Editing Tantra (section)

=== Sex and eroticism ===
{{see also|Tantric sex}}While tantra involves a wide range of ideas and practices which are not always of a sexual nature, Flood and Padoux both note that in the West, Tantra is most often thought of as a kind of [[Ritual sex|ritualized sex]] or a spiritualized yogic sexuality.{{sfnp|Flood|1996|pp=159-160}}{{sfnp|Flood|2006|pp=i-ii}}{{sfnp|Padoux|2017|p=86}} According to Padoux, "this is a misunderstanding, for though the place of sex in Tantra is ideologically essential, it is not always so in action and ritual." Padoux further notes that while sexual practices do exist and were used by certain tantric groups, they "lost their prevalence when Tantra spread to other larger social groups."{{sfnp|Padoux|2017|p=86}}

In the tantric traditions which do use sex as part of spiritual practice (this refers mainly to the Kaulas, and also Tibetan Buddhism), sex and desire are often seen as a means of transcendence that is used to reach the Absolute. Thus, sex and desire are not seen as ends in themselves. Because these practices transgress orthodox Hindu ideas of ritual purity, they have often given tantra a bad image in India, where it is often condemned by the orthodox. According to Padoux, even among the traditions which accept these practices, they are far from prominent and practiced only by a "few initiated and fully qualified adepts".{{sfnp|Padoux|2017|pp=87-88}}