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Vamachara
''Vāmācāra'' (, ) is a tantric term meaning 'left-hand path' and is synonymous with the Sanskrit term ''vāmamārga''. It is used to describe a particular mode of worship or '' sadhana'' (spiritual practice) that uses heterodox things to sublimate for spiritual growth. These practices are often generally considered to be tantric in orientation. The converse term is '' dakṣiṇācāra'' "right-hand path", which is used to refer not only to orthodox sects but to modes of spirituality that engage in spiritual practices that accord with Vedic injunction and are generally agreeable to the status quo. Left-handed and right-handed modes of practice may be evident in both orthodox and heterodox practices of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism and are a matter of taste, culture, proclivity, initiation, ''sadhana'' and lineage ('' parampara''). Nomenclature and etymology N. N. Bhattacharyya explains the Sanskrit technical term '' '' as follows: e me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Left-Hand Path
In Western esotericism, left-hand path and right-hand path are two opposing approaches to magic. Various groups engaged with the occult and ceremonial magic use the terminology to establish a dichotomy, broadly simplified as (malicious) black magic on the left and (benevolent) white magic on the right. Others approach the left/right paths as different kinds of workings, without connotations of good or bad magical actions. Still others treat the paths as fundamental schemes, connected with external divinities on the right, contrasted with self-deification on the left. The terms have their origins in tantra: the right-hand path (RHP, or ''dakṣiṇācāra'') applied to magical groups that follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, while the left-hand path (LHP, or '' vāmācāra'') adopts the opposite attitude, breaking taboos and abandoning set morality. Contemporary occultists such as Peter J. Carroll have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dakṣiṇācāra
''Dakṣiṇācāra'' is a Tantra, tantric term meaning 'right-hand path'. It is used to describe Tantra, tantric sects that do not engage in heterodox practices. In contrast, ''vamachara'' ('left-hand path') is used to describe particular tantric practices that are considered heterodox. Etymology N. N. Bhattacharyya explains the Sanskrit technical term ''Ācāra, '' as follows: The means of spiritual attainment which varies from person to person according to competence.... ''Ācāras'' are generally of seven kinds – Veda, Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, Dakṣiṇa, Vāma, Siddhāṇta, and Kaula, falling into two broad categories – Dakṣiṇa and Vāma. Interpretations vary regarding the nature and grouping of the ''ācāras''. ''Dakshina, '' means 'right'. For this reason, the term ''dakṣiṇāra'' is often translated "right-hand path". Practices The ''Brahma Yamala'', a tantric text, says there are three currents of tradition (''dakshina'', ''vama'', and ''madhyama'') chara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panchamakara
Panchamakara or Panchatattva, also known as the Five Ms, is the Tantric term for the five substances used in a Tantric practice. These are (alcohol), (meat), (fish), (grain), and '' '' (sexual intercourse). Taboo-breaking elements are only practiced literally by "left-hand path" tantrics ('' vāmācārin-s''), whereas "right-hand path" tantrics ('' dakṣiṇācārin-s'') do not follow these. In Kalyug, the practice of Panchamakar has been said to be the best, it is also called Kaul Marg, in the Vedic tradition, just as arguments are given by Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, similarly in Tantra, we give the basis of the practice of Panchamakar to the book Mahanirvana Tantra Can ('' Mahanirvan Tantra''). In the Vamachara tradition, adherents engage in literal consumption and use of the Five Ms, often in the context of ritual feasts ('' ganachakra''), along with other ritual elements such as incense, music, and costumes. This approach represents a more overt embrace of these element ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Philosophical Concepts
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. It is assumed that the term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Avestan scripture Vendidad which refers to land of seven rivers as Hapta Hendu which itself is a cognate to Sanskrit term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ''. (The term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ'' is mentioned in Rig Veda and refers to a North western Indian region of seven rivers and to India as a whole.) The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). Likewise the Hebrew cognate ''hōd-dū'' refers to India mentioned in Hebrew BibleEsther 1:1. The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for peop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aghori
