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 are frequently replicated in the scholarship, and research tends to be sequestered according to different schools of South Asian, Central Asian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian tantric traditions.

The Oxford Handbook of Tantric Studies is intended to overcome these obstacles, facilitating collaboration between scholars working on different forms of tantra. The Introduction provides an overview of major issues confronting the field today, including debates regarding the definition and category of "tantra" historical origins, recent developments in gender studies and tantra, ethnography and "lived tantra" and cognitive approaches to tantra. Using a topical framework, the opening section explores the concept of action, one of the most prominent features of tantra, which includes performing rituals, practicing meditation, chanting, embarking on a pilgrimage, or re-enacting moments from a sacred text. From there, the sections cover broad topics such as transformation, gender and embodiment, "extraordinary" beings (such as deities and saints), art and visual expressions, language and literature, social organizations, and the history and historiography of tantra. With co-editors in chief who specialize in the Hindu and Buddhist perspectives, a global pool of contributors, and over 40 chapters, the Handbook aims to provide the definitive reference work in this dynamic field.

Richard K. Payne is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Bibliographies: Buddhism. He also established the Pure Land Buddhist Studies Series, University of Hawai'i Press; the Contemporary Issues in Buddhist Studies Series, Institute of Buddhist Studies; and is Senior Editor for Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. His blog is "Buddhist Thought and Practice".

Glen A. Hayes is Professor Emeritus at Bloomfield College. He co-founded the Society for Tantric Studies (STS) in 1986, and the Tantric Studies unit of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in 2002. He also served on the steering committee of the Cognitive Science of Religion unit of the AAR. He in an editor at Religions online, where he has edited issues with papers from STS meetings, as well as on uses of cognitive science in tantric studies. His research areas include the translation and study of medieval Bengali Hindu tantric texts and the uses of conceptual metaphor theory.

1. Tantric Studies: Scholarly Issues, Methodologies, and Collaborations
Richard K. Payne and Glen A. Hayes

Part I. Action
2. Initiation (Abhi?eka) in Indian Buddhism
Ronald M. Davidson

3. The Inner and Outer Worship: The Rhythms of Domestic and Temple Practice in Nepali Tantra
Jeffrey S. Lidke and L. S. Akshunna

4. On the Union of Emptiness and Bliss: Buddhist Thought and Tantric Practice
Paul Donnelly

5. Goryu Shinto Goma: Tantric Foundations
Richard K. Payne

6. Homa in Jain Traditions.
Ellen Gough

7. The Neuroscience of Tantric Practice
Geoffrey Samuel and Maria Kozhevnikov

Part II. Transformations: Soteriology, Astrology, Alchemy, and Healing

8. Cosmic Process, Philosophy, and Soteriology in the Works of Abhinavagupta
Sthaneshwar Timalsina

9. Esoteric Physiology and Subtle Body Systems
Glen A. Hayes

10. Transforming the Body by Mastering the Elements, Some Tantric Sources
Lubomír Ondracka

11. Cosmology and Embryology in Medieval Japan
Anna Andreeva

12. Astrology and Astral Magic in Tantric Japan
Jeffrey Kotyk

13. Tantric Dimensions of Alchemy
Patricia Sauthoff

Part III. Gender, Cosmogony, Embodiment and Power

14. Srividya and Goddess Traditions: A Critical Historiographic Essay
Anna A. Golovkova

15. The ?akini in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Judith Simmer-Brown

16. Three Shades of Tantric Yoga: Chapter 20 of the Netra Tantra
David Gordon White

17. Generative Buddhahood: Enlightened Plants and Trees in Japanese Tendai Esoteric Buddhism
Matthew McMullen

18. Embodiment and Subjugation: Exoteric-Esoteric Buddhist Practice in Medieval Japan
Eric Haruki Swanson

Part IV. Extraordinary Beings: Deities and Founders

19. “Hard-Core” Tantric Traditions and the Cult of Bhairava in Java
Andrea Acri

20. Timeless Symbolism: An Early Dzogchen Patriarch's Hagiography and Scriptures
Georgios T. Halkias

21. The Twin Miracle: The Two-Headed Aizen Myoo [Ryozu Aizen] in Exorcistic Shugendo Practice at the Japanese Tantric Buddhist Complex of Koyasan
Elizabeth Noelle Tinsley

22. A Dharma Protector in a Transcultural Tantric Buddhist Context
Vesna A. Wallace

23. The Goddesses of Jaina Tantra
Michael Slouber

Part V. Imagery: Art History and Visual Expressions

24. The Tantric Temple: Rule-Bound Beauty
Libbie Mills

25. Mandalas and Landscape in Maritime Asia
Peter Sharrock

26. Mandalas and Monarchs: Tantra and Temple Architecture in Buddhist Southeast Asia
Swati Chemburkar

27. Jain Tantric Diagrams of the Goddess Padmavati
Ellen Gough

28. Imagery in Tantric Buddhism
David L. Gardiner

29. Attention, Memory, and the Imagination: A Cognitive Analysis of Tantric Visualization
Sthaneshwar Timalsina

Part VI. Language, Literature, Words, and Metaphor

30. Exploring Metaphors and Conceptual Blending in Vai??ava Sahajiya Texts
Glen A. Hayes

31. Cosmogenesis and Phonematic Emanation
Ben Williams

32. Jain Tantra: An Overview
Christopher Key Chapple

33. Tibetan Tantric Buddhist Literature
Paul Hackett

34. The Cakrasa?vara Tantra
David B. Gray

Part VII. Social Organization and Institutions

35. What the Kalamukhas Can Tell Us about Identity, Institutions, and Community in the Early Medieval Deccan
Jason Schwartz

36. The Total Revelation Tantra: The Geopolitical Origins and Significance of the Name, Nepali Sarvamnaya Tantra
Jeffrey S. Lidke and L. S. Akshunna

37. The Soteriologies of Buddhist Tantrism
Iain Sinclair

38. Singing Tantra: Aural Media and Sonic Soteriology in Bengali Esoteric Lineages
Carola Erika Lorea

39. From the Fringes to Center Stage: Hij?as and Fertility Rituals in Kamakhya
Sravana Borkataky-Varma

Part VIII. History and Historiography: Events, Memory, and Recollection

40. Saiva Tantra: Toward a History
Dominic Goodall

41. On the Chronology of the Buddhist Tantras
Tsunehiko Sugiki

42. Somananda's Sivad???i as an Argument against Dharmakirti
John Nemec

43. Dynamic Manifestations of Eternal Divinity: Late Nondual Saivism on the Emanation and Contemplative Reabsorption of Time
David Peter Lawrence

44. Buddhist Magic and Vajrayana
Sam van Schaik

45. Modernity and Neo-Tantra
Hugh B. Urban