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Passionate Enlightenment is a scholarly presentation of Buddhism's teachings about proper
deference toward religiously advanced, spiritually powerful women. Professor Shaw's
comprehensive review of core ancient texts reveals an original foundation of reverence for woman
as spiritual teacher-partner-lover, in the early Tantric Buddhist tradition, in contrast to the later
distortions of patriarchal influences in Yoga and Tantra.
These inspiring excerpts were compiled by M. White.
Spiritual companionship between men and woman and sexual union is
seen as a vehicle of religious transformation p15
Goal for women; to discover accomplished women of the past, to savor words they had written, and to
be nourished by inspiring understandings of female embodiment. p 17
Tantric Buddhism insists that enlightenment is attainable within one lifetime. Tantra prides itself on
being a path for intense, passionate people. Therefore, the Tantric path is not without pitfalls,
because passion becomes an obstacle for one who does not have purity of heart and mind. p24
The goal of this journey is not only freedom from suffering but an
expanded capacity for creativity and joy. p25
Anger is transformed into mirror like wisdom, arrogance becomes the wisdom of equality, desire
becomes discriminating awareness, jealousy turns into all accompanying wisdom and ignorance
becomes the panoramic wisdom of all encompassing space. p27
Wrath and anger, are not totally eliminated on the spiritual path because it may be necessary to wield
the appearance of wrath in order to rescue, liberate or protect someone. p31
Buddhas do not reify the experience if union, approach it selfishly, or
allow it to create neurotic attachment, for their passion is transposed to a
higher octave by the realization of emptiness. p31
The spirit of carefree joyousness and festivity surrounding the companionship of men and women is
the antithesis of the ponderous mood of male domination attributed to much literature of this tradition.
p38
Training themselves to see woman as female Buddhas gave men a chance to deconstruct
unenlightened thought patterns, most notably gender pride and prejudice. p70
Women would tend to select as companions men who would mirror their
own sense of dignity and empowerment, and this selection process
could well have been a factor in determining the constituency of Tantric
circles and formation of Tantric partnerships. p 71
In response to the initiative of the Tantric yogini, the yogis respected women in order to bring their
own vision into alignment with the ontological reality of women’s divinity and to become capable of the
kind of relationships required for success on the Tantric path. p72
the triumphal tone of this material suggests that the men’s respect was not a gratuitous or grudging
concession but a genuine admiration for the talent, energy, and passion for enlightenment of their
female companions and teachers. p73
A woman who attains this state undergoes no transition between formal
meditation sessions and daily life, for the heightens clarity that is sought
through meditation has become an integral part of ongoing, everyday
consciousness. p89
When a woman (person) recognizes that the objects of waking consciousness are simply the
products of individual and collective imagination, she becomes less absorbed in them. p91
There was no area of Tantric Buddhism in which women did not participate and attain mastery,
including magical techniques and incantations, the performance of rituals, the visualization of deities
and mandalas, advanced techniques of inner yoga, and the loftier realms of pure contemplation and
philosophical reflection. p99
A woman can tap a never ending stream of energy within herself and
choose to direct that energy to her own liberation and the liberation of
her students. p 112
"Your face shines with a full moon splendor. Your eyes like Lotus petals, are exquisitely tapered.
Fragrant and white as a snowy conch shell, you hold a glistening rosary of immaculate pearls. You
are adorned by the beauteous blush of dawn Like Lotus lake, your hands exude nectar. Youthful
one, white as an autumn cloud, many jewels cascade from your shoulders. The palms of your hands
are tender and fresh as delicate leaves. Your navel is soft as a Lotus petal. Source of eternal bliss,
you cure old age and sickness." p129
One principal of their selectivity is clearly gender. One reads of men of noteworthy attainments but
when one looks more deeply at the history one realizes that these men were surrounded and trained
by women. Although men are celebrated in the biographical anthologies, their religious lives are
embedded in a female matrix that determines and even defines their lives. p137
Apart from women there will not be bliss. p143
Practice with a human partner, or KARMAMUDRA, is intended for a more highly qualified person,
while practice with an imagined partner, JNANAMUDRA, is intended for those less qualified.
Meditation in union with a human partner is deemed to offer a significant advantage over solitary
meditation. The partners energy also heightens the intensity and power of the meditation. p146
Tantric Buddhism hinges on the belief that negative emotional and cognitive patterns become lodged
in the psychic body in the form of knots and blocks in the subtle psychic channels (nadi). The
purpose of the inner yoga is to "untie the knots:" and bring all the energy that is released by this
process into the central channel that traverses the body vertically. This energy can then be used to
untangle the karmic knots. Ultimately, since the heart is the site of the deepest fears, hatreds, and
self centered distortions of reality, the openness, mutual transparency, and total trust required by the
yoga of union make it an ideal discipline to bring the negative emotions to awareness and transform
their poison into the ambrosia of enlightened awareness. p147
The man cultivates pure vision by seeing the woman as a deity, her
sexual organ as the throne of enlightenment, and her sexual fluid as
divine nectar. The poetic and symbolic terms for the sexual anatomy
and for the stages of union shape the attitudes, meditations, and
experience of both a woman and a man engaging in these disciplines.
What is sought in the yoga of union is a quality of relationship into which
each partner enters fully in order that both may be liberated
simultaneously. p168
The texts testify that women as well as men developed their minds and bodies on the Tantric path by
engaging in mental disciplines, learning stylized bodily movements (yoga and mudra) for
communication and self transformation, and using their bliss and passion as a basis for attaining
enlightenment through the sublime yoga of Tantric union. 172
The practice of union, at least as it was originally designed, was not inherently meant to be an
exploitative process from which one person-the man- derived unreciprocated benefit. By the time a
practitioner had attained readiness for this practice, which is a highly esoteric inner yoga, he or she
would be aware of the broader context in which the practice occurs. The process ultimately is
reciprocal and is meant for the benefit of both, on many levels. Both partners should be similarly
motivated and committed to Tantric practice, and both engage in the practice intending to progress
toward enlightenment. 173
The language used to describe Tantric union is not the vocabulary of
domination or exploitation. It is a language of symmetry,
complimentarity, and interdependence. 173
Tantric union has explicit intellectual, emotional, meditative, and visualized content that cannot be
circumvented. If the prescribed attitude is not present, the activity becomes ordinary sexuality
masquerading as religion, a form of hypocrisy that can be spiritually disastrous..Acts undertaken in
the wrong spirit can never bear spiritual fruit. in order to be transformative, a practice must me
undertaken with the requisite content as well as the proper ritual form. The requisite content is
reciprocity, intimacy, and mutual aspiration to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
p176 &7
Buddhism already offered an array of techniques for the solitary and monastic pursuit of liberation.
Tantra introduced a method that could be pursued in the context of intimacy with another person. 179
The five senses is engaged and satisfied; sight by gazing, hearing by
sweet words, smell by perfume, touch by rubbing with scent and
embracing, and taste by kissing. 185
If exploitative dynamics were interjected at any point in the history of the tradition, as some have
conjectured, it is important to investigate what social, institutional, and doctrinal configurations then
accomplished the abuse of women by means of practice they originally helped to develop. Any
degeneration that can be documented will have to be acknowledged as a betrayal of the original
spirit of the practices as women designed them. 194
One of the main symbols of enlightenment in Tantric Buddhism is that of a Buddha couple, or male
and female Buddha in union. This maithuna symbol is an image of unity and blissful concord between
the sexes, a state of equilibrium the interdependence. This symbol powerfully evokes a state of
primordial wholeness and completeness of being. The perennial appeal of this motif is not that it
commemorates a successful seduction or cosmic manipulation but rather that it offers a vision of
authentic humanity in which women and men are restored to wholeness through a delicately
balanced, joyous state of harmony. p200.
deference toward religiously advanced, spiritually powerful women. Professor Shaw's
comprehensive review of core ancient texts reveals an original foundation of reverence for woman
as spiritual teacher-partner-lover, in the early Tantric Buddhist tradition, in contrast to the later
distortions of patriarchal influences in Yoga and Tantra.
These inspiring excerpts were compiled by M. White.
Spiritual companionship between men and woman and sexual union is
seen as a vehicle of religious transformation p15
Goal for women; to discover accomplished women of the past, to savor words they had written, and to
be nourished by inspiring understandings of female embodiment. p 17
Tantric Buddhism insists that enlightenment is attainable within one lifetime. Tantra prides itself on
being a path for intense, passionate people. Therefore, the Tantric path is not without pitfalls,
because passion becomes an obstacle for one who does not have purity of heart and mind. p24
The goal of this journey is not only freedom from suffering but an
expanded capacity for creativity and joy. p25
Anger is transformed into mirror like wisdom, arrogance becomes the wisdom of equality, desire
becomes discriminating awareness, jealousy turns into all accompanying wisdom and ignorance
becomes the panoramic wisdom of all encompassing space. p27
Wrath and anger, are not totally eliminated on the spiritual path because it may be necessary to wield
the appearance of wrath in order to rescue, liberate or protect someone. p31
Buddhas do not reify the experience if union, approach it selfishly, or
allow it to create neurotic attachment, for their passion is transposed to a
higher octave by the realization of emptiness. p31
The spirit of carefree joyousness and festivity surrounding the companionship of men and women is
the antithesis of the ponderous mood of male domination attributed to much literature of this tradition.
p38
Training themselves to see woman as female Buddhas gave men a chance to deconstruct
unenlightened thought patterns, most notably gender pride and prejudice. p70
Women would tend to select as companions men who would mirror their
own sense of dignity and empowerment, and this selection process
could well have been a factor in determining the constituency of Tantric
circles and formation of Tantric partnerships. p 71
In response to the initiative of the Tantric yogini, the yogis respected women in order to bring their
own vision into alignment with the ontological reality of women’s divinity and to become capable of the
kind of relationships required for success on the Tantric path. p72
the triumphal tone of this material suggests that the men’s respect was not a gratuitous or grudging
concession but a genuine admiration for the talent, energy, and passion for enlightenment of their
female companions and teachers. p73
A woman who attains this state undergoes no transition between formal
meditation sessions and daily life, for the heightens clarity that is sought
through meditation has become an integral part of ongoing, everyday
consciousness. p89
When a woman (person) recognizes that the objects of waking consciousness are simply the
products of individual and collective imagination, she becomes less absorbed in them. p91
There was no area of Tantric Buddhism in which women did not participate and attain mastery,
including magical techniques and incantations, the performance of rituals, the visualization of deities
and mandalas, advanced techniques of inner yoga, and the loftier realms of pure contemplation and
philosophical reflection. p99
A woman can tap a never ending stream of energy within herself and
choose to direct that energy to her own liberation and the liberation of
her students. p 112
"Your face shines with a full moon splendor. Your eyes like Lotus petals, are exquisitely tapered.
Fragrant and white as a snowy conch shell, you hold a glistening rosary of immaculate pearls. You
are adorned by the beauteous blush of dawn Like Lotus lake, your hands exude nectar. Youthful
one, white as an autumn cloud, many jewels cascade from your shoulders. The palms of your hands
are tender and fresh as delicate leaves. Your navel is soft as a Lotus petal. Source of eternal bliss,
you cure old age and sickness." p129
One principal of their selectivity is clearly gender. One reads of men of noteworthy attainments but
when one looks more deeply at the history one realizes that these men were surrounded and trained
by women. Although men are celebrated in the biographical anthologies, their religious lives are
embedded in a female matrix that determines and even defines their lives. p137
Apart from women there will not be bliss. p143
Practice with a human partner, or KARMAMUDRA, is intended for a more highly qualified person,
while practice with an imagined partner, JNANAMUDRA, is intended for those less qualified.
