I bow down to the Buddhas of the three times, and apologize in advance for any citation, dishonesty, and typographical errors, as well as errors of intention, which are most certainly present.
Bernadette Roberts was a Catholic contemplative who published three very influential books during the ’80s (B. Roberts [1981] 1993, [1985] 1991, [1989] 2005). Although the books were overtly Christian in their content, Roberts’ influence has been felt more within the realm of Neo-Advaita. This paper will attempt to explore some of the phenomena that Roberts reported and correlate them with various types of Buddhist and Daoist meditation, thereby demystifying some of the parapsychological interpretations in these systems.
Body in Anuttarayogatantra
We’ll first explore the system of anuttarayogatantra, or highest yoga tantra (Cozort [1986] 2005), which is a form of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist meditation. According to this system, the subtle body is composed of a system of channels, winds, drops, and wheels. There are three primary, torso-length channels that run up and down the central axis of the practitioner’s subtle body (Cozort [1986] 2005, 44). The primary and central channel is blue, and by default is empty of winds (Cozort [1986] 2005, 86), which winds are synonymous with the movement of the conscious mind (Cozort [1986] 2005, 42–44).
The left and right channels are white and red respectively, and these channels overlap and constrict the central channel at certain key points, such as the navel, heart, throat, and so on. These points of constriction are called cakras, or wheels (Cozort [1986] 2005, 44–45). Finally, from birth onwards, a series of fundamental substances called red and white drops distribute themselves throughout the subtle body. The red drops are identified with blood and fire, and primarily locate themselves in the navel of the central channel (Gyatso [1982] 1992, 29). The white drops are identified semen, and primarily locate themselves in the skull of the subtle body, in the central channel (Gyatso [1982] 1992, 29).
Bernadette Roberts’ Phenomenology
Before we start introducing correlations, let’s delve into Roberts’ self-reported phenomenology a little bit. For Roberts, consciousness and self are synonymous, and their true experience is the sensation of “being” or “existing” (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 12). Roberts likens self to a circular piece of paper (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 20). This piece of paper is constantly “bending” on itself; in other words, for Roberts, self-awareness is self (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 59).
Roberts bifurcates consciousness into two systems—and indeed, claims that consciousness is responsible for all bifurcation in general (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 67). Roberts speaks of a feeling-self which is located in the navel (B. Roberts [2007] 2018, under “How It Works”) and is experienced as a burning sensation, or friction; she calls this the divine flame (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 39). Roberts also speaks of a knowing-self which she locates “above the neck” (B. Roberts [1985] 1991, 18), and associates with reflexion or self-awareness.
For Roberts, consciousness first develops with an ego, or false sense of independent, self-assertion (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 17). God can remove this ego and reveal an empty hole at the center of consciousness, which acts as a magnetic force, polarizing the whole of consciousness. If this polarization process is complete, the individual enters what Roberts calls the unitive state, in which their whole being is oriented around this empty God-center (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 10).
From here on, Roberts claims that the individual lives anonymously in the “marketplace” as an ordinary individual, bravely facing life’s trials and troubles, which produce a kind of friction, wearing away the self (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 11–12). Eventually the self is completely worn down, and the individual experiences the absence of self, a state characterized by the absence of all dichotomies, notably the subject–object experience, but also body–soul, and so on.
Roberts reports further advanced experiences where, in the absence of consciousness or self, the body is experienced differently (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 182–186), and some very down-the-road experiences where the body also seems to disappear (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 186–188).
Six Dharmas of Nāropā
The first stunning correlation I wish to make is that the experience of Roberts’ divine flame is clearly equivalent to the fiery red drops in the navel of the subtle, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tantric body. In fact, a system called the Six Dharmas of Nāropā makes use of this tantric body by claiming that the practitioner must meditate on the inner heat produced at the navel, which technique is called tummo (Mullin [1997] 2006, 156).
According to the Six Dharmas system, as the tummo burns, it licks the white drops located in the subtle body’s skull—but also in the other cakras—causing these drops to melt and fall, which produces a blissful melting sensation (Mullin [1997] 2006, 112–113). This highly-complex metaphor is—in my opinion—clearly synonymous with Roberts’ system of the burning or melting self! In fact we may associate the tantric body’s white drops with Roberts’ “above-the-neck” (B. Roberts [1985] 1991, 18) knowing-self, and red drops with her “below-the-neck” (B. Roberts [1985] 1991, 16) feeling-self!
The empty central channel then becomes Roberts’ empty center, or still-point, and the left and right channels become the subject–object dichotomy, possibly with the left, white channel becoming Roberts’ knowing-self, and the right, red channel becoming Roberts’ feeling-self. Thus the entry of the winds into the central channel seems to evoke Roberts’ notion that the self literally enters into the still-point, until it disappears completely.
Perfections
If we can draw the above correlation between the inner heat practice of tummo and Roberts’ phenomenology, then what other correlations might we draw? A further observation is that highest yoga tantra divides its practice into two stages, generation and completion (Cozort [1986] 2005). The generation phase involves caricatured, or imagined complex visualization, whereas the completion phase involves the visualized realities of the former phase becoming ontologically real.
In other words, during the generation phase, a practitioner may imagine the various channels and winds of their subtle body, and they may imagine winds entering their central channel, but in the completion phase, these winds start to actually enter their actual central channel. But how do we distinguish these two phases in practice?
I hold that the bifurcation between these two stages is what Roberts calls the no-ego experience (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 20). Prior to this experience, the individual contacts their inner self with their ego, which is actually a deep, unconscious sense of life force (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 18–19). This practice is conscious and self-motivated, but only up until a point. Eventually, according to Roberts, God responds to the meditator’s efforts, and actually punctures a hole in the practitioner’s being, thereby removing their ego (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 19).
Now the practitioner must struggle to submit their self to this newfound empty center, which is initially experienced as the absence (!) of God, but is in reality His presence (B. Roberts [1985] 1991, 9–10).
Thus the division between generation and completion stages has to do with whether or not the practice is self-willed or not. When the practice is self-initiated, the practitioner is on the generation stage. When the practitioner is being affected from without, they are on the completion stage, since the impersonal reality of emptiness, or God, is now truly efficacious for them.
What Roberts calls the unitive state is likely what highest yoga tantra calls learner’s union (Cozort [1986] 2005, 62). Here the practitioner perfects the bodhisattva perfections until they attain complete enlightenment, which is called non-learner’s union. Tellingly, the practice of these perfections involve generosity, virtue, patience, and the like, all of which correspond to what Roberts calls the marketplace stage, wherein one can practice anonymity, humility, and selfless giving (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 33; Cozort [1986] 2005, 112).
Empty Center, Phenomenal Self, and True Self
The Pāḷi phrase sakkāyadiṭṭhi, usually translated as “personality view,” can actually literally be translated as “view of the existing body” (Anālayo 2002). Thus in my opinion, gyulü—one of Nāropā’s Six Dharmas, translated as “illusory body” (Trungpa 2013, 835)—is clearly a reference to the contingent and created nature of the self! But this self is only known after the revelation of emptiness, or Roberts’ empty center, and thus the practice of the illusory body—that is, the Pāḷi Canonical stream-enterer’s successful removal of sakkāyadiṭṭhi—is linked to inner heat.
The empty center itself, and ability to become absorbed in it during the peak phase of Roberts’ unitive life (B. Roberts [1985] 1991, 10–11), is likely the Nāropan Dharma of ösel, or clear light (P. A. Roberts 2011, 713), which corresponds in highest yoga tantra to the phase of “actual clear light” (Cozort [1986] 2005, 62).
Thus three of the Six Dharmas of Nāropā are actually meditative phenomenology as opposed to psychic parapsychology!
