Tantric Buddhism is often mischaracterized or misunderstood, both in the academy and in the popular imagination. Scholar Richard Payne has dedicated much of the past twenty years to studying tantric teachings and practices—and to dispelling some of the common misconceptions associated with the tradition.

Payne is the Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, as well as an ordained priest in the Shingon tradition of Japanese esoteric Buddhism. In his new book, Tantra Across the Buddhist Cosmopolis, he examines the evolution of tantric traditions from early medieval India to the present day.

In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, sits down with Payne to discuss the difficulties in trying to define tantra, how tantra challenges popular and scholarly notions about the nature of religion, and how he came to ordain as a Shingon priest.