Doing nothing. Just stand.

 

Doing Nothing. Just Stand.

Kim: The most difficult thing in (chi gong, zhan zhuang or yiquan) practice is to remain perfectly and yet effortlessly aware. To apply intent (yi), whether gentle or explosive, is momentary. Yi is started, it is kept and it is let go. This is yi.

We can compare this to any kind of concentration exercise and as anyone who has ever tried to keep one's focus (yi) on a single task for anything longer than few seconds, the various thoughts, ideas, memories and impressions make the mind distracted. This is also the case in yiquan. Although not all yiquan methods use this, typically an yiquan practitioner uses certain mental visualisations to learn about (1) the necessary correct alignment of the body, where the body is unified and joints are open and (2) to study the mechanics of well aligned body by applying gentle or forceful visualisations. This whole methodology is based on the principle of concentrated focus and being mindful of both the visualisations as well as sensations in the body.

For a long time in my own yiquan as well as meditation practice, I was interested to find the kind of ”basic mind” that is always present, always clear and never distracted. For a long time when I tried to stand zhan zhuang or sit in meditation without doing anything, without yi, I would sooner or later get distracted by different mental fluctuations. Then as my practice kept progressing, I started having longer and longer periods when this undistractable basic mind was there. This in turn made it possible to really ”just stand, doing nothing”. Little by little, I could just stand, without using yi, without getting distracted.

To me personally as I have been a ”spiritual seeker” as well as a martial artists since I was a child, it has been a great relief to finally, after decades of searching, lots of practice, study and experimentation, to be able to ”just stand” without getting distracted. I have met and studied with a number of yiquan, chi gong and tai chi teachers but it is very difficult to find a person who would be able to discuss this (which is why I began this thread here now, in case others have this issue too). Anyhow.

My inner martial art practice has been on and off as I realised pretty early on that if I wanted to find and establish this ”basic mind” in my practice, I would need to focus on meditation first, and then only after that take it into martial arts.

I don't actually feel like a ”martial artist” anymore, not for a long time because I don't have any interest in fighting or match skills, not really even push hands.

Kim, 1.7.2021

Heartmind of a Buddha

 

Heartmind of a Buddha

Removal of self-based ignorance and discovering the natural radiance of all good qualities, are the main tasks of meditation.

First, the sense of limited self is removed from all mind phenomena through emptiness meditation.

Then, all good qualities, like immaculate purity, kindness and sweetness, radiate freely, as the enlightened nature of the buddha within is openly expressed.

Heartmind of a buddha, nature of wakefulness, has no stain in it.

Those who seize it, have not the palest of shadows in their minds, not during the day, not during the night.

When delusion caused by the self dies, it doesn't suffer pain. When the self has died, it is dead for good and does not resurrect.

When the self is dead, actions do not leave a trail like a flying bird doesn't leave footprints.

 

In the heartmind of a buddha, thoughts come only to express pureness and goodness. Pureness and goodness is what our wakeful nature is. Our foundation is entirely good and pure, and in the life of a buddha only good actions take place. This is like a meadow of beautiful flowers entirely devoid of weeds. Thoughts are expressions of buddhanature. There is no one who doesn't have this potential.

In the heartmind of a buddha, there is no thought of harm or doubt. In the heartmind of a buddha, there is no sneakiness or darkness. In the heartmind of a buddha there are no hidden currents or unpleasant secrets. Subconscious mind has turned into a body of awakening without blind spots or sudden impulses.

The heartmind of a buddha is awake and clear, positive and understanding, loves and cares, is pure and good, is simple and joyful without any reason. The is no one who doesn't have such innate sincerity and love as their ground. There is no one who doesn't have this mind of perfect loving wakefulness. You have it, I have it, everyone you ever met, has the heartmind of a buddha.

Have trust in the teaching of the past greats and like them make dharma your own. There is no reason to be a beggar, no reason to feel all the turmoil and confusion, other than your own habits and beliefs. Know yourself as love! Know yourself as goodness! Know that only the sense of me-ness prevents you from being a wakeful buddha.

-Kim Katami, 25.9.2020

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Pemako Buddhism www.pemakobudhism.com

Lama Karl Eikrem: Alternative Approach to a Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit

Alternative Approach to a

Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit

By: Lama Karl Eikrem 

In today's society, there is no shortage of approaches to improve the health of one's mind, body and spirit. Regularly, we are presented with techniques and programs to reach our full potential; special diets, health programs, psychological tools, motivational exercises, the list goes on. Many of these tools have great benefit, but looking at the present condition of our society, the question remains: do they address the core issue of human dis-ease? 

Authentic spiritual practice aims not so much at improving our relative condition, but takes a step back and invites us to study ourselves as we truly are. This is because the root problem of our discontentment is not that we are unhealthy or stressed, that we don't work out enough, or eat a healthy diet, it is not that are unhappy or dissatisfied with our lives. Rather, the reason is that we do not know the nature of ourselves, the nature of being. How can we possibly find true contentment if we do not know ourselves? 

At the centre of this existential confusion lies the belief in a separate sense of self, in an entity cut off from the external world. If you ask somebody where their sense of self is located, they will probably point to their body, more specifically their head. But is there anything solid in there? Is there some unchanging entity within ourselves, to which we can attach the label "me"? 

