Moving Being - Volume One

By Khandro Dechen

Khandro Déchen Tsédrüp Rolpa'i Yeshé is a Nyingma Lama who teaches in the Dzogchen lineage of Aro Lingma. Her clear, direct and detailed handbook of sKu-mNyé (kum nye) enables one to enter the dimension of energy revealed through Dzogchen longdé, the series of space. 35 elemental exercises cover 7 dynamic movements from each series of symbolic animals: lion, vulture, tiger, eagle, and garuda. Aro sKu-mNyé can be practised by almost anyone as the forms range from simple to challenging, from mild to strongly aerobic. The theoretical background to the exercises is explained in simple contemporary English, which is accessible to those with no experience of Vajrayana Buddhism, yet will be of value and interest to those who have practised intensively and studied the tradition in depth. The exercises are finely illustrated by Pauline Williams in a western life-drawing style that portrays real-life practitioners rather than perfect iconographic bodies of yogis and yoginis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aro Books worldwide
• Release date: May 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781898185185

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The Author

Khandro Déchen was born in 1960 and raised in Newbury, Berkshire, England. She undertook a nursing degree at the Welsh National School of Medicine and eventually specialised in hospice home care nursing. She became a Nyingma practitioner at the age of 21 – and has studied and practised sKu-mNyé since that time. She became the sung-yum (spiritual consort) of Ngak’chang Rinpoche in 1992. They married in April 1995 and she entered into the rôle of lineage holder of the Aro gTér with Ngak’chang Rinpoche. Their son was born in 1996, followed by a daughter in 2003. As a Lama representing a family lineage of the gö-kar-chang-lo’i-dé, Khandro Déchen currently takes parenthood as a central aspect of her life. Khandro Déchen has made several pilgrimages to the Himalayas. She has studied iconographic drawing and thangka painting since 1995. She draws most of the image references for practice within the Confederate Sanghas of Aro, and provides many of the line drawings for Aro publications. Her life’s work is dedicated to drawing the entire Aro gTér cycle of one hundred and eleven awareness-beings.

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge my dear sang yab and tsa-wa’i Lama, Ngak’chang Rinpoche.

I also thank: the sKu-mNyé teachers for their energy and application; Ngakpa Pema Zangmo for her cover painting; Pauline Williams and Naljorma Thrin-lé Khandro for their illustrations; those apprentices who modelled for the drawings; Carl Grundberg and Ngakma Zér-mé Dri’mèd for editorial assistance; Naljorma Chatral A’dzé, Naljorma Jig’mèd Pamo and Naljorma Sonam Lhamo for proof reading; Ngala ’ö-Dzin Tridral and Ngala Nor’dzin Pamo for publishing assistance.

Khandro Déchen Penarth, Wales June 2009

Pauline Williams

Illustrator of the sKu-mNyé postures

Pauline Williams lives in Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan. She paints in the Alla Prima method – a style where the painting is completed in one session while the paint is still wet. She specialises in Plein Air – painting in the open air.

She studied at St Helens College of Art, the University of Wales in Cardiff, and the University of Newport where she was awarded a teaching qualification.

My art is a representation of life from my perspective. I paint and draw from life – recording places, events and people wherever I go. I draw randomly to maintain my observational skills – as this is the painter’s equivalent to ‘sight reading’ in music. I also select subject matter to suit my current interests. She feels that to be a good landscape painter one needs to be face to face with nature. There is a quality that you can capture that is more than just the values, shapes, and composition – when you’re actually feeling the wind and smelling the flowers.

She enjoys travelling and painting in different locations. There is no subject I dislike, although painting landscapes outdoors is my favourite. The mood and emotion of the scene catches my interest and I try to translate my feelings into something a viewer can relate to. I think artists see the world differently, and try to bring attention to the beauty that might otherwise go unnoticed.

She sets out to create a direct response from her subject in order to allow paintings to develop in relation to the mood and emotion of the subject. Her recent paintings show her figure studies taking a prominent rôle. She has been drawn to painting active figures that need an arena in which to display their dynamics. She dedicates time every week to draw from life to gather source material for her paintings.

She teaches drawing and painting – specialising in portraiture and life-drawing.

www.voga.org.uk

www.cardiffdrawinggroup.co.uk

www.paulinewilliamseverydayart.blogspot.com

The Nature of sKu-mNyé

Every human being is animated by moving patterns of energy – they are rich, vivid, and powerful. We can discover these subtle landscapes of energy within ourselves. We can experience their depth, and resonate with their vibrant harmonies. Meditating on the space of this resonance enables us to encounter dimensions of vitality that are extraordinary. Although these landscapes of internal energy were familiar territory to advanced Tibetan yogis and yoginis, they are by no means beyond our scope. Anyone who is seriously interested, and committed to an hour of daily physical exercise and meditation, can discover glimpses of the vast horizon of brilliance and presence.

The term—as it is used in this book—is spelt sKu-mNyé¹. This is a transliteration of the Tibetan word – and we employ this spelling for the purpose of explanation. The word ‘sKu-mNyé’ splits into ‘sKu’ and ‘mNyé’. ‘sKu’ means subtle body or dimension and is a word which is used to mean the psychophysical system. This term is used as a descriptive term because Buddhism views mind and body as a unified entity. Mind pervades body. ‘mNyé’ means massage – but not as the word ‘massage’ is commonly understood. When the two words are put together they mean massage of the psychophysical system. sKu-mNyé is therefore a Buddhist system of exercise which affects the psychophysical system, in order to create effects which can be employed in order to achieve realisation.

Various systems of sKu-mNyé exist in the Nyingma Tradition and in Bön.² The most widely known system of sKu-mNyé in the West—taught by Tarthang Tulku—is known as Kum Nye³ and derives from the medical tantras.

sKu-mNyé is a remarkably varied system. It contains exercises which cover a spectrum from physically gentle movements to extremely ærobic callisthenics. Some exercises require considerable strength and agility – but for most, average fitness is sufficient. A few require almost no physical aptitude – and therefore there is a point at which anyone could participate. Some sKu-mNyé exercises are simple seated postures in which the movements are slow and even. Others require surprising co-ordination and an advanced sense of balance – due to the fact that they can cause physical disorientation.

sKu-mNyé exercises are thus suited to an extraordinarily broad range of body types and levels of suppleness. This makes sKu-mNyé highly versatile, in terms of continuing the exercises throughout the lifespan.

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sKu-mNyé (sKu mNye). This should not be confused with dKu mNye – which is a form of massage with oil. When spelt phonetically the two different words become homonyms.↩︎

Bön derives from the pre-Buddhist tradition of Tibet and Zhang Zhung (zhang zhung – the ancient kingdom of the Bön Tradition which equates with Western Tibet). Although different from Buddhism in some respects, it is in many ways identical. This is especially the case in terms of Dzogchen and the inner tantras.↩︎

As of 2008 there are five books by Tarthang Tulku on the subject: Kum