By Justin Patrick Pierce

Originally published October 2020 · Updated February 2026

If you've spent any time in the world of sacred sexuality, you've heard the word tantra. It gets thrown around a lot. Mostly incorrectly. In the West, "tantra" has become a catchall for anything that combines sex and spirituality — slow sex, breathwork during lovemaking, maybe some candles and eye-gazing. And while none of that is bad, it's not what the Tantric masters of India were talking about. Not even close.

In the first article in this series, I covered the Taoist tradition and its influence on Western sacred sexuality through Sexual Kung Fu. The Taoists were primarily interested in vitality, longevity, and living in harmony with the natural order. The Hindu Tantric tradition — and specifically Nondual Shaiva Tantra — is playing a different game entirely. Its aim is nothing less than total spiritual liberation. And it wants you to get there not by rejecting the world, but by diving straight into it.

The Problem: Samsara

To understand what Tantric Shaivism is trying to solve, you first have to understand the broader Hindu worldview. The core problem, as the Hindus see it, is samsara — the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. And unlike how reincarnation is often romanticized in the West ("Cool, I get to come back as a dolphin!"), the Hindu tradition sees this cycle as a trap. This world is marked by suffering, and whatever happiness we cobble together here is temporary. Even heaven is subject to the same impermanence. The Hindu goal, therefore, isn't to escape this world for some heavenly paradise. It's to escape from heaven and earth altogether.

That escape is called moksha — liberation, release, freedom. And the question of how to achieve moksha is where things get really interesting, because the Hindu tradition has developed multiple paths to get there.

The Three Yogas: Action, Wisdom, and Devotion

Over thousands of years, Hindu practitioners developed three broad paths — three yogas — each offering a different route to liberation.

The first is Karma Yoga, the discipline of action. This was the path of the priests, rooted in ritual, sacrifice, and right conduct. The second is Jnana Yoga, the discipline of wisdom. This was the path of the philosopher-sages — the ones who said the way out of samsara was through deep inquiry and the realization that your individual soul (atman) is identical with the ultimate reality (Brahman). Powerful stuff. But hard. Very hard.

The third path — Bhakti Yoga, the discipline of devotion — is the one that changed everything. It said: you don't need to be a priest. You don't need to be a philosopher. You don't need to renounce the world and live in a cave. All you need is love — heartfelt, full-bodied devotion to the divine. And this path, by far the most popular form of Hinduism today, became the foundation for what the Tantric traditions would build on.

Enter Tantra: Renounce Nothing

Here's where it gets radical. Classical Hinduism, for all its beauty, tended to see the body and the physical world as obstacles. The soul is trapped in flesh. The senses deceive us. Desire is a prison. The solution? Transcend the body. Rise above the senses. Detach.

The Tantric masters looked at this and said: No.

They didn't reject the goal of moksha — liberation was still the ultimate aim. But they refused to reject the body, the senses, or desire in order to get there. The Tantric path insists that the divine can be realized on all layers of being — physical, emotional, sexual, spiritual. Nothing is excluded. Nothing needs to be renounced.

As the scholar Christopher "Hareesh" Wallis explains in his landmark work Tantra Illuminated, classical Tantric practice has two goals — what the tradition calls the "higher" and the "lower":

Read that again. The "lower" goal isn't lower because it's less important. It's called lower because it deals with earthly life. And the Tantric tradition says: that matters too. You don't have to choose between spiritual freedom and a rich, full, sensual human life. You can have both. In fact, the path demands it.

Kashmiri Shaivism: Where the Senses Become the Path

Within the broader world of Hindu Tantra, one lineage stands out for its depth, its sophistication, and its radical embrace of human experience: Kashmiri Shaivism, also known as Nondual Shaiva Tantra.

This tradition, which flowered in the Kashmir Valley roughly between the 8th and 12th centuries, produced some of the most brilliant spiritual thinkers in human history — Abhinavagupta, Utpaladeva, Kshemaraja. Their core insight was nonduality: everything that exists is a manifestation of one divine consciousness (Shiva), and there is nothing outside of it. Your body is not separate from the divine. Your desire is not separate from the divine. Your lover is not separate from the divine.

Daniel Odier, a Western practitioner initiated in the Kashmiri tradition by the yogini Lalita Devi, puts it with stunning clarity:

This is what separates authentic Tantra from the watered-down version floating around the West. It's not about having better sex. It's about recognizing that the energy moving through you during sex — the desire, the fire, the dissolution — is the same energy that moves through all of creation. And instead of either indulging it mindlessly or suppressing it fearfully, you meet it. Fully. Consciously. With devotion. That meeting is the practice. And that recognition is the awakening.

If this idea resonates — this sense that sexual freedom isn't about doing whatever you want but about bringing full consciousness to what you do — then you're already closer to the Tantric path than you might think.

Devotion as the Fire of Transformation

There's a word that keeps coming up in the Hindu tradition, and it's the word that most directly bridges this ancient lineage to what Londin and I teach: devotion.

In Bhakti Yoga, devotion is directed toward a chosen deity. In Kashmiri Shaivism, devotion is directed toward all of reality — because all of reality is the divine. And in intimate relationship, devotion is what happens when two people stop relating to each other as objects to be used and start relating to each other as expressions of something sacred.