This question is the starting point on the path to a truly healthy body, mind and spirit. 

If we start looking closely into this matter, we'll soon come to the realisation that there is no such thing as an "I" to be experienced anywhere. Nevertheless, if left uninvestigated, this basic sense of “me” will continue to attach itself to thoughts and emotions, reinforcing itself through a network of self-based beliefs and opinions; political views, occupation, status, wealth, achievements and so on, all labelled as "mine". 

Because the illusory nature of "I" is dependent on more and more things to identify with, merely trying to improve ourselves, without getting to know ourselves, will not lead to lasting contentment. 

Pemako Buddhism offers high-precision meditative tools to investigate both the notion of "me", leading to what is labelled "awakening"; the permanent dropping off of the notion of self, as well for purifying the reaction patterns, emotional traumas and mental filters that hinder us in experiencing the world directly, as it really is. 

By deconstructing the conceptual beliefs about ourselves, others and the world in general, certain qualities start revealing themselves to us. Equanimity, joy, love and compassion start becoming a part of our everyday lives. Indeed, as we progress on the path of releasing mental and physical tensions, we come to realise that these qualities were never separate from us in the first place. Instead of confining ourselves to "I", "me" and "mine", we realise that we are in fact the brilliant clarity of selfless awareness itself. Thus knowing ourselves is indeed the true meaning of a healthy mind, body and spirit. 

May all beings be free! 

Pemako Buddhism Website: www.pemakobuddhism.com

Daniel Brown: Developing Positive Qualities of Mind

 

Daniel Brown:

Developing Positive Qualities of Mind

”In the essence traditions (tantra, mahamudra and dzogchen) the theory is that this is all about buddhanature and awakening to your true nature. Another thing that came out in essence traditions that is really strong is the appreciation that it's not all about suffering, that the positive qualities of mind are much better to facilitate meditation practice, and much better for mental health than just eradicating suffering. Eradication of suffering doesn't lead to the positive qualities of mind, you have to develop them and it's important. There is a lot of positivity in this Third Turning of the Wheel.” 

- Daniel Brown, Sacred Sundays interview, 47:40

A Brief (and Funny) Note About The Primitive Behaviour of Human Animals

A Brief (and Funny) Note About

The Primitive Behaviour of

Human Animals

Human behaviour is more primitive than we might want to admit. We are capable of creating art and show compassion for strangers but at the same time we also act like undeveloped simpletons, blindly following drives and needs such as survival, procreation, eating and sleeping in our daily life. When our most basic needs are not met, our animalistic nature is shown. In untrained and ethically poorly defined mind, greater potential and subtleties are nonexistent.

We look and measure other people, just like animals do and label them safe or unsafe, desirable or undesirable, attractive or unattractive. Here's a funny story.

Several years ago I used to go to a restaurant that was attached to a gas station. I frequented that place every day, as did about a dozen of male manual labourers. I used an entrance that was just next to the dining area. I opened the door and stepped in. Hearing the noise of the door and seeing someone come in, these guys always raised their heads from their plates to see who came in. At first, I didn't think much of it until I figured, that them probably not realising it, they were measuring me to find out whether I was alpha, someone tough and potentially dangerous or if I was weak and no threat to them. For few months, every day that I went there, I stepped onto their territory in a relaxed manner, wiping my shoes gently into the door mat, not making a number about myself. As I came in appearing like someone who didn't have much power, the guys just shrugged their shoulders, maybe even chuckled at me. Then one day I came up with a social experiment to test whether my perception of the situation was correct or not. The next day when I stepped in, I hit my boots strongly against the mat, pretending to shake snow off of them, and coughed loudly with chest broadly opened chest. With my strong masculine habitus I sent these guys a message that I was not someone they could fuck with and their reaction about me was instantly different. They put their heads down quickly, instead of taking a long judgemental look at me. They quickly returned to mind their own business, instead of passing a judgement of my inferiority. I was amused. I thought of pushing my experiment further, by walking to someone's table, looking them straight into their eyeball and taking their plate. This is a pronounced example but similar things happen every day. My point is that animal behaviour is very much part of our human life. I recall another example.

Even a neanderthal finds it funny.

Once I was travelling from Helsinki to Northern Norway to do a retreat there and had to change planes at Oslo airport. I had time, so I went to a cafe to have lunch. I sat down and noticed that there was a gentleman, dressed up in a very fancy suit on the table in front of me. I overheard from conversation he was having with his friend that his name was Frank. Funny thing about Frank was that even when he clearly was someone who had money and taste, and therefore likely life and lifestyle that reflected his wealth and class, everytime he took a bite of his food, he hunched over it and in a strange, bit of aggressive way glanced at his surroundings, as if someone was after his sandwich. I was looking at this man, probably in his 60's, with a stylish haircut, dressed in what might have been a 2000 dollar suite, act like an aggressive lion over its prey. It was both absurd and extremely funny! I played with a thought of going over and grabbing that sandwich but I think Frank had bitten me in the neck, if I had! I had never before seen human being act exactly like an animal.

