Is there anyone out there?

Lightning Path wrote:Do you have anything on the subject?

In addition to constituting the most notable meditative practices of the Kagyu-pa order, the tradition of the Six Yogas of Naropa was adopted also by the powerful Geluk-pa or "System of Virtue Sect" (dge lugs pa), which was founded by the brilliant philosopher-saint Dzongka-pa (Tsong kha pa, 1357-1419), and which eventually became the institutional seat of the successive Dalai Lamas. Dzongka-pa's treatise, A Book of Three Inspirations, is regarded as one of the finest works on the subject of the Six Yogas, and over the past five hundred years has served as a standard for the majority of works that later followed. In A Book of Three Inspirations, Dzongka-pa discusses the practices of all Six Doctrines with extraordinary precision and depth, quoting from a wealth of Indian and Tibetan sources as well as drawing upon his own profound inner experience. For our interests, however, Dzongka-pa's text is distinguished by its detailed presentation of the yoga of consciousness transference or phowa, including a rare description of the extremely secret yoga of forceful projection or drong-juk (grong 'jug). Briefly, phowa is the practice of ejecting the consciousness out from the top of the head at the time of death and transferring it to a more favorable realm of existence. A person may choose to practice this method of consciousness transference in order to be reborn in a heavenly realm or a Buddha's Pure Land, or in order to have the energy of his or her past meritorious karma continue, without interruption, into the next life. Traditionally it is held that the appearance of a tiny hole at the fontanelle of the dead person's head is a sign of a successful transference of the individual's consciousness. During certain meditative exercises designed to prepare people for this practice, teachers test their students' proficiency in the yoga of transference by sticking a flower stem in the hole that begins to develop at their crown. If their preparatory training is successful, and this hole in turn grows larger, it is said the flower will actually stand upright.

Directly connected with the yoga of transference is the esoteric method of forceful projection or drong-juk, in which a practitioner projects his or her own consciousness into a corpse of either a dead human being or animal. The practice is thus metaphorically referred to as the "reanimation of corpses." In A Book of Three Inspirations, Dzongka-pa informs us that drong-juk was brought to Tibet from India by Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, the teacher of Milarepa (Mi la ras pa, 1040-1123), who in turn gave it to his Marpa's son, Dharma Do-de (Dharma mdo sde). Unfortunately, Dharma Do-de met with a sudden and untimely death, taking with him the authentic wisdom of the drong-juk technique. Nevertheless, in spite of this apparent break in the lineage of transmission, Dzongka-pa says that the practice of forceful projection continued to be taught secretly in the oral transmission traditions and is never to be discussed publicly.

Lightning Path wrote:Are there any of these initiatory bodies alive and well in the US?

Lightning Path wrote:Thanks for your reply. I have looked at this myself, but oh my buddhist text is so hard to read and to apply practically. Aside from the obvious Indian infusion it sees equally obvious that Shamanism played a huge part in this unique form of buddhism (although this did occur in other Asian locales). It seems to strike true that this practice would have been used during life, as well as the time of death. Being that this became an oral practice, it is certain that one could only be taught through an initiatory body. It also seems true that the current incarnation of the Dali Lama possesses at least some of this knowledge.

Are there any of these initiatory bodies alive and well in the US?

I know for a fact that the esoteric order "Dragon Rouge" has a circle working practically with the Six Yogas of Naropa. There exists both translations of original texts and practical working material within this group.