Venerable Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche 2021 05

Kum Nye and sKu-mNyé are a wide variety of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an religious and medical body practices. Many

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

and

Bon Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

traditions contain Kum Nye practices. These can be entirely different both in purpose and in methods. For instance, some forms are very slow-moving; others are intensely aerobic. The Tibetan Medical

Tantra Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian tr ...

s (scriptures) are the basis for some practices, and are mainly therapeutic.

Dzogchen Dzogchen ( 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The goal ...

is the basis for other practices which are mainly religious in purpose. Three systems of ''sku mnye'' have been described and taught in detail in English. These are Kum Nye by

Tarthang Tulku Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche () (born 1934) is a Tibetan Vajrayana teacher and lama who introduced the Nyingma school tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to the United States. Tarthang Tulku works to preserve the buddhadharma, the art and the culture of ...

, the

Aro gTér The Aro gTér is a Lineage (Buddhism), lineage within the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The pure vision Terma (religion), terma on which it is based teaches all Buddhist topics from the point of view of Dzogchen. The Aro gTer terma was rec ...

sKu-mNyé and the systems of ''bsku mnye'', that are taught by the International Academy for Traditional Tibetan Medicine and the Shang Shung Institute.

Etymology

The two terms Kum Nye and sKu-mNyé are different spellings in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

of the same Tibetan phrase Wylie: ''sku mnye'', which literally means "

massage Massage is the rubbing or kneading of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pa ...

of the

subtle body A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various Western esotericism, esoteric, occultism, occult, and mysticism, mystical teachings. This contrasts with th ...

". Some forms of ''sku mnye'' are vaguely similar to

Yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

Tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

Qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

, or therapeutic massage. Kum Nye, Ku Nye, and Kunye are also used to transcribe the Tibetan phrases ''dku mnye'' ("belly massage") and ''bsku mnye'' (oil massage), pronounced identically to ''sku mnye''. ''dKu mnye'' and ''bsku mnye'' manipulate the physical body, rather than the subtle (energetic) one.

Tarthang Tulku's Kum Nye

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

first introduced Kum Nye into the West. He has written five books on the subject. This system appears to be largely from the Medical

s, but includes exercises similar to those found in the

series. It is based on very slow movements, stillness practices, and massage. This Kum Nye has been described as Inner Massage.

Exercises

To give an example, in the exercise called "flying" the practitioner extends their arms slowly out from the side up to stretching above the head and then slowly back down again. One cycle can take anywhere between 2 and 10 minutes. The practice of breathing in and out of both nose and mouth at the same time is recommended while doing the exercises. The key is to pay close attention to the subtleties of sensations and the quality of experience while doing the exercises, thus linking body and mind in the presence of awareness given to the sensations.

Aro gTér sKu-mNyé

This system is part of the

, a

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

terma. It is described in detail in the book ''moving being'', by Khandro Déchen. Aro sKu-mNyé belongs to

Longdé Longdé (, ) is the name of one of three scriptural divisions within Dzogchen, which is itself the pinnacle of the Yana (Buddhism)#The nine yanas, ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The name "longd ...

, the section of

concerned with the

. As with all Dzogchen methods, its main goal is to realize

rigpa In Dzogchen, ''rigpa'' (; Skt. Vidya (Knowledge), vidyā; "knowledge") is knowledge of the Ground (Dzogchen), ground. The opposite of ''rigpa'' is ''ma rigpa'' (''Avidyā (Buddhism), avidyā'', ignorance). A practitioner who has attained the sta ...

, or non-dual awareness. This is described as "finding the presence of awareness in the dimension of sensation". Physical exercises are used to "shake" the tsa-lung system of energetic "channels", winds", and "essences". This perceptually disorients the practitioner,Julia Lee Barclay, Ansuman Biswas, Traci Kelly, Kira O'Reilly and Franc Chamberlain,
Playing with Post-Secular Performance
" ''PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art'', MIT Press, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 2009), pp. 54-67; discussion of Aro sKu-mNyé is on pp. 59 and 61. and produces "zap nyams". Zap nyams ( Wylie: ''zab nyams''), literally "profound experiences" in Tibetan, are described as "intense psychophysical sensations".Déchen (2009), p. 6 These are said to occur in the energetic space that surrounds the body, rather than in the physical body. Although the purpose of the Aro gTér sKu-mNyé is mainly religious, the system is said also to have a variety of mundane benefits, including more vivid sensory experience, emotional openness, enhanced meditation, physical fitness, and lessening of depression. In practice, Aro sKu-mNyé is a set of 111 movement exercises divided into series that correspond to the Buddhist five elements. They range from simple and gentle to vigorous and extremely difficult, and bear no similarity to any other Eastern or Western form of exercise. The moving exercises are alternated with periods of motionless meditation. The instructions for the Aro sKu-mNyé exercises frequently give very specific details about eye movements. Aro sKu-mNyé is taught by instructors certified by a board headed by the Aro Lamas.

Exercise example: "waking lion"

''lie on your back / legs splayed as far apart as comfortable / arms 90 degrees to your body / palms upwards / eyes closed / simultaneously (with a quick movement) raise your torso and legs (legs straight and locked at the knee) / simultaneously clap feet together and hands together (arms are straight and locked at the elbow) / in the moment of clapping, open eyes wide and shout Ra! (roll the 'R' to enunciate fiercely) / when clapping feet and hands, eyes, hands, and feet should be at the same height – feet and hands meet at the same level as your eyes; and at this point your bottom is all that is touching the floor / it is important that the back is kept absolutely straight / try to achieve an angle of 45 degrees to the floor, but NOT by bending your back – bending the back will result in injury! / Relax back into the starting position and repeat''

IATTM Ku Nye

The Ku Nye taught by the International Academy for Traditional Tibetan Medicine is a system of therapeutic oil massage. It is based in the Medical

s. Its benefits are said to include elimination of toxins, increased vitality, pain reduction, and calming of nervous disorders including insomnia, depression and anxiety.

Shang Shung Institute Kunye

The Shang Shung Institute, affiliated with

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Namkhai Norbu (; 8 December 1938 – 27 September 2018) was a Tibetan Buddhist master of Dzogchen and a professor of Tibetan and Mongolian language and literature at Naples Eastern University. He was a leading authority on Tibetan culture, par ...

, offers a Training program in Kunye Massage.

References

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External links

Tarthang Tulku's Kum Nye

Kum Nye Tibetan Energy Yoga
International Kum Nye Yoga Website
Kum Nye Yoga
European Kum Nye Yoga Website

Aro sKu-mNyé

IATTM Ku Nye

Shang Shung Institute Kunye

Tibetan Kunye Massage Therapy
Yoga styles Meditation Tantric practices Tibetan Buddhist practices