What does Trikaya mean in Vajrayana Buddhism?

The trikaya is a fundamental doctrine within Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism that delineates the multidimensional nature of a Buddha's existence. This concept posits that a Buddha has three distinct bodies or aspects, each representing a different facet of enlightenment. 

Trikaya (Sanskrit: three bodies), in Mahayana Buddhism, is the concept of the three bodies, or modes of being, of the Buddha: the Dharmakaya (body of essence), the unmanifested mode, and the supreme state of absolute knowledge; the Sambhogakaya (body of enjoyment), the heavenly mode; and the Nirmanakaya (body of transformation). 

Why is Trikaya important? In essence, the Trikaya doctrine offers a profound framework for understanding the diverse dimensions of Buddhahood. It demonstrates how a Buddha can simultaneously exist in multiple realms and embody a spectrum of qualities, guiding practitioners towards liberation and awakening through various aspects of their being.

What is the Trikaya symbol? 

The Gankyil is a symbol and ritual tool in Tibetan Buddhism. In the Bon and Nyingma Dzogchen lineages, the Gankyil is the principal symbol and teaching tool; it is symbolic of primordial energy and represents the central unity and indivisibility of all the teaching, philosophical, and doctrinal trinities in Dzogchen. It is an attribute of the snow lion.

The Gankyil is symbolic of the Trikaya doctrines of Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya. The Gankyil is the Buddhist understanding of the interdependence of the Three Vajras: mind, voice, and body.

Why do they have Trikaya, or the three-body doctrine, in Mahayana Buddhism?

The Trikaya doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism tells us that a Buddha manifests in three different ways. This allows a Buddha to simultaneously be one with the absolute while appearing in the relative world for the benefit of suffering beings.

1) Dharmakaya

The first body is the Dharmakaya, often referred to as the "Dharma body," or ultimate reality. This embodies the essence of enlightenment itself, encompassing concepts like emptiness, Buddha nature, and pure existence beyond material and spiritual forms.

2) Sambhogakaya

The second body, known as the Sambhogakaya, is the "enjoyment body." This aspect represents the divine Buddhas of the Buddha realms and is associated with the blissful and rewarding aspect of Buddhahood. It is considered a manifestation that arises as a result of fulfilling vows and commitments on the spiritual journey. The Sambhogakaya embodies the idea of reaping the benefits of spiritual practice and dwelling in sublime states of realisation.

3) Nirmanakaya

The third body, the Nirmanakaya, is referred to as the "transformation body." This represents the physical appearance of a Buddha in the world. Historical Buddhas like Gautama Buddha are manifestations of the Nirmanakaya, allowing them to interact with and guide sentient beings on their path to enlightenment. This earthly embodiment serves as a bridge between the divine and the human, making the teachings and compassion of a Buddha accessible to those seeking guidance and wisdom.

Donations for our Buddhist research and development

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 14 years. We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

 

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

 

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

 

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

The Six Yogas of Naropa - Phowa (6/6)

 

The Six Yogas of Naropa (Sankirt. Saḍdharma, "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings") are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the Bardo Trang-dol system." Bardo here refers to the three bardos of waking, sleeping, and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Naropa (though not in the traditional literature, which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug). 

The six yogas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require tantric initiation and personal instruction through working with a tantric guru, as well as various preliminary practices. The six yogas work with the subtle body, particularly through the generation of inner heat (tummo) energy.

The six yogas are a main practice of the Kagyu school (and were originally unique to that school), and key Kagyu figures such as Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drugpa, and Jigten Sumgon taught and practiced these yogas. They taught in the Gelugpa lineage and were introduced by Je Tsongkhapa, who received the lineage through his Kagyu teachers. 

Overview of Preliminary Practices - For example, Milarepa is quoted by Tsongkhapa as stating that the first one establishes the basics, "such as refuge in the three jewels and the two aspects of Bodhicitta." Tsongkhapa also quotes poems by Milarepa, which show that he held that one should first practice contemplating the nature of karma, observing the faults of sensuality and samsara, as well as meditate on kindness and Bodhicitta.  

In all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, there are various preliminary practices drawn from the common Mahayana that are prescribed to students before beginning the practice of completion stage yoga (such as taking refuge, Bodhicitta aspiration, guru yoga, deity yoga, and dedication of merit). The details of this depend on the lineage, school, and individual teacher. 

