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El amanecer del tantra
Two of the most prominent Buddhist Tantric philosophers and masters, Herbert V. Guenther and Chögyam Trungpa come together to form a theoretical and practical Tantric tandem. Tantra is not solely intended to achieve enlightenment, but also to prepare for an uninhibited relationship with all of life’s situations. Together Guenther and Trungpa reveal Tantra as a practice, an embodiment, and a continuous freedom.
152 pages, Paperback
First published February 12, 1975
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May 30, 2011
Originally published in 1975 but frequently reprinted since, this was an attempt by Professor Herbert Guenther and the Tibetan-Buddhist Chogyam Trungpa to provide a more grounded view of Tantra at a time of ‘New Thought’ ferment on the West Coast of America.
Care must always be taken with such books – the interpretation of two men is as representative of all tantric thought as two nice liberals might be in interpreting Christianity to India. The Buddhist strand is only half the story – there is a Hindu strand as well – and Buddhists come in many schools.
Nevertheless, Guenther is learned and Trungpa sincere and able to meet the West half-way. At this early stage of the introduction of Buddhist Tantra to the American West, perhaps no better collaboration could have been hoped for.
As it stands, this remains an excellent introduction (although it is not an easy read as it should not be). The last two dialogues (the bulk of the book is a readable stage by stage explanation of central concepts) are operating at a high level of philosophy for specialists.
One of the longstanding debates within the Eastern cultures, as they come face-to-face with the West, is whether they are ‘doing philosophy’. Regardless of Zen purists, this tradition and cognate Eastern ones represent a philosophical mentality co-existing with a spiritual one.
If you were to mean the Western analytical tradition from Plato, then Zen and Tantra are not comparable but both ‘think’ deeply about reality (as do the monist strands in Hinduism) along lines that are comprehensible to post-essentialist existentialists, phenomenologists and post-structuralists.
Nevertheless, the two traditions, West and East, remain distinct, less because of means (since Westerners are perfectly happy to consider Eastern traditions as providers of technology for altered states, personal transformation and phenomenological insight) but because of their ends.
The original dualism of the West has broken down into a new monism at its intellectual elite level but this is still a largely materialist one.
The East, on the other hand, still thinks in terms of universal consciousness, reincarnation and the altered state being an access to reality rather than simply another form of reality.
Yet the dialogue between advanced Western philosophies and the Eastern traditions is a highly fruitful one so that understanding the basic tenets of traditionalist Tantra (and of Zen) is a useful tool in a Westerner’s ability to critique his own history and move forward.
This does not mean that Eastern thought is displacing that of the West. In the end, a belief in universal consciousness – even when experienced as ‘real’ through training or chemical means – is only a belief, about as provable or as unproven as the existence of God.
Tantra still falls into the category of religion with a philosophy attached (much like Thomism is to Catholicism). Anyone not trained in it will struggle with the alienating use of Sanskrit and ultimate ends that requires an underlying absurd belief no different in commitment to that of Kierkegaard.
The spiritual technologies of Tantra are, however, impressive, honed over hundreds of years within both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
This book, at the least, steers the reader away from excessive pride in Westernisation and the associated belief that adopting Eastern ways will provide an easy path to dealing with life’s stresses.
Prof. Guenther and Chogyam Trungpa alternate chapters so I shall refer only to the authors in general and let you draw out any differences of emphasis between them.
What they make clear is that the tantric mentality is one of relations to the world and involves a constant process of growth – to an extent one might see it as a psychology without psychologism.
By (like Zen) moving within and then outside language, the tantric mentality detaches the mind from the limitations of language in order to place the person in direct relationship to experience.
However, it is not an either/or mentality. Detachment is what it says on the tin so that the first problem for any Western mind dealing with the conceptual framework is that no word appears to mean what it would mean in its Latin derivation – notably compassion.
I often think that, instead of Westerners losing themselves in trying to master Sanskrit, Tibetan or Chinese, a more profitable approach might be to reverse engineer the conceptual frameworks of the Tantric.
Perhaps we can create a new language with Western root words to re-create the technologies. If Japanese engineers can pull apart a mouse trap to make a better one in the material sphere, Western intellectual and thinkers should be able to do the task in reverse when it comes to psychic technologies.
The mind-set of the Buddhist tantric (let alone the Zen practitioner or the Hindu Tantrika or the hard-boiled Western existentialist) is radically different, from its very first base, to the normal presumptions and assumptions of ‘pragmatic’ man operating as an individual enforcing his will on matter.
But there are misunderstandings. Tantra is a way of being and of seeing and it need not make the tantric (or any of the other alternative thought-models) impractical in the ways of the world. In some ways, such philosophies might be more effective – though this has yet to be demonstrated.
The essence of contemporary Western and Eastern thought is, regardless of differing belief systems, the actuality of experience as one driving both mentalities and the integration of body and mind and then body-mind with the social and with the world of phenomena.
Integration with the ‘universal’ may be the point of difference here. Direct experience – the nearest equivalent being the Gnostic mentality in Western history – is also matched by that complex and internally disputed Sanskrit or Tibetan language of definition and description.
A resolution for the East appears to have been a socially determined one - the emergence of initiation, whereby those capable of seeing beyond the detail can be drawn by their teacher (the guru being a way rather than a person) into a new way of seeing, without damaging the social order.
Although Tibetan clerics appear cuddly and liberal in the West, they are, of course, far from so in history. Tantra is politically neutral but only up to a point.
Its traditionalism of lineages and secret knowledge is deeply conservative, based on scarcity and no more valid as a mode of spiritual liberation (in that respect) than Catholic clerical control of society in the European Middle Ages.
The traditionalist initiatory process thus strikes this reader as a sociologically-driven formulation, institutionally matching the ‘need to believe’ (i.e. the possibility of a continuance beyond this life in the hope of ultimate disillusion/dissolution).
Most advanced Westerners have no requirement for this. Nevertheless, this is an excellent introduction to what may be very useful to anyone and might bear reading twice – the second with more attention to detail for those who really find this path amenable.
One of the book’s great virtues is that, even if it cannot always be clear about the answer to a question, the book is always clear that the simplistic answers of ‘pop’ Tantra or Buddhism are misleading to the point of utter uselessness. New Age fluffiness is not wanted here.
Right at the end, I was struck by Chogyam Trungpa’s short disquisition on chaos and how this, and other thoughts of his, worked against the driving force in many edgy Westerners’ adoption of what they believe to be Tantra, the need for tranquillity or at least a salve against anxiety.
The Western Christian tradition is a constant striving for ‘peace’ (in the next world if not in this) and many Westerners carry this over to their new faith.
The reaction to Western divine essentialism, from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche onwards, involved an embracing of anxiety. Tantra is ahead even of nineteenth century Nordics in this respect.
As with existentialists, Buddhist Tantra represented questioning and struggle in which moments of peace are stage posts to the next part of the process of struggle.
Chogyam Trungpa writes: “Working with conflict is precisely the idea of walking on the spiritual path ... As far as the occupation of our mind is concerned, the chaos of the path is the fun.”
All that is being said here is that, as far as our relationship to Being is concerned (as opposed to our ability to manipulate matter or others to our own ends), the Western analytical tradition (as Heidegger pointed out most forcefully) is inadequate.
A struggle with Heraclitean flux is more likely to make us true to our relation to Being than trying to avoid the struggle or thinking the struggle can be won through brute linguistic force.
The technologies offered by Tantra simply permit increasing opportunities for both momentary peace and progress in relating to ourselves as integral elements within Being.
Tantra does not (in my opinion) have all the answers, but it offers an interesting route towards some answers and it act as an experimental ‘control’ for similar thinking in more advanced circles in the West.
In that context, although over 35 years old, this short book is to be recommended, as a starting point.
Care must always be taken with such books – the interpretation of two men is as representative of all tantric thought as two nice liberals might be in interpreting Christianity to India. The Buddhist strand is only half the story – there is a Hindu strand as well – and Buddhists come in many schools.
Nevertheless, Guenther is learned and Trungpa sincere and able to meet the West half-way. At this early stage of the introduction of Buddhist Tantra to the American West, perhaps no better collaboration could have been hoped for.
As it stands, this remains an excellent introduction (although it is not an easy read as it should not be). The last two dialogues (the bulk of the book is a readable stage by stage explanation of central concepts) are operating at a high level of philosophy for specialists.
One of the longstanding debates within the Eastern cultures, as they come face-to-face with the West, is whether they are ‘doing philosophy’. Regardless of Zen purists, this tradition and cognate Eastern ones represent a philosophical mentality co-existing with a spiritual one.
If you were to mean the Western analytical tradition from Plato, then Zen and Tantra are not comparable but both ‘think’ deeply about reality (as do the monist strands in Hinduism) along lines that are comprehensible to post-essentialist existentialists, phenomenologists and post-structuralists.
Nevertheless, the two traditions, West and East, remain distinct, less because of means (since Westerners are perfectly happy to consider Eastern traditions as providers of technology for altered states, personal transformation and phenomenological insight) but because of their ends.
The original dualism of the West has broken down into a new monism at its intellectual elite level but this is still a largely materialist one.
The East, on the other hand, still thinks in terms of universal consciousness, reincarnation and the altered state being an access to reality rather than simply another form of reality.
Yet the dialogue between advanced Western philosophies and the Eastern traditions is a highly fruitful one so that understanding the basic tenets of traditionalist Tantra (and of Zen) is a useful tool in a Westerner’s ability to critique his own history and move forward.
This does not mean that Eastern thought is displacing that of the West. In the end, a belief in universal consciousness – even when experienced as ‘real’ through training or chemical means – is only a belief, about as provable or as unproven as the existence of God.
Tantra still falls into the category of religion with a philosophy attached (much like Thomism is to Catholicism). Anyone not trained in it will struggle with the alienating use of Sanskrit and ultimate ends that requires an underlying absurd belief no different in commitment to that of Kierkegaard.
