The Third Yoga of Naropa: Illusory Body Yoga

The concept of the illusory body practice is twofold. (1) To realize that the physical body is an insubstantial form projected by a subtle body, which is in turn projected from an even more subtle body, which is void. (2) Illusory body practice results in allowing the practitioner to travel to non-physical realms to access information. Successful illusory body yoga using a mirror is also a means of the subtle body separating from the physical body.

The illusory body yoga is an exercise to prove the existence of the void, emphasizing sunya, or emptiness, as the ground of non-being. Since Buddhism is non- theistic, the reality that is achieved by the successful practice of these yogas is described as the void; this helps to differentiate it from other worldviews, which describe the self as being linked to a supreme deity. The Western interpretation of these kind of experiences is inherently theistic because of the Judeo-Christian framework. In fact, the individuals who experienced mystical experiences and out-of-body trance states were often accused of sacrilege and punished by the Church.