Ganachakra


A ganacakra is also known as tsog, ganapuja, cakrapuja or ganacakrapuja. It is a generic term for various tantric assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make votive offerings and practice various tantric rituals as part of a sādhanā, or spiritual practice. The ganachakra often comprises a sacramental meal and festivities such as dancing; the feast generally consisting of materials that were considered forbidden or taboo in medieval India, where the tantric movement arose. As a tantric practice, forms of gaṇacakra are practiced today in Hinduism, Bön and Vajrayāna Buddhism.
Professor Miranda Shaw summarises the experience of a gaṇacakra:
Samual holds that:

Origins

affirms that the panchamrita of Tantra, Hindu and Buddhist traditions are directly related to the Mahābhūta or Five Elements and that the panchamakara is actually a vulgar term for the pañcatattva:

Sacred space

The ganachakra, or 'tantric feast', can be seen as a mandala of sacred space. Pettit emphasises the importance of the gathered "group" or sangha to Vajrayana sādhanā and the creation of sacred space such as the ganachakra:
Pettit links the importance of the group or gana to the manifestation of the ganachakra and the sacred space or the mandala with the liturgical tools of mantra, visualisation and sacred architecture:
Pettit states that sacred space is created spontaneously wherever the Three Jewels is manifest and that this sacred architecture or mandala is not dependent upon the built environment of monolithic cultures:

In Hindu tantra

In Hindu tantra, a ganachakra typically consists of five elements known as panchamakara or the "five Ms": madya, mamsa, matsya, mudra, and maithuna a form of tantra.

In Buddhist tantra

Ganachakra and the Mahasiddhas

Samual defines the ganachakra succinctly:
Vajranatha associates the Ganachakra with the "higher tantras" or mysteries, the anuttarayogatantra, and associates a non-monastic origin and tributary of this Mystery Rite to the Mahasiddha tradition which has roots in a complex and coterie of esoteric traditions of numerous Siddha, Yogi, Sadhu and holy peoples of Buddhist, Hindu and non-sectarian practices and views:

In Tibetan Buddhism

In Vajrayana and Dzogchen, it is traditional to offer a gaṇacakra to Padmasambhava or other deities, usually gurus, on the tenth lunar day, and to a form of dakini such as Yeshe Tsogyal, Mandarava or Vajrayogini on the twenty-fifth lunar day. Generally, participants are required by their samaya "vow" to partake of meat and alcohol, and the rite tends to have elements symbolic of coitus. Traditions of the Ganachakra liturgy and rite extends remains of food and other compassionate offerings to alleviate the insatiable hunger of the hungry ghosts, genius loci and other entities.
David Snellgrove holds that there is a tendency oft-promoted by Tibetan lamas who disseminate teachings in the Western world, to treat references to sexual union and to sadhana that engages with the "five impure substances" as symbolic. In the twilight language of correspondences and substitutions there is no inconsistency. Although, when modern tantric apologists and scholars employ the term "symbolic" as though no external practices were engaged in literally, they mislead and perpetuate an untruth. Snellgrove provides an amended translation of his earlier translation of the Hevajra Tantra :
In the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd, a variation of the gaṇacakra has the practitioner visualizing offering their own body as a feast for the gods/demons invited to the feast.

Alcohol in Vajrayana

Crowley states:

Meat in Vajrayana

See Vegetarianism in Buddhism#Vajrayana.