On page 76 of White Sail, Thinley Norbu writes:

Ordinary karmic channels are like a net that encompasses and restrains the karmic body.  If karmic channels are purified through practice, then wisdom manifestations are unobstructed.  This is Nirmanakaya.

The manner in which we live our lives restricts us to the karma of our individual relative expression of self – the ego and everything that goes with it.  Our intention is ego driven, so that even in trying to help others, we often do more harm than good, because what seems right for us, may not have any relevance for the other.  We are locked into dualistic, subject/object perception and understanding, so we really aren’t seeing anything but our own ego projections.  This is nothing more than pathological self absorption.  Then entire world is carried along by immense numbers of individuals all projecting their ordinary mind forms onto the world, so that the world is really just a huge Tower of Babel, with each individual speaking a language only he or she can understand. We measure truth by how well it accords with our own personal karmic inclinations.

So, in other words, when our ego decides someone else needs help to change themselves, to make their life better, we really don’t even see the other person.  We are judging another according to our own preconceived, probably totally manipulated or even unconsciously held ego belief structures.

The only true practice is to clear out the karmic channels and purify them.  In other words, “Physician, heal thyself!”

The only useful kind of spiritual practice is one that leads you away from ego generated limited and dualistic judgment and into the vast spaciousness of non-dual being, which is called samadhi.  This is also called yoga.  This is the only way to clear out, or purify, the karmic channels, so that wisdom mind can arise, which then fills the body, transforming the karmic expression vehicle, and making it possible to actually doing something of value to someone else or others.  This is what is meant by Nirmanakaya.

The practice stimulates wind (air) chi (prana), and creates inner heat.  By further cultivation, this heat gradually, or suddenly, burns away at the obscurations that are causing blockages in the body and the consciousness of an individual.  You can think of it as billions, actually it is an inconceivable number of nadis or chi (prana) channels that collectively make up your body and all the other layers or sheathes (physical, emotional, intellectual, etc.)  Through purification, these channels then are ready for the wisdom deity (Buddha, Christ Light, etc.) to fully express itself.

First, there is Dharmakaya, which is what yoga is all about…. emptying the mind and body of all conceptions, both aversions and desires, so that absolutely nothing is in the way of Bodhicitta.  Then when wisdom mind arises, it fills the vehicle with a radiant, healing light, transforming the body into Sambhogakaya, or enjoyment body.  This is directly analogous to Jesus Christ being born from the virgin womb of mother Mary in the Christian tradition.  It is exactly the same thing.

Then, through further cultivation, the sambhogakaya becomes a perfect channel for unobstructed clear light wisdom, which is perfect, and which is not conditioned by limited, dualistic ego awareness, but instead is completely, really inconceivably poised to follow the unconditioned, perfect movement of Tao, or wisdom deity, as it flows without limit into the gaps of conditioned mind.  This is what appears to the limited  mind of ego awareness as miraculous, supernatural healing  This is the only way that truly transformative activity can possibly take place.

Anything short of this perfection is nothing more than spinning ever more sticky tar pits in samsara, which trap you and others in endless rounds of suffering.

Until you know, without any reservation, that you, of yourself, can do nothing, you are unredeemed and there is no salvation.  You must empty out yourself of you, for only then can Tao flow; only then can Buddha, Christ, Allah, Krishna, find ultimate and perfect expression.  Only then can you escape karmic suffering.

The practice being talked about here has been outlined over the lifetime of the universe by many teachers.  The most comprehensive treatment of this practice is in Bhagavad Gita.  In the Western eternalist religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, we see exactly the same breakdown of method, which is according to the karmic inclinations of each individual.  There is jnana yoga, or study of scripture, or even pure science.  There is karma yoga, which is to achieve purity by selfless service, or work in the world without any judgment of dualistic motivation.  There is raja yoga, which is the employing of meditation techniques, hatha yoga, etc., and finally, there is Bhakti yoga, or pure devotion to God.  You see this in Krishna worship in India, Sufism in Islam, and Christianity is really focused on pure devotion to Jesus the Christ… that is why among so many people in these times, Christians talk of a personal relationship with Jesus.  Yoga is possible in all religious contexts, as long as the practitioner is consciously cultivating perfect unity with God so that the full power of God can then arise in your karmic vehicle, transforming it to a pure channel for its healing, wisdom generating heart/mind transformation.

Advanced workers in any tradition begin to describe states of pure ecstasy that comes with awakening (buddha, descent of Holy Spirit, etc.)  This ecstasy is not simply one pole of an alternating between mania and depression (bi-polar), but instead is firmly rooted in perfect truth.  Oriented here, as Patanjali says in the yogasutras, “the seer is firmly established in his own true nature.”