Part of a series on Hindu scriptures
Vedas
Rigveda · Yajurveda
Samaveda · Atharvaveda
Vedic divisions
Samhita · Brahmana
Aranyaka  · Upanishad
Upanishads
Aitareya  · Bṛhadāraṇyaka
Īṣa  · Taittirīya · Chāndogya
Kena  · Muṇḍaka
Māṇḍūkya  ·Praśna
Vedanga
Shiksha · Chandas
Vyakarana · Nirukta
Jyotisha · Kalpa
Itihasa
Mahabharata · Ramayana
Other scriptures
Smriti · Purana
Bhagavad Gita · Sutra
Pancharatra · Tantra
Kumara Vyasa Bharata · Stotra
Hanuman Chalisa · Ramacharitamanas
This box: view • talk • edit

The Tantra ("Looms" or "Weavings"), refer to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The Tantras are a total of ninety two scriptures, where sixty four are purely Ābheda, literally "without differentiation," or monistic (known as the Bhairava Tantras or Kashmir Śaivite Tantras), eighteen are Bhedabheda, literally "with differentiation and without differentiation," or monistic cum dualistic (known as the Rudra Tantras), and the final ten are completely Bheda, literally "differentiated," or dualistic, (known as the Ṣiva Tantras). The Śaiva Siddhantins use the latter two (Rudra Tantras and Ṣiva Tantras), and thus they are sometimes referred to as Śaiva Siddhanta Tantras, or Śaiva Siddhanta Āgamas. Hindu scripture is overwhelmingly written in Sanskrit. ... Image File history File links Aum. ... The Vedas (Sanskrit: वेद)is made up by Mrs. ... The Rigveda (Sanskrit: , a tatpurusha compound of praise, verse and knowledge) is a collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods. ... The Yajurveda (Sanskrit , a tatpurusha compound of sacrifice + veda knowledge) is one of the four Hindu Vedas. ... The Samaveda (Sanskrit: सामवेद, sāmaveda, a tatpurusha compound of ritual chant + knowledge ), is third in the usual order of enumeration of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. ... The Atharvaveda (Sanskrit: अथर्ववेद, , a tatpurusha compound of , a type of priest, and meaning knowledge) is a sacred text of Hinduism, and one of the four Vedas, often called the fourth Veda. According to tradition, the Atharvaveda was mainly composed by two groups of rishis known as the Bhrigus and the... The Samhita (Sanskrit: joined or collected) is the basic text of each of the Vedas, comprising collections of hymns and ritual texts. ... The Brahmana (Sanskrit ब्राह्मण) are part of the Hindu Shruti; They are composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and the period of their composition is sometimes referred to as the Brahmanic period or age (approximately between 900 BC and 500 BC). ... The Aranyakas (Sanskrit आरण्यक, Forest Books, Forest Treatises) are part of the Hindu Shruti; these religious scriptures are sometimes argued to be part of either the Brahmanas or Upanishads. ... The Upanishads (Devanagari: उपनिषद्, ; also known as and ) are part of the Vedas and form the Hindu scriptures which primarily discuss philosophy, meditation and nature of God; they form the core spiritual thought of Vedantic Hinduism. ... The Aitareya Upanishad is one of the older, primary Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. ... The Upanishad is one of the older, primary (mukhya) Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. ... The Isha Upanishad (IAST or ), also known as the Ishavasya () Upanishad, is one of the smaller Upanishads but is probably the most often quoted. ... The Taittiriya Upanishad is one of the Upanishads associated to the taittiriya samhita of the Black Yajurveda. ... The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the main ten Upanishads of Hinduism. ... The Kena Upanishad (), is one of the older, primary Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. ... Mundaka Upanishad is an Upanishad of the Atharva Veda. ... MāndÅ«kya Upanishad is one of the shortest Upanishads, that form the speculative metaphysical parts of the Hindu texts, the Vedas. ... Prashna Upanishad (IAST ) is one of the older, primary Upanishads commented upon by Shankara. ... The Vedanga (IAST , member of the Veda) are six auxiliary disciplines for the understanding and tradition of the Vedas. ... Shiksha is an NGO devoted to improving the standards of education in New Delhi and its neighbouring regions. ... The verses of the Vedas have a variety of different meters. ... The Sanskrit grammatical tradition of , is one of the six Vedanga disciplines. ... Nirukta is Vedic glossary of difficult words. ... Jyotisha (, in Hindi and English usage Jyotish) is the Hindu system of astrology, one of the six disciplines of Vedanga, and regarded as one of the oldest schools of ancient astrology to have had an independent origin, affecting all other schools in and around India. ... Kalpa is one of the six disciplines of Vedanga, treating ritual. ... Itihasa (Sanskrit: इतिहास - itihāsa in IAST notation, literally meaning that which happened) is the word for History. ... Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra The (Devanagari: ), is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the . ... The (DevanāgarÄ«: ) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and is an important part of the Hindu canon (smá¹›ti). ... Smriti (Sanskrit स्मॄति, that which is remembered) refers to a specific canon of Hindu religious scripture. ... Purana (Sanskrit पुराण, purāṇa, meaning ancient or old) is the name of a genre (or a group of related genres) of Indian written literature (as distinct from oral literature). ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... SÅ«tra (sex) (Sanskrit) or Sutta (Pāli) literally means a rope or thread that holds things together, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. ... Pañcaratra is an pre-Puranic form of Hinduism, which equated Narayana with Vishnu. ... Kumara Vyasa is one of the most famous poets in the Kannada language, spoken in the state of Karnataka, India. ... Stotras are Hindu prayers that praise aspects of God, such as Devi, Siva, or Vishnu. ... Hanuman Chalisa (Forty chaupais on Hanuman) is Tulsidas most famous and read piece of literature apart from the Ramacharitamanasa, a poem primarily praising Hanuman. ... ÅšrÄ« Rāmcaritmānas (Hindi: रामचरितमानस) is an epic poem composed by the great 16th-century Indian poet, Goswami Tulsidas (c. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Bhairava (भैरव) is a name of the fearsome aspect of the god Shiva. ... Kashmir Shaivism is the philosophical school of consciousness that arose in Kashmir about 1200 years ago. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that Combative dualism be merged into this article or section. ... Rudra (Howler) is a Rigvedic god of the storm, the hunt, death, Nature and the Wind. ... It has been suggested that Combative dualism be merged into this article or section. ...

