Chapter Three: The Madhura Disposition in India's Inner (Esoteric) Religious Disciplines
Whatever the case, it is certain that Tantra is as ancient as the Vedas in the tradition of Indian practice. Human beings have always sought an easy road to accomplishment. Tantra has therefore always presented the practical side of the extension of knowledge. Wherever chapters of ritual, manuals, protective formulas, thousand-name hymns, and hymns of praise occur, there is Tantra. Later, preliminary observances, enchantment, immobilisation, the creation of enmity, expulsion, killing and delusion, and the Five Ms also entered it.
Tantras are distinctive in prescribing styles and methods of practice according to differences of qualification. They therefore recognise three dispositions: the animal, heroic, and divine; and seven modes of conduct: Vedic, Vaishnava, Shaiva, right-hand, left-hand, doctrinal, and Kaula. We shall discuss these dispositions and modes in greater detail in their proper places. Here it is enough to establish that Tantric practice is among India's most ancient disciplines. Tantra and mantra were used in the ancient Vedic age too, but became corrupt in later times. Examined deeply, Buddhist and Hindu Tantra do not differ in any extraordinary way at their root. They are fundamentally one and not mutually opposed. Let that suffice.
Dhāraṇī and its four divisions
In the doctrine of mantra, Mahayana Buddhists placed great emphasis upon dhāraṇī. The word means “that by which something is held”—that which can hold the mind in a state of equilibrium. Its four principal types are Dharma-dhāraṇī, meaning-dhāraṇī, mantra-dhāraṇī, and forbearance-dhāraṇī. Through the practice of Dharma-dhāraṇī, memory, wisdom, and strength enter the practitioner. Meaning-dhāraṇī opens the inward and esoteric meaning of Dharma; mantra-dhāraṇī yields perfection; and forbearance-dhāraṇī brings peace.
Why and how paired yoga entered Buddhist practice
When the Buddhist path was opened and made accessible to the general population, people naturally entered it carrying their inherited beliefs, traditions, assumptions, and impressions: faith in gods and goddesses; worship of ghosts, spirits, piśācas, hākinīs, and ḍākinīs; magic and sorcery; and belief in arts of enchantment, killing, and expulsion. Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga, Mantra Yoga, and Raja Yoga also gradually received honoured places in the course of practice.
At first, special emphasis fell upon mantra, seal, mandala, and initiation. In time, paired or sexual yoga was included as well. In Tantra, mudrā means choosing a young woman for esoteric practice. Fish, meat, mudrā, wine, and sexual union gradually entered as limbs of practice, until worship of the “Five Ms” became central in Vajrayana. The expression “Five Ms”—