From an 1899 Yoga manuscript in the Braj Bhasa language.

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In Sanātana/Hindu and tantric/yogic traditions and other belief systems, chakras are energy points or nodes in the subtle body. Chakras are part of the subtle body, not the physical body, and as such are the meeting points of the subtle (non-physical) energy channels, called nadiis. Nadiis are channels in the subtle body through which the life force (prana), or vital energymoves. Various scriptural texts and teachings present a different number of chakras. There are many chakras in the subtle human body according to the tantric texts, but there are seven chakras that are considered to be the most important ones.

Their name derives from the Sanskrit word for "wheel" or "turning", but in the yogic context a better translation of the word is 'vortex or whirlpool'.^{[1][note 1]}

The concept of chakra features in tantric and yogic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Contents

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• 1 Etymology
• 2 History
• 3 Characteristics
• 4 Use in religious traditions
  • 4.1 Hindu Tantra
  • 4.2 Buddhist Tantra
    • 4.2.1 Vajrayana
    • 4.2.2 Bön
    • 4.2.3 Qigong
  • 4.3 Hesychasm
• 5 Western interpretations of Hindu chakras
  • 5.1 Western adaptation of Hindu yogic chakras
  • 5.2 New Age
  • 5.3 Endocrine system
  • 5.4 Spectrum of light
• 6 Description of each chakra
  • 6.1 Sahasrara
  • 6.2 Ajna
  • 6.3 Vishuddha
  • 6.4 Anahata
  • 6.5 Manipura
  • 6.6 Svadhishthana
  • 6.7 Muladhara
  • 6.8 Other chakras
    • 6.8.1 Secret chakras
    • 6.8.2 Minor chakras below Muladhara
• 7 Popular culture
• 8 See also
• 9 Notes
• 10 References
• 11 Sources
• 12 External links

Etymology[edit]

Written in Sanskrit as चक्र (IAST: Cakra), the word derives from the Proto-Indo-European *kʷekʷlos, and its cognates include Greekkuklos, Lithuanian kaklas, Tocharian B kokale and English "wheel," as well as "circle" and "cycle".^[2]

Bhattacharyya's review of Tantric history says that the word chakra is used to mean several different things in the Sanskrit sources:^[3]

1. "Circle," used in a variety of senses, symbolising endless rotation of shakti.
2. A circle of people. In rituals there are different cakra-sādhanā in which adherents assemble and perform rites. According to theNiruttaratantra, chakras in the sense of assemblies are of 5 types.
3. The term chakra also is used to denote yantras or mystic diagrams, variously known as trikoṇa-cakra, aṣṭakoṇa-cakra, etc.
4. Different "nerve plexus within the body."

In Buddhist literature the Sanskrit term cakra (Pali cakka) is used in a different sense of "circle," referring to a Buddhist conception of the Cycle of Rebirth consisting of six states in which beings may be reborn.^[4]

The linguist Jorma Koivulehto wrote (2001) of the annual Finnish Kekri celebration having borrowed the word from early Indo-Aryan.^[5]