Many Tantrayana students engage in Consort Practice, and I dare not say that none of our students engages in this practice. A person may feel that he is capable of doing the Consort Practice, but at the end, as a result of the Consort Practice, a child is born. [audience laughter] My God! [audience laughter] What kind of Consort Practice is this? This is just the ordinary conjugal practice between a couple, how could it be called the Consort Practice? It is an error to mistake the "married life" for the Consort Practice. An authentic Consort Practice will not give rise to any conception of a child. The birth of a child is an indication that he still has leakage of his light drops or vital essence. Such false claims of Consort Practice is an infraction of the precepts and can cause one to descend to the Vajra Hell.

Consort Practice does exist in Vajrayana Buddhism. We cannot deny its existence in the past in the Highest Tantra Section of Tibetan Vajrayana. However, the practice was so greatly abused that almost everyone was engaging in the Consort Practice. No wonder there are so many lamas. [audience laughter] Here in the state of Washington, there was also a great Tibetan lama who engaged in the Consort Practice with an American woman, and she gave birth to a little lama! Now the child is training to become a little lama in Nepal! Such a happening did occur, but it was not Consort Practice. Such a Consort Practice is a grave infraction of the Vajrayana Precepts.

The minimum requirement for Consort Practice is to first develop the conscious chi, your transport vehicle. You then elevate the light drops and place them in the truck and send them to be accumulated at the heart chakra. This way, all the light drops from the five chakras are centralized at the heart chakra. When there is no longer any light drop at the root chakra, you can practice the Consort Practice and enter into a Great Stabilization of Ecstasy and Emptiness.

Padmasambhava himself had five female consorts. During the Consort Practice, he would enter completely into the Condition of Emptiness and abide in the Great Stabilization of Ecstasy and Emptiness. It is a kind of stabilization that can transform Ecstasy into the Condition of Emptiness: "Ecstasy is Emptiness; Emptiness is Ecstasy." [audience applause] This is a practice that benefits both participating parties. During the process of such a practice, there is no longer any movement of light drops, just the movement of chi. Through the movement of conscious chi, Ecstasy is generated and transformed into the Condition of Emptiness. When the point of complete Emptiness is reached, it will gradually transform back into Ecstasy. At the apex of Ecstasy, the condition transforms and reverts to that of Emptiness. The stability resulted from the cyclic movements between Ecstasy and Emptiness is known as the Great Stabilization of Ecstasy and Emptiness.

Not many people have knowledge of the techniques of the Consort Practice; there are also very few who are qualified to engage in this practice. Yet many people are still using Consort Practice as a pretext. Do not trust such pretexts as it can lead to conception of babies. We who can "see" the energy can see right away whether someone is qualified to do the Consort Practice - whether there is sufficient chi in him, whether he can manuever the chi, and whether the central channel is open. When a person does not have a truck, and his light drops are leaking, how is he then qualified to engage in the Consort Practice?

I have given you a clear explanation of what are the prerequisites for entering into the Great Stabilization of Ecstasy and Emptiness. The first requirement is the possession of a full and sufficient chi. One has to be an adept in the practice of Chi Kung and is able to manuever the chi to ascend or descend. With a truck in the body, one can elevate the light drops. There are techniques that involve movements of the head, body, as well as the legs. There is a certain posture the body has to get into for the elevation of the light drops. The instruction are taught to one by one's guru. If one does not have the knowledge or ability to do such a practice, one is actually doing what the Chinese proverb says: "Build a cart behind closed doors." Or, in this case, build a truck behind closed doors, [audience laughter] except that in this case, a baby, rather than a truck, is produced.

This is the difference between the Buddhadharma and conventional practices. If you do not know how to release the egotistical self and enter into the Condition of Emptiness, you will only experience "pleasure" and not Emptiness. Herein lies the problem! Therefore, the practitioner has to first realize the Nature of Emptiness and then co-ordinate it with the other element, Ecstasy, during the practice. Padmasambhava has likened this process to that of "taking the pearl from the tongue of a poisonous snake."

