Quote from Niguma

Niguma, Lady of Illusion

by Sarah Harding 

Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York, 2010      373 pages

"The mysterious Niguma was an Indian woman from Kashmir who probably lived in the tenth and eleventh centuries. . . her legacy of teachings . . . form the very core of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, one of the 'Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineages' that were later identified as the main conduits through which experiential Buddhism spread from India to Tibet . . . her master work, the Stages in the Path of Illusion . . . is our main focus here, although other texts will be briefly discussed. (p. xi) 

"The two principal areas of practice in the tradition are the yogas based on the Six Dharmas of Niguma, with an emphasis on the illusory body and dream yogas, and the special Amulet Mahamudra, a practice of doing nothing. This twofold division of teachings represents the two universal approaches in tantric practice: the path of methods or techniques (thabs lam) and the path of liberation (grol lam). (p. xii)


ESOTERIC INSTRUCTIONS ON OPENING THE CHANNEL
Namo Guru
These are esoteric instructions on opening the channel:

Sitting cross-legged with spine straight,
put your left clenched fist to your chest,
extend the right [arm] down vigorously.
Then do the same with your left.

After that, the four limbs
are vigorously extended for that reason.
Open your mouth and also open the eyes wide.
Then vigorously shake your four limbs.

After that, meditate on the guru's inner heat.
With your body in the seven-point posture of Vairochana,
imagine the central channel remaining straight,
and imagine the root guru on your head.

After that, the fire of timeless awareness
blazes up again into the central channel
and touches the guru's feet,
causing elixir to fall -- meditate in bliss.

Un-visualizing the guru, fire abides on its own.
Un-visualizing the elixir, meditate in emptiness.

This is Niguma's personal instruction. iti
(p. 185-186)

--quote submitted by Mora F.

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