Nothing compares to the explosive energy created in the body by pure desire. For millennia, practitioners of tantra have harnessed this power as a means to reach the peaks of mystical life. Energy fueled by passion is used as fuel for the inner fire that burns away the self-satisfied perceptions of the mind. The book Desires, Passions, and Spirituality explores sophisticated techniques of tantra that enable the practitioner to achieve mastery over breath, thought, and natural bodily processes. Tantrics believe that the body is a temple and that divinity resides in its heart. To achieve full awareness, the body must be perfectly tuned and function in a state of perfect lightness. Desires, Passions, and Spirituality reveals many secret practices that have been passed down in significant tantric treatises, such as the Vijnanabhairava Tantra and the treatise of Zen master Chinul on the Secrets of Mind Cultivation, including important ritual sexual practices known as maithuna.