Roberts actually defines the true self as the divine flame (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 69), and states that its true nature is a mystery during the unitive state, but she distinguishes the divine flame from the empty center itself, as well as the surrounding phenomenal self (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 35). This triple division of empty center, phenomenal self, and true self, is likely identical to the clear light, illusory body, and inner heat of the Six Dharmas of Nāropā, respectively.
Our next work must be to untie the last three Dharmas of Nāropā.
Dream Yoga
According to Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa, the practice of dream yoga is dependent on the aforementioned three Dharmas of inner heat, clear light, and illusory body (Mullin [1996] 2005, 77). Since the dream yoga involves lucid dreaming, we may choose to identify it with what Roberts calls the marketplace stage, wherein the unitive individual practices living out their God-centered life in the real world.
Eventually, however, this practice reaches its culmination, and self drops away. Roberts underwent a terrible four-month ordeal which she called The Great Passageway (B. Roberts [1981] 1993, 51), or void of voids (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 183). We can identify this Passageway with the Nāropan Dharma of the bardo, or intermediate state. For Roberts, after self fell away, the nature of what was left was the mystery of this Passageway. It took her four months to figure this out.
For Roberts, the physical body—its true nature unknown prior to the absence of consciousness—is what makes the spiritual journey (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 103), and so unsurprisingly she describes an experience where the matter of the body experiences great intimacy with the Divine, which experience she calls ascension (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 186–188). We may correlate ascension with the Nāropan Dharma of phowa, or consciousness transference.
Thus the latter three Dharmas of Nāropā are actually stages on the path to enlightenment, but also advanced phenomenology. To reinforce our claims we’ll bring in Chinese Daoist tradition as well.
Chinese Internal Alchemy
In Chinese Daoist internal alchemy, the heart and kidney organs are of central focus (Kohn 2020). The heart is associated with fire, but via yinyang dialectic, contains a drop of water. The kidneys are associated with water, but via yinyang dialectic, contain a spark of fire. The first goal of the practitioner is to cause the cycle of these two types of qi, to reverse themselves, and “mate” (Kohn 2020, 200–203) thereby producing something called the yellow sprout (Kohn 2020, 164). The mating of these two types of qi likely takes place in the dantian 丹田, or navel.
After the production of the yellow sprout, the practitioner must stoke a fire in their abdomen (Kohn 2020, 203–206), as well as cause a hot “golden” crystal to ascend their spine (Kohn 2020, 206–214). Now the fire metaphor here is clearly synonymous with inner heat and Robert’s divine flame. In addition, the practitioner must also swallow “jade fluid” (Kohn 2020, 214–217), which produces a sensation of bliss, again synonymous with the white drops or Roberts’ “suffering self flows into the divine and dissolves in it” (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 35).
Thus we find general unity between Chinese and Indo-Tibetan traditions regarding the initial meditative phenomenology of the unitive state. But what about the latter three advanced stages of dream yoga, intermediate state, and consciousness transference?
Well, the highest form of immortality for Chinese alchemical Daoism involves something called the yangshen 陽神 leaving the physical body (Despeux [2012] 2019, 207). This is called tianxian 天仙, or celestial immortality (Kohn 2020, 230–233). It also appears in the Chinese zuowang 坐忘 tradition as well, “Going [YQ: Rising high] beyond all things in your body-self, whirl out of all relations and reside next to the Jade Emperor of the Great Dao in the Numinous Realm” (Kohn 2010, 177). Thus this covers consciousness transference. For the dream yoga/marketplace stage, this corresponds to what internal alchemy calls the great microcosmic orbit, or the phase in which the practitioner heats the elixir in their abdomen after the successful production of the yellow sprout (Despeux [2012] 2019, 206–207).