Hindus consider the Tantras as Śruti revealed by Lord Ṣiva in the form of Svacchandanath, Who created each tantra as a combination of His five universal energies: cit shakti (energy of all-consciousness), ānanda śakti (energy of all-bliss), īccha śakti (energy of all-will), jñāna śakti (energy of all-knowledge), kriya śakti (energy of all-action). The Tantrika Parampara may be considered parallel or intertwined with the Vaidika Parampara. It is said that Svacchandanath illuminated the universe, beginning the Sat Yuga by revealing these Tantras. Through the ages, as the great masters of the Tantras hid themselves to escape the touch of the increasingly worldly people, these teachings were lost during the Kali Yuga. As a part of Ṣiva's grace, Ṣiva took the form Śrikanthanatha at Mount Kailaṣ, and revealed these Tantras, to Durvasa Riṣi, and then disappeared into the ether. Hinduism (Sanskrit: , , also known as , ) is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. ... The Å›ruti (Sanskrit thing heard, sound) is the smallest interval of the tuning system of Indian classical music. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kali Yuga is also the title of a book by Roland Charles Wagner. ...

In the Nath Tradition, legend ascribes the origin of Tantra to Dattatreya, a semi-mythological yogi and the assumed author of the Jivanmukta Gita ("Song of the liberated soul"). Matsyendranath is credited with authorship of the Kaulajnana-nirnaya, a voluminous ninth-century tantra dealing with a host of mystical and magical subjects, and occupies an important position in the Hindu tantric lineage, as well as in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. In the Natha tradition, Dattatreya is recognized as an Avatar or incarnation of the Lord Shiva and as the Adi-Guru (First Teacher) of the Adi-Nath sampradaya of the Nathas. ... Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mystikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (mysteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is an... Look up magic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Buddhist and Hindu Tantra, though having many similarities from the outside, do have some clear distinctions. Buddhist Tantra is always part of the Mahayana school of Buddhism. Buddhist Tantra spread out from (North) India, chiefly to Tibet, where it became known as the Vajrayana school of Buddhism. It also had some influence on Chinese and Japanese Buddhism (notably Shingon). A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Chinese :   金剛乘   jin gang cheng A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices. ... Shingon (真言宗) is a major school of Japanese Buddhism, and the most important school of Vajrayana Buddhism outside of the Himalayan region. ...

References

• Lakshmanjoo, Swami. Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme. ISBN 1-587-21505-5
• Dhallapiccola, Anna. Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend. ISBN 0-500-51088-1
• Walker, Benjamin (1983). Tantrism: Its Secret Principles and Practices. Borgo Press. ISBN 0-85030-272-2

Benjamin Walker (November 25, 1913) is the truncated pen name of George Benjamin Walker, who also writes under the pseudonym Jivan Bhakar. ...

See Also

• Kashmir Śaivism
• Tantra

Kashmir Shaivism is the philosophical school of consciousness that arose in Kashmir about 1200 years ago. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• Muktabodha Online Library: A large collection of śastras relating to Tantrika Parampara
• Tantricism in Kashmir
• Kashmir Tantrism