-Kim, 3.7.2019

Going Back To The Source Of Looking

Going Back To The Source Of Looking

Dr. Jordan Peterson,

”Our eyes are always pointing at things we are interested in approaching, or investigating, or looking for, or having. We must see, but to see, we must aim, so we are always aiming. Our minds are built on the hunting-and-gathering platforms of our bodies. To hunt is to specify a target, track it, and throw at it. To gather is to specify and to grasp. We fling stones, and spears, and boomerangs. We toss balls through hoops, and hit pucks into nets, and curl carved granite rocks down the ice onto horizontal bull’s-eyes. We launch projectiles at targets with bows, guns, rifles, and rockets. We hurl insults, launch plans, and pitch ideas. We succeed when we score a goal or hit a target. We fail, or sin, when we do not (as the word "sin" means to miss the mark). We cannot navigate without something to aim at, and while we are in this world, we must always navigate.”

Dr. Jordan Peterson

Animals, most of them anyway, remain attentive of their surroundings. They do this to know whether they are safe or not. Human beings also go into this primitive mode, for example in stressful situations. Soldiers of special forces, such as SEALs, are taught how to disengage from tunnel vision caused by fearful reaction by returning peripheral vision by looking left and right, which is a classic meditation exercise in the buddhist tradition. Our gaze reveals and reflects our mental state, whether instinctual, habitual or meditative.

Seeking from Outside

In the above quote, Dr. Peterson describes what in yogic teachings is called seeking from outside. Yogic tradition says that unsatisfied beings seek pleasures and relief to their existential confusion outside of themselves, rather than from within. It is an instinctual habit for humans to seek happiness and acceptance from outside. We try to fill the void within with foods, drinks, love, sex, money, possessions or by asking affirmative responses from our boss or parents. We go about our life by trying to fill the void within. However, the nature of all experiences, pleasant or unpleasant, is that they pass and therefore cannot make us permanently content.

The tragedy of habitual seeking is that it takes a lot of repetition and a solid belief in the material world, until people begin to realise that pleasures are fleeting. A new car or an amazing orgasm won't keep us happy for long. When relief and satisfaction vane, again, we begin to seek from outside and so it continues. We blindly follow our wants and desires. This is cyclical existence, going around in circles, bumping our head to the same wall again and again. This is ignorance of our true condition.

Becoming Aware of the Origin of Looking

Teachings of yogic meditation are primarily interested in breaking the vicious cycle of seeking. It is unsatisfactory so why keep repeating it? When we manage to do that, stop seeking from outside, our mind comes to rest in its natural condition. When that happens a recognition of our natural state takes place. At that moment, our mind meets and merges with its source. This source is called by many names in religious and philosophical traditions. The name for it is irrelevant, may those so inclined debate on that. However, the actual experience of it changes lives and liberates. There is nothing more satisfactory than knowing oneself without a narrow identity and a storyline. The thought of this experience might be scary but the actual experience is very pleasant, imbued with freedom, clearmindedness and creativity.

So, we aim our attention to our externals. We project our gaze to things. We looks at things, one after the other, we seek, we seek, we seek... When we do this from morning until night, we become tired because our vital energy gets scattered. What happens here can be compared to beacon that projects its beam of light outwards. As mentioned, this is seeking from outside that can never make us happy.

A simple way to stop looking outside is to bring our attention back to the physical eyes and the area behind the eyes inside our head. When we become aware that we have gone into the searching mode, looking at things external to us, we simply bring our attention back into the head or back to the source of beacon's light. This can be learned after a little bit of experimenting.

What happens with this is that becoming aware of the source of looking, interrupts seeking (1) and makes us aware of our natural mind (2) that is effortlessly aware and knows things, experiences and events appearing in the mind.

Fulfillment

Tradition of yoga is very old. It has specialized in solving existential problems caused by the sense of us having a self or me within us, in our thoughts, ideas and emotional reactions. Through the valuable teachings and meditative exercises such as the one above, it offers to solve our internal conflicts by making us aware of our liberated condition. Numerous generations of female and male practitioners have verified, that such methods are effective in solving neurotic and deluded behaviour. By becoming aware of our instinctual and habitual human animal behaviour, yogic practice helps us become clearminded, satisfied and realistic human beings, not by adding anything to us but by recognising what we already are.

Thank you for reading,

-Kim Katami, 29.6.2019
Open Heart Sangha,

www.en.openheart.fi

What Is Depression And How To Heal It?

What Is Depression And

How To Heal It?

By Kim Katami

Open Heart, www.en.openheart.fi

This short article views depression and ways of healing it from yogic or meditational, as well as existential perspective.

What Is Depression?

Depression, like all other forms of mental illness, is a vicious impediment and many in the modern societies suffer from it. Western psychology and modern medicine offers aids in the healing of it as do various methods of yogic meditation.

Depression is a state of mind that causes partial or complete paralysis of one's mental and emotional functions. Severe depression makes one unable to exercise one's own will power. In cases of lesser depression, one is still capable of momentary exercise of will which makes the healing of the illness quicker.

To someone depressed, distraction due to great volume of thoughts or out of proportion emotions are not a problem. In fact, a depressed person has few thoughts and emotions. Depressed person is not restless.

According to yogic psychology, depression is caused by something called substrate consciousness or simply, subconscious mind. Typical for this aspect of the human mind is emotional flatness and dullness from lesser to greater degree. Normal functions of thinking, feeling, enthusiasm and happiness are clouded by grey veils of the subconscious mind. These mind-fogs put the concerned person into a state of paralysis and meaninglessness.

The psychological anatomy of man can be categorized in the following way(*):

1. Subject-self. Me, I.

2. Object-selves. Thoughts and emotions.

3. Substrate consciousness. The basis of all phenomena.

4. Awareness. Buddha-nature.

(*) from What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice

Before discussing ways of healing depression, I'd like to consider the cause of depression from the existential perspective.

Why Am I Here? Life Without Deeper Meaning

Jordan Peterson, clinical psychologist and author, from Advice for People With Depression,

”People who don't have enough order in their life tend to get overwhelmed. If someone comes to see me and says they're depressed, I always ask them a standard set of questions. Do you have a job? If you don't have a job you are really in trouble in our society. First of all, your biological rhythms tend to go off the rail because there is no reason to go to bed at any particular time and there is no reason to get up... They also don't have a purpose. People aren't good without a purpose... We absolutely understand the circuitry that underlies positive emotion, we know how it works. Almost all the positive emotions that any of you are likely to experience in your life will not be a consequence of attaining things. It will be a consequence to see that things are working, as you proceed towards a goal you value. That's completely different and you need to know this because people are often stunned... So if you don't have a job, you don't have structure. That's not good, plus you tend not to have a point, so you are overwhelmed by chaotic lack of structure and you don't have any positive emotion... Sometimes you see people who are depressed who have no job, no friends, no intimate relationships, they have an additional health problem and they have an alcohol-drug problem. My experience has been that if you have three of those problems, it's almost impossible to help you. You're so deeply mired in chaos that you can't get out... One of the things I tell people who are depressed is to get a job. You need a job, find some friends, get out in the dating circuit, see if you can establish an intimate relationship. Put together some foundational pillars that your life rests on. That's the practical thing to do.”

Dr. Peterson also mentions the helpfulness of anti-depressants for those severely depressed.

What I would like to add to this rather typical, and I am sure often helpful set of practical advice, is to consider whether the depressed person is miserable due to existential reasons.

Personally, I suffered from depression for many years in my youth. It wasn't diagnosed, and therefore not correctly understood by people around me, which is why I often got the same advice as Dr. Peterson offers above: just get a job, get friends, just do this, just do that and if you can't do that, start taking drugs and then do it. By this statement I do not mean to misinterpret Dr. Peterson who I greatly admire. I am simply formulating the way depression is typically viewed.

Problem with this advice is this.

What if the person in question finds no value in getting up in the morning to get to a meaningless job? What if she or he finds no value in pursuing the common options of education, career or intimate relationships, that others do? What if these things mean nothing to her? What if her problem is more foundational than that?

Having been a professional meditation teacher for over 10 years, I have met hundreds of people who, like me, suffered of depression, had no meaning in life and were existentially lost. If this is the cause of depression, then the only way to become healed of it, is to recognise oneself not as the human storyline with its successes and failures, but as boundless freedom, devoid of the sense of me-ness. It is deeply unfulfilling and unsatisfactory to only know oneself as an entity tied into one's physical body and whatever culture and people we are surrounded with. This existential crisis cannot be fixed with common worldly solutions, for the only way to solve it is to go beyond time, place and the personal storyline, and access the ground of being that is nameless, ageless, timeless and groundless, ever fresh, brimming with liveliness and common to all living beings. Different main streams or vehicles (skt. yana) of buddhism look at this task from their own perspectives but common to all of them is to offer ways to quench this fundamental existential hunger. This is what dharma is for, to give experiential answers to existential questions.

How To Heal Depression?

Substrate consciousness, that part of the human psychology that causes depression, is not at all foreign to yogis, professionals and masters of meditation. It has been discussed by adepts and practitioners for many hundreds of years and therefore yogic traditions have ways of dealing with it, in other words, they have ways of dealing with the part of mind that causes depression.

Here, I would like to present one and very effective way for healing depression by recognition of the natural state, one's natural innate stress-free condition. It is called Dynamic Concentration, which is an uncommon form of concentration practice.

Concentration practices are commonly taught with low intensity. For example, when mindfulness of the movement of the breath (p. anapanasati, skt. prana apana smriti) is taught, the student is instructed to keep his attention gently on the breath and return the attention back to the object when distracted. In a similar way, when mantras are recited, they are always recited with gentle concentration, never with high intensity, with stronger or even explosive focus.

This light or gentle focus can be compared to a volume knob of a stereo system. In this example light focus is analoguous to low level which produces low but still audible volume of music. This would equal perhaps 5-10% of the total volume output. However, the volume knob can be turned higher. It goes up to 30%, 60%, 90% and with each level we hear a corresponding change in the volume. Turning the volume high has an immediate effect. In this analogy, zero would equal not having concentration at all, yet not being distracted either, i.e. the natural state. 90% would already be very loud and not very enjoyable for an extended period of time. However we all have times in our lives when for a moment we want to turn up the music. And how wonderful it is! The neighbours maybe don't like it but it is fun nevertheless.

