Six Dharmas of Naropa

According to Glenn Mullin, Tilopa's lineage teachers were the mahasiddhas Nagarjuna (not to be confused with the Madhyamaka philosopher), Lawapa, Luipada, Shavari, and Krishnacharya.

They are also described in Dakpo Tashi Namgyal's Light Rays from the Jewel of the Excellent Teaching and in Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, (book eight, part three).

For example, Tsongkhapa prefers the following listing, which follows Pagmo Drupa: (1) tummo (2) illusory body (3) radiance (4) transference (5) forceful projection and (6) bardo.

[19] According to Glenn Mullin, "Marpa Lotsawa seems mainly to have spoken of them as fourfold: (1) inner heat; (2) karmamudra, or sex yogas; (3) illusory body; and (4) clear light.

"[21] Tsongkhapa also quotes poems by Milarepa which shows that he held that one should first practice contemplating the nature of karma, observing the faults of sensuality and samsara, as well as meditate on kindness and bodhicitta.

[22] The exclusive preliminaries are Vajrayana practices such as receiving initiation (the best are Cakrasamvara or Hevajra since they are particularly associated with the six dharmas), keeping one's tantric pledges (samaya), Vajrasattva meditation and guru yoga.

[24] According to Glenn Mullin,"it is obvious from Tsongkhapa' s tone that a number of his readers will have heard of practicing the Six Yogas without first having undergone sufficient training in the generation stage meditations."

[31][32] This practice works with the subtle body (also known as the vajra-body) system of channels (nadis), winds (lung, vayu), drops (bindus) and chakras.

This practice leads the vital winds into the central channel, where they are said to melt the drops (bindus, which are tiny spheres of subtle energy) causing great bliss.

At the end of the practice, the practitioner stops visualizing (yid la mi byed) the channels, winds, and drops, and instead rests in an uncontrived state of Mahamudra (phyag rgya chen po ma bcos pa'i ngang).

[36] Another meditation manual by Gampopa also mentions a practice that relies on visualizing a drop (thig le, *bindu) between the eye brows.

This light rises up the central channel avadhuti and melts the other three syllables, HAM, OM and HUM [respectively at the crown, throat and heart chakras].

Light from this flame rises up the central channel, where it melts the drop of white bodhimind substance abiding within the crown chakra.

When meditative stability has been achieved then the radiance of the light from the inner fire will illuminate the inside and outside of one's body, as well as one's dwelling place and so forth, rendering them as transparent as a piece of kyurura fruit held in the hand.

Tsongkhapa describes various signs that this has occurred, mainly that the breath flows smoothly and evenly through the nostrils, then it becomes increasingly subtle, and then it stops altogether.

Kragh provides the following overview of the practice (from a male perspective) found in Gampopa's A Mirror Illuminating the Oral Transmission:Sitting still in sexual union, he should create an upwards movement of his breath while meditating on the sound of a certain mantric syllable.

That is here done by means of a visualization focusing on a small ball of light (thig le, *bindu) in the heart-cakra, which gradually turns into an experience of radiance and emptiness (’od gsal stong pa nyid).

[5]Gampopa's Closely Stringed Pearls explains that this practice is to be done while falling asleep by initially setting an intention to "seize the radiance" (’od gsal zin par bya).

[59] The practice of radiance in the waking state involves visualizing oneself as the deity in sexual union and meditating on a blue HUM at the heart chakra which emanates light in all directions that purifies the universe.

Then one practices collecting the vital winds into the central channel with the tummo method explained previously, which melts the drops, leading to the four blisses and the four emptinesses.

Air fully dissolves into "appearance," and there is a vision of whiteness, like a clear autumn sky pervaded by the light of the full moon.

The focusing of the mind in the central channel at the heart causes the winds to enter, which leads to the process of dissolution and the visions described above.

[80] In the Gelug system, to give rise to the illusory body, one must first practice the previous dharmas of generation stage, inner heat, karmamudra and radiance/clear light.

[82] Transference ('pho ba, *saṃkrānti), is a practice meant to eject one's consciousness out of the body into a state of Awakening at the time of death (or into a Buddha's pure land).

[86] To be successful in this practice according to Tsongkhapa, one's subtle channels should have been trained in one's life through inner heat, illusory body and clear light yogas.

One should apply oneself to this training until the signs of accomplishment manifest, such as a small blister appearing on the crown of the head, a sensation of itching, and so forth.

One turns the attention to the syllable KSHA at the mouth of the Brahma aperture, silhouetted against a background of pure white sky-like light, like an object in a roof window.

One recites AH HIK forcefully five times, and the syllable HUM shoots out the Brahma aperture and melts into the heart of the guru inseparable from one's mandala deity.

Then one uses tummo to draw the vital winds into the central channel, propelling one's consciousness, represented by the blue HUM at the heart, out of the crown aperture, to a pure Buddhafield.

Niguma, who was an enlightened yogini, a Vajrayana teacher, one of the founders of the Shangpa Kagyu Buddhist lineage, and, depending on the sources, either the sister or spiritual consort of Nāropa.

Thangka of Mahasiddha Naropa, 19th century
Gampopa, who wrote various meditation manuals on the six dharmas
A Tibetan illustration depicting the central channel and the two side channels as well as five chakras where the channels loop around each other
The Ah stroke syllable as taught in Gelug [ 38 ]
Upside down Tibetan script Haṃ seed syllable
Saṃvara in union with his consort the wisdom dakini Vajravārāhī
Vajradhara (Dorjechang, Vajra-holder) in union with his consort, Prajnaparamita, Tibet, 19th century
Mahasiddha Ghantapa, from Situ Panchen 's set of thangka depicting the Eight Great Tantric Adepts. 18th century.
A section of the Northern wall mural at the Lukhang Temple depicting tummo , the three channels ( nadis ) and phowa
A painting of the Adibuddha , Vajradhara
Buddha Akshobhya 's pure land Abhirati
The deities that one may encounter in the post-mortem interim state