Chogyam Trungpa, commentary on the Vajrayana Path

“I would like to apologize for using so many traditional terms. These terms come out of the texts and scriptures and philosophical writings of my Buddhist heritage, and they are loaded with meaning. However, in this discussion, they are not particularly meant to be philosophical terminology, but experiential terms referring to experiences that actually exist. In presenting the vajrayana, I also do not want to create the impression that everything is over your head, so that there is nothing you can actually do. That would be like telling fairy tales, which seems to be the wrong approach. If I did such a thing, I would be personally punished by the dharma protectors, such as our friend Ekajati, who would be very angry with me.

As far as the role of the teacher is concerned, it is considered criminal to teach vajrayana by presenting it as ordinary. It is also said that trying to convert individuals directly into vajrayana without preparation would be criminal. According to the Hevajra Tantra and many other tantras, students should first be taught hinayana and mahayana, and only then should they be shown the path of mantra, or vajrayana. If teachers ignore that tradition and lead students into the vajrayana immediately, it is quite possible that chaos will result, and a lot of neurosis will take place.

The Guhyasamaja Tantra says that to begin with, a person should receive the complete hinayana disciplines; then they should receive the complete mahayana disciplines; and finally, they should be received into the vajrayana. People in the past have recommended quite strongly that hinayana is the preparation, mahayana is the further direction, and vajrayana is the final crescendo. Without that kind of prior development, vajrayana can be destructive to both the vajra master and the student. So before entering the vajrayana, there needs to be immense respect for the hinayana practice of shamatha-vipashyana, and for the bodhisattva’s paramita practice and their glimpse of shunyata experience. Having had that training, the worthy person can then enter into the vajrayana properly.

Entering the vajrayana is like boarding a vajra airplane. You will be welcomed and received by the vajra master, as well as by vajra hostesses and hosts of all kinds: “Welcome aboard the vajrayana. Captain So-and-So is directing this diamond airplane. If there is anything we can do, please call on us.” Once you get onto this particular flight, it is quite an odyssey, but it does not seem to be all that easy to do. It is necessary to realize the crimes that can be committed, both by an incompetent vajra master (who hardly could be called a vajra master, but should be called a salesperson, which basically means a charlatan) and by a frivolous student who would like to collect powers and techniques and wisdoms of all kinds (which they are not going to get out of a real teacher). So both teacher and student should be very firm in understanding that unless the student has some experience of the hinayana and the mahayana, they are not going to be accepted into the vajrayana.

The teacher at this point is regarded as an immovable person, someone who cannot be shaken by little jokes, little tricks, little scenes, little insults, or little criticisms. That person has a very solid basis in vajra dignity. They also embody the lineage of the past completely, every one of the individuals in the lineage. There may be a thousand people in the lineage, but all their wisdom is transmitted and communicated properly by that one particular person: the vajra master.

Presenting tantra is a very sacred matter and very dangerous. If we were off by a quarter of an inch, somebody would tell us that we were doing something wrong. So we are relying a lot on messages from the phenomenal world, and at the same time we are relying on our own intelligence. This discussion of vajrayana is being closely guarded by visible forces and invisible forces. But it is not as if a ghost is hovering around dressed in a white sheet with holes for the eyes. Actually, there is something much more powerful than a ghost guarding this situation. Nonetheless, we can still discuss everything nonchalantly, as if nothing is happening.“

~ Chogyam Trungpa

Hatha Yoga as a pathway to healing the mind

“In modern intellectual terms, we take buddhi to be a monolithic entity. This is unhelpful when trying to understand its true role in our lives and in our yogic practice. Let us first separate it from “mind”, whose function is to receive sensory information to think and to act.

Utthita Trikonasana, San Diego, 2005

Intellect is more subtle than mind, it is concerned with the knowledge of facts and reasoning faculties, and becomes discernible only through its inherent quality, intelligence, which is closer to consciousness than to the mind/thought process. Intelligence is inherent in every aspect of our being from the physical to the blissful. It is, however, non-manifest in the atman/purusa: the core of being.

The quality of intelligence is inherent but dormant [to humans] so our first step must be to awaken it. The practice of asana brings intelligence to the surface of the cellular body through stretching, and to the physiological body by maintaining the pose. Once awakened, intelligence can reveal its dynamic aspect: its ability to discriminate. Then we strive for equal extensions to achieve a balanced, stable pose; measuring upper arm stretch against lower, right leg against left, inner against outer, etc. This precise, thorough process of measuring and discriminating is the apprenticeship or culturing of intelligence; and it is pursued in the internal sheaths by pranayama, pratyahara, and the further stages of yoga. 