There are now some people who claim that if you would pay a certain sum of money, they can open the central channel for you. With the freeway open, you can drive your truck around. Did the Buddha ever say anything to that effect? Can someone open your central channel for you? As your central channel is in your own body, you have to open it yourself. How can someone else open it for you? "How can you be so naive as to believe that it can be done by someone else?" [in Taiwanese to audience laughter] It is possible for me to give you a little boost of energy, but you yourself still have to manuever the chi to transform it into the conscious chi. This is a key point. You still have to do your own cultivation. [audience applause]

Part 2 (See footnote 1)

[Q-65] My first question pertains to attaining the state of "non-leakage." How can the "stopping of menstrual flow" be achieved? How does one achieve the state described by the Taoist term of "conquering the dragon and tiger"? Where are the "three hun and seven pa" [a term that describes the different constituents of a person's soul] located? What are the Four Deva Kings' mantra seed syllables and their colors?

[A] Writings on the "three hun and seven pa" may be found on page 83 of my 98th book, Transpersonal Experiences in the Ocean of Beings. The mantras of the Four Deva Kings may be found in my 49th book, The Method of Vajrayana.

I shall address now the questions pertaining to "non-leakage" and "stopping of menstrual flow." It is known in Taoism or Tantric Buddhism that when one exhausts the vital essences in one's body, one dies. It is therefore best if one can achieve a state wherein there is no leakage of any of the vital essences of one's body. Simply put, males have to be able to keep light drops from leaking. Light drops include both the non-physical "wisdom light drops" and the physical "semen." For females, it would be non-physical "wisdom light drops" and the physical "menstrual blood." How does one stop these light drops from leaking? These are "internal level" practices. First, one must learn to do the Treasure Vase Breathing to fill the whole body with a vigorous chi. Sometimes the hand can be used as a tactile guide for the movement of chi. When the finger moves upward, visualize chi also moving upward along with the finger. Eventually, the chi will move upward without any tactile guidance. By practicing the Treasure Vase Breathing, one's whole body becomes like a treasure vase filled with vigorous chi that filters down to the capillary level.

Light drops that are about to leak can be elevated by assuming a certain body position or posture. In the tempering process, the inner fire is used to burn these light drops and transform them into vapor. The vapor will rise inside the central channel and, upon reaching the five chakras, transform into sariras.

In Taoism, this process is known as "conquering the dragon and subjugating the tiger," "non-leakage of light drops," and "cessation of the menstrual flow." It is easy to speak about this process but, in reality, in order to achieve the "non-leakage of light drops," one has to lower one's desires. The six senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought have to be shut off. When one is desire-free, an inner peace is sustained. Then one may practice the four steps of "lowering, elevating, sustaining, and dispersing," and use the "elevating" method to raise light drops, temper them with the inner fire, and transform them into vapor. This is also what is termed in Taoism the practice of "ching, chi, and shen." Ching transforms into chi, which transforms into shen, which then returns to the void. This is the Taoist method of cultivation to return to the Original Source.

In Tantric Buddhism, "non-leakage of light drops" is also the goal. In Vajrayana Buddhism, engaging in consort practice, while one still has leakage of light drops, constitutes a breaking of the vajrayana precepts and can cause one to descend to the vajra hell. Consort practice is engaged in vajrayana because it is an effective way to induce the lowering of the fluid known as "white bindu." While still engaging in consort practice, chi is transferred and instilled into the other party's central channel to open it up. In this process, chi is transformed through skillful means into "wisdom chi," which is used to open up the central channel. This is tantamount to helping the other party to experience the state of liberation. The circulation of chi enables the other party to enter into the same realm as one is in oneself. This is the reason why this very secret yoga is practiced in Tantric schools. However, if the female party is not able to consciously achieve cessation of menstrual flow and the male party is not able to prevent the lightdrops from leaking, then engaging in such practices can cause one to descend to the vajra hell. The successful practice of "non-leakage of lightdrops" is a minimum prerequisite before one should attempt the consort practice. Padmasambhava had five female consorts with whom he entered into sexual union practice for the above reasons.

Toolbox

Back Top Print Bookmark Tell a friend:

© 2008 Padmakumara. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright & Terms of Use.