Online videos of Tummo

Discussion of meditation in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.
eddie martin
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:53 pm

Online videos of Tummo

Post by eddie martin »

Hi,is it safe to learn Tummo from video instruction's?Like this one for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUQ-SV092GM
KonchokZoepa
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by KonchokZoepa »

i don't think you can learn it properly from that video but you can buy this book on tummo by Lama Yeshe

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bliss-Inner-F ... inner+fire
If the thought of demons
Never rises in your mind,
You need not fear the demon hosts around you.
It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned,
there are neither buddhas or demons.
He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue,
will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion.
Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

-Milarepa

OMMANIPADMEHUNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6P9tOYmdo
eddie martin
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Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 10:53 pm

Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by eddie martin »

Thanks Konchokzoepa
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conebeckham
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by conebeckham »

You can't learn tummo from books, videos, etc.

You can get an idea, surely. But you really need to find a teacher and train under his or her instruction.
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")
KonchokZoepa
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Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by KonchokZoepa »

I'm sure you can learn the basic tummo practice from a book from Lama Yeshe, why would he write instructions and practices on/for tummo if not to make the disciples taste the experience of tummo. Garchen Rinpoche has also a practice on the internet that is a tummo practice.
If the thought of demons
Never rises in your mind,
You need not fear the demon hosts around you.
It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned,
there are neither buddhas or demons.
He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue,
will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion.
Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

-Milarepa

OMMANIPADMEHUNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6P9tOYmdo
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conebeckham
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Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by conebeckham »

First-
the video "The Yogis of Tibet" which is referenced by the original poster does show "Trulkhor" or physical yoga exercises relating to the Six Yogas of Naropa. These do relate to Tummo practice. They are not, however, tummo practice.

Second-
Lama Yeshe's book is a great book, and it presents Tummo as practiced and understsood in the Geluk lineage, based on the Naropa's lineage, as filtered through Tsong Khapa's commentaries. It is really a transcript of teachings given to students. If you read it, you will note there are pre-requisite practices for tummo. You'll also notice that there are several places where the author's wish is that a student who is inspired by the text will search out a master and receive transmission in person.

I can only say that, with this sort of practice, this personal transmission is really essential. You can read the book, watch the video, and try to do the prayers, visualizations, breathing exercises, and physical exercises yourself, of course. You may have some experience, even....or you may get bored, or dizzy, or try a "Beb" and hurt yourself in jumping up and down, trying to land in lotus position.

If you really want to learn and practice tummo in a meaningful way, you need a master's personal transmission, and some supervision, at least initially. But, after all, I too am just some guy on the internet, so..... :shrug:
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")
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bryandavis
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by bryandavis »

If you are a student of Gar Rinpoche, and have recived the empowerments that allow you to practice winds, channels, and drops, as in the full four empowerments, then if you get the teachings from him, or study his teaching on the subject available the would be a good start.

Lama yehse did not write the book with the intention of it being a practice guide marketed for mass consumtion, it is a transcription of his teachings to students who had been studying with him for a good amount of time and was aimed at that audience. a great source of info none the less. very valube to have in my opinon

all the best

bryan .
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bryandavis
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by bryandavis »

Looks like Cone and I almost posted at the same time on that:)
KonchokZoepa
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Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by KonchokZoepa »

yah Cone, i agree with what you say. nonetheless this book can get you started.
If the thought of demons
Never rises in your mind,
You need not fear the demon hosts around you.
It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned,
there are neither buddhas or demons.
He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue,
will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion.
Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

-Milarepa

OMMANIPADMEHUNG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6P9tOYmdo
krodha
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Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:30 pm

Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by krodha »

KonchokZoepa wrote:I'm sure you can learn the basic tummo practice from a book from Lama Yeshe, why would he write instructions and practices on/for tummo if not to make the disciples taste the experience of tummo. Garchen Rinpoche has also a practice on the internet that is a tummo practice.
Books which feature an explanation of the sadhāna are supposed to be supplementary reference material for those who have received transmission and instruction from a qualified guru. Sure we're all grown adults and people can (and will) do as they please, but it is strongly advised that aspirants seek intimate instruction for practices such as tummo. Especially due to the fact that tummo is an energy practice which is working directly with rlung [skt. prāna] via drag rlung, kumbhaka and so on. The various extended holds, contractions, postures, specific breathing techniques etc. can be dangerous if executed improperly.

