The method can be applied at the moment of death to, according to Vajrayāna Buddhist belief, transfer one’s consciousness through the top of the head directly into a Buddha-field of one’s anti gravity yoga east london. By so doing, one bypasses some of the typical experiences that are said to occur after death. Conversely, Phowa as a concept was cited by Shoko Asahara as a justification for murder in 1987.

This fact was later brought up against him during his 1995 trial. The mark of a successful phowa practice is a small drop of blood directly from the center of the vertex. To demonstrate a successful practice traditionally a Kusha-grass was pushed into the small opening created in the fontanel. The main lineage of phowa is one of the Six yogas of Naropa, although other transmissions also exist. The chöd subsumes within its auspices aspects of phowa sadhana. The Kagyu phowa lineage is from the Six yogas of Naropa. Nāropa received it from the Indian mahāsiddha Tilopa and later passed it to his Tibetan disciple Marpa.

The Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism is known for their phowa teachings. Some lineages of phowa include a rite of incision, or opening of the sahasrara at the cranial zenith, to assist with transferral. The highest form is known as the phowa of the dharmakaya which is meditation on the great perfection. When you do Dzogchen meditation, there’s no need to transfer anything, because there’s nothing to transfer, no place to transfer it, nor anyone to do it.

That’s the highest, and greatest phowa practice. The Sanskrit tantric text Mālinīvijayottaratantra of the late first millennium CE includes a chapter on yogic suicide. Karma Chagmé 2000, Naked Awareness, p. Luminous Bliss: A Religious History of Pure Land Literature in Tibet, chapter 5. 12, 17, 24, 29, 38, 48. Karmapa: The Black Hat Lama of Tibet.