A Brief History of the Bon Tibetan Yoga
The Himalayan traditions are rich in mind-body practices used for spiritual development in the quest for enlightenment and for physical and emotional well-being. Within the Tibetan tradition, numerous yogic practices that have been practiced for centuries in Tibet, Nepal, and India have migrated to other countries. The globalization that took place in the 20th century allowed many of these practices to take root in the West.
The yogas of this book come from the ancient Tibetan Bon tradition, and, thanks to teachers like His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima and Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak, they migrated to India and Nepal, and then arrived in the United States and other Western countries. They were preserved not only in texts, but also in practice, both in monasteries and in yogic communities. As with many yogic traditions, it is very important to know that there is a lineage of teachings passing from master to disciple, from teacher to student. In this chapter, I will provide you with a brief history of the Tibetan Yoga of Instructions of the A so you can know their origin and key teachers and understand why it is only recently that they are being introduced in the West and becoming more available to you.
Early Teachers and Masters
Gongdzo Ritro Chenpo and Drogon Lodro were two important 11th-century masters in the Bon tradition, particularly with regard to the Instructions of the A. Gongdzo Ritro Chenpo compiled the teachings that became the whole text of Instructions of the A,1 and Drogon Lodro compiled the Tibetan yoga chapter within that text. In that chapter, Drogon Lodro mentions 41 movements, 1 foundational (ngondro) and 40 principal, the latter of which are divided into the five body groups—7 movements for the upper torso, 6 for the head, 11 for the body, 9 for the lower torso and 7 for the legs.
In the 13th century, the great Bon master and scholar Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung was known for compiling teachings and creating manuals so practitioners could follow the teachings more easily and, more important, perform the practices and understand their experiences.
In his manual for the Instructions of the A, Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung included the chapter on Tibetan yoga, condensing the 40 magical movements into 16—1 foundational and 15 principal—but he did not divide them into the five different parts of the body, as Drogon Lodro’s original text did.
Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche
Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen deserves a category of his own. He lived in the eastern Tibetan province of Kham in the late-19th and early 20th centuries and was one of the most prominent Tibetan yogic figures. In 1934, he attained the rainbow body, which the tradition holds is a sign of the highest contemplative state. He was a great scholar and practitioner not only in Bon, but also in the nonsectarian tradition (ri med). He wrote commentaries on various texts, including some Tibetan yoga texts. For the Yoga of the Instructions of the A, his commentary has two parts, one on the 40 movements by Drogon Lodro and another on the 16 movements by Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung. Many of my teachers trained using Shardza’s commentaries, and thanks to them, I received and practiced those teachings. Shardza was also the author of the manual for the 100-day Tibetan yoga retreat that I utilized for my training at Menri Monastery.
Since connecting to the Bon tradition and its Tibetan contemplative practices, I have felt inspired by Shardza’s work and example, particularly by how Shardza helped transmit these practices beyond the limits of the Bon tradition as part of the nonsectarian movement, while still keeping their purity and power. In my first book, Chöd Practice in the Bon Tradition, I translated Shardza’s commentary on that practice, and in my dissertation, I translated Shardza’s commentary on the Tibetan yoga of The Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung. Shardza’s commentaries have been invaluable as I learn and practice the Tibetan Yoga of Instructions of the A, and when I trained following his retreat program. During a trip to Tibet in 2007, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche invited a yogi trained at Shardza’s retreat center in the Kham region of Tibet to Lhasa, in Central Tibet, where we met and corroborated these teachings. This yogi, who was one of Shardza’s direct students, showed us the way he had been trained in Shardza’s lineage. I value the few hours we spent together like a rare and very precious jewel. Shardza has been an incredible example as a scholar and practitioner, and as a teacher who has inspired so many of his followers to the present day.
In the 1950s, with the changes during China’s invasion and occupation of Tibet, Tibetan wisdom teachings became endangered, but thanks to teachers like Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, they have been preserved in exile, in India, Nepal, and the West. It is hard not to have a soft heart and some tears when I think of the hardships they went through and how fortunate many of us are to have received teachings directly from them. From that place in my heart, I’ll share some of their stories so you too can receive what they taught me.
Contemporary Masters
Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, one of the most revered Tibetan teachers and indeed the most revered Bon teacher alive, was born in the Kham province of Tibet in 1926, and escaped in 1959, after the Chinese occupation, arriving safely (although with a bullet in his left knee) in Nepal and then India. Together with His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, he was instrumental in maintaining the Bon teachings in exile, helping to found and construct Menri Monastery in India and Triten Norbutse in Nepal.
In 1991, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche directed me to Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak, and since then I have had the great fortune of studying with him for over 25 years, including the teachings from the Instructions of the A. I first learned the Bon yoga in his Triten Norbutse Monastery in 1993 and then was able to ask him questions during the many years I was researching for and writing my Ph.D. dissertation. During my visits to Triten Norbutse, I was able to train with the yogic group and consult with Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak almost daily. His clarity over the years, as well as the support of Khenpo Nyima Wangyal and Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung, has been invaluable.
Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak has also been very supportive of my bringing these practices into medical settings. Before designing the first research study using Tibetan yoga for people with cancer, I consulted with him not only on the content, but also to ask his permission to bring these practices into a Western medical context. He kindly agreed, and whenever we met afterward, whether in Nepal, France, or the United States, he wanted to know more about how the research and classes were going, always mentioning how important he felt it is that we are bringing these practices to people with cancer and their caregivers.
His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima was the other elder who helped preserve the Bon tradition in exile in India. He was born in 1929 in the far eastern Tibetan province of Amdo. His Holiness was essential in my learning the yoga of Instructions of the A. Under his supervision, I did a 60-day retreat (a condensed version of the 100-day retreat by Shardza Rinpoche) at Menri Monastery in India, where he generously met with me daily, teaching and testing me. He did not allow me to electronically record any of my lessons, and the majority of the time, he wouldn’t even allow me to bring my laptop, just the Tibetan text and pencil and paper. It was a wonderful experience and way to learn and train under his tutelage. In addition, Lopon Trinley Nyima met with me periodically to respond to some of the questions I still had, and, being younger than His Holiness, Lopon was able to show me himself how to perform the magical movements, which His Holiness would then test me on.
In addition to group practices and receiving teachings with His Holiness and Lopon once or twice a day, I would wake up every morning at 4 or 5 A.M. and practice four times a day on my own. My time at Menri—learning with these outstanding teachers, being around the monks, and having time to practice on my own, after which I could ask questions to make sure I was learning correctly—was an incredible opportunity that I still relish today. It has benefited me immensely in understanding these beautiful and profound yogic practices, and it is in that spirit that I bring them to you today.
Tibetan Yoga Comes to the West
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche was trained in the Bon tradition under Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak and His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima at Menri Monastery in India. He graduated as a geshe in 1986 and came to the West—Italy—in 1988 at the invitation of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. In 1991, he came to the United States through a Rice University Rockefeller Fellowship. In 1992, he founded Ligmincha Institute, with its main center in Virginia, to preserve the ancient Tibetan teachings, arts, and sciences, including the yogas, for future generations. Since coming to the West, Rinpoche has been emphasizing the importance of the five elements in his teachings. Among his many books, Awakening the Sacred Body presents the five Tsa lung yoga movements that relate to the five elements and the five breaths, making that work a good complement to the Tibetan yoga presented in this book.
Rinpoche has been my mentor and teacher since I met him in the Tibetan new year (Losar) of 1993. In 1994, I went to Virginia to begin my master’s studies in Tibetan religions at the University of Virginia, after having learned the Tibetan yoga at Triten Norbutse the year before. When Rinpoche realized the extent of my interest in the Tibetan yogas, he generously offered to meet with me daily at 5 A.M. to discuss the Tibetan yoga teachings. He is the one who directed me to learn more from His Holiness at Menri monastery.
In 1994, Rinpoche began a seven-year training at Ligmincha Institute in Virginia that was composed of three-week retreats in the summer and included testing on the theory and practices. During these retreats, he would bring his teachers—either Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak or His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima—providing an amazing opportunity to learn from and spend time with them. This training was comprised of teachings from the causal vehicles, to the result vehicles of Sutra and Tantra, to Dzogchen, including the Instructions of the A. I was very happy to graduate in 2000, after being the main practice leader (umdze) had helped me to learn the practices deeply. Rinpoche also encouraged me to continue my academic training by pursuing a Ph.D. at Rice University. The seven-year Ligmincha training, together with my academic learning focusing on these practices and my trips to Triten Norbutse and Menri monastery mostly during the winter months, helped me continue to keep my practice and learning year-round. At the second summer retreat, Rinpoche asked me to start sharing the Tibetan yoga that I had learned in the monasteries with the retreat participants.
Ligmincha 16
In 2007, because of what I had learned in the monasteries, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche asked me to help condense the Tibetan Yoga of Instructions of the A together with two geshes, Tenzin Yangton and Tenzin Yeshe, during the summer retreat at Ligmincha Institute in Virginia. Although we had been teaching Tibetan yoga at the summer retreats since 2004, it was from The Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung, which some people found difficult. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche felt the need to offer a Tibetan yoga set that was simple, yet complete and true to the tradition. That summer Rinpoche was teaching on the topic of developing inner heat, or tummo, using in particular a commentary by Shardza Rinpoche that mentioned the Tibetan Yoga of Instructions of the A. This provided the perfect opportunity to introduce this Tibetan yoga to our retreat participants, and Rinpoche was ready for the task. Over the three-week retreat, Rinpoche, the two geshes, and I condensed the 40 principal movements, following Rinpoche’s guidance. We kept the one general, foundational movement, called ngondro, and then selected three movements for each of the five principles based on the five kinds of breath-energies and relating to the five elements and their five correlating chakras. And the result was what we have here in this book today, the Ligmincha 16.
Being a part of this process was both fascinating and an honor, as well as a wonderful way to deepen my own practice. We taught the Ligmincha 16 to the whole group of about 80 at the retreat in our first test run. The practice was very well received as a complete set of Tibetan yoga that was also “doable.” Since then, we have taught the Ligmincha 16 at other Ligmincha summer retreats and in Tibetan yoga retreats and trainings in the United States, Latin America, and Europe.
Thanks to this wonderful lineage of teachers, and the kindness of His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, these teachings are now here for you to practice and benefit from in your everyday life.