The six yogas of Naropa are meant to be a comprehensive and holistic collection of the completion stage practices of Indian Buddhist tantra. In Kagyu and Gelug, initiation or empowerment into at least one Anuttarayogatantra system (generally Cakrasaṃvara and/or Vajrayogini/Vajravarāhi Tantras) and practice of its Generation Stage are the bases for practice of the six yogas.

The six yogas though variously classified (from just two to up to ten dharmas), the most widely used list of six yogas in the work of the Kagyu school figure Gampopa conforms to the following list: 

*

1) Tummo - The Yoga of inner heat.

2) Osel - The Yoga of luminosity or radiant  light.

3) Milam - The dream Yoga.

4) Gyulu - The Yoga of illusory body.

5) Bardo - The Yoga of intermediate stage.

6) Phowa - The Yoga of transference of consciousness at the time of death.

Phowa - The Yoga of transference of consciousness at the time of death, it is a tantric practice found in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It may be described as "transference of consciousness at the time of death," "mindstream transference," "the practice of conscious dying," or "enlightenment without meditation. In Tibetan Buddhism, phowa is one of the six yogas of Naropa and also appears in many other lineages and systems of teaching.

What is phowa meditation?

Phowa literally means transference. In phowa practice, the consciousness of a person is transferred to enlightenment, or a higher state of being.. It is often practiced or applied by spiritual people at the time of death.

What is the practice of Phowa?

Phowa is a special ceremony to help those who have recently died experience peace of mind after death and be cared for by the Buddha of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara.

What are the benefits of Phowa?

Practicing and studying phowa leads to the purification of the consciousness. Phowa is especially important to release from worldly attachments that can hold the spirit back and offer liberation. It can benefit all sentient beings.

What is the phowa of three recognitions?

Ordinary “phowa of three recognitions"recognition of our central channel as the path; recognition of our consciousness as the traveller; and recognition of the environment of a Buddha realm as the destination.

Lama Thubten Yeshe taught on the subject of phowa that "we have to choose the right time to transfer our consciousness; we’re not allowed to do it at the wrong time because that becomes suicide."

The method can be applied at the moment of death to, according to Vajrayana Buddhist belief, transfer one's consciousness through the top of the head directly into a Buddha-field of one's choice. By so doing, one bypasses some of the typical experiences that are said to occur after death.

Signs of success, The mark of a successful phowa practice is a small drop of blood directly from the centre of the vertex at the top of the head. To demonstrate a successful practice, traditionally, kusha kusha grass was pushed into the small opening created in the fontanel. According to Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö, the “mark of a successful phowa is that after death, there is visible hair loss, a bump, or some yellow liquid seeping around the vertex” at the crown of the head. 

Footnote

For those who have received the empowerment of this Tantric practise, you are reminded not to intentionally or unintentionally disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practise, and disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.

 
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practise! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practise, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
 
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.  

Donations for our Buddhist research and development

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 14 years. We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

 

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

 

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

 

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

The Six Yogas of Naropa - Bardo (5/6)

The Six Yogas of Naropa (Sankirt. Saḍdharma, "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings") are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the Bardo Trang-dol system." Bardo here refers to the three bardos of waking, sleeping, and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Naropa (though not in the traditional literature, which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug). 

The six yogas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require tantric initiation and personal instruction through working with a tantric guru, as well as various preliminary practices. The six yogas work with the subtle body, particularly through the generation of inner heat (tummo) energy.

The six yogas are a main practice of the Kagyu school (and were originally unique to that school), and key Kagyu figures such as Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drugpa, and Jigten Sumgon taught and practiced these yogas. They taught in the Gelugpa lineage and were introduced by Je Tsongkhapa, who received the lineage through his Kagyu teachers. 

Simhamukha Dakini

Overview of Preliminary Practices  

For example, Milarepa is quoted by Tsongkhapa as stating that the first one establishes the basics, "such as refuge in the three jewels and the two aspects of Bodhicitta." Tsongkhapa also quotes poems by Milarepa, which show that he held that one should first practice contemplating the nature of karma, observing the faults of sensuality and samsara, as well as meditate on kindness and Bodhicitta.  

In all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, there are various preliminary practices drawn from the common Mahayana that are prescribed to students before beginning the practice of completion stage yoga (such as taking refuge, Bodhicitta aspiration, guru yoga, deity yoga, and dedication of merit). The details of this depend on the lineage, school, and individual teacher.

The six yogas of Naropa are meant to be a comprehensive and holistic collection of the completion stage practices of Indian Buddhist tantra. In Kagyu and Gelug, initiation or empowerment into at least one Anuttarayogatantra system (generally Cakrasaṃvara and/or Vajrayogini/Vajravarāhi Tantras) and practice of its Generation Stage are the bases for practice of the six yogas.

The six yogas though variously classified (from just two to up to ten dharmas), the most widely used list of six yogas in the work of the Kagyu school figure Gampopa conforms to the following list: 

*

1) Tummo - The Yoga of inner heat.

2) Osel - The Yoga of luminosity or radiant  light.

3) Milam - The dream Yoga.

4) Gyulu - The Yoga of illusory body.

5) Bardo - The Yoga of intermediate stage.

Bardo - The Yoga of intermediate stage, it is called Bardo or Antarabhava in Sanskrit. Bardo is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth. In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol (literally Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State), the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text intended to both guide the recently deceased person through the death bardo to gain a better rebirth and also to help their loved ones with the grieving process.

According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's rebirth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. 

For prepared and appropriately trained individuals, the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality; for others, it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth.

Footnote

For those who have received the empowerment of this Tantric practise, you are reminded not to intentionally or unintentionally disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practise, and disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.
 
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practise! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practise, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
 
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.  

Donations for our Buddhist research and development

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 14 years. We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

 

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

 

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

 

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

 

The Six Yogas of Naropa - Gyulu (4/6)

The Six Yogas of Naropa (Sankirt. Saḍdharma, "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings") are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the Bardo Trang-dol system." Bardo here refers to the three bardos of waking, sleeping, and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Naropa (though not in the traditional literature, which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug). 

The six yogas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require tantric initiation and personal instruction through working with a tantric guru, as well as various preliminary practices. The six yogas work with the subtle body, particularly through the generation of inner heat (tummo) energy.

The six yogas are a main practice of the Kagyu school (and were originally unique to that school), and key Kagyu figures such as Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drugpa, and Jigten Sumgon taught and practiced these yogas. They taught in the Gelugpa lineage and were introduced by Je Tsongkhapa, who received the lineage through his Kagyu teachers. 

Overview of Preliminary Practices  

For example, Milarepa is quoted by Tsongkhapa as stating that the first one establishes the basics, "such as refuge in the three jewels and the two aspects of Bodhicitta." Tsongkhapa also quotes poems by Milarepa, which show that he held that one should first practice contemplating the nature of karma, observing the faults of sensuality and samsara, as well as meditate on kindness and Bodhicitta.  

In all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, there are various preliminary practices drawn from the common Mahayana that are prescribed to students before beginning the practice of completion stage yoga (such as taking refuge, Bodhicitta aspiration, guru yoga, deity yoga, and dedication of merit). The details of this depend on the lineage, school, and individual teacher.

The six yogas of Naropa are meant to be a comprehensive and holistic collection of the completion stage practices of Indian Buddhist tantra. In Kagyu and Gelug, initiation or empowerment into at least one Anuttarayogatantra system (generally Cakrasaṃvara and/or Vajrayogini/Vajravarāhi Tantras) and practice of its Generation Stage are the bases for practice of the six yogas.

The six yogas though variously classified (from just two to up to ten dharmas), the most widely used list of six yogas in the work of the Kagyu school figure Gampopa conforms to the following list: 

*

1) Tummo - The Yoga of inner heat

2) Osel - The Yoga of luminosity or radiant  light

3) Milam - The dream Yoga 

4) Gyulu - The Yoga of illusory body

Gyulu - The Yoga of illusory body  is a term for one of the Six Yogas of Naropa, also called luminosity. In his commentary, Pema Karpo says that the clear light is experienced briefly by all human beings at the very first moment of death, by advanced yogic practitioners in the highest states of meditation, and unceasingly by all Buddhas.

Gyulu of the Illusory Body is a powerful spiritual modality and psychological practice and technique. Gyulu or Gyuma (Tibetan: sgyu-lus or sgyuma) (Sanskrit: mayakaya) comprises one of the Six Yogas. There are many versions and variations of this discipline, but like all tantric sadhana, they have the triunic"outer,", "inner," and "secret" upaya.

