(Origins and stakes of this translation)
He focused on the collection of advanced cave and hermitage yogi practices called the sKu gsum rang shar [Self-Arising Three-fold Embodiment of Enlightenment] and asked us to translate it, along with putting it in a form that was understandable and teachable to Westerners.
there is some risk that these most advanced meditations will disappear because fewer practitioners are available who are capable of mastering these most advanced meditation practices.
Part I. Introduction The Unique Contributions of Shardza Rinpoche
W.M. Gorvine (2006) appropriately says that Shar rdza bKra’ shis rGyal mtshan is “the most prominent and influential figure in the Tibetan Bon religion in the twentieth century.”
Thereafter he began intensively practicing his one hundred thousand preliminaries. Then, his master gave him the A Khrid actual foundational teachings16 on concentration on the letter A, as well as emptiness meditation instructions. Later that year, Shar rdza Rinpoche went into a meditation retreat and “reached an experience of the absence of true existence (bden med) of all phenomena.”17
Tenzin Namdak adds, “From then on he began keeping notes for his books called Five Treasures.”22 After realizing the natural state, his recognition of the liveliness of awakened awareness is said to have become strong “to such an extent that he could easily understand whatever texts he was reading.”23
At the age of twenty-five he met the master Me ston Chen po and renewed his monastic vows.
extracting the vital essence while fasting in meditation retreats (bcud len),
At the age of twenty-seven Shar rdza Rinpoche began the serious practice of solo Inner Fire (gtum mo) after receiving a transmission on the rTsa rlung mkha’ ‘gro mdzod [Secret Treasury on Channels and Winds of the Ḍākinīs]. He had a clear experience of a variety of blisses, along with the eradication of all residual conceptual thought. From Khro tshang rTogs ldan dGa’ bde he received the teachings from the gSang thur (Lower Secret) and trained in the path of great bliss of the lower gateway. However, as a monk, he was not likely to have done so with an actual female consort.
The distinction between automatic meditation (ngang sgom) and mastery meditation (klong sgom), wherein meditation is continuous with full mastery of whatever is intended,
(Three maps from onset to complete enlightenment)
Essentially, there are three broad maps in the overall organization of practice texts. First, there are teachings that start from the onset of spiritual practice up to the initial realization of awakened awareness, however unstable that realization may be. This set of teachings includes preliminary practices, concentration training, ordinary and extraordinary emptiness practice,56 pointing out instructions regarding the natural state, and the recognition of awakened awareness as one’s fundamental nature. The second map consists of the set of teachings designed to stabilize awakening so as to manifest awakening at all times and in all situations. These teachings include instructions repeatedly to set up the view so as to have the realization of awakening more frequently, more immediately, and for longer duration in meditation sessions; instructions for mixing awakened awareness into various post-meditation activities; instructions for dismantling the residuals of the ordinary mind; instructions for using special states like bliss, luminosity, and stillness to enhance the realization of awakening; teachings to mix awakened awareness into deep sleep and
dream states; pointing out how ordinary thoughts, emotions, and external appearances are the liveliness of awakened awareness; instructions on taking the view of all events as a continuous, uninterrupted flow of the liveliness of awakened awareness; and special instructions on selfarising/self-liberated to open the gateway of eradicating the ripening of all habitual karmic propensities and initiate the path of dharmadhātu exhaustion.
Once the practice of self-arising/self-liberated is stable and automatic, the practitioner has begun the third and final map—the path of liberation that starts with the practice of self-arising/self-liberated and has the final endpoint of stable enlightenment or complete liberation.
First, the Inner Fire practice purifies the mind of residual substantiality of the physical body and residual conceptualization, brightens awakened awareness, and activates the primordial wisdoms.
these other advanced yogic practices, and the first three of the six to be “the real methods for accomplishing enlightenment in one lifetime.” He added, “the last three yogas… are only required if one fails to accomplish enlightenment before death.”62
is likely that Shar rdza Rinpoche would agree with Naropa in the sense that Inner Fire practice is the foundation for most advanced yoga practices, and therefore he has written one of the most detailed teachings on solo Inner Fire practice that exists.
Bru rGyal ba divides the A Khrid stages of his fourteen-session root text into three successive practices: (1) preliminary practices designed to ripen the unripened mind- stream (sessions 1-4), (2) actual foundational practices for bringing the ripened mind- stream to liberation (sessions 5-10), and (3) concluding practices for reaching the endpoint—complete enlightenment with practices ranging from liberation to the completion of Buddhahood (sessions 11-14).
