Future of Dharma Arts in the West

 

Future of Dharma Arts in the West

Some time ago I was talking with my friend Gyempo who has custom painted some works for me. He lives in Bhutan. I had been messaging with Gyempo's brother Tashi who is a master woodworker who makes thrones and other decorative ornaments such as those in tb temples and monasteries. I couldn't reach Tashi so I asked Gyempo if his brother might be able to make me a big Mahakala mask. He seemed to chuckle to my question and replied that his brother is a woodworker, not a mask maker. How foolish of me to ask a woodworker to make a mask!

Asian dharma culture is abound with art. There is dance, music, woodwork, metal work, sculpting, painting, calligraphy, writing, poetry and probably other forms too. Dharma in the West is a completely new thing but it is somewhat established, and yet there is basically no training whatsoever available in any or most of these artforms. This is very much reflected with how places in the West look. They have way less expression. In fact, I could say that they look dull. Hmm, I wonder if this contributes to the fact that western buddhist groups feel kind of lifeless.

"Visiting Western buddhist centers felt like

I was back sitting in church. They were so puritanistic."

-Lama Vajranatha John Reynolds

I just wanted to bring this up just to bring your attention to this matter. I've spent my adult life, since 2003, studying buddhist calligraphy and painting (see links below) and I'm a keen collector of high quality dharma art that I buy from Asia.

-Kim, 19.12.2021

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/257852984267435

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd7IXus0RZo&list=PLqTm9fV9DGhtAIMEzWHA8a6ibMExrfeGI

Visceral Study of Spiritual Martial Arts

 

Visceral Study of Spiritual Martial Arts

I'd like to share something about hitsuzendo - the way of the zen brush - body movement and Yamaoka Tesshu Sensei's calligraphy. If you take this as a practice, it might change the course of your bodily (martial or healing) practice. My zen calligraphy and zen master Terayama Tanchu Sensei's main practice close to the end of his life was kusho (空書, lit. empty writing) - writing in the air with one's hands and body. He would hang up a calligraphy or painting on his wall, study the movement of the brush and then trace it in the air with his hands and body movement. The idea is not to study Chinese language but to study the bodily movement of the past masters to better understand how they moved which in turn reveals something really interesting of their state of mind, or realisation. The basic idea of kusho is very simple. You could for example write your own name or some piece of text in plain block letters or cursive handwriting to try it out. The idea is to use one's whole body while applying different kinds of intensity of intent (c. yi/j. i, 意) into the writing. What I mean by different kinds of intensity is that we could use our hand to write very lightly in the air, like writing with a finger on the surface of water (without making the water splash) or we could imagine tracing our finger one inch inside mud. With mud we would have to use more intention or concentration to get the thing written. Our writing could also be a combination of both light and heavy, combined with slow and fast. From here to enter the realm of "zen" we would have to be able to recognise the most basic state of mind or basic awareness, commonly called buddhanature (佛性) in mahayana buddhist schools.

In the case of a professional zenman this buddhanature should be present at all times and one's writing, whether in the air or on paper, becomes a play of intent, where intent isn't based on mindfulness (念) but on effortless basic awareness. Because of this fundamental difference in the degree of realisation (見性), the meaning and result of intent is not the same but becomes non-intent (無意) because mindfulness does not appear and disappear. This very point separates "zen calligraphy" or zen art from ordinary art. Anyway, the point of kusho is to write in the air or to trace the movements of masters' works with one's body. I am sharing here one of Yamaoka Tesshu Sensei's calligraphies. The large characters on the left read Namu Amida Butsu, which venerates Amitabha Buddha. The small characters on the right are a part from some sutra or poem. I don't know what it says but it's not important either for our purposes.

