Psychic sports in Tibet

 

What an amazing spiritual adventurer was Alexandra David-Néel, the Belgian-French "lady lama" who brought thrilling accounts of Magic and Mystery in Tibet to the West. I reopened that book and found myself with Naropa once again when he was interrupted by a dakini while engaged in black magic. She appeared in a corner of a magic diagram he had constructed to effect the psychic assassination of a rajah. The dakini, or khadoma ("she who moves through the air")  gave Naropa such a good scare that he changed his ways and endured years of hardship and humiliation in order to enter the service of the mahasiddhi Tilopa .
    Naropa was a Brahmin of Kashmir who was deeply offended by his rajah. He decided to kill the prince by black magic. He shut himself up in an isolated house and began what Tibetans call a dragpoi dubthab, a magical rite to cause death or injury. He was interrupted by a khadoma, a “mother fairy” who appeared at the corner of the magical diagram he had constructed. She asked if he was able to send the spirit of the rajah to a happy place in another world, or bring it back into the body and revive that body. Gambopa confessed he could do neither. 
    The khadoma cautioned him that in that case he would suffer profoundly in one of the purgatories. Terrified, Naropa asked how he could avoid this fate. The khadoma told him to seek out Tilopa and beg for initiation into the “Short Path” that frees a man from the consequence of his actions by the revelation of their true nature and can bring the attainment of buddhahood in one single life.
     So Naropa went to Bengal, where Tilopa lived. He was received with rudeness and practical jokes. Tilopa violated all rules, took many forms, and often Naropa failed to recognize him. When finally Tilopa allowed contact to be made – when Naropa found him lying like a corpse beside a funeral pyre – he taught Naropa nothing. He merely allowed him to trail along behind him and beg for food for his master. He was given disgusting assignments. He was told to drink raw sewage and had to endure torture, with wooden splints pushed under his fingernails.
    Enlightenment finally came when the master took off his shoe and whacked Naropa in the face with it. He saw the stars, and the meaning of the Short Path. [1]  

Before I read her books, I had thought of Mme. David-Néel as one of those eccentric Brits who went native in the days of the Raj. In fact, she was born in Belgium and the last part of her name (from her husband) has an acute accent on the first E, left off in most English editions.
     Her travelogue presents Lamaism (a better name than Tibetan Buddhism) as quite different from other forms of Buddhism because it became a theocracy and because of the emphasis on what she calls “psychic sports” and high and low magic. She describes the abuses by which a guru seeks to establish total authority over his apprentic. She describes gruesome rituals of necromancy in which the practitioner revives a corpse, wrestles with it and – if he wins the contest – bites off the dead man’s tongue, which becomes a powerful tool. (Its exact uses are not described). There is the practice of chod, or “severing” in which the performer gives his body to be torn apart by wild animals, demons and hungry ghosts in a ritual which – in the Tibetan mind – is not symbolic but literal.
    Despite the teachings that all realities are generated by mind, many things going on here, including the multitude of ghosts and demons who infest David-Néel's Tibet, do not appear (to almost anyone) to be merely thought-forms.
    Buddhism maintains that there is no individual soul or spirit that survives death, yet in Tibet religious practice seems at odds with this teaching. Famously, there  is the succession of tulkus, held to be reincarnations of high lamas (and others). After the death of a high lama, the search is on for his tulku. This normally gets under way two years after the death. He may have left clues. Seers are called in. An infant who may be the tulku will be tested; he has to identify which, in a selection of personal items, belonged to the deceased lama. The lama’s special drinking cup is the most important of these items.· 
     Then there is the practice of phowa which involves transferring the personality to another reality - or another body in this world. 

1. Alexandra David-Neel, Magic and Mystery in Tibet. (New York: Dover, 1971) pp. 170-8

  

Upgrades for frequent dream fliers at Tibetan Airline

 

In a lighter moment in an otherwise very sober guide to the bardos of life, death and after, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche suggests that through the right practices, we can earn an upgrade on our ride to the afterlife. He writes in Mind Beyond Death that “the way we make any journey depends on the type of ticket we have…We may even have collected mileage points. We may be eligible for an upgrade to first class." 

He allows that advanced dreamers may have earned sky priority, and direct access to the "pure lands", including the realm created by the buddha Amitabha. If you have traveled this way before, and your heart wants to go there again, you may be able to project your consciousness there at the moment of death by "pure realm phowa." Another reason to deepen the practice of conscious dreaming. Here's the key passage:

“Pure realm phowa is connected to the practice of dream yoga. It involves directly transferring out consciousness at the time of death to one of the Buddha realms, such as the pure land of Amitabha or Akshobya, or to any of the sacred realms of the dakas, dakinis or bodhisattvas. The capacity to effect such a transference is developed through training in dream yoga. In that practice, not only do we learn to recognize the dream state, but also we develop the skill to transform our dream appearances. When we have developed that degree of control over our minds, then we can travel in our dreams to any Buddha field we wish.

"According to these teachings, if we can exercise that kind of power in our dreams, then we will be able to exercise the same power in this bardo [the Bardo of Dying]. We can use our understanding and experience of dream yoga to spontaneously transport ourselves to any sacred realm with which we have a heart connection. For example, you do not have to be a realized being in order to take birth in Amitabha’s pure land. Ordinary beings with a strong aspiration and good accumulation of merit can also take birth there. If we can achieve such a positive situation then we will have the optimum conditions to continue our spiritual training. Our practice will be supported by the blessings of buddhas and boidhisattvas."

Phowa (literally "transference" or "ejection") is the art of projection of consciousness from the body to another state at the moment of death. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche offers a brief introduction to five modalities, including deity phowa in which the practitioner seeks to merge with a yidam or god-form.

"Pure lands" or "buddha-fields" (Sanskrit buddhakṣetra) are especially important in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. When we study the accounts of how such realms are created through the will, merit and imagination of superior beings, we may have an Eastern model for reality creation in the imaginal realm.

In my Active Dreaming approach, we do not use the symbols, postures, mantras or guru devotion of dream yoga as practiced in Tibetan Buddhist lineages and others, though we respect these. However, Active Dreaming, like dream yoga is a discipline that requires practice, practice, practice. Like yoga, Active Dreaming is a science of consciousness. It trains you to raise your awareness, play witness to yourself, go beyond consensual hallucinations, and enter the limitless field of nonlocal mind. It will certainly earn you frequent flyer miles, and maybe even premier status for the Big journey.

Art: "Night Airport" by Robert Moss

How Dreamers Earn Upgrades on the Flight to the Afterlife

 

In a lighter moment in an otherwise very sober guide to the bardos of life, death and after, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche suggests that through the right practices, we can earn an upgrade on our ride to the afterlife. He writes in Mind Beyond Death that “the way we make any journey depends on the type of ticket we have…We may even have collected mileage points. We may be eligible for an upgrade to first class." He seems to be telling us that advanced dreamers may have earned sky priority, and direct access to the "pure lands", including the realm created by the buddha Amitabha. If you have traveled this way before, and your heart wants to go there again, you may be able to project your consciousness there at the moment of death by "pure realm phowa." Another reason to deepen the practice of dreaming. Here's the key passage from Mind Beyond Death:

Pure realm phowa is connected to the practice of dream yoga. It involves directly transferring out consciousness at the time of death to one of the Buddha realms, such as the pure land of Amitabha or Akshobya, or to any of the sacred realms of the dakas, dakinis or bodhisattvas. The capacity to effect such a transference is developed through training in dream yoga. In that practice, not only do we learn to recognize the dream state, but also we develop the skill to transform our dream appearances. When we have developed that degree of control over our minds, then we can travel in our dreams to any Buddha field we wish...

If we can exercise that kind of power in our dreams, then we will be able to exercise the same power in this bardo [the Bardo of Dying]. We can use our understanding and experience of dream yoga to spontaneously transport ourselves to any sacred realm with which we have a heart connection. For example, you do not have to be a realized being in order to take birth in Amitabha’s pure land. Ordinary beings with a strong aspiration and good accumulation of merit can also take birth there. 

A few comments:

1. Phowa (literally "transference" or "ejection") is the art of projection of consciousness from the body to another state at the moment of death. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche offers a brief introduction to five modalities, including deity phowa in which the practitioner seeks to merge with a yidam or god-form.

2. "Pure lands" or "buddha-fields" (Sanskrit buddhakṣetra) are especially important in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. When we study the accounts of how such realms are created through the will, merit and imagination of superior beings, we may have an Eastern model for reality creation in the imaginal realm.

3. In our Active Dreaming approach, we do not use the symbols, postures, mantras or guru devotion of dream yoga as practiced in Tibetan Buddhist lineages and others, though we respect these. However, Active Dreaming, like dream yoga is a discipline that requires practice, practice, practice. Like yoga, Active Dreaming is a science of consciousness. It trains you to raise your awareness, play witness to yourself, go beyond consensual hallucinations, and enter the limitless field of nonlocal mind. It will certainly earn you frequent flyer miles, and maybe even premier status for the Big journey.

Image: The Western Pure Land of Amitabha, distemper and gold on cloth, Central Tibet c.1700.  In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain. There's a lot going on here! At the bottom are courtyards, giant lotus flowers, and pools from which the purified are being reborn.

Dream an upgrade for your flight to Paradise

In a lighter moment in an otherwise very sober guide to the bardos of life, death and after, Dzogchen Ponlop suggests that through the right practices, we can earn an upgrade on our ride to the afterlife. He writes in Mind beyond Death that “the way we make any journey depends on the type of ticket we have…We may even have collected mileage points. We may be eligible for an upgrade to first class." He allows that advanced dreamers may have earned sky priority, and direct access to the "pure lands", including the realm created by the buddha Amitabha. If you have traveled this way before, and your heart wants to go there again, you may be able to project your consciousness there at the moment of death by "pure realm phowa." Another reason to deepen the practice of dreaming. Here's the key passage:

“Pure realm phowa is connected to the practice of dream yoga. It involves directly transferring out consciousness at the time of death to one of the Buddha realms, such as the pure land of Amitabha or Akshobya, or to any of the sacred realms of the dakas, dakinis or bodhisattvas. "The capacity to effect such a transference is developed through training in dream yoga. In that practice, not only do we learn to recognize the dream state, but also we develop the skill to transform our dream appearances. When we have developed that degree of control over our minds, then we can travel in our dreams to any Buddha field we wish. "According to these teachings, if we can exercise that kind of power in our dreams, then we will be able to exercise the same power in this bardo [the Bardo of Dying]. We can use our understanding and experience of dream yoga to spontaneously transport ourselves to any sacred realm with which we have a heart connection. For example, you do not have to be a realized being in order to take birth in Amitabha’s pure land. Ordinary beings with a strong aspiration and good accumulation of merit can also take birth there. If we can achieve such a positive situation then we will have the optimum conditions to continue our spiritual training. Our practice will be supported by the blessings of buddhas and boidhisattvas."

A few notes: 1. Phowa (literally "transference" or "ejection") is the art of projection of consciousness from the body to another state at the moment of death. Dzogchen Ponlop offers a brief introduction to five modalities, including deity phowa in which the practitioner seeks to merge with a yidam or god-form. 2. "Pure lands" or "buddha-fields"  (Sanskrit buddhakṣetra) are especially important in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. When we study the accounts of how such realms are created through the will, merit and imagination of superior beings, we may have an Eastern model for reality creation in the imaginal realm. 3. In our Active Dreaming approach, we do not use the symbols, postures, mantras or guru devotion of dream yoga as practiced in Tibetan Buddhist lineages and others, though we respect these. However, Active Dreaming, like dream yoga is a discipline that requires practice, practice, practice. Like yoga, Active Dreaming is a science of consciousness. It trains you to raise your awareness, play witness to yourself, go beyond consensual hallucinations, and enter the limitless field of nonlocal mind. It will certainly earn you frequent flyer miles, and maybe even premier status for the Big journey. Art: The famous Thaima Mandala, woven in Japan in the 8th century, showing the "pure land" of Amitabha, who appears as a giant figure at the center, projecting new features of this realm through the remarkable light emanation above his head.