Presents Tantra from an ethnographic vantage point, through a series of case studies grounded in diverse settings across contemporary Asia.

A study and translation of a tantric contemplative manual and the commentary on it.

Understanding Mantras explores the origin, nature, function, and significance of mantras within the bounds of the Hindu tradition. It analyzes the use of mantras in the Vedic age, in the great theistic ...

Rooting itself in Kashmir Shaivism, Śrividyā became a force in South India no later than the seventh century, and eventually supplanted the Trika as the dominant Tantric tradition in Kashmir. This is ...

Spanda is the vibratory dynamism of the absolute consciousness. In the first section of his commentary, Ksja presents spanda as identical with the essential self of each person. The second section presents ...

This book examines the complete Ganesh for the first time. Here is the God in his multiple forms from the different geographical areas in Asia. Particularly important are chapters that deal with his Buddhist ...

This book offers 112 dharanas -- 112 meditations or techniques -- for experiencing the extraordinary and paradoxical reality of unbounded consciousness called Bhairava. In her initial question to Bhairava, ...

After presenting a general survey of spiritual practice in the different schools of Indian philosophy, the author focuses on the Trika School, popularly called Kashmir Shaivism. He deals clearly and exhaustively ...

"In this world there are some devoted people who are undeveloped in reflection and have not taken pains in studying difficult works, but who nevertheless aspire after the enlightenment that blossoms forth ...

"I have prepared a trident of Wisdom in order to cut asunder their bondage. " — Abhinavagupta

This is a long commentary on a short Tantra. One of the most authoritative and venerated texts in Kashmir ...

Kundalini's power lies dormant in humans until it is awakened. The awakened Kundalini expresses the primal divine impulse and ultimately joins the individual with the divine. The development of the book ...

This book serves as an introductory study of Tantric Saivism in its original scriptural sources. It traces the features and content of the canon of the SAaiva Tantras, making use of many unpublished manuscripts ...