Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute session, Kyabje Rinpoche offers detailed instruction on vase breathing, the foundation of Inner Heat (tummo) practice in the Six Yogas of Naropa. He walks through the technique step-by-step: breathing through the nose while imaginatively drawing winds into the central channel, then measuring proficiency by how long you can hold the breath—36 counts for beginners, 72 for intermediates, 108 for advanced (one count = three hand rubbings and six snaps). He covers the practical framework: practice on an empty stomach in early morning, wear special symbolic clothing, place visualizations at crown, throat, heart, and navel. Throughout he emphasizes a gentle, gradual approach—start with 2–5 minute sessions, relax between breaths, increase duration as confidence builds. Students ask about wind retention, swallowing, and physical effects of the practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1993-12-06 – 4A – Inner Heat Retreat – KR.mp3
UUID: f44ced4a-bb05-4e21-8ca6-0ff5003e8659
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Six Yogas of Naropa
Date: 1993-12-06
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,527
Physical problems. Can cause some kinds of illness. So, before it becomes uncomfortable, one then exhales. But, one 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, advised 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, So one 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 vase, hold the wind for 108 of those measures, then you have gained proficiency at vase breathing. Middling proficiency is 72 And minimal is 36. 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 ‘s difficult to meditate when there’s 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 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 a red tie, whatever. It has three patches at the crotch which are red, which is the heating of 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? When you swallow saliva? Does what remain closed? Just have to Okay.
So one is imagining swallowing. But first off, said 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. The nature of exalted 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 said that the breathing So it doesn’t it doesn’t clearly state much 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 36 or 72 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 forceful, not like force, rather So very slowly, gradually, very gently. Otherwise, you have physical problems.
So that it you can have intervals of relaxing between the vas breathing 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 relaxing between each of the breath, breathing. So, holds true for whatever you might be meditating. Know, years, you should just keep your sessions short and, you know, keep yourself, maintain maintain your your happy disposition with in your meditation over the course of your meditation if things will go well. If on the other hand, you think, you know, trying to think to have a being 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 you you 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 experience of of this, this teacher, someone then one receives receives this this direct direct benefit and thereby, you know, recognizing this group to be even more kind than all the countless Buddhas of the past.
So like this, in verse verse 47, we make our request to you, oh, compassion, refuge, protectors. You enact the deeds of the victorious ones for the many beings to 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 teachers like and all these all these highly realized disciples, you know, oneself. I mean, one Buddha now found in to enacting the deeds of the previous Buddhas of Guru Śākyamūni to this Buddha, one next this request. Oh, I do you tell them of all the Verse 48. Thank you. We make our request to you, oh, compassion, refuge, protect us, even a single hair from your body.
As for us, a merit field of merit, more highly praised than all the victorious Buddhist a few times in 10 directions. No. In this first thing, you you you mainly concentrate on the kindness of that guru. No. The kindness