Lightbody is not an accident anymore

 

Lightbody is not an accident anymore

I have studied many arts with many teachers over the years, and in the process of revising the method we have now, I have sometimes wondered where this or that, some skill that I have learned over the years, belongs to or if some of these bits and pieces from my skill bank are useless in Amrita Mandala. Skills that I've acquired from shiatsu and yiquan, that have been collecting dust on the shelf are examples of this... But they were exactly that filled the remaining blanks of lightbody cultivation. Now I am certain I have everything down and gladly have solid instructions for you, my students when you are ready for them.

8 years ago I wrote a text entitled "awakening is not an accident anymore", that years later was followed by "emptiness is not an accident anymore". The third part of the opus, the finale, "lightbody is not an accident anymore" shall be out in due time.

May blessings fall.

Baba, 4.1.2023

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

About Readiness and Basic Principles

 

About Readiness and Basic Principles

We start with no confidence at all in who we truly are because we don't know who we are. However, my style of dharma is entirely tied and related to practice, that is, actual recognition of our true being, and in this way we start coming up with confidence little by little. In a year or two your life will change altogether because that recognition becomes stable.

However, to some people, for various reasons it can take longer to stabilise the basic state. Some are not ready when they come to pemako and for this reason they can't really understand how buddhist meditation works and how tantric meditation works. This is a sign of having not enough "merit" which means not being ready, not having realised that the pain is inside or heads and hearts, that it's not anywhere outside. Anyway these students still make some progress, though usually slowly.

If your progress is slow, openings and perfections come slowly, the problem can definitely be found from 1) not understanding the four noble truths and/or 2) not having developed genuine bodhicitta. Of course poor health can make progress slow (or very fast) but that's another topic.

So those who feel like practice is heavy or hard should contemplate the 4 nt's and bodhicitta. If they still don't hit one's heart, then I think it is better to stop practicing because practice will only just make you feel worse by making subconscious negativities and self-based habits come to the surface but if you don't know and cannot practice correctly, you'll just project your negativity to those around you.

People who have this problem don't often realise how much chaotic energy they might be bringing to their teacher, the sangha, their families or even work environments, so this is something we all definitely need to contemplate because not only we might be making ourselves feel like shit with our wrongly directed and motivated practice, but we might be making others feel like shit too, and that obviously misses the mark entirely.

Those practitioners who are ready, have merit, have grasped the meaning of the four noble truths even before hearing about them. I mean that ready students know that the suffering is inside us, in our minds, in our self-delusion, and that spoils life for us. A good practitioner remembers this always and uses all opportunities, day and night, for being and becoming aware of the endless negative and small-minded forms and ways the small self takes. The difference between unripe and ripe practitioner is in this alone: a ripe practitioner uses the self-based stuff for practice while an unripe practitioner thinks that the problem is somewhere outside and so begins the endless complaining and conflict-making. This is the reason why teachers and masters of old didn't take students unless they tested their ripeness. They were very smart to do that because 1 or 2 unripe students in a sangha can create hell of a lot of problems for others.

In a sense, a good practitioner is on guard at all times and especially when the subconscious negativity hits the fan. Together with bodhicitta and understanding of the practice and the path, alertness and vigilance, is the formula that takes us all the way to perfect freedom, unshakable stability and firsthand realisation of the buddhanature. There is no doubt about that.

The secrets are in the basics. Although there are great differences between methods and vehicles, all of dharma is based on the same principles that are shared even by other religions than buddhism. So, all secrects are in the basics.

The reason why the word secret is often used is because for someone who is ignorant of the basic state, the reality of oneself and all things remains a hidden secret. It remains a secret because we are deluded but to undelude ourselves all we need to do is grasp the basics. Knowing the most basic theory and practices from inside out will make you a master, a living buddha, who is a living embodiment of bodhicitta. It is all so simple. 

 

-Kim, 4.8.2021 

Shakyamuni Buddha Claims To Have Attained Buddhahood

Shakyamuni Buddha Claims To Have Attained Buddhahood

According to Amitabha Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha makes a statement of having attained buddhahood.

Sakyamuni Buddha preaches in Amida Sutra, also known as Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra,

“I have attained supreme perfect enlightenment, and for the sake of the people of this world, expounded this dharma (of Pure Land and Birth there through Nembutsu) which is difficult to believe for being beyond the common understanding of this world.”

Different translation of the same passage:

”While being in this present world full of the five corruptions, I have accomplished this most difficult achievement and attained supreme perfect enlightenment. In addition, for the sake of the people of this world, I have explained this teaching (of Ultimate Bliss and Birth there through the nenbutsu), difficult to believe for being beyond the common understanding of this world. For that reason, all of the Buddhas praise me for this ‘most difficult achievement.”

Perfect Expression of Pragmatic Dharma by Guru Rinpoche

 

Perfect Expression of

Pragmatic Dharma

by Guru Rinpoche

"Whoever meditates on me meditates on all the buddhas. 

Whoever sees me sees all the buddhas. 

I am the union of all sugatas, the 'ones gone to bliss'."

- Padmasambhava

Always when seeing this quote and other similar ones from Guru Rinpoche, I can't help thinking how bold it is. I don't mean bold in egoistic way but to say, "I am the union of all sugatas", it's just something that ordinary beings don't say because they never even come think of such a thing! Only true masters, charlatans or crazy people say things like that. How can you tell which is which? By the signs.

It is such a strong and bold, and yet truthful statement. He is a mahasiddha and whoever is a mahasiddha, is a living embodiment of all buddhas (sugatas). All deities come to life through and in the realisation of a fully enlightened siddha.

Guru Padmasambhava is unique among siddhas for the fact that you can't find others who says it so directly. He doesn't water it down, he doesn't dance or play around it, and he hasn't got the slightest problem saying it exactly how it is.