Regardless whether we follow the breath or chant mantras, the same can be done in yogic practice. Dynamic focus greatly changes the effect of the concentration practice. With light focus, as in commonly known shamatha, with constant distractions it takes time to calm the monkey mind. Whether an exercise of light focus ever cuts through the layers of the subconscious and substrate minds is rightly questionable. It takes years of long hours of daily training to build the muscle of concentration to get the benefits of shamatha meditation (tib. shine). This approach is followed by a large number of Buddhist methods. I think that there are better and more effective ways of doing the training, especially for householders whose daily time for practice is limited.

Concentration can be momentarily heigthened, like turning the volume knob high suddenly to create a short (0.3-2 seconds) explosion-like, momentary peak. This creates a quick punch of sorts, like an explosion that can be controlled. This punch hits through all of samsaric mind and reveals the natural state in a very short period of time. We are discussing an exercise that indirectly has been used in Buddhism and many other yoga and dharma teachings for centuries through meditation, recitation, religious art and yogic exercise and yet very few schools have realised the immense value of dynamic concentration to give it a central place in their teachings...

Dynamic concentration can be adapted to fit the view and practices of any yogic approach... It is very easy for anyone to test whether dynamic concentration really works. All you need is a few minutes of time and a comfortable place to try it(*).

(*) from What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice

The Effect of Dynamic Concentration In Pictures

From these pictures you can observe what Dynamic Concentration, sharp use of focus, actually does in one's mind and how the explosive power disperses the greyness and foggyness of mind that the substrate produces, to reveal the natural clarity of the normal state.

Bird seen naturally, without depression or other forms of distraction.

From left to right: 1. Bird seen naturally. 2. Bird seen during mild depression. 3. Bird seen during strong depression. 4. Bird seen during very strong depression.

From left to right: 1. Bird seen partially naturally after some Dynamic Concentration practice. 2. Bird seen even more naturally after more Dynamic Concentration practice. 3. Bird seen almost completely naturally, without the grey layers of substrate mind, after a proper and decisive use of Dynamic Concentration.

Conclusion

I guess all humans question their existence at some degree in some stage of their lives. For some, it passes quickly and doesn't grow to become a great issue or even the most important issue in one's whole life, while it does for some. Whether one considers her- or himself to be on the spiritual path or not, one can have illnesses and ailments, both physical and psychological, according to one's karma and genetics. 

In this short article I have tried to convey the basic understanding of depression and the structure of the human mind, and described a simple exercise how depression or many other types of mental obscurations can be dealt with.

Thank you for reading,

-Kim Katami, 27.6.2019

Open Heart Sangha,

www.en.openheart.fi

Read more about Dynamic Concentration from What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice and watch video examples of this exercise on this playlist at YouTube.

Becoming a Master of Pranayama or Tsa Lung

Becoming a Master of Pranayama

or Tsa Lung

Our mind is like an engine that runs on the fuel of prana (tib. lung), through the numerous pipes and bits of machinery, or channels (skt. nadi, tib. tsa) and centers (skt. chakra). Obstructions (skt. klesha) and karmic files are stored on the inner walls of channels and centers, like dirt and grease sticks to the kitchen drain. This dirt is the impulsive self-based reactions we experience in our everyday mind. Me this, me that, on and on, round and round.

Buddhist meditation adresses the existential confusion (skt. dukkha) created by this with emptiness meditation which means removing the sense of self from all and any dirt that arises. The dirt from the inner walls of the pipes is removed and in this way the fuel or prana that courses through the system becomes a manifestation of wisdom and natural liberation.

It is a somewhat common belief in the world of yoga, that this could be achieved through breathing practices, that is, pranayama or tsalung. That is not the case. In fact, anyone who has tried solving existential confusion mainly with breathing practices of any sort, knows that it simple cannot achieve that. Actually, increasing the amount of prana in the system can make one's confusion even worse, even physically and mentally ill. Imagine a greater quantity of prana coursing through the system without the reduction of selfing... That's a recipe for disaster. For this reason, in all old yogic systems I am aware of, breathing practices were never practiced separately from prayers, mantras, guru yoga and deity yoga, that cultivate energy subtler than prana, that is, energy of awareness. Energy of awareness keeps prana in check, so one who follows this principle never ends up having health problems because of pranic overload, although problems can arise from one's karma.

As a principle, mastery of prana is mastery of the mind. In other words, mastery of prana is the mastery of samsara. Only fully liberated ones have complete mastery of prana. Others don't.

Mastery of the yogic practice of pranayama or tsalung, on the other hand, I would say, is when the mind and the prana coursing through it makes no surprises anymore. By surprises I mean not having entirely new experiences, positive or negative, anymore.

In the context of Open Heart practice and Open Heart Bhumi Model, this comes about around opening of all bhumis and perfecting few of them.

Thank you,

• Kim, 20.6.2019

Open Heart, www.en.openheart.fi

Not Having A Lineage By Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

Not Having A Lineage

By Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

from Magic Dance

"Some people think lineage depends on a teacher. Especially some easterners believe that westerners cannot have lineage because they are not linked from birth to a spiritual teacher. Unless we are nihilists and believe only in the visible, we cannot judge the spiritual qualities of someone who has no visible teacher in this life. If someone takes water from the tap because we have not seen them take it from the source, is this reason to say it is not water? On a pilgrimage, pilgrims need a guide at first, but when they know the path, they can go alone. In the end, just because they have no visible guide, we cannot say they do not know the path. Of course, for most people lineage depends on a visible teacher and in general if we can find a good teacher it is necessary to have a guide. But according to the Buddhist tradition, if we believe in karma, we believe that because some people had a visible teacher in previous lives and have experience with the pure essence of their elements, they can be reborn to become enlightened without depending on a visible teacher in this life. Even if we have one hundred teachers, when we separate from our natural mind, we have broken lineage. Even if we have no teacher, when we are connected to our natural mind, we have true Wisdom Mind lineage."