Through studying their reflection in the mirror, the practitioner visualises images of their own nondual bodymind. This is a practice for resolving duality in the mystery of nonduality. Gyulu is essentially a type of thoughtform practice where the aspirant works towards realising the illusory, empty, or void nature (shunyata) of samsara and the realm of duality.

The practitioner projects their imaginal self onto the mirror image, identifies this with the sambhogakaya form of their Yidam, and thereby links their mindstream and consciousness with that of the tutelary deity, or yidam. Though a mystery, this association yields the mutual attribution and iteration of the inherent primordial essence-qualities of both the practitioner and the yidam. 

For a practitioner engaged in this practice, their mundane samsaric duality resolves into the mystery of primordial nonduality, or nirvana, while in the body. The fruit of the practice is when the sadhaka views the inherent Buddhahood in all phenomena and beings. When they embody the nirmanakaya, or 'emanation body', the rainbow gankyil, mandala, andbindu,u that is their inherent primordial essence quality. 

Footnote

For those who have received the empowerment of this Tantric practise, you are reminded not to intentionally or unintentionally disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practise, and disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.
 
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practise! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practise, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
 
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.  

Donations for our Buddhist research and development

Do you earnestly cherish our devoted work? Assuming this is the case, we are delighted that you are finding our blog useful and valuable. Would you consider making a donation for our Buddhist research and development?

We need your help to secure the future of scholarly interaction with Buddhism. Since our very first publication of Dharma works and activities in 2008, we have been effortlessly providing free distribution of Dharma posts and articles throughout the previous 14 years. We have exceptionally constrained support and do not receive subsidies or funding from people in general.

 

Please help us develop our Dharma activities that will not only benefit you but all Dharma readers on the planet. Please consider showing your support. Your generosity will certainly help us enhance our work and accomplish more for a better and brighter future.

 

Thank you for reading. May you find peace and great bliss. With your support, it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turn the Dharma wheels in the world.

 

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright on the picture(s).

Picture(s) courtesy and credit to the rightful distributors and/or studios

The picture(s) are intended for editorial use only.

The Six Yogas of Naropa - Milam (3/6)

The Six Yogas of Naropa (Sankirt. Saḍdharma, "Naro's six doctrines" or "six teachings") are a set of advanced Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices compiled by the Indian mahasiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa (1016–1100 CE) and passed on to the Tibetan translator-yogi Marpa Lotsawa (c. 1012).

Another name for the six Dharmas is "the oral instruction transmission for achieving liberation in the bardo," or "the Bardo Trang-dol system." Bardo here refers to the three bardos of waking, sleeping, and dying. They are also referred to as "the path of means" (thabs lam) in Kagyu literature. They are also sometimes called the Six Yogas of Naropa (though not in the traditional literature, which never uses the term ṣaḍaṅga-yoga or sbyor-drug). 

The six yogas are a collection of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices drawn from the Buddhist tantras. They are intended to lead to Buddhahood in an accelerated manner. They traditionally require tantric initiation and personal instruction through working with a tantric guru, as well as various preliminary practices. The six yogas work with the subtle body, particularly through the generation of inner heat (tummo) energy.

The six yogas are a main practice of the Kagyu school (and were originally unique to that school), and key Kagyu figures such as Milarepa, Gampopa, Phagmo Drugpa, and Jigten Sumgon taught and practiced these yogas. They taught in the Gelugpa lineage and were introduced by Je Tsongkhapa, who received the lineage through his Kagyu teachers. 

Overview of Preliminary Practices  

For example, Milarepa is quoted by Tsongkhapa as stating that the first one establishes the basics, "such as refuge in the three jewels and the two aspects of Bodhicitta." Tsongkhapa also quotes poems by Milarepa, which show that he held that one should first practice contemplating the nature of karma, observing the faults of sensuality and samsara, as well as meditate on kindness and Bodhicitta.  

In all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, there are various preliminary practices drawn from the common Mahayana that are prescribed to students before beginning the practice of completion stage yoga (such as taking refuge, Bodhicitta aspiration, guru yoga, deity yoga, and dedication of merit). The details of this depend on the lineage, school, and individual teacher.

The six yogas of Naropa are meant to be a comprehensive and holistic collection of the completion stage practices of Indian Buddhist tantra. In Kagyu and Gelug, initiation or empowerment into at least one Anuttarayogatantra system (generally Cakrasaṃvara and/or Vajrayogini/Vajravarāhi Tantras) and practice of its Generation Stage are the bases for practice of the six yogas.

