Full Enlightenment vs. Delusions of Secular Buddhism

 

Full Enlightenment vs.

Delusions of Secular Buddhism

My comment to Guru VikingPodcast episode 119.

I didn't have the patience to listen all of it but it did catch my ear Shinzen Young saying that he doesn't think doneness, i.e. buddhahood is possible. Sigh... another secular buddhist who lots of people look up to who is so unripe in his realisations that he directly contradicts himself with mahayana and vajrayana masters, while claiming to be a proponent of both. Stephen Batchelor, Culadasa Yates, Young... all singing the same tune. Two-three years before his passing Culadasa even admitted that sutrayana "doesn't go far enough", after 50 years of practicing it.

It is (much) better than nothing that there are teachers out there who have had one or few awakenings but compared to any nonphysical (or physical) mahasiddha, all these people are incredibly unripe. Then they in their "wisdom" of "many decades" of meditation with all the "top" teachers who themselves were unripe draw these genious conclusions... I remember Batchelor state, after his 8 years of being a gelugpa scholar monk, that guru yoga is bogus! See Why I Didn't Quit Guru Yoga.

It gets mindbogglingly stoopid when folks who didn't learn to practice well throw away the baby with the bath water, just like that. And that's another reason why tantric guru yoga is so precious because these silly conclusions end right there in the presence of someone who *is* done, a mahasiddha.

People of the world should really learn about the correct practice of tantric guru yoga and call masters - mahasiddhas - to them. Buddha, Jesus, Guru Rinpoche, Milarepa etc, any will do. It is easiest and simplest practice with no need for empowerment or any type of preparation other than being open to receive. It is easier than shamatha, quicker to learn than jhanas, no need to learn long prayers or mantras in foreign languages, and most importantly presence of a guru reveals our basic state or buddhanature, everytime without exception which is what jhanas or shamatha meditation can never accomplish. This is the gift of tantra that anyone anywhere anytime can make use of and receive. And importantly, this is also a way to get beyond unripe stages, where people who don't hang around with mahasiddhas get stuck. This is a way to raise the bar of dharma in the world.

People need to know that it is indeed possible to get "done", fully purified, entirely sinless, fully enlightened, to become a living buddha, just like generations of mahayana and vajrayana masters have said!

-Kim, 30.10.2021

Drukpa Kunley's Statement of His Buddhahood

 

Drukpa Kunley's Statement of

His Buddhahood

Poem About Happiness

I am happy that I am a free yogi.
So I grow more and more into my inner happiness.
I can have sex with many women,
because I help them to go the path of enlightenment.
Outwardly I'm a fool
and inwardly I live with a clear spiritual system.
Outwardly, I enjoy wine, women and song.
And inwardly I work for the benefit of all beings.
Outwardly, I live for my pleasure
and inwardly I do everything in the right moment.
Outwardly I am a ragged beggar
and inwardly a blissful Buddha.

Translated by Keith Dowman, Divine Madman

 

 

Universal Dharma with Jesus, Padmasambhava and Krishna

Universal Dharma with Jesus,

Padmasambhava and Krishna

The last couple of days have been interesting to say the least.

I've been meditating some and found out that my memory is perfect. I can remember the smallest details of life events and places anywhere from my past, including past lives. For example, yesterday, as I was seeing my past life as a monk on Mt Koya in Japan, I could vividly remember the atmosphere and the scent of the four seasons. I can remember everything from my body and outlook, to the light of lanterns in the evening, to the footpaths, to the splendour of life itself, how it was back then, and how it is now... I looked at my hands and feet and the reflection of my face. They look different and yet I know it's me, the same man, the same person. A different lifetime, different place, but the same purpose. Also, my ability to visualise has become perfect. It is effortless and entirely without flaws or distractions. What a delight... What a stunning perfume arising from the wild strawberries!

