LimmudFest NY 2020

This talk will compare the meditations and visualization of the kabbalah to those of Eastern techniques. Kabbalistic prayer of the middle ages from thinkers such as Isaac of Acco, Hayyim Vital, or Rabbi Moses Cordovero has been understood with the categories of mysticism. But comparing it with yoga and tantra brings out the meditative process in terms of more immediate psychological meaning.
The goals of this talk are to answer several questions: (1) Is there a useful comparison to be made between the visualizations in kabbalisitc Intentions and those in Yoga and Tantra? (2) Can this comparison with tantra help to integrate Kabbalistic intentions as part of our current thinking about spirituality.
Many have noted the seeming similarities between the unification of shekhinah and tiferet in kabbalah with the unification of Shkati and Shiva in tantra. This talk will focus on the commonality of both having realm of imagination that requires a weave of the physical and mental, an imaginative progression. The talk will discuss how the kavvanot are more Dhyana than Samadhi and more visionary than mindful.