Editing Tantra (section)

====Tantrism====
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
| total_width       = 260
| image1            = OM MANI PADME HUM.svg
| alt1              = Mantra
| image2            = Vishnu Mandala.jpg
| alt2              = Vishnu mandala
| image4            = Kali_Yantra.jpg
| alt4              = Kali Yantra
| image3            = Center_detail,_from-_Interior_of_a_Book_Cover-_Manjuvajra_Embracing_His_Consort,_with_Attendant_Lamas_MET_DP335604_(cropped).jpg
| alt3              = Sexual yoga
| image5            = Chakras_and_energy_channels_2_(3749594497).jpg
| alt5              = Subtle body
| image6            = Kapala_skull_cup.jpg
| alt6              = Kapala
| footer            = Elements of Tantrism. Clockwise from upper left: Mantra (Buddhist), Mandala (Hindu), Yantra (of Kali), Skull cup (Kapala), Nadis and Chakras (Tibetan), Deities depicted in sexual union. These are neither compulsory nor universal in Tantrism.{{sfnp|Goudriaan|1981|pp=1-8}}
}}

The term ''tantrism'' is a 19th-century European invention not present in any Asian language;{{Sfnp|White|2005|p=8984}} compare "[[Sufism]]", of similar [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] origin. According to Padoux, ''Tantrism'' is a [[Western culture|Western]] term and notion, not a category that is used by Tantrikas themselves.{{sfnp|Padoux|2002|p=17}} The term was introduced by 19th-century Indologists, with limited knowledge of India and in whose view Tantrism was a particular, unusual and minority practice in contrast to Indian traditions they believed to be mainstream.{{sfnp|Padoux|2002|p=17}}

Robert Brown similarly notes that "tantrism" is a construct of [[Western world|Western]] [[Scholarly method|scholarship]], not a concept of the religious system itself.{{sfnp|Brown|2002|p=1}} He defines Tantrism as an apologetic label of Westerners for a system that they little understand that is "not coherent" and which is "an accumulated set of practices and ideas from various sources, that has varied between its practitioners within a group, varied across groups, across geography and over its history". It is a system, adds Brown, that gives each follower the freedom to mix Tantric elements with non-Tantric aspects, to challenge and transgress any and all norms, experiment with "the mundane to reach the supramundane".{{sfnp|Brown|2002|pp=1-2}}

Teun Goudriaan in his 1981 review of Hindu Tantrism, states that Tantrism usually means a "systematic quest for salvation or spiritual excellence" by realizing and fostering the divine within one's own body, one that is simultaneous union of the masculine-feminine and spirit-matter, and has the ultimate goal of realizing the "primal blissful state of non-duality".{{sfnp|Goudriaan|1981|pp=1-2, 39-40}} It is typically a methodically striven system, consisting of voluntarily chosen specific practices which may include Tantric items such as mantras (''bijas''), geometric patterns and symbols (''mandala''), gestures (''mudra''), mapping of the microcosm within one's body to the macrocosmic elements outside as the subtle body (''[[kundalini yoga]]''), assignments of icons and sounds (''nyasa''), meditation (''dhyana''), ritual worship (''puja''), initiation (''diksha'') and others.{{sfnp|Goudriaan|1981|pp=1-2, 198-200}} Tantrism, adds Goudriaan, is a living system that is decidedly [[monism|monistic]], but with wide variations, and it is impossible to be dogmatic about a simple or fixed definition.{{sfnp|Goudriaan|1981|pp=2, 7-8}}

Tantrism is an overarching term for "Tantric traditions", states David Gray in a 2016 review, that combine Vedic, yogic and meditative traditions from 5th-century Hinduism as well as rival Buddhist and Jain traditions.{{sfnp|Gray|2016|pp=1-2}} it is a [[neologism]] of western scholars and does not reflect the self-understanding of any particular tantric tradition. While Goudriaan's description is useful, adds Gray, there is no single defining universal characteristic common to all Tantra traditions, being an open evolving system.{{sfnp|Gray|2016|pp=3-4}} Tantrism, whether Buddhist or Hindu, can best be characterized as practices, a set of techniques, with a strong focus on rituals and meditation, by those who believe that it is a path to liberation that is characterized by both knowledge and freedom.{{sfnp|Gray|2016|pp=4-5}}