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Dawning of Clear Light: A Western Approach to Tibetan Dark Retreat Meditation

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This book was not at all what I expected. I was hoping that this was going to be the first manual describing the teachings of the tibetans regarding the practice of the Dark Retreat. I was sorely mistaken. The main problem with this book is the very misleading title: "A western approach to Tibetan Dark Retreat Maditation" A title that would have been proper would be: "The journal of a Western Practioner engaged in the Tibetan Dark Retreat Meditation" or something to that effect.

If your looking for a manual on the dark retreat check out "Darkness Technology" by the genious Master Mantak Chia. Even though he is Thai he certainly gives a much more "Western Approach" by including the results of tireless scientific research that sheds light on the psycho-physiological effects of the dark retreat. It also includes the general Taoist perpective on the matter. If your looking for the Tibetan perpective read anything by Namkai Norbu Rinpoche and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche their teachings are priceless and they tend to mention the dark retreat practice from time to time. If your looking to actually do a Dark Retreat read as much as you can about Dzogchen and lots of experience with Tsa Lung or Taoist Qigong. Actually studying with these masters is also very important.

So all in all Lowenthal's journal was somewhat interesting and surely worth a read through if your planning to engage yourself in one of the most powerful spiritual practices known to humankind.

For the liberation of all sentient beings!
-Inyo

Of all the dzogchen practices within the Bon/Buddhist tradition, few have remained more mysterious, or have rubbed more against the grain of our Western culture at large than that of the dark retreat. The practices of the dark have continued to lie out on the distant horizon of experiential understanding for many practitioners here in the West who are making their way through the Bon or Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Now, though, with a depth and breadth of understanding that comes through having had extensive dark retreat teachings as well as having completed over a dozen dark retreats, combined with over thirty years immersion in the mainly Bon and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, Martin Lowenthal, dharma teacher and founder of The Dedicated Life Institute, has written a landmark book, complete with a blessing and forward by the wonderful Bon lama, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, that sheds an illuminating contemporary ray of light on this ancient practice of the dark.

After Tenzin Rinpoche's forward which praises Martin's work and warns that practices of the dark must be approached respectfully under the guidance of an experienced teacher, the book begins with a brief overview of the ways in which the dark has been used within great wisdom traditions. At the heart of the book is a beautiful tapestry woven of two parts: actual journal entries which document some of his lived dark retreat experiences mainly from a four-week dark retreat completed in 1998; and Martin's commentary written more recently that establishes those experiences within the radiant spaciousness toward which his own teachings as well as those of Bon and Buddhism point.

Here, then, we have the first-ever spontaneously live broadcasts from the front-line of a dark retreat manifested as poetry, reflections, insights, and Martin's descriptions of his daily experiences in the dark from the mundane to the subtle and higher. Thankfully, throughout the journal entries, Martin remains transparent, allowing the reader to live vicariously for a moment within this illuminating darkness. Here's one entry, a poem, as an example:

Sitting in the Dark

Sitting on a firm cushion thoughts come and go
Mind remains.
Feelings arrive insistently and exit reluctantly
Heart remains.
Inner lights and colors arise, pass through, and disappear
Darkness remains.
"I" goes
"Am" remains.

These journal entries act as springboards for Martin's flowing commentary within this section and the portion following, entitled "A Framework For Understanding the Teachings." An established dharma teacher in his own right, Martin's melodic contemporary writings on some of the perennial subjects found within the teachings of the Bon/Buddhist tradition provide freshly whispered heart-reminders that coax one beyond the clinging to familiar dharma concepts, and toward the Truth that only ever just IS! Here is one jewel:

"All spiritual work requires a fine balance between will and willingness. With will we mobilize our attention and energies with determination in a direction. Will helps us to start and to sustain effort. Willingness allows us to accept and be shaped by grace. It suggests an open perspective and a heart posture of surrender in which we intentionally offer ourselves, realizing that our natural state is not at odds with life, but an authentic expression of Spirit."

Before the book ends, Martin gives us a brief overview of some of the specifically Tibetan Bon teachings on the dark retreat, and in two appendices, specific practices and preparations helpful for when one is properly prepared to do a dark retreat.

The mark of a great bridge is that it affords one a safer passage across what once seemed a wide gulf, and urges one when ready to move forward into new territory, transforming one's perspective, expanding one's horizons. From the gross, to subtle, causal and non-dual, from past to present, from deeply Tibetan traditions to an integration with contemporary Western culture, this landmark bridge, "Dawning of Clear Light: A Western Approach to Dark Retreat Meditation," works on many levels to help make our safe and effective passage into the dark retreat a reality.

While there is some merit to the criticism that the author isn't performing "traditional" dark retreats as they were done in Himalayan caves, to dismiss this work on that account is a grave overreaction. Martin Lowenthal is unusually qualified to present his experiences, and their transformative nature, to an English reading audience precisely because he does struggle with and engage all of the hyperactivity of contemporary life. A trained therapist, a longtime meditator, and a writer capable of unique self-reflection, Lowenthal has created a record that allows the rest of us a glimpse into what goes on in the dark, after the lights go out. We hear a lot about the different possibilities of sensory deprivation, whether from scientific studies, anthropological observations and interpretation, or through the use of catalysts such as entheogens (DMT, ayahuasca) or binaural beats, but rarely do these accounts offer such a balanced perspective providing both the non-ordinary experience in all of its awesome power and the interpretive analysis that sets it within the framework of a much broader spiritual vision.

If you are interested in visionary spirituality, out of body experiences, non-ordinary states of consciousness, meditation, or near death experiences, you will find this an invaluable read. The only other account of dark retreat practices in English that even begins to approach the level of nuance found here is in the Appendix ("Dzokchen Dark Retreat: An Abbreviated Phenomenological Diary") to David Michael Levins's philosophical tome, The Opening of Vision, which may not even be in print at this time.

The Opening of Vision: Nihilism and the Postmodern Situation

Mr. Lowenthals description of his Dark Retreat didn't seem to have a lot in common with the 'real' Tibetan 49-day Dark retreat and its practices. I know at least 4 people who have done the 49-day dark retreat of which one is very close to me and as much a Westerner as Mr. Lowenthal. It is 'unthinkable' to leave the dark room, even if it is with a mask on, as well as having sex, food brought into the room by a person or even talk to several people while doing this practice. I must say... It is good he wrote "A Western Approach" as this certainly is NOT the Tibetan approach :-)