Yoga and Tantra

Crucial to the initiation process is the notion that within the gross body of the
human microcosm or protocosm there is a subtle, yogic body that is the mesocosmic
replica of the divine, universal macrocosm or metacosm. As such, yoga constitutes a
vital component of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain [Qvarnstrom] Tantric theory and
practice. This body, which comprises energy channels (nadis) and centers (cakras),
drops, and winds, is itself a mandala. If it were to be viewed from above, the
vertical central channel of the subtle body, which mediates the bipolar (and
sexually gendered) internal dynamic of the godhead, would appear as the center
point of the mandala, with the various cakras aligned along that channel appearing
as so many concentric circles, wheels, or lotuses radiating outward from that
center. Often, each of the spokes or petals of these cakras will have male and
female deities, as well as Sanskrit phonemes and graphemes, as
INTRODUCTION 15
signed to it. As such, initiation and all forms of yogic practice involve, once
again, an effort on the part of the practitioner to return to the elevated center
point of the emanated mandala. Once the practitioner has succeeded in centering all
of the energies coursing through his subtle body - energies that flow through the
myriad subtle channels in the form of fluids, phonemes, and graphemes - the final
phase of his practice will effect the reimplosion of feminine energy into (a
usually) masculine essence or pure consciousness. This final phase is often
portrayed as the merging of the inner female energy - called Kundalini (the coiled
serpent energy, in Hinduism) or Avadhuti or Candali (in Buddhism) - situated in the
lower half of the body, with a masculine principle (Siva in Hinduism, Upaya in
Buddhism) located in the cranial vault. This union is represented in terms not only
of energies but of sexual fluids, as well. In Hindu practice, the sanguinary
Kundalini rises to join the seminal Siva in the cranial vault, with the "nectar"
produced from their union optimally being held there by the practitioner, as a
means to becoming a Siddha, a "self-made god" (White 1996: 320) Buddhist yogic
imagery is similar to that of the Hindus. A number of early Vajrayana works speak
of red and white sexual fluids being united into the thought of enlightenment in
the central channel; one of these texts, the Hevajra Tantra (1.32), portrays the
internal feminine energy as the Candali ("Outcaste Woman") who blazes upward into
the cranial vault. The male "moon" residing there is made to melt by her heat, and
their conjoined fluid - now the bodhicitta - flows down through the cakras,
suffusing the practitioner as it does with the bliss of their union. Later Buddhist
traditions more closely follow the dynamic of Hindu hatha yogic practice, with
feminine energy being made to rise through the cakras to the "Lotus of Great Bliss"
in the head (Kvaerne 1975: 120-21). The Completion Phase of Supreme Yoga
visualization [Bentor] - in which the mandala is incorporated into the subtle body
- is rife with the imagery of both sexuality and death; however, as in all of
Buddhist practice, these transformative experiences are but means to the higher end
of enlightenment and buddhahood.