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BRILL Asian 3 (2007) 130-155 www.brill.nl/asme

Magical Movement ('Phrul 'Khor): Ancient Tibetan Yogic Practices from the and their Migration into Contemporary Medical Settings1

M.A.Chaoul

Abstract Magical movement is a distinctive Tibetan yogic practice in which breath and concentration of the mind are integrated as crucial components in conjunction with particular body move• ments. Present in all five spiritual traditions of -though more prevalent in some than in others-it has been part of Tibetan spiritual training since at least the tenth century CE. This report describes some varieties of magical movement, and goes on to examine their application within conventional biomedical settings. In particular, a pilot study of the method's utility in stress-reduction among cancer patients is considered.

Keywords Tibet, Bon, magical movement, mind-body practices, integrative medicine, , cancer, rtsa rlung, 'phrul 'khor, Tibetan

Focusing on the magical movement from the ancient Bon Great Complete• ness or (rdzogs chen) tradition's Oral Transmission ofZhang Zhung (Zhang zhung snyan rgyud) 2 and its contemporary representatives and -

1 Written in part on the anniversary ofTonpa Shenrab's passing away and enlightenment. 2 Chandra and Namdak 1968. The magical movement chapter is the 'Quintessential Instruc• tions of the Oral Wisdom of Magical Movements' ('phrul 'khor zhal shes man ngag, hereafter Quintessential Imtructiom), pp. 631--43. Usually translated as 'Oral Transmission' and lately too as 'Aural Transmission' (Kvaerne 1996, and following him, Rossi 1999). Although I am using 'oral transmission' for snyan rgyud, I find 'aural' or 'listening' to be more accurate renderings of snyan. However, since it has been used and known in this way and I also feel that 'aural' and 'listening' could be seen as somewhat cumbersome, I will follow the usual rendering. It is impor• tant to note that 'oral' is not wrong either, since it is a tradition that was transmitted orally from the mouth of the master to the ear of the disciple, usually through a bamboo cane. Glenn Mul• lin, probably to capture this sense, translates the term as 'an ear-whispered tradition' (Mullin (ed.) 1997, p. 17), although all oral traditions are not whispered, as will become clear in the discussion of 'oral genres' later in this article.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/157342107X207245

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 131 holders, chis study is based on textual translation and analysis as well as echno• graphical research reporting how it is used in Bon lay settings and monastic curricula today. In particular, I have worked with a commentary by the famous nineteenth- to twentieth-century Bonpo scholar and meditator Shardza Tashi Gyalcsen (Shar rdz.a bKhra shis rgyal mtshan). 3 Shardza's other works on magi• cal movement and his systematisation have had a great impact in contempo• rary Bon settings and its migration co the West. Thus, in tracing the migration of magical movement to the West, both in Buddhist centres and contemporary western medical settings, I report some of the benefits of using these mind-body techniques as part of a CIM (Complementary and Integrative Medicine) treatment for people with cancer. This may situate mag• ical movements within a larger dialogue-one chat engages not only with ocher yogic practices-but also with the fields of integrative medicine and the medical humanities, among others.

The Bon religion4

The Bon religion is proclaimed to have been well established in Tibet by the time arrived there in the seventh century CE. 5 The question of the origins of Bon has undergone lengthy discussions among both Tibetan and Euro-American scholars. However, the prominence of Buddhism over Bon produced 'religious polemical work quite hostile to Bon [Bon].'6 Dan Martin, who has studied chis topic extensively, writes, '[s]tatements about the "primi• tive of Bon" and its later "transformation" or "accommodation"

Also, following Anne Klein, who follows Sogyal Rinopche, I chose to translate 'Great Com• pleteness' rather than 'Great Perfection' for the Dzogchen school of thought and practice. 'Per• fection' has the connotation of perfecting that state of mind whereas 'completeness' emphasises the sense of 'fullness' chat, in my understanding, is more in accordance with the way chis state is described in Dzogchen texts. David Germano, although finally opting to use 'Great Perfection', acknowledges chat 'completeness' captures a better sense of rdmgs. In face, his more literal trans• lation would be 'super-completeness' (Germano 1994, p. 683). Dan Marcin provides a further 'twist', using 'Great Perfectedness' following Sogyal and Klein (see Martin 2001, p. 14). 3 Gyalcsen 1974a, pp. 321--46 (henceforth, Shardza's Commentary). 4 The of Tibet include Buddhism as well as Bon. This is important to this study, since the main texts I have worked with come from the Bon tradition (see Tucci 1980). Follow• ing His Holiness the 14th Dalai and ochers, I will consider that the Tibetan religious tradi• tions include the native Bon religion and the four sub-traditions ofTibecan Buddhism: (rnying ma), (bka' brgyud), (sa skya) and (dge lugs). 5 Karmay 1975, pp. 180-7. 6 Marcin 1994, p. 6. For a study of the polemical tradition in greater detail, see also Martin 1991.

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(or "plagiarism") have been repeated so often that they have achieved a status of cultural Truth'.7 Martin, among others, proposes that,

Bon [Bon] as it existed during the last millennium represents an unusual, yet quite legitimate transmission of Buddhist teachings ultimately based on little• known Central Asian Buddhist traditions. 8 In this study, for reasons of focus and length, I do not dwell further on this discussion, as it has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere. 9 Instead I focus on some of the religious principles of the Bon tradition in which this magical movement practice is embedded.

Mind-energy-body

In Buddhist and Bon teachings, especially from the Dzogchen perspective, one's physical body, speech or energy, and mind are known as the three doors through which one practises the methods (thabs) and realises or re-discovers one's own primordial wisdom (ye shes). to Within the speech or energy realm, there is a subtle energy body that emerges both metaphorically and, for some, in actuality. This subtle energy body or adamantine body (rdo rje lus or sku analogous to the suksma farira) is composed of channels (rtsa) and vital breath currents (rlung) that flow within them, providing the landscape where the mind and the physical body connect with each other. In the Tibetan yogic tradition, there are certain practices that specifically affect the energetic

