What's "Tantra" in Hinduism and Buddhism?

Pat Macpherson, Kali Ma, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

Deity and yogini tantric sex

Tantra (Sanskrit तन्त्र) literally means "loom, weave, warp." It refers to the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed in India from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards [1].

The term tantra, in Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique, or practice" [2, 3].

A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras [magical incantations], and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism [4, 5].

The frightful Goddess Bhairavi Devi with Shiva (MET, Tantra, Wikipedia)

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Starting in the early centuries of the common era, newly revealed Tantras centering on Vishnu, Shiva, or Shakti emerged [6]. There are tantric lineages in all main forms of modern Hinduism, such as the Shaiva Siddhanta tradition, the Shakta sect of Sri-Vidya, the Kaula, and Kashmir Shaivism.

In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Buddhist Tantras [7, 8]. They include Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism, and Nepalese Newar Buddhism.

The Tao will be the ultimate religion on earth brought down from heaven by Lao Tzu.

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Tantric Hindu and Buddhist traditions have also influenced other Eastern religious traditions such as Jainism, the Tibetan Bön [shamanic pre-Buddhist] tradition, Taoism, and the Japanese Shintō [kami worship] tradition [9].

Certain modes of non-Vedic worship such as puja are considered tantric in their conception and rituals. Hindu temple buildings also generally conform to the iconography of tantra [10, 11].

Hindu texts describing these topics are called Tantras, Āgamas, or Samhitās [12, 13]. In Buddhism, tantra has influenced the art and iconography of Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism, as well as historic cave temples of India and the art of Southeast Asia [14, 15, 16]. More