I recently heard that Tibetans consider Bodhidharma to have been the same person as Dampa Sangye. Has anyone else heard this? I think it is a fascinating possible connection between Zen and Dzogchen. I have heard Zen compared to Mahamudra, and the relationship between Qigong and Zen seems parallel to the relationship between Anu and Atiyogas, or the Yogas of Naropa and Mahamudra.
I have recently become interested in a few lineages of Chan (Chinese for Zen) that are preserved in Sichuan. They are the Emei Sudden Enlightenment lineages, and they list Jigme Lingpa as an important contributor. This lineage, along with some Shaolin lineages that I have heard still exist, combines the practice of Qigong and Internal Alchemy with Zen. This is the way Bodhidharma originally taught it when he revealed the Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing Qigong sets to the monks of Shaolin who had become physically weakened by intellectual study. Qigong was considered the appropriate prerequisite to authentic Zen, the way Anuyogas are used to activate energies to support Atiyoga meditation. The Japanese Zen lineages I have encountered do not present Qigong as a part of the path traditionally, though one lineage I know of has reintroduced Qigong and Yoga into it and several lay Zen practitioners I know use Qigong as well.
It is an interesting topic to me. Is anyone else interested in the possible connections between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism? Have you heard of other connections?
I have recently become interested in a few lineages of Chan (Chinese for Zen) that are preserved in Sichuan. They are the Emei Sudden Enlightenment lineages, and they list Jigme Lingpa as an important contributor. This lineage, along with some Shaolin lineages that I have heard still exist, combines the practice of Qigong and Internal Alchemy with Zen. This is the way Bodhidharma originally taught it when he revealed the Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing Qigong sets to the monks of Shaolin who had become physically weakened by intellectual study. Qigong was considered the appropriate prerequisite to authentic Zen, the way Anuyogas are used to activate energies to support Atiyoga meditation. The Japanese Zen lineages I have encountered do not present Qigong as a part of the path traditionally, though one lineage I know of has reintroduced Qigong and Yoga into it and several lay Zen practitioners I know use Qigong as well.
It is an interesting topic to me. Is anyone else interested in the possible connections between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism? Have you heard of other connections?
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Tibetan Buddhism
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