| thumb | [[Naropa]]
The Six Yogas (or, more literally, Dharmas) of Naropa (Tib. ན་རོ་ཆོས་དྲུག, naro chö druk, Wyl. na ro chos drug), sometimes also referred to simply as the Six Yogas (Tib. ཆོས་དྲུག་, chö druk, Wyl. chos drug), are six sets of teachings and practices which originate from the Indian mahasiddha Naropa. They form the basis of the inner yoga practices of Mahamudra, as practised in the Kagyü and Gelug schools. They are:
-
Illusory body (Tib. སྒྱུ་ལུས་, gyu lü, Wyl. sgyu lus) which is the foundation of the path.
Clear light/luminosity (Tib.
འོད་གསལ་,
ösal, Wyl.
'od gsal) which is the heart-essence of the path.
Then in order to test the strength of, or assess one's progress in, the practice of clear light, there is the
dream yoga (Tib.
རྨི་ལམ་, Wyl.
rmi lam).
For those who are unable to complete the practice of clear light because untimely death occurs, there needs to be one who picks them up, just as when one is travelling to a country such as France and one needs to be picked up at the airport. The practice which comes to 'collect' you is the practice of
phowa (Tib.
འཕོ་བ་, Wyl.
'pho ba).
Then, finally, the juncture which bridges the gap between past and future lives and provides a connection with the
Zangdokpalri heaven of
Guru Rinpoche or the pure realms such as
Sukhavati (Tib.
བདེ་བ་ཅན་,
Dewachen), is the
bardo. By applying the bardo teachings a practitioner whose practice isn't particularly great can transform their practice and become a great practitioner.
Further Reading