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Title:
Human Energy Systems and Kundalini Yoga, Theory and Practice ( Hindu, Buddhist, 3H0 Sikh, etc. )
Keywords:
kundalini yoga, hatha yoga, Ayurveda, tantra, psychic heat practice, comparative yogic practice, Bon, Hindu, Sikh, Taoist, Buddhist Mahamudra and Atiyoga practice.
Summary:
basic cross-cultural introduction to kundalini yoga, with book references. I give examples of Hindu, Sikh, Bonpo and Buddhist practices of kundalini yoga.
Disclaimer by KT:
the discussion is provided only for informational purposes. Some or all of these practices may be inappropriate for any one individual. No recommendations for practice are given by me. I do not represent any of these teachers or organizations.
Re Super A on tribe Kundalini Yoga:
Is raising Kundalini cheating?
"yeh i wonder, too.. seems kinda manufactured."
Super A:
"well i just wonder if Kundalini may stir on its own.. "
Kundalini yoga is an energetic process.
Kundalini yoga is an evolutionary process.
Kundalini yoga is a whole person process, involving the physical system and metabolism and sexual energy, the emotions, consciousness, and the human aura, or bioenergetic field.
Kundalini yoga is the deeper, broader, more complete form of what westerners call "hatha yoga".
Kundalini yoga is consciously practised in
a) the Hindu traditions
b) in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions
c) in the non-Buddhist Bon system ( Tibetan Bon )
d) in the 3H0 Sikh tradition
and also, in a comparable similar form, in the
e) Taoist traditions.
All the above traditions overlap to a significant extent. In particular, the Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh systems are largely grounded in Ayurveda, the ancient medical science, which uses Five Element theory ( Pancabhuta in Sanskrit ), i.e. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space.
For more information on Ayurveda, see books by Vedacarya ( Hindu Spiritual doctor ) David Frawley, OMD. These are important references for anyone practising kundalini yoga, be they Hindu, Sikh, Bonpo or Buddhist. I have repeatedly recommended Dr. Frawley's books
"Ayurvedic Healing"
http://www.amazon.com/Ayurvedic-Healing-Revised-Enlarged-Comprehensive/dp/0914955977
and
"Ayurveda and the Mind"
http://www.amazon.com/Ayurveda-Mind-Consciousness-David-Frawley/dp/0914955365
These books are very accessible and extremely useful at all levels of practice.
For a set of example practices in kundalini yoga, as given through the Hindu-Sikh tradition, see
http://www.3ho.org/kundaliniyoga/yogasets.html
This gives 25 short practices.
According to historical account, the Founder Buddha Guru Sakyamuni trained in kundalini yoga and had a tremendously powerful magnetic field. This is symbolized by the "Victorious Crown Knot", in Sanskrit the "usnisavijaya" atop his head. The crown knot stands for a vortex of energy that ascends through and above the crown of a realized being, a Buddha.
The Hindu and Sikh and Buddhist systems share a very similar definition of human energy systems, specifically with a set of three primary energy channels
a) the central vertical energy channel
b) the right vertical energy channel
c) the left vertical energy channel.
This set of three channels goes by different names in different traditions.
The Chinese Taoist system however, although very similar, uses
a) the central vertical energy channel
b) the front/ vertical energy channel
c) the back/ vertical energy channel.
instead of two side channels.
The Buddhist systems are not identical to each other, just as Hindu practices do not necessarily work from the same exact definitions.
In particular, the classical Buddhist systems, known as tantras, are defined to work through sometimes different sets ( different numbers and locations ) of subtle energy centers, or cakras. Cakra is the Sanskrit for Wheel, and in this sense literally means "energy vortex".
In yoga, it is sometimes said, "All Yoga begins at the navel point." That is not strictly speaking true, although it is a very practical and useful statement. It remains true that many key Hindu, Sikh, and tantric Buddhist practices focus on navel point energy. Examples are
a) the Hindu ( and Buddhist ) Ganapati yoga
b) the Sikh practice of Sat Kriya and many related practices
c) the various psychic heat ( Sanskrit candali, for "fierce woman" ) navel point practices found in most major high tantric Buddhist practices.
Examples of the latter Buddhist navel point practices are
- The Great Seal Six Yogas of Naropa
- The Great Seal completion stage yoga of Milarepa
- Great Seal Kalacakra
- Great Seal Cakrasamvara
- Great Seal Vajrayogini
- Great Perfection ( Atiyoga ) practices such as Padmasambhava completion stage yoga, Vajrakilaya completion stage, and so forth.
A typical, but not universal definition of Buddhist energy centers in tantra is
a) Brow Point
b) Throat Center
c) Heart Center
d) Navel Point
This corresponds to the stages of outer and inner empowerment in Buddhist tantra, which begins with the guru placing / activating white light at the initiate's brow, red light at the throat, blue light at the heart, and so forth. The levels and types of initiations differ significantly within the Buddhist traditions, but overall there is this common structure.
