The Six Yogas Of Naropa

Revised edition of: Readings on the Six Yogas of Naropa, 1997.

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.

In the classic bestseller, Introduction to Tantra, Lama Yeshe offered a profound glimpse into the authentic and sophisticated practices of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra. The Bliss of Inner Fire may be considered a perfect follow-up to that book. Lama Yeshe follows Je Tsongkhapa's (1357-1419 a.d.) text, Having the Three Convictions, and introduces the renowned Six Yogas of Naropa, focusing mainly on the first of these six, the practice of "inner fire" (tummo). Mastery of inner fire quickly brings the mind to its most refined and penetrating state ? the experience of clear light, an extra-ordinarily powerful state of mind that is unequaled in its ability to directly realize ultimate reality. Lama Yeshe felt that twentieth-century Westerners could easily grasp the often misunderstood ideas of this esoteric tradition: His aim was for his students to actually taste the experience of inner fire rather than merely gain an intellectual understanding. Lama's own realization of the transformative power of these practices comes through, inspiring his students to discover for themselves their own capacity for inexhaustible bliss.

Regarded as one of the finest discussions on the subject to come out of Tibet.

In the history of Tibetan Buddhism, the eleventh-century Indian mystic Nâropa occupies an unusual position, for his life and teachings mark both the end of a long tradition and the beginning of a new and rich era in Buddhist thought. Nâropa's biography, translated by the world-renowned Buddhist scholar Herbert V. Guenther from hitherto unknown sources, describes with great psychological insight the spiritual development of this scholar-saint. It is unique in that it also contains a detailed analysis of his teaching that has been authoritative for the whole of Tantric Buddhism. This modern translation is accompanied by a commentary that relates Buddhist concepts to Western analytic philosophy, psychiatry, and depth psychology, thereby illuminating the significance of Tantra and Tantrism for our own time. Yet above all, it is the story of an individual whose years of endless toil and perseverance on the Buddhist path will serve as an inspiration to anyone who aspires to spiritual practice.

The Six Yogas of Naropa (11th century C.E.), the Indian scholar and Tantric adept (mahasiddha) are renowned in Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism as a swift path to enlightenment. Naropa extracted all the essential practices from the Peerless Yoga Tantra class to create the system consisting in the Yogas of Mystic Heat (gTum Mo), Illusory Body (sGyu lus), Dream (rMi Lam), Clear Light (Od gSal), Consciousness Transference (Pho Wa), and Intermediate State (Bardo). The Three Treatises translated herein from the original Tibetan are compositions of authors belonging to sub-sects of the Kagyu lineage, themselves renown as masters of the system of the Six Yogas. This second edition contains many improvements such as a detailed table of contents, sub-headings, Sanskrit (i.e. Devanagari syllables) and diacritical marks throughout.

This translation contains subtle and penetrating wisdom expressed through the age-old tradition of spiritual songs. Two songs by the great Indian master Naropa are explained in detail by Thrangu Rinpoche, a realized Tibetan Buddhist teacher of the present time. His approach is traditional, but his style is conversational and pragmatic. He includes refutations and limitations of other approaches, a comparison of Mahamudra vs. regular Shamatha, 5 wisdoms, as well as the 6 paramitas. Reading this book, one realizes that Mahamudra ultimately encourages turning the eye on the "I."