with reality becomes a celebration of the universality of desire. Fixation on a single object thus ceases to exist.'
'I let my gaze find rest by taking the time to require nothing of it. I allow my gaze to go out and meet the world by avoiding the hyperactivity that masks my reality.'
'The fact of becoming free by finding completeness will enable you to have unusual relationships with other people—that is to say, truly warm and sensual relationships that involve the whole body-mind and that escape all classification. These relationships will lead you to discover that with each true look, with each profound contact of your relaxed and easeful body, you will receive and transmit the teaching: a peaceful, sensually nourishing, authentic human presence.
Your desire will therefore pour out in a new, continuous way. There will no longer exist an accumulation of energy that can find calm only in orgasmic release. You will enter into a sphere in which you will be unceasingly in the process of making love, and enjoying pleasure, coming, with the whole world—which leaves hardly any room for what we call "affairs." You will live the Great Affair, the one that never ends. That is the life of an aspirant, of a tantrika, of a yogini, of a master.'
June 7, 2019
True and useful: the idea that the mind is better suited to several short instances of awareness/gratitude/peace throughout the day than pursuit of prolonged meditation sessions.
That was about all I got out of this book. It immediately sets itself up as yet another monopoly on truth, the only known "third path" between materialism versus asceticism in pursuit of spirituality. There are a lot of assertions with no argument, entire paragraphs devoted to name-dropping, and boasting of all the great things adepts can do.
It is an uplifting read, but the constant talk of holy tremoring vibration and so on really made it hard for me. I don't believe in it (might have had I read it back in college when I originally bought it), but for the sake of argument let's say it is all true. If access to these experiences requires an authentic teacher, and authentic teachers are nearly impossible to find amongst all the frauds, then it's really not a very 'practical' book, is it?
There's also all the standard setting up of the ego as the mind's bad guy. Constant talk of great secrets.
Direct questions get a very indirect or no answer. "Isn't this incompatible with a life of monogamy? How do I live with a woman who wants to fit into society and have a family?" It's acknowledged that this is a great question.
If this is on a shelf nearby, flip through it. If you're looking for insight, I'd recommend instead a good translation of the Bhagavad Gita (I like Easwaran's).
That was about all I got out of this book. It immediately sets itself up as yet another monopoly on truth, the only known "third path" between materialism versus asceticism in pursuit of spirituality. There are a lot of assertions with no argument, entire paragraphs devoted to name-dropping, and boasting of all the great things adepts can do.
It is an uplifting read, but the constant talk of holy tremoring vibration and so on really made it hard for me. I don't believe in it (might have had I read it back in college when I originally bought it), but for the sake of argument let's say it is all true. If access to these experiences requires an authentic teacher, and authentic teachers are nearly impossible to find amongst all the frauds, then it's really not a very 'practical' book, is it?
There's also all the standard setting up of the ego as the mind's bad guy. Constant talk of great secrets.
Direct questions get a very indirect or no answer. "Isn't this incompatible with a life of monogamy? How do I live with a woman who wants to fit into society and have a family?" It's acknowledged that this is a great question.
If this is on a shelf nearby, flip through it. If you're looking for insight, I'd recommend instead a good translation of the Bhagavad Gita (I like Easwaran's).
July 18, 2024
Honestly didn't know much about tantra at all, other than some vague notion it was some weird yoga sex thing but the book didn't even mention sex until more than halfway into it. I love this path, instead of intense meditation and effort instead it's micro practices of no more than 15 to 20 seconds of mindfulness, but with increased repetition. These folks feel the feels, use the energy of desire, the vibration of it all. I'm intrigued!
March 9, 2025
I thought this book was a fantastic introductory approach to Tantra that really honours the true nature and historical foundation of what Tantra is (distinguishing it from the westernized version of sexualized neo-tantra). It's approachable, digestible, and really emphasizes the integration of desire and presence with sensorality in a way that is applicable to modern life.
February 2, 2019
Philosophic meditations and practical advice for getting in touch with the universal tremoring, this book is a savory little read at bedtime or on the bus.
April 19, 2019
Interesting and practical
September 21, 2021
Great introduction to Tantra
December 26, 2015
A deeply inspiring work on the true promise of the tantric path: ecstatic consciousness. (You do have to get past the first few chapters that delve into the history but like all good things that take time, it's worth it.)
September 26, 2012
Good information, nice reminders of the Tantric Path, and why it's been worth it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews