Discourse – Praxis Thinking

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

On Chakras with emphasis on Manipura

source: wikipedia.org (excerpts from entries: Chakras, Mainpura)

Chakras

A chakra ( Sanskrit, romanized: cakra, lit. ’wheel, circle’; Pali: cakka) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism (Vedic Traditions) and Buddhism.

Etymology

Lexically, chakra is the Indic reflex of an ancestral Indo-European form *kʷékʷlos, whence also “wheel” and “cycle” (Ancient Greek: κύκλος, romanized: kýklos) It has both literal and metaphorical uses, as in the “wheel of time” or “wheel of dharma”, pervasive in the earliest Vedic texts.

In Buddhism, especially in Theravada, the Pali noun cakka connotes “wheel”. Within the Buddhist scriptures referred to as the Tripitaka, Shakyamuni Buddha variously refers the “dhammacakka”, or “wheel of dharma”, connoting that this dharma, universal in its advocacy, should bear the marks characteristic of any temporal dispensation. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of freedom from cycles in and of themselves, whether karmic, reincarnative, liberative, cognitive or emotional.

Overview

The Chakras are part of esoteric ideas and concepts about physiology and psychic centers that emerged across Indian traditions. The belief held that human life simultaneously exists in two parallel dimensions, one “physical body” (sthula sarira) and other “psychological, emotional, mind, non-physical” it is called the “subtle body” (sukshma sarira).^{[26][note 1]} This subtle body is energy, while the physical body is mass. The psyche or mind plane corresponds to and interacts with the body plane, and the belief holds that the body and the mind mutually affect each other. The subtle body consists of nadi (energy channels) connected by nodes of psychic energy called chakra.

Hindu Tantra

Esoteric traditions in Hinduism mention numerous numbers and arrangements of chakras, of which a classical system of six-plus-one, the last being the Sahasrara, is most prevalent

Hindu Tantra associates six Yoginis with six places in the subtle body, corresponding to the six chakras of the six-plus-one system.

Association of six yoginis with chakra locations in the Rudrayamala Tantra:

Place in subtle body	Yogini
1. Muladhara	Dakini
2. Svadhisthana	Rakini
3. Manipura	Lakini
4. Anahata	Kakini
5. Vishuddhi	Shakini
6. Ajna	Hakini

Buddhist Tantra

The esoteric traditions in Buddhism generally teach four chakras. In some early Buddhist sources, these chakras are identified as: manipura (navel), anahata (heart), vishuddha (throat) and ushnisha kamala (crown). In one development within the Nyingma lineage of the Mantrayana of Tibetan Buddhism a popular conceptualization of chakras in increasing subtlety and increasing order is as follows: Nirmanakaya (gross self), Sambhogakaya (subtle self), Dharmakaya (causal self), and Mahasukhakaya (non-dual self).

A system of five chakras is common among the Mother class of Tantras and these five chakras along with their correspondences are:

Basal chakra (Element: Earth, Buddha: Amoghasiddhi, Bija [‘seed’] mantra: LAM)
Abdominal chakra (Element: Water, Buddha: Ratnasambhava, Bija mantra: VAM)
Heart chakra (Element: Fire, Buddha: Akshobhya, Bija mantra: RAM)
Throat chakra (Element: Wind, Buddha: Amitabha, Bija mantra: YAM)
Crown chakra (Element: Space, Buddha: Vairochana, Bija mantra: KHAM)

Chakras play a key role in Tibetan Buddhism, and are considered to be the pivotal providence of Tantric thinking. And, the precise use of the chakras across the gamut of tantric sadhanas gives little space to doubt the primary efficacy of Tibetan Buddhism as distinct religious agency, that being that precise revelation that, without Tantra there would be no Chakras, but more importantly, without Chakras, there is no Tibetan Buddhism. The highest practices in Tibetan Buddhism point to the ability to bring the subtle pranas of an entity into alignment with the central channel, and to thus penetrate the realisation of the ultimate unity, namely, the “organic harmony” of one’s individual consciousness of Wisdom with the co-attainment of All-embracing Love, thus synthesizing a direct cognition of absolute Buddhahood.

Manipura (focus of Inner Fire practice)

Located above the navel, Manipura translates from Sanskrit as “city of jewels” alternatively translated as “resplendent gem” or “lustrous gem”.

Manipura is associated with fire and the power of transformation.

The energies of Prana Vayu and Apana Vayu (inward and outward flowing energy) meet at the point in a balanced system.

