Tantra

American  

[tuhn-truh, tan-] / ˈtʌn trə, ˈtæn- /

noun

1. (italics) any of several books of esoteric doctrine regarding rituals, disciplines, meditation, etc., composed in the form of dialogues between Shiva and his Shakti; Agama.

2. Also called Tantrism.  the philosophy or doctrine of these books, regarding the changing, visible world as the creative dance or play of the Divine Mother and regarding enlightenment as the realization of the essential oneness of one's self and of the visible world with Shiva-Shakti, the Godhead: influential in some schools of Mahayana Buddhism, especially in Tibet.

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Tantra British  

/ ˈtʌn-, ˈtæntrə /

noun

1. Hinduism Buddhism the sacred books of Tantrism, written between the 7th and 17th centuries _ad , mainly in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his wife

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Etymology

Origin of Tantra

From Sanskrit

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Tantra

I’ve studied Jungian psychology and Hindu Tantra — the energies of masculine and feminine, being and doing, birth and death.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2025

Tantra is clearly a persistent and alluring ancient philosophy.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 21, 2020

Well-versed visitors might be drawn to an illustrated manuscript of the Last Tantra, an early text in the Tibetan medical tradition, written before the 12th century and still memorized by Tibetan medical students.

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2014

Citing history, science, Tantra, and her own online questionnaires, Wolf concludes that the vagina is “the delivery system for the states of mind that we call confidence, liberation, self-realization, and even mysticism in women.”

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2012

C. The word Tantra originally meant a manual giving the essentials of a subject but later usage tends to restrict it to works, whether Hindu or Buddhist, inculcating the worship of Śiva's spouse.

From Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2 by Eliot, Charles, Sir