According to Bru rGyal ba, these preliminary practices are then designed to “build the vessel,” i.e., restructure the student’s unfolding mind-stream and reduce attachments [to everyday life]. (fol. 8a) Bodhicitta then sets the intention of practice toward the ultimate goal of Buddhahood, and through that realization inexhaustibly serves the benefit of all sentient beings.
influence the practitioner’s mind-stream to (1) clear away residual obscurations, (2) activate the positive qualities that potentiate spiritual development,
(Particularizing, freshness, and the instruction not to conceptualize)
The essential body and gaze points are designed to reduce conceptual thought as a hindrance. The essential mind point according to Shar rdza Rinpoche is to see beyond particularizing (yid la mi byed pa; “do not particularize”). This refers to the fastest of the five basic information-processing operations. Whereas Western information-processing starts with stimulus-perception, Tibetan information-processing starts with a pre-stimulus action called “particularizing,” which is best defined as the tendency of the mind to move toward something, the outcome of which is to perceive something specific. Stimulus perception is the outcome of particularizing. In Western terms, particularizing is a kind of action potential. Each of these high-speed actions has the potential to cloud over the unbounded wholeness of awakened awareness. The instruction, “Do not particularize,” is a common theme in crossing-over pith instructions. This instruction does not refer to stopping particularizing, because it doesn’t stop, but rather to seeing beyond particularizing using the right view. Here, as the passage says “not particularizing” is the instruction that sets up the realization of awakening.
Shar rdza Rinpoche states that the next step is to “sustain freshness” (sor bzhug) (p. 51). “Freshness” is a technical term that refers to a state of mind absent of all conceptual thought. When even the slightest of tendencies to conceptualize are immediately expressed as empty upon arising, conceptualization no longer obscures awakening, and the mind returns to its natural state of freshness.
Co-emergent means that at the moment any specific mental event arises—a specific thought, emotion, sight, sound, smell, taste, or body sensation—it arises simultaneously both as the specific mental event and also as clear-light.
The term “co-emergent” (zung ‘jug) means that two forms of any specific event occur simultaneously—as the event itself, and as clear-light.
Each energy drop is like a computer chip that contains an entire world of a Buddha-field inside.
As Shar rdza Rinpoche says, “Substantiality ends… the mass of habitual karmic tendencies no longer appears” (p. 271).
this concentration needs to be self-correcting, so that whenever conceptual thought occurs it is “self-liberated… and does not become a source of attachment” (p. 293) nor become a hindrance. Thoughts become like clouds in the sky that arise, stay, and disappear without substance.
meditation must cultivate and protect awakened awareness, like taming a wild horse to make it serviceable, like guarding a king’s treasury, like a magical spell that neutralizes the poison of conceptual thought, and like a tireless mother nurturing her favorite child.
meditation must bring out the full measure of the lucidi-
(Signs of warmth and self-liberation of thoughts)
The outer signs include the physical body being free of illness, having a certain lightness, and having luster. The signs of inner warmth include: “(1) you cannot sense that the breath is moving, (2) compassion toward all sentient beings arises by its own force, (3) all appearance arises more and more like rising mist, (4) there is little attachment to anything, (5) you get less afflictive emotions, (6) the mind-stream stays as soft as cotton, (7) dualistic grasping after ‘I’ or ‘self ’ decreases, (8) you are free from grasping conceptual thought, and (9) you come to know suffering as happiness” (p. 296).
The secret signs include never leaving awakened awareness for the best capacity, having the clear primordial wisdom of dharmadhātu for those of middling capacity, and having realized conceptual thought as insubstantial for those of lesser capacity practitioners, respectively.
Then, the practitioner imagines the self-radiance of primordial wisdom appearing out of the darkness of space.
Whatever appears has a “sparkling immediacy” (p. 323) and is free of any kind of conceptual elaboration.
Then, you “never leave [this state]” (p. 326). When reaching the end of the visions, all appearances manifest as the three pure visions—ultimate sound, light, and light-rays—and “the visions arise as the three—ultimate sound, light, and light-rays—into the domain of space of universal ground, and disappear by themselves. All the visions are like clouds in a clear sky, or like bubbles dissolving. Everything dissolves. [Everything] is liberated by itself ” (p. 327).
the practitioner has developed some potential to realize all appearances as the liveliness of awakened awareness, but unless he practices this skill at all times and in all situations he will not develop full mastery (p. 331).
Familiarity with this practice over time leads to viewing all seemingly external appearances as “the play of illusion” (p. 335), wherein what has become eradicated from ordinary perception is: chasing after sense experience, having preferences, holding onto self, having attachment, and even having mental engagement.
objects are experienced free of all conceptualization, free of grasping or an agent of grasping, so that there is no engagement whatsoever of what arises, and therefore, whatever arises is unobstructed and free thereby of karmic imprint.
practitioner has on average twenty-one thousand thoughts a day that can be taken as path
the best practitioners, as thoughts immediately arise without any mental engagement whatsoever, they are immediately self-liberated “like snow flakes falling into the ocean” (p. 337). For middling capacity practitioners, thoughts are seen nakedly, “like [a morning] frost being touched by the sun” (p. 337). Lesser capacity practitioners become mindful of thoughts and see their essence as empty without chasing after them, “like someone who is angry and about to hit someone, but then does not chase after this ordinary afflictive emotion” (p. 338).
this level of practice the yogi learns to integrate conduct and view as an inseparable pair, and also learns to move beyond practices that solely emphasize practice under favorable conditions (like Ten Perfections practice) to intentionally utilizing unfavorable conditions as a medium for practice.
Holding the view with absolute stability in the most unfavorable life circumstances is “a learned person who knows everything by knowing one thing” (p. 341). Through this practice, all residual afflictive emotions and the five poisons arise as great bliss.
“through that you have come to the threshold where everything arises as unobstructed liveliness and without diminishing the intensity of awakened awareness” (p. 343). As a result, “obscuring the [full] benefit of meditation no longer can occur” (p. 344).
Such a practitioner of secret yogic discipline is said to be like a crazy person who has no particular view, like a dog or a pig that eats anything without concern for whether it is clean or dirty, like an infant who neither tries to make anything happen nor stops anything from happening, like a peacock who directly eats the seeming poison of the most unfavorable circumstances of life as if it were medicine.
Shar rdza Rinpoche adds, “Awakened awareness is boundless and transcends meditation sessions and breaks” (p. 347). At all times and in all situations, however favorable or unfavorable, everything that occurs is viewed as none other than the “manifest ground” of dharmadhātu (p. 347).
Ongoing everyday experience is like a continuous, uninterrupted dream, and “the fruition that brings one to Buddhahood is also like a dream” (p. 347).
(Dream practice and taking nightmares as path)
Dream practice is divided into preliminary, actual foundational, and concluding practice (p. 358). Preliminary practice entails making a determination that all daytime appearances are the illusory distractions of saṁsāra. Otherwise, “even if you meditate for months or years there will be no end to being deceived” (p. 358).
The practitioner is invited to view “all illusory daytime appearances…as being dreams” and to become curious about how these illusory appearances are actually manifestations of ripening “habitual karmic propensities” (bag chags)
This point of focus will generate a “[scary] wrathful magical display” so that even these nightmares can “be brought into the path” (p. 365). Examples of such dreams include, “[dreaming] all the mountains and valleys are consumed by fire, your own body is being carried in a flood, falling into a crevasse in the earth, being swept away by the once-in-aneon [hurricane] wind, being chased by tigers or wolves, and so forth” (p. 365). It is especially important not to get caught up in these nightmares so that “whatever occurs, know this as a dream. At that very moment you know this is a dream and the dream becomes your object [that can be changed], you can influence it” (p. 365).
The first type of proliferation is conceptual thought and afflictive emotions—based on grasping duality and ultimately on not recognizing awakened awareness—which are the root of delusion.
Shar rdza Rinpoche
“However many years [there has been darkness] is not important. The thick darkness doesn’t matter. The nature of this blackness has no power and no matter how great it is, it clears in an instant
377)…but an individual who remains in meditation must look unwaveringly only to the fruition clear-light and nowhere other than that” (p. 388).
The practice is to “meditate on the continuation of the unborn” (p. 382).
Near-attainment is a stage of the dying process characterized by the dissolution of all conceptual thought and duality, such that only a field of total blackness remains. Following that, the clear-light of dying arises. This state is very similar to the natural state of the mind—free of all doing, free of all conceptuality and duality, and with the bright lucidity of awakened awareness.
The practitioner must identify these visions as empty and self-arising at the very moment they occur (p. 394), and without engaging them, they immediately become self-liberated.
The sign of progress is that there is a swelling just above the Brahma aperture as the scalp tissue becomes mildly inflamed.
Otherwise, there is some risk that a sudden impact to the head could cause the indestructible essence lodged in the heart to prematurely eject from the upper central channel and out the Brahma aperture, resulting in premature death.
“If you practice seriously like this, at the time of death you will be ready to go to a pure Buddha-field, like a son returning to his mother’s lap”
if the practitioner has had the realization of awakened awareness and has stabilized that, he or she has already established a solid foundation for enlightenment.
“self-clear and lucid, free of thick darkness and obscurations”
“not covered by the stains of the afflictive emotions or the cognitions about saṁsāra and nirvāṇa”
“not made by anyone” and “not made by causes and conditions” (p. 437).
is not for bad people whose minds have been seized by Mara. It is not for those who are unable to be diligent during difficult times. It is not for those who fail to let their minds go to appearance. It is not for those skilled at deception and dishonesty. It is not for those who have not abandoned self-importance and pride” (p. 461).
For a detailed description of the five ru shan exercises see Tenzin Wangyal’s Awakening the Sacred Body.
(Inner Fire practice: central channel, body as light, bliss descending)
The practice begins with a review of seeing all appearance as emptiness. Likewise, the body is seen as empty, like an empty glass bottle filled with light. Shar rdza Rinpoche says, “All things seeming to have substantiality, like ice in the middle of the ocean, dissolve, and as such, easily melt into the five [wisdom] lights” (p. 126).
Visualizing the central channel is most important. Shar rdza Rinpoche says it has “the characteristic of straightness like a banana tree; the characteristic of blue outer appearance like lapis lazuli; the characteristic of having an open mouth at the top [part of the channel] like an upside-down brass trumpet; and the characteristic of not having any inherent nature, like a hollow tube of light” (p. 132).
Then, the practitioner imagines “the fire of primordial wisdom everywhere in all directions—outside/inside, above/ below—completely burning this army [of demons] and burning all the afflictive emotions and conceptual thoughts” (p. 139). Inside the offering tent of the chakras in the illusory body, innumerable seed-syllable PHATs transform into ḍākinīs that repel and kill all demonic forces “just by looking at them” (p. 139).
The second part, nirmāṇakāya central channel practice, begins with the nine-round breath, used to expel the three poisons—desire, hatred, and ignorance—along with the three types of illness—wind, phlegm, and bile illness—and the three types of demonic forces—male and female spirit forces and Nāga forces, all of which are expelled in the form of colored mist or vapor.
Shar rdza Rinpoche says, “Increase the heat of the fire. Ignite the energy drops until the [bodhicitta substance begins to] drip down. Meditate that the fire of the [seed-syllable] A-stroke becomes a hundred times hotter than before. By that, the bodhicitta substance at the crown involuntarily melts by itself. When it first melts and falls down into the fire it makes a hissing sound. By it dripping down, the flames of the fire become much bigger. Just by it flowing down, it generates unbearable bliss in body and mind [to the point of the body] vibrating, and it increases until the flames burn in the navel [chakra]” (p. 146).
longer and longer until the central channel opens and the fire ignites like “a forest fire” (p. 147) and the wind fills the central channel more and more.
It is said that the wind is like a wild horse and the mind is the rider of the horse. Therefore, it is extremely important that the yogi not let the wind run wild, but instead carefully direct the wind with the mind. The basic aim is to direct and collect the bodhicitta substance at each successive chakra site in order to have the full experience of the descending bliss specific to that chakra site.
As the bodhicitta substance steadily drips from the egg just below the crown, the yogi directs the flow to the throat chakra and carefully concentrates the substance at that site to get the full experience of the first descending bliss at that site.
progressively descend from the crown down each of the other chakras until the entire body is “totally warm with bliss.” The overall result is to “generate immeasurable warmth of bliss” (p. 152), and the stability of primordial wisdom manifesting in the channels and chakras. This is called “the samādhi of dharmakāya” (p. 153), wherein the Inner Fire practice sets up a connection with the enlightened dharmakāya body.
As for the actual visualization Shar rdza Rinpoche says, “Imagine that the Brahma aperture at the crown becomes like a wide open sky-light…the winds from the right and left [main] channels enter the central channel [at the juncture], [and as they rise up the central channel] primordial wisdom’s blissful wind with its various colors, like a peacock feather [arises]. Then [as you exhale] imagine these winds are expelled out from the gateway of the Brahma aperture a distance of sixteen fingers, and also from both nostrils” (p. 173).
The flames then melt this bodhicitta substance “like putting fat on the fire” (p. 190). Eventually, this melted bodhicitta substance will flow down or drip in turn to the throat, heart, navel, and eventually to the secret chakra.
The objective is for both the male and female consorts to synchronize their experiences of each of these levels of four descending blisses.
Containment at the secret chakra site is said to be like holding water deep inside a well. Drawing it upward and reversing the direction is like drawing water up and out of a deep well. If these energy drops/bodhicitta substance are not drawn upward, the vitality of the energy drops/bodhicitta substance “will be lost, and no positive benefits are generated” (p. 195). The energy drops are drawn up from the secret chakra to the navel chakra, then to the heart chakra, then to the throat chakra, and finally to the crown chakra.
After full mastery of flowing down, containing, ascending, and dispersing the energy drops/bodhicitta substance, the yogi and yogini combine this Inner Fire practice with actual practice with a live sexual consort. In other words, they do actual karmamudra practice with a live partner.
During intercourse the yogi restrains from ejaculation as that would destroy the full manifestation of bliss. Shar rdza Rinpoche adds, “At climax they will show the posture of unbearable [bliss] and let out an intense cry” (p. 198). This passage alludes to “great bliss,” which only comes from actual consort practice, and not from imagined jnanāmudra practice, and only from the combination of dispersing bodhicitta and actual sexual intercourse.
Shar rdza Rinpoche reviews a number of risks associated with live sexual consort practice. These include: not having sufficient experience with wind practice, practicing after just having been sick, practicing when just waking up, trying to hold the winds after sex, practicing during times of intense fear, or trying to practice when too cold or too hot.
The practice begins with assuming the five-fold posture. Shar rdza Rinpoche explains that each feature of the five-fold posture has a specific function. For example, sitting cross-legged creates the condition for immovability of the body. Placing the hands in the evenness pose suppresses the need to do something with the hands and reduces making conceptual categories about perceived objects. Holding the spine straight creates an unwavering mind. Placing the tongue between the upper and lower palate and keeping the breath even suppresses the need to talk. Gazing down at the tip of the nose keeps the eyes neither open nor closed too much and controls sleepiness and agitation (p. 211).
3.2.3.2.1.3.4 The Meaning of the Signs of Warmth and Heat 417 Fourth, “The meaning of the signs [appearing] at the hole at the Brahma aperture is that suddenly the bone recedes and blood fluid leaks out, and it swells.” According to this passage, through doing this practice, blood and yellow fluid [edema] occur at the crown site. The upper bone [plate, at that site recedes] about the size of a thumb, or a hole [at that site] suddenly appears.
According to the essential point of generation-stage practice, imagine the top [half] of the skull as being empty.
With respect to the body left behind, after a week, burn it, and from its ashes make a stupa. Do this in a proper way as has been described. If you accomplish it like this, there are no words to describe [the amount of] serving the immeasurable benefits of beings [that will ensue].
He was also able to enter into the corpse of a flesh-eating demon, and because of that could turn back and defeat an entire army of flesh-eating demons and subdue them.
It is very important to know the distinctions of awakened awareness and primordial wisdom. Some deluded individuals don’t distinguish between the ordinary mind and [awakened] mind-itself, and they [nevertheless] try to undertake making a commentary [on this]. This becomes an occasion for embarrassment. Some
(Awakened awareness as heart: pervading samsara and nirvana)
In brief, the essential point2 about awakened awareness is the heart, wherein you are always united to and never separated from3 the essence of the enlightened bodies, and primordial wisdom. The liveliness of mind and the appearance of its clear-light saturates all impure and pure objects. Because the natural state never changes nor transforms into anything good or bad, it pervades everything, everywhere throughout saṁsāra and nirvāṇa.
Because of being attached to [the mental engagement of] accepting and rejecting, you become attached to faults and benefits, and become bound11 [to them]. (3) This enlightened intention12 is like limitless space. There is no [need for, or becoming attached to] hope [for results using] session meditation practice.
At this time, because [nothing] moves from the expanse of dharmadhātu, it is never clouded by the waves of conceptual thought. Because this immense bright state is stainless, do not engage in the [deluded] distinctions of drowsiness and agitation.