<em> </em> The Tibetan Buddhist Theory of Chakras Tantric Buddhism (or VajrayanaExternal ↗) broke off from the Indian Tantric one at a very early stage. Hence they developed a rather different version of the chakrasExternal ↗. Tibetan Buddhism acknowledges four (navel, heart, throat, and head), five, seven, or even ten chakras or "channel wheels"; each with a different number of "spokes" to its Indian Tantric counterpart. The navel chakra for example has sixty-four spokes, the heart chakra eight, the throat sixteen (the only one to agree with the Hindu scheme), and the head or crown chakra thirty-two. There is also, as in Laya-yogaExternal ↗, an elaborate system of correspondences. Note that in this system it is the head-centre, and not, as in many Western interpretations of Hindu Tantra, the PerinealExternal ↗ or the baseExternal ↗, that is associated with the body and physical consciousness. The throat centre represents a more subtle state of consciousness, the dream state; and the heart centre the refined of all, deep meditataion, dreamless sleep, the peaceful deities and the Clear Light.
T The Vajrayana chakras
