Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 43-minute session, John Landaw teaches the second day of an introductory tantra sequence, guiding practitioners through progressive stages of work with the central channel and psychic heat. He begins with a review of the hollow body and nine-round breathing practice, then introduces the seed syllable meditation—visualizing a tiny red-hot sesame-sized ember at the navel point where the side channels meet the central channel. Through careful instruction on placement (well back toward the spine, not at the surface) and concentration, he explains how seven rounds of slow breathing fan this inner flame, generating heat and bliss in the navel region. He then teaches the Vase Breath technique, using muscular locks at the pelvic floor and upper body to compress the breath and intensify the experience. Throughout, Landaw emphasizes patience, proper timing (best practiced on an empty stomach before breakfast), and gentle rather than strained effort. He closes with a death meditation. Suited to practitioners with some familiarity with Tibetan Buddhist tantric foundations.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 Intro to Tantra Day 2 no date.mp3
UUID: 4622288e-ac36-46ac-aba4-df24268b7dc4
Teacher: John Landaw
Collection: Introduction to Tantra (John Landaw)
Date: 1984 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~2,093
This morning, we’ll introduce a new element into the nine round breathing. But for the first ten minutes, we can just silently meditate together on what we have grown familiar with already, calming and collecting the body and the mind, the hollow body meditation, the placement of the three channels, and then the nine round breathing. Then after ten minutes or fifteen minutes, we’ll take a break, and I’ll introduce the next element meditation. I’ll describe the next stage of the meditation. And after describing it, then we can practice it together.
Within the central channel, at about the level of the navel or slightly below at the point where the two side channels enter into the central channel, there is a very small hot seed syllable. It is very tiny, only about the size of a sesame seed, and it’s like a red ember. It’s the center of the psychic heat, the point from which the body derives its heat and the power for digestion. And it blazes within the central channel at that point in the navel.
It’s quite important to remember that this seed syllable is further back in the body than it is to the front. Just a bit in front of the spine. It’s not at the surface near the skin. Indeed the entire central channel is further towards the back than it is to the front. Now, to help visualize this so called seed syllable, we can bring to mind a fireplace where the wood has burnt down to small embers.
And imagine that there, in the fireplace, is a very tiny ember glowing red hot. And we pick it up in a way so we really don’t burn ourselves. And imagine placing that through our transparent hollow body into the central channel just below the level of the navel. So in the beginning, we just spend a couple of minutes trying to concentrate the mind and one’s attention within the central channel in the navel area, trying to feel the presence of this very small but nevertheless red hot seed syllable. In the beginning, we might find nothing more than a small area of warmth or another similar sensation.
This is sufficient to merely allow the mind to pay full attention to this point. Although the mind should be concentrated at this point, concentration should be a bit relaxed, not strained. Gently feeling the presence of the seed syllable. Now the next stage of the meditation will be to fan this flame, to make it hotter. So I’ll describe it first, and then we can practice together afterwards.
To fan this flame, we take a long slow inhalation as before in through both nostrils. The air rises to the crown through both right and left channels, then straight down. Then at the level of the navel, the air enters into the central channel and blows against the seed syllable. And just as when we blow against a small red hot ember in a fireplace, it glows hotter than before. In the same way, the air that enters into the central channel fans the seed syllable, and so it glows redder and hotter.
And the air itself that blows against the seed syllable dissolves into it so that one’s entire concentration is within the seed syllable itself. Then breath is held down at the level of the navel. And when it’s time to exhale, and it’s about to become uncomfortable to hold the breath any longer, still the major portion of one’s attention remains at the seed syllable. And the exhaled breath rises a little bit up the central channel. But we needn’t follow it at this point.
Just keep our attention focused in the navel area, experiencing the increase in warmth. After a long, slow, controlled exhalation, without any intervening breath, you take another inhalation. As before, it blows against the seed syllable, making it glow even hotter. We hold our breath and concentrate on it. The winds dissolve into the seed syllable.
Before discomfort sets in, exhale, but again keeping our attention focused on the seed syllable, which is yet hotter than before. If during this type of practice one’s skin or abdominal cavity seems to glow very hot, this is a sign that the seed syllable has not been placed far back into the central channel enough. If we place our visualization outside the central channel, we can heat up the body prematurely. This is not beneficial. However, if the seed syllable remains inside the central channel, then whatever heat is generated will stay there.
So we should remember to place it well to the back, a short distance in front of the spinal column. So at this point, we can practice seven consecutive breaths, each one fanning the seed syllable. And at the conclusion of the seven, allow the mind to dwell inseparable with the seed syllable of the navel. Experience the warmth. For this morning to this meditation.
If our physical posture is causing any difficulty, we can use this time to stand or stretch, and then resume the sitting posture. If we do change our position at this point, we should do it slowly and conscientiously to keep the visualization as intact as possible. A little time reestablishing the three channels with the hollow body and the presence of the seed syllable. Now, we’ll add the so called vase breathing technique. This builds up naturally from what we’ve done before.