We can thus see that discrimination is a weighing process belonging to the world of duality. When what is wrong is discarded, what is left must be correct.

When discrimination has been cultivated and intelligence is full and bright, ego and mind retreat, and *citta* becomes bright and clear. But spiritual intelligence, which is true wisdom, dawns only when discrimination ends. Wisdom does not function in duality. It perceives only oneness. It does not discard the wrong, it sees only the right. Wisdom is not mingled with nature and is indeed unsuitable for the problems of life in a dualistic world. It would be of no use to a politician, for example, however high his motives, for he must choose and decide in the relative and temporal world. Spiritual wisdom does not decide, it *knows*. It is beyond time.

However, the progressive refinement of intelligence is essential in the search for freedom. The discriminating intellect should be used to “defuse” [digest, metabolize, circulate, or ameliorate] the negative impact of memory, which links us in psychological time to the world of sensory pleasure and pain.

All matter, from rocks to human cells, contains its own inherent intelligence, but only man has the capacity to awaken, culture, and finally transcend intelligence. Just as the totally pure *citta*, free from sensory entanglements gravitates towards the atman, so, once intelligence has achieved the highest knowledge of nature, it is drawn inwards towards the soul (4.26). Buddhi has the capacity to perceive itself: its innate virtue is honesty (1.49)”

~ BKS Iyengar,
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
Commentary on sutra 1.7

The 4 Elements of an Alchemical Practice and Life

Beloved Yogis,

Do you ever get on your mat with the desire to have a grounding and blissful experience, but instead end up being held hostage by a restless mind that just wont let you be?

I recently read that the majority of our thoughts are simply recycled from a limited repertoire that we return to again and again. Research shows that most of the time we are simply thinking the exact same thoughts we’ve had for the majority of our lives, over-and-over-and-over-again.

How can we lean into our yoga practice as a vehicle for real transformation? These are the 4 core elements I have found to be the alchemical special sauce that yoga rests upon:

1) Concentration / Breath Awareness and Pranayama: ​
While on your mat, for the entirety of your yoga practice, keep your mind focused on breath awareness and patiently concentrate on the depth and duration of each breath. In general, longer exhales lead to deeper inhales, which is a useful thing to know.

2) Stay close to the inner longing for (or feeling of) devotion and love.​
Feel your longing to return to the inner abode and home of Truth. Connect to source within you and stay close. Let source flow through your body and allow yourself to be with Source/Love, for the duration of your practice.

3) Persevere.​
Keep at it, keep returning to your mat, to your breath, to your longing/aspiration, and to class.

4) Surrender.​
Understand that satisfying the whims of your ego and small/temporary self will not bring you lasting happiness, peace, or reconciliation with your karmic debt and liberatory possibility.

​​
In love and perseverance right there with you,
In the frustrations of bondage
and the bliss of practice,
​Natasha S.

The Health of our Spirit

Beloved yogis:

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Kinesiology students of Vancouver Island University this past week on the health of the human spirit through the lens of yoga. One of the topics we talked about was on how ailments of the human spirit such as anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating, sleep difficulty, feelings of discontent or disconnect, loneliness - are some of the main concerns of yoga, and that the technology, lineages, and practices of yoga are designed to address exactly this.

Yoga is comprised of a set of specific techniques of the body-heart-spirit-mind that bring clarity and vitality to the mind, release of tension and blockages in the body, expand and deepen respiratory capacity, all of which have an enormous impact on our mental health, moods, and feelings of what's possible and accessible in our lives.

Some of these yogic tools/technologies are:

• Pranayama: building breath and energetic agency.

• Asana: Yoga postures to strengthen, balance and tonify the body, organ systems, tissues and entire physiology, while healing the mind.

• Drishti: Gazing point practices.

• Mantra: healing, protective and reparative to the mind and spirit.

• Mudra: meditative hand gestures that activate specific circuitries and energies in the body.

• Dharana: a compendium of concentration practices and techniques.

• Ananda: Bliss, sacredness, and joy cultivation.

• Bhakti and Prema: the active cultivation of love and devotion

• Seva: the attitude of service, the active participation in bringing greater wellness, possibility and happiness to our world. Service to the Divine presence in all as a way to heal ourselves from the tenacious claws of of greed, lack mentality, selfishness, ego-driven-behaviors and attitudes, unbalanced emotions, sleepyness, and more.

I hope you are inspired to return to your practice soon. As always, please reach out if you would like support in moving towards your healing and wellbeing through the practice of yoga.