Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A needle-thin flame four finger-widths tall, burning at the navel — this precise image anchors Khensur Rinpoche’s 47-minute session from the 1993 Inner Heart Retreat. Working through the fifth to eighth of Tummo (inner heat) practice’s eight divisions, he explains igniting the inner flame, then causing it to blaze using Tsongkhapa’s recommended method — drawing winds up from the lower trunk rather than inhaling through the nostrils, said to carry fewer physical risks. In the seventh division, the flame climbs through the channel centers, circling syllables within and melting bodhicitta at the crown into a fine filament that drips down to feed the fire below. The eighth, extraordinary stage, fills the entire body with light that radiates to all beings and returns as uncontaminated bliss, generating the wisdom of bliss-emptiness. Vase breathing instruction closes the session. For retreat practitioners who have already received the relevant initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 IH 1993 12 06.mp3
UUID: 9d5e1374-2aeb-4c99-8268-0e6552754c4a
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Inner Heart Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-12-06
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.4 minutes
Words: ~1,721
Is placed the short ah. Diagram depicts this topmost wheel is the crown, then the throat, then the heart, and the navel. So it is at the navel channel center in the center that we will meditate the short ah. So one is meditating oneself as the one’s personal deity, the Yidam, whichever, whoever it might be, Yamāntaka or Vajrayoginī or Heruka, then within the deity we are to visualize the channels and the channel wheels. So, we should emphasize that we cannot visualize all the channels, then the three main channels, the central, right, and left channels, and the four wheels. So, if we cannot, those should be, we should try to have some rough visualization of those, but we and emphasizing in terms of visualization, the place of the channel we are at the navel where we are going to ignite the fire.
So, one should be seated in an upright position, keeping the body straight. Important. If one keeps the body straight in that manner, then the channels will be straight and the winds will be able to move travel freely. Again, adjusting one’s motivation, developing as one’s motivation the awakening heart that for the sake of all living beings in order to free them from suffering to, to, and to quickly, quickly lead them to happiness, we’re going to engage in the practice of Tummo. And then, Tummo breathing in, inhaling through both the left and right nostrils in a very gentle, easy manner, the winds up inhalation through the right and left channel, bringing the wind energy down to where the point where it then joins it down the two side channels, and then slightly upward where it joins into the central channel, and at the level of the navel where the short ah is positioned, and then it is like acts like causing the red ah to begin to glow red like a glowing iron, molten iron, and also bringing down the winds from above entrapping the short ah which begins to glow red hot.
So, having brought these winds, the wind upward, the red begins to glow red hot like molten iron. But additionally, a very small flame begins to appear. So we again, as was explained yesterday, it shouldn’t be seen as if we’re watching some performance from the outside external. If our perspective is external to this, then our mind will be external to this and therefore the winds will be external. We actually want to have our mind enter into the tummo and have our mind remain within the tummo.
If our mind enters into the tummo, then the winds will enter into the tummo. So one should imagine that I am, that ones oneself is within the tummo. So this is the fifth instruction, igniting the flame of inner heat. Then the sixth is causing the inner heat, causing the inner fire to blaze, causing the inner fire to blaze. Previously, you know, it was emphasized that it should be a was a very light breath.
Here it’s a little bit stronger than previously, but again, it should not be forceful. It should still be a gentle breath, but slightly more strong than the previous breaths that we’re taking at the fifth stage. Then, bringing, proceeding as we did wind energy, it begins to blaze and the flame begins to arise and lengthen, but it’s a very subtle and extremely fine flame, like a needle, the size of a needle, the shape of a needle. And it’s it’s about four finger width high. Four finger width high in length.
So we said in igniting the flame, causing the inner flame to ablaze. According to that first part was explained of bringing the air, wind energies through the two side channels down, but according to the method recommended by Tsongkhapa in causing the flame to blaze, that we don’t bring in the wind energies down through the nostrils, that we bring up new wind energies from the lower part of our body, the lower part of our trunk. The wind energy are brought up from there to the short ah. It is said this is a beneficial method because one will not incur any physical harms to the body.
