Tibetan & Zen Buddhist Methods including Dzogchen & Mahamudra
Tibetan Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism and Vajrayana.
Dzogchen is one of the most powerful, advanced level pointing out methods for ego deconstruction that many mainstream nondual teachers teach to the public, and the method that Sam Harris promotes and mainstream-ized in the popular "Waking Up" meditation app.
"On these swift paths there are more risks and pitfalls to the student...Both Dzogchen and Mahamudra work directly with the alchemy of raw emotions, energy, and mind.
There will be inner upheavals, wacky meditative experiences (nyam), and extreme highs and lows. Please take this into consideration if you have a history of mental health issues or are experiencing significant emotional distress. This practice is not for everyone."
If the Mahayana path is like hiking a trail up a mountain, then Dzogchen is like climbing a sheer rock wall – it is a direct route with many more pitfalls. THINGS CAN GO WRONG! "Source
"Many techniques are commonly said to be secret, but some Vajrayana (dzogchen/mahamudra) teachers have responded that the secrecy itself is not important but only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have no validity outside the teacher-student lineage. When not practiced properly, the practitioner can be harmed physically and mentally. In order to avoid these kind of dangers, the practice is kept secret." (source)
"Some of these techniques (dzogchen/mahamudra) are considered too advanced or even dangerous for the uninitiated. This lends a strong inclination toward secrecy in Vajrayana." Some tantric practices are, according to Vajrayana, too dangerous for a layman to learn. They are either prone to abuse, easily misunderstood, or simply dangerous." - Sivana East - On Vajrayana Buddhism
"In the Tibetan Buddhist lineage I trained in, contemplating the selflessness of objects was taught as a natural introduction to contemplating the selflessness of other persons, and then finally the selflessness of one’s own self. Teachers would say that the selflessness of one’s own self was to be approached cautiously and gradually.
If it wasn’t, there could be a spectrum of unsavory results, from polyanna nihilism to outright dissociation. We might look for both these trends in the shadow cast by Eckhart Tolle, whose work focuses almost exclusively upon the mechanism of self-focus." -Matthew Remski
Quotes from Research Study - Buddhist Teachers' Experience with Extreme Mental States in Western Meditators
“At advanced stages, more esoteric Tantric practices may be undertaken. Involving primal energy and emotion, these supposedly are quick paths to enlightenment ( i.e., they take only one lifetime) and provoke a wakefulness that is sharp in its ability to cut through habitual mind and pride.
“One noted that he knows of several high functioning, articulate, and humorous people who had brief psychotic episodes during advanced Tibetan practices.”
"Because they can be dangerous and involve psychotic-like experiences, these practices require the guidance of a qualified teacher, and adequate ego strength and foundation in philosophy and meditation on the part of the practitioner."
"Traditionally, Buddhists did not deal much with extreme mental states, such as psychosis, because very troubled people were restricted from entering practice.”
“Another Tibetan noted that advanced practices are meant to provoke confusion and extreme states. He tries to help people find balance between withstanding discomfort and knowing their limits so that they do not damage themselves.”
“Some Zen teachers noted that samadhi and kenshocan involve a loss of functioning that can last from minutes to hours, however.”
“A period characterized by the subjective experience of dissolution is entered where traditionally solid aspects of the personality begin to break up, leaving the meditator no solid ground to stand on. This is traditionally the time of spiritual crisis, characterized by "a great terror" (Nyanamoli, 1976, p. 753), the "Great Doubt" (Leggett, 1964) in Zen.”
Safeguards they pro-actively implement:
“Teachers may also have more frequent interviews with the student, decrease the student's sitting time, and involve the student in "grounding" physical activities.”
“The Zen teacher who noted students' vulnerability after retreats has also started checking on fragile students a few days after a retreat.”
"A qualitative study of Western practitioners of Buddhist meditation investigated unexpected, challenging, difficult, and distressing experiences. While some practitioners viewed these experiences in relation to a normative Tantric soteriology of purification, almost all practitioners with a trauma history reported traumatic re-experiencing and tended not to adopt a purification framework."
