Scholastic[edit]

Modern scholars have defined Tantra; David Gordon White of the University of California, Santa

Barbara offers the following:

Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe

we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy of

the godhead that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that

energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways.[6]

Anthony Tribe, a scholar of Buddhist Tantra, offers a list of features:[7]

1. Centrality of ritual, especially the worship of deities

2. Centrality of mantras

3. Visualisation of and identification with a deity

4. Need for initiation, esotericism and secrecy

5. Importance of a teacher (guru, ācārya)

6. Ritual use of mandalas (maṇḍala)

7. Transgressive or antinomian acts