Overlooking The Yogic Aspect of Vajrayana by Jon Norris

Overlooking The Yogic Aspect

of Vajrayana

By Jon Norris

”Here in the West, we Kagyupas are so immersed in the scholastic and political modalities of the lineage that we sometimes overlook the yogic or ‘repa’ aspect of Vajrayana. We pay homage to great yogins like Tilopa, Maitripa, and Milarepa, but we think of them more as historical supermen than as role models that we could emulate today. This was not how the first wave of Tibetan expatriate lamas saw things; most of them had spent some years in solitary retreat, and would gladly do even more if they could. Today, most lamas rightly perceive that only a small percentage of western students are prepared to undertake a three year retreat, let alone spend long years in a solitary retreat hut. Likewise, it is difficult to find logistical support for such long retreats in western countries. We have to wrestle with sanitation, property taxes, and zoning codes, as well as food and medicine. Such things are actually easier to set up in Tibet than they are in the US. So, the current generation of gurus has concentrated on ‘the View’ and ‘the Preliminaries’ and incorporating ‘the Path’ into the daily life of a householder. This is helping westerners to get a toehold on the Buddhist Path, but it’s not likely to produce many Milarepas.”



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Becoming a Master of Pranayama or Tsa Lung

Becoming a Master of Pranayama

or Tsa Lung

Our mind is like an engine that runs on the fuel of prana (tib. lung), through the numerous pipes and bits of machinery, or channels (skt. nadi, tib. tsa) and centers (skt. chakra). Obstructions (skt. klesha) and karmic files are stored on the inner walls of channels and centers, like dirt and grease sticks to the kitchen drain. This dirt is the impulsive self-based reactions we experience in our everyday mind. Me this, me that, on and on, round and round.

Buddhist meditation adresses the existential confusion (skt. dukkha) created by this with emptiness meditation which means removing the sense of self from all and any dirt that arises. The dirt from the inner walls of the pipes is removed and in this way the fuel or prana that courses through the system becomes a manifestation of wisdom and natural liberation.

It is a somewhat common belief in the world of yoga, that this could be achieved through breathing practices, that is, pranayama or tsalung. That is not the case. In fact, anyone who has tried solving existential confusion mainly with breathing practices of any sort, knows that it simple cannot achieve that. Actually, increasing the amount of prana in the system can make one's confusion even worse, even physically and mentally ill. Imagine a greater quantity of prana coursing through the system without the reduction of selfing... That's a recipe for disaster. For this reason, in all old yogic systems I am aware of, breathing practices were never practiced separately from prayers, mantras, guru yoga and deity yoga, that cultivate energy subtler than prana, that is, energy of awareness. Energy of awareness keeps prana in check, so one who follows this principle never ends up having health problems because of pranic overload, although problems can arise from one's karma.

As a principle, mastery of prana is mastery of the mind. In other words, mastery of prana is the mastery of samsara. Only fully liberated ones have complete mastery of prana. Others don't.

Mastery of the yogic practice of pranayama or tsalung, on the other hand, I would say, is when the mind and the prana coursing through it makes no surprises anymore. By surprises I mean not having entirely new experiences, positive or negative, anymore.

In the context of Open Heart practice and Open Heart Bhumi Model, this comes about around opening of all bhumis and perfecting few of them.

Thank you,

• Kim, 20.6.2019

Open Heart, www.en.openheart.fi