One will not, it will have less hindrances, less, there are less faults in this way of working. Therefore, it’s said to be more beneficial. So at the at the sixth igniting the the flame causing the inner flame to blaze. We produced a very fine needle flame. Then at the seventh stage division, which is called blazing and dripping, flame rises up to the heart channel center at which place is the upside down hum, and the upside down hum is in the nature of nectar, it’s bodhicitta, and the needle like flame circles, circumambulates and circles the hum three times in clockwise fashion and therefore due to that heat the hum is just about to melt. It’s just about to drip.
Then the flame continues upward from the heart to the throat channel center where there is the Om and the Om is in the nature of fire. So upon the circling of the flame, it’s like clockwise three times, the Om becomes extremely hot. Hot and luminous. Clear. So it’s very luminous.
Then the flame continues upward to the crown channel center where there is an upside down syllable hum. And again, this hum is in the nature of nectar, bodhicitta. And here the flame heats up the hum. It doesn’t circulate, doesn’t circulate. Touching it, it becomes extremely hot and begins to melt and a very fine, you know, it doesn’t melt, all of it doesn’t melt at once and drop down.
Very fine filament, you know, like just like the needle of the flame, similar, just a very fine filament of white bodhicitta begins to drip down to the om at the throat. Then comes in contact with the tummo meditated at the navel and is like pouring butter or petrol on a flame. The flame flames up, becomes extremely hot, very bright and luminous, and flames upward. So that’s the seventh section, the sixth seventh section blazing and dripping. Blazing of the tummo, all of the channels and channel centers within the body, you know, the three main channels, the four channel centers, but also the seventy two thousand channels throughout the body become illuminated, you know, just like turning on a light in a room.
They are radiant with light. So what has been described at this seventh section is the ordinary blazing and dripping. Now, the eighth division is the extraordinary special blazing and dripping. Due to the increase of the flame, then your entire body becomes luminous. You know, that even your skin is luminous and all the channels in your body are illuminated.
Even even the the the the hair follicles on your crown become luminous. So the light radiating, this tremendous light even radiates out where the central channel exits between one’s brow. This is where the hair curl of the Buddha is. But here it’s an opening and and a tremendous light radiates out from from that spot, all living beings, removing their negativities and obscuration and leading them to Buddhahood.
This light having again, this light radiating out establishing sentient beings in Buddhahood, Buddhahood, but also contacting, touching all of those beings who have previously achieved Buddhahood. And then they all of these Buddhas then radiate light back to one which is drawn into the opening at the brow and comes up the crown and down the throat moving down this light to the heart and then down to the navel where it absorbs into the tummo and one by means of that one generates new, generates an uncontaminated bliss, uncontaminated bliss, and thereby one generates a new and special wisdom of bliss emptiness. So this light which is returning from all of these Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it is in the nature of uncontaminated bliss. It enters in through your left nostril and moves down, moves upward through the central channel to the crown and then downward. And upon moving through the channel centers and upon entering into the tummo, one generates a special uncontaminated bliss and thereby newly develops the exalted wisdom of bliss emptiness.
So, through this practice, as we just, as we meditated, imagining this process of leading all the living beings to the state of Buddhahood and then receiving the uncontaminated bliss from the Buddhas and Buddhas Vajrasattvas that this is said to be extremely beneficial in terms of receiving blessings, cared for by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and to help in increasing the tummo. So the eight divisions have been completed. So, now the text mentions the meditation on vase breathing and it’d be difficult for us to do it after lunch. It’s good to do it before lunch. So you should take a proper posture and most especially in terms of the seven point posture of Vairochana.
So in the vase breathing, first we should breathe in through both nostrils in a very gentle and extended manner. It shouldn’t be forceful nor should it be very short, but a very slow, gentle, extended manner bringing in air to both into the left and right channels until they are filled just like blowing up a balloon. So then with a clear awareness, we gradually bring the winds from the right and left channels into the central channel, bringing entering into the central channel. Then having brought the winds to enter into the central channel, then swallowing saliva and not making any sound as you do it and following it down as you swallow, not making any sound, that saliva downward. And then, in the same, simultaneously bringing all of winds from the upper portion of one’s body down, and then drawing and bringing those winds down, and then bringing the winds from the lower portion of the trunk upward, and then trapping the wind in in a fashion like a pot or a vase.
So, holding the upper winds down and drawing the lower winds up. Drawing the bottom winds upward. The vase as long as one is able to meditate it, but it should not be so long that it causes one to