Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening »

Daniel Odier began his studies with Kalu Rinpoche in 1968 and remained his disciple until his passing in 1989. In 2004 Odier received the Ch'an ordination in the Lin t'si and Caodong schools in China as well as permission to teach the Zhao Zhou Ch'an lineage in the West. He gives workshops in Europe, Canada, and the United States and is the author of Meditation Techniques of the Buddhist and Taoist Masters, Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening, and Tantric Quest. He lives in Paris.

• Explains how the primal energy generated by physical desire can be used to achieve enlightenment

• Reveals the techniques used by Tantric adepts to attain mastery over breath, thought, and all physical processes

Nothing can match the explosive energy created in the body by pure desire. For millennia, Tantric adepts have harnessed this force as a means of attaining the summits of the mystical life. The energies fueled by passion are used to nourish the inner flame that burns away the egotistical perception of the mind.

Desire explores the subtle techniques of Tantra that enable the seeker to attain the triple mastery of the breath, thought, and the natural processes of the body. Tantrics believe that the body is the temple and divinity lies at its heart. In order to arrive at profound awareness, the body needs to be perfectly tuned and working toward a state of perfect fluidity. Desire reveals many of the secret practices intended for this purpose that have been passed down in the major Tantric treatises such as the Vijnanabhariva Tantra and Ch'an master Chinul's treatise on the Secrets of Cultivating the Mind, including the important techniques of the ritual sexual observances known as Maithuna.

Daniel Odier is one of France's most honored authors. He founded the Tantra/Chan Center in Paris and has taught courses on the spiritual traditions of the Far East at several American universities, including the University of California. He is the author of several works of nonfiction including Nirvana Tao and Tantric Quest, and many novels. His mystery novels, written under the pen name Delacorta, include Diva, which was made into an award-winning film in 1981. He lives in Paris.

Desire
The Tantric Path to Awakening

1. The Quest: Hedonistic or Spiritual?
2. A Third Path
3. Nostalgia for Unity
4. The Power of Woman
5. We Are What We Seek
6. Breath: Door of Our Sensorality
7. Experiencing Totality: First Experience?
8. Touching the World
9. The Heart of Reality
10. The Source of Consciousness
11. Savoring the World
12. Desire and Its Object
13. The Supreme Reality
14. Naked Awareness
15. Sounds of Life
16. The Essence of Satisfaction
17. Sensorality and Consciousness
18. The Interaction of the Eight Consciousnesses
19. The Power of the Senses
20. A Question: Freeing Oneself from the Past
21. Scents of the World
22. Tuning the Body-Instrument to Absolute Love
23. Questions: Love, Sexuality, Fidelity
24. Chants of the Dakinis, the Great Secret
25. Looking at the World
26. Passion
27. Questions: Passion, Ego, Freedom
28. Entrance into the Kingdom of Reality, Cosmic Sensuality
29. The Sexual Ritual, Maithuna, and the Path of the Left Hand
30. The Tantric Orgasm for Women
31. The Tantric Orgasm for Men
32. The Group Sexual Ritual
33. A Tantric Path for the West
34. Questions: Sexuality, Desire, Passions, Yoga, Ecstasy, Love, Joy, Pleasure, Space, Beauty, the Heart's Peace
Notes Index