Tracking the Illusory Magical Wheel: Physical Yoga in Tibetan Tantra and Dzogchen
Ian A. Baker
Journal of Yoga Studies April 10, 2023 DOI: 10.34000/joys.2020.v4.013 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Perfection Tantra Identity music Self Aesthetics Epistemology Theology |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Traces the development of Tsalung Trulkhor in Perfection and Great Perfection practices as means for realizing the illusory nature of self-identity. |
Abstract
In Tibetan Tantric Buddhism and Bön, yoga refers to expedient means (thabs, S. upāya) for liberating oneself and others from the wheel of cyclic existence (kor ba, S. saṃsāra). Central to that agenda is mastery of a subtle physiology of energy channels (rtsa, S. nāḍī) and their nodal points at radiant “wheels” (’khor lo, S. cakra) along the body’s central axis. The method whereby subtle energy (rlung, S. prāṇa), and corresponding mental states, are brought under conscious control are known in Tibetan as Tsalung Trulkhor (rtsa rlung ’khrul ’khor), literally “illusory” or “magical” “wheel of subtle channels and vital energies.” This chapter traces the development and trajectory of the Magical Wheel in so-called Perfection (rdzogs rim) and Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) practices that Tibetan Buddhism and Bön uphold as progressively efficacious means for freeing oneself from conditioned existence through realisation of the illusory, and therefore mutable, nature of self-identity (bdag med, S. anātman).
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |