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Tummo

In Tibetan Buddhism, tummo (Tibetan: གཏུམ་མོ, Wylie: gtum-mo; Sanskrit: चण्डाली, romanizedcaṇḍālī) is the fierce goddess of heat and passion. Tummo is found in the Mahasiddha Krishnacarya and the Hevajra Tantra texts.

Tummo is also a tantric practice for inner heat, developed around the concept of the female deity. It is found in the Six Dharmas of Naropa, Lamdre, Kalachakra, and Anuyoga teachings of Vajrayana. The purpose of tummo is to gain control over body processes during the completion stage of Anuyoga or Anuttarayoga Tantra ('highest yoga tantra').

The practice begins by visualizing the body's energy channels, winds, drops, and chakras. Inner heat, generated through specific breath-holding exercises, helps vital winds enter the central channel, leading to blissful experiences. The practice also involves focusing on seed syllables at the chakras and combining them with meditation on emptiness. Over time, practitioners aim to master this process, achieving heightened states of clarity, inner heat, and bliss.

Scientific studies have explored the effects of tummo, demonstrating body temperatures up to 38.3 °C (100.9 °F) in general and by over 8 °C (14 °F) in body extremities together with increased activation of the default mode network of the brain, metabolism[citation needed], and thermal power output[citation needed] among expert meditators. While the practice's effects on body temperature have been investigated, its primary purpose within Tibetan Buddhism remains focused on spiritual development, combining visualization, breath, and meditation to harness the inner fire and achieve profound states of enlightenment.

Tummo (gTum mo in Wylie transliteration, also spelled tumo, or tum-mo; Sanskrit caṇḍālī or chandali) is a Tibetan word, literally meaning 'fierce [woman]'. Tummo is also the Tibetan word for 'inner fire.' Tummo may also be rendered in English, approximating its phonemic pronunciation as dumo.

Inner heat (gtum mo, skt. chandali, literally meaning "fierce, hot or savage woman") practice is the foundation for the rest of the six dharmas and is the first of the six dharmas. This practice works with the subtle body (also known as the vajra-body) system of channels (nadis), winds (lung, vayu), drops (bindus) and chakras. Through inner heat, the vital winds are caused to enter into the central channel (avadhuti), causing the four blisses or joys which is then unified with the wisdom that understands emptiness.

This practice is a kind of pranayama, that generally involves sitting with a straight back, visualizing the channels, holding the breath deep in the abdomen for extended periods (called "vase breath", kumbhaka), then applying visualization of a fiery short stroke AH syllable on the navel. This practice leads the vital winds into the central channel, where they are said to melt the drops (bindus, which are tiny spheres of subtle energy) causing great bliss. This powerful bliss experience "is said to constitute a similitude of the actual bliss experienced in spiritual awakening (byang chub, bodhi)."

According to Glenn Mullin, tantric scriptures state that the tantric bliss experienced in this practice is "a hundred times more intense than ordinary sexual orgasm, [and] gives rise to a special state of consciousness." This ecstatic state of mind is then used to contemplate emptiness. This "ecstasy conjoined with (the wisdom of) emptiness" is what is referred to as Mahamudra ('Great Seal').

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