Vijnana Bhairav

The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (Vigyan Bhairav Tantra) is a Shaiva Tantra, of the Kaula Trika tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. It is difficult to establish an exact date for the text, and it could have been written at some time from the 7th to the 8th century CE. It is also called the Śiva-jñāna-upaniṣad. The text presents itself as containing the essence of the Rudrayamala-tantra, a Bhairava tantra that is now lost. In the Vijñāna-bhairava-tantra, Bhairavi, the goddess (Shakti), asks Bhairava (the terrifying form of Shiva) to reveal the essence of how to realize the true nature of reality. In his answer Bhairava describes 112 ways to enter into the universal and transcendental state of consciousness. References to it appear throughout the literature of Kashmir Shaivism, indicating that it was considered to be an important text in this tradition. Most of the verses are brief compressed descriptions of various practices that allow one to access the state of Bhairava consciousness.

• Practices relying on the Breath: verses 24-27, 55, 64, 154
• Kuṇḍalinī practices: 28-31, 35
• Dvādaśānta (the point twelve finger widths above the head): 50-51, [55]
• Practices focusing on the senses: 32, 36, 67, 77, 89, 117, 136
• Sound and Mantra practices: 38-42, 90-91, 114
• Void (śūnya): 43-48, [49], 58-60, 120, 122
• Universe (or absence thereof): 53, 56-57, 95
• Body (or absence thereof): 46-48 (overlaps with Void), 52, 54, 63, 65, 93, 104, 107
• Heart/Center (hṛdayam): 49, 61, 62
• Pleasure (kama): 68-74, 96
• Light & Dark: 37, 76, 87, 88
• Sleep & Dream [& Liminal states]: 55, 75, 86
• Practice with the body: 66, 78-79, 81, 82, 83, 111
• Gazing: 80, 84, 85, 113, 119-120
• Equanimity: 100, 103, 123-4, 125-6, 129
• Knowledge/insight: 97-99, 105, 106, 112, 127, 131
• Intense sensations and emotions: 101, 115, 118
• Where the mind goes: 33, 34, 92, 94, 108, 116, 128, [138]
• The 'magic show': 102, 133-5, 137
• The Supreme Lord: 109-110, 121, 132

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