Manipura is represented with a downward-pointing red triangle, signifying the tattva of fire, within a bright yellow circle, with 10 dark-blue or black petals like heavily laden rain clouds.

Seed Mantra

The seed mantra is the syllable ‘रं’ (ram). Within the bindu, or dot, above this mantra resides the deity रुद्र Rudra. He is red or white, with three eyes, of ancient aspect with a silver beard, and is smeared with white ashes. Rudra makes the gestures of granting boons and dispelling fear and is seated either on a tiger skin or a bull.

Rudra’s Shakti is the goddess लाकिनी Lakini. She has a black or dark-blue vermilion color; has three faces, each with three eyes; and is four-armed. Lakini holds a thunderbolt, the arrow shot from the bow of काम Kama, and fire. She makes the gestures of granting boons and dispelling fear. Lakini is seated on a red lotus.

Petals

The ten petals of Manipura are dark-blue or black, like heavily laden rain clouds, with the syllables डं, ढं, णं, तं, थं, दं, धं, नं, पं and फं (ḍaṁ, ḍhaṁ, ṇaṁ, taṁ, thaṁ, daṁ, dhaṁ, naṁ, paṁ, and phaṁ) upon them in a dark-blue color. These petals correspond to the vrittis of spiritual ignorance, thirst, jealousy, treachery, shame, fear, disgust, delusion, foolishness and sadness.

The petals represent the ten Prānas (currents and energy vibrations) that are regulated by the Manipūra Chakra. The five Prāna Vayus are: Prāna, Apāna, Udāna, Samāna And Vyāna. The five Upa Prānas are: Nāga, Kūrma, Devadatta, Krikala and Dhananjaya.

In the Vajrayana

In Vajrayana traditions, the chakra is triangular, red and has 64 petals or channels that extend upwards. This chakra is important as the seat of the ‘red drop’. The short syllable ‘Ah’ is located inside the ‘red drop’.

Meditation on ‘Ah’ is the key component of the practice of tummo, or inner heat. In tummo, a practitioner’s ‘subtle winds’ are made to enter the central channel, and rise up to its top. This is sometimes compared to ‘Raising the kundalini’ in Hindu terminology, melting the subtle white drop in the crown, and causing an experience of great bliss. ‘Raising the kundalini’ is considered the first and most important of the six yogas of Naropa.

Manipura chakra is shown as having ten petals, bearing the Sanskrit letters ḍa, *ḍha*, ṇa, ta, *tha*, da, *dha*, na, pa, and *pha*. The seed sound in the centre is *raṃ*. The tattva for the element of Fire is shown (here in outline) as a red triangle.

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

Empty Body Meditation

From “The Bliss of Inner Fire: Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa”
By Lama Yeshe
Part Four: Awaking the Vajra Body
Chapter 13: Channels and Chakras
Herein excerpts from subsection on “Sitting”

Inner fire meditation (one of the Six Yogas of Naropa) enables the yogi or yogini to absorb all the energy-winds into the central channel, generate the four joys, and thus experience simultaneously born great blissful wisdom. This process leads to the union of the illusory body and clear light, and finally to full enlightenment.

One of the first practical steps we need to take to achieve this result is to learn about the structure of the vajra body, especially of the channels and chakras. We have to visualize them in meditation until we are totally familiar with them.

To prepare for visualizing the channels and chakras, we need to visualize our body as hollow, or empty. This meditation is simple but very important. When you do it well, there is less chance of experiencing difficulties later when you investigate the channels and chakras. First, however, I will discuss how to sit properly.

Tantra simply uses the natural resources of your body; it follows your own natural play of energy.

Correct body posture is very important during inner fire meditation.

Cross your legs into the full-lotus position.

Completion stage practices should be done in this position.

Your spine should be straight and your head bent slightly forward.

Half close your eyes, without focusing on anything, and look toward the tip of your nose. However, if your mind is very distracted and you cannot quiet it, you may find it helpful to close your eyes. Place the tip of your tongue against your palate just behind your front teeth, with your lower jaw relaxed. Your shoulders should be held back straight, not hunched forward. Your hands should be placed below your navel in the mudra of concentration, with the right one on top of the left and with your thumbs touching to form a triangle.

Visualize the main channels and chakras

…

Terms:

central channel. The most important of the thousands of channels of the subtle body. During inner fire meditation it is visualized as blue, as running just in front of the spine, and as starting at the brow chakra and ending four finger-widths below the navel.

clear light. Very subtle mind; the fourth empty; also refers to the object, emptiness, of the clear light mind; one of the Six Yogas of Naropa. This subtlest state of mind occurs naturally at death, for example, and through successful practice of inner fire, and is used by yogis and yoginis to realize nonduality. When achieved through meditation, this initial clear light is then perfected, becoming the actual clear light, which is unified with the pure illusory body to bring the accomplishment of enlightenment. See also four empties.

chakras (Skt). Literally, wheels. Formed by the branching of channels at various points along the central channel, the six main chakras are at the brow, crown, throat, heart, navel, and sex organ. The navel chakra is the primary focus during inner fire meditation.

channels. The 72,000 energy channels of the body, which, with the airs and the kundalini, constitute the subtle body, and which are worked with in such practices as inner fire.

four empties. Four subtle types of consciousness-the minds of white appearance, red increase, black near-attainment, and clear light- which occur naturally at death, for example, or as a result of successful inner fire meditation when the airs have absorbed in the central channel. These subtle minds are used by the yogi or yogini to realize nonduality.

four joys. Four blisses. Bliss consciousnesses generated by the yogi or yogini after the airs have absorbed in the central channel and heat has been generated through successful inner fire meditation, causing the kundalini at the crown to melt. It flows down the central channel to the throat, heart, navel, and secret chakras, culminating in the fourth joy, known as simultaneously born bliss. The four joys of the reverse order are experienced when the kundalini is brought back up through the chakras to the crown.

hatha yoga (Skt). The physical exercises known as the Six Magical Wheels taught in the Six Yogas of Naropa. These help the practitioner to succeed in inner fire meditation by removing the blockages that impede the flow of the energies in the channels. (I) vase breathing; (2) rotating like a wheel; (3) bending the body like a hook; (4) the mudra of “vajra binding,” throwing up in the air and dropping down; (5) straightening the spine like an arrow in the manner of a vomiting dog; and (6) shaking the entire body and stretching the body and joints to enable a smooth flow of blood in the arteries.

illusory body. A body made of subtle air energies in the form of a deity but white in color; one of the Six Yogas of Naropa. The yogi or yogini arises in an impure illusory body immediately after their initial experience of clear light and in a pure illusory body after the achievement of the actual clear light.

inner fire. In Tibetan, tummo; literally, brave female. This is the first of the Six Yogas of Naropa. A completion stage tantric meditation technique for bringing all the airs into the central channel, thus awakening the clear light mind. If successfully accomplished, the process can lead to enlightenment in one lifetime.

subtle body. Vajra body. The system of channels, airs, and kundalini drops within a human body.

subtle mind. The conceptual states of mind, such as anger, desire, and so forth.

Winds; energy-winds; vital energies; airs. Subtle energies that flow in the channels of the body, which enable the body to function and which are associated with the different levels of mind.

May 12, 2025May 13, 2025

C.G. Jung on “THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD”

PSYCHOLOGICAL COMMENTARY ON “THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD”
(excerpts from)
By C.G. Jung

Herein bolded and indented: quotes by Jung from “The Tibetan Book of the Dead“, or “The After-Death Experience on the ‘Bardo’ Plane”, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s English rendering, edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz.

I do not think I could better discharge my debt of thanks to the two previous translators of the Bardo Thödol, the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup and Dr. Evans-Wentz, than by attempting, with the aid of a psychological commentary, to make the magnificent world of ideas and the problems contained in this treatise a little more intelligible to the Western mind. I am sure that all who read this book with open eyes, and who allow it to impress itself upon them without prejudice, will reap a rich reward… the Bardo Thödol has been my constant companion, and to it I owe not only many stimulating ideas and discoveries, but also many fundamental insights.

The Bardo Thödol offers one an intelligible philosophy addressed to human beings. Its philosophy contains the quintessence of Buddhist psychological criticism; and, as such, one can truly say that it is of an unexampled sublimity.

“Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood and knowing it at the same time to be thine own consciousness, thou shalt abide in the state of the divine mind of the Buddha.”

Such an assertion is, I fear, as unwelcome to [the] Western philosophy as it is to [its] theology. The Bardo Thödol is in the highest degree psychological in its outlook; but, [within the Western traditions], philosophy and theology are still in the medieval, pre-psychological stage where only the assertions are listened to, explained, defended, criticized and disputed, while the authority that makes them has, by general consent, been deposed as outside the scope of discussion.

“Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light-Buddha Amitäbha.”

The soul is assuredly not small, but the radiant Godhead itself. The West finds this statement either very dangerous, if not downright blasphemous, or else accepts it unthinkingly and then suffers from a theosophical inflation.…if we can master ourselves far enough to refrain from our chief error of always wanting to do something with things and put them to practical use, we may perhaps succeed in learning an important lesson from these teachings, or at least in appreciating the greatness of the Bardo Thödol, which vouchsafes to the [dying] the ultimate and highest truth, that even the gods are the radiance and reflection of our own souls.

It is highly sensible of the Bardo Thödol to make clear to the [dying] the primacy of the psyche, for that is the one thing which life does not make clear to us. We are so hemmed in by things which jostle and oppress that we never get a chance, in the midst of all these “given” things, to wonder by whom they are “given.” It is from this world of “given” things that the [dying] liberates themself; and the purpose of the instruction is to help them towards this liberation. We, if we put ourselves in the place [of the dying], we shall derive no lesser reward from it, since we learn from the very first paragraphs that the “giver” of all “given” things dwells within us. This is a truth which in the face of all evidence, in the greatest things as in the smallest, is never known, although it is often so very necessary, indeed vital, for us to know it.

The Bardo Thödol is, an initiation process whose purpose it is to restore to the soul the divinity it lost at birth.

There are, and always have been, those who cannot help but see that the world and its experiences are in the nature of a symbol, and that it really reflects something that lies hidden in the subject themself, in their own transubjective [psychic] reality. It is from this profound intuition, according to lamaist doctrine¹, that the Chönyid state derives its true meaning, which is why the Chönyid Bardo is entitled “The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality.”

The supreme vision comes not at the end of the Bardo, but right at the beginning, at the moment of death; what happens afterward is an ever-deepening descent into illusion and obscuration, down to the ultimate degradation of new physical birth. The spiritual climax is reached at the moment when life ends. Human life, therefore, is the vehicle of the highest perfection it is possible to attain; it alone generates the karma that makes it possible for the [dying] to abide in the perpetual light of the Voidness without clinging to any object, and thus to rest on the hub of the wheel of rebirth, freed from all illusion of genesis and decay. Life in the Bardo brings no eternal rewards or punishments, but merely a descent into a new life which shall bear the individual nearer to his final goal. But this eschatological goal is what he himself brings to birth as the last and highest fruit of the labours and aspirations of earthly existence. This view is not only lofty, it is heroic.

It is an undeniable fact that the whole book is created out of the archetypal contents of the unconscious.

The world of gods and spirits is truly “nothing but” the collective unconscious inside [one]. To turn this sentence round so that it reads “The collective unconscious is the world of gods and spirits outside me,” no intellectual acrobatics are needed, but a whole human lifetime, perhaps even many lifetimes of increasing completeness. Notice that I do not say “of increasing perfection,” because those who are “perfect” make another kind of discovery altogether.

…

Notes and Terms

¹ lamaist doctrine, Jung’s reference to Tibetan Buddhism

Bar do thos grol chen mo, (Bardo Tödröl Chenmo). In Tibetan, “Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State.” It is a section of large cycle of mortuary texts entitled “The Profound Doctrine of Self-Liberation of the Mind [through Encountering] the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities” (Zab chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol)

bar do. In Tibetan, literally “between two”; often translated as “intermediate state”; the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit ANTARĀBHAVA, the intermediate state between death and rebirth.

Amitābha. (Tibetian ’Od dpag med/Snang ba mtha’ yas). In Sanskrit, “Limitless Light,”

May 10, 2025May 11, 2025

Songs of, MILAREPA AT JUNPAN NANKA TSANG

From “The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa”
Translated by Garma C.C. Chang.

[herein selections from Milarepa’s songs to his patrons of Junpan Nanka Tsang]

Oh, good patrons,
Pray follow my Path and my example;
Abandon evil, and practice good deeds.
Spontaneously from my heart
I give you this instruction.

“The essential instructions on the View, Meditation, and Action“

The grace of my Guru enters my heart;
Pray help me to realize the truth of the Void!

In answer to my faithful patrons,
I sing to please the Deities and Buddhas:

Manifestation, the Void, and Non-differentiation,
These three are the quintessence of the View.

Illumination, Non-thought, and Non-distraction
Are the quintessence of the Meditation.

Non-clinging, Non-attachment, and complete Indifference
Are the quintessence of the Action.