To me, this is perfect expression of (pragmatic) dharma.

-Kim, 10.6.2021

Emptiness and Buddhahood

 

Emptiness and Buddhahood

Without emptiness practice, one cannot practice dzogchen. There is no such thing as dzogchen without the foundational realisation or insight of empty nature of mind. For this reason, we need to understand that we actually cannot practice atiyoga without complete purification. Without emptiness, dzogchen becomes entirely dualistic because the "natural state" is seen to be separate from thoughts and emotions. However, if you read any past master they make it clear that thoughts and emotions are not apart of the natural state. So what you need to practice is vipashyana, emptiness meditation, to release the sense of me-ness from all and any mind objects. In Pemako, we do this both by sutric and tantric means, sutric and tantric vipashyana. Sutric means to study, investigate and liberate selfing from the mind objects directly. Tantric vipashyana means to practice deities through their mantras and visualisations. Both result in directly seeing that whatever mind objects appear in the mind: any thought, any emotion, any dream, any desire, any fantasy or any subtle formless energy, is without this entity that samsaric beings refer to as "me" or "I". This solves the problem and this is the meaning of liberation in buddhadharma. From there, from emptiness of all phenomena, from exhaustion of all phenomena, great perfection or buddhahood is seen and attained. This means purifying the bhumis 1-10 and becoming a mahasiddha, or a buddha, whose mind has been exhausted of self-delusion. There are no distractions or bumps in the mind of a buddha, and no sudden surprises, no hidden blind spots... Completely clear and pure, radiating soft blessings...

Kim, 9.6.2021

Garchen Rinpoche About Bhumis + Kim's comment

Garchen Rinpoche About Bhumis 

+ Kim's comment

”As Milarepa has said: the empty clear mind just becomes increasingly clear as you keep meditating. That's what we call the Bhumis and the paths, the different stages. Even though they're given different names, it's just an increasing becoming clear of your natural state ...

So this is how the four yogas really are a gradual development of the realization of the mind. So even though we count and list different Bhumis and different paths and there's different teachings on that, this is really how we should see it.

This is also a very important teaching, the most important teaching by Milarepa where he said that the so-called Bhumis and the paths are the progressive realization or recognition of the clear and empty nature of the mind. The Bhumis and the paths are nothing but signs or road signs so you know where to go. You know where you're at. So practitioners need some kind of signs so they know they're on the right track.”

- From Garchen Rinpoche's introduction to the Four Yogas of Mahamudra (May 13th 2021), translated by Ina Bieler 

 

Kim: It is said here precisely how it is. All the grandiose and impossible-to-attain descriptions from commentaries and other texts are sheer nonsense that should be thrown away because the only thing they actually do is lead people astray. Old texts and traditions gather so much extra baggage and weird views that in the end it doesn't make any sense and has no relevance with the actual practice. Ignorant people should never not touch and alter the teachings of the masters.

The most important teaching of buddhism is gradual increase of clarity of mind, through emptiness of phenomena, that happens in stages just like is presented in Pemako teachings. Everything else comes far behind and pales next to this main point.

It is best to forget everything else and focus on realising empty mind that is loaded with compassion. If you do that wholeheartedly even for a year, your life will be different forever. If you take it all the way to completion, you'll change the lives of those you meet.

-Kim, 5.6.2021

 

 

Pemako Morning Coffee - Tips about Dynamic Concentration

 

Pemako Morning Coffee

- Tips about Dynamic Concentration

Ben: Got another question, this time regarding DC shouting. Trying to figure out the most effective way to practice shouting GR mantras.

I don't remember where but I saw Kim say recently to shout a couple hundred repetitions of a guru mantra every day (I think that's what he said??). I have been trying this but my question is, is it better to shout them for like 15 minutes or more straight and then rest in ati to feel the blessings, or is it best to do shorter periods and then spend some time in ati before shouting again to recharge. I hope I am phrasing this question ok.

I think the answer might be to try them out and see what works best, but would like to confirm if anyone has hints on this. It seems that for me, when I shout for a long time straight, like say 20 minutes, the blessings still do not last all that long. So I think doing it the way we do Pemako coffee, with 50 hung phets followed by ati, then another 50, then another 50, seems like it might be the best way. Is it ok or preferable to do GR shouting this way, doing 50-100 reps then rest, then another set to recharge the blessings, and so on? For me it feels like I really need to yank on it to get the blessings at an intensity where I can feel them properly.
I also remember Kim talking about the shinto, I think, initiation where they had to shout all day long. What do you all think about longer shouting sessions, like say doing an hour+ of GR mantra?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Kim: Pemako coffee style is nice and compact. 50 reps at once makes a nice hole when you put some punch into it. It's a good formula. What I meant with few hundred reps is that you can increase the 50 to hundred at once. Doing more than what one is used to is good because doing DC for longer lets you forget that you're doing it while you're doing it and it teaches you how the body, when you let it, produces sharp loud sound in a beautiful almost effortless manner.

At Ichikukai Dojo we would shout for 3 days straight, with short breaks and 6 hours of sleep. Loved the shouting, absolutely hated the rest of it because you actually got punched by the seniors while you were shouting. Not kidding.

But longer shouting sessions, similar to longer chanting sessions, there is something really powerful about them. We've had 12 hour chantings of NGR and GR hoped few years ago that we would have 24's but we haven't had good opportunity for that yet. Actually I think we should just start doing it 　

What you can do at home is to use the coffee formula for 1 hour, or 2, or 6, with short breaks for toilet and meals, and see how it works. Even when you put some punch into each syllable, you can manage it without getting (that) sore throat :)

Pemako Morning Coffee, guided practice: https://youtu.be/s-B0JMYOgvM

Claims of Enlightenment Made by Ancient Dzogchen Masters

 

Claims of Enlightenment Made by Ancient Dzogchen Masters

Over the years I have repeatedly written about the principles of pragmatic dharma. Once again, here is Vincent Horn's article for those who are new to it. Last time I wrote about this was just a week ago in this text. This blog continues on the theme of claims of attainment, this time not made by myself or other contemporary teachers but by ancient masters of the dzogchen lineage.

Two days ago, for the first time ever, I opened a book entitled ”The Supreme Source, Kunjed Gyalpo, The Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde”, translated by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Adriano Clemente. This book was first published in Italian in 1997 and in English in 1999.

Vairo Drabag

As I was reading the first few pages of the book I found a section entitled Vairo Drabag that gives brief biographical descriptions of the founding masters of dzogchen teaching, namely Garab Dorje, his direct students and those further down the lineage.

As I started reading these short stories about the lineage founders, to my amazement, I found most of them making claims of having attained buddhahood! In the text that is part of the traditional dzogchen semde-teaching, transmitted within the dzogchen-lineage, it states in plain words how many of the ancient practitioners, several of them direct disciples of Garab Dorje, who according to traditional sources is estimated to have lived soon after the passing of Shakyamuni Buddha, state to have attained buddhahood. What amazes me is their directness. They do not give vague hints of having perhaps attained something, nor do they shyly deny of having attained nothing, nor do they leave the question unanswered. They say exactly how it is. Not having read this book before I am stunned how direct the statements are!

1) Then Mañjuśrimitra perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Mañjuśribhadra!

Continuing the practice started in previous lives,

I have realized my wish, cutting mind at its root:

Now I no longer have any doubts that the fruit of perfect enlightenment

Is not something other than my state!

2) Then Nāgārjuna perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Nāgārjuna!

Beginningless dharmakāya, not being composed of aggregates, is happiness.

The voice that is without interruption and transcends the very concept of "voice", not having material

characteristics, is happiness.

The mind of wisdom that transcends the very concept of "mind," not having either birth nor death, is

happiness.

I have understood that bodhicitta is total bliss!

3) Then Nödjyinmo Changchubma perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed her realization thus:

I am Nödjyinmo Changchubma.

Enlightened from the origin,

Mind itself is Bhagavan, the great spontaneously-arising state:

Samsāra has always been utterly pure.

Understanding mind, I have discovered the state of enlightenment!

4) Then Lui Gyalpo perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Lugyal Gawo.

Without needing to be forsaken, the emotions are the five great wisdoms.

Without needing to be removed, the three poisons are the perfection of Body, Voice and Mind.

Without needing to be eliminated, samsāra is the path that leads to the bliss of bodhi.

Thus has the state of knowledge of the Buddhas of the three times arisen in me.

5) Then Rabnang perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Khenpo Rabnang.

From the great emptiness of the nature of mind

Arise all animate and inanimate phenomena,

Nevertheless, mind does not increase or diminish.

I have understood that great dharmakāya is the spontaneous arising and abating of phenomena!

6) Then Atsantra Āloke perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Atsantra Āloke!

Having perfectly mastered the method of "elimination," I have interrupted the flow of birth.

Having perfectly mastered the method of "union," I have severed the limit of cessation.

Having perfectly mastered the method of beneficial deeds, I have realized the absence of effort.

Having perfectly mastered the method of the siddhis, I no longer depend on the outside.

Having perfectly mastered the method of meditation, I remain in my state without correcting it!

7) The prince Thuwo Rājahati perfectly understood the meaning of the primordial state and expressed his realization thus:

I am Prince Thuwo Rājahati.

Understanding that bodhicitta is pure presence that has no origin,

I have become the holder of the transmission of Samantabhadra Vajrasattva.

Without undertaking the path, I have attained simultaneously the three levels of enlightenment.

My state is equal to that of the Buddhas of the three times!

Here's another account by Lingchen Repa, student of Kagyu forefather Phagmo Drugpa. It's from the book "The Supreme Siddhi of Mahamudra":

Homage to the precious guru!

Lord, you told me to meditate on the innate essence,

And meditate is what I did; It so happened that meditation and meditator simply vanished,

And there was no post-meditation to uphold.

Through the experience of the torch of samadhi,

I realized the mind as the dharmakaya, free of elaborations.

Thus, clinging to experiences simply vanished,

And there was no straying to eliminate.

Through none other than the mind resting as it is -

Without altering with remedies -

Doubts about is it" or "is it not" simply vanished,

And there was no sense of discomfort left.

Like meeting a person known from before,

By recognizing thoughts as the dharmakaya,

Grasping to them as faults or qualities simply vanished,

And there was nothing to reject or accept.

Like the sun dawning upon darkness,

Realization arose from within.

Thus, philosophical assertions simply vanished,

And there were no words to speak.

By realizing that the guru and the buddhas of the three times

Are not different from my own mind,

Ordinary perception simply vanished,

And there was nothing to long for.

The bubble of illusory body is always destroyed.

As I realized that the mind is unborn and immortal,

The fear of death simply vanished,

And there was nothing to grieve about.

If we meet, I am in the presence of the lord.

If we do not, I wander aimlessly through mountain hermitages.

If hungry, I go for alms without attachment.

If cold, I warm myself with the heat of tummo.

If sad, I sing a song of spiritual experience.

If sick, I balance the elements.

I slash experiences of happiness or sorrow on the spot,

And go about my everyday life as I please.

Apparently, the ancient adepts and masters of the lineage had no problem whatsoever in stating what they have attained. I cannot help wonder happened along the way because in the present dharma culture this very act would be and actually is seen as an indication of heightened delusion, ignorant boasting and charlatanism. I would assume the ancient practitioners neither would have had a problem stating if their attainments were lesser. What we see in these accounts is a marvellous display of pragmatic dharma.