The varied appraisals of and responses to somatic and affective changes resulting from Tantric practice show how Vajrayāna paths have many more twists and turns than suggested by the idealized structures of sādhanās, the discourses of Tibetan lamas, or the hagiographies of realized saints." Read Study
“We should approach Tantra with the respect it deserves, and the preparation it demands. Understand the risk-reward ratio, and abide by the regulatory agencies that were created to protect practitioners.”
- Andrew Holocek: Is the West Ready for Tantra
“Eastern teachers are often unaware of how much emotional wounding we suffer. They usually assume we have well-established, strong egos, and speak of abandoning or surrendering the ego . . . However, this teaching requires the students to have a healthy ego and sense of self-worth that has become a solid center of identity. When a Westerner becomes psychologically unstable through practicing Tantra, Eastern teachers often don’t know how to deal with it. . . Tantra requires a vessel that will remain stable and be able to contain the process.” -The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra, Rob Preece
According to the Dalai Lama in The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra (source)
"According to one Kagyu text, the method of practice of those for whom everything happens at once is powerful medicine. But it is deadly poison for those who are more suited to progress through graded stages. In other words, the method of practice of meditating solely on the nonconceptual state of the mind is suited only for those of sharpest faculties. For those who are not of their level, such practice brings only harm, no benefit. For them the medicine acts like a poison."
"This phenomenon, within the Buddhist tradition, is sometimes referred to as “falling into the Pit of the Void.” It entails an authentic and irreversible insight into Emptiness and No Self. What makes it problematic is that the person interprets it as a bad trip. Instead of being empowering and fulfilling, it turns into the opposite. In a sense, it’s Enlightenment’s Evil Twin.
This is serious but still manageable through intensive, perhaps daily, guidance under a competent teacher. In some cases it takes months or even years to fully metabolize, but in my experience the results are almost always highly positive. - Shinzen Young
"Sheng Yen, a modern Chan master explains that “it is possible” for someone “to suffer from Chan/Zen Sickness” as a result of a “no-self” or emptiness experience, which may result in one developing mental problems...
"Brad Warner adds clarity on why a slow stable practice is essential for coming to terms with emptiness, as it can push someone to a nervous breakdown: “There’s a truckload of extremely good reasons why you don’t want to rip to open the doors of your subconscious too quickly. If you’re not fully prepared for what’s behind those doors, they’re better left shut until such time that you are” (Karma 31).
Sources:
Buddhism in Progress: Ecstasy, Eternity , Eternity, and Zen Sickness
Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master - Brad Warner
Zen Master Hakuin, on his experience of Zen Sickness / Zen Master Han Shun's Zen Sickness
"As Kosen Eshu Osho, a priest at the Victoria Zen Centre in British Columbia, notes, meditation is “sneaky, and you’ve really got to watch it, because if feeling better is what you’re coming for, in some ways . . . this is like coming to heroin for relaxation.” (“Forgetting Self”)
"That is, sooner or later, one will start to experience changes to one’s sense of self after realizing that the narrative of one’s life cannot adequately account for the totality of who and what one is, and these ontological disruptions can have severe and lasting effects on the psyches of those who are unprepared for them, including psychotic breaks and collapses into addiction." Source
Traditional Advaita Vedanta & Modern Advaita Movement including Self-Inquiry & Direct Path pointers
"A warning: Mystical practices without the cultivation of ethical and intellectual safeguards can lead to self- deception, inflated egoism, hallucination and even insanity. Therefore it is not a quick and easy passage into occult experiences that the aspirant should seek, so much as a careful improvement of character, and a correct equilibrium of intuition, emotion, thought and action." -Paul Brunton, A Few Notes on Self-Inquiry
"Self-inquiry - This is considered an advanced practice and thus would be contraindicated for anyone with a history of mental disease or emotional instability." - Timothy Burgin, teacher
To be continued
Tibetan Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism and Vajrayana.
Dzogchen is one of the most powerful, advanced level pointing out methods for ego deconstruction that many mainstream nondual teachers teach to the public, and the method that Sam Harris promotes and mainstream-ized in the popular "Waking Up" meditation app.
"On these swift paths there are more risks and pitfalls to the student...Both Dzogchen and Mahamudra work directly with the alchemy of raw emotions, energy, and mind.
There will be inner upheavals, wacky meditative experiences (nyam), and extreme highs and lows. Please take this into consideration if you have a history of mental health issues or are experiencing significant emotional distress. This practice is not for everyone."
If the Mahayana path is like hiking a trail up a mountain, then Dzogchen is like climbing a sheer rock wall – it is a direct route with many more pitfalls. THINGS CAN GO WRONG! "Source
"Many techniques are commonly said to be secret, but some Vajrayana (dzogchen/mahamudra) teachers have responded that the secrecy itself is not important but only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have no validity outside the teacher-student lineage. When not practiced properly, the practitioner can be harmed physically and mentally. In order to avoid these kind of dangers, the practice is kept secret." (source)
"Some of these techniques (dzogchen/mahamudra) are considered too advanced or even dangerous for the uninitiated. This lends a strong inclination toward secrecy in Vajrayana." Some tantric practices are, according to Vajrayana, too dangerous for a layman to learn. They are either prone to abuse, easily misunderstood, or simply dangerous." - Sivana East - On Vajrayana Buddhism
"In the Tibetan Buddhist lineage I trained in, contemplating the selflessness of objects was taught as a natural introduction to contemplating the selflessness of other persons, and then finally the selflessness of one’s own self. Teachers would say that the selflessness of one’s own self was to be approached cautiously and gradually.
If it wasn’t, there could be a spectrum of unsavory results, from polyanna nihilism to outright dissociation. We might look for both these trends in the shadow cast by Eckhart Tolle, whose work focuses almost exclusively upon the mechanism of self-focus." -Matthew Remski
Quotes from Research Study - Buddhist Teachers' Experience with Extreme Mental States in Western Meditators
“At advanced stages, more esoteric Tantric practices may be undertaken. Involving primal energy and emotion, these supposedly are quick paths to enlightenment ( i.e., they take only one lifetime) and provoke a wakefulness that is sharp in its ability to cut through habitual mind and pride.
“One noted that he knows of several high functioning, articulate, and humorous people who had brief psychotic episodes during advanced Tibetan practices.”
"Because they can be dangerous and involve psychotic-like experiences, these practices require the guidance of a qualified teacher, and adequate ego strength and foundation in philosophy and meditation on the part of the practitioner."
"Traditionally, Buddhists did not deal much with extreme mental states, such as psychosis, because very troubled people were restricted from entering practice.”
“Another Tibetan noted that advanced practices are meant to provoke confusion and extreme states. He tries to help people find balance between withstanding discomfort and knowing their limits so that they do not damage themselves.”
“Some Zen teachers noted that samadhi and kenshocan involve a loss of functioning that can last from minutes to hours, however.”
“A period characterized by the subjective experience of dissolution is entered where traditionally solid aspects of the personality begin to break up, leaving the meditator no solid ground to stand on. This is traditionally the time of spiritual crisis, characterized by "a great terror" (Nyanamoli, 1976, p. 753), the "Great Doubt" (Leggett, 1964) in Zen.”
Safeguards they pro-actively implement:
“Teachers may also have more frequent interviews with the student, decrease the student's sitting time, and involve the student in "grounding" physical activities.”
“The Zen teacher who noted students' vulnerability after retreats has also started checking on fragile students a few days after a retreat.”
"A qualitative study of Western practitioners of Buddhist meditation investigated unexpected, challenging, difficult, and distressing experiences. While some practitioners viewed these experiences in relation to a normative Tantric soteriology of purification, almost all practitioners with a trauma history reported traumatic re-experiencing and tended not to adopt a purification framework."
