Chapter 20 - Physical Exercises

Other physical exercises which are performed during the lung-gom training consist in jerking the body up from the meditation-seat with legs crossed and without using the hands. Before each jerk the lung-gom-pa fills his lungs with air. By repeating this exercise several times in succession every day during a long period, he is able to jump higher and higher, while his body is said to become lighter and lighter. What is important is that deep breathing and physical drill are combined. I have not seen this exercise performed, nor do I remember that it was mentioned at Nyang-tö Kyi-phug, but according to information which Alexandra David-Neel gathered elsewhere in Tibet, it appears that these exercises are used as a test for proficiency in lung-gom. `A pit is dug in the ground, its depth being equal to the height of the candidate. Over the pit is built a kind of cupola whose height from the ground level to its highest point again equals that of the candidate. A small aperture is left at the top of the cupola. Now between the man seated cross-legged at the bottom of the pit and that opening, the distance is twice the height of his body …. The test consists in jumping crosslegged… and coming out through the small opening at the top of the cupola. I have heard Khampas declare that this feat has been performed in their country, but I have not myself witnessed anything like it'.^[1]

As I said, I have not found any confirmation of this custom in Nyang-tö Kyi-phug, but strangely enough I found a parallel to it in John Blofeld's description of a Mêng-Goong or tribal magician in a Miao village in Northern Thailand. The magician was seated, facing the shrine of ancestor demons, `on a bench some three feet high, thumping a drum and intoning a ritual in a voice full of power, but frighteningly inhuman. Now and then, an extraordinary, indeed a really awful, thing would happen. With a frightful scream, he would shoot about four feet into the air and land back upon the bench with such force that it quivered threateningly. Such a movement by a seated man whose legs never once straightened for the jump was so uncanny that I actually felt a cold sweat start from my pores'.^[2].

This eyewitness account by a well-known and reliable author proves two things: first, that the feat described by Tibetans is not beyond the realm of possibility, as it might appear to a critical reader; and, secondly, that more than mere muscle-power is involved in this feat. Tibetans see in it an act of levitation, though only of a momentary nature, made possible through the extreme lightness and will-power of the lung-gompa.

However that may be, the fact that a similar custom should be found in Eastern Tibet and in Northern Thailand seems to me significant and confirms my impression that the jumping practice is not an original and essential part of the lung-gom training but something superimposed upon it. The real origin of lung-gom is, as we have mentioned already, the ancient Indian practice of Prāṇāyāma (an essential feature of both Hindu and Buddhist yoga-systems) in which physical drill never played any role. Nor do those who undergo this training bury themselves alive or take a vow 'to go for ever into darkness'. This is quite foreign to Buddhism, which does not favour 'eternal vows'. There is nothing in the world that is not subject to change or transformation, least of all a human being. Even the vows of monkhood are not 'eternal' or irrevocable. Those who find that they are not suited for a monk's life, or those who feel that they cannot profit by it are free to return to the normal life in the world. The life in monasteries, hermitages, or in complete seclusion, is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. If, therefore, Sven Hedin reports that his enquiry, whether the monk who daily brought the food to the immured hermit, was able to converse with the latter, was answered with: `Nor he would thereby draw upon himself eternal damnation, and the three years (which the Lama had spent in the cave) would not be counted as merit,' then, quite clearly, Sven Hedin puts his own Christian way of thinking into the mouth of his Tibetan informant.

Buddhism does not believe in 'eternal damnation' and does not regard self-mortification as meritorious, or spiritual gain dependent on vows or the duration of certain exercises. The Buddha himself gave up the life of extreme asceticism when he found that it did not lead to the expected result. And he proved that in a single flash of insight more wisdom may be acquired than in years of self-mortification.

Therefore the length of time to be spent in complete seclusion depends on the capacity and the progress of the practitioner, who is under no compulsion to continue his exercise if his health or his endurance fails. At Nyang-tö Kyi-phug, the periods of seclusion are carefully graded.^[3] The shortest periods are from one to three months, the middling ones from one to three years, the longest nine years. The latter is regarded as a full course for the attainment of lung-gom, though naturally if the practitioner decides to continue, nobody will prevent him. But in order to prevent frauds and false claims the only entrance to the meditation cubicle is sealed by the authorities of the place, either by the abbot or some high government official, or both; and the seal cannot be broken without the knowledge of the authorities concerned. The longer the period, the greater is the importance that is attached to it.

At the time of my investigation, seven hermits were in retreat at Nyang-tö Kyi-phug. One of them had been shut in there for three years already. He was expected to leave his meditation cubicle in six years.

Nobody is allowed to speak to the lung-gom-pa or to see any part of his person. The latter rule is to ensure his complete anonymity. When receiving alms through an opening near the bottom of the wall, next to the sealed entrance, even the hand of the hermit is covered with a sock or a cloth bag, so that he may not be recognised even by a scar or any other particular sign or shape of his hand. The same small opening, which I measured as being 9 X 10 in, is said to be used as an exit by the lung-gompa after completion of his nine years practice in uninterrupted seclusion and perfect silence.

It is said that his body by that time has become so light and subtle that he can get through an opening not wider than a normal man's span, and that he can move with the speed of a galloping horse, while hardly touching the ground. Due to this, he is able to perform the prescribed pilgrimage to all the main shrines and sanctuaries of Central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) within an incredibly short time.

After having performed this pilgrimage the lung-gom-pa finds a suitable retreat or hermitage of his own, where he spends the rest of his life, preaching, teaching, meditating, and pursuing his various religious duties in accordance with his own particular Sādhanā or the requirements of others. He will bless and inspire all those who come to him, heal the sick, and console those who are in distress. Healing is mainly done through the power of the spirit, either by performing special rites and the laying on of hands, or by the preparation of healing potions or consecrated pills (ril-bu, pron. `ribu'), which play a similar role as the consecrated bread or host in the Eucharist. Heeding powers are ascribed to all religious functions, and, therefore, the more saintly a man, the greater is his capacity to heal or to endow consecrated objects with beneficent forces.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

With Mystics and Magicians in Tibet, Penguin, p. 191

[2]:

People of she Sun, Hutchinson, p. 126

[3]:

Nobody enters on such a venture unless he is adequately prepared by his Guru.