The Eye of Revelation

www.naropa.edu

>  The Indo-Tibetan Tibetan Yogic Tradition <

and the “Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation”

www.nalanda-university.com

The Five Tibetan Rites is a system of exercises reported to be more than 2,500 years old which were first publicized by Peter Kelder in a 1939 publication entitled „The Eye of Revelation“. Although practically nothing is known about Kelder,  one source reports that Kelder was raised as an adopted child in the midwestern United States, and left home while still in his teens in search of adventure. In the 1930s, Kelder claims to have met, in southern California, a retired British army colonel who shared with him stories of travel and the subsequent discovery of the Rites. Originally written as a 32-page booklet, the publication is the result of Kelder’s conversations with the colonel.The Rites are said to be a form of Tibetan yoga similar to the more well-known yoga series that originated in India. However, the Five Rites and traditional Tibetan yoga both emphasize „a continuous sequence of movement“  ( Sanskrit: vinyasa ), whereas Indian forms focus on „static positions“. Although the Rites have circulated amongst yogis for decades, skeptics say that Tibetans have never recognized them as being authentic Tibetan practices.

The Five Tibetan Rites are also referred to as “ The Five Rites „, “ The Five Tibetans „, “ The Five Rites of Rejuvenation “ and most recently “ T 5 T „. Read More: > HERE <

Disputed origins – Although the origin of the Five Rites prior to the publication of The Eye of Revelation is disputed between practitioners and skeptics, a comparison of illustrations of the postures shows a remarkable similarity between the Rites and authentic Tibetan ‚phrul ‚khor exercises from a system rendered into English as ‚Vajra Body Magical Wheel Sun and Moon Union‘ (Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ལུས་ཀྱི་འཕྲུལ་འཁོར་ཉི་ཟླ་ཁ་སྦྱོར; Wylie: rdo rje lus kyi ‚phrul ‚khor nyi zla kha sbyor).

Chris Kilham, whose 1994 book The Five Tibetans helped respark the Five Rites‘ popularity, says, „As the story has it, they were shared by Tibetan lamas; beyond that I know nothing of their history.“Even though the historic lineage of the Rites prior to the publication of Kelder’s booklet remains to be ascertained, the Rites have nevertheless been affirmed by a lama and scholar of the Sa skya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism as being „a genuine form of yoga and were originally taken from an authentic Indo-Tibetan tantric lineage, namely a cycle of yantra-yoga associated with the Sadnadapadadharma.“ These techniques have been integrated into the well-known  > “Six Yogas of Naropa”< (Sk. Sadnadapadadharma षड्नादपादधर्म Tib. na ro chos drug ན་རོ་ཆོས་དྲུག་).

However, it has been argued that the Five Rites predate yoga as we know it today by as much as seven hundred years or more and, therefore, could not have derived from either Tibetan or Indian forms of yoga. Moreover, it has also been suggested that the Rites are more likely to have originated from a system of Kum Nye which, like the Rites, date back 2,500 years.

Nevertheless, Chris Kilham also states that “ the issue at hand, though, is not the lineage of the Five Tibetans. The point is their immense potential value for those who will clear 10 minutes a day to practice.“

Tibetan Buddhism Trul Khor, by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche 

Records of Teachings Received by Tibetan Masters from the Sa skya Tradition –  A Project of the University of Munich in collaboration with the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (New York), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG):

About the Database: The „Records of Teachings Received“ (gsan yig) from which the entries of this database originate, form part of the collected writings of the renowned Sa skya pa master and historian A mes zhabs Ngag dbang kun dga‘ bsod nams (1597-1659).

This database contains references to almost 1,800 individuals (references to some of whom were previously scarce or non-existent) listed in 746 lineage records. Read More: > HERE <

Kum Nye and sKu-mNyé refer to a wide variety of Tibetan religious and medical body practices. The two terms are different spellings in the Latin alphabet of the same Tibetan phrase (Wylie: sku mnye), which literally means „massage of the subtle body“. Some systems of sku mnye are vaguely similar to Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or therapeutic massage. Confusingly, „Kum Nye“ and Ku Nye are also used to transcribe the Tibetan phrases dku mnye („belly massage“) and bsku mnye („oil massage“), which are pronounced identically to sku mnye. dKu mnye and bsku mnye manipulate the physical body, rather than the subtle (energetic) one.

Systems of Kum Nye are found in many Tibetan Buddhist and Bön traditions. These can be entirely different both in purpose and in methods. For instance, some forms are very slow moving; others are intensely aerobic. Some systems are based in the Tibetan Medical Tantras (scriptures), and are mainly therapeutic. Other systems are based in Dzogchen, and are mainly religious in purpose. Read More: > HERE <

NÄropÄ or Naropa (Prakrit; Sanskrit: NÄropadÄ, 956-1041) was an Indian Buddhist yogi, mystic and monk. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma  . Naropa was the main teacher of Marpa, the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. As an Indian tantric Buddhist, he has a place in Vajrayana Buddhism as a whole, but he is particularly renowned in Tibetan Buddhism via his name being attached to the six yogas of Naropa, a suite of advanced yogic practices for the attainment of skills relevant to the completion stage of anuttarayogatantra.

Naropa was born a high status Brahmin but from an early age showed an independent streak, hoping to follow a career of study and meditation. Succumbing to his parents wishes, he agreed to an arranged marriage with a young brahmin girl. After 8 years they both agreed to dissolve their marriage and become ordained.

At the age of 28 Naropa entered the famous > Buddhist University at Nalanda < where he studied both, Sutra and Tantra.

He gained the reputation as a great scholar and faultless debater, essential at that time as the tradition of debate was such that the loser automatically became a student of the winner. He eventually gained the title „Gatekeeper of the North“; engaged in many debates, taught and won many students. Read more: > HERE <