| Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, a Tibetan yogi | | | | an evolution from the deity as a mere conceptual |
| often compared to the great Milarepa, when | | | | projection (though a potentially productive one!) to |
| addressing the issue of Yidam practice within the | | | | the non-conceptual appearance of the "natural deity"; |
| Vajrayana vehicle of Tibetan Buddhism, has said: It is | | | | just so in our asana practice we often begin with a |
| the blissful body of the yogi or yogini that is the true | | | | rather "outside-in" approach, in which the asana is |
| Deity. So what might this mean? And how, if at all, is | | | | actually a form of conceptual projection, i.e. it's an |
| it (or could it be) related to the practice of Yoga | | | | "idea" we have (from our teacher, or books, or |
| asana? Let's explore ... | | | | whatever) that we put forth in the form of an |
| Yidam practice unfolds in two stages: (1) The | | | | arrangement of (the appearance of) bones, muscles, |
| Generation or Creation Stage, in which the specific | | | | etc. ... but it's not yet "real" or "natural." As our asana |
| deity that one is working with is created, i.e. given a | | | | practice matures, more and more we're able to work |
| "form" within the imagination of the practitioner; and | | | | from the "inside-out," in which the asanas emerge |
| (2) The Completion Stage, in which that created | | | | spontaneously, non-conceptually, as aspects of our |
| form of the deity is dissolved: resolved into | | | | natural intelligence/radiance. Our movements in and |
| emptiness, and (its residue, its true intelligence) light | | | | out of the asanas are infused with the spirit of what |
| radiance. The practice also, over time, evolves from | | | | in Taoism is called Wu Wei: an effortless effort which |
| one in which the deity is merely a conceptual | | | | quite naturally produces the "correct" alignments (as |
| projection, to one in which the "natural deity" | | | | opposed to "imposing" those alignments based upon |
| appears, non-conceptually, before the practitioner, as | | | | some external "moral code" of asana practice). |
| a visible aspect of his/her own radiance. | | | | So how then do we progress from a conceptual to a |
| Yidam practice as a whole is based, in large part, | | | | natural way of expressing our asana practice? From |
| upon a productive use of the imagination. It takes | | | | the poses as mere conceptual projections to |
| that capacity (and strong tendency) most of us have | | | | expressions of an awakened bodymind? A |
| to make mental pictures, and uses this as a tool to | | | | practitioner of the Generation Stage of Yidam |
| align us with, open us to, a reality that is deeper, | | | | practice might move in this direction by finding the |
| more profound, and "truer" than the one we're | | | | Completion Stage within the Creation Stage, by |
| habitually "tuned into." The imagined forms of the | | | | finding the dissolution of the form as an inherent |
| deities have the quality of being able, potentially, to | | | | aspect of the form itself (much as ~ in Taoist theory |
| act as portals, or gateways into these deeper | | | | practice ~ Yang is an inherent aspect of Yin: they |
| realities ... to put us in touch, directly, with aspects of | | | | inter-are). In this same way, our asana practice might |
| awakened mind. | | | | re-member the dissolution of form within every form |
| Now it's important to notice the distinction between | | | | asana taken. And might ~ to extend the principle ~ |
| ~ on the one hand ~ this Yidam-practice way of | | | | put into conscious and ever-evolving relationship all |
| using our imagination (as a very specific form of | | | | opposing movements ... So little by little our "ideas" |
| mental training, which ultimately can liberate us), and | | | | about the "right way" to do the pose are replaced |
| ~ on the other hand ~ a use of the imagination | | | | by an ever-more-subtle tremoring which |
| which amounts to no more than (habitual, and often | | | | spontaneously aligns us in a way that allows our |
| largely unconscious) fantasizing. To engage in fantasy | | | | conceptually projected "body" to dissolve into the |
| is ~ from the perspective of Buddha Dharma ~ a | | | | blissful body of the deity: an aspect of our own |
| non-productive use of the imagination: one that takes | | | | radiance, pouring forth, shedding itself continuously, |
| us further into the territory of conceptualization, | | | | for the benefit of all living beings. |
| mental elaboration, and as such further and further | | | | One of the initial trainings in Dream Yoga ~ once the |
| away from a reality which has the potential to | | | | practitioner is able to be lucid (i.e. awake) within the |
| liberate us. | | | | dream ~ is to transform the body: to change the |
| So how does any of this relate to the practice of | | | | shape of ones body into the body of a bird; into an |
| Yoga asana? We could, first of all, consider each | | | | airplane (and fly to Paris!); or ~ relevant to our |
| specific asana as a deity-form: something we | | | | current exploration ~ into the shape of a deity, which |
| construct/project (a la the Creation Stage) and then | | | | ~ in the context of dreaming ~ is quite easy to |
| dissolve (a la the Completion Stage). And certainly | | | | experience and understand as being an "empty |
| asana practice is based largely upon a distinction | | | | form," i.e. a form made only of color, light & |
| between productive and non-productive alignments | | | | energy (much like a rainbow). In this same way, our |
| uses of the body. The productive alignments (a la the | | | | vinyasa ~ our movement in and out of asanas, upon |
| productive uses of mental imagination) are those | | | | the thread of our awakened breath ~ might become, |
| which have the potential to open us into a reality | | | | with practice, a kind of "Rainbow Painting" (I've |
| deeper than the mere physical, e.g. to the level of | | | | borrowed the phrase from a book with this same |
| the Central Channel/Shushumna Nadi, and the | | | | title written by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche): merely a |
| subsequent conscious flow of that awakened energy | | | | "play" in color, light and energy, a toggling back and |
| outward, into the whole network of nadis within the | | | | forth between the display of empty forms (the |
| subtle body of the yogi or yogini. The non-productive | | | | specific asanas), and the bliss which is the residue of |
| alignments (a la fantasies), on the other hand, simply | | | | their dissolution. |
| keep the energy of our subtle bodies circulating | | | | And this, perhaps, represents ~ simultaneously ~ the |
| unconsciously (divorced from the "truth" of the | | | | "waking up" of the dream of our asana practice, and |
| Shushumna Nadi) in old samskaric patterns, i.e. keep | | | | the "waking up" of the dream of our Yidam practice; |
| us circling on the wheel of bith-and-death which in | | | | represents the "waking up" from the dream/fantasy |
| Buddhism is called Samsara. | | | | of religious practice into the blissful radiance of the |
| And in the same way that in deity practice there is | | | | Present Moment ... Amen and Sobeit. |