I cannot speak on behalf of the ancient masters but it is good to ask why these accounts were given in the first place and included within the lineage teachings for many centuries. Surely the accounts would have been left out if they were meant to be kept only between teacher and student or small communities. Thinking about it, I am actually surprised that they had not been edited out.

Whether public statements about one's attainments was widely practiced in history I cannot say but it should be acknowledged that these people are the first ones to practice dzogchen in this time on Earth and that they are the lineage holders in most dzogchen lineages alive today. If they openly stated what they reaped from their practice, maybe we could consider following their example and think about the benefits of doing this.

As I have stated, we do this in Pemako Buddhist Sangha. Also Lama Daniel Brown has made public statements of realised buddhas in his sangha. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there are not other examples of this in tantric/vajrayana buddhism.

Surely there are many people who would benefit immensely of open, unsecretive and transparent discussion about attainments for transparency itself is an expression of the buddha within and a sign of its realisation.

-Kim, 14.4.2021

Links

http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2021/04/harvest-is-at-hand.html

http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-core-features-of-pragmatic-dharma.html

Advice to Someone with Fear and Anxiety About Energy and Kundalini

 

Advice to Someone with Fear and Anxiety About Energy and Kundalini

Kim: Hello,

I read your email, all of it. I understand your problem/s. You've gone a long way with these issues and unfortunately you haven't met anyone before who could help you out with your problems. I am looking at your past and present experiences as a whole, and even if to you it might look like an endless mess that you cannot get out of or make sense, it is actually not that complex or difficult.

What you need is 1) a clear view of the path and its experiences, incl. energetics and 2) practices that help you to remove and pacify your fears, anxieties and whatever mental-emotional issues are there. You do not have psychotic features so all this is actually easy to manage, if you have the right tools and view. I've had similar issues myself back in the day and have students who have had similar things as you, so nothing what you have experienced is unique to your case. Perhaps you can feel some relief knowing this.

*

-You are over-concerned about sensations. If and when there is nothing wrong with you medically, it means that 1. it's all energetic and 2. you are just anxious and paranoid about it. It is common to different types of subtle sensations. None of what you describe is uncommon. They are not dangerous or weird in themselves. They are just sensations and energetic events. It is only when you don't know this simple fact is because you get anxious and scared about them. The only thing to pay attention to is the fear and anxiety, which are a form of self. Your problem is your "you" that gets scared and anxious. With this point we enter the world of buddhist meditation. I don't know if you practiced buddhism before but my impression is that you didn't, and that's part of the problem because you don't have clear view of these things. -We have three types of bodies: 1. physical, 2. energetic/mind and 3. awareness/buddhanature. Main part of your problem is that you are disconnected from your awareness/buddhanature and this makes you get extra-lost in that prana/energy/fear/anxiety stuff. So you should establish clear awareness in your being. This is actually very easy to do by tantric means. Read this and do the practice described in it: https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/111

The practice uses guru mantras that are explained. In tantra we turn to gurus who are fully enlightened masters for help. All we need to do is to be sincere in our request to receive their help that come in the form of blessings. This is guru yoga and it is the heart and soul of all tantric methods. You will notice that when you chant the mantra, your mind becomes clear and fearless, while you feel a warm soothing and pleasant energy fill you up. Don't worry, none of this is strange or scary. You can trust it, relax and just enjoy the ride. Try. You are also welcome to join any of the guided sessions lead by our acharya's or retreats taught by myself: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pemakobuddhism/events

These will solve your problems for good. You will see the positive benefit from your first session. Then you just keep taking the medicine. If you need advice, I'm here. * You either didn't listen or understand what I wrote to you before, so please go back and read my previous messages. When I say that it is safe, I mean it. When I say that energetic experiences are normal and that you do not need to be alarmed of them, I mean it.

You do not need to take a "leap of faith into the unknown" or anything like that but if you keep following the habits of fear and anxiety like before, it will take unnecessarily long time to sort this out. So!

Take it easy. Relax. When I give this simple instruction to relax, it means that you really need to relax. Relax your body, take a few deep breaths and let your breathing become relaxed. Your mind will calm down also. Within this relaxation you say a prayer request in your own words and invite Guru Rinpoche to you, or you can use his mantra to invite him over to you. Either way, he comes to you in person. A fully enlightened master actually comes to you in nonphysical form. There is no greater healer than that so please take advantage of that to your own great benefit! Little by little you learn to know him and trust him. Everytime you feel his presence, you can ask yourself whether it feels safe or not. He will give you great help to pacify your mind and its many fears and anxieties. This helps you to grow up spiritually.

How to Help Children with Panic Attacks and Scary Situations

 

How to Help Children with

Panic Attacks and Scary Situations

OK, gotcha. This is nothing unusual, though I'm sure it is troubling and concerning to see it in a young boy. You should surround him with guru's blessings, and/or the blessings of the refuge jewels. Ask blessings from GR and YT to him, also mother should ask. And you chant on his behalf. He is a small child and cannot chant in the way an adult can, so you two chant for him. As you chant guru mantras, NGR or NYT or both at the same time, imagine that the blessings surround and engulf him. This can also be done by combing, where you chant and with your hands put the charge into his body and aura. Having guru's presence in his bodymind, he will be able to relax and let go for a moment but it might only last for a short time. Then you do it again, and again, whenever necessary.

You should also play mantra music at your house or where the boy lives. Dosn't matter which mantras, whether Deva Premal or artists like that, Hare Krishna, hindu deities (there are relly good musical recordings of those) or buddhist mantras. The idea is to fill the atmosphere with pure energy and blessings.

You should also bless his food by asking guru's blessing and/or chanting few mantras for his food.

Fill him and his life with pure and safe energy. You simply pray for him and wish him good. That will check all the boxes and you will see a change in him. The important thing is to keep doing it. He will also learn many things from this as he sees and feels the effects of these practices. Maybe he starts chanting himself.

You can and should tell him about gurus who he can always invite to him to feel safe and comfortable. Children in general are very open and pure so they can actually see GR or YT coming to them. He will see and feel the light radiating from the guru so he will feel good about it in an instant.

You can also explain him about basic emotions of fear, panic, anger etc. in a manner that a child can understand it so that he can use the knowledge when he experiences it. Teach him how to see these scary experiences and visions in a down-to-earth manner. Tell him that he need not be afraid and that many people experience same things. It is important for him not to feel abnormal about strange experiences.

Finally, it is as important for you two adults to understand that these things happen and they are not uncommon. Children, like many adults, see these things. It will be easier for you to approach this situation and the child when you establish guru's presence in yourself, when you discuss these things with him. In other words, when you don't know what to do or are lost, call the guru to yourself, everytime, over and over again.

You'll be alright and can grow together three of you. It'll be alright :)

 

Kim, 28.3.2021

Pemako – The First School of Western of Vajrayana Buddhism

 

Pemako – The First School of

Western of Vajrayana Buddhism

I went to take a look at the pemakobuddhism.com-website, as I haven't done that in a while. I've been low key with writing and other computer projects for a while so I was surprised to see all these things, like 2PF, bhumi model, few books, RBY, long list of tantric deities, dzogchen metta, trauma therapy, pure land meditations, ceremonies and vows, list of preliminaries etc... so many things!

How in the heck have I done all that!? And when!? It feels weird to think that I've done all that. And there's an international sangha of 70 people from all corners of the world, monthly retreats and so on. Bonkers!

It's been a long road, I can tell you that. It hasn't been easy but when I die, I'll die a happy man without regrets. Since my karma ripened and I connected with dharma practice at the age of 23, I've put everything into it, not holding back, and it has carried me well, like a mother carries her baby. At some point I was asked to teach by my gurus and people who wanted to learn so I started teaching full time in 2008. That's over 12 years ago and I don't know... few hundred courses and retreats ago. It's been a long haul, a long god damn haul... That's what it took to get the first school of Western vajrayana buddhism up and running... That's not too bad.

All this sends me back down the memory lane... All the people I've met, all the silly mistakes I've made, all the childish ideas I had about enlightenment, 3½ years of burnout, thousands and thousands of working hours without pay, all the abuse and ridicule aimed at me, all the laughter and tears with my beloved dharma friends and students, all the heartache and pain, all the release, all those hundreds and hundreds of opened and perfected bhumis! What a ride... What a thunder!

But I fucking did it! I did exactly what was planned before I took voluntary rebirth into this body. I remember the time before my mind attached to the fetus inside my mother's womb. I remember leaving the world of the mahasiddhas, pure lands and subtle planes, where mahasiddhas wished me a good journey. That was 43 years ago. I just turned 42. Oh god, how I miss my home, those pure lands and planes of many eternal friends, masters of the mahasiddha family. Oh, and Mahasiddha Family! That's on the website too!

Earth is a samsaric realm, a war planet as some yogi called it. It's a hell of a place. A ruthless grinder! But I feel proud to say that I've done this work with so many people to give samsara a hell of a fight! That is what we have done and that is what we keep doing at Pemako! I won't have it any other way.

Now, I feel as if I have started my retirement. No doubt, it will be easier, a smooth and enjoyable ride from now on.

Oh, may the perfume of wild rose dharma caress the noses of all sentient beings... May the blessings of the buddha within strike all beings like thousand thunderbolts!

A Ba Hu Mani Peme Hung Hrih

Kim

Long Cessations: How Buddhahood is Actually Attained

 

Long Cessations:

How Buddhahood is Actually Attained

Tomi: "I have started to have full Rigpa moments; yesterday it lasted for two hours."

Kim: Reg. "full rigpa moments". These are long periods of the mind entirely ceased. This is directly experiencing "emptiness of all phenomena", the whole mind from 1st to 10th bhumi empty. I say long because they last much longer than few seconds or minutes. It means literally experiencing oneself as a fully enlightened buddha.

Awakening experiences (bhumi openings) are usually brief. They are like flashes of all lights of a house switched on but it (cessation) lasts only from seconds to few minutes. Despite of the briefness of bhumi openings and perfections, these breakthroughs indicate that the type of practice is correct because despite of their briefness at this stage of practice, cessations are directly seeing one's buddhanature, which is the heart and soul of all dharma and spirituality. There is no dharma other than awakening experiences.

Based on several accounts of our sangha members, this begins to happen roughly around the perfection of 1st-6th bhumis. As you keep perfecting them and have smaller perfecting shifts (for ex. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3) inside major perfections (7,8,9), durations gets longer. For example, let's say from 1-2 hours, to 4-5 hours, to 12 hours, to 24 hours to 48 hours. The longest I've had so far was 60 hours or 2½ days nonstop in August 2020 when I was (still am) working on perfecting the 10th bhumi.

So, when someone has more than six bhumis perfected (and all 13 open), it means that her or his mind is more than 50% purified. In other words, in the mind of such person, one's natural state has become prevalent over self-deluded state, and because of this cessations start getting longer and longer, or in other words, one doesn't only "begin" to see oneself as a buddha but really gets to try living as one. This keeps happening until insight of emptiness penetrates into all bits of the psyche (1-10 bhumis).

So with what Tomi here calls "full rigpa moments", we are talking about not partial, nor short but complete recognitions during which one gets to live, breathe, taste, touch and act as a fully enlightened mahasiddha for hours or days, depending how long it lasts. During these moments we really get to experience how life is for a mahasiddha. Through this experience we really come to know what purity and freshness (suddha/kadag) are. We come to understand why they call it the "great perfection" that is "unexcelled" (anuttara samyak sambodhi). Again, it is very different from brief glimpses... You get to live as a mahasiddha, that's it!

Nine Pemako sangha members so far have told me they've had these lasting anything from an hour to half a day. This indicates that we are approaching buddhahood as a group of individuals in the near future.

We have been reminded again and again by past masters, such as Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who said that in his lifetime he met "many men and women" who had attained buddhahood, that it is "not a fable or a fairytale" and that it is possible indeed for people "world over". These words can be found from his book Repeating the Words of the Buddha.

Living grace and guidance of our gurus, Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal; correct view of emptiness that unites samsara and nirvana; correct view of compassion that is equal to all sentient beings; correct application of practices that in the case of Pemako many are unique to our method; committed internal work to make us strong and fearless in the face of hardship; and faith in the teachings of mahasiddhas who've lived before us. That's how we've made it work.

-Kim, 3.3.2021

If you listen, I got you - Training Teachers and Instructors of Mahasiddha-style Yoga and Tantra

 

If you listen, I got you

Training Teachers and Instructors

of Mahasiddha-style Yoga and Tantra

"If you listen, I got you". -Eubie Blake, jazz pianist

What Eubie Blake means is that if he gets the listener's attention, he will catch the listener through his music. Catching the listener means to get the listener disappear in the direct nonconceptual experience of music. We've all experienced getting lost in music where the sense of small self disappears and authentic enjoyment comes forth. We begin to sing and dance, we begin to enjoy. I heard Carlos Santana say this about Miles Davis, and instantly thought about Pemako and our teachers in training.

Becoming and serving as a Pemako teacher has few important requirements. First, one has to know the method through first hand experience. Two, one has to have stable recognition of one's buddhanature, i.e. at least all bhumis open. Three, one has to be suitable to be a teacher in terms of social and organisational skills. All three make one fit to begin one's service as a teacher. At the moment we have nearly ten people doing their training.

Over the years I've discussed other traditions, their teachers and teaching styles, their pros and cons. There is the path of scholars and there is the path of yogis. Ours is the latter type. I recall Dr Nida calling this the "mahasiddha style".

I want our teachers to be able to "get you", like Eubie Blake. I train teachers who know what people look for and know how to give it to them, so that they don't leave our training sessions "belly empty", without real experience, or head spinning with fancy, scary or uninteresting concepts. I've always emphasised direct experience and tantric or atiyoga transmissions which is the mahasiddha style. I confess (gladly!) that I haven't even opened the suttas, recordings of Shakyamuni's teachings except maybe twice in my life, for a brief moment. I haven't read books, sutras and tantras, because that way didn't speak to me but nevertheless, looking at my students, I feel confident to say that I've been able to "get them" as so many of them grow into the recognition of themselves as buddhas so fast and effectively. During my days of traditional training I couldn't even dream of the pace of progress my students have. I yearned, dreamed and busted my ass for 8½ years for the first bhumi opening! I'm actually glad it all didn't work for me either because it lead to even greater dissatisfaction and disillusionment about the establishment. When that happened, time was ripe for me to begin receiving teachings from past masters.

I have used this methodology of direct transmission and introduction because that is how my masters have taught me. I remember Guru Rinpoche telling me few times to read some of the teachings he'd given to some past tertons but I just never got around to it. I bought the books but chose to use the time of reading to hanging out with my guru, him, instead. I will always choose to spend time with my guru (through tantric guru yoga), instead of reading. Seekers seek to find the truth of existence or to know themselves because they feel they are lost in life. Seekers are entangled in the net of their self-delusion. Someone who has stable recognition of buddhanature (all bhumis open) lives most of the time freely and happily because 13 major breakthroughs through the bhumi chakras enables that. When such a person knows what introduction into the nature of mind is and how it happens, there is no way avoiding directly helping or pointing out the nature of mind to others, and that is "getting them". This is an instant relief and discovery for seekers.

What is transmitted and pointed out is our effortlessly satisfied nature, so fresh, spontaneous and free of fixations, where there is no existential confusion and neither solutions to remove it. What is pointed out and transmitted is the vision of reality. That is how I'm training our teachers.

I am also training 15 people as Pemako acharyas (pron. uh-chuh-ryuh) or instructors, who once they finish their training in the Spring of 2021, can give extensive introductions, short courses and retreats to newcomers, hopefully mostly at live locations rather than the internet. These people are from Scandinavian countries, central Europe, UK, Russia and United States. Out of these 15 trainees most have stable recognition and some of them lead sessions at our main Facebook page which all are welcome to join, https://www.facebook.com/groups/pemakobuddhism/

May all beings be free and happy,

-Kim, 27.2.2021

Reinventing Tantra, Kegan and Pemako Buddhism

 

Reinventing Tantra, Kegan and Pemako Buddhism

From Pemako Buddhist Sangha Facebook group.

Kim: This is probably the best podcast discussion I've ever heard. So much of it strikes directly at what I've been up to as a buddhist teacher and founder of Pemako sangha.

https://soundcloud.com/imperfect-buddha-podcast/100-imperfect-buddha-david-chapman-on-stages-of-maturation-dzogchen-the-future-of-buddhism

Ben: This is brilliant. Being a part of a stage 5 group is what I've been looking for, for so long. This encapsulates so much of that struggle.

Akseli: I might have not even began practicing tantra without Chapman's Vividness stuff. Having not had that many visionary experiences, no visits from deities, etc., the experiential gap would have taken a lot of work to bridge had someone not have already done it!

