Ngala Rig’dzin Dorje
Sitzfleisch – patience
In preference to a chair or a kneeling-stool as a practice-support, in this picture Ngala Rig’dzin Dorje is wearing a meditation-strap (gom-tag). This is one of a set of practice supports that properly belong to Dzogchen rLong-de, where they are used in relation to pressure-points so as to give rise to subtle psycho-physical experience. However, the gom-tag also has its benefits in Sem-dé as soon as one graduates to practising with the eyes open. Inside the strap the back is relaxed, naturally straight, and inclined, so that the gaze is slightly elevated.
Ngala
Rig’dzin Dorje says:
In a pocket of my gom-tag I keep a nine-prong tok chak vajra,
miraculously formed by the action of lightning on a deposit of metal in the ground, in some place
of powerful practice in the Himalayas. Ngak’chang Rinpoche suggested I keep it in the
gom-tag ‘to strengthen the meditation’.
Stabilising the Four Naljors (naljor-zhi), the meditation series of Dzogchen Sem-dé, calls for extensive sitting practice, especially in retreat conditions. Most people therefore who engage in Trek-chod, the three Dé of Dzogchen, may need to rotate between two or three different meditation postures during an hour’s session. Few western-born people have been longtime Hatha Yoga practitioners. It is even more unusual to have grown up sitting on floors in preference to furniture, past babyhood, when an erect sitting posture is completely natural. But if so then one may be able to sit in the Seven Point (or Ten Point) Posture of Vairochana, relaxed and comfortable (which is the intention) for extended periods. Popularly known as the ‘Full Lotus’, this requires folding the legs with the soles of the feet upturned on the opposite thighs. This keeps the spine naturally erect while sitting on the floor. In ‘Half Lotus’, with one foot on the floor and one crossed, or the Posture of Royal Ease (as displayed by the Root Form of Yeshé Tsogyel) with both feet on the floor, legs somewhat separated, one may need a high firm cushion to elevate the hips above the knees so that the back ‘floats’ upright effortlessly.
Ngala Rig’dzin
Dorje:
I have always appreciated this earthy Austrian expression Sitzfleisch, literally
‘sitting-meat’, meaning patience. Milarépa
tantalised his disciple Rechungpa with the promise of a ‘special teaching’ which turned
out to be
a display of Milarépa’s buttocks. They were, it is said, like the hooves of an animal,
flattened, hardened and polished by decades of assiduous sitting. That, Milarépa told him,
is what you need in order to get results.