Recently a friend of mine wanted to know more about the Rainbow Body of Dzogchen practices in Tibetan Buddhism. He was also interested in something called "The Ascension" which is what Jesus did when he ascended into heaven.
Often people would like to accomplish through their spiritual practices what Jesus did when he ascended into heaven.
However, when he asked me about this I told him I had never seen anyone ascend into heaven personally. The closest to this kind of experience that I ever witnessed was Ling Rinpoche (who ran Tibet until the Dalai Lama was 18 years old and an adult when I was taken to see him in a remote stone house with a slate roof in 1986 early in the year in Dharamshala, India in the foothills of the Himalayas there.
When I saw him in the Maitreya Mudra sitting there with my family on a wooden table I asked the Tibetan Buddhist monks if he was coming back to his body and they said "No". I asked how long he had been like this immovable and they said 1 or 2 years.
For me, this was something amazing because he wasn't dead but also wasn't alive either from a western point of view but also his body was not decomposing either. So, I also experienced Maitreya Buddha Heaven coming through his aura and it was so profound it caused me to tear up and it changed my life ever after. My own father had passed away about 6 months before this and I was amazed what I was experiencing watching Ling Rinpoche direct the heaven realms of Maitreya back to me and my family.
I have never been quite the same ever since this amazing amazing experience!
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In Dzogchen, rainbow body (Tibetan: འཇའ་ལུས་, Wylie: 'ja' lus, Jalü or Jalus) is a level of realization. This may or may not be accompanied by the 'rainbow body phenomenon'. The rainbow body phenomenon is pre-Buddhist in origin,[1] and is a topic which has been treated fairly seriously in Tibet for centuries past and into the modern era. Other Vajrayana teachings also mention rainbow body phenomena.
Rigpa
The rainbow body phenomenon is a third person perspective of someone else attaining complete knowledge (Tibetan: རིག་པ, Wylie: rigpa). Knowledge is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the basis.
Rigpa has three wisdoms, which are kadag, lhun grub and thugs rje. Kadag deals with trekchö.[3] The lhun grub aspect has to do with esoteric practices, such as (but not limited to) tögal, that self-liberate the human body into a Sambhogakāya (rainbow body phenomenon).[3][4] The symbol of Dzogchen is a Tibetan "A" wrapped in a thigle. The "A" represents kadag while the thigle represents lhun grub. The third wisdom, thugs rje (compassion), is the inseparability of the previous two wisdoms.
In Dzogchen, a fundamental point of practice is to distinguish rigpa from sems (mind).[5]
The ultimate fruition of the tögal practices is a body of pure light and the dissolution of the physical body at death, this is called a rainbow body (Wylie 'ja' lus, pronounced ja lü.)[6] If the four visions of tögal are not completed before death, then during death, from the point of view of an external observer, the dying person starts to shrink until he or she disappears. Usually fingernails, toenails and hair are left behind[7] (see e.g. Togden Ugyen Tendzin, Ayu Khandro, Changchub Dorje). The attainment of the rainbow body is typically accompanied by the appearance of lights and rainbows.[6]
Exceptional practitioners are held to realize a higher type of rainbow body without dying. Having completed the four visions before death, the individual focuses on the lights that surround the fingers. His or her physical body self-liberates into a non-material body of light (a Sambhogakāya) with the ability to exist and abide wherever and whenever as pointed by one's compassion.[8]
Eyewitness account
Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen's Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, a Kunzang Nyingtik Dzogchen meditation manual commentated on by Lopon Tenzin Namdak, contains an eyewitness account of his main students' bodies shrinking and rainbows appearing in the sky at death.[9]
Reported accomplishments
- Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1935)[9]
- Sodnam Namgyal (1952)[10]
- Ayu Khandro (1953)[11]
- Togden Ugyen Tendzin (1962)[12]
- Khenpo A-chos (1998)[13]
Notes
References
- Allione, Tsultrim (2000). Women of Wisdom. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 9781559391412.
- Dalai Lama (2004). Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1-55939-219-8.
- Garry, Ron (2005). Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 9781559399517.
The practice is that of Cutting through Solidity (khregs chod), which is related to primordial purity (ka dag); and Direct Vision of Reality (thod rgal), which is related to spontaneous presence (Ihun grub).
- Guinness, Loel (2018). Rainbow Body. Serinda Publications. ISBN 978-1932476873.
- Gyaltsen, Shardza Tasha (2002). Heart Drops Of Dharmakaya: Dzogchen Practice Of The Bon Tradition (2nf ed.). Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1559391726.
- Holland, Gail (March–May 2002). "Christian Buddhist Explorations: The Rainbow Body". Institute of Noetic Sciences Review. Institute of Noetic Sciences (59).
- Kunsang, Erik Pema, tr. (2012). Perfect Clarity: A Tibetan Buddhist Anthology of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Ranjung Yeshe Publications. ISBN 978-9627341697.
- Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (1999). The Crystal and The Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen (New ed.). Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-135-9.
- Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (2002). Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light (Rev. Exp. ed.). Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1559391610.
- Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (2012). Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin. North Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1583944912.
- Nyoshul Khenpo (2005). A Marvelous Garland of Rare Gems: Biographies of Masters of Awareness in the Dzogchen Lineage. Padma Publications.
- Rabjam, Longchenpa (1996). Talbot, Harold (ed.). The Practice of Dzogchen. Translated by Tulku Thondup (2nd ed.). Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-054-9.
- Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk; Matthieu, Richard, tr. (2001). The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1559391542.
- Ray, Reginald (2001). Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 9781570627729.
Further reading
- Blackman, Sushi, ed. (1997). Graceful Exits: How Great Beings Die: Death Stories Of Tibetan, Hindu & Zen Masters. New York: Weatherhill, Inc. ISBN 0-8348-0391-7.
- Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (1988). Shane, John (ed.). The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen: The Teachings of Namkhai Norbu (1st ed.). Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-14-019084-8.
- Reynolds, John Myrdhin (1996). The Golden Letters (1st ed.). Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 978-1559390507.
- Sogyal Rinpoche (1993). Harvey, Andrew; Gaffney, Patrick (eds.). Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (Rev. and Updated ed.). HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 978-0-06-250834-8.
- Wangyal Rinpoche, Tenzin (2002). Healing with Form, Energy, and Light. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-176-6.
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