Practice tantra instead of theravada
Question: I do meditate in the morning and evening anapanasati or the body scan method of Goenka. Should i keep doing that? Is the technique as i use helpful or should i try a different technique witch you can point me to?
Baba: Body scanning and breath following are basic practices of most meditation traditions. I also teach the classic methods of shamatha and vipashyana in Wisdom Meditations of Vimalamitra. They are part of the Open Heart syllabus but only partially in a central role. We don't do these practices in the same way they do in Theravada but more from a dzogchen point of view (Vimalamitra was and still is one the greatest dzogchen masters ever). This means that we have some special tricks inside these commonly practiced techniques of anapanasati. But anyway, in our system we do these practices only as a "further study". At the moment we have a 3-year study group called "Bodhi" going on which focuses on studying Wisdom Meditations. These practices, as we do them, have a lot to do with ati yoga or Ati-meditation/Space Gazing about which I have written in the FB-groups.
- When it comes to purifying and clearing of the mind (object vipashyana, karmic purification) we use tantric practice called Tibetan Heart Yoga. We prefer tantric practices for vipashyana (tantric vipashyana) because they are easier and faster than the classic ways of vipassana practice. A proof of this is that there has been been no lay masters in the Theravadan tradition in ages. That's because their method requires full attention and a lot of time, that of a monastic monk, if one is to achieve complete purification of mind/karmic purity. The result of these both approaches are the same but the techniques vary in their effectiveness. I know because I've done both. So in regards to this matter of which practice you could or should do as an ordinary Western layman who has began his practices as a grown adult, I say, go for tantra so you get to the point and results much faster.
Baba Kim Katami,
Helsinki, Finland
Open Heart,