Meditation in union with a human partner is deemed to offer a significant advantage over solitary
meditation. The partners energy also heightens the intensity and power of the meditation. p146
Tantric Buddhism hinges on the belief that negative emotional and cognitive patterns become lodged
in the psychic body in the form of knots and blocks in the subtle psychic channels (nadi). The
purpose of the inner yoga is to "untie the knots:" and bring all the energy that is released by this
process into the central channel that traverses the body vertically. This energy can then be used to
untangle the karmic knots. Ultimately, since the heart is the site of the deepest fears, hatreds, and
self centered distortions of reality, the openness, mutual transparency, and total trust required by the
yoga of union make it an ideal discipline to bring the negative emotions to awareness and transform
their poison into the ambrosia of enlightened awareness. p147
The man cultivates pure vision by seeing the woman as a deity, her
sexual organ as the throne of enlightenment, and her sexual fluid as
divine nectar. The poetic and symbolic terms for the sexual anatomy
and for the stages of union shape the attitudes, meditations, and
experience of both a woman and a man engaging in these disciplines.
What is sought in the yoga of union is a quality of relationship into which
each partner enters fully in order that both may be liberated
simultaneously. p168
The texts testify that women as well as men developed their minds and bodies on the Tantric path by
engaging in mental disciplines, learning stylized bodily movements (yoga and mudra) for
communication and self transformation, and using their bliss and passion as a basis for attaining
enlightenment through the sublime yoga of Tantric union. 172
The practice of union, at least as it was originally designed, was not inherently meant to be an
exploitative process from which one person-the man- derived unreciprocated benefit. By the time a
practitioner had attained readiness for this practice, which is a highly esoteric inner yoga, he or she
would be aware of the broader context in which the practice occurs. The process ultimately is
reciprocal and is meant for the benefit of both, on many levels. Both partners should be similarly
motivated and committed to Tantric practice, and both engage in the practice intending to progress
toward enlightenment. 173
The language used to describe Tantric union is not the vocabulary of
domination or exploitation. It is a language of symmetry,
complimentarity, and interdependence. 173
Tantric union has explicit intellectual, emotional, meditative, and visualized content that cannot be
circumvented. If the prescribed attitude is not present, the activity becomes ordinary sexuality
masquerading as religion, a form of hypocrisy that can be spiritually disastrous..Acts undertaken in
the wrong spirit can never bear spiritual fruit. in order to be transformative, a practice must me
undertaken with the requisite content as well as the proper ritual form. The requisite content is
reciprocity, intimacy, and mutual aspiration to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
p176 &7
Buddhism already offered an array of techniques for the solitary and monastic pursuit of liberation.
Tantra introduced a method that could be pursued in the context of intimacy with another person. 179
The five senses is engaged and satisfied; sight by gazing, hearing by
sweet words, smell by perfume, touch by rubbing with scent and
embracing, and taste by kissing. 185
If exploitative dynamics were interjected at any point in the history of the tradition, as some have
conjectured, it is important to investigate what social, institutional, and doctrinal configurations then
accomplished the abuse of women by means of practice they originally helped to develop. Any
degeneration that can be documented will have to be acknowledged as a betrayal of the original
spirit of the practices as women designed them. 194
One of the main symbols of enlightenment in Tantric Buddhism is that of a Buddha couple, or male
and female Buddha in union. This maithuna symbol is an image of unity and blissful concord between
the sexes, a state of equilibrium the interdependence. This symbol powerfully evokes a state of
primordial wholeness and completeness of being. The perennial appeal of this motif is not that it
commemorates a successful seduction or cosmic manipulation but rather that it offers a vision of
authentic humanity in which women and men are restored to wholeness through a delicately
balanced, joyous state of harmony. p200.
| Passionate Enlightenment excerpts from Miranda Shaw Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Buddhist Studies, University of Richmond |
