The Buddha was a master of Kundalini Yoga
In my youth, I was obsessed with a certain question.
Why did the Buddha preach so profoundly about the awakening of the mind?
What lies at the root of his teachings?
No one ever discussed this in my university lectures. Even when I read the sutras, I couldn’t see the passion behind the words.
Then, suddenly, I realized:
The Buddha was a man of the land of yoga.
Every man in India knows yoga, just as there’s no way a man in Japan doesn’t know sumo.
It wasn’t a religion or an exercise, but a culture of breathing that was integral to life.
“So wasn’t the Buddha also a yogi?”
This realization led me to study Hatha Yoga and then Raja Yoga.
But something was missing.
I wanted fire, not contemplation.
The flame of life that pierces both mind and body.
And then I came across Kundalini Yoga.
At first, I thought it was just a legend.
But as I continued my practice, I came to know with my body the true existence of a current of heat rising deep within my spine.
It was not ki, but will itself.
Then, one night,
As I sat there, I felt a golden wind rise from the base of my spine.
It spiraled like a snake, pierced the crown of my head, and rose to the heavens.
The world turned to light, and an inner sound rang out.
And then, I saw it.
Shakyamuni Buddha was sitting in the midst of this stream of light.
It was as if the Kundalini within me reflected Shakyamuni’s image.
In that moment, everything connected.
Shakyamuni’s training – the practice of the Seven Departments and Thirty-Seven Stages of the Path – was a map that guided me step by step through this flow of awakening.
Breath, concentration, mindfulness, wisdom – these were different aspects of a single flow of life.
“The Buddha was a master of Kundalini Yoga.”
When you think about it, all religions are practices that aspire to the transcendent.
To break the slumber of everyday life and transcend the gates of consciousness.
Shakyamuni, too, must have raised his fire and reached the “peak” of nirvana.
When I came to this realization, I quietly clasped my hands together in prayer.
Practice is not knowledge.
It is a path to transform the cosmic power latent within oneself—Kundalini—into the light of compassion and wisdom.
The pre-dawn sky was a deep blue, and the wind was cold.
But a flame was burning within me.
The path to “enlightenment” that Shakyamuni walked now lives in my breathing.
Stage One: Root Fire—Awakening of the Physical Body
A pulse throbbed deep in my tailbone.
A dull, heartbeat-like tremor soon became a flame and blazed forth.
The soles of my feet, the muscles of my legs, my hip bones—everything was permeated by a single current of heat.
It resembled a sexual impulse, but it was by no means impure.
The very meaning of my birth into this world burned there.
“Here lies the root of life,” I intuitively realized.
When I gaze upon this flame with correct perspective, unafraid, my desire transforms into wisdom.
Stage 2: The Flow of Water—Purifying the Heart
The fire soon sought water.
A cool, clear stream began to flow deep within my navel.
My anger and sadness dissolved into the water.
Memories of the past floated up like bubbles, then disappeared.
I heard a voice deep in my heart.
“This is the beginning of compassion.”
The storm of emotion subsided, and in its place, a gentle transparency that forgives everything spread.
Stage 3: The Gate of Wind—Awakening of Breath
A breeze passed through my chest.
My inhale breath circles the heavens, my exhale caresses the earth.
My breath becomes a universal movement, and I sit at the center.
“Breath is life itself.”
The moment this realization dawned on me, I grasped the meaning of the “anapraña” (mindfulness) taught by the Buddha.
To observe the breath is to observe the creation of the world.
To witness the rhythm of birth and death within one’s own body.
Stage Four: Sublimation of Fire – The Light of Wisdom
A white light ignited in the center of my eyebrows.
It soon transformed into a diamond-like brilliance.
All forms dissolved, and the boundaries of existence vanished.
“I see that the five aggregates are all empty.”
A voiceless voice echoed.
The sky was cold yet warm, and light quietly enveloped my entire body.
This light was surely the “dawn of truth” that the Buddha saw beneath the Bodhi tree.
Stage 5: The Sound of the Sky – Penetration of Selflessness
When the sound faded, I heard a sound.
It wasn’t outside, but resonating in the void within me.
I wasn’t listening; the universe was ringing through me.
“Selflessness is the disappearance of what is heard.”
All actions are performed without ego.
I’m not doing things like sitting or breathing.
The “Dharma” simply flows through me.
Stage 6: The Body of Light – Manifestation of the Dharma Body
Though my physical body is supposed to be a finite shell,
I realized that within it lies infinite light.
My skin is not a boundary, but a membrane connecting me to the universe.
The inside and outside merged, and I became an omnipresent being.
This body is no longer me.
The “Body of the Tathagata” refers to this light itself.
Stage 7: The Silence of the Sky – Achievement of Nirvana
On the final night, the flames and light went out.
Only silence remained.
But it was not death.
There was eternal life.
There was pure “being” without joy or sorrow.
I shed tears.
“Buddha, you have attained this stillness.”
All yoga, all religions return to this point.
Fire becomes light, light becomes emptiness, and emptiness becomes Dharma.
And Dharma descends once again into this world as compassion.
I greeted the morning sun and offered deep worship.
–Awakening is not the end.
It is a beginning that will illuminate all life.
