Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond

Description

The essays in this volume, written by specialists working in the field of tantric studies, attempt to trace processes of transformation and transfer that occurred in the history of tantra from around the seventh century and up to the present. The volume gathers contributions on South Asia, Tibet, China, Mongolia, Japan, North America, and Western Europe. The chapters cover a wide thematic area, which includes modern Bengali tantric practitioners, tantric ritual in medieval China, the South Asian cults of the mother goddesses, the way of Buddhism into Mongolia, and countercultural echoes of contemporary tantric studies. Introduction PART I. South Asia Recoding the Natural and Animating the Imaginary. Kaula Body-practices in the Paraśurāma-Kalpasūtra, Ritual Transfers, and the Politics of Representation Some Observations on an Uṣṇīṣa Abhiṣeka Rite in Atikūṭa’s Dhāraṇīsaṃgraha From Mātr to Yoginī. Continuity and Transformation in the South Asian Cults of the Mother Goddesses Rivers to the Sky: Transformation, Metaphor, and Worldview in Bengali Tantric Traditions Modern Bengali Śākta Tāntrikas: Ethnography, Image, and Stereotype Transformations in the Textual Tradition of Dhūmāvatī. Changes in the Reception of the Tantric Mahāvidyā-Goddess in Ritual, Function, Iconography, and Mythology Reconnecting to What? Imagined Continuities and Discursive Overlaps at Tantrapīṭhas in Central and Eastern India The Absent Mother and Bodied Speech: Psychology and Gender in Late Medieval Tantra PART II. Mongolia, Tibet, and China Embodying the Dharma: The Buddhist Way into Mongolia Amitāyus and the Development of Tantric Practices for Longevity and Health in Tibet Ritual Expertise and Imperial Sovereignty: Some Remarks on Tantric Ritual Pragmatics in Medieval China The Trouble with Tantra in China: Reflections on Method and History PART III. Japan Taimitsu Rituals in Medieval Japan: Sectarian Competition and the Dynamics of Tantric Performance Conversions of Tantric Buddhist Ritual: The Yoshida Shintō Jūhachishintō Ritual The Impact of Tantrism on Japanese Religious Traditions: The Cult of the Three Devas PART IV ...and Beyond Kālacakra in Transition: From the Apocalypse to the Promotion of World Peace Remembering Ourselves: On Some Countercultural Echoes of Contemporary Tantric Studies Tantra, American Style: From the Path of Power to the Yoga of Sex The Serpent Rises in the West: Positive Orientalism and Reinterpretation of Tantra in the Western Left-Hand Path Notes on Contributors Index