This course consists of 54 audiorecorded lectures Mark gave between 2007 and 2010, focusing on selected important passages from Abhinavagupta’s massive, encyclopedic work Tantrāloka and the complementary Tantrasāra, Abhinavagupta’s prose summary of the most important ideas, doctrines, and practices found in the longer work.  

The course interweaves presentation of highlighted sections from both texts, including material from Tantrāloka Chapters 1-13, and Tantrasāra chapters 1-9.  The course includes detailed summaries of each lecture, audio file, and a PDF transcript of each lecture for further study.

This course follows the three previous course offerings, on the overview, summary of chapters, and initial verse of Tantrāloka, giving a deeper introduction to some of the most profound and important doctrines and teachings presented by Abhinavagupta in his magnum opus. This will provide a strong foundation and grounding for students wishing to better understand Tantrāloka‘s core teachings, as well as for those undertaking detailed study of each individual chapter, verse by verse, in the course offerings that follow in the program.  

(For the background on this text and its relationship to the larger topic of Kashmir Shaivism, please see the Program Overview on this site.  You may also like to listen to the free course on Locating Trika, which provides historical overview.)