7 Marcin 1991, p. 3. 8 Marcin 1994, p. 5. 9 See Martin 1991; Kvaerne 1994; Chaoul 1999, among others. Bonpos themselves distin• guish three kinds of Bon, namely Bon (which retrospectively is qualified as early or primitive), Yungdrung (g.yung drung) or eternal Bon, and new Bon (bon gsar). Early Bon is seen as an ensemble of the popular religions, similar to what Stein calls 'the nameless religion' (see Stein 1972). Yungdrung Bon is the religion that claims its origin in the Buddha Tonpa Shenrab and sees itself as a separate religion from Buddhism, even when acknowledging similarities. New Bon is a movement that surfaced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It arose from the interac• tion and amalgamation between Yungdrung Bon and Nyingma, the earlier Buddhist tradition in Tibet. As Kvaerne writes, 'Bon was not a sinister perversion of Buddhism, but rather an eclectic tradition which, unlike Buddhism in Tibet, insisted on accentuating rather than denying its pre• Buddhisi: elements.' (Kvaerne 1996, p. 135). 10 The wisdom of realising is sometimes called insight or exalted knowledge (shes rab) and is the pair of method. In the Dwgchen school, that realisation is a process of re-discovering that primordial nature or 'Buddha nature'(de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po, tatagathagarbha) that every sentient being (sems can) possesses.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access M.A. Chaoul! Asian Medicine3 (2007) 130-155 133 or and are called 'channels and vital breath currents' or 'channels• breaths' practices (rtsa rlung).'' Channels-breaths, sometimes taught as a prac• tice in themselves, are often included within magical movement, in which case they are called 'magical movement [of/with] channels-breaths' (rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor). r Tsa (ndr/,i in Sanskrit) generally means 'channels' or 'circulation channels', and rlung (prd17a or vdyu in Sanskrit) is translated here as 'vital breath cur• rents', or simply 'breaths', depending on the context. These terms have different meanings; therefore translations vary according to the context in which they appear, such as medical or religious practice. There are even further variations among different texts and traditions. 12 In Tibetan medicine, the channels, specifically the circulation channels, include those that carry not only breath and vital breath currents, but also blood, and other fluids and energies that 'connect all aspects of the body.' 13 Therefore, rtsa, depending on the context, is translated as 'veins', 'arteries', 'nerves', and so forth. In the channels-breaths practices, rtsa refers to those channels that carry rlung. 'Vital breath currents' is equivalent to in Chinese and prd17a in Sanskrit, rather than Jeng and vdyu respectively, which may also take on the meaning of external 'air' or 'wind'. 14 In the channels-breaths practices, rlung does not refer to that external wind but rather to internal subtler aspects of it, such as normal breath and vital breath currents that run within the body through the circulatory channels. Therefore, it is still related to the aspect of 'wind', but the emphasis is on 'breath', and more specifically on the subtler breaths that I am calling here 'vital breath currents'. Since in rtsa rlung practices, rlung includes both one's normal breath as well as one's vital breath currents, I will use 'channels-breaths' to describe those practices. However, when I refer specifically to the subtler breaths, I will use 'vital breath currents' .'5

11 Borrowing from Germana's term 'channel-winds practices' (Germano 1994, p. 662), I will use 'channels-breaths' practices, since I feel it translates accurately from the Tibetan and brings a better sense of the subject-matter: a specific practice chat utilises the channels and different aspects of breath. This point will become clearer below. 12 As Frances Garrett and Vincanne Adams assert, 'The definition and enumeration of the circulatory channels [rtsa] is clearly a matter of controversy in medical and religious texts from the origins of these literary and scholastic disciplines in Tibet to present date' (Garrett and Adams, forthcoming. I am graceful to Frances Garrett for sharing her manuscript). Hence, some consider chat these channels as well as the subtle body have an imaginary status (see, for example, Bharaci 1975). 13 Garrett and Adams, forthcoming. 14 See Gutschow 1997. I am graceful to Mona Schrempf for directing me to chis article. 15 As Gutschow rightly asserts, 'Tibetan medicine's concept of wind is as fluid and multiva• lent as the reality which it signifies' (Gutschow 1997, p. I). Consequently, in my own research

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The contemporary lama and scholar Tenzin Wangyal , also describes rlung as an aspect of breath:

We can sense direccly at the grosser levels in the air we breathe. We can also sense its flow in our bodies. It is at this level, in which prana can be felt both in its movement and in its effects, that we work in . We become sensitive to and develop the flow of prana using mind, imagination, breathing, posture, and movement. By guiding the grosser manifestations of prana, we can affect the sub• de levels. As our sensitivity increases, we can direccly experience prana in subcler dimensions. 16 Channels-breaths practices are crucial in the training and harmonising or bal• ancing (snyoms) of the channels and the vital breach currents of the practitio• ner. Puc simply, in these practices, the practitioner becomes familiar with the channels first through visualisation and then by using the mind co direct the vital breach currents along those channels. In chis way, one allows the vital breach currents to circulate through the channels more evenly in terms of the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation and seeks a greater balance in terms of the quantity and strength of the breach through the different channels. 17 The mind is said to 'ride' on the vital breath currents, like a rider on a horse, and the two travel together through the pathways of the channels. 18 Quintessential lmtructions emphasises the importance of 'preparing the pathways of the channels, [by] purifying the channels and vital breach cur• rents' .19 In his Commentary, Shardza describes chis more explicitly, as follows:

Regarding rooting out poisons associated with the vital breath currents and train• ing the channels, [first] forcefully expel the coarse breath current through the right [channel/nostril], [and then] leisurely inhale long breath currents through the left [channel/nostril]. 20 With powerful exhalations and nurturing inhalations, the practitioner clears away the obstacles chat are the poisons that impede the flow of the vital breath currents. In other words, the channels are paths for both the vital breath

within the context of the magical movements of channels-breaths, I still do not feel I have reached a definitive translation for rlung that will convey the full range of its meaning. 16 Wangyal 2002, p. 77. I feel char my translation of 'viral breath currents' is in agreement with 's explanation. 17 On some occasions the strength of the left nostril is emphasised, since it is the channel linked with the wisdom aspects. 18 The viral breath as horse and the mind as its rider is a common metaphor in Tantric texts, such as the Mother Tantra. 19 Chandra and Namdak 1968, pp. 632.2-632.3. 20 Gyalrsen 1974a, pp. 322.2-322.3.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 135 currents and the mind, which together flow like a horse and the rider on it. When the mind is distracted by one of the afflictions, when the vital breath current is interrupted by one of the illnesses (nad), or when there are spirit• provoked obstacles (gdon), the vital breath currents cannot flow in the proper way together with the mind, through the channels. This is why rooting out the poisons is key for the practice. It is sometimes kept somewhat secret. Shardza explains in his Commentary, 'chis is the method for rooting away poisons of the vital breath currents; [direct] oral explanation from a teacher [is needed]' .21 This underscores the importance of oral commentary. Although instructions are provided in the text, it is not advised to practise chem just on the basis of reading a text. Instead, one should receive oral explanations from an autho• rised teacher, giving one the key to open the door to one's experiences. Most practitioners would not even look at such a text without having an appropriate introduction to it by a lama or master. 22 With the help of movements chat guide the mind and vital breach currents into different areas, the channels-breaths practices bring the possibility of healing or, in other words: harmonising body, energy, and mind, or the body• energy-mind system. This is a goal of yogic practices and also a model of good health chat is in line with the concept of health and well-being in Tibetan medicine. 23 In the Bon tradition, the principal text used for the channels-breaths prac• tice is the Mother Tantra (Ma rgyud), 24 especially the chapter on the 'Lumi• nous Sphere of the Elements' ( 'Byung ba'i thig le). 25 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, basing his research principally on the Mother Tantra and his own experience, explains chis kind of practice as follows:

21 Gyaltsen 1974a, p. 322.3. Here I am translating 'oral' for zhal, literally 'from mouth'. It can be understood as the counterpart of 'listening' (snyan) within the orality process referred to earlier. 22 This entails not just the instruction, but the triad of instruction ('khrid), oral transmission () and initiation (dbang). For example, Ponlob lhinley Nyima explains that since many of the Oral Transmission had Meri as their tantric , the initiation to that deity is considered important to receive the blessings of those teachings. In that way, the practitioner purifies body, speech and mind, and thus diminishes the external, internal, and secret interruptions or obsta• cles. Ponlob adds that the foundational practices are important first in order to become 'a suit• able vessel' (snod du rung ba) and not let the fruits of the practice get 'rotten' (rul pa). Therefore, the best sequence to receive these as a practitioner is: foundational practices, initiation, transmis• sion, and instructions (Ponlob lhinley Nyima, oral communication, Houston April 2005). 23 See Dhonden I 986. 24 Samlek 1971. For a later edition, see Samlek 1985. 25 Samlek 1985, pp. 591--619.

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All experience, waking and dreaming, has an energetic basis. This vital energy is called lung [rlung] in Tibetan, but is better known in the West by its Sanskrit name prana. The underlying structure of any experience is a precise combination of various conditions and causes. If we are able to recognise its mental, physical and energetic dynamics, then we can reproduce those experiences or alter them. This allows us to generate experiences that support spiritual practices and avoid those that are detrimental. 26 This is the aim of the magical movement practitioner; he or she wishes to reproduce and alter experience through physical movements that guide the vital breath currents, which in turn guides the mind and enables the genera• tion of specific experiences.

Getting acquainted with magical movement

My interest in the Bon magical movement practices began during a trip to in 1993. Staying at the Bonpo monastery of Tritan Norbutse (Khri brtan nor bu rtse), I was able to observe, and later learn, these movements under the guidance of Tibetan who followed the teachings of the Oral Transmission ofZhang Zhung. 27 In 1994, under the guidance of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, who had shortly prior to that moved to the USA, I stud• ied and started translating Shardza's Commentary. Until that time, over a period of ten years, I had practised various types of , including Indian Ha_tha Yoga, Chinese Tai ji and Qi gong, and Tibetan Yoga. In Indian styles of yoga the practitioner aims to keep the body still and let the breath flow naturally in a particular posture (dsana). In Bon magical movement, on the other hand, the practitioner holds the breath while the body moves in such a way as to guide that breath, which in turn guides the mind. The emphasis on the mind being stable seems to be para• mount for all types of yoga; the methods, however, as we shall see, differ. According to David White, '[t]he theory here [in ha_tha yoga] is simple: Stop this, that stops'. 28 In other words, as we stop the body, the mind stops too. White adds that putting this into practice is not so simple. From Patafijali through to Gorakhnath and his followers, Indian yoga texts describe that by

26 Warigyal 1998, p. 42. 27 Special thanks to the then ofTritan Norbutse, Nyima Wangyal, who super• vised the first time I observed and learned these practices and who also became a wonderful resource in the following years. "White 1996, p. 274.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access M.A. Chaoull Asian Medicine3 (2007) 130-155 137 keeping the body still in a specific posture, the mind will also stop and become stable. 29 The same is found in other Buddhist and Bon meditation practices, where the body posture prescribed is a stable lotus posture (rdo rje or g.yung drung skyil krung, padmdsana) as a support to hold the mind stable. In con• trast, in practices such as channels-breaths and magical movement the body is in movement, yet the mind is able to remain still. In other words, it is not a question of 'stopping', but of integrating the movement into that state of mind. In fact, the movements themselves are seen as a tool to help the mind be stable. Chinese mind-body practices, such as Tai Ji and qi gong, share this aspect of combining movement with particular body postures and main• taining focused attention in the midst of movement with Tibetan magical movement. Yantra yoga, which is the name that Rinpoche uses when he teaches and writes about magical movements from 's Union of Sun Moon Magical Movement ('Phrul 'khor nyi zla kha sbyor), 30 shares many similarities with those of the Oral Transmission ofZhang Zhung. In both mag• ical movement systems, the breath is held while the body follows a specific movement. The kind of breath retention and the movements, however, are different. There are very few scholarly works on magical movement in English or other western languages. 31 Namkhai Norbu's commentary and translation of Vairocana's magical movement is soon to be published in English.32 In addition, there are a few scholarly expositions in English on the various trans• lations of the famous Six Yogas or Teachings of Naro pa (Naro chos drug, here• after Six Yogas). Magical movement is not always included in the Six Yogas, even in their Tibetan originals. Later commentators of the Six Yogas, like the eighteenth-century Gelugpa scholar, Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (Dgul chu dhar ma bha dra), admits that there is benefit in practising them, and asserts

When they are performed, there is less chance of problematic side effects arising in the channels or energies through forceful meditation on the tantric yogas; and even if some difficulties do arise, these are mitigated.33

29 Patafijali is often considered the father of 'classical' yoga philosophy. His Yogasutras are dated by different authorities between the second century BCE and third century CE (see Alter 2004, p. 121 and White I 996, p. I 4I). Gorakhnath, whose dates also vary (from 11th to 13th century) is credited as the founder of hafha yoga. 30 Be ro tsa na and Norbu 1993, hereafter Sun and Moon. The extant Tibetan text contains the root text ascribed to Vairocana and a commentary by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. 31 And still none which refer to the Bon tradition. 32 Norbu, forthcoming. 33 Mullin 1996, p. 259, ft. 30.

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Defining magical movement

Over the last six years, I have worked extensively to refine my textual under• standing of the Bon magical movement and its actual practice by studying with Ponlob Thinley Nyima, the current principal teacher (dpon slob) at Menri (sMan ri) monastery in . It was in the course of numerous in-depth dis• cussions with him that the translation of 'magical movement' for 'phrul 'khor arose. 'Phrul, which is usually translated in dictionaries and common parlance as '' or 'magical', can also mean 'machine' or 'mechanics' when com• bined with 'khor, as in the compound 'phrul 'khor. 34 'Khor literally means 'wheel' but also 'circular movement' or just 'movement', and thus 'phrul 'khor can be translated as 'magical movement(s)' or 'magical wheel'. 35 With that in mind and since it seems to bring forth its meaning in a better way, I use 'magical movement' to describe this practice that integrates body movements to the meditative state of mind experienced by the practitioner.36 Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche similarly elucidates the meaning of 'phrul 'khor both as 'magical' and as 'machine'. Using the Sanskrit equivalent, yantra yoga, in a book of the same title, he persuasively describes the body as a machine or a tool that one can utilise to understand one's own nature more clearly. 37 In this explanation, Norbu also combines the meaning of rnal 'byor, the Tibetan term that is usually the equivalent for the Sanskrit 'yoga'. Tibetologist David Germano explains this term in the Great Completeness or Dzogchen school context: '[t]he etymology of rNal 'Byor is "tuning into" ('Byor) naturalness (rNal)', or "'linking up to" ( 'Byor) a pristine innate state (rNal ma)' .38 In other words, from the Dzogchen perspective through yoga (rnal 'byor), the practitio• ner is able to tune into his/her own natural pristine state of mind. Tenzin

34 Jaschke 1998; Das 1992, pp. 854-5. 3' I should note that what in Quintessential lmtructiom is spelled 'phrul 'khor is written as 'khrul 'khor in Shardza's Commentary. Even when citing from the former, Shardza maintains chis spelling. This spelling occurs not only in the title but throughout the text (see Gyalcsen 1974a, p. 32 I). Ponlob lhinley Nyima favours 'phrul 'khor as the best rendition. Yongdzin Tenzin Nam• dak, however, arguably the most respected contemporary scholar and lama from the Bon tradi• tion, asserts chat 'khrul 'khor is actually a mistake and that 'phrul 'khor is not just the best but the only correct spelling to use when referring to chis kind of practices (Personal communication, Charlottesville, November 2004). We do, however, find the same rype of error in ocher Bud• dhists texts, such as the 'Six Yogas ofNaropa' (In Evans-Wentz 1958, p. 2). 36 Kheitpo Tenpa Yungdrung, the current abbot of Tri can Norbucse Monastery in Nepal, also mentioned chat the magic ( 'phrul) refers to 'the unusual effects chat these movements pro• duce in the experience of the practitioner', (oral conversation, Houston, TX, December 2005). 37 Norbu 1998. 38 Germano 1994, p. 720.

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Wangyal expresses the meaning of magical movement (using the phonetic '') clearly and simply:

In particular, trul khor serves as an aid to meditation practice, a gateway to a more clear, open, and stable experience of abiding in the natural state of mind. Through integrating vigorous physical movement with mental concentration and aware• ness of the breath, the trul khor exercises unblock and open the flow of vital energy, or prana [rlung], within specific areas of the body. 39 Wangyal here reaffirms the importance of understanding magical movement as 'magical movement of the channels and vital breath currents' (rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor). In other words, by being sensitive to the use of one's subtle body through manipulating the channels and vital breath currents, the magical movement practitioner can open the flow of vital breath permeating both to the gross body and the mind and would eventually be able to experience and abide in the natural state of mind. According to Namkhai Norbu, this is the aim of yoga (rnal 'byor). 40 Simply stated, magical movement helps dispel blockages or obstacles, and resting or abiding in the natural state of mind is a crucial component of the practice. Contemporary Tibetans and westerners often refer to magical movement as 'yoga' or 'Tibetan yoga'. 41 In the CIM field they are referred to as yoga or as a 'mind-body' technique. Therefore, when I use the term 'yoga' to describe mag• ical movement, I am doing so in a more general way. Although I am aware that this usage is not a scholarly one, I believe that it makes the general public understand this type of practice better. This is also in line with Mircea Eliade's statement that,

side by side with this 'classic' Yoga, there are countless forms of 'popular', non• systematic yoga; there are also non-Brahmanic yogas (Buddhist, Jainist); above all, there are yogas whose structures are 'magical', 'mystical', and so on.42 Magical movement is a distinctly Tibetan practice of physical yoga, which through controlled breath and concentration of the mind in conjunction with

39 Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, in his unfinished work on Tibetan tantric practices of body, speech and mind. I am grateful to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for sharing his manuscript with me and allowing me to use this quotation. 40 Norbu 1986, p. 85. 41 Besides Namkhai Norbu's use ofYantrayoga, the move toward the usage of'yoga' can also be seen in Roach 2004; Evans-Wentz 1958 and Cohen et al. 2004, among others. Many contem• porary lamas and Tibetans in general refer to 'magical movement' as 'yoga'. I believe this is related to the fact that, although the term 'yoga' is clearly of Indian origin, its use has been adopted to encompass practices from various other traditions, including mind-body practices of Tibet and China (see, for example, the description of Taoist yoga' in Paper and Thompson 1998, pp.89-114). 42 Eliade 1990, p. 4.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access 140 M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 particular body movements, can bring forth magical or mystical experiences. Among the five Tibetan spiritual traditions, magical movement is most preva• lent in the Kagyu (bka' brgyud), Nyingma (rnying ma) and Bon.43 Despite some claims in favour of roots in Indian esoteric Buddhism, its history is yet to be written. 44 Contemporary Tibetan religious leaders and scholars describe magical movement practices as dating back to at least the eighth century.45 In fact, they claim that different kinds of magical movement were practised much earlier than that and preserved only as an oral tradition. 46 Certainly by the eleventh century, many Tibetan texts point to the existence of the practice of magical movement, especially within the traditions mentioned above.47 Although more research is needed to ascertain precisely how this practice was articulated originally and how it changed over time, it is clear that its roots were well established in Tibetan religious traditions over a thousand years ago, as the texts that were the basis for this study attest.

43 Tsongkhapa ( Tsong kha pa}, the founder of the Gelug tradition, wrote an important com• mentary on the famous Six Yogas of the Kagyu tradition, called: the Book of 1hree Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages ofTraining in the Profound Path ofNaro's Six (Zab lam na ro'i chos drug gi sgo nas 'khrid pa'i rim pa yid ches gsum ldan). This text discusses magical movements as part of the yoga of inner heat (gtum ). According to Glenn Mullin, who has done extensive work on the Six Yogas ofNaropa tradition, the Gelug school 'received its transmission of the Six Yogas primarily from the Zhalu (Sakya) school' (Mullin 1997, p. 14). This leads me to believe chat most of the magical movement texts within the Modernists (gsar ma) schools, namely Kagyu, Sakya and Gelugpa, are derived from the Six Yogas. At chis point, chis is merely a hypothesis, which is yet to be investigated. 44 There seems to be a general tendency in the academic study of , as indeed there is in Tibetan Buddhism itself, co see India as the sole authority. Scholars such as Dan Martin and Toni Huber have pointed out how chis bias also affects the relationship between Bon and Buddhism. As Toni Huber states, 'Indic doctrinal explanations for what Tibetans do and say has drawn the analytical focus away from a closer investigation of the assumed emic categories' (Huber 1994, p. 24). See also Martin 1991 and my own works in their footsteps in Chaoul 1999. More research is needed in regard co the Chinese influence in Tibetan practices and schools of thought. For some work on chis topic, see Karmay 1988, Van Schaik and Dalton 2004, 2006, and Meinert 2002. 45 Norbu states chat 'the great acarya Vairocana (8th century) ... developed chis tradition ofTrulkhor Nyida Khajor or Yantra, known as the Unification of Sun and Moon' (Norbu 1998, p. 11). 46 The Buddhologist David Gray argues along chis line chat: 'scriptures cannot be adequately understood if chis oralicy, and the social world that gave rise to it, is not taken into account' (Gray 2005). The importance of orality in the Tibetan traditions is wonderfully addressed by Anne Carolyn Klein (Klein 1994, p. xix) following the crucial work of Ong 1982. 47 Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros 1995; Be ro csa na and Norbu 1993 as well as some of the texts related to the Six Yogas such as 's Oral Instructions of the Six Yogas (Chos drug gi man ngag}, and 's verses ofthe Whispered Tradition (sNyan)-boch in Mullin 1997; and the Bon text chat is part of chis study (see below}.

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Magical movement in the Oral Transmission ofZhang Zhung

The Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung describes the main objective of the magical movement practices as abiding in the natural state of mind.48 Through this practice the practitioner's principal aim is to reach the pristine state equal to the Ever-Excellent-one, one's Buddha nature. In order to do so, s/he needs to clear away any outer, inner (and secret) obstacles through the performance of the magical movements. 49 The obstacles (gegs) are, respectively, illnesses (nad), afflictions (gdon) and subtle mental disturbances (sgrib). The homage of the text is particularly illuminating in this respect, declaring: 'Homage to the Ever-Excellent One (Kun tu bzang po), who clears the outer and inner50 interruptions (bar chod)'. 51 In other words, practising these magical movements, the yogin can clear away illnesses, afflictions and mental disturbances, and thus aspire to rest in his/her natural state of mind, which is equated to the state of the Ever-Excellent One. Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak, as well as other exponents of that tradition claim that these movements existed in earlier cen• turies within oral teachings as tools for dispelling obstacles (gegs sel) and enhancing meditation practices (bog 'don) among masters of the Oral Trans• mission of Zhang Zhung. Although the Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung became a written text in the eighth century, 52 I would argue that the magical movement chapter, which is the last one, would be more accurately placed around the late eleventh or early twelfth century. 53 Magical movement reached a pinnacle in thirteenth-century Tibet and especially among Bonpos with Drugyalwa's (bru rgyal ba G.yung drung) works. Drugyalwa is famous for two important Dzogchen practice manuals (phyag khrid): the Instructions ofthe A in Fifteen Points (A khrid bco lnga), 54 and the Experiential Transmission (Nyams

48 Gyalcsen 197 4a, p. 322. 49 Dwgchen, which was mentioned earlier, is the school of thought and practice chat is con• sidered co be che highest among the Nyingma and Bon traditions, see Karmay 1988. 50 Ponlob Thinley Nyima asserts that secret interruptions are included within the inner. Per- sonal communication, October 2002. 51 Chandra and Namdak 1968, p. 632. 52 See Karmay 1998, p. xvii, and Reynolds 2005, p. 178. 53 I argue chis based on the inclusion of names of masters in chat chapter which extend co the eleventh century. Although it is hard co find exact dates for some of chem, Yangcon Chenpo (}~ng ston Chen po alias Ytmg ston Shes rab rgyal mtshan), the penultimate magical movement master mentioned in Quintessential Instructions, is said to have 'lived [in] the last quarter of the eleventh century' (Karmay 1998, p. xvii). According co Karmay, Yangton Chenpo had studied Buddhism from Bari Lotsawa, who was born in 1040 CE. 54 Yungdrung 1967. A khrid or the tradition of 'Instructions on the A' began in the eleventh century by Gondwd Riera Chenpo (Dgongs mdmd Ri khrod chen po) as an 80 period system

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access 142 M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 rgyud). 55 In the latter, he draws almost verbatim on the Quintessential Instruc• tion chapter from the Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung; in the former he includes a set of 15 magical movements from the Instructions of the A tradi• tion.56 This refocusing on magical movement is probably the result of the eleventh- and twelfth-century Tibetan Renaissance which, as Germano states, is the period when the body resurges as a centre of attention for practice, such as in the and other Indian and Tibetan tantras. 57 It seems that, at this time, there was a need for more body-oriented meditative practices. In fact, according to Buddhologist David Gray, they 'represent a cutting-edge of Asian spiritual practice, which beginning circa the 8th century, was truly a pan-Asian movement' .58 This shift is not only evident in magical movement and channels-breaths practices, but also with the body-centred yogini tantras and sexual yogic practices, also prevalent in Indian yoga. 59 The dsanas in Pataiijali's early commentators were limited to the lotus posture and its varia• tions, and many centuries later, around the ninth and tenth centuries, Gorakhnath and his followers brought different dsanas and began the now more well-known form: . In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, body-centred tantric and yogic sys• tems were prevalent all over Tibet as part of the Tibetan Renaissance. The famed example in this respect is Naropa and his teachings. We assume that magical movement gained importance at that time and extended into the thir• teenth century (as we see with Drugyalwa) and the fourteenth century, with Tsongkhapa and his Book of Three Inspirations, a commentary on the Six Yogas ofNdropa. Beyond that, however, I have not been able to find new texts or commen• taries on magical movement until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

(A khrid mtshams brgyad cu pa). Then it was condensed into 30 periods in the twelfth century by A zha blo gros rgyal mtshan, and finally reduced to 15 periods (A khrid thun mtshams bco Inga) by Dru Gyalwa. Of this present form there is an English translation of parts one and two (of three parts), which do not include magical movements (see Yungdrung 1996). The magical movement chapter in the A khrid meditation system contains 15 magical movements and also sounds. Yungdrung 1967, pp. 195-8. ss Gyalwa's lmtruction Manual of the Experiential Trammission [of Zhang Zhung] (Nyams rgyud rgyal ba'i phyag khrid bzhugs so), generally known as Experiential Trammission and some• times as Drugyalwa's 'Practice Manual' (Phyag khrid), Yungdrung 2002. 56 In his main two instruction manuals, Experiential Trammission and lmtructions ofthe A in Fifteen Points, he includes their corresponding cycles of magical movement. This appears to be a statement by Drugyalwa supporting the importance of magical movement in meditative train• ing. 57 David Germano, electronic communication, April 2005. 58 David Gray, personal communication, May 2005. 59 See White 1996 and 2003.

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Especially in the Bon tradition, there seem to be no other magical movement texts or commentaries after Drugyalwa's time until it was 'revived' by Shardza Tashi Gyalcsen.

Magical Movement in the twentieth century

Shardza's Commentary, the most widely used text today among Bonpos, describes 39 magical movements organised into four categories or cycles: 60 foundational (sngon gro), root (rtsa ba), branch (yan lag), and special or auxil• iary branches (bye brag), designed by six different masters. 61 The foundational cycle consists of only one magical movement sec or group of movements, but each of the subsequent cycles is subdivided into two sets. This makes a total of seven secs within chose four cycles, illustrated as follows: 62 1. Foundational (323.3) 2. Root (326.2) 2a Root magical movement set [among root cycle] (326.2) 26 Magical movement sec chat clears away obstacles (330.1) 3. Branch (333.2) 3a Root [or Principal Branch magical movement sec] (333.2) 36 [Branch magical movement set chat] clears away obstacles (335.5) 4. Special (338.3) 4a Special magical movement sec chat clears away individual obstacles from the head, the body and the limbs (338.3) 46 Special [magical movement set] chat clears common obstacles away (340.3)

60 The text itself does not give a name co chis four-fold categorisation. 61 They are mentioned both in the Quintessential Instructions and in Commentary as follows:

1. Pongyal Tsenpo (dPon rgyal bTsan po alias dPon rgyal Chen po) compiled the founda• tional cycle and the root sec of the root cycle; 2. Togme Shigpo (rTog med zhig po) compiled the set of magical movements chat clear obscuracions from the root cycle; 3. Lhundrub Muchur (Lhun grub mu thur) compiled both secs of the branch cycle; 4. Orgom Kundul ( 'Or sgom kun 'du/) compiled the first set of the special cycle; 5. Yangcon Chenpo (}~ng ston Chen po alias Yang ston Shes rab rgyal mtshan) compiled the first three movements of the lase sec, transmitting chem co his son; 6. Bumje Od ( 'Bum rje 'od) compiled the rest of chat last sec. 62 The numbers in parenthesis indicate the page in Shardza's Commentary (Gyaltsen 1974a).

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In brief, the foundational cycle begins by training the vital breath currents to flow through the channels, and by warming up the body through a series of energetic massages of the head, legs, arms, torso and lower body. The root cycle consists of a main magical movement set that helps enhance and main• tain a relaxed and clear meditative state of mind, followed by a magical movement set that clears away physical, emotional or mental obscurations. Similarly, the branch cycle is divided into two sets: one that enhances medita• tion and the other that clears obscurations away. The special branch cycle is divided a little differently. Its first set consists of a group of magical move• ments that, like those in the foundational cycle, clear away obscurations from different parts of the body. Its second set harmonises body, energy and mind by clearing away common obscurations of the whole mind-energy-body sys• tem. After describing each set, the benefits of the movements are explained, sometimes as a whole set and at other times movement by movement.63 Among Bon exile lay and monastic communities, magical movement is pri• marily used to develop meditation practice.64 The movements also strengthen physical health and emotional stability as a secondary benefit, which is attrac• tive to monastic and lay practitioners alike. Ponlob Thinley Nyima maintains that, in addition to using them to enhance their meditative experiences, Tibe• tan yogis (rnal 'byor pa) and accomplished meditators (rtogs ldan) practising in caves use magical movements to dispel bodily illness as well as mental and energetic obstacles (gegs gsal). 65 Nyima notes that these yogis had no access to hospitals or other health care institutions, making these practices their pri• mary source of physical and mental health care.66 Tibetans tend to discuss primarily the physical effects of these practices. Still, upon further inquiry, most will affirm that the meditative aspect is most crucial but that magical

63 For detailed information on these magical movements, see Chaoul 2006. 64 According to my fieldwork data from the Bon monasteries of Menri in India and Tritan Norbucse (Khri brtan nor bu rtse) in Nepal and among their surrounding lay communities. In an interview in February 2002, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpa Nyima, abbot of , mentioned especially a group of female practitioners and from Shar pa in the Tibetan NE region of . Whether and how intensively magical movements are practised among Bon monastic and lay communities in Tibet today has to be clarified through further fieldwork. 65 Nyima 2002. Although many times written as bgegs, in Shardza's Commentary chis type of 'obstacle' or 'hindrance' is spelled gegs and in Quintessential lmtructiom as gags. Thus far I have not been able to find if there are any significant differences in meanings among chem. It seems chat bgegs· is utilised more to express obstacles or hindrances provoked by demons or malignant spirits (bdud, gdon and so forth). Ponlob Thinley Nyima speaks of gegs gsal as the clearing of physical and mental obstacles (that are not necessarily provoked by other spirits). Yet, at this point this remains as a mere assumption on my side that requires further investigation. 66 Nyima 2002.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 145 movement's uniqueness is in its utilization of the body. Clearly, enhancing meditative experiences and dispelling obstacles are the two main objectives of magical movement. And, at least among contemporary teachers, there is also an emphasis on being able to integrate those meditative experiences into everyday life or one's daily behaviour (spyod pa). 67 Shardza not only wrote Commentary but also included magical movement from both the Oral Transmission ofZhang Zhung and Instructions on the A in 'Mass of Fire Primordial Wisdom: Bringing Into Experience the Common Inner Heat' ( Thun mong gtum mo'i nyams fen ye shes me dpung, hereafter Mass of Fire) and in 'The Oral Wisdom of the Main Points of Channels-Breaths [practices]' (r Tsa rlung gnad kyi zhaf shes, hereafter Main Points). 68 Main Points is actually a 100-day magical movement retreat schedule designed by Shardza, and includes inner heat and magical movements from the Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung and from the Instructions on the A. 69 This text, which is the most commonly used Bi:inpo magical movement retreat schedule today, is based on the practices explained in Mass of Fire, prescribing the yogin to practise four daily sessions for a total of 100 days. 70 This is the main retreat magical movement schedule adopted today in the principal Bi:inpo monasteries in exile, such as Tritan Norbutse in Nepal, and Menri in India. 71 This is also the case even in present day TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region), where a group of nuns and female practitioners (sngags ma, yogini) in the Drak Yungdrung kha (Brag g.yung drung kha) nunnery in

67 The term 'everyday behavior' comes from oral teachings of various Bonpo lamas, including Ponlob Thinley Nyima, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and particularly from the latter's teach• ings of the chapter on Behavior (rKyen lam du slong ba rtsal sbyong spyod pa'i khrid) from the Experiential Transmission ofZhang Zhung (Yungdrung 2002). 68 Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen 'The Oral Wisdom of the Main Points of Channels-Breaths [prac• tices]' (rTsa rlung gnad kyi zhal shes) in Gyaltsen 1974a, pp. 281-319, and Shardza Tashi Gyalt• sen 'Mass of Fire Primordial Wisdom: Bringing Into Experience the Common Inner Heat' (Thun mong grum mo'i nyams len ye shes me dpung), pp. 1-54, and 'The Illusory Play of the Enhancing Yogic Practices' (Bogs 'don 'khrul 'khor sgyu ma'i rol mo bzhugs), pp. 1-10, both in Gyaltsen 197 4b. 69 Shardza includes the set of 15 and the set of 40 magical movements from the Instructions on the A magical movement. 70 The explanation of the practices added as the days progress are mentioned in the 'imple• mentation' or 'engaging in the practice' (lag /en) section (Main Points, pp. 306ff.) 71 There are two schools oflearning that a can follow in these monasteries. The major• ity follows the monastic curriculum that emphasises the dialectic and debate school (mtshan nyid), but a small group follows only the meditation school (sgrub grwa). The latter is oriented towards meditative techniques and practices, and within this curriculum magical movement is usually learned during the winter months of their last year. Shardza Rinpoche also designed this curriculum. (Menri Abbot Lungotk Tenpa'i Nyima, personal communication, Menri, India 2002). See also Klein and Wangyal 2006.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access 146 M.A. Chaoul I Asian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 the Northeastern Amdo Sharkhog (A mdo shar khog) region practise magical movement using Shardza's Commentary and Main Points. 72 Shardza's significant contribution to systematising and clarifying the teach• ings makes it easier to practise and allows these practices co continue.73 There is also a larger three-year curriculum by Shardza, which encompasses Main Points. According to Ponlob Thinley Nyima, there is no specific text chat men• tions the curriculum in chis way. However, since Shardza's time, it has been practised in the following manner: Year 1 - foundational practices, inner heat, channels-breaths practices and magical movement; Year 2 - inner heat, channels-breaths practices and magical movement, add• ing nurturing from the elements practice (bcud !en); and Year 3 - the Dzogchen practices of breakthrough (khregs chod) and direct or leap over (thod rgal). This curriculum also shows the importance of the foundational practices as a base and the relation between magical movement and higher Dzogchen practices. 74