Tesshu is one of the most respected spiritual martial artists of all times in Japan. He died in 1888 so he is quite recent and this is why there are many of his works available. Tesshu was a martial artist of the highest kind who held several lineages of kenjutsu and kendo and started his own Muto/No-Sword school. To understand Tesshu's uniqueness, we need to know the order of the strokes in calligraphis characters. Generally, calligraphes are written in vertical lines from right to left. The strokes in characters are written from up to down, left to right, from outside to inside. The piece below is wrotten in cursive or "grass" script and doesn't look except distantly to what people associate with kanji, Chinese characters. Anyway, with these few instructions you can understand that you begin from the top right corner and how each character is formed. It would really be important to get the order right to get the point that I'm trying to make. When you do know the right order, then trace through the whole piece. Do it several times. Get the angles right. That is very important... because it shows exactly how Tesshu, the legendary spiritual martial artist, moved...

Now, I have analysed thousands of calligraphies but among all of them Tesshu is unique. No one out there moved like he did. People move like block letters but not Tesshu... It must have puzzled the heck out of his students and opponents who came to challenge him! If you study how he moved, you will see that because of his exceptional free flowing shapes, you can't predict his movements and that is the treasure to be found from Tesshu's works. Copying him opens up a whole different realm of bodymind movement that I have not seen elsewhere in my 35 years of study of the field.

-Kim Orgyen Pema Rinpoche Katami 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158901778078136&set=g.257852984267435&type=1&theater&ifg=1

Introduction to Awakening and The Two-Part Formula for Awakening by Lama Karl Eikrem

Introduction to Awakening and 

The Two-Part Formula for Awakening

By Lama Karl Eikrem

In this text I will be approaching the topic of awakening from a Buddhist perspective. This is because the Buddhist framework is what I’m most familiar with, and not because Buddhism has any special claim to the phenomena of awakening as such. Awakening as defined below is universal in that can happen to people of any culture, age and spiritual orientation. It can come about by applying specific tools, such as the Two-Part Formula for
Awakening presented in this text, or it can happen by “accident”; where a practitioner is either using a meditative tool not specifically designed to induce awakening, or that they are doing something completely unrelated to spiritual practice and just happen to spontaneously awaken to the true nature of that which is commonly labeled “I” or “me”.

One of the basic tenets of Mahayana Buddhism is that all beings have buddha-nature. This does not mean that all beings carry around something that they can point to and call buddha-nature, but that the very nature of existence, of being itself is Buddha; basic wakefulness. Ironically, this basic wakefulness is so ordinary and obvious that it makes it profoundly difficult to recognise for most beings. But if we look at our surroundings and feel into the very experience we are having right here and right now, the basis of it is always basic wakefulness.

This basic nature of ours has three main qualities: (1) it is self-cognisant; free of any “knower” and “known” and simply aware of itself as timeless presence, (2) it is brilliantly alive; full of richness, positivity and love, and (3) it is perfectly stable; never changing. Furthermore, in being the nature of being itself, basic wakefulness is always-already present. It can never not be, and it can never be different from what is. Thus, recognising and actualising the basic nature of our own being is the purpose of spiritual practice.

The main hinder we have on the spiritual path is what we call the selfing-mechanism. The selfing-mechanism refers to the conceptual filter that confused beings see reality through, and it can be divided into three parts. First of all there is (1) the subject-self; the feeling of being “me”, an entity residing within the body, (2) object-selves; self-based thoughts, emotions and feelings, and (3) substrate consciousness; the subtle veils of existential confusion that give rise to self-based mind states such as depression or gross bliss.

The term “awakening” in the broad sense of the word refers to the process of deconstructing the entire selfing-mechanism and awakening to our true nature. Seen this way awakening is a gradual process that moves through several distinct phases until the ultimate freedom from “self-identification” is completely actualised. However, when it comes to the topic of this text “awakening” refers only to the inner shift that takes place in the mind of practitioners as the core of the selfing-mechanism, the “subject-I” is permanently deconstructed. This can be said to be to starting point of the Buddhist Path.

