Text from Osho from his book about Tantra
(this is a translation from dutch, so it won’t match exactly with the original)

‘With a master you’re not on an intellectual trip. Doubt and religion are both intellectual trips. With a master you’re on a trip of the heart. And the heart doesn’t know doubt, the heart doesn’t know relifion – the heart only knows faith. The heart is like a small child: a small child holds his father’s hand tight, and wherever the father goes, the child goed, without religion or doubt; a child isn’t divided. Doubt is half, religion is half. A child is still whole; it follows its father everywhere. Only when a disciple becomes like a child, these treasures of the highest peek of consciousness can be entirely received.’

…'Only when the disciple is so receptive he doesn’t think for himself – he doesn’t judge between good or evil, he doesn’t think for himself, he has given his thinking to the master, he is totally receptiveness, emptiness, ready welcome what is given to him unconditionally – then no words or symbols are necessary, then something can be given. And you can hear it between the words, read it between the lines – then words are no more than an excuse. What is really happening is out of the reach of words.’

‘Words are just a tric, a means. What is really going on, follows the words like a shadow. When your in your mind, you listen to the words; it cannot be given to you. But when you are not in your mind, the words are followed by subtle shadows, so subtle only the heart can see them, invisible shadowd, invisible waves of consciousness, vibrations… then immediate melting is possible.’

Text from Osho from his book 'At the feet of the Master'

Communication can happen anywhere because it is head-to-head. Something closer to communion, not exactly communion, happens between lovers because it is not head-to-head but heart-to-heart. But that too is only closer to communion. It is not exactly communion, just approximately. Real communion happens only between a Master and a disciple, from being-to-being. These are the three possibilities: first, head-to-head; second, heart-to-heart; third, being-to-being.

The head-to-head communication is argumentative, it is quarrelsome. The heart-to-heart communion is sympathetic, loving, but it is only approximately a communion. The real communion, being-to-being, is just a sharing of energy, a pure sharing, with no words. It is silent… two beings just merge into each other. And when the Master's being and the disciple's being are bridged, a miracle happens.

Disciplehood is always of God; the Master is only a link. One does not become a disciple of a Master; one becomes a disciple through the Master. The Master is a door, a bridge, but the disciplehood is always of God. The Master is only a representation, a visible symbol for the invisible, because the mind hankers for the visible. It is impossible for it to comprehend the invisible or to trust the invisible.

Disciplehood is basically of God. The deeper you go into the Master, the less and less you will find him. The day you have penetrated his very being, he has disappeared: God is found. Hence in the East, the Master is thought to be God.

God creates, the Master uncreates. God is an evolution, the Master is an involution. He complements God; otherwise everythibg would go on and on and on, never to return, never to come back to the original rest. The idea of the complementary is one of the greatest intuitions - that there are no opposites, only complementaries. God's other side is the Master.

With the Master two zeroes start coming closer and closer and suddenly there is only one zero. The Master is not there and the disciple is not there but only a pervading silence.

Nothing is said, nothing is heard, all is said, all is heard. Hence I call what transpires between the Master and the disciple a miracle.

Many people question the growing popularity of body piercing. They wonder why people do it, doesn't it hurt like hell, or how can they have a meaning? I can't speak for those who have piercings in the vanilla world. As for piercings in the BDSM world, they have a whole host of reasons for them.

The main reason that most people who say they are pierced, or had their submissive pierced, is as a mark of ownership. Like the collar, piercings have become a visible and constant sign of ownership to those in BDSM. Piercings can be felt, and worn constantly, whereas many collars can not. A piercings can also be more discreet than a collar, so works well as an alternate collar for those who prefer such. Nipple rings, for example, are easily hidden with a bra. Genital piercings are even more easily hidden. yet, the submissive is constantly aware they are there, and frequently reminded they are owned.

In this way, piercings take on an emotional and mental meaning beyond just body decorations or jewelry. To some dominants, bestowing a piercings on a submissive is an honor that must be earned. It can be viewed as a "step up" from the collar, or a training collar. A more permanent mark of ownership. Such a move, can increase the emotional and mental bond for the submissive. It can bring a whole new dimension to the relationship. For many, recieving a piercing has the same emotional meaning as the recieving of a wedding ring as a permanent symbol of the relationship. In this way, they are similar to a collar.

For others, permanent piercings are a way to enhance the physical characteristics of themselves or their submissives which they find most pleasing. For example a female submissive has wonderful breasts, and the dominant thinks they would look marvelous pierced, as does the submissive. So they have it done. Not necessarily as ownership, but more for aesthetic pleasure.

Further, for many people, piercings increase sensitivity in the part of they body they are placed in. For some people, it is this increased sensitivity that causes them to seek a piercing (or more than one). For some people, it is the added dimension of piercings to the repertoire of play that causes them to have a piercing done. With body piercings there is a whole new way of playing, be it for pleasure, or pain, or both. Many different things can be done with a piercing in place, which give individual sensations, that can not be done without piercings. New kinds of bondage can be introduced into the relationship. A quick way of applying pain discreetly can be added as well. Tweaking a pierced nipple can be more painful than one that is not.

The reasons for getting a body piercings differ for each person who decides upon one. Like anything else, before doing it, you should do extensive research into the benefits or possible drawbacks to the type of piercings you are interested in. Learn how to care for them, and what to look for in a piercer before having it done. In a BDSM relationship, body piercing should be a mutual decision, either agreed upon at that time, or beforehand when the collar is placed.

It has been a known fact for centuries that kundalini energy is stored at the base of the spine. The goal of many eastern spiritual traditions is to activate this potent force through various means including chanting, meditation, austerities, yogic positions, and sacred/ritual sexuality.

Tantra (which means 'woven together') is a term loosely applied to a system of Hindu yoga in which the union of male and female principles is worshipped. In practice, this has led to a form of sexual ritual in which slow, non-orgasmic intercourse is seen as a path to an experience of the divine. A modified version of Hindu Tantra can also be found in Tibetan Buddhism. The term tantra is also -- for the sake of convenience -- applied to other (primarily Western) religious or spiritual practices in which a ritualized, sexual union forms a path to the experience of spiritual ecstasy.

Most westerners use the word 'Tantra' to cover sacred and enhanced sexuality. Tantra, as often practiced in the West, borrows from many traditions including Taoism, Hindu Tantra, Native American Quodoshka, African, Polynesian, Wiccan, Christian Gnosticism, etc. Real "Tantra" is a rigorous spiritual discipline and vast field of study -- the sexual aspect is a small but important part of it. Mystical experiences and altered states of consciousness result from many of the processes,especially the ones dealing with sexual energy.

Tantra when practiced correctly, allows the participants to experience what seems to be -- what IS, for all intents and purposes -- the presence of *deity* in the person or the sex partner. A transformative experience. This is not to say that the other person BECOMES a deity...it is the experience of Union itself that allows one to see the same divinity that exists in oneself, in another. A sacred mirror so to speak. The goal of my submission, the place I seek to go is that same search for unity. The ritual context of D/s allows me to experience a much more meaningful combination.

I studied tantra for years and found that the experience I sought through D/s was very much the same and as a result have combined tantric practices within the context of dominance and submission. The endorphin *rush* from an intense flogging is quite different on some levels from the kind achieved in a tantric ritual, but the INTENSITY of the experience is equal in my experience.

When I speak of the ritual aspects of D/s for me, it is about creating a context where the exchange becomes in a sense sacred. There is an intent and acting out of a dynamic that has elements drawn from tantra and other forms of sacred sexuality. For instance...in many Hindu forms of worship where there is a Guru or *Master*, the devotee bows before the teacher. They are not bowing before the actual person, they are acknowledging that they are humbling themselves in order to learn. It is a symbolic act that enables the true enlightenment to occur. When I kneel before a Master at the beginning of a session it is very much like that act. It is a symbolic evocation that I surrender to His wisdom and care. When I assume a position I have been taught (for example to kneel in a particular way with my thighs opened, my hands behind my neck, elbows pointing upward, eyes lowered) I begin each session in that manner and thus it becomes a ritualized act. My sensual memory records the experience in such a way that each time I assume that position, I become aroused. Certain phrases and aromas also serve to ritualize the experience for me.

Rituals imprint and mark a submissive's soul more profoundly than any mark that could ever be placed on their body. Rituals can more readily pave the way for the layers of self to be stripped away into the state of ~being~ which is the primal essence of ourselves.

By creating a context in using ritual we do tap into the primal and archetypal levels of experience. It is very much setting apart a space in which to Journey.....much like exploring the Shadow self in Jungian psychology. In order for a person to integrate and become *whole* they must first reveal their hidden Shadow selves in order to emerge into the Light of the ego Self. In D/s...the Master acts as the arbiter between the self preservating instincts of the sub`s ego and the desire for the sub to become empowered by facing those fears (the Shadow). The Master creates the safety zone through the ritualized act itself: the soul imprinting.

There has been nothing more powerful for me in my submission than the times when I have been brought face to face with a limit I (thought) I had. The creation of a ritualized context offered me the means to move beyond that fear by wanting to please a Master so much that I was willing to walk through the fire of it for him. During the times I am speaking about, I was brought up to the very point of being commanded to engage in whatever that limit was but my Master did not require me to actually *do* it. The lesson...the RITUAL itself was about the obedience and trust in His guidance and love and the resulting proof of my trust and devotion to Him.

This kind of dynamic cannot be simply demanded out of the blue to be an empowering experience for a sub. All the things combined, including the soul imprinting... must accompany it for a true *breakthrough* to occur.

Ritual also serves to ground and strengthen the bond in the relationships. 'Moving to the very edge of the abyss' experiences are not intended to have a sub face the terror of the abyss itself but rather reinforce the safety and Light of knowing they have crossed to the other side!

This is not to say that every time I submit to a Master I expect it to be a solemn cosmic ritual...<g> On the contrary, there are many times where this never occurs...the majority of the time actually...but it is the ideal for me. The place I speak of, when reached together with a Master, is pure magic. It is something I never experienced in vanilla tantric relationships. We all get there different ways...we all call it something else but the complete awe it inspires is amazing! I know that I want to return there again and again and again and reach it through the combination of pain, pleasure and ritual. The activation of that kundalini energy and the explosion of Light into all the chakras (energy centers of the body) is a powerful experience more humbling than anything I have yet to encounter.