Leaving the Skull Orchard
I recently was talking with a Dharma sister on death. She had very negative concept of what she felt would happen. So I began to tell her a little about the Phowa, the Transference, where yogis can consciously die by transferring their conscious through an opening in skull, at the moment of death.
It is seen even in some of the ancient western kings, the Merovingians (a name also used in the new Matrix film). I told her in my opinion kings were originally Enlightened beings. The Merovingians were probably last in this line for the west. Once the technique of opening the fontanel to the point where a physical break occurred in the skull and skin, 8 finger-widths from the space between the eyebrows, behind your original hairline, trepanning became a fashion. Indeed try a search on Google for the word "trepanning" and you'll see it is still prevalent, esp. among Goths.
My friend was excited about the prospect. Especially that you could open yourself so physically through force of meditation. We looked into it further and have found a lama who will teach her the process. He has had great success with all who have attended his retreats. Once you have opened yourself it is easy to help others as they are dying.
Below is a true story of a practioner who went through the Phowa retreat back in the 30's and left the Skull Orchard.
------------------
Late in my life, I practised Pho-wa, an esoteric Tibetan technique for rebirth in the Pure Land, which had not been introduced in China before. The teaching is based on the principle that when someone who is due to be reborn in the Western Paradise is dying, his consciousness will leave through the Aperture of Brahma (in the top of his skull): thus one is taught to repeat mantras to open this aperture and to practise regularly so that One can follow a similar path at the moment of death. In 1933, when I was sixty-one, I had already received this Dharma from the Tibetan guru No Na who had urged me to practise it at home (which I did) unsuccessfulIy. In the spring of 1937, when I was sixty-five, I heard that the guru Sheng Lu was teaching this Dharma in Nanking and that all those participating in the four previous meetings had succeeded in opening the Aperture of Brahma. As the fifth and last meeting was soon to take place at the Vairochana temple, I went to Nanking and put my name down to attend it.
I arrived on the first of April to receive the initiation, which was very much more complicated than the one previously given me by the guru No Na. I was taught a vajra mantra as the first step in the practice. It was not a long one but the method of visualization was very elaborate. It had to be repeated one hundred thousand times, but since I had only a few days at my disposal, I did so as many times as I could.
After the first day, I stayed in a lodging house and closed the door of my room to concentrate on repeating the mantra. Before midday on the ninth, I had done so sixty-two thousand times, and in the afternoon I returned to the Vairocana temple where thirty-nine Of us assembled. I was told that this was considerably more than at any of the other four gatherings.
The guru shaved a small hairless circle in the Centre so that later he could see if the Aperture of Brahma had opened in order to plant a stalk in it.
On the tenth we began to isolate ourselves for meditation. In the main hall an altar was set up with all its majesty, before which the guru led us to Practise the Dharma. Every day there were four sessions each lasting two hours. The practice consisted In visualizing Amitayus Buddha sitting on the top Of the head and in imagining in the body a blue psychic tube witch was
red Inside and stretched from the crown of the head to the perineum. Within this tube in the lower belly below the navel was a bright pearl which rose (up it) to the heart (centre) (When the pearl was visualized in that centre) I shouted the mantric syllable HIK, forcing up the pearl which followed the sound and thrust through the Aperture of Brahma to reach
the heart of Amitayus. Then I whispered the syllable GA which caused the pearl to descend from the Buddha's heart and return through the opening to my lower belly. At each session we shouted with such force that we became hoarse and exhausted, and dripped perspiration although it was still very cold. Seeing that we were tired, the guru chanted in Sanskrit and
exhorted us to follow his example and relax. This we did four or five times in each two hour session.
Now I was already experienced in (the art of) meditation and had cleared the central psychic passage (in the spine) so that I made remarkable progress on the eleventh. During the first session a red light shone from the crown of my head and (I seemed) to grow taller. In the fourth session, I felt (as if) the Aperture Of Brahma was being bored through by a sharppointed tool and was repeatedly hit by the ascending pearl. When I went to bed a great white light shone from my head.