The Aghori (from , ) are a Hindu monastic order of ascetic Shaivite sadhus based in Uttar Pradesh, India. They are the only surviving sect derived from the '' Kāpālika'' tradition, a Tantric, non-Puranic form of Shaivism which originated in Medieval India between the 4th and 8th century CE. Similarly to their Shaivite predecessors, Aghoris usually engage in post-mortem rituals, often dwell in charnel grounds, smear cremation ashes on their bodies, and use bones from human corpses for crafting '' kapāla'' ( skull cups which Shiva and other Hindu deities are often iconically depicted holding or using) and jewellery. They also practice post-mortem cannibalism, eating flesh from foraged human corpses, including those taken from cremation ghats. Their practices are sometimes considered contradictory to orthodox Hinduism. Many Aghori gurus command great reverence from rural populations and are widely referred to in medieval and modern works of Indian literature, as they are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charnel Ground
A charnel ground (Sanskrit: श्मशान; IAST: śmaśāna; Tibetan pronunciation: durtrö; ) is an above-ground site for the putrefaction of bodies, generally human, where formerly living tissue is left to decompose uncovered. Although it may have demarcated locations within it functionally identified as burial grounds, cemeteries and crematoria, it is distinct from these as well as from crypts or burial vaults. In a religious sense, it is also a very important location for sadhana and ritual activity for Indo-Tibetan traditions of Dharma, particularly those traditions iterated by the Tantric view such as Kashmiri Shaivism, Kaula tradition, Esoteric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Dzogchen, and the sadhana of Chöd, Phowa and Zhitro, etc. The charnel ground is also an archetypal liminality that figures prominently in the literature and liturgy and as an artistic motif in Dharmic Traditions and cultures iterated by the more antinomian and esoteric aspects of tradi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mudra
A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual gestures employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions, mudras have meaning in many forms of Indian dance, and yoga. The range of mudras used in each field (and religion) differs, but with some overlap. In addition, many of the Buddhist mudras are used outside South Asia, and have developed different local forms elsewhere. In hatha yoga, mudras are used in conjunction with pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), generally while in a seated posture, to stimulate different parts of the body involved with breathing and to affect the flow of prana. It is also associated with bindu, bodhicitta, amrita, or consciousness in the body. Unlike older tantric mudras, hatha yogic mudras are generally internal actions, involvin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maithuna
''Maithuna'' (Devanagari: मैथुन) is a Sanskrit term for sexual intercourse within Tantra (Tantric sex), or alternatively for the sexual fluids generated or the couple participating in the ritual. It is the most important of the Panchamakara and constitutes the main part of the grand ritual of Tantra also known as Tattva Chakra. Maithuna means the union of opposing forces, underlining the nonduality between human and divine, as well as worldly enjoyment (''kama'') and spiritual liberation (''moksha''). Maithuna is a popular icon in ancient Hindu art, portrayed as a couple engaged in physical loving. Concept Maithuna entails male-female couples and their union in the physical, sexual sense as synonymous with kriya nishpatti (mature cleansing). Just as neither spirit nor matter by itself is effective but both working together bring harmony so is maithuna effective only then when the union is consecrated. The couple become for the time being divine: she is Shakti and he i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahābhūta
''Mahābhūta'' is Sanskrit for "great element". However, very few scholars define the five mahābhūtas in a broader sense as the five fundamental aspects of physical reality. Hinduism In Hinduism's sacred literature, the "great" elements (''mahābhūta'') are fivefold: aether, air, fire, water and earth. See also the Samkhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna, verse 22. For instance, the describes the five "sheaths" of a person (Sanskrit: '' puruṣa''), starting with the grossest level of the five evolving great elements: :From this very self did aether come into being; from aether, air; from air, fire; from fire, water, from water, the earth; from the earth, organisms; from organisms, foods; and from foods, people. Different from and lying within this people formed from the essence of foods is the self consisting of lifebreath. Different from and lying within this self consisting of breath is the self consisting of mind. Different from and lying within this self consisting of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