From a bit different perspective, recent days have made me come a full circle, in a sense. I remember countless times as a little boy, sitting on the edge of my bed alone, praying for my family, the villagers and for all living beings. I remember when doing this by myself the room became filled with the radiance of pure light and the air became thick with blessings. Countless times Jesus and other masters* came to soothe and support me. I remember being a small boy, in my small body in the middle of people and circumstances where there was immense heartbreak and pain. My eyes become filled with tears knowing how my masters from past lives kept me afloat, above the surface that I wouldn't become heavy and sink into the depths of pain.

*those of the mahasiddha family

A number of Pemako Sangha members have told me about their meaningful experiences with Jesus recently. Few received healings from him, one devoted buddhist friend made a connection so strong with Jesus that it made him a bit startled, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it. To me personally, after hundreds of sessions of guru yoga transmission from him directly, Jesus Christ, is as much a master of dharma as Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra or any other of the mahasiddhas. Historically, Jesus lived in the time when the continent of India, from north to south, to east and west was abound with tantric temples - shakti peethas –, practitioners and masters. And then, after years in India, he brought the gifts of yoga to his home land. The rest is history, unfortunately.

Anyhow, my point was to say that I have made a full circle from my early childhood to this day, understanding the role and importance of Jesus in my personal life as well as in the life of my students, and our dharma work together. As you know I have contemplated Jesus-centered method for several years but it dawned on me now that the solution is not to shift from one master to another. What will be done though is to give JC his own place in the limelight, so to speak, together with Padmasambhava, as well as Krishna, to form a trio who've not only had great impact on me and our sangha but who are also known by the world and who are therefore masters who many can relate and feel close to. Also, as a dharma universalist, I love the fact that having these three masters together – Jesus, Guru Rinpoche and Krishna – who most people regard as ”a christian, buddhist and a hindu”, completely shatters religious dogmatism. And that is what the world needs now.

The history of human spirituality is that no matter how hard they tried to keep the teachings ”original and pure”, they always ended up creating narrow minded dogmatic religions. When our basic nature is that of freedom and free expression, the samsaric mind of men always end up making it a tight cage filled with rules and regulations. It is like the classical saying that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. This is what needs to change because, we, the humanity, can't keep fucking up every given opportunity to bringing true peace and harmony on Earth. We need to learn to distinquish between pragma and dogma, between yoga and religion, between practice and belief, and with the heartmind of clarity and true love, keep shedding unnecessary limitations. The mind of men needs to change from thinking in terms of ”us and them” to ”all of us together”. This is true bodhicitta. This is yoga and only yoga can be a true religion that gives freedom, rather than takes it away! So, I think that our little group, should become an example of this and actively practice guru yoga with Jesus, Padmasambhava and Krishna, all three.

Remember, you are the real deal. You are not less or more than all the buddhas and mahasiddhas of the past, present and future. Potentially, you have the mind, heart and vitality of all the enlightened ones! So, please, for the sake of all beings, crack your coconut, split it in half and let the perfume of natural love spread to your loved ones.

-Kim, 26.10.2021

How Liberation Works?

 

How Liberation Works?

I remember when I first saw Tenzin Palmo's video where she says that even buddha couldn't help people get awakened. It felt like fresh air... that someone would say exactly how it is and not sugarcoat it or talk nonsense.

It is extremely sad that dharma - practices of yoga - is made into a dogmatic religion. I can never accept that but I understand why this happens. Systematically the humanity keeps missing the point which ironically is also a testimony to the ineffectiveness of the practices people are given. So you have all these religious people upholding what they think is the teaching of liberation that actually binds and blinds them, and makes them mean! The next thing to do culturally, now that some sort of ethical foundation has been set by the old religions, is to remove the possibility of dogmatic fixation, so that pragma stops being made into dogma. Then yoga - the science of enlightenment - can truly thrive.

What!? To remove *possibility* of dogmatic fixation!? You got to be joking!!

No, I am not joking!

The problem of bad yoga, or practices that keep the mind in the delusional loop, is that they don't break out from the field of self-delusion. Having glimpses and few insights into selfless nature of mind is good for starters but this is really just an appetizer. In Pemako we have practices and a method that takes us way farther than just few awakenings and in fact all the way to full enlightenment (skt. anuttara samyak sambodhi). We have 5 people in the sangha at present who are "fully enlightened". Five people out of 80, and the number keeps rising higher.

What we have in our sangha is nothing short of a revolution on individual and communal levels. On individual level, this is revolution from the tyranny of the self-based mind leading to perfect liberation. It is freedom from all kinds of fixations, including freedom of religious fixation and dogmatism. At present, because there are 5 people in our community who are completely and permanently out of the loop of self-delusion, the rest of the sangha is positively affected by this, and the number of fully enlightened individuals - mahasiddhas - keeps increasing. Soon there will be 10, then 15 and so on.

The reason why this is the case in Pemako sangha is because we practice the dharma in a pragmatic, not dogmatic, way. We practice the dharma in an open minded and innovative manner just like secular sciences and arts are practiced. And it works! Due to the fact that our practitioners keep breaking out from the shackles of the samsaric mind on *daily* basis, because of our unique and unorthodox set of practices, is the reason why dogmatic fixation, narrow minded thinking, cult behaviour and whatnot that is raging in all religions, dies altogether in this community. Our unsual practices such as dynamic concentration, actually tames our inner demons so they don't germinate and grow into external actions in the world that would break and raise hell in our community. It is indeed exceptional to have a harmonious and peaceful community in this world, and it all boils down to the method that we practice and the fruits that it bears.

When I was a small boy I observed people and couldn't but think how screwed up they were. They were distorting everything and making themselves and others miserable that can all be summed up in two concepts: self-belief and self-delusion. These early observations about the state of people's minds and its effects on communal and societal levels were motivators when I started "the path of enlightenment". To me, practice was always about making the world a better place, the kind of place it would already be if people stopped screwing things up in between their ears!

When I look at how poor is the state of affairs in the world, I cannot but say that the avalanche already seems to be going downhill, rushing towards the bottom of the valley, causing immense destruction on its way. It has come to the point when we are loosing the planet itself and yet most people keep doing the same things as they always did, as if they were hypnotized. Seeing this happen I simply can't sit and do nothing about it.

Those who know me well know how anxious I've been about getting proper functional dharma practices out there, and I'm sure my anxiousness has contributed to theirs but this is the reason why. In Pemako we have perfect medicine, without any harmful side-effects whatsoever, and I am happy to see that it is getting out there but at the same time I fear if the medicine comes too late. The only way to stop that devastating avalanche is to replace the culture built on self-interest with self-liberation that automatically thinks about the benefit of *all of us together*, the wellfare of the planet and life on it included.

These are utopistic words but this is the only way for the world community to attain harmony and peace. Once again, I am not talking about creating a new religion that everyone should join. I am not talking about beliefs to accept and forms to follow. I am talking about internal peace and happiness.

I am talking about realising the fact that everyone in this world is perfect and pure, and free. You, me and everyone you ever met has the same potential for love and freedom as Jesus Christ and all the masters of yoga have. Within us all, there is perfect happiness that when recognised and embodied makes our minds sober which in turn puts an end to self-based confusion and selfish actions and their outcomes. No matter what nonsense religions have fed us, innately we have perfect potential to be really authentic human beings whose hearts are limitless and kindness is real!

But we need practices, we need exercise to realise that. We need a way to uncover, to reveal what at present is kept hidden by our belief in self-based existence. We need tools to break out and these tools I have given for anyone to use.

-Kim, 25.10.2021

Culture of Enlightenment

 

Culture of Enlightenment

Thank you Chris. It makes me happy to hear those words from someone like you who I know has developed some clarity and knows what the standards in the world of dharma are. I think like I have so many times said, skillfully or unskillfully, that the standards in the world of dharma are very poor. Shit, really.

My and our (!) next goal, now that that method is tested and proven, is to make a change in the culture of dharma. It is up to us to try to raise the bar higher, than where it is. And it shouldn't be that difficult to do if we all aim for it together.

