Tantric Studies

Abstract This introductory chapter addresses ongoing academic debates regarding the origins and earliest forms of tantra, as well as defining it and methodologies for its study. Did it begin as a movement within Hinduism, or Buddhism, or perhaps in some less-documented “pre-tantric” traditions, and what were the interactions between traditions? And what about “tantra” as a category term, regarding which there are a diversity of scholarly opinions. Any study of tantra must also consider the dynamics of gender, embodiment, sexuality, the roles of goddesses, and historical gender biases in scholarship. Because there are many flourishing communities of “lived tantra” across Asia, a survey of ethnographic and anthropological studies is included. Cognitive scientific and neuroscientific approaches to tantric studies are also reviewed. And an appendix discusses scholarly institutions and collaborations that focus on tantric studies, including a survey of archives of available tantric texts and images.