Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy

for the western oriented thinker, this book is a very clear explanation of tantra experience. the insights (to the experienced reader) are to the point with little trappings. it is more like a 'structural' anlalysis of tantra than a 'mystical' one; very clean. highly recommended for those who can think beyond the ego stage of involvement. feuersteins books tend to be very adeptly done.lots of revealing insights, clarifications, and historical comparisons.

Out of all the books I've read about Tantra, this is the one I go back to. It has an unforgettable voice.

Currently there is a barrage of books cropping up on the subject of Tantra. Many of them either go in the esoteric abstract and boring direction OR they are titallating, sex focused and commercially simple. Feurestein's book is a tremendous exception. It is a solid simple foundation of the esoteric principles in Tantra, shared in a context that is accessible ant practical for the reader. This book has inspired many discussions, ideas and practices on my personal path. Infact, Feurestein was a tremendous muse for my new tantra Novel. Don't Drink the Punch: An Adventure in Tantra. I'm in gratitude for Feuerstein's teachings.

Feuerstein has done the English-speaking world a genuine service with this introduction to Tantra, suited especially to the casual intelligent reader. This is not suited to those interested in an anthropological, historical, or how-to approach (see reviews below for more details); instead, Feuerstein covers the basic topics in a rather plain-vanilla fashion. Feuerstein's first positive task is to dispell certain commercial flapdoodle still current in our fabulously corporate culture about tantra imagined as a kind of low-tech Orgasmatron (thanks, Woody Allen). He then gives a very straightforward (if oversimplified) explication of tantric history and practice germain to both Buddhists and Hindus on topics such as mantra and the guru. (Yes, I'm aware that tantra is both Buddhist and Hindu, and neither Buddhist nor Hindu.) Now, what Feuerstein has accomplished is no mean task. He writes with the detail of of a scholar and the credibility of a practitioner. One may ask why book-learning is needed in this context, if tantra is a path of energy and relationship. Well, there is a genuine danger, after all, in not knowing what you're talking about: "Someone with insufficient knowledge resembles a maimed person trying to climb a rock, Someone who studies scriptures for the sake of becoming a scholar Is like someone who searches for lethal weapons. In short, if you do not know your own tradition, How will you, a blind person lost in the middle of a vast plain, ever find your path?" (The great tantric master, Padgyal Lingpa.)

It's often hard to understand metaphysical books about tantra because there are few scholars who can write in a clear way that's accessible even for practitioners, let alone people who have never had a guru or traveled to India to experience tantric teachings firsthand. In America, yoga has so often devolved into a physical practice with spiritual pretensions, instead of a deeply spiritual practice. I returned from India from a six-month trip in 1998, during which time I stumbled into meeting a guru and then spent five weeks studying with him in Benares. When I came home, it was very hard to begin to articulate what had taken place. This book was a godsend, a link to connect my experience with a tradition that extends millennia back in time. And secondly it helped to link my friends and family to the experiences I just had by reading a clear description of the path and experiences involved in Tantra.I hesitate even to use the word Tantra, given that it's so very, very misused in the West.This book sets the record straight (Tantra does NOT equal sex) and presents the practice and history of Tantra in all its profundity. We are indebted to the author for his great gift to all of us.For the other reviews that criticize the author's lack of experience in Tantra, you should be aware that the author has a Tantric Buddhist teacher which led him to bring his considerable talents to present the first guide and most helpful explanation of these profoundly important teachings.I've given numerous copies to family and friends, all of whom have enjoyed it immensely.Until Karen Armstrong decides to tackle this subject (highly unlikely, given her orientation), this is the best book available. Highest recommendation!