The six yogas though variously classified (from just two to up to ten dharmas), the most widely used list of six yogas in the work of the Kagyu school figure Gampopa conforms to the following list: 

*

1) Tummo - The Yoga of inner heat

2) Osel - The Yoga of luminosity or radiant  light

3) Milam - The dream Yoga 

“You should know all phenomena are like dreams.” — Shakyamuni Buddha.

Milam - The Dream Yoga or The Yoga of the Dream State is a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu, and Bonpo). Dream yoga consists of tantric processes and techniques within the trance. Bardos of Dream and Sleep (standard Tibetan: mi-lam the bardo)

The Six Yogas of Naropa. In the tradition of the tantra, the dream yoga method is usually passed on by a qualified teacher to his or her students after necessary initiation. Various Tibetan lamas are unanimous that it is more of a passing of an enlightened experience than any textual information.

The first step to dream practice is quite simple: one must recognise the great potential that dreams  holds for the spiritual journey. Normally, the dream is thought to be ‘unreal,’ as opposedto'real'’ waking life.

But there is nothing more real than a dream. This statement only makes sense once it is understood that normal waking life is as unreal as a dream, and in exactly the same way.

What is the goal of dream yoga? 

Dream Yoga is a spiritual practice that aims to help individuals achieve greater lucidity, control, and insight in their dreams.. It is a form of meditation that is practiced while sleeping, with the goal of becoming aware that one is dreaming and learning to control the dream state.

Unless we are Yogis or Yoginis, the closest we are likely to come to an inciteful appreciation of emptiness and the true nature of phenomena might actually be our dreams. The first Karmapa attained enlightenment with dream yoga.

“It is easier to develop your practices in a dream than in the daytime. In the daytime, we are limited to our material body, but in a dream, our function of mind and our consciousness of the senses are unhindered. We can have more clarity. If a person applies a practice within a dream, it is nine times more effective than when it is applied in waking life.” Namkai Norbu Rinpoche (1938 - 2018)

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu (1938–2018) was an internationally renowned scholar of the Nyingma lineage who dedicated his life, prodigious mind, and intellect to becoming a master of the Dzogchen Atiyoga teachings.

In the bardo, one has the  yid lus , the vision body (yid, consciousness; lus, body). It is the same as the body of dreams, the mind body.  

If you’re in a nightmare and you become lucid, relate to your fear instead of running from it. This practice can show you that it’s not the contents of the nightmare that scare you, but your habit of taking the events to be solid and real.

However, lucid dreaming alone will not wake you up in the spiritual sense. If you merely indulge your fantasies, lucid dreaming becomes super-samsara. When intention is involved, even at the level of a dream, karma is created.  

Lucid dreams are not karmically neutral. If you want to go deeper, lucid dreaming can develop into dream yoga, which is when it becomes a spiritual practice. While lucid dreams can create negative karma, dream yoga is designed to purify it. “Yoga” is that which yokes, or unites. Dream yoga is designed to unite you with deeper aspects of your being and is more concerned with self-transcendence.

With dream yoga, instead of using your mind as an entertainment centre, you turn it into a laboratory. You experiment with dream meditations and study your mind using the medium of dreams. For example, one dream yoga practice is to change the objects in your dream.

In The Tibetan Yogas of Dream  and Sleep, “if we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake.”

But, when we sleep, our minds create entire worlds within seconds; a century can pass in a relative minute; we can fly through the sky and meet Buddhas and stunningly beautiful Dakinis; we see monsters from the deepest fictional hells of our mind—and none of it is real. Yet, all of it is as real as we experience in our daily lives.

Lucid participation in your dreams can quickly help us develop insight into duality, into the true nature of phenomena, and into the illusion of appearances in our dualistic “waking” world.

Footnote

For those who have received the empowerment of this Tantric practise, you are reminded not to intentionally or unintentionally disclose the mantra to the public or anyone who may not have the empowerment or permission to practise, and disclosing the mantra intentionally or unintentionally is a form of breaking your Tantric Samaya vows to the lineage masters and Dharma protectors.
 
Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Vajrayana practise! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Vajrayana practise, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind.
 
Vajrayana features countless skillful and powerful methods that, if practised in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practise is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power, or self-interest.  

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Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease.

But increase further and further.

 

Dedication of Merit

By this merit, may we then obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrongdoings

May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

 

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