The varied appraisals of and responses to somatic and affective changes resulting from Tantric practice show how Vajrayāna paths have many more twists and turns than suggested by the idealized structures of sādhanās, the discourses of Tibetan lamas, or the hagiographies of realized saints." Read Study
“We should approach Tantra with the respect it deserves, and the preparation it demands. Understand the risk-reward ratio, and abide by the regulatory agencies that were created to protect practitioners.”
- Andrew Holocek: Is the West Ready for Tantra
“Eastern teachers are often unaware of how much emotional wounding we suffer. They usually assume we have well-established, strong egos, and speak of abandoning or surrendering the ego . . . However, this teaching requires the students to have a healthy ego and sense of self-worth that has become a solid center of identity. When a Westerner becomes psychologically unstable through practicing Tantra, Eastern teachers often don’t know how to deal with it. . . Tantra requires a vessel that will remain stable and be able to contain the process.” -The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra, Rob Preece
According to the Dalai Lama in The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra (source)
"According to one Kagyu text, the method of practice of those for whom everything happens at once is powerful medicine. But it is deadly poison for those who are more suited to progress through graded stages. In other words, the method of practice of meditating solely on the nonconceptual state of the mind is suited only for those of sharpest faculties. For those who are not of their level, such practice brings only harm, no benefit. For them the medicine acts like a poison."
"This phenomenon, within the Buddhist tradition, is sometimes referred to as “falling into the Pit of the Void.” It entails an authentic and irreversible insight into Emptiness and No Self. What makes it problematic is that the person interprets it as a bad trip. Instead of being empowering and fulfilling, it turns into the opposite. In a sense, it’s Enlightenment’s Evil Twin.
This is serious but still manageable through intensive, perhaps daily, guidance under a competent teacher. In some cases it takes months or even years to fully metabolize, but in my experience the results are almost always highly positive. - Shinzen Young
"Sheng Yen, a modern Chan master explains that “it is possible” for someone “to suffer from Chan/Zen Sickness” as a result of a “no-self” or emptiness experience, which may result in one developing mental problems...
"Brad Warner adds clarity on why a slow stable practice is essential for coming to terms with emptiness, as it can push someone to a nervous breakdown: “There’s a truckload of extremely good reasons why you don’t want to rip to open the doors of your subconscious too quickly. If you’re not fully prepared for what’s behind those doors, they’re better left shut until such time that you are” (Karma 31).
Sources:
Buddhism in Progress: Ecstasy, Eternity , Eternity, and Zen Sickness
Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master - Brad Warner
Zen Master Hakuin, on his experience of Zen Sickness / Zen Master Han Shun's Zen Sickness
"As Kosen Eshu Osho, a priest at the Victoria Zen Centre in British Columbia, notes, meditation is “sneaky, and you’ve really got to watch it, because if feeling better is what you’re coming for, in some ways . . . this is like coming to heroin for relaxation.” (“Forgetting Self”)
"That is, sooner or later, one will start to experience changes to one’s sense of self after realizing that the narrative of one’s life cannot adequately account for the totality of who and what one is, and these ontological disruptions can have severe and lasting effects on the psyches of those who are unprepared for them, including psychotic breaks and collapses into addiction." Source
Traditional Advaita Vedanta & Modern Advaita Movement including Self-Inquiry & Direct Path pointers
"A warning: Mystical practices without the cultivation of ethical and intellectual safeguards can lead to self- deception, inflated egoism, hallucination and even insanity. Therefore it is not a quick and easy passage into occult experiences that the aspirant should seek, so much as a careful improvement of character, and a correct equilibrium of intuition, emotion, thought and action." -Paul Brunton, A Few Notes on Self-Inquiry
"Self-inquiry - This is considered an advanced practice and thus would be contraindicated for anyone with a history of mental disease or emotional instability." - Timothy Burgin, teacher
To be continued