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tantrism

 - 2 dictionary results

Tan⋅tra

  [tuhn-truh, tan-]
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–noun
1. (italics) Hinduism. any of several books of esoteric doctrine regarding rituals, disciplines, meditation, etc., composed in the form of dialogues between Shiva and his Shakti; Agama.
2. Also called Tan⋅trism  [tuhn-triz-uhm, tan-] . the philosophy or doctrine of these books, regarding the changing, visible world as the creative dance or play of the Divine Mother and regarding enlightenment as the realization of the essential oneness of one's self and of the visible world with Shiva-Shakti, the Godhead: influential in some schools of Mahayana Buddhism, esp. in Tibet.
Origin:
< Skt
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

tantra 
type of Hindu religious book, 1799, from Skt. tantram, lit. "loom, warp," hence "groundwork, system, doctrine," from tan "to stretch, extend," from PIE base *ten- "to stretch, extend" (see tenet). Hence, tantric (1905), used loosely in the West to denote erotic spiritualism.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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