No Hope, no Fear, and no Confusion
Are the quintessence of Accomplishment.

Non-attempt, Non-hiding, and Non-discrimination,
These three are the quintessence of the Precept.

[subsequently]

I bow down at the feet of my Guru.

Deep in the forest by man untrod,
I, Milarepa, happily practice meditation.

With no attachment and no clinging,
Walking and tranquility are both pleasing.

Free from sickness and disorder, I willingly sustain this body of illusion;
Never sleeping, I sit in the comfort of quietude.

Abiding in the Samädhi of Non-permanence, I taste enjoyment.
Continuance in Heat-Yoga without cold is indeed felicitous.

With no cowardliness or dismay,
Joyfully I follow the Tantric practice;
With no effort I perfect the cultivation;
With no distraction whatsoever,
Remaining in solitude, I am truly happy.
These are the pleasures of the body.

Happy is the path of both Wisdom and Means!
Happy the Yoga of Arising and Perfecting; the meditation of the Two-in-One.
Happy the Prajna; the awareness of no-coming-and-going!
Happy the absence of talk; no friends and no chatting!
These are the pleasures of words.

Happy is the understanding of Non-grasping;
Happy the meditation without interruption;
Happy the accomplishment without hope or fear;
Happy the action done without defilement.
These are the pleasures of Mind.

Happy is the illumination with no thought and no mutation!
Happy the great bliss in the purity of Dharmadhätu!
Happy the Non-ceasing Realm of Form!

This little song of great happiness
That flows freely from my heart,
Is inspired by meditation,
By the merging of act and knowledge.
Those who aim at the fruit of Bodhi
May follow this way of yogic practice.

“The Twelve Meanings of Mind”

I bow down at the feet of my Guru.

Oh good patrons! If you wish to realize the Essence of Mind,
You should practice the following teachings:
Faith, knowledge, and discipline,
These three are the Life-Tree of Mind.
This is the tree you should plant and foster.

Non-attachment, non-clinging, and non-blindness,
These three are the shields of Mind;
They are light to wear, strong for defense,
And the shields you should seek.

Meditation, diligence, and perseverance,
These three are the horses of Mind;
They run fast and quickly flee!
If you look for horses, these are the right ones.

Self-awareness, self-illumination, and self-rapture,
These three are the fruits of Mind;
Sow the seeds, ripen the fruit,
Refine the fluid, and the essence emerges.
If you look for fruit, these are the fruit you should seek.

Sprung from yogic intuition,
This song of the Twelve Meanings of Mind is sung.
Inspired by your faith, continue with your practice, my good patrons!

Milarepa then decided to go to Yolmo Snow Range.

Continue reading “Songs of, MILAREPA AT JUNPAN NANKA TSANG”

May 8, 2025May 11, 2025

First Principle

“Let those who desire enlightenment not train in many teachings but only one.
Which one? Great compassion.
Those with great compassion possess all the teachings as if in the palm of their hand.”

From “Words of my Perfect Teacher” part 2, chapter 2

May 6, 2025May 6, 2025

Nobel Tara Recollections

from “Skillful Grace: Tara Practice for Our Times”
By Tulka Urgyen Rinpoche & Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche
ch. titled “Anutttara Yoga”
Section “The Main Part”
Herein, in part: On the Symbolic purity of Pure Recollection

Pure recollection, has two aspects: symbolic purity and true purity.

Symbolic purity is as follows: The single face of Tara symbolizes that all phenomena are of one taste, which is suchness. The two arms are the unity of means and knowledge, prajaña (“wisdom”) and upaya (“skillful-means”). The extended right leg means not dwelling in the extreme of passive nirvana, while the bent left leg represents transcending samsaric existence. Because she manifests as the chief figure of the all-accomplishing wisdom family [of Amoghasiddhi], her bodily form is of green color.

She has a peacefully smiling, compassionate expression, symbolizing her loving passion for sentient beings. Her right hand is in the gesture of supreme giving, symbolizing the bestowal of siddhi to the practitioner, or to anyone who wants to practice this. The left is in the gesture of giving protection, which symbolizes bestowing fearlessness to sentient beings. She holds the blue utpala flower, which symbolizes her unimpeded activity.

The hair tied up on the top of her head with the remnant flowing freely down her back symbolizes that all virtuous qualities are fully perfected as well as her acceptance of other beings. The silken garments and leggings symbolize being utterly liberated from the torment of negative emotions.

