As to samaya, if your root-guru interprets them in an ultra-conservative way, then yes, a person should avoid such discussion. However, most teachers interpret samaya as allowing discussion of practice with fellow practitioners. Compassion is also often considered sufficient reason to go with the spirit, rather than the letter, of the pledges.

> I'm still interested in your paper on the 5 Tibetans

It has been back burnered for the moment. I was hoping to find a source text among about a dozen texts I have on 'phrul 'khor in the Six Yogas of Naropa. I'm about 3/4 the way through them but haven't found the 5 rites together. I should really just put pen to paper (or finger to key) and write up what I did find.

I can easily deconstruct most of the objections (supposed "historical inaccuracies") I've encountered. This is much easier than it sounds, because whoever wrote that section had a half-baked understanding of Tibetan Buddhism and keeps making mistakes like conflating Hinayana and Vajrayana understandings regarding the body etc.

The bottom line is that none of the supposed objections hold water and most are flat out *wrong*. However, in terms of offering proof that they are definitely Tibetan, the firmest bit of data I have is a statement by slob dpon kun dga’ rnam sgrol that they are the real-deal and belong to a cycle of 'phrul 'khor from the na ro chos drug.

Beyond that, there is of course the fact that they look and feel like Tibetan yoga. They don't really look or feel much like any other type of movement practice I'm familiar with. There are other things that seem like a stretch to imagine as coincidence, practicing twenty-one repetitions, the importance of reversing the descending sexual energy, the connection between throat and genital centers, linking the transformation of sexual energy with the creation of an alchemical elixir etc.

These really do seem far too specific for somebody to just make up, and *get right*, by coincidence.

My enthusiasm for the project has flagged, but I’ll still try to get something finished.