Shaping Fear and Bhuta Shuddi
Sun ,14/03/2010I spent a lot of time today digging deeper into myself, coming to grips with some of my fears and looking at them head on. This was prompted by a couple of videos that I had remembered seeing months back, that I took the time to find again today. They were from a lecture given by ZaChoeje Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist. A lot of good thoughts in these, I would HIGHLY recommend watching them. You can find them below if you are interested.
After this, I was faced with more fears, more worries, so I decided to take the bull by the horns (or the horns by the bull, I DO tend be something of a masochist at times), and deal with it. I lit some incense, smudged the room and myself, did some yoga in the form of sun salutations, and then took Savasana (corpse pose) afterwards. From there, I proceeded to do a round of Bhuta Shuddi to really open myself up, and then finished with a meditation on my fears. All I can say is WOW. By the time I was done, I had the biggest headrush, and felt as if I could fly. For those who are unfamiliar with what Bhuta Shuddi is, I’ll try to explain.
Bhuta Shuddi is an ancient chakra meditation of yoga and tantra practice through which the five elements (bhutas) are balanced or purified (shuddhi). Bhuta refers to the past, and shuddhi refers to purifying that past, or the samskaras that operate in conjunction with the five elements.
There may be many methods of purifying the five elements, ranging from meditative practices to various forms of ritualistic practices. Bhuta Shuddhi works directly with attention on the chakras, balancing the subtle forces of the five elements through the use of the bija (seed) mantras of the chakras. A bija mantra is a sacred vowel to resonate with a chakra. Meditation on these points and chanting is practised in order to free up the energy flow within, which also brings results externally. The process of chanting itself shakes up the held patterns of energy and reshapes them to their higher possibility.
I read quite a few disclaimers on this, warning that this was a powerful method of chakra alignment, and the results could be stronger than one bargains for if it’s their first time. I indeed found this to be the case. I went from the root chakra, up through the crown, and back down again. U-N-R-E-A-L. The act of going back down is done to help re-ground, but even so, I still needed a good long while to ground after it was all said and done. And the best part, I felt results. I felt GOOD.
So after realigning and balancing my energies, I took the time to meditate on some inner parts of me, and gradually, throughout the day, managed to face a fear, and to deal with it. While it still is leaving me sad, I feel like through this maybe I can shape this fear into a positive direction. Fingers crossed everyone! ;)
Anywho, I promised videos, and I feel like maybe I’m getting rambly again. So without further ado, here are parts 1 and 2 of ZaChoeje Rinpoche’s “Shaping Fear – Being in the Present Moment”