The spiritual technologies of Tantra are, however, impressive, honed over hundreds of years within both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
This book, at the least, steers the reader away from excessive pride in Westernisation and the associated belief that adopting Eastern ways will provide an easy path to dealing with life’s stresses.
Prof. Guenther and Chogyam Trungpa alternate chapters so I shall refer only to the authors in general and let you draw out any differences of emphasis between them.
What they make clear is that the tantric mentality is one of relations to the world and involves a constant process of growth – to an extent one might see it as a psychology without psychologism.
By (like Zen) moving within and then outside language, the tantric mentality detaches the mind from the limitations of language in order to place the person in direct relationship to experience.
However, it is not an either/or mentality. Detachment is what it says on the tin so that the first problem for any Western mind dealing with the conceptual framework is that no word appears to mean what it would mean in its Latin derivation – notably compassion.
I often think that, instead of Westerners losing themselves in trying to master Sanskrit, Tibetan or Chinese, a more profitable approach might be to reverse engineer the conceptual frameworks of the Tantric.
Perhaps we can create a new language with Western root words to re-create the technologies. If Japanese engineers can pull apart a mouse trap to make a better one in the material sphere, Western intellectual and thinkers should be able to do the task in reverse when it comes to psychic technologies.
The mind-set of the Buddhist tantric (let alone the Zen practitioner or the Hindu Tantrika or the hard-boiled Western existentialist) is radically different, from its very first base, to the normal presumptions and assumptions of ‘pragmatic’ man operating as an individual enforcing his will on matter.
But there are misunderstandings. Tantra is a way of being and of seeing and it need not make the tantric (or any of the other alternative thought-models) impractical in the ways of the world. In some ways, such philosophies might be more effective – though this has yet to be demonstrated.
The essence of contemporary Western and Eastern thought is, regardless of differing belief systems, the actuality of experience as one driving both mentalities and the integration of body and mind and then body-mind with the social and with the world of phenomena.
Integration with the ‘universal’ may be the point of difference here. Direct experience – the nearest equivalent being the Gnostic mentality in Western history – is also matched by that complex and internally disputed Sanskrit or Tibetan language of definition and description.
A resolution for the East appears to have been a socially determined one - the emergence of initiation, whereby those capable of seeing beyond the detail can be drawn by their teacher (the guru being a way rather than a person) into a new way of seeing, without damaging the social order.
Although Tibetan clerics appear cuddly and liberal in the West, they are, of course, far from so in history. Tantra is politically neutral but only up to a point.
Its traditionalism of lineages and secret knowledge is deeply conservative, based on scarcity and no more valid as a mode of spiritual liberation (in that respect) than Catholic clerical control of society in the European Middle Ages.
The traditionalist initiatory process thus strikes this reader as a sociologically-driven formulation, institutionally matching the ‘need to believe’ (i.e. the possibility of a continuance beyond this life in the hope of ultimate disillusion/dissolution).
Most advanced Westerners have no requirement for this. Nevertheless, this is an excellent introduction to what may be very useful to anyone and might bear reading twice – the second with more attention to detail for those who really find this path amenable.
One of the book’s great virtues is that, even if it cannot always be clear about the answer to a question, the book is always clear that the simplistic answers of ‘pop’ Tantra or Buddhism are misleading to the point of utter uselessness. New Age fluffiness is not wanted here.
Right at the end, I was struck by Chogyam Trungpa’s short disquisition on chaos and how this, and other thoughts of his, worked against the driving force in many edgy Westerners’ adoption of what they believe to be Tantra, the need for tranquillity or at least a salve against anxiety.
The Western Christian tradition is a constant striving for ‘peace’ (in the next world if not in this) and many Westerners carry this over to their new faith.
The reaction to Western divine essentialism, from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche onwards, involved an embracing of anxiety. Tantra is ahead even of nineteenth century Nordics in this respect.
As with existentialists, Buddhist Tantra represented questioning and struggle in which moments of peace are stage posts to the next part of the process of struggle.
Chogyam Trungpa writes: “Working with conflict is precisely the idea of walking on the spiritual path ... As far as the occupation of our mind is concerned, the chaos of the path is the fun.”
All that is being said here is that, as far as our relationship to Being is concerned (as opposed to our ability to manipulate matter or others to our own ends), the Western analytical tradition (as Heidegger pointed out most forcefully) is inadequate.
A struggle with Heraclitean flux is more likely to make us true to our relation to Being than trying to avoid the struggle or thinking the struggle can be won through brute linguistic force.
The technologies offered by Tantra simply permit increasing opportunities for both momentary peace and progress in relating to ourselves as integral elements within Being.
Tantra does not (in my opinion) have all the answers, but it offers an interesting route towards some answers and it act as an experimental ‘control’ for similar thinking in more advanced circles in the West.
In that context, although over 35 years old, this short book is to be recommended, as a starting point.
October 19, 2021
As an introduction to buddhist tantra this book is underwhelming, after reading it I'm still not quite sure what the word "tantra" is supposed to mean in a Buddhist context aside from requiring special imitation and knowledge to comprehend, which is all the book alludes to.
August 29, 2013
Beyond lucid.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews