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A ganacakra ( ' "gathering circle"; ) is also known as tsok , ganapuja , cakrapuja or ganacakrapuja '. It is a generic term for various Tantra assemblies or feasts, in which practitioners meet to chant mantra, enact mudra, make and practice various tantric as part of a sādhanā'', or spiritual practice. The ganachakra often comprises a meal and festivities such as dancing, spirit possession, and trance; the feast generally consisting of materials that were considered forbidden or taboo in medieval India like meat, fish, and wine. As a tantric practice, forms of gaṇacakra are practiced today in Hinduism, Bon and Vajrayana.
Professor Miranda Shaw summarises the experience of a gaṇacakra:
Samuel holds that:
Pettit links the importance of the group or gana to the manifestation of the ganachakra and the sacred space or the mandala (in this sense cognate with chakra) with the liturgical tools of mantra, Mental image and yantra:
Pettit states that sacred space is created spontaneously wherever the Three Jewels (cognate with the gankyil) is manifest and that this sacred architecture or mandala is not dependent upon the built environment of monolithic cultures:
In the Vamachara tradition, adherents engage in literal consumption and use of the Five Ms, along with other ritual elements such as incense, music, and costumes. This approach represents a more overt embrace of these elements to attain spiritual transformation. In contrast, Dakṣiṇācāra practitioners interpret the Five Ms symbolically and metaphorically, emphasizing their spiritual significance and using them as symbols for meditation and inner transformation. This interpretation encourages practitioners to transcend their worldly desires gradually and embrace subtle Tantric practices.
Vajranatha associates the ganachakra with the higher tantras, the anuttarayogatantra, and associates a non-monastic origin and tributary of this rite to the Mahasiddha tradition which has roots in a complex and coterie of esoteric traditions of numerous siddha and sadhu Buddhist, Hindu and non-sectarian practices and views:
David Snellgrove (1987) holds that there is a tendency oft-promoted by Tibetan lamas who disseminate teachings in the Western world, to treat references to sexual union and to sadhana that engages with the "five impure substances" (usually referred to as the "five nectars") as symbolic. In the twilight language of correspondences and substitutions there is no inconsistency. Although, when modern tantric apologists and scholars employ the term "symbolic" as though no external practices were engaged in literally, they mislead and perpetuate an untruth.
In the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd, a variation of the gaṇacakra has the practitioner visualizing offering their own body as a feast for all beings who are all invited to the feast.
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