The jewel ornaments represent wearing the wisdoms as adornment, without rejecting sense-pleasures. The bone ornaments of the six types symbolize having fully perfected the six paramitas. Being in union with the consort Supreme Vajra Steed symbolizes the unity of skillful means as great bliss, indivisible from the manifest aspect of wisdom that is utterly unchanging.

May 5, 2025May 5, 2025

Beyond Notions

“Nothing is that does not have a cause;
And nothing is existent in its causes
Taken one by one or in the aggregate.”

“Bodhicharyāvatāra” verse: 141
by Shantideva

May 3, 2025May 3, 2025

On Practice of Smile Yoga

smile (verb): form one’s features into a pleased, kind, or amused expression.

“Bodhicharyāvatāra”
by Shantideva
Chapter 5, Attentiveness:

71.
Be the master of yourself
And have an ever-smiling countenance.
Rid yourself of scowling, wrathful frowns,
And be a true and honest friend to all.

“The Bodhisattva Guide”
commentary by H.H. The Dalai Lama:

“True practitioners are unaffected by external pressures and their own emotions, and they are free to secure the temporary and ultimate benefit of both themselves and others. They remain independent, fear nothing, and are never at odds with themselves. Always peaceful, they are friendly with all, and everything they say is helpful. Wherever we go, let us be humble and avoid being noisy or bossy. Let us not hurt other people’s feelings or cause them to act negatively. Rather, let us be friendly and think well of others, encouraging them to accumulate positive actions….”

“Whatever we say, let us speak clearly and to the point, in a voice that is calm and pleasant, unaffected by attachment or hatred. Look kindly at others, thinking, it is thanks to them that I shall attain Buddhahood.”

Sustain and breathe…

April 27, 2025April 27, 2025

Dhyāna (mediative absorption)

dhyāna. (Pali: jhāna; Tibetan: bsam gtan; Chinese: chan/chanding; Japanese: zen/zenjō; Korean: sŏn/sŏnjŏng 禪/禪定). In Sanskrit, “meditative absorption,” specific meditative practices during which the mind temporarily withdraws from external sensory awareness and remains completely absorbed in an ideational object of meditation. The term can refer both to the practice that leads to full absorption and to the state of full absorption itself. Dhyāna involves the power to control the mind and does not, in itself, entail any enduring insight into the nature of reality; however, a certain level of absorption is generally said to be necessary in order to prepare the mind for direct realization of truth, the destruction of the afflictions (KLEŚA), and the attainment of liberation (VIMUKTI).

Dhyāna is classified into two broad types:

meditative absorption associated with the realm of subtle materiality (RŪPĀVACARADHYĀNA)
meditative absorption of the immaterial realm (ĀRŪPYĀVACARADHYĀNA).

Each of these two types is subdivided into four stages or degrees of absorption, giving a total of eight stages of dhyāna. The four absorptions of the realm of subtle materiality are characterized by an increasing attenuation of consciousness as one progresses from one stage to the next.

The deepening of concentration leads the meditator temporarily to allay the five hindrances (NĪVARAṆA) and to put in place the five constituents of absorption (DHYĀNĀṄGA).

The five hindrances are:

sensuous desire (KĀMACCHANDA), which hinders the constituent of one-pointedness of mind (EKĀGRATĀ)
malice (VYĀPĀDA), hindering physical rapture (PRĪTI)
sloth and torpor (STYĀNA-MIDDHA), hindering applied thought (VITARKA)
restlessness and worry (AUDDHATYA-KAUKṚTYA), hindering mental ease (SUKHA)
skeptical doubt (VICIKITSĀ), hindering sustained thought (VICĀRA).

These hindrances thus specifically obstruct one of the specific factors of absorption and, once they are allayed, the first level of the subtle-materiality dhyānas will be achieved. In the first dhyāna, all five constituents of dhyāna are present; as concentration deepens, these gradually fall away, so that in the second dhyāna, both types of thought vanish and only prīti, sukha, and ekāgratā remain; in the third dhyāna, only sukha and ekāgratā remain; and in the fourth dhyāna, concentration is now so rarified that only ekāgratā is left.

Detailed correlations appear in meditation manuals describing specifically which of the five spiritual faculties (INDRIYA) and seven constituents of enlightenment (BODHYAṄGA) serves as the antidote to which hindrance. Mastery of the fourth absorption of the realm of subtle materiality is required for the cultivation of the supranormal powers (ABHIJÑĀ) and for the cultivation of the four ārūpyāvacaradhyānas, or meditative absorptions of the immaterial realm. The immaterial absorptions themselves represent refinements of the fourth rūpāvacaradhyāna, in which the “object” of meditation is gradually attenuated.

