Customer Reviews

Tsongkhapa's Six Yogas of Naropa

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Tsongkhapa presents an overview of six different practices for striving towards purification and enlightenment in this detailed book. It is a must for those studying the Kagyu Lineage, and the life and works of the famous Tibetan Saint Milarepa. Marpa who studied directly under Naropa, and Milarepa are two of the most popular Tibetan teachers of Buddhism and whose reputaion is still highly reguarded to this day. These exercises were the foundation of the path as they help us take a stronger grasp of this lineage of Tibetan Buddhism as we gain the pure view of the Mahamudra. An interesting and unconventional approach is the signature of this lineage, and we get a full view of there practice through Tsngkhapa. It is inevitable that this unique book was to be published for us in a clear, direct, and honest approach in an english translation.

I've been studying meditation systems for more than two decades, yet I'm fairly new to Tibetan Buddhist studies. "Tsongkhapa's..." solves a dilemma that I've seen crop up in other systems, that I've seen no clearer resolution to than in this keystone Tibetan text. The "dilemma" that I referred to is the conflict and bridge between systems that emphasize
1) energy cultivation,
2) emptiness/absolute schools or
3) some mix of both but without a clear bridge.

Emptiness schools often critique energetic schools for merely getting caught in other layers of cyclic existence (and worse, creating intense karma in those layers). Yet emptiness schools often don't admit the valid energetic part of the path.

The first yoga of the six, the crux and foundation of this 6-yoga system, explains steps that produce bliss - and resolve it into emptiness. This resolution occurs within the mysterious deep-centers, who reside along - and whose vitality is integrated through - the central channel.

The Seventh Dalai Lama wrote verse about the 6 yoga system, whose 1st paragraph follows. Much of it is of specific cultural reference, but the 4th and 7th lines speak to general theory:
"Namo guru daka dakini yeh!
O all-pervading Heruka and your mandala of bliss,
O Tilopa, also known as the sublimely wise Jnanabhadra
Who took the insight of ecstasy and void to its limits,
And Naropa, an emodiment of Chakrasamvara:
I request you, bestow blessings, that we may achive
The wisdom of ecstasy and void conjoined."
- (from page 96 of the book)

This text has tremendous implications for the classic theological dilemmas re: sensation.

Good information but not for the lay person. Very complex concepts and not written in an easy to digest manner. I am a very fast reader, however, this book took me several days to read. I had to stop and nurse a headache every few hours. I was left wanting as well. Exercises are presented in a manner which get lost in between the text. Almost need a translator for the translator to be put into more readable way. Still, you can tell their is a wealth of information here. It just needs to be dug up.