Editing Sexual ritual (section)

==Dharmic art==
In the [[Buddhist art]] of [[India]], [[Bhutan]], [[Nepal]] and [[Tibet]], [[yab-yum]] is the male [[deity]] in sexual union with his female [[wikt:consort|consort]]. The symbolism is associated with [[Anuttarayoga tantra]] where the male figure is usually linked to compassion (''{{IAST|karuṇā}}'') and skillful means (''[[upaya|upāya-kauśalya]]''), and the female partner to 'insight' (''prajñā'').<ref>Keown, Damien. (2003). ''A Dictionary of Buddhism'',  p. 338. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-860560-9}}.</ref> The symbolism of union and sexual polarity is a central teaching in [[Tantric Buddhism]], especially in Tibet. The union is realised by the practitioner as a mystical experience within one's own body.<ref>Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. "Yab Yum Iconography and the Role of Women in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism." ''The Tibet Journal''. Vol. XXII, No. 1. Spring 1997, pp. 12-34.</ref> Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion.<ref>[http://www.seriousseekers.com/News%20and%20Articles/pallis_marriagewisdommethod.pdf The Marriage of Wisdom and Method] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617051023/http://www.seriousseekers.com/News%20and%20Articles/pallis_marriagewisdommethod.pdf |date=2011-06-17 }} By Marco Pallis</ref> Tantric Buddhism is itself an outcrop of [[Tantra|Tantrism]], advanced techniques of which included "the ritual sex act ([[Maithuna]]) which was a feature of Tantric yoga".<ref>Sophie Hoare, ''Yoga'' (London 1977) p. 19</ref> Given that "sex is holy to a Tantric... Tantric art, writings and religious rituals glorify sex".<ref>K. Devi, in Margo Anand, ''The Art of Sexual Ecstasy'' (1990) p. 39</ref>