{"product_id":"tantra-in-practice-9780691057798","title":"Tantra in Practice","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs David White explains in the Introduction to Tantra in Practice  Tantra is an Asian body of beliefs and practices that seeks to channel the divine energy that grounds the universe  in creative and liberating ways. The subsequent chapters reflect the wide geographical and temporal scope of Tantra by examining thirty-six texts from China  India  Japan  Nepal  and Tibet  ranging from the seventh century to the present day  and representing the full range of Tantric experience--Buddhist  Hindu  Jain  and even Islamic. Each text has been chosen and translated  often for the first time  by an international expert in the field who also provides detailed background material. Students of Asian religions and general readers alike will find the book rich and informative.  The book includes plays  transcribed interviews  poetry  parodies  inscriptions  instructional texts  scriptures  philosophical conjectures  dreams  and astronomical speculations  each text illustrating one of the diverse traditions and practices of Tantra. Thus  the nineteenth-century Indian Buddhist Garland of Gems  a series of songs  warns against the illusion of appearance by referring to bees  yogurt  and the fire of Malaya Mountain; while fourteenth-century Chinese Buddhist manuscripts detail how to prosper through the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper by burning incense  making offerings to scriptures  and chanting incantations. In a transcribed conversation  a modern Hindu priest in Bengal candidly explains how he serves the black Goddess Kali and feeds temple skulls lentils  wine  or rice; a seventeenth-century Nepalese Hindu praise-poem hammered into the golden doors to the temple of the Goddess Taleju lists a kings faults and begs her forgiveness and grace. An introduction accompanies each text  identifying its period and genre  discussing the history and influence of the work  and identifying points of particular interest or difficulty.  The first book to bring together texts from the entire range of Tantric phenomena  Tantra in Practice continues the Princeton Readings in Religions series. The breadth of work included  geographic areas spanned  and expert scholarship highlighting each piece serve to expand our understanding of what it means to practice Tantra.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45789490348085,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691057796","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691057798.jpg?v=1784692849","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/tantra-in-practice-9780691057798","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}