Table Of Contenthogyal Nan1khai Norbu
TI-IE PR_ACTICE
FOR THE NAG.A
•
~·'tl~
Shang Shung Edi'l;.ioni
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
The Practice for the Naga
Merigar 1993
Shang Shung Edizioni
This publication is intended for those who have already received
transmission from the Master of the pra<.1.ices it contains.
We strongly urge you not to circulate it outside that group of people
and to treat it wilh the u[Jllost respect.
Transcription by Tiziana Gottardi
English translation by Zinnia M. Steinhauer
@ 1996, Associazione Culturale Comunita Dzogchen
Merigar, Arcidosso 58031 (GR.) Italy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever
The Rite of the Naga
Introduction
The Nagas, which comprise one of the Eight Classes, while
dominating the water element are also associated with the earth.
Since theNagas oftencreatemanyproblemsforus, with this practice
we can enter into contact with them and solve the problems.
PracticefortheNagasshouldbedoneonspecificdays. In fact, on
favorable days the Nagas enjoy having contact with us, while on
unfavorabledays theybecomenervous. TheTibetancalendaralways
specifies the positive, negative and neutral days with respect to the
Nagas. It's something like what happens in contacts between
humans: It's never a good idea to go to a person to say or do
something important when that person is very busy or nervous. It's
better to go when heorsheishappy, relaxed and feels good. We call
this lutheb(klu thebs), and the practice should be done only on days
whicharefavorableorneutralfortheNagas.
The offering to the Nagas, and in general to all Eight Classes,
should be made through the samaya since otherwise we cannot
communicate with them. In fact, we do not have the ability to
communicate with these beings, but even if we did, we could
receive many types of negative influences. Many great realized
beings have manifested the form of powerful entities in order to
control these classes. For example, A valokitesvara manifesting
as Mahakala dominates all the classes of the Mahakalas (mgmz
po), and Vajrapani, manifesting as Rahula, controls all the beings
of the Tsa Cgza) class. This means that there is a samaya in place,
that is, a promise of obedience, linking these entities to the
illumined beings. As we practice through the transmission, we
can enter into contact with certain beings precisely because of the
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samaya. This is the only way to communicate witlt the Nagas.
We may perhaps think that since the Nagas are associated
with the water we can go to a spring or a stream to do something,
butinthiswaywecannotbesurewhetherwearedoingsomething
positive or negative. Among the Nagas there are also realized
beings who are good entities, but we could never make a contact
at those levels; at most we could enter into contact with a Naga
that dominates a lake, a river or a watery environment, that is, a
'worldly' Naga. But these worldly entities of the eight classes
have no compassion: in fact, they are called nodjyin (gnod sbyin)
which means beings which will provoke us even if we treat them
with compassion. That is their nature.
Therefore, the transmission and the ability to transform oneself
is necessary in order to enter into contact with them. When we
make contact with the Guardians, first of all we transform
ourselves into Guru Drapo orint o Vajrapani orSinhamukha, that
is, into a manifestation of a realized being. In this way we can
communicate through the transmission, and by using the
appropriate mantras, mudras and visualization, we bring into
action the samaya, the promise. With the Nagas we must use the
same method.
In practice, the symbolic offering consists ofserkyem and sang
(which is made by burning cypress and other fragrant branches
to purify the air). Other offerings can be added to these, primarily
milk and sweets cakes. When we perform a puja for the Nagas or
the Sadags (sa bdag, rulers of the earth linked to the Nagas) it is
very important to know what to offer. In fact, meat and such
things must never be offered. The incense, symbolizing the
offering of perfume, must be the same we use for the Yogatantra
and especially the Kriya Tantra rituals. There are two types of
Tibetan incense. One is deep red in color and the other very much
darker. The dark type contains ingredients more suited to
Anuttara Tantra-style offerings. Certain!y , looking at the color is
not enough and we need to know what the ingredients are: the
incense that is labelled as appropriate for Yogatantra-style
offerings is also the right one for offerings to the Nagas. On the
other hand, the incense for Anuttaratantra rituals is wrong for the
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Nagas because it contains substances derived from animals like
the perfume extracted from the musk ox. Such substances must
not be used since they would provoke the Nagas instead of
pleasing them. However, even if you do not have the proper
incense, burning some sang is sufficient.
The material offerings are only a suppport,and the visualization
isthemostimportant. Actually,thevisualizationcangobeyondthe
limits of matter and, with the authentication of mantra and
mudra, can become concrete. Material things are only a symbol.
At the end of the practice the material offerings are still there
precisely because they are only a symbol: if they were concrete
they would disappear as they were consumed by the Nagas. So
we have to understand what is meant by the offering.
Sometimes, for the offering to the Nagas, a torma prepared
from a paste mixed with some medicine and modelled into a
specific form is called for. These things can be linked to the
samaya. For example, one day Guru Padmasambhava met a
powerful Naga who was creating problems for all beings. So
Guru Padmasambhava transfom1ed himself into Guru Dragpo
and won over the Naga by saying to him, "You must not be so
bad, promise me. If you won't promise, I'll crush your skull.''
BeforeGuruPadmasambhava's power, the Naga was afraid, and
since he could not escape, he made several requests. He said, "I
can't live if! don't have certain conditions". So Padmasambhava
made a pact with him and promised him certain things.
Padmasambhava's promises have become symbols for
authenticating the practice and these work for whoever receives
the transmission. Thus, certain particular offerings like thetormas
and other things linked to this principle act as a support for the
mantras, mudras and the visualization.
The practice
We start with the tun becaus.e the practice is always linked to
the transmission, since it is through the transmission that we
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arrive at the state of transformation. So we can perform the short
tun up until we transform ourselves to Vajrapani and then invite
the high level guests to join us by means of thenaggon, and finally
perform the rite for the Nagas. We invite the guests with the
mantra, mudras and the visualization. Remember that we
transform ourselves into the ferocious form of Vajrapani and in
this form we invite all the classes of the Nagas, the Sadag and the
other guests to appear before us. This is the visualization linked
to the mind. The mudras accompany the mantra which invites the
guests and is as follows:
OM KSHIMHA RAJA PRITHI DEVI NAGARAJA
SAPARIVARA AKARSHAYAJA VAJRA SPHARANA KHAM
OM KSHIMHA RAJAPRITID DEVI islinkedmainlywith the
Sadag: sa means 'earth' and dag means 'master'. In addition, all
the Sadag are linked to the Nagas.
NAGA RAJA means all the principal Nagas, and includes all
those bound by a promise. The powerful Nagas of the world and
the universe are surely linked to a samaya, that is to a promise
made to the realized beings like Padmasambhav~, Vajrapani and
others. The lesser Nagas from all over the world are dominated
by the principal Nagas, and i11 the practice we appeal to the
promise made by the higher Nagas. SAP ARIV ARA refers to the
entities that depend on the principal Nagas bound by a promise.
The places inhabited by a little earth spirit ~adag), or a river or
stream or a spring are governed by the lesser Nagas which
probably do not have any specificsamaya, but that depend on the
more powerful Nagas. So now we can communicate with them.
AKARSHA YAJA has the same meaning as VAJRASAMA YA
JA: invite. SAMA YA JA is a more courteous invitation through
the samaya; AKARSHAYA JA is a more determined invitation.
The entities which are not linked to asamaya are not always ready
to come, but it is possible to 'convince' them with the help of the
beings bound by the promise.
With VAJRA SPHARANA KHAM we visualize infinite
offerings.
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First we make the mudra of the lotus, then, as we say NAGA
RAJA SAPARIV ARA, we make themudra of the samaya, and as
we say AKARSHA YA JA we make the mudra of the forceful
invitation [see the Book of the Mudras]. As we say VAJRA
SPHARANA KHAM we snap our fingers to invite the guests
instantly and we visualize infinite offerings.
Then we make the offerings using the same mantra we use for
the local guardians: OM KSHIMHA RAJA PRITHI DEVI
NAGARAJA SAPARIVARA AK.AROMUKHAM SARVA
DHARMA~AM ADYANUTPANNATVATA OM A HUM
PHATSVAHA.
Even the mudra is the same one we use for the local guardians.
This mantra is repeated at least three times and then, as we
visualize before us all the guests including the Nagas, the various
types of Sadag and all the eight classes, we recite ot· chant the
followings words.
-
KYAI
...... ......
~·q~I:IJ'fl!'I:IJ~~·~~·(l,~~·~,
SADAG KLU NEN )YAN O-REN NO
I invite the Sadag, the Lu and the Nyen,
...... ......
q~c:::~r:..·I:IJ~~·~o.~~·~a,"·'-'·AS~I
sAN DAN SERKYEM QODPA BOL
-
I offer to them sang and serkyem,
r.l.I:IJCll'r.l.j!:lC1f '4I:IJ'
S:l~·~c-.:~ ;r:.· t:l+j~~,
GAL TRU"'L<) POG T-IJG GAN- GYUR xAG
I confess all my shortcomings, my errors and offeuses.
...... ...... -
Q~''9~'?~'0fQ?~''-I.:t..'Q~~~~
DRAXIS DEN LA DAN BAR xUG
Please come to dwell on this talisman of good omen,
G~I:IJ·-o·q~·~I:IJ~·~~·~~·cJ.J~"!
DE zoo
DAGJAG LEG xiS BAR
And bring good fortune and prosperity to us forever.
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In general, these practices begin with KY Al which is an
exclamation to call someone. Like when we answer the telephone
by saying "Hello!" ,in the same way we use KY AI to communicate
with the~ beings.
SADAG means 'ruler of the earth, mow1tains, etc'. LU are the
bein~ that dominate the water dimension.
"" "
NEN are powerful beings that also rule the mountains and U1e
rocks, but that mainly live in the air. They are able to dominate
both the air and the earth, while the SADAG are only found in the
dimension of the earth.
JY AN DREN NO means 'we invite you'; it is a way of
communicating.
5~ DAN SERI<YEM QODPA BUL means 'we have invited
you to offer you some sang' which is a purification. In the same
way we can invite someone to have a bath or a sauna. So, we
purify their dimension so that these beings become stronger and
feel better.
SERKYEM is the offering of a drink; ser in general means
'gold', and kyem means 'drink'. By 'drink of gold' we generally
mean the offering of tea, or tea with milk, or of yukyem, the
offering of wine. But today, s'l!rkyem is a general term.
QODPA BUL means 'we offer'; we are offering this
refreshment and this purification.
GAL are transgressions, the things we have done to make
them angry and upset them. 'IRUL are our errors. Here we are
working through the samaya, that is with the commitment that
must be maintained by tiS and not only by them. In fact, there are
no pacts that are respected only from one side. So if we have
made some errors we need to purify them.
POG TUG refers to our provocations. For example, if we
pollute a spring of water we provoke the Nagas. There are many
ways to provoke the Nagas, like by dumping refuse into the
rivers, or burning trash. In fact by doing that, instead of purifying
and reinforcing their energy with sang, we hurt and irritate them,
with the result U1at the Nagas will provoke us. GANG GUR
means 'whatever we have done'. With XAG we confess and
purify our errors to solve all the problems we have created.
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