The Concept of the Spiritual Heart in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra:: Philosophical Theories based on the Energy Fields of the Human Body

In the Hindu and Buddhist Tantric Philosophical traditions, there is a common belief in the concept of enlightenment, karma, and reincarnation, and a central emphasis on the importance of the teacher- student relationship. The schools of thought of Kashmir Shaivism and Vajrayana propose that each individual human being has an invisible subtle body that eactly replicates the form of the physical body. This unseen interior subtle space is made up of energy centers and pathways through which the subtle spiritual energy moves. Passed down from teacher to student and embedded within the words of the texts themselves are all the secret instructions that a practitioner needs to activate and enliven this conscious energy. Many of these inner directed exercises and modes of meditation such as visualizations, mantra sounding, and breathing techniques focus the practitioner's attention directly on the spiritual heart. The symbol of the spiritual heart is placed within the context of yogic physiology and the cakra system in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra.