Host: Very nice Rinpoche la. So we start with purification, and then engage, obviously shamatha, vipassana, but engage in deity yoga, deity practice, and the deity practice helps us to, it seems you’re saying that deity practice helps us to have less fixation to the sense, senses, objects of the senses.
Kalu Rinpoche: yes.
Host: and then there’s this clarity that arises, and almost like a connection with the subtle body that helps us with the yoga practice in some way. Deity practice, through that, the deity practice is linked with the yoga practice, through this uncovering? Did you say? Of the…
Kalu Rinpoche: Unravelling.
Host: Unravelling of the, of the, of this finding of the subtle body. Right?
Kalu Rinpoche: Yes, yes.
Host: And then the actual yoga practice, you said it reinforces the deity practice. And so how does the yoga practice reinforce the deity practice?
Kalu Rinpoche: The way it reinforce the deity practice is basically, our body, is combination, let’s say, combined of the few element: ས་ sa [earth], ཆུ་ chu [water], མེ་ me [fire], རླུང་ rlung [air]. So our whole physical level, physical form, you know, we have a channel. So we have a channel, but our channel has a lot of knot. The subtle knot, not necessarily like an X-ray machine can scan it. Because if you can, you know, scan the subtle channel, that means that you can recognise where the nature of the mind is, at that stage already. But, so therefore the subtle channel is simply a phrase, I understand, from my understanding, but rather than the existence of the channel “in our body”. So that’s first thing that you have to understand.
Many people they have, are very attached to this idea of “I have chakra here, I have chakra here, I have chakra here. I have a channel over here”. You know? “My right channel, the དབུ་མ་ uma [central channel], རྩ་རོ་མ་ rtsa-roma [right channel] and རྐྱང་མ་ rkyangma [left channel]. The colour looks like this. That shape looks like that. It is placed over here from the bottom!” you know? “Placing upwards, that’s where the heat comes! That’s where the bliss comes!” It’s great to have that ambition to learn and to study, but over the time you have to let go of that. You know, over the time you have to just simply live with the experience, you know?
So what I am trying to explain is that we breathe 21,000, you know, knowing or without knowing. So what the yoga does, is that you do, do all the yoga posture and practice, what you do is that from the physical aspect and the mental aspect combined together, is that you purify the negative air into a positive air. Now “negative air” doesn’t mean that to make you unhappy all the time, and aggressive and emotional, it doesn’t mean that. “Negative” in this stage, it simply means the absent from the clarity, you know?
So the positive air, or the wisdom air, ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་རླུང་། yeshe kyi lung [wisdom air], is simply known as a, you know, people think, people think too much about “oh, how the wisdom air feels like?” and all that. None of it matters if you don’t practice. The theory is good, but the practice matters, combined together.
So we have to, by untying the channel, then the air, and the essence that passing through, becomes more accessible. As the essence, that it becomes more accessible throughout the channel, and then our mind, you know, to be in the state of clarity, the potential, is far more greater. Therefore it is reinforcing the deity practice.
Because I practice Six-Armed Mahakala, Chakrasamvara, as you know, Five Tantric Deities, and then, I did practice before the yoga, and I, I test it. Not intentionally, but by accident. Before, after yoga. And after yoga, when I practice deity, it tend to bring far more clarity.
Because what you do with the yoga practice is that the first few sequence, what it does is that it releases the adrenalin, you know, in your body, just by the, seven times of different movement, it releases adrenalin. And then over the time, somewhere in the middle sequence, then you tend to develop a blissful experience, you know? Then if you are practitioner, you turn that blissful experience into non-duality state of mind.
And if you are not a Buddhist practitioner, then you just simply enjoy that. That’s the, my idea and the trick, to bring people to Buddhism more. [haha]
Live with Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche on Wisdom Dharma Chats (12′ 02”)
Perspective on dharma in the modern world – 4th May 2023
To be continued …
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