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SNOW LION THE BUDDHIST MAGAZINE & CATALOG
The Elements: Water
Healing with Form, Energy and Light: The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen Book Excerpt
176 pp., HEWIFO
$16.95 Snow Lion special $11.86
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Tibetan thought pays attention to the elements—earth, water, fire, air, and space—and how they harmonize, or don't, within in our psycho-physical organisms. Their balance is said to affect our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Here's a brief introduction to the water element, taken from the perennial bestseller Healing with Form, Energy, and Light, by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
When the water element is in balance, there is comfort in ourselves and in our lives. We can be fluid, moving easily around and through the events and relationships of life. Balanced water is accepting of situations. It is joyful, content. The higher dimension of water in personal experience is the joy of being, a contentment with being alive that is innate rather than dependent on external circumstances. When we are connected to the joy of the water element, it manifests outwardly. We tend to be happy with the people we meet, the places we go. We enjoy life.
This joy can be lost in the unavoidable suffering that accompanies dualistic experience. And then we often look outside for it, believing that we will be comfortable in life when we get the new partner, job, riches, degree, recognition, or whatever the focus of the moment is. We think joy is found in having and doing, rather than in being.
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In a person dominated by the water element there can be a lot of feeling and emotion and sometimes too much comfort. Too much comfort means letting responsibilities slide and floating through life. It means being lost in the comfort, losing presence, feeling content in situations that should be changed, or lacking productivity. There is a tendency not to work hard at what is difficult even if this means giving up what is valuable.
In meditation, too much water can diminish clarity. This is not the dullness and heaviness of earth but a kind of weak drifting that makes it difficult to accomplish tasks and enjoy their fruits.
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Too much water can also result in our being lost in emotion, constantly tossed and turned on the waves of feeling, too sensitive to transient emotional states, weepy, or trapped in self-pity. Rather than being stuck in the comfort of the water element, we're stuck in the ebb and flow of emotion.
Too little water results in discomfort in ourselves, a lack of joy, and a lack of comfort around other people. Even if we're grounded in earth, if we have too little water it is a dry kind of solidity, without pleasure or appreciation. If both earth and water are deficient, we'll be dominated by fire or air or both, resulting in a lack of groundedness and excessive agitation. Too little water in meditation means internal discomfort in the practice and a loss of the joy in the spiritual path. The practice can become infertile and arid.
Practices that develop the positive aspects of water are the affective practices. For practitioners of the Tibetan traditions these would be Guru Yoga that opens the heart; the development of love and compassion; and the practice of giving and receiving. Spiritual practice can become a project of the mind alone if the heart is not involved; in the Tibetan traditions, compassion and love are considered necessary on the spiritual path. The highest development of the water element in spiritual practice is the development of the mirror-like wisdom.
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More about the book . . .
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
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More about the author . . .
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. Geshe 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.
Books by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
© 2010 Snow Lion: The Buddhist Magazine & Catalog
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