Again, I’ll describe it first, then we can practice it together. We breathe in through both nostrils, and the air gathers at the level of the navel as before. But now we shall establish the presence of a chamber which will keep the air focused in the navel so that it’s compressed against the seed syllable. So after our inhalation with our concentration down in the navel area, the first thing we do is to bring up the lower energies in the body to make the bottom part of the chamber. And the way we do this is by tightening the muscles of the pelvic floor.
These are the same muscles that control the elimination and retention of the waste through the lower orifices. So we pull up as if we were holding on to that waste. The same muscles. So as we tighten them gently but firmly, we feel that we’re pulling up on the lower energy, which comes up to the bottom of the seed syllable area. And for the top compression we bring down the upper airs of the body.
And this we can do by swallowing and following the energy of the swallow down through the trunk so that it presses down at the top of the seed syllable. And thus we form a small compression chamber. First we breathe the air in through both nostrils, collecting at the navel, then pulling up on the lower muscles and pressing down from above, having swallowed the air, swallowed just a little bit, for instance, whatever saliva is in our mouth, swallow that. And so our entire concentration is now centered at the navel area, compressed on the seed syllable, making it grow hotter.
When it becomes uncomfortable, you can relax the tension of the lower muscles and the muscles that have pressed down from above. And then slowly exhale, keeping the attention focused on the seed syllable itself. Then take another breath and repeat as before. These breaths should be slow and gentle, and the contraction of the muscles should also be done gently, not violently. And one’s attention should be mainly focused at the seed syllable, which increases with heat, and that heat can also be experienced in the nature of bliss, similar to sexual bliss.
So now together we can do seven consecutive breaths, if possible, with no intervening breath. But if necessary, it’s possible to take a few. But try to string seven consecutive vase breaths together, and at the conclusion of seven, allow the mind to dwell inseparable in the seed syllable of the navel, merely experiencing the warmth and bliss to whatever degree it’s been developed. But first, you might want to spend a little time reestablishing the hollow body, the presence of the channels, and so forth, and then begin the vase breathing. Now relax and strengthen the concentration.
We must be very patient practicing the seed syllable meditation. One day, we might get a very, very strong feeling of warmth, feeling of bliss, and then the next day, nothing. But if we practice steadily and slowly over a period of time, then it’s possible to stabilize this experience and to use the heat generated to help loosen the constrictions within the central channel. Tomorrow morning, I’ll add one final element that helps loosen these constrictions. The nine round breathing meditation itself can be done pretty much anytime.
But if we do the seed syllable meditation, then it’s best done on an empty stomach. So the best time of the day is before the morning meal, before breakfast. The one other time is if we have a very light breakfast, then it could be done late morning before lunch. But generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to do it later in the day, especially not before going to sleep. Since this meditation has the ability to strongly energize the mind, if it is done later in the day, it may be difficult getting to sleep that night.
So the best time is before breakfast in the morning. And now we can conclude with our own silent dedication that whatever positive energy we may have generated by attempting to gain familiarity with the psychic nervous system, we dedicate it so that all beings be removed from their mental and physical sufferings, that all masters exposing the true path to happiness, liberation, and enlightenment be endowed with long and fruitful lifetimes, so that we ourselves may attain the fruits of enlightenment for the sake of bringing benefit to others. During this meditation session, there won’t be any planned break in the middle, the way we normally do. So if people do reach a certain point in the meditation where assuming the posture has become difficult, then we should feel free individually to stand or stretch as long as we try not to disturb our neighbors too much by doing so.
It may be possible, however, to remain seated in the meditation posture without having to move for the entire time if the concentration becomes deep enough. If this is the case, then this is the best. But if it’s not possible, then feel free to stand if necessary, but try to do it without disturbing others as much as possible. So we begin by assuming a comfortable yet upright posture, and then spend a minute or two concentrating on the attention by use of the simple breathing technique. Our motivation must be purer than that of mere curiosity.
Rather, we may think, by gaining a deeper appreciation of the death process, it is possible to die and to live with greater clarity, greater control and direction, thereby being able to benefit all other beings to a much greater extent. Thus, for the purpose of bringing benefit to others, I now engage in the following death meditation. There will come a point in this lifetime when the connection between body and mind will be severed. Perhaps one day we may fall ill and take to our bed, thinking, certainly, we shall recover within a short time and be up again. We can imagine lying in our bed, being visited by friends and relatives, during what has turned out to be a much more prolonged stay than we had imagined.
We can visualize the doctors coming. But despite the fact that he continually wears the same mask of encouragement, we sense that there’s something wrong. Instead of getting better, our body seems to be slipping, slipping away. Eventually, we realize that the friends and the relatives that we are seeing, we are now seeing for the last time. This is the moment of death, the moment we have heard about throughout our lives.
It was always happening to someone else. It’s now happening to us. After the initial shock and fear, our mind takes great interest in what is happening. We sense that we’re losing control over the solid portions of our body. The movement of our limbs and so forth becomes more and more difficult as they become more and more remote.