White, Red & Black Tantra

Discussion around Tantra is intriguing for a number of reasons. It addresses aspects of life that are not often spoken about or sufficiently addressed. It uncovers all that we are taught to suppress because it deals directly with coming to full acceptance of self and the wider universe regardless of duality. Commonly before people know better, Tantra is seen as some seductive word that alludes to phenomenal sex. Along some Tantric paths this can certainly be granted but there’s much more to it than this.

Tantra, from early writings, is believed to originate in India from around 300 to 400AD, however, its verbal and sign teachings are very likely more ancient. By medieval times, its teachings had spread throughout Tibet, East Asia, Mongolia and other Himalayan states, greatly influencing religions of the regions. It now holds a strong, interwoven foundation within Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism and forms quite a few varied paths. This is a testament to its profound versatility and applicability to daily life and spiritual seeking with it indiscriminate, universal practices.

Today, the meaning of Tantra can easily be morphed and distorted, which is why many traditional Tantric practices are closed. This means that, at the crux, a practitioner must undergo multiple levels of initiation under the private guidance of their Tantric teacher/s and, for the most part, withhold from sharing details of their experiences.

However, there are ways of defining and simplifying its different paths of practice so that it’s easier to understand. This has been done via three main colours — white, red and black. We’ll look at what these three paths of Tantra mean below.

WHITE TANTRA 

With white suggestive of purity, this path of Tantra is said to be the purest and highest path. It guides the practitioner into an internalised practice — addressing all levels, mental, psychological, physical and spiritual — to create transcendental states of bliss. White tantra helps to clear and refine the heart of an individual to achieve a state of enduring love despite existing in a world that contains great violence and evil. It strengthens the inner mind and cultivates greater spiritual consciousness.

The practices of White Tantra typically include yoga, specifically Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga and Tantric Yoga and various meditation forms. Also, chanting of mantras, nyasas (mantras addressing the physical body), yantras (mystical diagrams), mandalas, and mudras (hand gestures). The most crucial part about these practices is that they are transmitted by a highly trained teacher to only students who are ready to receive initiation. Another beautiful practice involves a group setting. Practitioners of the like can come together and practice in joint meditation to collectively send healing to places around the world, to individuals in need and accelerate global consciousness amongst many other benevolent things.

White Tantra promotes self-awareness and builds spiritual knowledge. It is viewed as a way of achieving spiritual growth in an open manner with potential to learn quickly from and therefore transcend our erroneous ways within a life.

RED TANTRA 

Whilst many modes of spiritual religions and paths praise and favour practices of extreme asceticism for attaining enlightenment, Tantra starkly contrasts. It opposes teachings that indicate the only way to attain liberation of the soul is through rigorous austerity and doing away with sensual pleasures.

With that said, we arrive at Red Tantra. This form of Tantra is seen as the impure and hedonistic path. It encourages the acceptance and appreciation of both good and bad, light and dark, pure and impure so that one may arrive at inner harmony and a state of non-duality. To find this, impure practices can be advised, deliberately to challenge the practitioner to go against the grain of their conditioning. Renowned gurus of this path struggle to offer it to their followers as the practices can be easily misinterpreted, incredibly controversial, abrasive and often traumatic, depending on how they are delivered. This leads to allegations and pressing of charges against the gurus by practitioners who’ve undergone unexpectedly difficult and traumatic experiences without proper, respectable initiations or sufficiently supported integration periods. Few gurus have successfully shared this form of Tantra.

It works directly with converting powerful and overwhelming emotionality, sexuality and sensuality into divine bliss. It aims is to discharge confined energy in individuals by identifying and releasing taboos and illegal practices from being suppressed within them. These confinements are said to prevent us from becoming our true and powerful selves. It is believed that if we are unable to express our desires openly, they will create obstacles and diseases for us.

Some examples of practices could involve the consumption of meat, drugs and alcohol, orgies, aimless dancing and wailing. It’s about being liberated from cultural, social and familial constructs and judgements.

If you practice White Tantra, it sets you up for a very wholesome experience of Red Tantra wherein you can access the inner workings of sex magick. Within Red Tantra, there also exists the goal to form deep bonds with partners. This form of tantra brings to fore all that has been learned through solo practice to bond with a lover. One can become a better lover by practicing Red tantra; people can also use it to overcome premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, and other sexual-related issues. 

Without the balance brought about by practices of White Tantra, however, Red Tantra can easily become debaucherous. Heavy addictions develop and life spans can be drastically shortened with unmoderated practices. It requires an extraordinary amount of self-discipline to be practiced effectively and safely.

BLACK TANTRA 

There’s a dark side to everything. This brings us to Black Tantra. There is less known about what Black Tantra contains as it is practiced far less openly than Red or White. It is aimed around the personal intentions of the practitioners, regardless of good or evil. It has been known to include corpses, meat and excrement in combination with sex. It can include spell work, curses and use of symbols and potions to induce desired outcomes. Essentially, it is regarded as black magick. 

Black Tantra focuses on practicing specific magical powers known as siddhis. Practitioners see that the human body and thoughts in authoritative positions, can conjure with magick. One of the ways of using body and thought in this way is through sex. It is believed that sexual energy when heightened at orgasm, has the power to manifest desired things into reality.

Tantra is certainly complex, however, having an idea of what these three paths of Tantras mean is a solid first step with understanding Tantra. Let me know what you think about these paths and if any resonate with you or you’ve had any personal experiences of any of these practices you’re open to sharing.