The Six Yogas of Naropa

by Glenn H. Mullin (Editor), Glenn H. Mullin (Translator)

Overview

Tsongkhapa's commentary entitled A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas is commonly referred to as The Three Inspirations. Anyone who has read more than a few books on Tibetan Buddhism will have encountered references to the Six Yogas of Naropa, a preeminent yogic technology system. The six practices—inner heat, illusory body, clear light, consciousness transference, forceful projection, and bardo yoga—gradually came to pervade thousands of monasteries, nunneries, and hermitages throughout Central Asia over the past five and a half centuries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781559399067
Publisher:	Shambhala
Publication date:	05/13/2014
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Glenn H. Mullin is an internationally renowned Tibetologist, author, and expert on Buddhist meditation. He lived in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, for many years, where he studied Tibetan language, literature, yoga, and meditation under twenty-five of the greatest masters of Tibet. He is the author of over fifteen books on Buddhist topics and has led many pilgrimages to Nepal and Tibet. He now divides his time between writing, lecturing, giving, workshops, and leading pilgrimages to the power places of Central Asia.

Table of Contents

	Preface	11
	Introduction	19
	Tsongkhapa and the Lineage of the Six Yogas	19
	The Buddhist Tantric Tradition in India	24
	Naropa	26
	The Legacy of the Six Yogas	29
	The Six Yogas, Three Bardo States, and Nine Blendings	33
	Lama Tsongkhapa's A Book of Three Inspirations	44
	Section One of Tsongkhapa's Text	47
	The Preliminary Trainings Associated with the General Mahayana	47
	The General Tantric Preliminaries	49
	The Tantric Preliminaries Unique to the Six Yogas System	51
	The Generation Stage Yogas	52
	Introduction to the Nature of the Mind	55
	Introduction to the Nature of the Body	58
	The Physical Exercises and Meditations upon the Empty Shell Body	60
	Section Two of Tsongkhapa's Text	62
	The Inner Heat Yoga	63
	Karmamudra	69
	The Illusory Body Yoga	73
	The Bardo Yoga	78
	The Clear Light Yoga	81
	The Consciousness Transference Yoga	85
	The Forceful Projection Yoga	87
	Concluding Notes	89
	The Six Yogas of Naropa in English Translation	90
	The Seventh Dalai Lama's Prayer to the Six Yogas Lineage	95
	Some Historical Lineage Considerations	99
	A Parting Perspective on Tsongkhapa the Great	103
	A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas
	Prologue	109
I	The preliminary meditations, which build the foundations of this path	111
A	The preliminaries that are general meditations derived from the common Mahayana teachings	111
1	Why it is necessary for training in this tradition to be preceded by training in the practices of the common Mahayana	111
2	The actual stages of training the mind in that path	113
B	The preliminaries that belong exclusively to the highest yoga tantra tradition	116
1	The general Vajrayana preliminaries	116
a	Why it is necessary to receive the complete empowerments	116
b	Why it is necessary to observe the tantric precepts	118
2	The preliminaries emphasized in this Naropa system	119
II	Having established the preliminaries, how to train in the actual tantric meditations	121
A	The meditations of the generation stage yogas	121
B	The meditations of the completion stage yogas	126
1	The nature of the basis	126
a	The nature of the mind	126
b	The nature of the body	131
2	The explanation of the stages of traversing the path	133
a	The meditations upon the physical exercises, together with the meditation upon the body as empty	133
i	The meditations on the physical exercises	133
ii	The meditations on the body as an empty shell	136
b	The stages of meditating upon the actual path	137
i	The manner of structuring the path	137
ii	The stages of being guided on the path	141
III	The manner of actualizing the results	221
	Epilogue	223
Appendix I	Vajrasattva Meditation and Mantra Recitation	227
Appendix II	Establishing Blessing Powers by Meditating upon Guru Yoga	233
	Glossary: Sanskrit and Tibetan Names and Terms	239
	Notes	247
	Bibliography	269

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Another example of Mullin's brilliance as a translator and interpreter of Tibetan tantricism."—Tibet Journal

"A veritable feast containing teachings that for centuries have been kept secret but that give one a clear sense of the enormous possibilities on the spiritual path."—Quest Magazine

"Glenn's study of the history, substance, and philosophical legacy of the Six Yogas of Naropa together with his translations of Tsongkhapa's treatise provides an invaluable guide to this tradition."—Buddhism Now

Editorial Reviews

"Another example of Mullin's brilliance as a translator and interpreter of Tibetan tantricism."—Tibet Journal

"A veritable feast containing teachings that for centuries have been kept secret but that give one a clear sense of the enormous possibilities on the spiritual path."—Quest Magazine

"Glenn's study of the history, substance, and philosophical legacy of the Six Yogas of Naropa together with his translations of Tsongkhapa's treatise provides an invaluable guide to this tradition."—Buddhism Now

From the Publisher