How to Get Real FreedomCW32_No.85The Buddhist Yogi C. M. ChenA. Why is this wisdom light in the flesh heart? And how is it arranged? In the center of the flesh heart there is a blue "life-nerve-light." From this life-nerve-light, pervading the four directions (left, right, front, and back) arises the four great elements (earth, water, fire, and air.) These four nerves divide into eight smaller light-nerves.
All the above nerves are bright and transparent. In the center of each of these four nerves is the bright and empty bliss. It is called "Renounce Pleasure" and is the size of a mustard seed. It also corresponds to the worldly Bodhicitta which is also divided into the above color scheme. It is also called the bright point, or enlightened point, or drop, or Tee-le in Tibetan, or Bindu in Sanskrit. In the median nerve which is the center of the eight nerves mentioned above, is the Tee-le or Enlightened Point. This point is not worldly but is the pure enlightened drop. The enlightened points, one by one, fold concentrically inside the four elemental nerves. To the person who does not know the Great Perfection, they seem to be worldly things. But in the practice of Torga, these are the wisdom things. B. There are four concentric folds of the pure enlightened Tee-le.
Every sentient being has it but it has been hidden because they create their own delusions. Thus, the five poisons and the five fundamental sorrows manifest. When not hidden it manifests as the five kinds of light which shine out and pervade the four directions. It is called the great-blue-pervading-inner-pure light. It is reflected through the wisdom enlightened point. C. Besides the above, there are four additional kinds of light. But they cannot be seen by the flesh eyes:
D. From the life-energy-nerve in the flesh heart, which divides out into eight additional nerves, one discovers the foundation of the eight types of consciousness:
E. The Ogmin Pure Land is based upon the body which is naturally perfect. The fifty-eight wrathful yidams are located in the head and the forty-two peaceful yidams are found in the heart. All the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Mandalas are based upon the above varieties of light. They reflect out and manifest from this source. F. The natural-awakenness-wisdom light from the very beginning has been abiding in the flesh heart. It is never apart from it. But all sentient beings have hidden themselves from it with their delusions. Thus they cannot recognize it. But if they practice the Torga according to the text, with six varieties of light, they are able to make it a pure manifestation. These six are given below:
Thus the natural-awakenness-wisdom-light has three characteristics:
From the first light we know that everything is naturally silent, naturally void. This is like the entity of a lamp. The second is characterized by brightness. It is like the light of a lamp. The third is Great Compassion. It is like the warmth of a lamp pervading everywhere. Hence we may conclude that the emptiness is the body. The brightness follow the Gurus methods, then his natural wisdom will arise from the above types of five light nerves. This will result in realization and our "natural face" of the perfect three Kayas can be attained. The natural-awakenness-wisdom-light results from the combination of the light of the flesh heart which passes through the white-and-soft-nerve-light and unites with the far-penetrating-nerve-light. The pure-universal-light results from all the enlightened drops and empty light shining out. This light is called the Five Wisdoms light. It is like a rainbow. When it manifests, it resembles the concentric circles caused by throwing a stone into a pond or lake. Our mind is like a mirror. If the mirror is moving, it cannot make a clear reflection. If the mirror is not moving then the reflection is very clear. So the mind should abide in the samatha concentration then you can see all the enlightened points. So if one wants to practice Torga he must first get the realization of Che-Cho. The life-nerve-light contains a point of light in its center devoid of all defilement. From this enlightened point shines a blue inner-pure-light very vast and pervading. This is the realm of "E" which means voidness. From the emptiness of the enlightened-point light, there arises the realm of "VAM" which means pleasure. "E-VAM" is the non-dualism of voidness and pleasure, or the bliss-void. Every dharma is included in "E-VAM". From "E-VAM" one can accomplish the Baby-Bottle-Body which is a symbolism of the Holy Heart. G. To practice the Torga, there are five important elements: 1. Body, 2. Speech, 3. Mind, 4. Gate, 5. Surroundings (environment). The snake has feet but most people cannot see them. If you hold a snake very tightly then you can feel them. One should practice the Torga in a like manner, very diligently, and the above five components will become very clear. Thus the entity of enlightenment will manifest. 1. BodyThe body has three kinds of sitting postures: a. Dharmakaya (lion) posture. The two feet are placed together like they were the palms of the hands. One sits on the bare ground, back straight, the two hands form vajra fists and are placed on the ground in front of the groin. The neck should be straight with head tilted slightly backward. The eyes gaze upward motionless. The mind should meditate on the sky. The tongue should touch the roof of the mouth. When the feet are joined, the two types of energy abide naturally. The tilted head stops the deluded mind. The fists supporting you between the two legs make the four elements peaceful. b. Sambhogakaya (elephant) posture. The two knees are held together and are brought up to touch the chest area. The entire shin area should be touching the ground, toes should be flexed like claws, the elbows are placed on the ground with the two palms placed on the cheeks. The two eyes gaze sideways in the same direction both looking right or both looking left. The knees against the chest increase warmth and pleasure, thus the white bodhicitta will increase. The elbows touching the ground passes the "E-VAM" energy through the hands to help rid the rough breathing. The toes being claw-like will reduce the sleepy mind and facilitate good samatha. c. Nirmanakaya (fairy) posture. Squat on the ground with the knees touching the chest. The spinal column should be straight. The shoulders lifted upward. The breath should be inhaled and held with the belly drawn backward to the spinal column. The two hands should be crossed, encircling the knees with the right hand on top of the left; or cross the two hands and touch the ribs, the right hand outside; or hold the chest with your two fists. Squatting pacifies your nerves inside. Touching the ground with your feet controls the water element. A straight spinal column brings the energy into the Dharma nature. Knees against the chest and belly against the spinal column causes the wind and fire element to be transformed into wisdom energy, cutting off all delusions. Crossing the hands in front of the knees eliminates diseases of heat; hands holding ribs rids diseases of cold; fists holding the chest purifies both hot and cold diseases. For general purposes the two hands should hold the wrists, right on top, or embrace your two knees with your arms. 2. Speech The mouth should be without worldly speech or repetition of sutras because this moves the inner energy which moves the mind. When the mind moves, the outer light will not manifest. When the breathing is even it is very beneficial. You should inhale between your teeth; this guides the wisdom energy in and out. When exhaling, your mind should abide on the sky for a while. Then inhale; it should not be very rough. It should be subtle in order not to disturb the light in the sky. When holding the breath, store it in the sky but not in the body. Yogi Chen says: "These instructions are for a Torga practice and should not be confused with the deep breathing practice of the Perfect Yoga, for example, the Six Yogas of Naropa. Torga breathing belongs to the advanced practices of the Great Perfections fourth initiation. The growing yoga which I call Evolutionary Yoga belongs to the first initiation. The Perfect Yoga consists of the second, third, and fourth initiations, but does not go beyond the Mahamudra. The Great Perfection is higher than Mahamudra, only the Nyingmapa school teaches it, particularly the Torga. The Torga is never practiced in the Perfect Yoga. The Perfect Yoga definitely forbids the inhalation or exhalation through the teeth. Such a type of breathing is cooling, but the breathing of the Perfect Yoga is only through the nose. It also only allows you to store your energy inside your body, but never to store it in the sky. Storing inside the body will increase your life-span, but storing outside will decrease it. But in Torga practice you already have gotten the power to prolong your life. You can store your energy anywhere to increase long life. You are not limited to inner body like those practitioners of the Perfect Yoga. The body which practices the Great Perfection is mostly connected with the Dharmakaya. So you are storing the energy in your Dharmakaya body. But the practitioner who has not completed the Perfect Yoga is not able to practice the Great Perfection. He has not even experienced the Dharmakaya. All of the above talk is based upon my personal experience." 3. Mind The Mind should be without disturbance, without delusions of the past, present, or future. Nor should one create a fourth period consisting of the totality of these three. 4. Gate When using the lion posture, your eyes should look upward towards the flesh protuberance on top of the head. Yogi Chen says that he has a small tuft on the top of his head but very advanced Yogis will have a large flesh tuft. With the eyes fixed as mentioned above, the Dharmakaya will manifest clearly, and the habitual karma of the transmigration will be eliminated. Thus you can realize your "Eye of Dharma Nature." The eyes are regarded as the Dharma gate because from the eyes your Mind goes out. In the Sambhogakaya (elephant) posture, the eyes should gaze sideways either to the right or left. This will equally harmonize Nirvana and Samsara, then you can attain the "Eye of Wisdom." In the Nirmanakaya (fairy) posture, your eyes should look downward. In this way you can attain the "Eye of Paramita" and all the holy Maya can be manifested and sublimated into the Pure Land manifestation. 5. Surroundings It must always be in the high mountains. Practice at the time at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn; or the end of winter or the beginning of spring. You should renounce three kinds of obstacles:
In the morning, meditate under the light of the sun. In the noon time, meditate in the easterly direction. In the afternoon, face the westerly direction. After youve accomplished these you can change to the opposite direction. Before noon use the Lion posture. At noon use the Elephant posture. In the afternoon use the Fairy posture. But for the beginners you must spend most of your time in the Lion posture. H. Besides these five important things, Guru Kunga Rinpoche added two more: 1. In the six doctrines, one should close the mouth and the air should pass through the nasal passages. But in the Great Perfection the air should pass through the mouth. In this manner, the obstacles of the four wheels will be gotten rid of and the energy can easily enter the median nerve. 2. When you see a clear blue light in the sky, this is the Pure Universal Light. In this Pure Universal Light, there are five colors of light. It is very easy to manifest them through the sunshine. This type of sunshine is called a guide. There are four guides; yellow, red, black and a mixture.
You must not get too much excitement from the sunshine (The White Guide) so one can utilize the white and yellow guides by alternately practicing them to balance the force of light. I. There are Four Steps of Realization:
One should practice according to the teaching and see the naturally pure enlightened entity, Adi-Buddha, like a lamp, shines from the flesh heart and passes through the eyes (the nerve of the white-and-soft-light) and becomes the far-penetrating-light. Then it passes through the gate (eyes) and the two lights connect and reflect in the outer sky. When this happens, you experience the cloudless sky. This is the light of the pure Dharmadhatu. From this, five colors manifest, just like five colors of silk which has been torn into pieces, each one is beautiful like the feather of a peacock or a rainbow. This is the light of the pure Dharmadhatu. Next appears the concentric circles which are like that when a rock is thrown into a lake. They are also of five colors, but mostly red. This is the light of the enlightened-drop or the light of the enlightened-drop-sunyata. After this the small circles become larger and stop vibrating; then appears something resembling necklaces of pearls. This is the Vajra-chain, it is very bright and transparent and vibrating. In this enlightened-drop-sunyata-light the pearls become stable (stop vibrating). This shows that our own enlightened entity is manifested outside. At this time our entity of mind will feel very clean, clear, bright, and calm (quiet). Our body feels just like it has become a glass lamp, very bright and motionless. The Mind abides in three conditions, blissfulness, brightness, and non-thought. This is called the light of natural-awakenness-wisdom or it could be called the combination of the six lights which we have mentioned above. This is the final light, the NaturalAwakenness-Wisdom-Light. According to ones tendency or force, it will come into the Che-cho realization. But this is Torga. Why are we now talking of Che-cho? Because in the former Che-cho practice one did not really get the realization of light. But now since we have added the Torga practice, the Che-cho has become real enlightened realization. This realization is equal to the first stage of a Bodhisattva. When you get the first stage of a Bodhisattva, your wisdom will be increased and you will understand every Sutra, Mantra, Sastra, Tantra, etc. The transmigration you have stopped. No sorrow can harm you. You have truly gotten some liberation. In the beginning, if the pure light of the Dharmadhatu does not manifest the five colored lights, you must stabilize your body posture; then the five lights will certainly happen. If there is too much white light, turn and look to the right. If there is too much green light, turn and look to the left. if too much red light, look downward. if there is too much blue light, look directly in the center. If there is too much yellow light, look upward. In this manner the rainbow light will manifest very clearly and eventually the enlightened-drop-light and the Vajra-chain will manifest. Even if there is no sunshine you can still see it in your meditation. This is the first realization called Manifestation of the Dharma Nature. The Vajra-Chain is moving quickly at first and then stabilizes. In the book The Essential Instructions of Karma is mentioned the oral instructions which tell how to stabilize the Vajra-Chain. The method is that the two eyes must gaze at the point between the two eyebrows (third eye). Visualize a Raolk (hook) there, it holds the Vajra-Chain stable. When the Vajra-Chain is unmoving your "feeling" will be increased. In the light of the pure Dharmadhatu, there is the rainbow light. It is very complex and has many different forms. Some are like a cross river, some are like a waterfall, some are triangular, some are pagoda shaped, some are like nets, some are like a lotus, some are crescent shaped, some are shaped like a double vajra, some are round, some are square, some are rectangular; there are many, many such transformations. So you must adjust them, settle them. When there are too many squares, look toward the right. If there are too many circles, look toward the left. When there are too many crescents, look upward. When there are too many triangles, look downward. If there are too many straight or crossed lines, you must look toward the center. By this way, the enlightened-drop-sunyata-light will be increased. At first, the Vajra-Chain is moving like a shooting star, very quickly. By and by, it slows to become the speed of a birds flight, then like a running deer, then like a bee which sometimes stops to gather honey from flowers and at other times flies. The more it becomes non-moving the more you get the good "feeling." The enlightened-drop-sunyata-light appears in groups of three, four, or five. By and by, they become a form of something. In the group of five, you see at first the Buddhas head, then his face and eyes, then half statue and eventually all five Buddhas. According to the teaching of Padmasambhava this is the ultimate stage of this realization, called Increase the Feeling. But according to that of Paranametha, outwardly the external environment becomes five different colors of light. The enlightened-drop-sunyata-light manifests in the five groups of the round Vajra-Chains. This is the ultimate stage of Increase the Feeling realization. If one dies in this stage, he will not enter the Bardos and he will directly obtain the Sambhogakaya. If one has practiced the wisdom breathing and wisdom drops very well, at this time if he does not die he will have some supernatural power. He will not have to rely on sunshine and moonlight anymore; he can manifest all the lights by himself. This is the final stage of Increase the Feeling realization. After the enlightened-drop-sunyata-light and the Buddha body and Mandala have been attained, the defilements of the saha world no longer occur. All phenomena are seen as the Buddhas body and Buddhas palace. The practitioners own five elements become the five lights of the Rainbow Body. At this time wherever the practitioners mind abides, even large objects such as mountains and rivers will tremble. He can jump into a fire without being burned; he can walk on the surface of the water and has many, many other supernatural powers. This is the Attainment of the Enlightened Entity realization. We can divide it into two parts, the Body and the Mind. a. The Attainment of the Enlightened Entity of the Body is as follows: When one can see all five directions and all five departments of the Buddha and from the hearts of the Five Buddhas shine lights, just like sunshine passing through a window. The Five Buddhas?lights shine into our own heart. In our heart is a white AH; this is the initiation of the great light. Again from between their eyebrows, from the ten directions of the Buddhas palace shines a white light. These lights shine upon our head and gather above it becoming a great circle of light. By and by, this becomes the Buddhas hair tuft. Our own heart has a light which shines out through the pores of the skin. Each pore has become Buddhas Pure Land. There are forty-two Yidams in the peaceful mandala manifested in our heart. From our heart the light shines up to our head and manifests the fifty-eight wrathful yidams of the wrathful Mandala. b. Now we come to the Attainment of the Enlightened Entity of Mind: here the eight kinds of consciousness become the Five Wisdoms and the subtle obstacles are eliminated. The sorrowful obstacles will be purified. This light is equivalent to the tenth stage of a Bodhisattva. This means that one can recognize all Dharmas and has power to control them. This is actually the Dharmakaya. Thus all Dharmas have been totally harmonized or transcended. This is the final realization. Our natural awakenness and enlightened entity has now been completely manifested. The previous three realizations are comparable to the Growing Yoga. But this fourth realization of the Achievement of the Totality of the Dharma Nature is comparable to the Perfect Yoga. Just like a mirror without sunshine, the five kinds of colors come into the mirror but do not shine out. Just like when at the end of the month the moon does not appear, it does not mean that the moon has been lost; its outward appearance has merely returned to the natural mind. Outwardly, the pure and impure Maya surrounding and inwardly, every kind of delusion and secretly, all the wisdom light, these three things have returned to the dharma nature. There is no subjectivity, no objectivity. The body is the wisdom light. The speech is the Dharmadhatu without talk. The mind is the non-born Dharmakaya. At this time if you would like to live here for a long time just like Padmasambhava, your entire flesh body is transformed into light. It can never die nor be destroyed. You can appear before all sentient beings at will. If you do not like to stay in this world, you can transform into the Vajra rainbow body and when you leave this world all those persons, even for three thousand years have a connection with you all will attain Buddhahood. Even a person who would ordinarily fall into hell, if he has a connection with you he also can be liberated. At this time you have realized all the Buddhas body, speech, mind, merit and karma. You can receive all prayers and make many transformation bodies to go to every type of sentient being to save them . J. According to the Karmapas teaching, there is a method which is called The Three Skies in Oneness Yoga. Yogi Chen adds, "I have talked about the Three Identifications of the Great Perfection previously. But that teaching was only connected with Che-cho. Here Karmapa has connected this yoga with the Torga." It is based upon the AH of the Che-cho. When AH occurs the five wisdoms will be manifested. The body should reside in the conditions of the seven elements of the Vajra sitting posture. One should hold the precious bottle breathing, or hold the middle abiding breathing. Ones lower belly should protrude slightly outward, the breathing should be even. One should only breath between the teeth. The mind should be without delusions. Only the non-discriminating nature should meditate and visualize the AH. This will make your five elements become the Five Wisdoms.
The above is the special method inspired by the Karmapa Rinpoche himself. K. To practice transforming the five elements from the Che-Cho it is easy to get some obstacles
L. In the Three-Skies-in-One Yoga the three skies are outer, inner, and secret and are:
The above three kinds of skies are kept in oneness. The heart light goes to the eyes. This means that the mind takes care of the eyes. The eyes take care of the outward sky. This is the three-in-one of the Torga. (Previously I talked about the three-in-one of the Che-cho.) The body should keep the seven Vajra postures or the Nirmanakaya, Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya postures mentioned above. The eyes should look at the cloudless sky. Thus the inner light of the white and soft nerve (the eyes) connects with the outer light of the sky. The secret light of the sky also joins with the inner light of the white and soft nerve. In other words, the light of the inner and secret skies connect with the outer sky and they are altogether in oneness. Through this kind of practice one can easily get the attainment of the enlightened entity. This also gets the attainment of the Che-cho and can increase the Torga. It should be practiced in solitude in the high mountains. M. Yogi Chen says, "The additional teaching by my Guru and Karmapa are not very different but anyhow the more teaching you get the better. If you practice with my talk on the Three-in-One Great Perfection, it is the same as my teachers. The text merely adds some new names of the Torga. It just substitutes the three lights of the white-and-soft-nerve, the flesh-heart, and the mind as the flesh-heart-light. So there is not really any difference. Therefore dont worry about it. My Guru gave the following schedule of practice. It is a very diligent one: You should get up very early before dawn, at 3 or 4 oclock. Then practice the Lama Yoga, then the foundation, then the Torga when the sun is rising, then the Tumo. The following are my Guru Kungas oral instructions about practice: When my Guru Kunga died about twenty years ago, his body contracted into a small size. It is stored in a pagoda; at the time it was first put there, the pagoda shone a light for seven days and everybody knew about this. Now his incarnation is in the mountains but I dont know what his condition is under Maos control. But I prayed in my hermitage very earnestly for his rebirth. It was very easy for him to get an incarnation, it seemed very peaceful. But what condition his health is in now I do not know. I still practice meditation and send fish free to the river to pray for his long life. Let us now return to the text by Guru Kunga: N. When one gets up, practice the deep breathing, then the Che-cho. If the Che-cho is very peaceful, calm and vast, then the mind is vast and one can very naturally get attainment. Continue Che-cho until the sun rises, then practice the Torga. At noon rest, after you take lunch walk around the altar of the hermitage. During the afternoon practice the Torga on the west side or south side. After sunset make an offering to the protectors, also do some good deeds like giving alms to beggars, etc. After dinner rest for a while then practice the Tumo. During sleep confess what you have not practiced well by reciting the one-hundred-syllable mantra. You must reflect upon all your activities, whether they are good or bad and you must think that everything is impermanent and sleep soundly. When you sleep remember the sleep yoga. The sleep yoga is in the Six Doctrines. Before you sleep, first take the Vajra posture and visualize a red AH in the private root chakra; from this AH the Tumo burns up to the head and meets a white HON. HON is upside down in the top of the median nerve. From the HON falls many drops of white Bodhi into the heart; and from the heart to the lower body eventually pervading the whole body. Next you get up and practice the Vajra Boxing and get some warmth in your body. Then you will get sound sleep. O. Yogi Chen says, "I can demonstrate the Vajra boxing, but it must be photographed by a motion picture camera, then others will be able to study the movements and practice them in the future. I have learned the Vajra boxing from seven different Tibetan schools. I have practiced them in my hermitage according to the instructions of each school. From many, many variations, I have developed a system of five kinds. Even though I learned more than one hundred of these postures, I have systematized them into about thirty, in five divisions. They are coordinated with the five Chakras and are coordinated with the black and bright moon (from the sixteenth to the thirtieth is the black moon.) For each chakra, vajra boxing is practiced twice a month in rotation with the moon. I have nothing to hide and I would like to open this practice for everyone. In the past I have always practiced secretly and never have I ever given the teaching to anyone. But now I will give it for all if the conditions can be met. Before I give such a demonstration, I would like to give a talk entitled "From Chinese Tai Chi to Tibetan Trunkle." Everyone has heard of Tai-Chi but only some Tibetan Lamas know Trunkle. Most of those common Lamas have never practiced it. But Kalu Rinpoche is a true expert. He can jump straight up, in the air cross his legs in the full lotus posture without using his hands and land on the ground. It is a very difficult practice and the famous Lamas like the Dalai Lama, etc., did not have enough time to practice it. I would like to talk about the difference between the Tai-Chi-Kung-Fu and Trunkle. P. Let us return to the text: The Guru said that you must visualize your heart and head each containing a white AH; between these two large AH are many small ones which are connected to one another. They are transparent and like crystal. They are shaped similar to a dorje, the mid portion of which is narrow and the upper and lower portions wider. The enlightened drops one by one return downward from the head. In the heart the median nerve is very bright. In the brightness one sleeps in the Lion posture. It is very important to practice the light sleep. When you awake you should get up quickly and sit in the Lotus posture. You must repeat HA three times. Visualize that the AH in your heart shines out into the sky about three feet high. The above practices are for the diligent practitioner. Now for those who are lazy some of the practices are omitted: He should do the following: only meditate on the Che-cho and Torga and practice the Lama Yoga, the offering to the protector and practice the Yidam; all other practices may be omitted. Q. The Gurus final oral instructions are as follows: There are three kinds of motionlessness: one is that the body remains motionless; one is that the eyes remain motionless, and one is that the mind remains motionless. There are three kinds of abiding:
In this way you will have good dreams and good realization. The best is no dream at all. The middle is that during your dreams you recognize that you are dreaming. The lowest is that you get a good dream, but cannot recognize that you are dreaming. R. There are twelve signs of realization, in four groups.
a. Your body feels like a tortoise. a. The body feels sick, you do not like to care for yourself. a. The body is like an elephant which has become stuck in the mud. a. The body is like a corpse, it does not fear anything. S. Lastly, we have the three attainments:
[Home][Back to main list][Back to Chenian][Go to Dr. Lin's website] |
|---|