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Seeker00
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Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

Greetings.

I'm a long time meditator. I am now practicing Mindfulness Meditation as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh. Through the years I have practiced TM, Kundalini Yogic meditations, and Mindfulness of breathing.

Presently, my focus is on Shamatha practices. I'm also working with visualizations from Tsongkhapa's the Six Yogas of Naropa; specifically the Inner Fire section.

I would love to compare notes on meditative experiences.

Peace,
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Grigoris
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Re: Greetings

Post by Grigoris »

Welcome seeker! I didn't know Tsongkhapa had written a commentary on the Six Yogas of Naropa. In the Kagyu tradition these are practiced almost solely within traditional three year retreats. I was wondering: who's your teacher?
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
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Ayu
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Re: Greetings

Post by Ayu »

Welcome, Seeker00.
I had a similar way through different meditation systems over the years. :smile:
gregkavarnos wrote:... I didn't know Tsongkhapa had written a commentary on the Six Yogas of Naropa.
http://atlantic-council.ca/wp-content/d ... 19914.html
:tongue:
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lobster
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Re: Greetings

Post by lobster »

:hi:

hi
Seeker00
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Re: Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

gregkavarnos wrote:Welcome seeker! I didn't know Tsongkhapa had written a commentary on the Six Yogas of Naropa. In the Kagyu tradition these are practiced almost solely within traditional three year retreats. I was wondering: who's your teacher?
:namaste:
There are no teachers in my region. I'm using Lama Yeshe's book 'Inner Fire'. Using Mindfulness/Shamatha as a base, I've been working through the visualizations (slowly) one at a time.

The results have been dynamic and delightful.
Seeker00
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Re: Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

gregkavarnos wrote:Welcome seeker! I didn't know Tsongkhapa had written a commentary on the Six Yogas of Naropa. In the Kagyu tradition these are practiced almost solely within traditional three year retreats. I was wondering: who's your teacher?
:namaste:
The translation of Tsongkhapa's work is written by Glenn Mullin. Clear and concise. I'm focusing on the inner fire section.
Motova
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Re: Greetings

Post by Motova »

Welcome to Dharmawheel!

:popcorn:
To become a rain man one must master the ten virtues and sciences.
Seeker00
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Re: Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

Thanks!
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DNS
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Re: Greetings

Post by DNS »

Welcome to Dharma Wheel!

:meditate:
Seeker00
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Re: Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

Thanks
DGA
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Re: Greetings

Post by DGA »

Hi, Welcome to DharmaWheel!

Does the Glenn Mullin translation you are using make any mention of the role of the teacher in the "inner fire" practice? I've not read it yet, hence my question. Thanks.
Seeker00
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Re: Greetings

Post by Seeker00 »

Jikan wrote:Hi, Welcome to DharmaWheel!

Does the Glenn Mullin translation you are using make any mention of the role of the teacher in the "inner fire" practice? I've not read it yet, hence my question. Thanks.
Yes. However, I've been unsuccessful at finding someone.

I have had great success working through the exercises slowly.
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conebeckham
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Re: Greetings

Post by conebeckham »

Greetings, Seeker-

I just want to say that you can't really practice Tummo merely by reading a book.

I mean no disrespect, and don't mean to antagonize anyone.

I've read Mullin's translation of the Tsong Khapa Six Yogas commentary, as well as Mullin's other writings on Naropa's six yogas. I own them, actually.

In my Kagyu lineage, these practices aren't publically discussed, frankly. They are advanced practices, done in retreat, and only after a considerable amount of "preliminary" practice of various sorts. Even talking of a "session" of Tummo practice, Guru Yoga is essential. I'm pretty sure Mullin writes this, as well. And I also want to point out that these practices are completion stage practices of Highest Yoga Tantra, so one would need at least one Higher Yoga Tantra empowerment from a qualified teacher in order to really practice Six Yogas.

That's not to say whatever you're doing is "bad." It may, in fact, be good and useful. But it's not truly "Tummo" practice.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
DGA
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Re: Greetings

Post by DGA »

Seeker00 wrote: I've been unsuccessful at finding someone.
Keep searching. You will likely need to travel and make serious sacrifices.

I wish you all the best in your practice.
Motova
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Re: Greetings

Post by Motova »

conebeckham wrote:Greetings, Seeker-

I just want to say that you can't really practice Tummo merely by reading a book.

I mean no disrespect, and don't mean to antagonize anyone.

I've read Mullin's translation of the Tsong Khapa Six Yogas commentary, as well as Mullin's other writings on Naropa's six yogas. I own them, actually.

In my Kagyu lineage, these practices aren't publically discussed, frankly. They are advanced practices, done in retreat, and only after a considerable amount of "preliminary" practice of various sorts. Even talking of a "session" of Tummo practice, Guru Yoga is essential. I'm pretty sure Mullin writes this, as well. And I also want to point out that these practices are completion stage practices of Highest Yoga Tantra, so one would need at least one Higher Yoga Tantra empowerment from a qualified teacher in order to really practice Six Yogas.

That's not to say whatever you're doing is "bad." It may, in fact, be good and useful. But it's not truly "Tummo" practice.
I thought it was hazardous and useless (at least in gaining realizations) to do/attempt Tummo (it's visualizations) without a guru. What would be the benefits? What are the risks of doing the visualizations without a guru?
:namaste:
To become a rain man one must master the ten virtues and sciences.
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