''Trul khor'' ('magical instrument' or 'magic circle;' Skt. ), in full ''tsa lung trul khor'' ( 'magical movement instrument, channels and inner breath currents'), also known as yantra yoga, is a

Vajrayana ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhis ...

discipline which includes

pranayama Pranayama (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम, "Prāṇāyāma") is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with '' prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana-shakti'', or life en ...

(breath control) and body postures (

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

s). From the perspective of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions of

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 ...

, the mind is merely ''vāyu'' (breath or, more literally, wind) in the body. Thus working with ''vāyu'' and the body is paramount, while

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

, on the other hand, is considered contrived and conceptual. Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche (1938-2018), a proponent of trul khor, preferred to use the equivalent

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

-derived English term 'yantra yoga' when writing in English. Trul khor derives from the instructions of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

mahasiddha Mahasiddha (Sanskrit: ''mahāsiddha'' "great adept; ) is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates the "siddhi of perfection". A siddha is an individual who, through the practice of sādhanā, attains the realization of siddhis, psychic and ...

s (great sages) who founded Vajrayana (3rd to 13th centuries CE). Trul khor traditionally consists of 108 movements, including bodily movements (or dynamic

s), incantations (or

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

s),

and visualizations. The walls of the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

's summer temple of Lukhang depict trul khor asanas.

Lung

''Lung'' ( ''rlung'') means wind or breath. It is a key concept in the

traditions of

Tibetan Buddhism 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, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

and has a variety of meanings. ''Lung'' is a concept that is particularly important to understandings of the illusory body and the

trikaya The Trikāya (, lit. "three bodies"; , ) is a fundamental Buddhist doctrine that explains the multidimensional nature of Buddhahood. As such, the Trikāya is the basic theory of Mahayana Buddhist theology of Buddhahood. This concept posits that a ...

(body, speech and mind). The ' illusory body', which is often referred to as the 'vajra body' in medieval Tibetan Buddhist discourse, is constituted by the flow of subtle energy currents: *'rlung' (Wylie) is equivalent to Sanskrit: prāna or vāyu. *'rtsa' (Wylie) is equivalent to Sanskrit: nāḍī, sirā, srota and dhamanī;

Channels

The channels are the energy pathways along which the prana flows. There are three main channels or nadis: ida, pingala, and sushumna.

Yantra yoga

Namkhai Norbu was the first to discuss ''trul khor'' in his book on yantra yoga, essentially a commentary on a practical yoga manual by

Vairotsana Vairotsana () was a lotsawa or "translator" living during the reign of King Trisong Detsen, who ruled 755-97 CE. Vairotsana, one of the 25 main disciples of Padmasambhava, was recognized by the latter as a reincarnation of an Indian pandita. ...

. Namkhai Norbu began dissemination of Yantra Yoga through his practical teaching and esoteric transmission of this discipline within the International Dzogchen Community, which he founded some time after 1975 in Italy, Merigar. Chaoul (2006) has begun discussion of Bon traditions of Trul Khor in English with his thesis from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

. In his work, Chaoul makes reference to a commentary by the famed Bonpo Dzogchen master, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's text ''Awakening the Sacred Body'' presents some of the basic practices of trul khor according to the Tibetan

Bön 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 ...

tradition.

Primary texts

* *Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen: byang zab nam mkha' mdzod chen las snyan rgyud rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor

References

Citations

Works cited

* Chaoul-Reich, Alejandro
Spinning the Magical Wheel
in ''The Snow Lion Newsletter''. Snow Lion Publications. Retrieved 1 December 2006. * Chaoul-Reich, Alejandro
Tibetan Yoga from the Bon Tradition
in ''Snow Lion Magazine''. Snow Lion Publications. * Lipson, Elaine
Into the Mystic
in '' Yoga Journal''. * Norbu, Chögyal Namkhai (2000). Revision: Laura Evangelisti. Translation: Des Barry, Nina Robinson, Liz Granger, Carol Chaney. ''Yantra Yoga Manual''. Italy, Shang Shung Edizioni. (This booklet is published for those who have received the transmission of these practices from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche.)
Yogic practices in the Bon tradition by M Alejandro Chaoul
* Ancient drawing from the Blue Beryl by Sangye Gyamtso (1653-1705) * Lipman, Kennard (1987).'The Dynamic Yoga of Tibet: combining asanas, breathing exercises, and flowing movements, Yantra Yoga aims to return us to our "natural state".' Cited in: ''Yoga Journal,'' May 1987, No. 74. Active Interest Media. . Source

(accessed: Friday April 9, 2010) p. 46-49 *

External links

Literature from the Tibetan Tradition Relevant to Six Yogas of Naropa Practitioners - An Annotated Bibliography and Selected Excerpts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trul Khor Dzogchen practices Tantric practices Tibetan Buddhist practices Tibetan words and phrases Vajrayana practices