Karmamudrā

Karmamudrā (Sanskrit; "action seal," Tibetan: las-kyi phyag-rgya; commonly misspelled as: kāmamudrā or "desire seal") is a Vajrayana Buddhist technique which makes use of sexual union with a physical or visualized consort as well as the practice of inner heat (tummo) to achieve a non-dual state of bliss and insight into emptiness.

When the partner is a visualised one (i.e. imagined by a single yogi in Tibetan tantric practice), it is known as a jñanamudra ("wisdom seal").

[citation needed] According to most Tibetan Buddhist teachers, a physical consort (karmamudra) is necessary in order to attain enlightenment in this lifetime.

For example, the current Dalai Lama refers to a commentary on the abbreviated Kalachakra tantra by Kaydrub Norzang-gyatso that says practitioners of especially sharp faculties can achieve the same objectives with solely a jnanamudra partner.

According to Miranda Shaw, the increased social inclusiveness of Tantra allowed the voices of women to emerge through their roles as karmamudra.

[13] Academic, feminist and former Kagyu nun June Campbell has spoken about women acting as karmamudra in secret sexual relationships with lamas, including one she says she had when she was in her late twenties with the incarnation of Kalu Rinpoche who died in 1989.

In an interview with Tricycle: The Buddhist Review she states that at the time she did not feel exploited but thinking about it over the years she came to see the demand for secrecy combined with an imbalance of power as similar to the techniques used by child abusers.