Kegan's model is enormously interesting in terms of our cultural stuck-upness, but also really helpful for navigating different types of interpersonal conflicts in day-to-day life. Glad to see it mentioned here, too

Kim: I haven't read Chapman in few years and have taken a break of writing projects myself but I've meant to finish what he started with his "Reinventing Tantra" series. I think his foundation is brilliant to build on. To my knowledge, no one has made tantra "current" in the modern world. I was exhilarated to learn and read of Chapman's introduction of this updating and reinvention of tantra but for reasons that he himself mentioned, he didn't finish it. I hope to put in writing what we have been doing in Pemako sangha for over a decade now 　

Listening to that podcast I came to think of couple of aspects in our style of vajra practice that support getting to Kegan's stage 5, that of embodied and enlightened independence in the world of constant change and relationships. Babaji's advice, "Be yourself. Find your own way", really goes a long way and this very point is too rarely expressed and encouraged by training systems. Or maybe that is not the best way to say it but systems (stage 4) are supposed to be toolboxes that can be thrown away after all the tools have been fully utilized and enlightenment/buddhahood reached. In this very purpose most systems fail, considering that vajrayana buddhism is built on the idea of "buddhahood in this life", not in the next, not in 7 or whatever lives from now but this very life... Attaining buddhahood is an anomaly in buddhism, rather than a rule, which actually means that systems (stage 4) fail to do the very task they exist for. For this reason individuals fail to find a way and become who they truly are, i.e. get fully enlightened. I've been talking about this for a decade and have seen how stuck dharma practitioners get with systems (stage 4) by not being able to see past them. They also get offended for wrong reasons and that's why they remain caught by methods, missing the most crucial point of awakening and enlightenment. Very few seems to take bodhicitta really seriously.

So, becoming strong and independent in existential sense is a big one. It is built on recognition of selflessness. In our prayers we chant, "I am the Guru, I'm in the Pure Land, I am the Buddha..." because that-is-it... BUT, this is a post-emptiness view, not pre-emptiness view.

Without the vision of emptiness of phenomena it is futile to even mention strength and independence because it is not about egotripping on childish mind games. In my understanding independence as it has been demonstrated by the spiritual strength of masters such as Padmasambhava, means not only to realize emptiness but also that one's very life force and actions, personal expression, becomes the embodiment of buddhanature. One will not get there without contemplating what Babaji suggests, "Be yourself. Find your own way". The greatest of all empowerments is recognition of ourselves as buddhas. It is an empowerment that we give ourselves but like Chapman and Kegan point out, it is easy (deathly!) to mistake stage 3 for stage 5. Those who preach about already-perfect-dzogchen and advaita without practice and signs of fruition fall into this category.

So, a lot of it has to do with learning to trust our gut and following our intuition. This is a very crucial point but if you start investigating this, no one in buddhism tells you to develop your intuition... Why? Because traditionalists think they have it all already figured out, so all they say is "keep doing the practice" according to whatever syllabus. Just do another retreat or year of practice without real sign of insight, that's what it is for most out there. I know because I've done it and seen it. Methods are believed in so firmly that very few ever begins to ask questions whether anyone is actually getting there. Small signs of succesful practice might be there but still this is far far... from buddhahood. Very few "graduate" as buddhas, in other words lots of folks get trapped in stage 4, stuck in a method, like a bardo of somekind. As a vajrayana practitioner who takes buddhahood in this life seriously I do not believe in the gradual idea that it comes some time in next life or lives. Screw that. If you ain't done with your karmic purification in a maximum of decade of practice, forget it. If we are really talking about buddhahood in this life, OK, bring it and save us from whatever excuses you might come up with.

Buddhism is a vast collection of methods and the vast majority of them is constructed by men. Men are good at mechanics and engineering. We figure out things, so we come up with systems and methods. While this has the benefit of coming up with systems there is other side that is left entirely without care and attention, and that is intuition. If you look at the wider world of yoga and meditation, folks always come up with and market methods, and most of them have a fixed form. This yoga, that yoga, this reiki, that reiki, this meditation, that meditation and so on. Because self-delusion and suffering is in the mind, that is an abstract, nonphysical thing, fixed forms inevitably miss the mark...

Most buddhist practitioners are completely alien to their intuition, this feminine side in them. This applies to both men and women but again... How do we become independent and mature into true characters without intuition? See, graduating of training methods does not directly translate into becoming buddhas, so something is clearly completely off.

I quoted Chapman's tweet recently where he said that tantric (tsalung practices) cannot have a fixed form. There we have it again. Most systems teach fixed forms of tantric practice. This is men giving tantra, that is inherently flowing and fluid, a fixed, solid, frozen form. A complete miss again. Where are the buddhas to prove that this type of approach works? Nowhere. The masculine approach is so one-sided that excellent results don't come.

If we take a master woodworker, that master creates an excellent work of art from any piece of wood you give him/her. There are no excuses and no whining, no dogma and you get exactly what you ask for. When it should be the norm in vajra buddhism that mahasiddha buddhas come like from assembly line, one after the other, we are left with scraps and need to travel here and there to have a glimpse of someone who was someone in past life. Scholarly study, years spent in retreat, performing this or that exercise, receiving many empowerments from many someones, being recognised as someone etc is simply not good enough. We need to realise emptiness(!). And not only emptiness (nirmanakaya buddha) but bliss and light as well (sambhogakaya buddha). If you seriously say buddhahood in this life, there you go. No excuses, no nonsense, no thukdam/samadhi, no bardo. Mahasiddhas play and dance in the body and out the body. Death as a transition is nothing to real yogis.

And that's Kegan's stage 5 in terms of spiritual accomplishment. You really and truly graduate, grow out, from systems, if they are good and taught proficiently! You master them from inside out. This is completely different from merely having performed some techniques for few years... But again, because practically no one teaches tantric students what tantric practices are for and how they cannot have a fixed form, no one gets to meta level and graduates... Then you have people arguing with each other what is and what isn't correct tummo, because one lama taught this and other that. Oh dear. As you know I teach "masterclasses" of all of our practices for this exact purpose. And that is also why there are extraordinary results.

