Tantra a way of living
Dear Friend, Dear HeartBody,
Today is the end of another Chinese year, I wish everybody for the new year, the year of the Fire Rooster a life full of joy, awareness, pleasure and honesty. A year full of Tantra.
A few days ago I posted a message that I was introducing Tantric massages in China. Most of you have no idea what Tantra is, and for the ones that heard about it, mostly have a misunderstanding about Tantra. I got to excited when my massage table arrived, and forgot about you (my potential clients). So I felt the need to explain to you what Tantra realy is and what I do.
As some of you know who have asked me what kind of religion I follow, I always say Kevinism. Its me, it’s how my heart looks at life, it’s inspired by many religions and especially Buddhism with Tantra. I say ‘with’ on purpose because for my heart Buddhism is only complete with Tantra. Off course there is also HInduism with Tantra, where they say Shiva is the founder of Tantra and Yoga. again Tantra and Yoga. but i want to focus on Buddhism with Tantra for this article.
First a little history, Gautama Buddha (Siddhartha) the first life Buddha who founded Buddhism, had a son called Rahul Bhadra and after Rahul comes Sri Kirti. Saraha the founder of Tantra was a student of Sri Kirti. So the line between Gautama Buddha‘s Buddhism and Saraha’s Tantra is very short. For me it’s the combination of both religions that inspire me the most, and I will explain why. Most religions and philosophies in this world are male chauvinistic, except Tantra, to enter Tantra you need to be in cooperation with a wise Woman. You need a man and female together to enter the complex world of Tantra. This is probably why Tantra has been misunderstood for so many years especially by the west. If we need a man and a woman then our imagination, our mind right away refers to the sexual relation between them. This is probably also why Tantra has been rejected and repressed by so many people, religions and laws. By men who have suppressed their sexuality and are afraid of the sexuality of Women.
Did you also know that Yoga comes from Tantra? That Tantra was the foundation of Yoga, that your original Yogi Masters went true Tantra before becoming a Yogi?. But this has been forgotten in time. This is probably why Yoga is accepted worldwide but Tantra isn’t. This is very interesting to me, Yoga is considered to be esthetic, it opens the energy flow in the body, it accepts the body and spirituality and is followed my millions of people. So its good, because in a way they are doing Tantra without knowing it. But again the sexuality is left out of it.
This is such a shame, when are we humans going to accept that sexuality is a part of life, that it is beautiful, we are all born out of it, and when we reach our adult life it’s one of our most repressed desire. Again I add the word repressed. Religions, laws and cultures have condemned sexuality, men have repressed it, craved it, rejected it, de- sired it. this duality must have driven men crazy for the last 2500 years. This is the point of Tantra it knows no dualism, all religions and philosophies in the world are based on duality, the good and the bad, God and the Devil, Light and Dark, Plus and Minus etc. and we are all in search of balance, this is funny and sad to me (again duality). Tantra makes no condemnation, it suppresses nothing, Tantra is accepting and honoring everything, the body the mind and the soul, nothing repressed all accepted.
We hate and or we love people, for me this is impossible. If you love, you love everything, every human being, plant and animal. If you say I hate this person then how can you love another. We can disagree with some ones behavior, but some ones behavior doesn't represent who he or she is. behavior is learned, it is formed and most times out of fear. How often are you saying to someone exactly the opposite of what you really want to say? Why not just say honestly how you feel? What are you so afraid of? How many times did you find yourself behaving exactly the opposite as what you really want or need? Again out of fear, to protect yourself, not to get hurt. But what can hurt you? the only thing or person that can hurt you is your own Ego. So we meditate to release our ego. to enter the nothingness, to find balance and to become enlightened. But in the mean time we suppress our sexuality, we become celibate and repress our sexuality. We are praised and called wise men and saints by others because we became celibate and have no more sexual desire. We preach and when we're alone we masturbate. How many scandals have we heard about from our so called religious saints and priests? They declare to us that sex is a sin. How false is this?
If we exclude sex or anything else for that matter, we create dualism.
This is why Tantra is they only way for me, it excludes nothing, it accepts everything. Men and Women. It’s the only religion that includes without any condemnation, its about the beauty of life, the beauty of yourself, its about real love. And again I on purpose say real, because for me if you love, you love everything. No exceptions.
Ok back to Tantra, Saraha in his time was a beautiful Man, very wise and educated, he was known al over the country for his wisdom. Even the King wanted him to marry his own daughter, but Saraha refused he wanted to become a sannyasin (the first stage of renunciation((to renounce wealth)) in Hindu religion), but Saraha being a Brahmin choses to become a sannyasin under Buddhism as a student of Sri Kirti. The first thing Sri Kirti said to him was 'forget everything you know, all your Vedas, philosophies, everything.'
