Ganachakra

A ganacakra (Sanskrit: गणचक्र, "gathering circle"; Tibetan: ཚོགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།, tshogs kyi 'khor lo) is a broad term for tantric assemblies or feasts where practitioners gather to chant mantras, perform mudras, make offerings, and carry out various rituals as part of their spiritual practice (sādhanā). These events typically include a sacramental meal and activities like dancing, spirit possession, and trance, with the feast often featuring items considered taboo in medieval India, such as meat, fish, and wine. Today, forms of gaṇacakra are still practiced in Hinduism, Bön, and Vajrayāna Buddhism.

According to Professor Miranda Shaw, the feast is an esoteric ritual with many stages. The sacred space is marked by geometric designs drawn on the ground with colored powders, and a wide array of offerings and foods are arranged. Participants wear special insignia like bone ornaments and crowns, and use archaic musical instruments to induce heightened awareness. They sit in a circle and share sacramental dry meat and wine (often liquor) served in skull-cups. The feast also serves as an occasion for exchanging ritual knowledge, performing ritual worship of women (sripuja), and engaging in sexual yogas. It culminates in tantric dances and music that must never be disclosed to outsiders, and revelers may improvise "songs of realization" (caryagiti) to express their clarity and bliss in spontaneous verse.

Professor Geoffrey Samuel noted that serious tantric practice is generally seen as suitable only for a small minority. The ancient Indian gaṇacakra, or circle ritual, is long in the past. In Tibetan practice, it has been replaced by the gaṇapuja (Tibetan: tshogs), a much tamer affair that still includes a sacramental meal but is normally held indoors, without possession or dancing.

John Woodroffe (writing as Arthur Avalon in 1918) stated that the panchamrita of Hindu and Buddhist tantra is directly linked to the Mahābhūta (Five Elements), and that the term panchamakara is a vulgar name for the pañcatattva. Worship with the Pañcatattva usually takes place in a circle (cakra) of men and women, with the Shakti seated on the Sadhaka's left, hence the name Cakrapuja. A Lord of the Cakra (Cakreshvara) presides with his Shakti in the center. During the cakra, caste distinctions are ignored, though Pashus of any caste are excluded. Various kinds of cakra exist, said to produce different fruits for participants. Among Tantrik Sadhakas, there are high, low, and pretender types, so cakras range from the Tattva-cakra for Brahma-kaulas and the Bhairavi-cakra (where milk, sugar, and honey replace wine, and meditation on the Divine Mother’s Lotus Feet replaces sexual union) to cakras with rituals that would not be approved, such as the Cudacakra and Anandabhuvana-yoga.

The ganachakra can be seen as a mandala of sacred space. Pettit emphasized the importance of the gathered group (gana) or sangha in Vajrayana practice and the creation of sacred space through the feast. The power of sacred bonding in a temporary or virtual sacred space is an intrinsic, though normally invisible, part of a Vajrayana community experience. The community is that experience and ceases to exist without it. Dwelling in that sacredness requires not only perceiving it but also maintaining that perception through discipline, faith, and a deep sense of love and respect for all members of the mandala—that is, all living beings. Pettit linked the group (gana) to the manifestation of the ganachakra and the sacred space (mandala, cognate with chakra) through mantra, visualization, and sacred architecture. The potential for sacred space to arise spontaneously is highest in Vajrayana practice, which uses mantra and visualization to create an experience of sacredness. Through liturgical performances or daily activities, a yogi is to experience—imaginatively or spontaneously—the presence of divinity (Buddhahood embodied) in themselves, their companions, and their environment. These form a mandala that expresses the omnipresence of enlightenment, the ground of both secular and sacred experiences. The invocation of divine presence is especially effective when done by several people in a ritual context, and practitioners are expected to periodically perform a feast-offering known as tsok (or ganapuja). Pettit also stated that sacred space arises spontaneously wherever the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) are manifest, and that this sacred architecture does not depend on the built environment of monolithic cultures. A place that elicits reverence should be sacred, and wherever the Jewels are found, the pieties of lay and ordained Buddhists are expressed.

In Hindu tantra, a ganachakra typically consists of five...