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Tummo: What's It Got To Do With Buddhism?
compassionate_warrior
Veteran
How does tummo/Inner Fire practice relate to Buddhist practice? How does it contribute to an end to suffering, or to Enlightenment? What's the connection? Why is it an important practice in Vajrayana Buddhism?
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo
Tummo practice burns away ignorance and promotes wisdom? Is this a step along the path to Enlightenment, or Enlightenment itself?
maybe someone practicing tummo in an icy environment speaks more clearly about nirvana than other activities.
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Wow ! Thank you for those wise words -I never knew that ! :eek2:
see?
Instead of pulling so far from there being people to there being no people, pull back only as far as mind and form. This will help you understand. Awakening isn't so very far away, it only takes a move in the right direction, followed by another, and another.
What teachers do best, I think, is perceive when we've fallen off the path to one side or the other, and attempt to steer us straight. While NewBuddhist isn't a place of "teachers" and "students", it is a collective where we can help each other avoid these same traps. Some choose to listen and deliberate each post, some choose to hold fast to views without flexibility. Our choice in this, whether we think we know all the answers or have room for improvement, will determine whether we get "stuck" or not!
Namaste
If there is no substantial "self", then there cannot be a substantial notion of "suffering".
We're not here to confuse people, and we especially don't want to confuse people new to Buddhism. If we're not expressing a Buddhist view, instead saying something like "there is only suffering if you think there is suffering", then this must be clearly indicated as a non-Buddhist view or must be corrected for the benefit of everyone else on the forum and possibly even the poster.
I think my point, though not expressed clear, was that we do have suffering. It might take some time but eventually we realize we are suffering. And then our thoughts fall in step.
It would take a lot of concentration to be in cold weather and I would want a house with a nice warm fire nearby to warm up.
There isn't, to my knowledge, any record of the Buddha teaching 'tummo' in the Pali Canon.
As far as I know it was an Indian yogic practice adopted by Tibetans along with other later additions to Buddhism .
If I stretch my mind a bit, I can imagine that if a modern day meditator was to spontaneously "discover" tummo in meditation then there could be a few possibilities: direct teaching, previous life experience, causal coincidence resulting from the conditions at the time. The meditator may have even learnt this off the Buddha in a previous life when he was alive! But I'm not sure that such a thing could happen, but its fun to play with these ideas at times and challenge my mental close minded-ness.
My thoughts (noting I haven't been initiated into Vajrayana):
I think that Tummo, Clear light yoga, sleep/dream yoga, illusionary body yoga are all designed to allow the meditator to experience the natural purity of the mind. I think that these different practises all point to the one result from different angles. As the intensity of experience increases the attachment to self diminishes, you could almost say the defilements are burnt away, especially in Tummo, though I think it may be relevant to the others as well. One thing I have read is that it is important with Tummo to be under the supervision of a authentic teacher, as it can be dangerous to the mind/body otherwise.
Tummo is not a purpose but a "Samadhi"méthode like air in "anapanasati bhavana".
It can lead to "Jhana" because it is a inside sign (a mental representation without external thing) so it can conduct to "nirvana".
Moreover it's a element like earth water and air so it's good for "Anatta"
Its use is as an introduction to the Higher Yoga Tantras of the Vajrayana.
Fire is a good element for meditation, you can found it in visuddhimagga, not only in tibetan buddhism, yoga is for make heatness occure and after you go in meditation and jhana.
Nobody speak about enlightenlent, bliss is not enlightement, bliss is a tool for working on anatta, anicca and dukkha. They are eleven kind of fire in buddhism tradition, so if your meditation object is fire, it can't be a bad thing cause you look māra in his eyes.
Fire is vipassana revelation.
Or you can put on a coat in the winter.
Both can be proof of a deep understanding of the Dharma, if you do it correctly.
It is called a nyam in Tibetan Buddhism. It is not enlightenment because it is impermanent. A practitioner should not get attached to nyams. Also not experiencing these should not discourage anyone. The proper use of nyams is as inspiration to use these glimpses and later stabilize them into realization of the fundamental qualities of mind. There are other nyams such as the infinite space in awareness.
So bliss as an experience is impermanent. The nature of mind is more fundamental to practice than experiences.
An example of using the nyam of bliss is to see that this feeling expands into space and covers every experience. Actually you can do the same thing with depression which also colors the whole world and expresses dullness on all things in space. The latter is why Trungpa said that depression was a valuable juicy experience.