Mahamudra meditation, which is the basis or “seventh yoga” in
the system of the
Event : Mahamudra and 6 Yogas of Naropa
Date : August 20-September 1
Venue : Bunkhan, Mongolia
Teacher : Glen Mullin
Website :
http://www.wildearthjourneys.com/mahamudra6yogasofnaropa.htm
Glenn Mullin has taught tantric Buddhist meditation and yoga in
over thirty countries around the world, and is the author of more
than two dozen books on Central Asian Buddhist culture. He divides
his time between writing, teaching, meditating, and leading tour
groups to the power places of Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and
Mongolia.
Six Yogas of Naropa,” works to directly reveal emptiness to one's
own direct experience. This is achieved by meditating directly on
one's own mind. Mahamudra is not listed as a separate yoga, because
it is the basis of all six.
The practices associated with mahamudra draw upon instructions from
multiple levels of Buddhism, to provide a range of approaches to
enlightenment suited to the needs of various practitioners.
Mahamudra is believed to enable one to realize the mindstream's
innate purity, clarity and perfection, summed up by the term
“buddha nature.”
The practice of the Six Yogas begins with tummo, or “inner fire
yoga.” This is a technique of refining subtle bodily
chemistry and energy flow by working with inner fire, the powers of
sun and moon in the body. Mastery of inner fire quickly brings the
mind to its most refined and penetrating state, the experience of
radiance combined with bliss, an extraordinarily powerful state of
mind that is unequaled in its ability to directly realize ultimate
reality.
Gyulü is a practice of working with the illusory or subtle body
endowed with the qualities of a Buddha. It takes the refined states
of body and mind accomplished by means of tummo, and applies these
within three contexts: the yoga of the waking state; the yoga of
sleep and dreams; and the bardo yoga. Thus gyulu involves two of
the six yogas: illusory body and also the yoga of sleep and
dreams.
The fourth yoga, known as osel, or clear light, teaches the tantric
practitioner how to maintain an inner posture of formless radiance
in all situations.
These four are the basis or main body of the practice, and are
designed to produce enlightenment in one lifetime for the ordinary
practitioner. The remaining two – powa, or transference of
consciousness at the time of death, and the bardo yoga, or training
in how to apply yoga in the bardo state following the moment of
death, are branch or supplementary yogas, for those who make good
progress in the training, but fail to attain final enlightenment
before the moment of death falls.
The four foundation yogas, or "main body of the trainings":
Tummo: The Yoga of Inner Heat
Gyulu: The Illusory Body Yoga.
Milam Naljor: The Yoga of Sleep and Dream
Osel Naljor: The Yoga of the Clear Light Mind
The two auxiliary yogas:
Powa: The yoga of consciousness transference to be mastered, for
application in the moments leading up to death.
Bardo Yoga: The application to be mastered for application after
the moment of death.
The great master Lama Tubten Yeshey once said, “We really need
tantra these days because there is a tremendous explosion of
delusion and distraction.... We need the atomic energy of inner
fire to blast us out of our delusion.”
The aim of this retreat is to actually taste the experience of
inner fire rather than merely gain an intellectual understanding.
Glenn’s own realization of the transformative power of these
practices comes through, inspiring retreatants to discover for
themselves their own capacity for inexhaustible bliss.