Benefits of Chulen Retreat

phantom59 · Post by **phantom59** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:48 pm

Out of his great wisdom and compassion, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha presented a vast range of methods by which sentient beings could, according to their various mental capacities, recognize and overcome their problems. These methods include:

Accumulating merit
Understanding dependent arising
Utilizing the power of medicines, matter and mantra
Purifying psychological symptoms
Achieving realizations of deities
Performing miracles as antidotes to obstacles
Achieving indestructible concentration; receiving empowerments that enable one to actualize a deity through performing strict retreat and thus qualifying one to accomplish the four activities of peace, development, power and wrath

Countless others that also bring the common and uncommon realizations
From these methods, that presented here is the so-called chulen retreat, an extremely powerful and skillful means that enables sentient beings to overcome quickly the enemy the hallucination of the pleasures of the five senses.

The Buddha forsook all human food but pine nuts for six years, after which he manifested enlightenment. By practicing this pill method we can quickly discover enlightenment just as Shakyamuni Buddha himself did.The close lineage comes from Vajrayogini. She gave these teachings directly to the great yogi Padampa Sangye, from whom they passed through many great yogis up to those of the present day. That Padampa Sangye lived for 572 years shows that, among its many other benefits, this pill method also helps to extend the lifespan. This yogi not only lived a very long time; he also achieved many realizations.

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The Body of Light Jalu can manifest when the principles of Dzogchen are combined with Chulen." The terma text itself mentions that when the great saint Yeshe Tsogyal asked Guru Padmasambhava for these teachings, he replied, "Listen. There are many methods to achieve total realization, but in particular, there is the Chulen of the Three Dimensions, which embodies infinite qualifications." In Drubje Pema Dudul's biography, it is said that he practiced Chulen with a little solid food for the first three years, Chulen of medicinal pills for the next three years, and Chulen of absorbing the essence of the elements directly from space for the final three years of his retreat. At the conclusion of his nine year retreat he had attained full enlightenment as his teacher the Mahasiddha Choying Rangdrol had predicted.

When Drubje Pema Dudul knew his time was near, he called all of his students back to the area where he lived, and after giving them each his heart advice and practicing the Feast Offering with them, he had them follow him up a mountain, where he set up a small tent and asked them to sew the door shut. With the instructions that they should practice the Feast Offering together for a week before checking on him, they witnessed numerous rainbows appear over the mountain and the surrounding area. When they returned to the spot where his tent stood, they found it still sewn shut; opening it, they found his body had disappeared. His meditation belt and cloak were in a heap, within which they found all of his hair and twenty nails from his hands and feet.

http://www.tealchemy.org/what/alchemists/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

phantom59 · Post by **phantom59** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 4:53 pm

Chulen is Tibetan for “taking the essence” and is connected with the ancient Indian tradition of rejuvenation called Rasayana. These pills replenish the deepest energy in the body, help to extend the life, and increase the health of those who take them. Chulen are used in two ways: one as a replacement for food and the other as a type of super vitamin. The practice of replacing food with Chulen and eating only two or three pills each day is famous throughout Tibetan history and there are stories of such luminaries as Yeshe Tsogyal, Nyala Pema Dudul, and Adzom Drukpa living for many years simply on essence pills such as these. In this contemplative tradition of Chulen, the pills are used in conjunction with various physical yogas and meditations in order to recognize the nature of awareness and its relationship to the pure essence of the elements. In the process, the practitioner gradually gives up solid food and takes only pills. The accomplishment of the practice is the development of the ability to live on the pure essence of the elements alone.

A commentary on the practice of Chulen states:

"Chu is the essential substance of the elements: it maintains the physical body and, if our energy is uncoordinated, it co-ordinates it, if it is weak, it reinforces it. Therefore, chulen is useful, above all, to harmonize energy and develop clarity...The Body of Light (Jalu) can manifest when the principles of Dzogchen are combined with Chulen.”

This type of advanced practice is best undertaken in retreat and under the guidance of an accomplished Lama.

AlexanderS · Post by **AlexanderS** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:37 pm

I wish I could get my hands on 1 of those pills.

dakini_boi · Post by **dakini_boi** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:48 pm

AlexanderS wrote:I wish I could get my hands on 1 of those pills.

you can get a whole bottle of them!

http://www.siddhienergetics.com/products/chulen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AlexanderS · Post by **AlexanderS** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:08 pm

Considering the alleged benefits, they can't possibly be authentic can they?

-Alex

Lhug-Pa · Post by **Lhug-Pa** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:19 pm

Siddhienergetics' website says that their Chudlen is prepared by Ngawang Drakpa and is consecrated by H.E. Trulshik Rinpoche in an elaborate ceremony, and I know that Namdrol has vouched for Siddhienergetics.

Now even though the said Chulen are already said to be consecrated by Trulshik Rinpoche, perhaps it would still be beneficial to do a Medicine Buddha, Mandarava, or Amitayus, etc. practice with them....

Josef · Post by **Josef** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:50 pm

Lhug-Pa wrote:Siddhienergetics' website says that their Chudlen is prepared by Ngawang Drakpa and is consecrated by H.E. Trulshik Rinpoche in an elaborate ceremony, and I know that Namdrol has vouched for Siddhienergetics.

If you still for whatever reason question Siddhienergetics, perhaps someone knows someone who could ask Trulshik Rinpoche about it.

Now even though the said Chulen are already said to be consecrated by Trulshik Rinpoche, perhaps it would still be beneficial to do a Medicine Buddha, Mandarava, or Amitayus, etc. practice with them....

Trulshik Rinpoche has passed.
I got some today because I want the connection to him.

Lhug-Pa · Post by **Lhug-Pa** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:17 pm

Please forgive my ignorance, and thank you Nangwa for pointing this out.

I did plan on at least learning more about H.E. Trulshik Rinpoche before taking this Chulen. All I knew was that H.E. Trulshik Rinpoche is a High Lama of the Nyingma tradition. One would think that the Siddhienergetics website would have included in their product description the fact that H.E. has recently passed.

I hope that you do make such a connection to him and receive many blessings Nangwa.

ngodrup · Post by **ngodrup** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:20 pm

I took these for three months during a solitary retreat.
There was some outcome.

pemachophel · Post by **pemachophel** » Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:51 pm

Chu-len (Skt.: Rasayana) does not just imply living on pills, stones, flowers, prana, or light. It covers a broad range of practices, some of which are Ayurvedic/Tibetan medicine analogs to taking vitamin pills, i.e., tonics for preventing disease and improving vitality. It's not clear to me that the Siddhi Energetics' chu-len pills are the same as those used to wean oneself off material food. This would be a good question to ask either Namdrol or Joseph Wagner, the owner of Siddhis Energetics. I've take these chu-len pills simply as a tonic during the winter for the last three years. They immediately helped me cut down on my sleep and freed up more time for practice.

AlexanderS · Post by **AlexanderS** » Sat May 12, 2012 1:50 pm

Should Chulen be used for max 3 months?

Jacobcz · Post by **Jacobcz** » Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:08 pm

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu also prepares chulens for his students (I am one of them). The does every year a long-life drubchod on his gongter/dagnang of Mandarava, part of which is also practice for authentication of chulen pills and instructions how to prepare them.
This is really wonderful, I wish I had the capacity to practice at least the nirmanakaya type of chulen.
Jakub

ps: this is my 1st post on this forum, so if something is not correct, that is because I did not learn properly how to use it yet

Mod note: Topic locked in order to prevent further necroing.

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