About Awakening
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Kim Katami
The Two-Part Formula, linked below, has helped 134/136 people awaken since 2014. I was asked by a friend to help him get awakened and when thinking about the best possible way to go about it, I remembered this technique. I and Open Heart-students have offered extensive materials and testimonies on text, video and audio to explain it. It has worked for people who have done training with various traditional buddhist teachers from theravada, zen, Tibetan buddhism or advaita but haven't awakened. It actually works.
Some years ago, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo said in an
interview:
"It
would be nice if someone would come along and find a method by which
people could awaken. Even the Buddha couldn't do that."
When
I have presented the Two-Part Formula on buddhist discussion forums
and platforms with the hope of getting it out there to help those who
seek a notable relief of suffering through seeing through their sense
of self, I have been rejected, ridiculed and called by names. I was
also told by these buddhist specialists that my interpretation of Jetsunma's quote was false and that she wasn't referring to initial
awakening in the first place.
I contacted Tenzin Palmo and asked for her clarification. I explained
who I was, how this
technique came about and gave her links for the technique so that she
could review it. I also told her about the awakening statistics that
are presented at the website. This is her answer:
Tenzin Palmo:
Dear Kim Katami,
Dear Kim Katami,
Thank
you for your email and for sharing the method you have developed for
allowing people to recognise the true nature of unborn awareness.
Indeed this initial awakening is the an essential component of the
path. My lama Khamtrul Rinpoche said ‘Once you have seen the nature
of the mind, then you can begin to meditate.’
So
I rejoice that you are enabling so many practitioners to have this
experience in such an approachable manner.
May
the Dharma flourish for the benefit of all beings!
Sincerely,
Tenzin
Palmo
Kim Katami:
Dear
Tenzin Palmo Ma.
Thank
you very much for your kind note.
When
you said: ”It would be nice if someone would come along and find a
method by which people could awaken. Even the Buddha couldn't do
that”, did you specifically refer to initial awakening?
I
started my buddhist path in zen but after several years had to
change to tantric buddhism. My own experience after quite extensive study of tantric
buddhism and dzogchen, mahamudra, zen and advaita is that such
techniques that really hit at the mechanism of selfing, and
especially subject-selfing, are very very rare which I feel is the
reason why people are not waking up, that is, on individual level it
is not very common for people to have that insight and on cultural
level it is almost non-existent.
Tenzin
Palmo:
Dear Kim Katami,
Yes,
when I mentioned about ‘awakening’ I was probably referring to
that initial breakthrough into the nature of the mind rather than
full-blown Enlightenment with radiating lights! Of course the
realisation is to see through the fiction of the ego and enable a
complete shift in consciousness.
Have
you discussed your technique with any qualified Nyingma/Kagyu
masters? After all the basic principles are familiar especially to
dzogchen so it is not as though you were inventing anything new and
radical. It all sounds very orthodox but you have given a clear
method which is so essential to actuate the experience.
However
I will recommend your method to some friends who have been practising
for a long time and see if this can help them to make the ‘great
leap forward’ (as Chairman Mao would say).
All
good wishes in the Dharma,
Tenzin
Palmo
Kim Katami:
Dear Tenzin Ma.
Thank
you for those clarifications.
Yes,
I have discussed this with a couple of nyingma lamas but I guess
because they don't see people not getting awakened as an issue, like
you and I do, they weren't really understanding or listening what was
being offered to them. My impression is that Tibetan buddhists
regardless of school are very self-sufficient, even if they knew that
themselves or their students are not getting awakened.
And
that's exactly right, I have not invented anything new. It's just a
method for popping the little dictator sitting behind one's eyes for
good.
It
is very kind and openminded of you to share the Two-Part
Formula with your friends. I have never encountered such kindness
from buddhists which is a really weird thing to say.
I don't mean to be intrusive but is there some lama you know who would have as open mind as you do and who would be willing to look into my materials?
I don't mean to be intrusive but is there some lama you know who would have as open mind as you do and who would be willing to look into my materials?
Tenzin
Palmo:
Dear Kim Katami,
I
think you hit the nail on the head with your observation that
‘Tibetan buddhists regardless of school are very
self-sufficient….’. In other words since they believe that they
already know everything of relevance about the Dharma, they are
closed to any input outside their own system – especially from
Westerners.
There
are lamas who might be interested but nowadays it is so difficult to
meet long enough with any of them to really discuss issues of
relevance. As you know, mostly lamas teach their own approaches and
are not interested in investigating other methods. Lamas are usually
not even open to established meditation techniques in other Buddhist
lineages outside Tibet.
Please
do not despair. Eventually, like ripples in a lake gradually
spreading out, more interest in your method will grow by word of
mouth. Just keep sharing.
With
all good wishes for your health and happiness,
In
the Dharma,
Tenzin
Palmo
Two-Part
Formula:
