ABSTRACT
This chapter examines critically the thesis that the practices of Tantra prove that chastity, celibacy and asceticism are not central to mystical traditions. It takes as the author's exemplar the 11th century Indian Buddhist adept Kanha, who is credited with composing numerous tantric texts, including at least thirteen of the collected 'performance-songs' preserved in Old Bengali and also in Tibetan translation. The chapter introduces Kanha and the songs, and considers a number of different ways in which the songs might be interpreted, with particular attention to Kanha's view of 'sexuality'. It addresses some possible objections to the author's analysis, and suggests a number of broader historical, hermeneutical and definitional issues that arise from the author's analysis. Buddhist theoreticians in both India and Tibet have insisted that tantric texts are written in a kind of code, referred to as 'intentional language', which only can be read properly by those who are initiates.