That Was Emptiness!

That Was Emptiness!

There is little agreement between buddhist schools and lineages about what is what and the qualifications. Some have low standards, some high, some think they have high standards when in fact they have low standards. The point is that there is little consensus, so who can be considered an authority?

Anyway, buddhism is concerned with confusion and removing of it. That's all buddhism is meant to do and the way it is done, is through the emptiness principle. Emptiness or selflessness means that we come to perceive ourselves and all things in our mind, having no solidity, no entityness, no fixed existence. That's all. Everything else is just an elaboration of this core teaching. This very point removes all of our problems, because it removes all of our narrowminded selfing.

Stream entry is known by most schools of buddhism, although the names vary and the methods of getting there vary. For the sake of clarity and simplicity I'll call it awakening. What is awakening? What's the point of it?

We have basically two minds: 1. basic mind that is clear, pure, untainted and without confusion and 2. confused mind that is the construction of the self, in various forms. We are confused because we are stuck in the self-based mind, without knowing the basic mind and that the confused mind is actually also the basic mind. The purpose of vipashyana meditation, that is typical to buddhism, is to enable us to see that me, my thoughts, my emotions and my subtle body is actually the basic mind that is free and has no confilct. The purpose of buddhist meditation is to see and realise this simple fact. This realisation comes about through glimpses, awakening and integration. Awakening or stream entry is the first irreversible hit, or a blow, that causes the sharpest peak of our selfing to collapse, so that it won't reconstruct. This cannot be accomplished through calmning down meditation, although it is useful in the process.

An analogy of a glimpse, where a dog represents the basic mind that has no self. Imagine you are sitting in front of a small window, hoping to see the dog on the other side of it. If we haven't seen the dog, we don't know what to expect, even if we know other people's descriptions of it. Then, out of nowhere, the dog runs past the window. Swoosh! All we see is smudge run by. We are not completely sure how the dog looked because it went by so quickly but we saw it well enough to see that it had four legs, a tail, two ears and had the general appearance of a dog, just like the dog specialist said it would. This is a glimpse of the basic mind. It is something but it is not enough for us to see the dog well, so that we'd have certainty about the dog.

Awakening is different from glimpse. You sit behind the window again, hoping to see the dog, and then all of a sudden it comes, sits down, right behind the glass for a brief moment, during which you can see it perfectly for the first time ever, until it stands up and runs away again. Ah! That's it! That was the dog! Woohoo! Maybe you have such initial joy and wonder, many do. After the initial excitement passes, you realise that seeing the dog has somehow changed you. You no longer feel the same as before. Something is clearly different and its so much better now. You feel more you, freer, clearer, more natural, chest doesn't feel heavy and so on. It's all because you saw the dog, your true nature, without "you", the entity, in it. And because you did, it deconstructed your sense of self as an entity. That's why you feel different post-awakening. Now you gained unshakable certainty about the dog.

Whether we call this awakening, kensho, stream entry or anything else, is of no importance. The importance is on what it does to one's confusion and dissatisfaction, that, as I said above is the heart and soul of buddhism. What matters the most is how our confusion, or self, comes torn down, or seen through.

Now, some say that awakening is this or awakening is that, and are keen to deny if some single specific criterion is not checked. "You're still getting angry, huh? Well, that wasn't stream entry then". "You can't have your finger chopped off, without screaming on top of your lungs and becoming grudgeful against your abusers? Oh, you certainly didn't wake up!". As I said, there is little consensus but the way I see it, is like I explained above. What matters most is the selfless hole in the mind, that no longer has selfing in it, and that is also what is most meaningful for the person her- or himself. Whether one can read other peoples minds, walk on water, have light shining from one's heart, see past lives and so on, are just side dishes, somethign extra that you can do without. Emptiness is the main meal that fills the belly.

Bringing light to the darkest pit

Bringing light to the darkest pit

This is actually a very interesting and profound thing, the matter of meeting and blending with things and situations.

When we are in self-mode, our being becomes contracted in time and place, that is becomes localised. When we are in selfless mode, our natural state, we are not localised in the same way even though our physical body of course has a concretic form and exists in time and space. So, when we are in our natural state with open mind and receiving heart, we can meet things as they come and blend with them. I am not saying that we can "accept" everything because not every thing we meet can be accepted due to common morals but still things can be met with and be blended with skillfully, with warmth and clarity of our true being.

This skill of meeting and blending is subtle thing, or actually not really a thing because it is based in natural awareness itself. When we are or true beings, we can feel it and know it through our bodies. When someone investigatingly touches you when you are in selfless mode, it can be felt concretically that the body feels different. This is a reference to Testing the Mind of Meditation, find a blog text and Tube video with that title.