This then leaves the intermediate state. Towards the end of the phase in which the practitioner is swallowing “jade fluid” and causing their “golden” crystal to ascend, they are taught to enter into a kind of deep meditation called “inner observation,” and also visualize the entire universe being engulfed in flame (Kohn 2020, 222–230). This clearly refers to the culmination of the inner heat practice, or no-self, and therefore corresponds to Roberts’ void of voids experience, and the intermediate state.
Mahāyoga and “Sitting Forgetting”
We’ll bring in a final correlation with the Nyingma Buddhist tradition of Mahāyoga. This form of practice involves four stages, called vidyādhara levels. The four vidyādhara levels are the mature, immortal, mahāmudrā, and spontaneously present (ʾJigs-med-bstan-paʾi-ñi-ma 2010). Now the mature vidyādhara possesses a form of enlightenment that affects only their mind, whereas the immortal vidyādhara possesses a form of enlightenment that affects both their body and mind. The immortal vidyādhara is said to be able to “cleanse” their “coarse body with the wisdom fire” (ʾJigs-med-bstan-paʾi-ñi-ma 2010, 191), which clearly evokes the divine flame/inner heat experience; but the mature vidyādhara is not able to do this.
This dichotomy between spiritual experiences that affect just mind, or both the mind and body, recalls a Chinese Daoist tradition called zuowang 坐忘, or “sitting forgetting.” This practice divides their attainments into five mental phases and seven physical stages (Kohn 2010). Tellingly, the five mental phases involve only the transformation of the mind, whereas the seven physical stages involve the transformation of the physical body. The third or fourth stage is, funnily enough, called immortality, thereby evoking the Nyingma Buddhist tradition of Mahāyoga, “Extending life to several [ten] thousand years: be called an immortal” (Kohn 2010, 171).
If we correlate this Chinese stage of immortality with the immortal vidyādhara of Nyingma Buddhist tradition, we find that the succeeding level of mahāmudrā vidyādhara involves the complete transformation of the meditator’s physical body into their chosen meditational deity, which clearly evokes Roberts’ no-self experience, and also the next Chinese Daoist zuowang 坐忘 stage, “Refining the body-form to qi: be called a perfected” (Kohn 2010, 171).
Then the final stage of consciousness transference is once again recalled in all three phenomenological frameworks, we see:
- Mahāyoga, “The spontaneously present vidyādhara—called ‘a practitioner on the final path’—is one who abides on the final tenth ground of the path. With a body that is similar to that of the fully awakened sambhogakāya, realization and activities closely compare to that of the buddhas themselves.” (ʾJigs-med-bstan-paʾi-ñi-ma 2010, 193)
- Roberts, “Thus where the resurrection reveals Christ as Eternal Form, the ascension reveals the unmanifest or Formless Father as the glorious condition in which Eternal Form dwells or exists.” (B. Roberts [1989] 2005, 187)
- Zuowang 坐忘, “Refining qi to spirit: be called a spirit person” (Kohn 2010, 172) and “Refining spirit to join Dao: be called an utmost being.” (Kohn 2010, 172)
Now the latter quote of “Refining spirit to join Dao” likely refers to what Roberts calls incarnation—as opposed to ascension—which she deems to be the very end of the path (B. Roberts [2007] 2018, under “Who Can We Trust? Who Has The Final Truth?”).
Conclusion
I hope this paper was at the very least entertaining. The clear implications of the paper are that meditative phenomenologies are universal as opposed to particular, and that religious contemplation and its highest achievements are alive and well, well into the present day.
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———. (1985) 1991. The Path to No-Self: Life at the Center. Boston: Shambhala. Albany: State University of New York Press. Citations refer to State University of New York Press edition.
———. (1989) 2005. What is Self? A Study of the Spiritual Journey in Terms of Consciousness. Austin: Mary Botsford Goens. Boulder: Sentient Publications. Citations refer to Sentient Publications edition.
———. (2007) 2018. The Christian Contemplative Journey: Essays on the Path. Austin: ContemplativeChristians.com. First published in 2007 by Bernadette Roberts as Essays on the Christian Contemplative Journey.
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