Tantra has been defined as a 'a mystical philosophy' and as 'an unorthodox religious tendency.' Both definitions are incomplete.

While Tantra has mystical, philosophical, and religious aspects it is, above all, a technique of action-a system of physical, mental, and spritiual discipine incorporating meditation, yoga, and sacramental worship in the widest sense of the phrase. This system has one purpose: The transformation of the individual-his or her rebirth to a new existence.

There is no 'tantric faith', to be accepted or rejected on the basis of thought and emotion. Tantrics make the same claim as Western magicians: 'If you follow a certain course of action you will be led back to the roots of your own indentity and will learn the truth about yourself and the universe you inhabit.'

Tantra for Westerners is a complete theoretical and practical guide to the Way of Action, covering the concepts of pleasure and pain, power and passivity, esoteric physiology, Tantra and qabalism, right-hand and left-hand Tantra, tantric rituals for westerners, and the arousal of kundalini-the serpent power.

Francis King is a well-known authroity on magic, msticism, and religion. His books include Techniques of High Magic, Ritual Magic in england and The Magical Wrold of Aleister Crowley. He is married and lives in London.

Contents

Introduction Tantra: The way of action
Chapter 1 Pleasure and pain
Chapter 2 Power and passivity
Chapter 3 Shiva, and the Qabalistic tree of life
Chapter 4 Esoteric physiology
Chapter 5 Chakras, secret traditions, and the golden dawn
Chapter 6 Right-hand tantra, left-hand tantra
Chapter 7 the middle pillar and the serpent power
Chapter 8 Tantric techniques of yoga and meditation for Westerners
Chapter 9 Tantric rituals for Westerners
Chapter 10 A summing up
Appendices
A Brodie Innes and the Tattvas
B The origins of tantra, drugs, and Western occultism
C The Chod rite and Asiatic shamanism
D Preparation for the iddle pillar exercise and Shakti invocation
E The Siddhas, Chinese alchemy, and Layayoga
Select bibliography
Index

Francis King's treatment of Tantric practice in this volume is more attentive to authentic source materials and ethnography than most Neo-Tantric literature of the last few decades has been. Even so, he seeks to universalize it beyond its original south Asian context. His emphasis on what defines Tantra as such is not so much "sex" (as the typical Neo-tantrist would have it) as it is a dualist metaphysic and transgressive method.

Tantra is compared to ritual magic of the Golden Dawn school throughout the book. In particular, there is a claim that the tattwa materials that circulated in the GD were rooted in the Bengali Tantric text published in English by the Theosophical Society as Nature's Finer Forces. King carefully examines the correlations between the sat chakras and the qabalistic Tree of Life made by Aleister Crowley, J.F.C. Fuller, and Dion Fortune, rendering his own verdict and recommending related practices. He also weighs in on whether Crowley should be viewed--in King's terms--as "an authentic, if unorthodox, tantric" (76), ultimately answering in the affirmative and citing (without details) various secret instructions of O.T.O. to support the point.

In this book, King has an awful lot of opinions for someone who does not make any direct admission to being an actual practitioner. Most of them sound quite sensible, but it's reasonable to wonder about the nature of King's authority when encountering his authoritative tone. His historical speculations on the relationship between the Tantras of different religious traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain) fall within what I understand to be the range of current scholarly views on the topic.

A set of appendices cover such diverse issues and items as psychedelic drug use in "Western tantra" (King's basically against it), a revision of the invocation of the "Bornless One" for goddess devotions, and a comparison of Taoist "internal alchemy" to parallel Tantric practices.

Tantra has been defined as a “mystical philosophy” and as an unorthodox branch of Buddhism, Hindism, and Jainism. It has also been described as an occult technique concerned primarily with polarity and sexual practices. Although each of these definitions contains an element of truth, none of them is complete.

While Tantra has mystical, philosophical, and religious aspects, it is, above all, a technique of action—a path of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines incorporating meditation, yoga, and sacramental worship. Its sole purpose is the transformation or spiritual rebirth of the individual into a new existence and an enlightened state of consciousness.

In Tantra: The Way of Action, Francis King provides a complete theoretical and practical guide to the Tantric path of liberation. Topics covered include esoteric physiology, Qabalism, pleasure and pain, power and passivity, right-hand and left-hand Tantra, and the arousal of the Kundalini serpent power. Following the spirit rather than the letter of the tradition, King maintains that Tantric techniques are universal processes. As such, they transcend the limitations of specific faith or dogma and are adaptable to Western culture and lifestyle.