Some trad vajrayana buddhists have also asked me about our vows because we have a very simple set of vows. Well, again, be yourself, find your own way. If we accept vows as something that we "follow" and "avoid breaking", this is a very superficial view of the whole path and ourselves as buddhas. If we have genuine insight, conduct comes accordingly. That's why I think Bodhisattva Vows and Refuge are really everything that is needed. With this view, I hope my students empower themselves through their own experience rather than fill their head with ideas of pure and impure or being a follower of this or that.

Buddhahood! Will We Ever Get There!?!?

 

Buddhahood!

Will We Ever Get There!?!?

I took a long break of bhumi readings and therefore it seems discussion about bhumis has been very little during the past year or so. Let's bring it back! Nevertheless, people have been practicing diligently and making excellent progress. We have a number of sangha members who have opened all their bhumis and made significant progress in perfections which is also unique. One of the reasons why I took that break is that I wanted to have unoccupied time and space for my own practice to better understand the process of karmic purification in terms of the 13 bhumi model. Based on this, I gave specific instructions for perfection stage practice of Rainbow Body Yoga that are now available to all sangha members.

I cannot convey to you the joy and satisfaction I feel for being able to do this because what we are looking here are very precise and detailed instructions for purification of the whole karmic body, one layer or one bhumi after the other, until it is entirely dealt with. Together with genuine concern for the liberation of all sentient beings (bodhicitta), this is a purely mechanical and logical procession of tantric vipashyana leading to full enlightenment or buddhahood. I could not have done it without my gurus so my gratitude goes out to them again and again and again!

The thought of *our sangha members* attaining buddhahood is something that I've intentionally brought up many times in my talks since 1-2 years ago. Last time I did this was on the last retreat when I read a bit from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who said that in his lifetime he met "many men and women" who had attained buddhahood, that it is "not a fable or a fairytale" and that it is possible indeed for people "world over". These words can be found from his book Repeating the Words of the Buddha.

By talking and discussing this topic among our sangha I've wanted to bring the big, bad, great and unreachable "buddhahood" closer to us, to pop some of the imaginary bubbles we might have about it. There is so much fluff about it that I think this kind of demystifying discussion is very necessary. Just like we have absorbed values and views from christianity that we might not even be aware of, in the same way, and I think I can speak for all those who have been exposed to buddhist culture, we have absorbed ideas and limitations from it. The most harmful of them being the subconscious idea that buddhahood cannot *actually* be attained by any of us little people and that buddhahood is the property of only the most excellent practitioners living in the holy caves of the East. Even if masters such as Tulku Urgyen repeatedly tell to us that it is indeed possible, I don't think I've ever met anyone who would have really taken this seriously. Oh gosh... This brings back (limiting and absurd) memories! It's time to put an end to false views and ineffective and unsuitable practices.

So... We have the exact knowhow of purfying each karmic layer after the other... When will we get there then!?

Sivakami, who passed away 10 years ago this month, taught me many useful things and one of those was couple of different kinds of divination. I've used, should I call it perhaps "mahasiddha divination" many times over my career of practice on various things. I have for example used it for finding out when I or my students would reach a certain stage of practice. For example, when my first bhumi opened in 11/2011, I did a divination the same day finding out when the 6th would open. The result of the divination was July of 2013, about 2½ years after the first opening. It turned out correct 2½ years later.

Earlier this week I sent instruction of this type of divination to 11 sangha members who are in the process of perfecting bhumis. The nature of this exercise is to get an answer when one would reach buddhahood, coming up with a date for it. Half of the people haven't yet replied to me and couple of the answers I didn't feel were correct. However, 5 of them did. Based on this it looks like there will be 5 people reaching buddhahood during the next 5½ years, until the Summer of 2026. Three of those before the end of 2022.

One saying that I like is, "This life is not a rehearsal". To put it in this context, our practice is not a rehearsal. It is inevitable that all this stabilising of the natural state, that has been happening since 4 years ago, and quick progress of purification results in complete purification.

I guess we'll see when the time arrives.

May the sun of dharma shine on you, for the sake of all sentient beings.

Kim Rinpoche, 22.11.2020

Pemako Buddhism

www.pemakobuddhism.com

About Emptiness and Dzogchen

 

About Emptiness and Dzogchen

I think anyone who is familiar with buddhist vehicles agrees that dzogchen is based on emptiness and there is no dzogchen without the basis of emptiness. In fact, the first stage of buddhahood, also known as trekcho in trad dzogchen, is the realisation of complete emptiness. Realisation of emptiness means "all phenomena", mind as a whole. This is why it is said that sutra, tantra and dzogchen have the same goal. 

 

 

Mix ups in teachings are not uncommon with dzogchen practitioners or teachers and I think this is because of the fact that dzogchen emphasizes recognition of "spacious awareness" that can be found "in between thoughts". However, this instruction or understanding alone inevitably ends up in dualistic positioning between awareness and mind as separate things. Actually I remember from retreat with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, him talking about dzogchen practitioners in Tibet and Nepal who have this problem. This indicates that there is further to go in emptiness meditation because according to tradition these are not separate but same. There is no mind "and" awareness. There is only mind that is empty or advancing insight into the emptiness of mind. When mind ceases altogether, when the five skandhas are seen to be empty of solid self, then clarity, wisdom and love of buddhanature shines out perfectly, without obstruction. Stage called One taste/Same taste is all about the sameness of "samsara" and "nirvana", or "mind" and "awareness", or "problem" and "solution". And it is from that entry where the last stage of Nonmeditation or dzogchen atiyoga reveals itself. 

 

- Kim, 25.10.2020 

 

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