The four immaterial absorptions instead are named after their respective objects:

the sphere of infinite space (ĀKĀŚĀNANTYĀYATANA)
the sphere of infinite consciousness (VIJÑĀNĀNANTYĀYATANA)
the sphere of nothingness (ĀKIÑCANYĀYATANA)
the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception (NAIVASAṂJÑĀNĀSAṂJYYATANA).

Mastery of the subtle-materiality realm absorptions can also result in rebirth as a divinity (DEVA) in the subtle-materiality realm, and mastery of the immaterial absorptions can lead to rebirth as a divinity in the immaterial realm. Dhyāna occurs in numerous lists of the constituents of the path, appearing, for example, as the fifth of the six perfections (PĀRAMITĀ).

from: “The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism”

April 24, 2025May 11, 2025

Understanding Nobel Lady Tara

from “Tara’s Enlightened Activity”
by Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Palden Sherab
Part One “Nobel Lady Tara in Tibetan Buddhist Life“
subsection “Understanding Tara at the Ultimate Level” excerpts herein

Emanations

TARA AS THE ULTIMATE MOTHER

At all levels, from the Hinayana up through the Vajrayana, Buddha Shakyamuni used the language of the Great Mother to explain the ultimate true nature. In fact, at their core, all the teachings of the buddhas are none other than explanations of the nature of the Mother. She is given several different titles, such as Mother of all the Buddhas and Mother of all Samsara and Nirvana.

The ultimate nature is correctly described as our true Mother because she is that which gives birth to and develops our own enlightened mind. For a long time our obscured minds have been distanced from our original nature. Therefore, we wander in samsara lost and confused.

Buddha is the one who really points out the way back home and reintroduces us to our own true Mother.

Until now we have been distracted and separated from the recognition of absolute reality, the Mother true nature.

Throughout the sutras and tantras of the Mahayana Prajnaparamita and the Dzogchen, the Buddha taught that we must reconnect ourselves with this Mother. In her ultimate state she is none other than the tathagatagarbha [‘Buddha nature’ (Tib. kham / rig)].

THE MOTHER’S INFINITE EMANATIONS

Joy, peace, and enlightenment will come when we reconnect ourselves with our true nature. To provide the opportunity for beings to do this, the Mother herself has emanated in many different sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya forms.

The specific practice we are discussing is called the Twenty-one Praises to Tara. Here we see twenty-one different Taras, with different names, colors, and so forth… The number twenty-one has specific symbolic meanings. At the basic level the Buddha taught twenty-one techniques with which we may work to attain enlightenment.

According to the Mahayana sutra system, as we practice we traverse the ten different levels, or bhumis, eventually reaching the enlightened state. The basis for our enlightenment is right where we find ourselves now, with the precious endowment of our own human body and our own buddha-nature.

Vajrayana, or tantra, is similar to the sutra system, but its methods are more specifically targeted. According to tantric teaching, within this human body we have twenty-one different knots. These are in pairs and they obstruct or block our channels. Through practice, as we release each of these pairs of knots, we obtain a specific experience or realization. After we have released all of the twenty-one knots, we are known as enlightened beings, having attained buddhahood.

Of course, buddhahood is not some force that is outside us, waiting for the knots to be untied in order to come in. From basic Buddhism all the way to Dzogchen, it is made perfectly clear that buddhahood is an innate state, already within us. Our inherently awakened state is an already enlightened being, a buddha, the tathagatagarbha. When we release those twenty-one knots, we attain the ultimate awakening known as the dharmakaya state.

The dharmakaya, in turn, has twenty-one spontaneously inherent qualities. They transcend duality, the compounded state, permanence and impermanence, and effort or striving. Unceasingly they arise as necessary for the benefit of all sentient beings. These twenty-one active dharmakaya qualities appear as the twenty-one emanations of Tara.

Thus Tara combines all the active energies of the three kayas by which we release our own knots and those of other beings, the energy by which we achieve enlightenment and help other beings to achieve it.

TARA AND THE WISDOM DAKINI

As the embodiment of enlightened energy, Tara is inseparable from the wisdom dakini [ ‘Sky-goer’ (Skt. ḍākinī; Tib. khandroma)]… An expanded meaning of dikini would be “the activity of love and compassion, full of strength, moving freely in the wisdom space.