So, meeting and blesing is subtle happening and if we are encased to a self, we cannot meet people, things and situations naturally. Unconditional compassion means that by relaxing we insist being in the natural mode. It is such a relief. Whatever comes to us then is not a problem be it praise that would make us feel egoistically elevated or hatred and aggression that we would ordinarily meeth with fight or flight reaction or "spiritually by trying to accept it". In our natural mode, we don't need to accept because everything is already accepted and blended with. But as said, this doesn't mean that everything is OK all the time. If that would be the case it would be dark as in the midnight during midday but this is not the case, isn't it. On a relative level we do have high and low, good and bad, stupidity and wisdom.

So, next time when you notice that oh-ou that ego of yours rears it's ugly head with some nasty thoughts and emotions, give it full freedom to do so. Pain may come, ache may be, the emotion of being pissed off can come completely freely. Give it some understanding, give it a blanket to keep warm and some warm soup, instead of trying to fix it or remove it. "Here, Blind Rage, my old buddy, have a seat and take comfort in this body. Stay as long as you want, no hurry. Enjoy the muscles and bones of this body. Create pain as much as you want. It's totally fine."

As Mother Machig Labdron famously said:

"Confess your hidden faults.

Approach what you find repulsive.

Help those you think you cannot help.

Anything you are attached to, give that.

Go to the places that scare you."

It is a pitfall to want to have happiness and joy. It's an egotrip. By meeting and blending with whatever causes discomfort, pain and suffering, that is the rocketship that all mahasiddhas have taken to reach the full moon that never waxes or wanes.

Metta Meditation with a Dzogchen Spin

Metta Meditation with a

Dzogchen Spin

Metta or loving-kindness is widely practiced form of buddhist meditation. The idea is to wish happiness and relief of all forms discomfort to oneself, to one's friends and people who are experiened to be difficult and challenging. Although some schools of buddhism say that metta only concerns wishing happiness and health to the person or people meditated upon, personally I think that the motivation of compassion is metta as well.

(Click below to listen Dzogchen Metta-Guided Practice)

Dzogchen rigpa and loving-kindness

The essence of all spirituality is nondual awareness. Dzogchen-tradition calls this awareness with the name rigpa. Rigpa is both calm and self-empty awareness but it is also imbued with life. Rigpa brims with liveliness. This liveliness is what the mind-masters of all traditions have described as love, kindness, compassion and bodhicitta.

Loving-kindness in common metta meditation practice is applied through 'silent repetitions of phrases like “may you be happy” or “may you be free from suffering” (1.)'. This is a wonderful way to break self-based bondages and to open one's heartmind.

But as noted, from the dzogchen perspective, from the perspective of rigpa as an actual experience, it already contains loving-kindness. This can be understood on a experiential level quite easily.

Human-related traumas

Us all have lived innumerable lives both in human and other forms. If we look the humanity at large, we can instantly see that people are hurting and have ill-will towards other people. This trait is deeply imprinted in our psyche. Even though (fortunately) only few of us make careers out of it, i.e. indulge in harming others, for most of us it is only momentarily. But even short moments of self-deluded violence, either as an initiator or as a target, can and does make our lives immensely difficult emotionally. Psychological tension and trauma is created which is then stored into our energy bodies, that is, minds. This is then carried from life to life, unless the traumas aren't untangled.

This is a simple example, not to even think of previous lives as conquerors, soldiers, robbers, killers and murderers that we all have been. The human kind is deeply traumatised by these actions, both karmically and from generation to generation transmission.

This is where spiritual practice, metta and recognition of the natural state comes in.

Healing of human-traumas

When we grow in the recognition of rigpa, at some point it happens that rigpa becomes a prevailing state. By this I am referring to opening the 11^th bhumi as taught in Open Heart-teachings. At this point we naturally come to understand the classic texts of the ancient masters yet have no need for them, at least not because of the same reasons as before.

In my personal experience, the above mentioned stage gives a whole different spin on dharma, buddhas, guru, meditation, path, spirituality and especially on being a human being. This opening into our natural state, to our home, at least for myself, has brought up a need for healing.

Buddhas as humans

One thing the nondual meditative traditions in general do not use is physical touch as an aid for psycho-spiritual practice. Usually physical contact is discouraged, it is not thought of as something that could be useful. But it is. Physical touch and bodywork is utterly human and for this reason very beneficial.

Here's a simple technique for metta meditation with a dzogchen spin.

1. If you are still having momentary glimpses of rigpa and have not yet opened your 11^th bhumi, practice atiyoga for some time. Recognise the natural state and embody it by going through the embodiment sequence.
2. Continue with a pair. Sit against each other with a fellow practitioner, woman or man, make physical connection by holding hands and by looking into each others eyes. Remain in the state of dzogchen/atiyoga together.
3. For the practice not to become too emphasized in the ultimate aspect (two truths), move your body, arms, head and eyes every minute or so. The point is not to forget the relative condition of the bodymind but the opposite, to practice bodymind-based metta very humanly from the ultimate point of view.
4. Be honest and open, don't hold back. If and when traumas come up, let them come, don't try to hide or hold them back. This is common meditation instuction.
5. Sit together for at least a few minutes or longer, up to 30-60 minutes.
6. Share your experiences verbally or simply smile and move on.

I feel that even though we are humans only momentarily, we can benefit of this a lot by using our human condition. This is the beauty of being a human in the first place. There is so much potential to tap.

Even though I have great limitations myself and certainly do not have the brightest of minds, I'm always interested in studying, analysing and updating the old ways of practice by digging into the root principles of our bodies, minds, heart and awareness. I hope this text is of some use and benefit to you.

Thank you for reading,

- Kim Katami, 6.12.2016

Open Heart,

www.openheart.fi

Four doorways to home (rigpa)

Four doorways to home (rigpa)

Five years ago I wrote a book called Four Houses of Enlightenment which is an explanation of the so called four dantiens (ch. dantien, jap. tanden) known from Taoism (and it's various practices), and their relation to natural awareness (rigpa). Since then, my understanding of these four doorways has changed and developed. This text is a concise version of this topic.

Inside the space of the physical body there are three (non-physical) areas that act as doorways to natural awareness. I like to call this natural awareness, or rigpa, simply as ”home” because that is what it is, our home as clear, calm, loving and knowing awareness, devoid of me, yet having a will.

Each of these doorways are areas about the size of one's own fist. First is at the lower belly, slightly under the level of the navel, deep in the gut. Second is deep inside the chest and is sometimes referred to as the ”spiritual heart”. Third is inside the head at the level of the eyes. Fourth is not inside the body (and is not the size of one's fist) but relates to the three highest of the seven chakra-centers above the head. These three chakras also relate to what in Open Heart Bhumi Model are known as mahasiddha bhumis. Through all four of these one can access home, if the instructions are correct. I say that the instructions need to be correct because there are many teachings that basicly teaches about this and yet doesn't.

The way how one can use any of the doorways is to bring one's attention to the mentioned location and just be openly aware of what happens in one's body and mind. The doorways are sort of like balls or bubbles that one's awareness has to penetrate and unite with. This is something that cannot be done with force, but rather with gentle attention. The way how you know ”you're in” is that seeking, questioning and selfing stops. Your mind becomes clear, lucid and subtle brimming with life. At first it will be short moments until it grows on you but even short moments make a difference.

In the beginning it doesn't matter which door you choose as your main doorway. Essentially all the doors ”get you to the same location” even though they have subtle distinguishing characters as well. In the long run, I feel, it is importat not to get stuck in using only one doorway because this has the potential pitfall of onesided interpretation.

The four doorways are not four separate things, but one underlying whole. As is taught in orthodox dzogchen, there is one special energy channel (tib. kati, skt. amrita nadi*) that goes from the eye balls to the crown and to heart, similarly there are these four doorways. These doorways are not ”made of” ordinary energy channels but of extraordinary ones that are beyond cause and effect. These areas do not store karmas but are ever pure and clear. They are doorways to home for anyone. And everyone is invited.

*according to Machig Labdron

When we are talking about these four doorways, we are really talking about the most profound essence of all yogas. This is the teaching of great perfection or dzogchen. There is nothing more profound than this.

About two years ago I was taught a series of meditation practices by mahasiddha Vimalamitra. This series is known by the name of Wisdom Meditations or Vimalamitra sem dzin in Open Heart-teachings. We have an ongoing 3-year meditation course that focuses on these practices.

However, I have to admit that regarding the mentioned first doorway, I didn't understand it until very recently. You see, the way I understood this doorway was how it is cultivated and applied in Japanese rinzai zen buddhism. I trained in that tradition for a couple of years back in the day and always remained a big ”tanden” or ”hara” fan. However, at some point I started to feel that essentially it is mistaken to teach about the energetic tautness of the lower belly or hara because then one is really stil working with the ordinary channels and energetic sensations arising from them. I feel that the way it, gut practice, has originally been in zen buddhism must have been the way I am presenting it here but whether this is historically true or not doesn't make a difference. When going in through the doorway of the gut, there is no tautness and there is no need to cultivate or build a ”strong hara” with special kind of body posturing and breathing techniques as the Japanese traditions say. One is not working with ordinary pranic energies here. Therefore, I feel, that at some point in history some mistakes lurked in into zen buddhism and probably taoism also. But gee... The zen-priests of the ancient times must have been amazing if they applied the gut-door the right way. You know, zen-people sit hours and hours on end on daily basis. This cannot but have a great and tasty fruit.

Regarding the second and third doorways it is necessary to emphasize that they are not the heart and forehead chakras that are commonly known. These two centers, again, are made of ordinary channels and therefore they don't do so well as doorways. If you are working with the ordinary channels, you mind keeps busy with thoughts, forms and lights and there is no profound clarity of home. In both cases one has to go deep inside the body to access them. Deep inside the chest, deep inside the head.

Fourth of these doorways is a bit more tricky to locate because the mentioned centers are high above one's crown, floating high up there. It is not impossible but one needs to have very good concentration and attention skills to be able to differentitate between the higher centers. But a simple and functional way to do go in through this door is to relax, open up and surrender to it. Tibetan Heart Yoga has techniques for this, as well, but essentially all one needs to do is to surrender to the rain that falls on you.

Here, as with all doorways, it is important to recognise the three characteristics: 1. calmness and clarity, 2. aliveness, lovingness, compassion and 3. knowingness, cognizance that is selfless.

So there. I hope you found this useful.

Thank you.

Kim