Establishing The Buddha
in The Temple in Malkuth


The following was written by Edward Reib in March of 2014 to be presented to his teacher and fellow students as part of his RYT-200 Yoga Teacher Training with Mukti Yoga as an example of "who he intended to be as a teacher". It is a guided pathworking for the purpose of establishing an Inner Temple, using the symbolism of Golden Dawn, Buddhism, and Yoga. You can also hear Edward recite this pathworking in the second part of Episode 35 of The Esoterinerd Podcast


Sit in Padmasana, Ardha Padmasana, or Sukhasana, on your zafu (optional: facing East). Close your eyes, and begin breathing deeply.

Visualize a desert surrounding you in all directions, with the starry night sky above, and one particularly bright star directly overhead. You are certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that you are alone there.

Rise (in your mind’s eye, remain seated physically) and walk forward. While the desert moves under your feet, the stars remain where they are. See ahead of you a large cauldron, about 6 feet in diameter, filled with red-hot coals. Know that whatever you burn in the cauldron will remain safe and unharmed in reality. All that will happen is, for the duration of the exercise, you will have allowed yourself to let it go. It is all returning to dust and ashes anyway, so we’re fast-forwarding to when it happens, and letting that part of the light of our own consciousness which we’ve set aside to maintain its existence within our personal universe to return to us, and we are that much more whole. Allow it to return to dust and earth, and allow the smoke to rise up as an offering to that highest star. Throw in your wallet or purse, your keys, something that is holding you back, something that you simply cannot live without, the clothes you are wearing in the visualization, and, finally, climb in and sink down into the coals, allowing your body to burn, letting go of your life, accepting the loss of your skin, muscles, bones, nerves, brain, and finally your skull explodes, all returning to dust, as the smoke rises up to that highest star.

Surrounded by vast darkness, you come to find that you are adrift in the womb of the universal mother, in the waters of creation. A body of pure white light begins to appear where your previous body had been, and you can move the legs and arms. The light turns to your regular flesh and clothing, but new. Where there were scars and blemishes before, there are none. Your body is newly created. You rise to the surface of the waters and are born. You realize that you were in the Laver of Brass, or in this case a 6 foot diameter brass bowl of crystal clear and cool water. You pull yourself out of the water and stand beside it, back in the desert, with the night sky overhead, and beside the brass bowl is the iron cauldron, the Altar of Burnt Offerings. That one particularly bright star is still overhead, Keter, Ishvara, the source of all universes and multiverses, the great movie-projector, Thoth, the great mouth through which the word, the Holy Spirit, the Great AUM is vibrated and chanted, and from which all the gods and the eons spring forth.

On the other side of the brass bowl, away from the cauldron, there is a door in a door frame, which you hadn’t noticed before. On the door, at eye level, is a hexagram within a circle in white, on a larger circle of earth tones. You knock on the circle on the door ten times. (If you’re leading this, physically knock ten times while they imagine themselves knocking.) On the other side of the door is the perfect Yoga Studio or Temple. As you enter, the door behind you closes.

This is your Temple in Malkuth, and yours alone. You can invite gods and angels here, but no other human being can enter. At the far end there is a throne. Not a Western throne, but an elevated platform with a cushion and a zafu, in royal purples and intricate gold embroidery. Above the throne there is beautiful stained-glass, many colors, illuminated by the sun which shines the many colored rays down onto the throne. Right now, the seat is empty, but you know that that is where the Buddha sits in meditation. It is the throne of your true and innermost self, your Buddha nature, your unborn and undying self, behind the mind body, inclusive of all the ever-present and ever-unfolding Now, yet transcending all of it at the same time.

You approach the throne, kneel or bow before it, then climb up and sit on the zafu facing west now, toward the Studio or Temple, sitting in Padmasana, Ardha Padmasana, or Sukhasana. Sitting upone the Throne in the East, look straight ahead to the western wall, and close your eyes within the visualization.

On each inhale, relax. On each exhale vibrate “LAM” while engaging Mula Bandha, lightly. Do this three times, visualizing red light emanating from your Muladhara Chakra, shining red light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe.

Rub your hands together activating the Chakras of the palms, filling them with solar light from the heart, a temperate solar light. Place the left palm over the Swadhisthana Chakra, and the right palm to the back of the left hand. Nurture and love your inner furnace, and all the beings which assist in its maintenance. Visualize, there, a golden orange world with happy childlike creatures dancing in the sunlight you are providing them, and they recognize you and that you are paying attention to them and loving them, and it fills them with joy. Really send as much care and love as you can to this Chakra, because sometimes we feel shame there. Vibrate “Vam” three times, visualizing orange light emanating from your Swadhisthana Chakra, shining orange light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe.

Lower your hands, and bring your attention to Manipura. Vibrate “Ram” three times, visualizing yellow light emanating from your Manipura Chakra, shining yellow light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe.

Bring your attention to Anahata. Shine your chest out, hands to Namaste or Reversed Namaste. Vibrate “Yam” seven times, visualizing green light emanating from your Anahata Chakra, shining green light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe.

Bring your attention to Vishuddhi. Vibrate “Ham” three times, visualizing blue light emanating from your Vishuddhi Chakra, shining blue light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe.

Bring your attention to Ajna. Look up toward your third eye. Vibrate “Aum” three times, visualizing violet light emanating from your Ajna Chakra, shining violet light through your aura brightly, and out into the universe. Engage Mula Banda lightly as you vibrate, and relax it as you inhale.

Bring your attention to Sahasrara. Relax your eyes. Vibrate “Aum” three times, visualizing brilliant white light, like the flash of a camera but continuously flowing light, emanating from your Sahasrara Chakra, shining white light throughout the universe, and through all beings or matter.

As you inhale, relax and let all the light flow down the front of your aura from the Crown. As you exhale, engage Mula Bandha slightly and allow the energy to flow up the back of your Aura.

Within the visualization, open your eyes and see the Temple or Studio you have created. Step down from the throne, turn and face the throne, bow in respect, then turn and face west. Walk to the door at the far end, open it, and walk out into the desert. As you exit, the door closes. Pass the large brass bowl. Pass the large iron cauldron. Walk a little further, turn around, and sit back down.

Open your eyes, physically. Pivot and face the nearest wall. Bring your hands to Dharmadathu, Universal Mudra, and gaze at the wall. Experience everything there is to experience with all of your senses, within the body and without. If you have any thoughts or feelings, experience them as well, as one of the ambient sounds, like the sound of a passing river.


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