Plus there are various signs to watch out for, primarily the winds congregating in specific areas, which if is not addressed, adjusted and/or compensated for, can produce myriad imbalances and disorders of the winds. This is why one will generally receive tsa rlung instruction as well. In addition if the individual is lacking steady one pointed concentration (extended engagement, placement, stabilization etc.) the associated visualizations aren't going to work. Not to mention that tummo is generally a retreat type practice, and will most likely not issue the same results for someone who is only dabbling in it for an hour (give or take) a day.

There's no problem with reading about tummo and familiarizing with the practice, so that when the opportunity arises to receive instruction you can ask questions and get clarifications. But the text or video instruction alone are insufficient, in my opinion at least, the living transmission (from the qualified guru) should be sought out above all else.
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conebeckham
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by conebeckham »

what he said ^

I forgot to mention that most important point, about retreat and extended practice. Thanks. In fact, if you watch the whole "Yogis of Tibet" video, if I recall, the narrator says the yogi featured spends 5 hours a day, minimum, on practice.

Tummo isn't something you do before eating breakfast and heading to the office.
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")
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dharmagoat
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by dharmagoat »

I support what Cone, Bryan and Asun have said.

Also, an authentic teacher will check your motivation for wanting to practice tummo.
krodha
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by krodha »

^ very true.

Wanting to cultivate the physical heat of tummo to melt some snow or cut your gas bill in half during the winter isn't going to cut it, ha (not implying that was anyone's intentions here).

The physical heat of tummo is an expression of energy and correct practice, but those outer signs aren't the main point of tummo. Sure, the increase in body heat is beneficial for wandering yogis who need to survive the harsh climates where this practice hails from, but the 'heat' of tummo is truly meant as an inner process. Just as 'heat' is cultivated in the worldly yogas of the path of accumulation and joining. The increase of heat on the path (and in tummo) is the increase of wisdom [prajñā] i.e. the wisdom fire. The bodhisattva ideal being the main inspiration, just as it is elsewhere.
motlenraven
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by motlenraven »

I would say go for it. Learn as much as possible about the practice and give it a try.
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dharmagoat
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by dharmagoat »

motlenraven wrote:I would say go for it. Learn as much as possible about the practice and give it a try.
Or, you could follow the recommendations of those that are knowledgeable and wise.
plwk
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by plwk »

Or, you could follow the recommendations of those that are knowledgeable and wise.
But of course, who heeds this anymore these days, save for a few elect? :mrgreen:
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conebeckham
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by conebeckham »

As a result of this thread, I've gone back to Lama Yeshe's book for a quick re-read.

A few comments --he very clearly indicates that you cannot learn tummo from a book. He also very clearly indicates that you need to develop preliminary practices, which includes receipt of the four empowerments of a HYT system, and the Generation Stage (he calls this the "evolutionary stage"). So, obviously one MUST have encountered a qualified teacher. Also, he says that you need to practice intensively, in retreat. If you read his book, which I encourage everyone interested in this practice to do, you will find many of us in complete agreement with his presentation. You'll also likely find yourself inspired to encounter this practice, and to practice it.

I also feel that his presentation is very non-sectarian, and quite wonderful.
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")
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bryandavis
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by bryandavis »

Here is link to a good, concise and pithy explanation from Garchen Rinpoche on the subject:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/98547965/Garc ... Drops-2007

I also found the non-sectartian views and Lama Yeshes personal insights into some of the methods in "bliss of inner fire" quite refreshing. He was certainly broke the mold in many ways in his teaching style.

B
Stewart
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by Stewart »

Cone is right...this is a no brainer...you cannot learn Tummo from a book or without a teacher, and it can't 'get you started'...in fact advising this shows a real lack of understanding and immaturity.
s.
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Grigoris
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Re: Online videos of Tummo

Post by Grigoris »

KonchokZoepa wrote:yah Cone, i agree with what you say. nonetheless this book can get you started.
No it cannot. Tummo requires direct instruction from a teacher. To engage in it without direct instruction can actually cause severe physical and mental disturbances. It is a complicated and rather advanced yogic practice. The book is to help to remind you of details taught by the teacher, it cannot replace the teacher. Teacher first, books/videos later.
"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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