• Tantra: (Sanskrit) Literally, "a continuum or unbroken stream [of energy]."

In spite of the opinions (and financial interests) of many Westerners, the term Tantra is not immediately synonymous with sex. The vast majority of traditions of Tantra have degenerated completely and are dangerous. One should study extensively before taking on any teachings or practice of Tantra.

Tantra Yoga had been one of the potent powers for the spiritual regeneration of the Hindus. When practised by the ignorant, unenlightened, and unqualified persons, it has led to certain abuses; and there is no denying that some degraded forms of Saktism have sought nothing but magic, immorality, and occult powers. - Swami Sivananda

Genuine tantra is an exceptional method of purifying the consciousness of all egotisical elements: lust, pride, envy, gluttony, laziness, etc., but it is not easy or overnight, and requires great temperance, intelligence, education, and dedication.

[Buddha] Shakyamuni did not teach that people with loose ethics will succeed in Tantra. That is not the way leading to the city of nirvana. How could these evil churls succeed in Tantra? How could people with loose ethics go to the upper realms? They will not go to a high rebirth; they will not have supreme happiness. - The Manjushri Root Tantra

Success in Tantra is determined by the ethical discipline that leads up to it.

The term Tantra refers first (1) to the continuum of vital energy that sustains all existence, and second (2) to the class of knowledge and practices that harnesses that vital energy, thereby transforming the practitioner.

Tantra is primarily known in two forms:

• from India; related to Hinduism
• from Tibet; related to Buddhism

Each have their own scriptures, schools, traditions, and practices, which vary widely.

There are many varieties of Tantra, but they can be classified in three types: White, Grey and Black. These are differentiated by examination of the results they produce.

• White Tantra: those schools that produce beings who are clean of all egotistical desire, anger, lust, envy, etc. Such beings are known as Buddhas, Masters, Angels, Devas, etc.
• Grey Tantra: those schools who want to be White but do not renounce Black methods. They are caught in the middle.
• Black Tantra: those schools that produce beings who sustain and develop the causes of suffering, namely lust, anger, greed, pride, etc. Such beings are called demons, sorcerers, Maruts, Asuras, etc.

Learn more about these types of schools here: Forms of Tantra.

This website is solely concerned with the scriptures and techniques belonging to White forms of Tantra.

Tantra has long been known in the West as Alchemy, and has also been present in the esoteric heart of every great religion. Study of this site will demonstrate that fact.

Quotes about Tantra

"The Tantric student must be endowed with purity, faith, devotion, dedication to Guru, dispassion, humility, courage, cosmic love, truthfulness, non-covetousness, and contentment." - Swami Sivananda

"The passions which bind may be so employed as to act as forces whereby the particular life of which they are the strongest manifestation is raised to the universal life. Passion, which has hitherto run downwards and outwards to waste, is directed inwards and upwards, and transformed to power." - Mahanirvana Tantra

"In general, all systems of highest yoga tantra's completion stage involve the preliminary process of controlling the vital energies..." - Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism

“In the view of Tantra, the body's vital energies are the vehicles of the mind. When the vital energies are pure and subtle, one's state of mind will be accordingly affected. By transforming these bodily energies we transform the state of consciousness.” - The 14th Dalai Lama