Magical movement reaches the West

Nearly a century after Shardza's Commentary, a growing interest for the Tibetan physical yogas in the 'West' has developed. In the last few years, the published three articles about magical movement, calling it Tibetan

72 Lungtok Tenpa'i Nyima, Menri Monastery, India 2002. Geshe Nyima Dakpa, who gradu• ated from that monastery, restated this during his visit to Houston, October, 2004, and added that one of Shardza's disciples, Thutob Narngyal (m Thu stobs rnam rgyal), now very old, still teaches this system of magical movement in Shardza's area of . When I first learned of magical movement, in Tritsan Norbutse in 1993, and even during my field research trip there in 1995, Main Points was not mentioned. Instead, the focus was on Quintessential lmtructiom and Commentary. I got to learn about Mass ofFire and Main Points in the US during a visit of HH Lungtok Tenpa'i Nyima in 1999, and later was fortunate to study it with him in Menri in 2002, and with Ponlob Thinley Nyima on subsequent occasions. 73 However, they have not been preserved in many places. I was surprised to hear that, in the Northwestern area of Nepal, where the great Yangton family lineage still continues, they do not p·ractise magical movement, although their predecessors included axial magical move• ment figures such as Yangton Chenpo and Bumje Od. The last one who taught them, Latsung Yungdrung Gyaltsen (Bia chung g.yung drung rgyal mtshan), from the Zomsom area of North• west Nepal, is also quite old now (personal communication, Houston, October, 2004). 74 Ponlob Thinley Nyima, personal communication, Houston April 2005.

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Yoga. 75 Until now, most of the physical yogas that are taught in the West came from the Hindu traditions. When westerners began receiving Tibetan teach• ings, they were more focused on receiving teachings from Tibet to develop their minds. I believe that this bias has at least two causes. One is that western practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism (including Bon) felt that the mind prac• tices were more important, and thus if a Lama visited s/he was asked to teach mind-related teachings. The other reason is that many of the Tibetan Lamas supported this and were either not trained in magical movement or felt that it could lead to problems for the practitioners if not well supervised. Thus, it resulted in a lack of information about magical movement, combined with a feeling of secrecy or around it. 76 On the other hand, many practitioners felt that just mind practices lacked the 'embodiment' aspect, and felt the need of physical movement. Wanting a physical practice that had a spiritual component too, many Tibetan Buddhist practitioners began practis• ing ha,tha yoga (or other Indian yogas) since they were not aware of the exis• tence of Tibetan yogas or they knew the existence of them but also that they were kept secret.77 Nowadays many types of magical movement practices from the different Tibetan traditions are slowly becoming known in the West. The Ytmtra Yoga that is taught in Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche's Dzogchen Commu• nity,78 and the Tsa lung and Trul khor that are taught in Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's Ligmincha Institute are prime examples. Although not always taught as 100-day trainings, different types of intensive models are designed for contemporary practitioners. Also, following the Kagyu tradition and most probably related to the Six Yogas ofNdropa, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso teaches both public and advanced magical movement practices, and Lama Norlha of Kagyu Thubten Choling monastery teaches magical movement, though only as part of the three-year retreat. In addition, in the Dzogchen Foundation, directed by Lama , a different design for the three-year retreat in a

75 Lipson 2000. Publications Newsletter also included two articles of my own on 'phrul 'khor (see Chaoul 2001 and 2002). The publishing of our clinical research study among cancer patients (see below, Cohen et al. 2004) brought significant media (print and TV) atten• tion to Tibetan magical movement. 76 As is reflected in the title of the first Yoga journal article: 'Into the Mystic' (Lipson 2000). 77 An example of this is 'Yoga Body, Buddha Mind', by Cyndi Lee and David Nichtern, which appeared in the cover and as an article in Shambha/,a Sun, pp. 50-7, March 2007. In fact, almost the whole issue was devoted to how Western practitioners could or needed to integrate physical movements into the meditation practice. This also included magical movement in 'Pos• tures and Movements', pp. 68-73. 78 Namkhai Norbu teaches the first eight movements of yantra yoga in a video/DVD pro• duced by Snow Lion (Norbu n.d.) These eight movements aim to purify one's breath and are considered to be very important preparatory movements for yantra yoga.

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12-year 100-day retreats programme also includes magical movement in one of chem. In addition co these, the Tibetan Heart Yoga, caught by Geshe Michael Roach and his students, comes from the Tsongkhapa's commentary on the Six Yogas ofNdropa. 79 The process of transmission of magical movements across cultures, lan• guages, and lifestyles has been quite fascinating. In the process, different magical movement traditions adapted differencly co the many different envi• ronments along the way, always aiming co preserve their essence, empowering the practitioner co connect co her/his nature of mind and remove obstacles, and with the purpose of beneficing ochers. Although oral tradition is still strongly preserved, it is now carried out in large halls. The mystical texts have been translated and interpreted. The magic of these movements keeps couch• ing many hearts, bodies, and minds. In chis lase section, I will briefly comment on one of its most recent applications.

From Dharma to Medicine

Although mainstream western medicine has not recognised the connection between physical illness and energetic or mental obstacles, there are new para• digms in the emerging field of CIM chat do acknowledge it and are more akin co Asian systems. In face, beginning in the 1930s and flourishing especially from the 1970s onward, 'more than a thousand studies of meditation have been reported in English-language journals, books, and graduate cheses'. 80 Based on the aforementioned premise and on the several studies on medica• tion with patient populations, over the lase several years I have expanded my research on these practices co consider their possible practical and physical applications in a western setting. This is in line with notions originating both

79 I have also come across a Master Zi Sheng Wang, who calls his teachings Vtzjra Yoga. My understanding is that they are based on the Six Yogas ofNaropa (see OMEGA Institute catalog 2005, p. 21). 80 Murphy 1992, p. 538. With the pioneering works of Swami Kuvalayananda (born J. G. Gune) and Shri Yogendra (born Manibhai H. Desai) in the 1930s began what anthropologist calls 'medicalised yoga' (Alter 2005, pp. 119-46). Continuing with the studies on Buddhist in the 1960s by Akira Kasamatsu and Tomio Hirai, and Tibetan monks by Herbert Benson et al. in the 1970s, many scientists brought more attention to these practices, labelled i~ the West under the rubric of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). In the late 1980s and 1990s, many studies with Qigong were done with cancer patients in China (See Chen and Yeung 2002). Also around that time, studies were undertaken using Asian mind• body techniques by and for western populations, spearheaded by Jon Kabat-Zinn (see Kabat• Zinn 1982, Kabat-Zinn et al. 1985 and 1992).

