Salgye Du Dalma ("She Who Clarifies Beyond Conception") is a Tibetan dakini (a goddess) who presides over sacred sleep. Specifically, she's in charge of 'Clear Light Dreaming', a high and subtle state of non-dual awareness that is attained during sleep. Beyond lucid dreaming, this is a state of consciousness in which all sense perception, mental imagery, and identification with objects falls away, leaving only the light of non-localised consciousness, which adepts describe as possessing a milky blue luminescence. (I'm not sure how that works – if there's supposedly no sense-perception, but I'm not in a position to argue.)

Salgye Du Dalma: 'She Who Clarifies Beyond Conception'

If you experience a dream of the Clear Light, this is an excellent preparation for your death, after which – according to the Tibetan teachings – you'll pass through the bardos or 'transitional states'. You'll need to cultivate a similar state of mind to that of a Clear Light dream, in order to escape an otherwise inevitable rebirth.

I hope to experience a dream like this one day (preferably whilst I'm still alive), and so – to this end – we performed the following puja in honour of Salgye Du Dalma. Your statement of intent needn't specifically refer to Clear Light Dreaming; this is a suitable ritual for calling upon the goddess in any situation where clear perception, wakefulness, and the piercing of illusions are prerequisites.

Preparation

Print out the large-sized version of Salgye Du Dalma, and place the image on your altar. Light a candle before the image. Assemble the participants in a semi-circle. One person leads the ritual, marking each stage by striking a singing-bowl, or by whatever other signal you prefer.

Contemplate the image for a moment: Salgye Du Dalma dances with a body made of light, in her right hand holding a curved knife, and in her left a bowl made from the top of a skull. She is said to abide in the heart chakra. She is poised atop a white moon disk, which sits upon a golden sun disk, which itself is on a four-petalled lotus.

Raising Energy

A signal is sounded. The participants sit and recite in unison the mantra: OM AH HUM. This is a well-known Tibetan Buddhist mantra. The syllables are the seed syllables for body, speech and mind. By reciting the mantra, you are bringing these aspects of yourself into union, obliterating the distinction between them.

We found it most effective to recite the whole mantra in a single, long breath, the group breathing and chanting in unison, vibrating each part as slowly and for as long as possible. It was hair-raisingly powerful.

Entering the Clear Light

When a suitable level of energy and focus has been attained, the signal is sounded again. The group falls silent and begins pranayama, with eyes closed.

The breath pattern we used was a combination of the classic forms known as 'easy breath' and 'alternate nostril breath'.

Kneeling or sitting cross-legged, with a straight back and the head erect, lift the left hand to the nose with the fingers straight and pressed together, the edge of the little finger facing away from the face. Block the left nostril with the side of the thumb. The right hand rests on the right knee in gyan mudra (tips of the thumb and index finger touching; other fingers straight but relaxed). Breathe deeply and slowly through the right nostril. Feel the air fill the belly, then the chest, and then the tops of the lungs – almost to the throat. After the lungs are filled, slowly allow them to empty, pushing out the last of the air slowly and calmly, with the abdominal muscles, before taking the next deep breath.

After about twelve breaths, swap hands, and breathe through the left nostril. Keep alternating the hands, every dozen or so breaths.

When the leader of the rite senses that a suitable level of tranced-out bliss has been attained, another signal is sounded. The person closest to the left-hand of Salgye Du Dalma ceases pranayama, and lifts the candle on the altar. The candle is taken in a clockwise direction to each member of the group, holding it as close as is sensible to each member's closed eyes, whilst they continue pranayama.

Visualise this! Red lotus with four petals.

The person holding the candle visualises a four-petalled lotus flower, coloured bright-red, with a letter 'A' in its centre. With their right hand, they project from their mind this image onto the throat chakra of each person in the group. (The throat chakra is positioned roughly where the neck meets the shoulders.) When this has been done for each member, the person holding the candle resumes their pranayama, after passing the candle to the person on their immediate left, who sets off around the group in the same manner.

When all members of the group have visited every other member with the candle, then the leader of the rite may signal the end of the ritual.

The red lotus – by the way – is part of a traditional technique of Tibetan dream yoga, for inducing lucidity during sleep. Ideally, it's the Tibetan equivalent for the letter 'A' that is visualised, but to a Western eye this a complicated-looking beast, so a Roman 'A' is often more convenient to use, and probably just as effective.