As we turn our attention to the wisdom dakini nature of Tara, this will bring us into a consideration of the deep meaning of the true nature of our minds and of reality. When we begin to study and practice and we start looking beyond externals to internal levels, we know intellectually there will be much to discover. Initially we can’t penetrate deeper levels very well because our present consciousness and senses are deluded by habitual patterns of conceptual and dualistic thinking.

No matter how carefully and openly we try to look and think about things, our view is always partial, limited. That’s just how our mental habits have developed. Of course, what we’re able to see now, limited though it is, seems to fulfill our everyday needs so we don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.

But then, inspired by the teachings, we do try to look deeper. At first we find we’re unable to perceive any reality beyond our habitual pattern, even though we have adequate eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mental capacities. The perceptions of our six senses are trapped by our old attitudes of partiality and limitation. We’re always setting up rules and mental boundaries. Once we start to take note, we’ll see that we entrap ourselves in every direction with a web of concepts. Skillful and determined practice is needed in order to break the pattern and see beyond. Once that happens, our wisdom mind sees the true nature of reality as vastness from which arises an unceasing display of dynamic forms called the display of the mandala of the wisdom dakinis.

That’s why the great masters teach about developing the openness state symbolized by the dakin’s third eye. Her third eye, or wisdom mind, sees beyond duality. For the wisdom mind there are no boundaries or limitations. For example, an individual with the realization of the wisdom mind makes no distinction between past, present, and future. All are seen in one instant.

Our wisdom must be developed inwardly; it has nothing to do with external conditions. Our dualistic minds have also developed inwardly; we are internally obscured. The mind’s true nature is always buddha-nature and its experience is perfect joy and peace.

This understanding will develop according to our stage of realization. To the extent that we cleanse our minds of habitual patterns, we become more able to see the clear image of absolute truth. …As we gradually clear out our internal habitual patterns, our understanding becomes clear.

Realizations come only if we practice joyfully, with confidence and courage. Realization doesn’t grow within a timid or weak state of mind — it blossoms in the mind free of doubt and hesitation. Realization is fearless. When we see the true nature of reality, there’s nothing hidden, nothing left to fear. At last we’re seeing reality as it is, full of joy and peace.

Our habitual patterns can only be removed by understanding the great emptiness aspect of true nature, that which is named the Mother of all the buddhas. Emptiness is freedom; emptiness is great opportunity. It is pervasive and all phenomena arise from it. As the great master Jigme Lingpa said, “The entire universe is the mandala of the dakini.” The Mother’s mandala is all phenomena, the display of the wisdom dakini.

Without this ultimate great emptiness, the Mother of the buddhas, the universe would be without movement, development, or change.

Because of this great emptiness state of the Mother, we see phenomena continually arising. Each display arises, transforms, and radiates, fulfilling its purpose and then dissolving back into its original state. This dramatic dance of energy is the activity, ability, or mandala of the wisdom dakini. Thus, the combination of the great emptiness or openness state, together with the activities of love and compassion, is both the ultimate Mother and the ultimate wisdom dakini.

This ultimate nature of reality is not separate from the nature of the mind. We should not disconnect them. When we look into our own mind, we see that it’s also based on this great emptiness wisdom state.

We won’t find anything substantially existing because this Mother is beyond conceptions and habit patterns. Yet our thoughts and conceptions, which are mental phenomena, continually arise from the mind’s true nature, each thought fulfilling its own purpose, then dissolving back into the original state. There are no solid entities at all, just an unceasing display of dynamic form; as it is called for, it appears. That is how mind is the display of the mandala of the wisdom dakinis.

Try not to spoil this arising energy of love and compassion of the wisdom dakini with ego-clinging. Ego is duality; ego-clinging or grasping is an obscuration that disturbs the radiating energy of the wisdom dakini. It also disturbs our practice, so we must try to release it, or at least ease it, by developing more love, compassion, and openness. This is the essence of Dzogchen and of the Buddhadharma.

DEEPENING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EMPTINESS

[Emptiness] is a state full of freedom and opportunity. It is the pervasive nature of every external and internal sense object and the source of every outer and inner display. As the Heart Sutra says, “Emptiness is form; form is emptiness. Emptiness is none other than form; form is none other than emptiness.” Furthermore, emptiness is the source of our minds. Mind resides totally within this great emptiness state. Try as we might, we cannot grasp our own mind. That is as useless as grasping at the sky.