Anuyoga

Nupchen Sangyé Yeshé

Anuyoga (Skt.; Wyl. rjes su rnal 'byor) — the second of the three yanas of powerful transformative methods specific to the Nyingma school.

Overview Given by Alak Zenkar Rinpoche

The vehicle of Anuyoga , or ‘following yoga’, is so-called because it mainly teaches the path of passionately pursuing (or ‘following’) wisdom, in the realization that all phenomena are the creative expression of the indivisible unity of absolute space and primordial wisdom.

Entry Point

One’s mind is matured through the thirty-six empowerments in which the four rivers—outer, inner, accomplishing and secret—are complete, and one keeps the samayas as described in the texts.

View

Through logical reasoning one determines that which is to be known, the fact that all phenomena are characterized as being the three mandalas in their fundamental nature, and realizes that this is so.

Meditation

Meditation practice here consists of two paths. On the path of liberation one practises the non-conceptual samadhi of simply resting in a state that accords with the essence of reality itself, and the conceptual samadhi of deity practice, in which one visualizes the mandala of supporting palace and supported deities simply by reciting the mantra of generation. On the path of skilful means one generates the wisdom of bliss and emptiness through the practices of the upper and lower gateways.

Conduct

One practises the conduct that is beyond adopting or abandoning in the recognition that all perceptions are but the display of the wisdom of great bliss.

Results

At the culmination of Anuyoga’s own uncommon five yogas, which are essentially its five paths, and the ten stages that are included within these five, one attains the level of Samantabhadra.

Subdivisions

There are two sections of Anuyoga:

• sutra (Wyl. mdo) and
• agama (Wyl. lung).

Further Reading

• Tulku Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles, edited by Harold Talbott (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), pages xx-xx.

Internal Links

• Düpa Do