Great-Bliss-Tantric-Sex-and-the-Path-to-Inner-Awakening

prestigious universities. Mahāyāna philosophy and practices continued to develop until the 1200s
when Buddhism was lost in India.
The Buddha himself did not present these teachings in this world, it was said, because of their
depth and intensity - people were simply not ready for them, so they remained hidden in other
dimensions until wise masters could reveal them at a later time. Yet they remain true to the
essence of the Buddha’s teachings, and are intensely and, to their devotees, even more
profoundly Buddhist. In the Mahāyāna, the Buddha’s sūtras are called the first “turning of the
wheel” or presentation of the Dharma, the intermediate teachings on the Middle Way the second
turning, and the highest teachings of Mind Only and Buddha Essence are the third.
As the Mahāyāna developed, the lay community remained firmly grounded in celebrating the
pleasures of life, honoring the sacredness of nature and enjoying orgiastic festivals. The languid
sensuality and bright joy found in the Buddhist art of the time, such as Ajantā, remain testament
to the enduring embrace of life by lay Mahāyāna followers. The two Buddhist cultures, monastic
and lay, continued to run parallel to each other, until finally the lay communities, led by the
Tantric siddhas, dominated the Buddhist imagination for five hundred years.
Masters of the Mahāyāna
Nāgārjuna
“There is nothing to remove and nothing to add. Truly beholding
the true nature, when truly seen, is complete liberation.”
- Asaṅga, The Supreme Continuum
Nāgārjuna (Bright Serpent Spirit; c. 100s) founded the Middle
Way (Madhyamaka) teachings of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Born a
brahmin near the town of Nāgārjunakoṇda (in modern Andhra
Pradesh), he later converted to the Dharma. Recognized for his
depth of wisdom, he received the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras as
a gift from underwater serpent spirits (nāgas). He left extensive
writings, of which The Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way is
most important, and explains with brilliant and dazzling logic the
philosophy of Emptiness. While the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras
present the concept of Emptiness and invite it to be accepted on
faith, Nāgārjuna argues compellingly that Buddhism, and reality
itself, can only make sense logically within a correct
understanding of emptiness. His texts remain central to nearly all
Mahāyāna traditions.
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