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A CIM application with cancer patients

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's open-mindedness and support were crucial for the development of the study at M. D. Anderson.83 Viewing the main goals of magical movement as dispelling mental and physical obstacles, the enhancing of meditative practice and their integration into daily life, a group at the Uni• versity of Texas (UT) M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston,84 began a study applying a seven-week Tibetan Yoga programme with lymphoma patients in collaboration with the Ligmincha Institute. 85 The movements cho• sen were simple, and yet they constituted complete cycles: the five external channels-breaths movements from the Mother Tantra, and foundational cycle magical movements from Shardza's Commentary. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche reviewed the Tibetan yoga intervention programme before patient recruit• ment began. Our hypothesis was that, through the practice of magical movement together with channels-breaths practices, patients would be able to alleviate the mental and physical stress caused by the severe side-effects of cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation. The most significant results were that patients in the Tibetan yoga intervention reported better sleep quality, quantity, and latency as well as a related reduced dependency on sleep

81 Alter 2005. 82 In the early 1990s, as a Rockefeller Fellow at Rice University, he began conversations with Ellen Gritz, PhD, Chair of the Department of Behavioral Science at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson, and others. That seed remained dormant for a number of years. In 2000, I met with Lorenzo Cohen, an Associate Professor in that department as well as the Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at that institution. He asked me to create a Tibetan Yoga pro• gramme for cancer patients. When I reviewed it with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and Tenzin Rinpoche in the summer of 2000, they were extremely supportive, and so I decided to go for• ward with this project. 8·1 In this respect, he is in line with HH the in terms of his open-mindedness to science and modern medicine. 84 Lorenzo Cohen, PhD; Carla Warneke, MPH; Rachel Fouladi, PhD; M. Alma Rodriguez, MD; M. Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, PhD. 85 The study was funded by a grant from the Bruce S. Gelb Foundation.

Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 10:54:56AM via free access 150 M. A. Chaoul I Arian Medicine 3 (2007) 130-155 medication. Details of that first pilot study were published in the journal Cancer. 86 Dr Cohen, the principal investigator of the study, was optimistic about the results. 'Theoretically, if the Tibetan yoga intervention is found to decrease the patient's stress level, it could, therefore, have an impact on their immune sys• tem', he said. 'There is evidence to suggest that stress suppresses cell-mediated immunity, a component of the immune system involved in tumor surveil• lance. Yoga might also have an impact on patients' hormonal activity.'87 AB the investigators of this study acknowledged,

Although research into the efficacy and mechanisms of yoga is in its beginning stages, the findings reported to date are supportive88 and, along with our finding of improved sleep, suggest that the health effects of yoga in cancer patients should be explored further. The benefits that have been documented and the potential impact of these benefits on the psychological and physical sequelae of cancer are important enough to warrant the further study of developing such programs for cancer patients. 89 In March 2006, after a second pilot study, this time with breast cancer patients, the team was awarded a five-year grant from the NCI (National Cancer Insti• tute), which is within the US NIH (National Institutes of Health), to con• tinue studying the effects of Tibetan yoga in women with breast cancer. The clinical studies mentioned above show encouraging signs for the posi• tive effect that magical movement might have on cancer patients. Similar studies would be possible in other cancer groups or medical populations. A similar stress-reduction intervention and design is currently being imple• mented among first- and second-year medical students prior to their examina• tions at the University of Texas School of Medicine in Houston, under the auspices of the John P. McGovern MD Center for Health, Humanities and the Human Spirit at that institution.90 The type of scientific validation which results in studies of this kind helps convey the practice to a larger audience, including the general public and western Buddhist practitioners. These programmes are among the few studies of yoga in cancer patient populations and the only scientific study of magical movement in any population. The fact that the first study was published in a mainstream medical journal such as Cancer and that NIH has awarded a large

86 Cohen et al. 2004. 87 Cohen et al. 2004, p. 2259. 88 Telles and Naveen 1997, pp. 123-7. 89 Cohen et al. 2004, p. 2259. 9° Cole, Thomas, PhD, Cohen, Lorenzo, PhD, Lunstroh, Rebecca, JD, MA, and Alejandro Chaoul, PhD.

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US federal grant for a yoga programme, are promising signs for the inclusion of Tibetan practices within bio-behavioural and CIM clinical services and for research possibilities.

Future research

These early applications of the Bon magical movements within contemporary medical settings point towards the need for further research from the psycho• behavioural or bio-behavioural perspectives. It remains clear, however, that yogis and doctors are generally seeking very different types of results. An important factor in this research, therefore, is the direct involvement of repre• sentatives from the western biomedical and behavioural sciences communities as well as representatives from the Bon tradition. Only in this way will we be able to integrate and expand upon the source of Tibetan Yoga practices. 91 Tibetan texts do not explicitly mention concepts of stress reduction, the elimination of intrusive thoughts, or improvement of sleep as benefits. How• ever, as Ponlob Thinley Nyima agrees, these and other related outcomes may be included as secondary benefits related to the clearing away of obscura• tions.92 Namkhai Norbu also mentions these outcomes as secondary benefits from yogic practices, stating that they 'help one to approach contemplation ... or to achieve some specific aim, such as healing oneself and others'. 93 Following the lead of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the 'Mind and Life' Conferences that have become open to public participation in the last three years, a recent conference at Cornell University called 'Healing Sciences in Dialogue: Crossing Tibetan Buddhist and Western Scientific Boundaries', brought together Tibetan doctors, academics and researchers on Tibetan med• icine and healing practices, to discuss the convergences and divergences, advances and difficulties that need to be considered as this exciting dialogue and research continues.94 I consider this kind of interaction and mutual

91 Interestingly, some Tibetan doctors are still today engaged in learning and utilising rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor practices. According to Mona Schrempf's research with Tibetan lineage doctors in Nag chu (within the TAR), a particular doctor who also happened to be a Bon monk used rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor practices for himself and his patients (Schrempf, personal communication). 92 Nyima 2002. 9·1 Norbu 1986, pp. 93-4. 94 I am grateful in particular to Sienna Craig who co-coordinated the conference and invited me to present and interact with a wonderful, bright and exciting group of thinkers involved in these topics (Ithaca, NY, October 2006).

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References

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