Editing Tantra (section)

====Proto-tantric elements in Vedic religion====
=====Rig Veda=====
The Keśin hymn of the ''[[Rig Veda]]'' (10.136) describes the "wild loner" who, states Karel Werner, "carrying within oneself fire and poison, heaven and earth, ranging from enthusiasm and creativity to depression and agony, from the heights of spiritual bliss to the heaviness of earth-bound labor".<ref name="Werner">{{harvp|Werner|1977|pp=289–302}}</ref> The Rigveda uses words of admiration for these loners,<ref name="Werner" /> and whether it is related to Tantra or not, has been variously interpreted. According to David Lorenzen, it describes ''munis'' (sages) experiencing Tantra-like "ecstatic, altered states of consciousness" and gaining the ability "to fly on the wind".{{sfnp|Lorenzen|2002|p=27}} In contrast, Werner suggests that these are early [[Yoga]] pioneers and accomplished yogis of the ancient pre-Buddhist Indian tradition, and that this Vedic hymn is speaking of those "lost in thoughts" whose "personalities are not bound to earth, for they follow the path of the mysterious wind".<ref name="Werner"/> However, Patrick Olivelle suggests that in the early Vedic-Brahmanical texts, some of which predate the 3rd-century BCE ruler Ashoka, Brahmana and Śramaṇa (ascetics) were neither distinct nor opposed. The later distinctions were semantic developments possibly influenced by the appropriation of the term Śramaṇa by Buddhism and Jainism.{{sfn|Olivelle|1993|p=12}}

=====Upanishads=====
The two oldest [[Upanishads|Upanishadic]] scriptures of Hinduism, the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' in section 4.2 and ''[[Chandogya Upanishad]]'' in section 8.6, refer to [[nadis]] (''hati'') in presenting their theory on how the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (Self) and the body are connected and interdependent through energy carrying arteries when one is awake or sleeping, but they do not mention anything related to Tantric practices.{{sfnp|Phillips|2009|p=295 with note 23}} The ''[[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]]'' describes [[pranayama|breath control]] that became a standard part of Yoga, but Tantric practices do not appear in it.{{sfnp|Lorenzen|2002|p=27}}{{sfnp|Deussen|1980|pp=301-304, 310-311}} Likewise, the ''[[Taittiriya Upanishad]]'' discusses a central channel running through the body and various Vedic texts mention the bodily [[prana]]s (vital breaths) that move around in the body and animate it. However, the idea of consciously moving the bodily pranas through yoga is not found in these sources.{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|pp=284-285}} According to Lorenzen, Vedic ideas related to the body later diversified into the [[Subtle body|"mystical anatomy"]] of ''[[nadis]]'' and ''[[chakras]]'' found in Tantra.{{sfnp|Lorenzen|2002|p=27-28}} The yogic component of Tantrism appears clearly in [[Bāṇabhaṭṭa]]'s ''[[Harshacharita]]'' and [[Daṇḍin]]'s ''[[Dashakumaracharita]]''.{{sfnp|Lorenzen|2002|p=28}} In contrast to this theory of Lorenzen, other scholars such as [[Mircea Eliade]] consider Yoga and the evolution of Yogic practices to be separate and distinct from the evolution of Tantra and Tantric practices.{{sfnp|White|2014|p=188}}

=====Tapas and spitualized sexual energy=====
According to [[Geoffrey Samuel]], the inner development of a spiritual energy called [[Tapas (Indian religions)|tapas]] becomes a central element of Vedic religion in the [[Brahmana]]s and [[Śrauta|Srauta]] texts. In these texts, ascetic practices allow a holy man to build up tapas, a kind of magical inner heat, which allows them to perform all sorts of magical feats as well as granting visions and divine revelations.{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|pp=157-158}} Samuel also notes that in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', one of the commonest use of the term "yoga" refers to "a dying warrior transferring himself at death to the sphere of the sun through yoga, a practice that links up with Upanisadic references to the channel to the crown of the head as the pathway by which one can travel through the solar orb to the World of Brahman." This practice of transferring one's consciousness at death is still an important practice in Tibetan Buddhism.{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|p=221}} Samuel also notes that sexual rituals and a spiritualized sexuality are mentioned in the late Upanishads. According to Samuel, "late Vedic texts treat sexual intercourse as symbolically equivalent to the [[Yajna|Vedic sacrifice]], and ejaculation of semen as the offering." This theme can be found in the ''[[Jaiminiya Brahmana]]'', the ''[[Chandogya Upanishad|Chandogya Upanisad]]'', and the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad|Brhadaranyaka Upanisad]]''. The ''Brhadaranyaka'' contains various sexual rituals and practices which are mostly aimed at obtaining a child which are concerned with the loss of male virility and power.{{sfnp|Samuel|2010|p=283}}

=====Yogini cults=====
[[David Gordon White]] views [[Yogini]] cults as foundational to early tantra but disagrees with scholars who maintain that the roots of such cults lie in an "autochthonous non-Vedic source" such as indigenous tribes or the [[Indus Valley civilization]].{{sfnp|White|2003|pp=28-29}} Instead, White suggests Vedic [[Srauta]] texts mention offerings to goddesses Rākā, Sinīvālī, and Kuhū in a manner similar to a tantric ritual.{{sfnp|White|2003|pp=30, 280}}

=====Atharvaveda=====
Frederick Smith – a professor of Sanskrit and Classical Indian Religions, considers Tantra to be a religious movement parallel to the [[Bhakti]] movement of the 1st millennium CE.<ref name="Smith"/> Tantra along with [[Ayurveda]], states Smith, has traditionally been attributed to ''[[Atharvaveda]]'', but this attribution is one of respect not of historicity. Ayurveda has primarily been an empirical practice with Vedic roots, but Tantra has been an esoteric, folk movement without grounding that cannot be traced to anything in ''Atharvaveda'' or any other vedic text.<ref name="Smith">{{harvp|Smith|2012|pp=363–364}}</ref>