Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute session from the 1993 Inner Heart Retreat, Khensur Rinpoche gives precise instruction on vase breathing, the breath-retention technique central to tummo (inner heat) practice. He explains how to measure proficiency using a unit of three hand-rubbings and six finger-snaps — thirty-six units as minimal, seventy-two as middling, one hundred and eight as full — and stresses keeping sessions very short to avoid physical damage and sustain enthusiasm for retreat. He takes questions on swallowing technique, the mechanics of the central channel, and the symbolic colours of syllables placed at the crown, throat, heart, and navel chakras. The session closes with commentary on two guru yoga verses on the exceptional, direct kindness of lineage teachers compared with the indirect benefit of past Buddhas. For practitioners already engaged in this retreat.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 IH 1993 12 06.mp3
UUID: 3826866c-14f0-48f7-93de-1fbe2f8f8791
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Inner Heart Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-12-06
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 51.5 minutes
Words: ~1,521
Physical problems. Can cause some kinds of illness. So, before it becomes uncomfortable, one then exhales. But, imaginatively, one imagines that the wind energy rises up into the central channel without exiting. It doesn’t go out, for example, in any way.
It moves up into the central channel. So that’s what one does imaginatively. In the actual breath, the breath should be exhaled not out of the mouth but gently out of the nose. So in order to judge one’s proficiency in in terms of meditating vase breathing, one can count in terms of as a measure of time the rubbing of one’s hands, you this you can, for example, while holding the vase, holding the wind, then So one measure of time is measured as three rubbings of the hand and six finger snaps. That’s one measure of time.
Three rubbings of hand and six finger snaps. When you can hold the wind for one hundred and eight of those measures, then you have gained proficiency at vase breathing. Middling proficiency is seventy two And minimal is thirty six. If you’re able, so that would be a standard of measurement as to whether one has achieved minor middling or extensive proficiency in vase breathing. So, as far as the time of meditating involves breathing, it should most preferably be in the morning before you’ve eaten, or if having eaten when the stomach is emptied, you know, when the food has been digested, it’s is difficult to meditate when there is food in the stomach and it should not be for a long time, just short session.
So that you can, there is a pants that you can wear and they have a blue, a large blue patch which is the blue is symbolic of the wind. It has a red tie and tied with tie, whatever. It has three patches at the crotch which are red, which is the symbolic heating of the tummo. And the it is to be soft material inside and thicker material outside. Yeah.
That So we’ll take a few minutes for questions. Do you mean closed? What? When you swallow saliva? Does what remain closed?
Just have to Okay. So one is imagining swallowing, but first off he, and which is that you could keep it blocked. But he said that mainly when this is done to imagine that bringing just like if you have something and you put a cover over it, it’s going to keep it where it’s going to keep it there. It’s going to remain there. So we are swallowing and imagining that it’s moving down and bringing the winds as a means of holding the winds down to keep them to remain there.
So, bringing, swallowing, following it down as a means of holding the winds at that position, keeping it there. The answer to your question was no. But in some people who practice tummo well because it vitalizes the channels in the body and the one is able to take more, making more use of the nutrition of food and therefore rather than just simply passing the food through the body is able to take a greater advantage of the nutrition of food and so they often become fat or heavier, heavy. Also, if one is having stomach problems, if I’m meditating on the tummo, the the the warmth is able to alleviate a lot of the physical problems. Yeah.
So, we’ve drawn in the winds to the left and right channel causing to enter into the central channel. Now, the swallowing action, we’re going to bring all those winds in the central channel down and drop the winds from the bottom up. This is all imaginative. The body is doing is not involved in it physically. Winds imagined to have entered into the central channel.
Because What would you would you show him what you’re So the the light is is an unobstructed intangible. So it it it goes in the central channel. So it goes in, it’s able to move down the all of the channels. The central channel, left channel, and all the channels. So it is said that the breathing. So it doesn’t clearly state how much of the dose.
It does it doesn’t state clearly clearly that that is the place where you do the breathing. It does state it clearly subsequently that one does breathing as was explained. But you can do breathing there and as far as how many as was explained in terms of one’s proficiency of thirty six or seventy two or however many. So before one is trained, in the course of training, it’s best to do few and then the course of training to increase. The crown is in the nature of bodhicitta.
It’s white. The throat and the navel? So the crown is in the the crown syllable is in the nature of bodhicitta, and it’s white. The the throat syllables in nature of fire, it’s red. And then the the syllable at the heart according to is blue.
And then the syllable at the level of the navel in the nature of fire is red. So perhaps it’s best since the syllable at the heart is in the nature of the life sustaining wind. So the life sustaining wind is white, and it’s the from which the emanation body is derived. So I think it should be why. In Guhyasamāja, the intermediate state enjoyment being is white.
It it is derived from the wind, life sustaining wind, which is white. Ah, because it is. Yeah. So it should should be not not a force, like force, other So very slowly, gradually, very gently. Otherwise, you have physical problems.
So that you can have intervals of relaxing between the vase breathings and but also the session should be quite short initially. You know, two minutes and three minutes and five minutes increasing in that way, but also resting between each of the breath, breathing. So, this holds true for whatever you might be meditating. You know, years, you should just keep your sessions short and, you know, keep yourself, you maintain your maintain your happy disposition within your meditation over the course of your meditation if things will go well. If on the other hand, you think, you know, trying to be very ambitious and meditate for a few days, really extended time of meditation, then you’ll you’ll get to the point when you think meditation isn’t any good.
You won’t want to meditate. So, the same holds true in a way to carry on your retreat. Your meditation session should be short initially, so that you can proceed in a relaxed and happy manner, and then as you progress you will be able to increase the length of your time of your meditation and just keep increasing the minimal amount as you go along. And if you proceed in this fashion, then you will be happy to to do retreat again. On the other hand, if it’s just a lot of difficulty and trouble, you there’ll be a lot of cutting.
This is a pain. Two. So one would have to check for oneself. If, you know, you can meditate while breathing, and if you see that your subsequent practice goes well, then you can use that as a preliminary. On the other hand, if you’re the main part of your practice doesn’t go well, then you shouldn’t do it.
So, you have to look for yourself. Okay. These teachers then directly benefit oneself, directly benefit oneself. Now, you know, from Śākyamūni Buddha, then one has received indirect benefit. But from these teachers who live in who live in the experience of this teacher, then one receives this direct experience of this teacher, someone receives this direct benefit and thereby, you know, recognizing this guru to be even more kind than all the countless Buddhas of the past.
So like this, in verse verse forty seven, we make our request to you, oh, compassion, refuge, protectors. You enact the deeds of the victorious ones for the many beings who lack a protective refuge at this time when the sunlight of the teaching sage has set. You know? So, you know, after we checked him, did he pass away then? Or you know?
Then he was followed by many of his highly realized, and you know, high highly realized disciples who who taught who taught his teachings like and all these all these highly realized ones, you know, oneself. I mean, one Buddha now found in to enacting the deeds of the previous Buddhas of Gurus lineage down to this Buddha, one makes this request. Oh, I do. Of all the Verse forty eight. Thank you.
We make our request to you, oh, compassion, refuge, protector, even a single hair from your pores, as for us, a merit field of men more highly praised than all the victorious Buddhas of the three times in ten directions. No. In this first thing, you you you mainly concentrate on the kindness of that guru. No.
The kindness