The Buddhist way of deconstructing the selfing-mechanism is through direct exploration of its constitution (Skt. Vipashyana). The basic principle of this approach is to recognise the basic clarity of mind and then bring that clarity to the confusion, i.e. “selfing-mechanism”.

The Two-Part Formula for Awakening, as taught in Pemako Buddhism, embodies this principle by first instructing the practitioner to release tensions in the physical body and recognise the basic openness that reveals itself when doing so. When we keep releasing tension this way, eventually we arrive at the recognition of the basic open space that permeates all of experience. But we cannot stop here. It is equally important that we use this basic clarity as a baseline for further investigation into the existential confusion in question.

Therefore, the Two-Part Forumla for Awakening guides us to mentally reaffirm “I, I, I!” or “Me, me, me!” and then study the sensations that arise within the body. These sensations include gross and subtle contractions, uncomfortable feelings, buzzing sensations, movement of energy and so on. Whatever arise within the body-space we simply study the strongest sensation from the perspective of basic wakefulness. This way, we can naturally dis-identify from the sensations of the “I” and study it like just another object of mind.

By alternating between the two modes; (1) relaxing into basic openness, and (2) reaffirming the sense of subject-self, we are able to dig deeper into both modes, seeing the two modes with greater and greater clarity. Eventually we come to a point where the distinction collapses and the “I” is seen to have not substance, no basis in reality. This is what we call (initial) awakening.

While awakening doesn’t offer anything new in terms of fancy experiences or abilities, it is absolutely crucial for spiritual practitioners to awaken as soon as possible. Without awakening to the emptiness of the subject-I there is no hope of progressing effectively on the path of deconstructing the whole self-based psyche. Rather, it is likely that the practitioner will unconsciously use spiritual practice to strengthen the sense of self – the complete opposite of what the practice is designed for! - as the “I” attaches itself to every aspect of a life spent in full identification with “me”.

As the great Zen master Hakuin Ekaku said,

Anyone who would call himself a member of the Zen family must first of all achieve kenshō — realization of the Buddha's Way. If a person who has not achieved kensho says he is a follower of Zen, he is an outrageous fraud. A swindler pure and simple.

Therefore, do not postpone awakening to the way of basic wakefulness!

May all beings be free!

Further reading:
How to Become Awakened:

https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/113

Awake! Handbook of Awakening:
https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/114

How Zen Buddhism Can Be Bettered

How Zen Buddhism Can Be Bettered

In this text, I will use Hakuun Yasutani Roshi's instructions on just sitting, as a source for commentary of my own, where I present an idea how the training paradigm of zen buddhism, could be greatly enhanced. For those not familiar with Yasutani Hakuun Roshi, a rather famous figure of Japanese and Western Zen of the 20^th century, I recommend reading his Wikipedia page.

Yasutani Roshi's instruction of shikantaza, or just sitting, are from the book ”On Zen Practice: Body, Breath and Mind” by Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman. You can read this chapter that I will quote and comment below, from here. I would ask the reader to read his instructions carefully, to be sure that with my comments I am not mispresenting him.

Quotes from Yasutani Roshi, with added comments.

Yasutani: ...I will briefly explain how to practice shikantaza... This is the key to practicing shikantaza... Casting all sorts of self-centeredness away and making yourself as a clean sheet of paper; sit, just firmly sit...
In doing shikantaza you must maintain mental alertness, which is of particular importance to beginners - and even those who have been practicing ten years could still be called beginners! Often due to weak concentration, one becomes self-conscious or falls into a sort of trance or ecstatic state of mind...
When you thoroughly practice shikantaza you will sweat - even in the winter. Such intensely heightened alertness of mind cannot be maintained for long periods of time. You might think that you can maintain it for longer, but this state will naturally loosen. So sit half an hour to an hour, then stand up and do a period of kinhin, walking meditation.
During kinhin, relax the mind a little. Refresh yourself. Then sit down and continue shikantaza.
To do shikantaza does not mean to become without thoughts, yet, doing shikantaza, do not let your mind wander. Do not even contemplate enlightenment or becoming Buddha. As soon as such thoughts arise, you have stopped doing shikantaza...
Sit with such intensely heightened concentration, patience, and alertness that if someone were to touch you while you are sitting, there would be an electrical spark! Sitting thus, you return naturally to the original Buddha, the very nature of your being.



Kim's Comment: In his instructions, Yasutani quotes Dogen (see the original text), to indicate what shikantaza is. However, Yasutani's take on shikantaza is clearly different to Dogen's, because his instructions describe ”intensely heightened concentration”. Anyone who has studied vajrayana buddhism, and its clear expositions of meditation practices, can see that Yasutani confuses concentration practice or cultivation of one-pointedness (skt. samadhi, j. zanmai), as it is termed in zen buddhism, with effortless buddhanature sitting, which is what just sitting is. He confuses effort-based heightened concentration or heightened attention, with knowing awareness.



Yasutani: Then, almost anything can plunge you into the sudden realization that all beings are originally buddhas and all existence is perfect from the beginning. Experiencing this is called enlightenment...



Kim's Comment: Here, Yasutani describes how ”anything can plunge” the practitioners into ”sudden realization”, or kensho. This is where he unknowingly explains his erroneous pedagogy of just sitting. In the above bits, he gives instructions of sitting with high alertness, that can only be maintained for short periods of time, until it loosens. This is a classical description of samadhi meditation, which as many zen stories depict, is shattered by some sight, sound or event, which makes one see one's true nature (j. kensho). In a nutshell, Yasutani describes concentration practice of heightened intensity that is then plunged or shattered, which makes the natural state appear, to effect an insight, and he calls all of this with one term, that of shikantaza. This is where the pedagogical mistake is, for heightened concentration, or heightened attention is not the same as kensho, which is a synonym for shikantaza. For this reason, there is a significant difference between Yasutani's and Zen master Dogen's instructions.



Yasutani: In short, shikantaza is the actual practice of buddhahood itself from the very beginning - and, in diligently practicing shikantaza, when the time comes, one will realize that very fact. However, to practice in this manner can require a long time to attain enlightenment, and such practice should never be discontinued until one fully realizes enlightenment. Even after attaining great enlightenment and even if one becomes a roshi, one must continue to do shikantaza forever, simply because shikantaza is the actualization of enlightenment itself.

Kim's Comment: In correct buddhanature sitting, there is no beginning, realization or diligent practice. In correct shikantaza, there is no effort, nor distraction, such as drowsiness, to a slightest degree. I offer my further comments. 

 

Samsaric beings, such as myself, have two kinds of minds: one bound by confusion (samsaric mind) and the other one free (buddhanature). The way to illuminate the samsaric mind and its many traits, in Rinzai-style of zen buddhism, is to focus strongly and keep focusing strongly (samadhi), for in some cases several years, until some spontaneous event from outside occurs, breaks the samadhi, and in consequence, the practitioner momentarily sees his or her buddhanature. What happens with concentration practice, is that one becomes focused, instead of being distracted, while at the same time, establishing calmness of the mind. This is how it ideally is, but in some cases strong concentration, carried over a long period of time, can also create great health problems. For this reason instructions like this, without learning how to relax well, can be altogether counterproductive. In regards to strong sitting, I find it questionable what is the benefit of this for older people, from middle-aged and older, who many are already calm and in general have less vitality than younger people.

Being concentrated is in a way, being self-immersed, self-indulgent. Because the mind is restless and distractive, it requires a lot of training to be able to create a samadhi, a state of complete self-immersion or absorption. In rinzai zen, the logic is to create this samadhi which when it is accomplished, will be automatically smashed into bits by a sound or a sight, such as view of mountains, red Autumn leaf falling from a tree, barking of a dog, sound of rain, seeing of a flower or a yell of a zen master. The main point here is that the cause that shatters the samadhi, never comes from the mind of the practitioner him- or herself, because the mind is in samadhi, in a state of immersion, without thought. In tantric terms, the cause that generates kensho, always comes from outside of the practitioner's energy field.

In my view and experience, as well as those of my students, it is not necessary to generate samadhi first. I have discussed this in Rethinking Zen and Kensho, which mentions how the whole process could be made more efficient, through dynamic concentration. In the instruction above, Yasutani speaks of dynamic concentration, done silently, actually at a medium, rather than high intensity.

If the reader is not familiar how concentration is used in Open Heart, as in Tibetan dzogchen, we use short sharp shouts, like short vocal explosions, to cut through the many layers of the mind, to access and recognise the natural state. This is not unfamiliar to zen buddhism where teachers and students yell to each other, or in some lineages have shouted MUUU! for hours on end to have kensho.

The main difference between medium and (truly) high intensity focus is that with short explosion the desired outcome, that of recognition of buddhanature which is kensho, is accomplished in few seconds, while with medium concentration it takes a lot longer, for the above mentioned reason that one constantly gets distracted. Medium intensity concentration also needs to be fed with energy which makes it demanding of vitality and can even ruin one's health, as in the cases of young zen master Hakuin, and my own, for example.

It is a simple fact that the process of samadhi can be bypassed, while prioritizing the recognition of buddhanature. The essential point is that it is not through concentrative focus but through many kenshos that one becomes familiar of one's buddhanature.

Thank you for reading,

- Kim Katami, 10.12.2018

Helsinki, Finland.

In my book, available free of charge, I have given detailed instructions about dynamic concentration and its effectiveness, What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice.

See demonstrations of dynamic concentration, playlist here.

About zen, dzogchen and attainments

About zen, dzogchen and attainments


>It’s encouraging that you say that one can get to the 6th bhumi with classic vipashyana practices. Am I correct in saying that after awakening people in the group could carry on with their shikantaza practice?

For example. If a teacher of zen-tradition is awakened they usually are around 2-3-4 bhumis, opened not perfected. Zen-master Hakuin talked of his 18 kenshos but he was one among few exceptions. I've never seen anyone explain his kenshos. He surely did not have the same kensho again and again! I am pretty sure he was talking about bhumi openings, although he didn't use that word because bhumi opening feels like being awakened inside the awakened state, it just gets subtler and subtler, clearer and clearer. Then on the other hand I know soto zen teachers, famous ones, who after several decades of practice haven't even had the initial insight, opened their 1st bhumi. This is reflected in the way how they talk and describe things. I don't think there is a zen-teacher alive today who really knows what Dogen was talking about. I hope there was but I haven't met one. When they "just sit", they are more or less stuck in alaya vijnana. Have seen this with my own eyes.


Almost all great theravada-masters are 6th bhumis, opened not perfected. They seem to get stuck at this stage. Maybe it has to do with their motivation, lack of including all beings. Compassion is the key in opening bodhisattva bhumis, at least until 8th bhumi which is the abode of Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion. Vajrayana teachers, those who practice themselves and are sincere, are usually on bodhisattva bhumis, opened not perfected. Then there are many teachers of the Tibetan tradition who might have big organisations, fancy titles and everything yet are low in their bhumis, if even awakened. Then rarely someone on mahasiddha bhumis pops up but these are very rare. It's even more rare to meet someone who has all 13 bhumis open and the lowest 6 perfected and hence is a fully attained arhat. To meet a living buddha, who has all bhumis perfected is close to non-existent in physical body but it's great that Amma is there. This is just a brief comment. I think serious practitioners should take this stuff seriously. Any practically applicable system that can shed light on the level of attainments, either one's own or others can only be useful and of help.

