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THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG
352 pp., cloth, DALATA
$24.95, Snow Lion special $19.96
Available March 2007
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The Dalai Lamas on Tantra Book Excerpt translated and introduced by Glenn H. Mullin
The popularity of the early Dalai Lamas was due in part to the clarity of their tantric writings. Containing an incredible array of this tantric material—the most extensive available in print—this volume has texts on topics ranging from Hayagriva, Yamantaka, a treatise on living on the essence of flowers, and the Six Yogas of Niguma. Below is an excerpt from Chapter Three of "The Second Dalai Lama's Treatise on the Six Yogas of Niguma."
This, as it is said here, the mighty yogi Khyungpo Naljor, who gained both conventional and supreme realizations and actualized inconceivable spiritual liberation, visited the holy lands of India and Nepal seven times, taking with him five hundred measures of gold. Here he traveled throughout the ten directions in search of a teacher who had gained final realization and had achieved direct communion with the Enlightened Ones. All the panditas and mahasiddhas whom he met unanimously advised him to try to meet Niguma, a female disciple of Mahasiddha Naropa. Niguma, they told him, had achieved the three pure stages and had the ability to communicate with the Buddha Vajradhara at will.
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"Where does Niguma live?" he asked.
They answered, "If one's perception is pure, one can see her anywhere, whereas if one's perception is not pure, she simply cannot be found; for she dwells on the pure stages and has achieved the holy rainbow body. However, when the dakinis gather to make tantric feasts in the great cemetery of the Sosaling Forest, she sometimes physically appears."
Merely on hearing Niguma's name tears came to Khyungpo Naljor's eyes and every hair on his body trembled with excitement. He left immediately for the Sosaling Cemetery, reciting the Namo Buddhaya mantra of Mahakala as he went.
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Glenn Mullin outside Ganden Monastery, Ulan Bataar, Mongolia
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Eventually he arrived at the Sosaling Cemetery. Here he immediately had a vision of a dark-brown dakini. She was dancing above him in the sky at the height of seven tala trees. Adorned in ornaments of human bones and holding a katvangha (trident) and human skull, she was dancing in all directions, and first appeared as one figure, then as many, and then again as but one.
Khyungpo Naljor thought to himself, "Surely this is Niguma," and he prostrated to her, circumambulated, and requested her to give him her perfect teachings.
The Dakini looked at him ferociously and replied, "I am a flesh-eating demoness. When my retinue arrives you will be in great danger. They will surely devour you. You must quickly flee."
Again Khyungpo prostrated, circumambulated, and requested to be given tantric teachings. The Dakini retorted, "To receive the Mahayana tantric teachings requires a great deal of gold. With gold, however, it can be done."
Khyungpo Naljor offered her the five hundred measures of gold dust that he had brought with him. To his surprise, although the Dakini accepted the gold she immediately threw it into the forest.
Khyungpo Naljor thought to himself, "Certainly this is the Dakini herself, for she discards such a quantity of gold without remorse."
The Dakini then cast a glance toward the heavens and pronounced the syllable "HRIK." Instantly countless dakinis appeared in the sky. Some erected three-level mandala palaces; others prepared mandalas of colored powders; and others collected the requisites of a tantric feast.
On the evening of the full moon, the Dakini gave him the initiations of the illusory body and dream yoga transmissions. Then by means of the Dakini's magical ability, he was levitated into the sky, and found himself sitting on a small mound of gold dust with a host of dakinis circling in the sky above him. Four rivers of gold flowed down the mountain, one in each of the four directions.
Khyungpo was amazed: "Does this golden mountain actually exist in India, or is it merely a magical creation of the Dakini?"
The Dakini replied:
All the things in samsaric existence
That are colored by attachment and aversion
Are to be seen as noninherently existent.
Then all places are seen as a land of gold.
When we meditate upon the illusionlike nature
Of all the illusionlike phenomena,
We attain illusionlike buddhahood;
This is achieved through the power of appreciation.
The Dakini advised him, "Accept my blessings and watch your dreams carefully."
That night he dreamed that he traveled to the land of gods and demigods. An extremely large demigod appeared to him and instantly swallowed him. The Dakini appeared in the sky and admonished him not to awaken but to hold the dream clearly. This he did, and in his dream the Dakini gave him the initiations of the Six Yogas.
