Ben Yuan wrote:Does anyone have any information or resources regarding concerns about practicing tantra which involves the central channel and having a curved spine (scoliosis)?
Thank you.
No, I don't have quotes, but I can let you know what I was taught.
Inner body, or "Vajra Body" is to be visualized as perfect.
So our inner Tsa Uma is straight and we are encouraged to sit straight and keep this in mind, however the central channel is not made of flesh and blood, it parallels the spine, so this means that even one with a curved spine may make his/her visual of the straight channel. To remind us of that, we are often told to "sit straight", so we hold ourselves that way the best we can.
The channel and the entire body we think of as being transparent during the visual and so when we deal with this in tantra we are placing our minds in a visualization, we are making everything perfect, this is "transformation", if you are talking about practicing involving central channel, often you are holding a visual within a certain tradition, usually the teacher will be very specific how to do that visualization, and there will be the appropriate empowerments and teachings (explanations) this visual may not correspond at all to what you "look like" at the time, whether it is the "real" condition of our channels at the time of our visualization, or the condition of our physical body at the time of our visualization, the condition of our body at the time is thought of as being "relative" to that particular time and place, and it changes.
Whether we are born with a straight spine or not should not be considered a "limitation" for our visual, there is nothing "wrong" with our Buddha Body, so we are trying to discover that through practice, we are making everything perfect during the visual, we are not making the visual with anything "crooked" just "straight" whether physically it is that way or not.