Kundalini and Tibetan Buddhism
Tom Adams
In Buddhism the prana and shakti energy moving through the body are called the winds. Buddhist teachings do not focus on manipulating the kundalini shakti and they are not as focused on the unchanging aspect of the chakras, and their objective content ie. the fixed seed syllables and their corresponding bija mantras and gods and goddesses, which one finds in the Hindu Yoga system. The Buddhist system is more focused on the functions of the energy centers and that which flows through them ie. with the transformation of the cosmic or nature-energies into spiritual potentialities. In Buddhism the seed mantras or primordial sounds are associated with the continuous flow of energies and their interactions. The Buddha in his great wisdom taught his students to focus on, and work with the prajna (the wisdom of the heart) because the wisdom of non-dual awareness tempers and brings harmony to the power of the kundalini shakti.
I have found that traditional Tibetan Buddhist monks do not have kundalini related problems and yet the energy is actively moving up the central channel. The Buddhist approach works safely and very effectively to purify the latent unconscious forces, associated with the different chakras. When these latent energies, the causes of the blockages and resistance are brought into consciousness and released into the light of awareness, the winds (shakti) will naturally, safely enter the central channel, and rise up the sushumna without the need for willful manipulation. The webs between the chakras dissipate in a natural way and this allows for illumination of the different levels of consciousness associated with the chakras.
One of the beginning practices in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is called shinay or tranquility meditation and it helps us train the mind to become more focused, and calm so we can experience true tranquility and openness of the mind. This makes the mind a more effective tool for the next level of meditation called lhaktong or insight meditation. Insight meditation involves acknowledging and uprooting the neurotic patterns and repressed emotions which cloud our true nature, allowing us to rest in the union of clarity and absolute awareness. There are many other Buddhist practices for purification and the development of greater love, compassion, and wisdom.
The traditional Buddhist approach works safely, efficiently and effectively to dispel the neurotic patterns, the illusions, the latent unconscious forces that create resistance to the flow of the kundalini shakti in the sushumna and the prana in the chakras and meridians. One learns very effective practical information and tools for accepting the physical, emotional and mental experiences, our fears and anxieties, as they arise and how to stop reacting to them. This brings detachment and freedom from our attachments and interestingly enough the problem with kundalini subsides. When you increase your understanding and awareness of the true cause of suffering, and then take appropriate, skillful action, you will gradually become free of illusion, the causal origin or source of suffering, and also free of your kundalini related symptoms.
Buddhism in America is changing, just as it has adapted to every country to which it has spread. American Buddhist practitioners come from many diverse cultural, religious, spiritual and non-spiritual backgrounds. We have psychological and emotional problems unique to our society. When the Dalai Lama first heard about how many people in America suffer from low or no self esteem he was very surprised, apparently this was not a problem in Tibetan culture. A growing number of American practitioners, who have already been involved with Kundalini Yoga Tantric practices or New Age approaches to working with the subtle energies, are moving into the Tibetan Buddhist tradition with kundalini related problems. The highly trained and traditional Tibetan Tantric masters may have little or no personal experience with the many kundalini associated problems, that have manifested for American practitioners. However, I have found that, from my personal kundalini experience and my experience from working with "kundalini sufferers," that the basic teachings of the Buddha are still one of the most effective ways for working with kundalini aggravated suffering. One does not have to be a Buddhist to benefit from the Buddha's teachings.