:: March/April 2006 Volume 5/Number 2

3 Teachers talk about Buddhism and Yoga and how these practices intersect in their teaching today.

Lama Surya Das

Lama Surya Das“Meditation is a spiritual practice, a yoga.  Patanjali called meditation Raja Yoga, the supreme practice or the King of Practices. The word 'yoga' means union, or reunion, with the natural state, our true nature, our higher Buddha-self ?\ the ultimate sacred energy source.  It is the skillful means of reconnecting the material with the spiritual, the seen with the unseen, and helping us to realize non-duality, onefulness.

Yoga is really any training that helps us transcend ego attachment and connect to our innate wholeness and pure spiritual energy. Yoga encompasses many different paths and styles of practice all directed toward reunion with the divine. The primary purpose of Buddhist meditation is awakening or enlightenment -- union with our true nature, our Buddha nature or innate divinity.

               Along with a rich variety of meditation techniques, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition includes many physical and subtle yogic practices such as breath and energy yoga, clear light yoga, prayer and chanting, mudras, postures and even dream yoga. It’s the only school of Buddhism to have a complete set of yogic exercises. These are based on the famous Six Yogas brought from India to Tibet over one thousand years ago. All are practiced with the objective of awakening to our true nature - the Buddha within. Through practice of both meditation and yoga our entire experience, in stillness or in movement, in every aspect of life, can be one of awakening – as the great yogis have realized for thousands of years.”

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“Yoga is one of the “ten essential practices” that I teach and practice myself. The Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism particularly emphasizes the integration of meditation and action. Yoga is an excellent way to do this; it can be a very helpful complement to sitting meditation, and vice versa. In both yoga and meditation, we learn to breathe more freely, focus, concentrate and relax; move our bodies more mindfully; and turn our attention inwards, let go a little bit more and become more present and aware.

It’s also well suited to our active, accomplishment-oriented striving mentality here in the West, helping us to slow down, remain present and experience more directly. Several of my students who are yoga teachers tell me that Dzogchen meditation has enabled them to enrich and enhance their Yoga experience, and they routinely recommend it to yoga students who are seeking a deeper meaning to their practice and their lives. I thoroughly enjoy my own practice of Yoga and I also personally love and practice daily both chanting yoga and devotional (bhakti) yoga.”

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 “There are many physical postures used in the Buddhist traditions. There are hundreds of asanas and physical movements as well as breath and energy cycles (along with some visualization exercises) in the Six Vajrayana Yogas of Tibet.  Even for basic sitting meditation, there is the 7 point asana of Vairochana Buddha that is often taught for beginners and seasoned practitioners. In the Dzogchen tradition, the 'posture', both outwardly and inwardly, is one of openness, of acceptance and relaxed naturalness, so masters often speak of the “easy, comfy sitting pose.”  Along the way there are different postures and pranayamas used to foster and enhance realization.   Some of these are only introduced in context of intensive retreat; others are more appropriate for general use.

Adding a physical practice to our meditation practice usually enlivens us, clears out our inner chakras and energy channels, gives us the energy to practice in daily life and generally gets the juices going. I usually recommend that meditation sessions include or be bracketed by some form of physical practice such as breathing, chanting, bowing or praying.  

If we are sleepy, dull or lethargic, seated meditation can be quite tedious and unproductive, and the path of awakening can become a long and winding road. Conversely, if we are solely engaged in yoga without any spiritual grounding, it becomes a fairly meaningless physical exercise lacking in its genuine inner dimensions and benefits.

An appropriate way to practice yoga, on any level, is to keep in mind your higher spiritual purpose. We can aspire to free and awaken both ourselves and others through our practice. We are striving to cultivate spiritual depth, not perform mere calisthenics or astounding sideshow feats of physical agility. It's about the true miracle of enlightenment, right here and now ?\ the real show!”

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“I think we need to focus on the practices of yoga and meditation, more than on the isms and schisms of Buddhism and Hinduism, to extract the essence and realize their authentic benefits.

         The Buddha was a yogi, as were his teachers and his fellow ascetics he met with when he began his life as a holy man on the spiritual path. My late root lama Kalu Rinpoche was considered by many the greatest grand master of yoga to have escaped Tibet, and he taught the Six Yogas of Naropa to the Dalai Lama in India, who said he saw Rinpoche fly during those sessions. Whether he flew, levitated or simply became quite elevated in consciousness - that was great praise coming from the Dalai Lama. Today we have Gyalwang Drukpa Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso and other extraordinary Tibetan yogis still living and teaching, even visiting this country fairly regularly.”

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“Many Yoga practitioners find that a meditation practice enhances their Yoga practice and brings deeper realization. Both practices inform each other. Depending where we are in our lives -- emotionally as well as physically -- certain practices help hasten us along the path of awakening. It's good to have all of the tools possible to get the vehicle going and keep it moving along the road to awakening. And total awareness is indispensable to deepen any yogic practice. Awareness cultivated and realized in meditation practice can enhance all the other practices of our lives, and make every action a yogic practice.  Yoga is an entire way of life, as we know, not just a few workout sessions or vegetarian cooking and flowing robes. How to integrate yoga and meditation with daily life today here in the speedy, materialistic and scientific-minded postmodern world is our task, our challenge.

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“Patanjali said: “The great state of yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify itself with its fluctuating waves of perception. When this happens, the seer is revealed resting it its own essential nature, and one realizes the true self.”  That sublime result is not so far from the fruit of Dzogchen practice; each can inspire the other until the inconceivable freedom of enlightenment rests directly in the palm of our hands, and in our hearts. We are far more Buddha-like than we think. Let’s awaken to who and what we truly are and can be, for the betterment of all and a better world.”

 

Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers
and scholars, one of the main interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism in the West,
and a lineage holder of the Dzogchen Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the Rime
(non-sectarian) tradition. For over thirty years, including more than eight
years in secluded retreat, he has studied with the great masters of Tibetan
Buddhism. Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world,
conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. He is
founder and spiritual director of Dzogchen Center.
www.surya.org

www.dzogchen.org

 

 

 

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