It is not enough to leave this world as buddhas. We need to make sure that the teaching is so well grounded among our human brothers and sisters, that we needn't worry that the teachings will get diluted or disappear in a long time after we are gone. It is the teachings - the dharma - that has transformed our lives. We come in touch with our sober minded reality through these practices and it makes us truly discover who we are and who we always wanted to be. To us it is needless to say that we would have wanted to have these practices much earlier in life than we did and it is needless to say that if the practices were more widely spread, they'd make the world a much better place, the kind of place where we would have wanted to grow up in perfectly sober and clear - dharmic - environment.

The reason why my hair is on fire about getting the message out there is because if I can help alleviate the daily existential pain and suffering, it actually means that someone like me and you, who grew up in deeply traumatised, stressful and painful, needn't go through it like we did and then end up practicing bad dharma for years on end that didn't work!

I don't think there is anything more important in life than this.

-Kim, 14.10.2021

Meeting Amma, the Hugging Saint

 

Meeting Amma, the Hugging Saint

Fb memories reminds me that 12 years ago I lived in a private house in Helsinki where Amma, the Hugging Saint, had stayed several times during her visits to Finland. I remember going to this house the first time and it felt like being imported to a different realm, that of incredible joy, clarity and bliss. I lived in that place for few months before going to India to her ashram.

Ah, I another thing I remember from that trip to Amma's ashram is that she gave a blessing to a method of yogic healing that I had learned from my gurus. I gave those yoga healings to clients as my volunteer work there in the ashram. Folks got rid of chronic pains in a single session and so on. Proper stuff.

I used to teach yoga healing too. I've had forms of healing and massage in my life since I was a little boy so all that is very natural to me but as I have focused solely on teaching and practicing tantric yoga for the past 10 years, I just haven't had time to do that. But I definitely want to transmit this art and set of skills to my students. It is a wonderful way to help others, practice active compassion and earn a living all at once.

So, Ammachi... I've spent hundreds if not thousands of hours in her physical presence, since 2003. I've received direct introductions into the nature of mind - darshans - from her from her through hugging countless times both at events and informal situations such as airports and I've sat next to her, literally 1 meter from her, many times until I could not sit no longer. I've had her bless objects to me that changed in energy in few seconds of her attention. I've received a mantra empowerment from her in 2006 and she has given me a spiritual name in 2009. I've had visions of her and I know perfectly well that she is a living and fully enlightened mahasiddha. Unique to her is her motherliness and embodiments of Devi, the Divine Mother. There is no doubt in my mind that she is one of few authentic masters alive in the world today.

I remember one time at her ashram when I went to get a hug from her. I had a shirt on that had a open collar so that part of my tattoos were visible. She started ripping my shirt off to see them better! For a moment I thought I had gotten into a wrestling match with the divine mother! LOL.

Thank you Amma for your compassion and for being there for me and for countless others. Your presence has been an indispensable source of yogic study for me during all these years.

-Kim Ashwin, 12.10.2021 

 

Meeting Zen-master Harada Tangen Roshi, The Old Buddha

 

Meeting Zen-master

Harada Tangen Roshi,

The Old Buddha

Back in 2005, I spent 10 days in Tangen Roshi's temple. I went to meet him right after my training in Sogenji with Harada Shodo Roshi. I chatted with Tangen Roshi, whose nickname was "The Old Buddha", a few times and one of those times took place in a formal setting called dokusan.

My time with him was short but his transmission, the effect of his presence and energy on me, never left me. I now realise that I met a real attained buddha in him, and therefore he was/is the only living buddhist mahasiddha I ever met in person.

Tangen Roshi was a rare exception. He felt very different to all other roshis - zen masters - who I met before or since. He looked different, like a very relaxed and joyful old cat and when he gave talks, he spoke very differently than the rest (many of his teishos can be found online translated into English). I have a calligraphy collection of about 200 works, including one Tangen Roshi's piece that he gave to me when I left. His energy indeed is different to most others.

In this short video documentary you can see him say that even after he's gone, you all can turn to him for support. Only a mahasiddha has the knowledge to being able to say that.

So... This evening I wanted to say this and express my gratitude to Tangen Roshi and my excellent karma to have met him in person. Like I said he never left me, despite of us meeting only in brief over 15 years ago.

He gave and I received. Still grateful beyond everything else for that <3

https://youtu.be/2Wao1x8gCgc?t=45

Kim

From Beginningless Past to Endless Future

 

From Beginningless Past to Endless Future

I remember how I had breakfast this morning and I remember what happened yesterday. I remember my childhood and I remember my youth. I remember the time before I was born into this body and I remember how I had no physical body before this reincarnation. I remember my last life before this one, in Northern India, and I remember the live before that one in Japan. I remember my time with Padmasambhava and I remember many lives with different masters. I remember being a seeker and master myself, alternating my role from one life to the next. I remember over 7000 lives in a human body and I remember the time when there were no human beings on Earth at all.

We all have a beginningless past and we all have an endless future. Life continues and never ends. All of life is marked by the same aliveness. "All of life" is an endless vast whole happening right now. This is our body, though we are centered in these small bodies of ours. All of life is pure and sacred, and all life is equal. Everything is truly pure and positive. In this goodness all things and beings rest, from the beginningless past to endless future.

This is the love we are.

Kim, 11.10.2021

Removing Trauma from the Physical Body

 

Removing Trauma from

the Physical Body

Kim: It also makes sense how the scratches get into the physical cells there in the first place, from stress, trauma and all kinds of scary and anxious situations.

I was just wondering about the very first traumatic situations from early childhood, how they plant the very first seeds of painful selfing and how it builds up from there over time. Then a bit farther down the line comes tensing of the belly, shaky legs and panic attacks and so the energy system goes upside down in stressful situations. And then you start avoiding the stressful situations and the stress itself by various coping mechanisms. You just try to survive, scared of the world, scared of people. Or maybe you feel numb. Maybe you're not having panic attacks everyday and they may be mild when you have them but you have them nevertheless and they mess up your energy system everytime it happens. You just want to have a happy life and cannot understand why you feel anxious and scared so often because you've forgotten the early experiences and you have no idea what's going on in your psyche because you haven't learned even the most basic ways of keeping your mind healthy with various types of meditation.

In Pemako method we have different tools and practices to remove the self-based pain from both the mind and the body. Together with the deity practices of mahasiddha bhumi deities (list on the website), there is tapping of the body with mantras (very effective!) and these female deity practices called Dasha Mahavidya, that I borrow from hindu tantra. All in all, it looks like this formula works very well in the case of students like you who has already purified the 10 bhumis but is working on perfecting the ms bhumis.

Something that I've wondered recently is that I could give Dasha Mahavidya to the whole sangha, as I know there are people who have all the above issues and problems of trauma that affect them physically. I use hindu deities for this purpose together with buddhist ones because it makes the progress much faster than buddhist deities alone.

Shane:>I know I would have benefited a lot from having these mantras earlier on.

Kim: -Aa-ha! Well that is another interesting point that takes us all the way to the beginning of buddhism, and the reason why buddhism exists.

There is no end to methods that make people go round and round in meditative states and momentary experiences. Buddhadharma began because that had to stop because there is no other solution to solve self-based existence except to release self-based states, including those that make self-formations subside, into the body of reality (dharmakaya). But damn it, even in buddhist tradition those enticing states of gross bliss and vast planes of expanded consciousness crept right back in(!) and ever since until today a lot of buddhists are not actually practicing buddhism in the sense of liberating beings to dharmakaya but practice momentary states in samadhi, shamatha and jhana meditations. Too bad.

I don't blame anyone who wants to take a break of the mental wheel of repeated confusion (samsara) but it needs to be crystal clear that states of meditation are momentary experiences exactly like states of negative emotion. People are mislead to think that samadhi, shamatha or jhana meditations would solve existential issues. They can't and they don't so if you ask me, if you are in this for "real" and you wish to really know yourself as a living and breathing buddha, forget all practices that are based on gentle one-pointed concentration. I doubt that buddhism as a whole will ever be able to shake off this basic confusion that in my view ruins the tradition that started as a splendid system of diamond clear recognition, and keep wasting the time people put into these practices. This is madness and buddhism as a whole is definitely corrupt.

So, this is a long and winding introduction to your comment, "I know I would have benefited a lot from having these (hindu tantric Dasha Mahavidya) mantras earlier on".

Yes but hear me out... The reason why buddhism was started and grew out from hinduism is because there was a serious need for a method that would remove dualistic ignorance or selfing. The reason why gross bliss and those states of expanded awareness happen in samadhi, shamatha and jhana meditations, as they do in the vast majority of hindu methods, is because when self-based ignorance is still there in the bodymind, very charming states of bliss arise, and bliss like you know from getting high, drinking and having sex, is a trap. There is nothing wrong with sense pleasures but states of gross bliss are states of delusion made of gold! People think they practice the "dharma" but they are actually just rolling in their own shit, just like pigs do. Rusty chains, golden chains, you know.

So, the reason why I haven't given empowerments of hindu deities to my students is what I have explained above. Ignorance needs to be removed first so that you don't get trapped to self-based states in the form of gross bliss, and that is a task that takes ones time for few years at leastor more. But... if my students promise to practice both buddhist and hindu tantra, then I can consider giving shakti empowerments. But if I see anyone in Pemako sangha getting high on deities, I'll come back to haunt you even after I am dead!  

Kim, 11.10.2021

And Then... Buddhahood Was Attained

And Then... Buddhahood Was Attained

I remember years ago when we had 2PF and all of a sudden everyone got awakened. We couldn't believe it! We wouldn't believe that we, everyone of us, just... got... awakened... because it came to us from afar, from more or less wild stories from books and classics, to us who were just ordinary city people. But it happened and we all felt in our being that life wasn't the same before and after. We felt permanently clearer and that was the beginning.

Then couple years later the first group of sangha members opened mahasiddha bhumis. Again, we couldn't believe it! We were amazed that suddenly we had stable recognition of the basic state, stable "rigpa". Those days I really tried to find out how common or rare this stage was but it turned out it wasn't common at all. In fact having stable recognition, even if the purification of the mind (1-10 bhumis) is still incomplete, is rare in the whole world, in all traditions combined. But we kept practicing guru yoga, generated genuine compassion, shouted mantras, practiced deities and we got there... Suddenly we had sable recognition and basic wakefulness - buddhanature - was not an enigma anymore. We saw and felt our lives with fresh eyes, clear mind and greatly softened heart. We knew we still were far from fulle enlightenment - buddhahood - but there was no doubt whatsoever in our minds that we were on the right track, so we kept going.

Now, again few years later down the line, our first batch of sangha members have started to arrive in complete attainment, or the so called buddhahood. Like with each previous meaningful signpost we weren't fully sure how it would feel after the event but we knew that our practices enabled steady development so with each stage it was just a matter of sticking with it - developing compassion and so on - until the signpost and the final attainment would be reached. And now we have. The avalanche, like a number of times before, has started and at this point everyone is kind of scratching their heads and asking if this is really possible. And once again (!) I can point out to the utter genious of the bhumi model and energy reading how anyone can tune in and check whether or not our sangha members have attained buddhahood, aka anuttara samyak sambodhi aka emptiness of all phenomena, or not. There was no need for beliefs before and there certainly is no need for beliefs now. Tune in and check. Then, follow the method and get enlightened yourself. Our first batch of buddhas in the sangha have demonstrated that it is perfectly doable, so just follow the steps, and practice Pemako.

All I want to say is that we did it... We found our way out! That is not a small feat. In fact, we have done something historical here, in the middle of common day to day living of the Western society. Ha... Go figure :)

Kim, 1.10.2021