Bøger af Gavin Flood

The most misrepresented of all Hindu traditions, Tantra is a complex interweaving of teachings and practices that pervades Vai?nava, Saiva, Sakta, and Smarta traditions. Its roots can be traced back to Vedic times and its influence has spread to Jainism, Buddhism, and beyond. In Tantric Knowledge, Gavin Flood demystifies tantra, illustrating how it is more than just esoteric teachings, but is in fact the very fabric of the Hindu worldview. While sex and secret ritual are an element of some practices, tantra encompasses much more than that. Tantric ideas have shaped core Hindu practices such as temple building, worship, mantra, yoga, ayurveda, meditation, and guru-disciple relationships. It is a part of everyday life. Tantric Knowledge also highlights how tantric traditions claim to possess knowledge about the nature of the universe, the nature of ourselves as human beings, and how we fit into the wider cosmos around us. Tantric knowledge is what the texts and traditions profess. The study of these traditions raises interesting questions of both historical and existential importance.

"A true translation whose literary qualities make it stand out from the rest." -Daniel Gold, Cornell University

Contributes to an understanding of tantra's mysteries. Without minimising its sexual dimensions, this book argues that within tantra the body is more than a sexual entity, it is a vehicle for the spirituality that is fundamental to people's minds. This book is useful to students of South Asian cultures and societies, and of comparative philosophy.

The aims of this book are to examine the interface between religious studies, critical social theory and cultural theory and to argue for a discourse within religious studies which draws from, and contributes to, wider intellectual debates in the humanities and social sciences.