Sex and Tantra: Myth, Mystery, or Truth?

Podcast E40 Sex and Tantra: Myth, Mystery, or Truth?

A good way to understand how sex fits into the concept of Tantra, and I mean Tantra here in the broader sense as an umbrella term that includes all schools of thought, is to see it the way that Christopher Hareesh Wallis describes. Christopher Wallis is a renowned Tantra practitioner-scholar, who has dedicated much of his life to studying and practicing the original teachings of early Classical Tantra. According to him we can view tantric sexual practices with reference to three areas:

Neo-Tantra
Hatha Yoga
Original Tantra

Sex and Tantra is most commonly associated with Neo Tantra

So in neo-tantra we have many of the ideas and practices that are probably most popular, and most known among today’s western culture. Neo Tantra is usually what most people think of when they hear the word Tantra, or Tantric sex. So most of the practices and techniques from these popular workshops and tantra festivals cannot even be found in the original Tantra sources, and they come for more recent western teachers.

These Neo-tantric ideas began around 100 years ago with figures like Pierre Bernard and Aleister Crowley, who combined various concepts, including Taoist influences, to create a form of “tantric sex” that wasn’t part of the original tradition. Later, in the 70’s and 80’s Neo tantra became hugely popular due to the teachings of the Indian guru Osho. Today, many people pass down these teachings, thinking they are practicing an ancient lineage, but this version of Tantra doesn’t reflect what is found in the classical Tantric texts.

Sex and Tantra can weave together in Sacred Sexuality.

That’s not to say there is no value in those teachings. Neo tantra certainly has a valid and powerful role to play in helping many people with healing and personal transformation. Today more and more people are becoming conscious of their sexuality, and the need to heal from the conditioning and trauma of unhealthy early experiences with sex. But to fully understand Tantra we should bear in mind that those practices aren’t original Tantra. In fact the therapeutic sexual practices of neo tantra can more accurately be called sacred sexuality, rather than authentic Tantra.

I have covered this topic of Neo tantra in more depth one of my previous episodes… Episode 27, titled, What is Tantra? Part 2 From Ancient to Modern Tantra.

In traditional Tantra, there are no sexual techniques aimed at enhancing pleasure, lasting longer, or achieving more intense orgasms—concepts often associated with Tantra today.

The Tantric Life Podcast

Listen to the podcast episode of this topic on your preferred platform, here: E40 Tantra & Sex: Myth, Mystery, or Truth.

Tantra and Sex Meditation: The Secret Kula-Yaga Ritual

What the original texts do describe, however, is the practice of sexual meditation. One specific practice, mentioned in the Tantraloka text, Such as, for example, the Kula-yāga ritual, from the Tantraloka text. That ritual is an example of an advanced form of sexual meditation that is not about physical pleasure but about merging one’s energy and consciousness into a state of blissful oneness. In this ritual the tantric practitioners engage in sexual arousal, but with the aim of becoming merged with Divine consciousness. You can learn more about that secret sex ritual in my earlier podcast, episode 38, titled Tantra, Desire & Awakening: The Secret Teachings of Sexual Energy.

So original Tantra certainly recognises and understands the importance of sexual energy. It’s really central to tantra that we allow ourselves to feel our sexual desire, that we understand it and accept it as part our human nature… which is also Divine. This sexual energy is just as Divine as transcendental consciousness. The difference between original Tantra and Neo Tantra, or at least the more commercial neo-trantra, is that sexual energy is to be used as a means of spiritual growth, personal growth, and awakening and expanding our consciousness, our awareness of the Divine within us. It is not about trying to have longer orgasms, or more intense sexual pleasure and longer-lasting love-making sessions, as much of neo-tantra teaches.

Hatha Yoga, Tantra and Sex

Now it’s also useful to consider hathayoga in this context of sex and sexual energy, again to clear up some common misunderstandings.

Many people mistakenly believe that it is Tantra which teaches to withhold your sexual climax… which for men would be what we call semen retention.

In fact this practice of semen retention, or for women withholding the clitoral orgasm, is something that comes not from Tantra, but from hathayoga.

As Christopher Wallis talks about in several of his blog posts, Haṭhayoga places a strong focus on preserving and transforming sexual energy. The goal here is to sublimate that energy, which is a little different from what we see in the classical tantra teachings.

In Tantra, the sexual fluids are highly sacred

So, when we look at the teachings of Abhinavagupta, one of the most important figures in the Kashmiri Shaivism tradition, the approach is distinct. He doesn’t talk about retaining semen or sexual fluids, as you might find in Haṭhayoga. In fact, his practice emphasises ejaculation as a sacred act. The mingling of sexual fluids – from both partners – becomes an offering to the divine. That sacred union, the combined essence of man and woman, is offered to the Linga, which is seen as one of the highest possible offerings in tantric ritual.

On the other hand, Haṭhayogīs were more focused on harnessing the sexual energy to develop siddhis, or spiritual powers, that could arise from conserving sexual energy. They believed in holding back, and retaining all the energy, including semen, and channeling it that energy upwards through the body. In Haṭhayoga, sexual energy is seen as a subtle substance called bindu, and the aim is to raise that energy to the crown of the head. Interestingly, these practices aren’t found in the tantric texts – they’re unique to Haṭhayoga. Especially in early Haṭhayoga, this was a major focus: learning how to pull that sexual energy, that bindu, upwards through the body.

According to Christopher Wallis hatha yoga almost certainly developed from early tantra, and he cites some scholarly evidence to illustrate this, which you can read about on his blog if you want to delve deeper.

So it’s really interesting to see how the specific ways and intentions for working with sexual energy kind of evolved and developed, with Tantra having its emphasis on using sexual energy for liberation and enlightenment, whereas hatha yoga had more emphasis on using that energy to develop spiritual powers, or siddhis. It’s almost as if Hatha Yoga developed as a more intense and hardcore practice, with a greater emphasis on strength of will power to gain control over the body, while Tantra continued as a somewhat softer approach, allowing the body and emotions more freedom to just be as they are.