On the twelfth I practised as on the previous day. In the second session, I felt (as if) my skull was swelling and cracking and that my cheek-bones were being torn apart. In the third session, my head (seemed to) stretch up, tier upon tier, each (time) seeming to crack.
On the thirteenth in the first session, I felt (as if) my brain was being pierced from all sides by sharp-pointed tools. At first I felt that my skull was very thick, but that the continuous boring had made it thinner. In the third session I suddenly felt (as if) the upper part of my body was completely void while a great light shone from my head,
On the fourteenth in the first and second sessions the bright pearl shotup through the cleared passage in the central channel to the foot of the Buddha on my crown. This was different from my previous experience of (my head) swelling and cracking when the channel was not yet quite through my skull. In the fourth session I felt (as if) my neck was splitting to make room for a column which went straight down to my stomach and intestines. This was an actual swelling of the central channel which, until then, had merely been visualized.
On the fifteenth, in the first session, I felt that there was a hole in the crown of my head. In the second session, the guru moved his seat close to the window where there was abundant sunlight. He then called us to come forward, one after another, so that he (could check whether) the Aperture of Brahma in our heads had opened and could plant in it an auspicious stalk as proof of its opening. If there was a real opening, the stalk was drawn into it without breaking the skin. I was among the first twenty-eight persons whose crowns were opened that day, As to the other eleven the stalk could not be planted. They were consequently required to continue the practice for a few more sessions. As to those who had achieved the opening, they were excused further practice but were asked to enter the hall to use the power of visualization to give (spiritual) aid to the unsuccessful initiates so that they too could achieve the same result speedily.
On the sixteenth, in the first session, nine people had their Apertures of Brahma opened. There remained only a nun and a lay woman whose crowns were still closed. The nun had been in Japan where she had practised (Shingon) meditation and had acquired good experience, yet she had difficulty in opening the Aperture. This shows that in the study of the Dharma, one should bury pride and prejudice which can hinder realization. As to the lay woman, she was of dull potentiality because of her advanced age, the guru ordered them to sit in front of him and used his spiritual power to help them. In the following session, with spiritual help from the whole gathering, they finally succeeded, but not without difficulty, in opening their Apertures of Brahma.
After this, I practised the chih-kuan meditation as my main method, with pho-wa as a complementary one. On the twentyfourth of May, during a meditation, after I had achieved stillness of mind, my chest emitted a light which gradually expanded to envelop my whole body, forming a bright sphere. Previously either only my head or my chest had shone and been bright, but this radiance had not embraced my whole body. In this experience (of total brightness), I still felt the presence of the Ego.
On the twenty-sixth of the same month, after achieving stillness of mind, my back now emitted a light which soon engulfed all my body. I experienced unusual happiness but still felt my body was there, for I had not yet achieved absolute voidness.
On the twenty-seventh, after achieving stillness of mind I emitted a light which attained a great height and seemed to reach the clouds in the sky. My consciousness also expanded with this light and then gradually returned (to my body) through the Aperture of Brahma.
On the thirty-first, after stilling my mind, the upper half of my body emitted a light as on the preceding day. Then I felt in my lower belly heat as intense as boiling water; it then emitted light and the lower half of my body became void. This state differed from the previous ones.
On the tenth of June, after calming the mind, all my body radiated and the light was much brighter than before. I felt (as if) I had no head which was replaced by a transparent brightness.
On the fourteenth all my body radiated with both its upper and lower parts being really bright.
On the seventeenth, after entering the state of stillness, my body radiated and I felt (as if) the light illumined my mind's eye and was of a white radiance, engulfing all my surroundings and forming a great sphere.
On the eighteenth, upon entering the state of stillness, all my body radiated and the light was much whiter. All round me was transparent brightness like a searchlight shining upon the four quarters while my consciousness roamed about in the great void. This brightness then shrunk and entered my lower belly; after being subjected to rigid control, it entered my legs and the my arms, finally to return to my head.
