Book Title: Tantra and Philosophy
Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Z_Philosophical_Writings_001802.pdf

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 18
________________ 142 Philosophical Writings "The diagram (fig. 6, p. 19) presented the Tantrik mechanism of Genesis. It is by working it in reverse order that we can climb back up towards the condition of knowing the Whole Truth. The vital link is the human body, with its senses and worlds of experience. For all the various stages represented in the diagram are correlated with groups of the body's own faculties. One can therefore say that, figuratively speaking, the whole universe is contained within the human body". But this is Fig. 7 The subtle body "A whole series of these lotuses is strung vertically up the shining filament of the central Sushumna (fig. 7, plate 54). All are mandalas of different types. The usual number is six, with a seventh at that critical root of existence in the top of the skull. Some traditions visualize more, towering beyond the head into different levels of the Beyond (plare35). Another pair of subtle channels, male and female, 'sun'andómoon', white and red, twine in a spiral around these lotuses, circulating energy. They are controlled by controlling the breath. The lowest lotus (with four petals) is at the base of the pelvis, in the perineum just in front of the anus. Hindu Tantra takes great interest in this one. For it locates there the subtle snake Kundalini who is each inan's own Goddess-world-projecting function (plate s^). She sleeps, coiled around an inner lingam, covering its mouth with hers. Its mouth is the entry to the bottom end ot the Sushumna, and her coilings are the source of world-experience. By yogic and sexual Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 16 17 18 19 20 21 22