The Dakini informed him, "In all of India you are the only yogi ever to receive the complete instructions of the Six Yogas in a single session of sleep." After he woke up she gave him three transmissions of the Six Yogas, a transmission of The Vajra Verses, The Stages of the Illusory Path, the initiations of the nine-deity mandala of Hevajra, and the thirteen-deity mandala of the Well-Armed One as well as the transmissions of the tantric scriptures The Tantra of Two Forms, The Vajra Song, The Samphuta Tantra, and associated sadhanas, the oral traditions of the Well-Armed One and Kalachakra, the whispered transmission of the four suchnesses, the traditions of the white and red Vajrayoginis, the methods of removing obscurations with the four classes of tantras, the five levels of the Chakrasamvara completion stage techniques for controlling the mystic drops of the genetic force, the activities of The Tantra of the Diamond Sky Dancer, and so forth. In brief, the Wisdom Dakini taught him countless tantras, sadhanas, and oral traditions.
Concerning this tradition, the Dakini herself personally told Khyungpo, "With the exception of myself and the mahasiddha Ivawapa, there is nobody in India today who understands these initiations and transmissions. These should be passed on a one-to-one guru-disciple transmission for seven generations. Only after these seven generations should they be given openly."
In this way the dakini Niguma transmitted the complete instructions of the Six Yogas with the root and branch traditions to Khyungpo Naljor.
This then is the source of the lineage of the profound instruction known as the Six Yogas of Niguma that gives quick and easy enlightenment in one short lifetime.
As for the actual tradition itself, this will be explained under the two headings: the preliminary practices to be meditated upon, and upon which the actual practices rely; and, in reliance upon these preliminaries, how to actually meditate upon the Six Yogas themselves, or the actual practice.
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The General Method
Sit in the six-point fire posture as before and meditate upon yourself as the Yogini. Just below your navel are four fires, one in each of the four directions, approximately the size of a bird's egg. Breathe in air from the two nostrils and pull in lower air from below. Bring these together at the navel.
This causes the four fires to blaze forth fiercely with a reddish hue. Extremely hot, they fill one's body with a reddish flame and give rise to the blissful inner fire. The airs from above and below are thus held together in this mystic kiss for as long as is comfortable. When they can no longer be held, they should be released gently through the nostrils.
Now visualize the central energy channel, called uma. It runs straight up the center of the body just in front of the spine. The thickness of a wheat straw, its upper terminal comes to the point between the eyebrows and its lower terminal to a point slightly below the navel. To its right is the energy channel called roma, and to its left is kyangma. These connect into the central channel at the bottom terminal.
At the top they run into the right and left nostrils. At the inside of the central channel where they meet at the base is a sun disc the size of half a chickpea. Upon the sun disc is a red letter RAM blazing with the flames of inner fire. It is the size of a mere barley seed.
Below the navel is a triangular dharmadayo. The wide base is on the top and its tip points downward. Inside the dharmadayo is an air mandala shaped like a bow and very vibrant. As before, one pulls in the airs from above and below. The airs move from below, causing the mystic fires to blaze forth from the letter RAM. Red in color and hot to the touch, they rush up the central energy channel, giving rise to the experience of blissful inner fire. As before, hold the airs at the navel for as long as is comfortable and then release them slowly through the nostrils.
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More about the author . . .
Glenn Mullin is an internationally renowned Tibetologist, author, and expert on Buddhist meditation. Glenn lived in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, for many years where he studied Tibetan language, literature, yoga, and meditation under twenty-five of the greatest masters of Tibet.
He is author of over 15 books on Buddhist topics, and has lectured and conducted workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East. He has worked as a field specialist on several Tibet-related films and has co-produced five audio recordings of Tibetan sacred music.
Glenn was instrumental in organizing the first performance tours of Tibetan monks in the US and the world as well as the Mystical Arts of Tibet exhibit that has been touring the United States in the past few years. He has led many successful pilgrimages to Nepal and Tibet in the last five years. He now divides his time among writing, lecturing and leading pilgrimages to the power places of Central Asia.
Visit www.snowlionpub.com/pages/mullin.html to read more about Glenn Mullin, or visit www.glennmullin.com.
Books by Glenn Mullin:
Videos Narrated by Glenn Mullin:
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