Richard K. Payne and Glen A. Hayes eds., "The Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies" (Oxford UP, 2024)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast · Jul 3, 2025 · 34m

Since the earliest encounters between tantric traditions and Western scholars of religion, tantra has posed a challenge. The representation of tantra, whether in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tibet, or Japan, has tended to emphasize the antinomian, decadent aspects, which, as attention-grabbing as they were for audiences in the West, created a one-dimensional understanding, and hampered the academic study of the field for more than a century. Additionally, the Western perspective on religion has been dominated by doctrinal studies. As a result, sectarian boundaries between different tantric traditions…