This is not a metaphor. It's a practice. And it's at the very top of the framework Londin and I teach — the Spiritual Path of Intimate Relationship. Devotion, in our work, means serving the fire between you without agenda, without manipulation, and without trying to get something out of it. It's the most advanced practice in our path for a reason — because everything that comes before it (awareness, sensitivity, equanimity, polarity, presence) is preparation for this one capacity: to give yourself completely.

Odier describes what happens when a practitioner arrives at this place:

That's not hyperbole. That's a description of what becomes possible when you stop fragmenting your desire into something shameful and start recognizing it as the most potent force available to you.

Why This Matters for Sacred Sexuality Today

Of all the traditions that have shaped sacred sexuality in the West, Nondual Shaiva Tantra is arguably the most misunderstood — and the most needed. Its central teaching is radical: that the body, the senses, and sexual desire are not obstacles to the divine. They are gateways. But gateways require skill. You don't just walk through them casually. You have to know what you're doing.

That's what Londin and I have spent our lives learning and teaching. The Tantric insight — that nothing needs to be renounced, that the divine is available in every moment of contact between you and your lover — is woven into everything we do. In Playing With Fire: The Spiritual Path of Intimate Relationship, we lay out a complete framework for how to bring this level of consciousness and devotion into your actual, everyday intimate life. Not as a concept. As a practice.

And if you want to practice with us directly — Londin and I lead monthly live calls for men, women, and couples through our Yoga of Intimacy Patreon.

Summary of Nondual Shaiva Tantra (Hindu Tantric Tradition)

Problem the Hindu tradition aims to solve: Samsara — the vicious cycle of life, death, and rebirth, and the suffering inherent in it.

Solution: Moksha (the "higher goal") — spiritual liberation and release from the bondage of samsara. For Tantric Hindus, there is also a "lower goal": worldly enjoyment, prosperity, and the realization of the divine on all layers of being — physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual. Nothing is renounced.

Purpose: For Hindus, the goal of human life is moksha, freeing the soul from bondage to samsara. For Tantric Hindus, the goal is moksha and to renounce nothing — to realize the Divine on all layers of being.

Polarity: Shiva (Consciousness) & Shakti (Energy / Power)

Key Principles of Tantric Shaivism

• The recognition that all of reality is a manifestation of one divine consciousness — nothing is outside of it.

• The body, senses, and desire are not obstacles to liberation but gateways to the divine.

• Devotion (bhakti) — whole-hearted, full-bodied surrender to the sacred in all experience, including intimate and sexual experience.

• The integration of the "higher" goal (spiritual liberation) with the "lower" goal (worldly flourishing) — the practitioner renounces nothing.

Key Figures

Christopher "Hareesh" Wallis — Sanskritist and scholar-practitioner with a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from UC Berkeley and an M.Phil. from Oxford. Author of Tantra Illuminated, the first comprehensive and accessible introduction to Classical Tantra in English. Founder of the Mattamayura Institute.

Daniel Odier — Swiss author and teacher of Kashmiri Shaivism. Initiated in 1975 by the Kashmiri yogini Lalita Devi. Also studied under Kalu Rinpoche (1968–1989) and received Ch'an ordination in China (2004). Author of Desire: The Tantric Path of Awakening, Tantric Quest, and Yoga Spandakarika.

FAQs: Nondual Shaiva Tantra and Sacred Sexuality

Q: What is Nondual Shaiva Tantra?

A: Nondual Shaiva Tantra (also known as Kashmiri Shaivism or Trika Shaivism) is a tradition of Hindu Tantra that emerged in the Kashmir Valley between the 8th and 12th centuries. Its central teaching is that all of reality — including the body, the senses, and desire — is a manifestation of one divine consciousness (Shiva). Unlike ascetic traditions that seek to transcend the body, this path insists that liberation can be realized through full engagement with embodied experience.

Q: What is the difference between Tantra and "neo-tantra"?

A: Classical Tantra is a sophisticated spiritual tradition with 1,500 years of history, rooted in Sanskrit scripture, mantra, meditation, and ritual. It aims at spiritual liberation (moksha). What is commonly called "tantra" in the modern West — slow sex workshops, sacred sexuality retreats, breathwork during lovemaking — is more accurately termed "neo-tantra." While neo-tantra draws some inspiration from the classical tradition, it typically focuses on sexual technique and personal pleasure rather than the deeper goals of consciousness and liberation that define authentic Tantric practice.

Q: How does Hindu Tantra relate to Taoist Sexual Kung Fu?

A: Both traditions use sexual energy as a vehicle for spiritual transformation, but their goals and frameworks differ. Taoist Sexual Kung Fu emphasizes conservation of vital energy (jing), health, longevity, and harmonizing with the natural order. Hindu Tantra, particularly Nondual Shaiva Tantra, emphasizes devotion, the recognition of the divine in all experience, and liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara). The Taoist approach is more medicinal; the Tantric approach is more devotional.

Q: How does Tantric Shaivism relate to the Yoga of Intimacy?

A: Nondual Shaiva Tantra is one of the five major influences on the sacred sexuality taught by Justin Patrick Pierce and Londin Angel Winters. Its core insight — that the body, desire, and intimate relationship are not obstacles to the sacred but gateways to it — is woven throughout their book Playing With Fire and their Yoga of Intimacy teachings. The concept of devotion, which sits at the top of their Path framework, is directly rooted in the Bhakti and Tantric traditions of Hinduism.