( This system is very similar to but definitely apart from the "Tibetan Bon" tradition, which employs different energies, colors, and seed syllables at the brow, throat and heart centers. For further information on Bon energy practice, see books by Tenzin Wangyal, especially his "Healing With Form, Energy, and Light". )
All of these Buddhist psychic heat practices focus on the stage of Bliss through "blazing, melting, and dripping". This process is based on breath practices and visualizations which are very similar in many respects, even though the definitions of human energetic structures differ. For example, the Buddhist Great Seal system of Kalacakra has a very different structure than the other Great Seal ( Mahamudra ) practices of the New School of Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
For a relevant heavy duty book on Great Perfection / Dzogchen / Atiyoga practice, see the following three books
"Kindly Bent to Ease Us: Part 2, Meditation"
by Longchen Rabjam
http://www.snowlionpub.com/html/product_747.html
and
YANTRA YOGA: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement
by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
http://www.snowlionpub.com/html/product_9678.html
THE CRYSTAL AND THE WAY OF LIGHT: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen
by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
http://www.snowlionpub.com/html/product_758.html
This book gives broader context and shows some photos of Buddhist yoga postures which engage pressure point / energy channel systems.
Again, all the Buddhist systems work primarily from a Hindu-Buddhist-Ayurvedic type set of three primary channels, and the Taoist system does not.
See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trul_khor
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo
book description of "Yantra Yoga" from Snow Lion:
YANTRA YOGA: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement
by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, trans. by Adriano Clemente
Yantra Yoga, the Buddhist parallel to the Hathayoga of the Hindu tradition, is a system of practice entailing bodily movements, breathing exercises and visualizations. Originally transmitted by the mahasiddhas of India and Oddiyana, its practice is nowadays found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to the Anuttaratantras, more generally known under the Tibetan term trulkhor, whose Sanskrit equivalent is yantra.
The Union of the Sun and Moon Yantra ('Phrul 'khor nyi zla kha sbyor), orally transmitted in Tibet in the eighth century by the great master Padmasambhava to the Tibetan translator and Dzogchen master Vairochana, can be considered the most ancient of all the systems of Yantra and its peculiarity is that it contains also numerous positions which are also found in the classic Yoga tradition.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the great living masters of Dzogchen and Tantra, started transmitting this profound Yoga in the seventies, and at that time wrote this commentary which is based on the oral explanations of some Tibetan yogins and siddhas of the twentieth century. All Western practitioners will benefit from the extraordinary instructions contained in this volume. He was a professor at the Oriental Institute of "the University of Naples, Italy, and is the author of The Crystal and the Way of Light and Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State.
Adriano Clemente first studied Yantra Yoga with Chogyal Namkhai Norbu in the 1970s. He is the co-author of The Supreme Source.
•Article from the Snow Lion
For information about Yantra Yoga instructors authorized by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu please contact the Dzochen Community in America through: www.tsegyalgar.org
REVIEWS
"...magnificent.... There is nothing like [this book]. That is why you should read it even if you never plan to do yoga.... For any who have studied yantra this is a deep reference space to which they will return again and again. For those who have not practiced this profound method it is a full picture of the precision and depth of this way and an invitation to enter this practice in an experiential way.... By the excellence of the translation and the fullness of details this work can nourish the understanding of practitioners everywhere."--The Mirror
"Such a beautiful book about a system of practice that involves bodily movements, breathing exercises and visualizations. We learn to twist like a conch, arch like a camel, flame like a lotus, curve like a bow—and know exactly why we are doing it.... All Western practitioners will benefit from the clear and precise instructions."—Mandala
"...the definitive work on yantra...Practitioners of hatha yoga will be interested."—Shambhala Sun
"...an enthusiastically recommended addition to Tibetan Buddhist studies shelves."—Wisconsin Bookwatch
"This is a must-have for anyone interested in an authentic lineage of hatha yoga practice."—Sandra Anderson, Yoga + Joyful Living Magazine
9781559393089 1559393084
HEALING WITH FORM, ENERGY AND LIGHT: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen
by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
book description of "Yantra Yoga" from Snow Lion at
http://www.snowlionpub.com/html/product_6671.html
HEALING WITH FORM, ENERGY AND LIGHT: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen
by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, edited by Mark Dahlby
In the shamanic world-view of Tibet, the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space are accessed through the raw powers of nature and through non-physical beings associated with the natural world. In the Tibetan tantric view, the elements are recognized as five kinds of energy in the body and are balanced with a program of yogic movements, breathing exercises, and visualizations. In these Dzogchen teachings, the elements are understood to be the radiance of being and are accessed through pure awareness. Healing with Form, Energy, and Light offers the reader healing meditations and yogic practices on each of these levels.
Tenzin Rinpoche's purpose is to strengthen our connection to the sacred aspect of the natural world and to present a guide that explains why certain practices are necessary and in what situations practices are effective or a hindrance. This is a manual for replacing an anxious, narrow, uncomfortable identity with one that is expansive, peaceful, and capable. And the world too is transformed from dead matter and blind processes into a sacred landscape filled with an infinite variety of living forces and beings.
"There is more detailed and at the same time easily understood and useful information about the body and meditative practice than any other book I have seen. Spoken with an elegance that melts into your mind."—Anne C. Klein, Professor, Dept of Religious Studies, Founding Director, Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple, Houston, author of Knowledge and Liberation, Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, Path to the Middle
"The secrets freely given in this volume can help us lay sound foundations for whatever yogic practice we may adopt. Tenzin Rinpoche has rendered all a great service."—Yoga Studies newsletter
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is one of the few Bön masters now living in the West. His skill as a teacher reflects his more than 15 years in guiding Western practitioners. He is the founder and director of the Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is the author of The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep and Wonders of the Natural Mind.
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Sarva mangalam.
Siddhi rastu!
May All Beings Benefit!
KT, inner medical tantrika
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