RAINBOW GURU

This form of rainbow body is associated with the eighth century master Padmasambhava who achieved great transference and entered into a deathless state of being. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is said that certain meditation practices can alter the appearance of the body, transforming it into five radiant lights. The name given to this physical fluorescence is “rainbow body.” It is a very rare type of spiritual realization. In Vajrayana traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, tangible matter is considered to be made up of five elements: Space, Water, Air, Fire and Earth. The elemental energies that make up the cosmos are understood to be undifferentiated from those that make up the human body. Therefore, the body is simultaneously an individual person and the cosmic whole. Certain Buddhist meditation practices are meant to alter the gravitational field of these five elements that constitute the body, transforming them into the five radiant lights of the color spectrum. The Tibetan name given to the physical fluorescence is Jalu, literally meaning “rainbow body.” Years of specific disciplined practitioners only can transform their physical body into rainbow body while alive it is said that the bodies of these beings do not cast a shadow in either lamplight or sunlight. At death, it is said that the physical body dramatically shrinks in size, exuding fragrances and perfumes rather than the odor of decomposition. Other signs are the sudden blooming of exotic plants and flowers anytime of years, as well as rainbows appearing in the sky. A common Tibetan metric for the shrunken corpse of a rainbow body is the “length of a forearm.” This is complete transference of the material body into radiance so that the only thing left of the body is hair and fingernail.