Esoteric 'abuse' in the Indo-Tibetan religious traditions and beliefs By Giovanni Arca

https://www.academia.edu/84682657/Esoteric_abuse_in_the_Indo_Tibetan_religious_traditions_and_beliefs?nav_from=70c3e3de-bf6a-4201-966b-5d8468184fbd This article examines how in the 19th and 20th century there has been a widespread misapplication of western esoteric paradigms on Indo-Tibetan culture and Far Eastern religious traditions and beliefs. This has produced misconceptions that often blur or betray meanings and superimpose classificatory patterns in relation to teachings, rituals, ritual objects and iconographic-symbolic forms, which overemphasise, or even create, the existence of a mysterious and secret dimension. The article argues that over the last two centuries, this 'esoteric' definition has become increasingly employed as a kind of common, auto-explanatory label, acquiring socio-cultural meanings and conceptual values which do not properly define the Asian religious contexts. This misapplication has not only heavily contributed to the shaping of a distorted Western mass perception, but it has also partially affected the objectivity of the more informed scholarly interpretation of historical and documentary evidence. In fact, scholars have not infrequently been influenced, to some extent, by the general attitude of referring to vague concepts of an 'esoteric nature' when dealing with the interpretation of practices and beliefs, in particular related to Tantric Vajrayāna Buddhism. ...