By classic vipashyana I mean following some theravadan or mahayanan exposition of vipashyana. No, this assumption is not correct, in my view. Shikantaza is atiyoga. It is dzogchen, from the kadag/emptiness/selflessness perspective. Shikantaza is not a ”practice” and certainly not a practice of the generation/vipashyana stage. I am sorry to say this but I've seen many from zen "just sit". But they don't just sit, except for very brief periods, like glimpses of split seconds here and there. It actually seems that many people start taking back steps with zen. You know, common people with steady lives and basic morals might spend more time in selfless awareness (although switching back and forth with self-based mode) than zen buddhists during the first couple of decades of practice because the poor instructions become a barrier. They are given poorly analysed ways of practice. I've seen whole sanghas sit in the mud. By mud I am referring to alaya vijnana, substrate consciousness often talked about by dzogchen -masters. No real clarity. I am really sad to say this but that is how it is. There is no point to sit and sit and sit endless hours if you don't know what you're doing. I did so for over 20 000 hours. People rant and are in love with the idea of the natural state and ”just sitting” but they don't know what it means. They don't. No clue. So sorry to say this but I am just trying to help.


Someone wrote: "My first buddhist teacher was Kobun Chino Roshi. In one class, someone asked him how to get closer to his lineage or more involved with his lineage. His answer was to look into dzogchen." Another zen-teacher called John Denko Mortensen, who took up dzogchen after becoming a zen-teacher, said, "While zen-masters say weird things, dzogchen-people actually explain things". His excitement of a very different pedagogy in dzogchen which apparently was new to him, was audible. 
 
The point is that one needs to know a whole bunch of things to really make progress on the path. One needs to understand the mechanisms, how the mind works, what the elements are and have a cataloque of various practices to be able to make progress. We need to acknowledge that when we are at the foot of the mountain or at the side of the mountain, we are NOT at the top of the mountain. Dzogchen-masters like Longchenpa make this perfectly clear. One needs to practice vipashyana, in one form or the other. Without this knowledge it is unrealistic to speak of "attaing buddhahood in this life". Entirely unrealistic. Dzogchenpas such as Jigme Lingpa, have been clear about the difference of the subtle mud one can sit in for decades thinking that it is awareness or rigpa. I know such cases who spent decades sitting, doing retreats every month all year around, and yet their practice was subtly coloured. Some clarity, yes, but not abiding at home, still travelling. One needs to know the difference of samsara and nirvana, to able to go beyond both.


>To really do atiyoga practices, does one really need a teacher qualified in these and a lot of preparatory insightful investigation?


- One thing I know for certain: One needs to get awakened asap and then open the consecutive bhumis up till 11th. Then you know what atiyoga is. 9th bhumi seems to be some sort of a turning point to most but as 11th is the first mahasiddha bhumi, it isn't until then when you really know it and live it, without the need to do this or that all the time to fix attention or remove something.
That question of a qualified teacher is a tricky one. I am saying this with respect to all concerned. A particular rinpoche who is considered one of the greatest dzoghen masters alive today, said last August (or July) in webcast that "during activity his rigpa-state lasts for 3 seconds at a time". He said this as a response to some people who came to him and claimed to be in rigpa 24/7.
According to my bhumi analysis of him, his bhumi is 10, so he hasn't yet opened his first ms bhumi. From my own experience, and that of my teacher colleagues, I can testify that during the terrain of 9th-10th bhumis it was precisely like that: a few seconds of rigpa and then something else and then a few secs of rigpa again. This changes when hitting 11th. But the questions was about qualified teachers. Thousands of people worldwide from the Dalai Lama to many followers say that the rinpoche in question is a "dzogchen master". He is a great authority on dzogchen. A reality check is needed here. He can not be a master of rigpa as he comes in and out so markedly, according to his own words. It doesn't make sense, does it? There really is a need for some profound reality checks in vajrayana buddhism and dzogchen.

Kim, 2.2.2017.