So Saraha renounced, and again he became very famous, people from all over the country came to watch him meditate, so pure so innocent. All Saraha did was going from one extreme to the other. From mind to no mind. One day when he was meditating he had a vision, he saw a woman in a marketplace and he knew this woman would become his new master. So he stood up said goodbye to Sri Kirti and left. He was amazed that he actually found this woman in the marketplace. Why a marketplace? Is this not where real life happens? Not in a temple or church, not in a school or university, but in real life. He looked and observed this woman who was making an arrow shaft, she was not looking to the right nor locking to the left, but wholly (completely) absorbed in making the arrow. This isTantra, no dualism, no god or devil, but doing wholly conscious what you're doing now on this moment, not half thinking of other things while being busy with whatever you're doing, not thinking of the result, but be wholly conscious occupied with what you're doing now in this moment. not as a task, but with full enoyment.
When she was finished she took the posture of aiming the arrow closed one eye like she was looking at an invisible target. Now this again is beautiful. We know that our brain consists of 2 sides the right and the left. The right side is used for intuition and creativity and the left side is used for logic and reasoning (again dualism). If our eyes are the window to our soul, then when we look with our right eye into some ones right eye and really look we can see them, you can see their heart. Our eyes are magical. We can see with our heart or mind the heart or the mind of the other. All we have to do is really look.
And isn’t this a Buddhist symbol one eye closed and one eye open?
Saraha went to the woman and asked her are you a professional arrow smith? How strange is this, you walk up to a woman and you ask her are you a woman? Its obvious. So she laughed and said all your wisdom from books and philosophies, your Vedas and your Dhammapada, your meditations and renouncements, what is the point? The real learning of Buddha is trough action, to live and experience life, to see, because if you see you know. No need to ask questions. Life is to be in the middle, not on your mountain top renouncing the world, not to stuff yourself inside universities with Knowledge but to be in the middle. To be fully conscious in the marketplace. Enjoying every moment.
Some legends even say that this woman was a hidden Buddha who’s name is Sukhnatha who took the form of a woman to help this great potential man Saraha. Do you know what the name Saraha means? Sara means arrow and ha means have shot, so Saraha means the who has shot the arrow.
Tantra understands that we are born out of a woman, so we can only find balance through a woman again. Tantra is the only religion, the only philosophy that recognizes and honors women, that understands and sees men and women are equal, that they contemplate each other, that they need each other.
So what is Tantra? No, it’s not like the west have transformed it, not as religions have suppressed it or giving it a bad name.
It has nothing to do with sex, porn or sex positions. It’s living each moment with joy and consciousness. Not meditating on a mountain top, sitting and copying the posture of Gautama Buddha under a tree, renouncing wealth. Its living in meditation with one eye open and one eye closed, it’s living fully, to dance to sing to celebrate with out any exclusion. Without any condemnation. So yes, sexuality is also part of it, not it, just a part. But our suppressed and repressed attitude towards sexuality made Tantra about sexuality. It has nothing to do with Tantra, this is not Tantra this is how we have transformed it, to say I do Tantra and then sleep with as many people as possible as an excuse or to give it a dirty meaning.
This is why most Tantrikas are mostly women, because to understand Tantra you have to go through a wise woman (and I don't mean this sexually). A male Tantrika has be in touch with his feminine side, which in our society is not unfortunatly not teached to men. why not? if we are all born out of a man and a woman then we have both energies in us, again its not about excluding you're a man or you're a woman its about the middle. Women off course are more in touch with their feminine energy then man. its accepted we need them to be, but at the same time men repress it. how weird is that?
But unfortunately in this time and era women have lost their natural essence, they lost their connection with their true feminine side. This is not strange, after 2500 years of being suppressed by Men, the suppression about sexuality and the demands and desires women have these days. Being a mother, a wife, have a good career, be independent and take care of the family. It is not strange that they have lost or have no time to get in touch with their true essence and power.
What is A Tantric massage then, what is it that I do, because I'm a man. How can I, a man, give you an experience of Tantra?
For those that know me very well, know that I never just follow, I always give my own twist on any subject. I question. I don't copy, I invent. I follow my heart, yes I study, I meditate, I explore, but I can’t follow blindly. It has to make sense to me, it needs to resonate with my heart. I trust the wisdom of my body, I don't use set techniques blindly, I feel, i addept and create.
I have learned Tantra, studied it, read many articles and books about it and then I transformed all this knowledge with my own understanding of life. So you say why only for women? Are you not also excluding then? To understand Tantra a man needs a wise woman and a woman needs a sensitive man that is in touch with his feminine side. Its not that I exclude, but I'm a man, its beyond my control, and therefore can only treat women.
A tantric massage can bring you in touch with your true essence, and for sure give you a physical release. Hencewhy I call it a Tantric physical release massage.
If you're interested to know more about this treatment you can contact me or Ning Xi in English or Chinese and we will explain it in detail to you.
So for the year of the Fire Rooster life consciously in the moment, enjoy every minute of it, share your love and joy to your loved ones, your family, your friends and everybody you meet.
Go out to the marketplace, laugh,cry, live, live with Body and Heart, live fully, feel fully, touch fully, lovefully, Be. Be one, be full, be One-body, Be a HeartBody.
Hug,
དཀོན་མཆོག་བསྟན་འཛིན།
Here is a link to my book in the itunesbook store for now only in english.
Or send me an email and i send the book to you.
k.polak@me.com
