True peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge through Jesus

 

True peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge through Jesus

(continued from: http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2023/02/is-it-possible-to-heal-trauma-fully-yes.html)

Uma: I don't entirely agree that Psychology is a totally Sutric method, as research has shown that it is within the relationship between the person and the therapist that healing can take place. So giving someone your respect, undivided attention, understanding, care and love is what helps, and therapies that work best have this relationship as a basis.

Having said that, it is true that due to constraints placed on National Health Service Psychologists related to economics, the best that they can do is to 'stick a plaster on it' and help the person to live as well as possible with the trauma. Healing takes time, and time is money. Not many people can afford lengthy private treatment.

It would be great though if Psychologists could use tantric methods, in addition to the energy created within the therapeutic relationship

Baba: In sutra dharma there is also relationship between teacher and student so that is not what separates sutra from tantra. Empowerments and transmissions do but as you know guru yoga, for example, can be practiced without an empowerment.

That is an interesting point because even most of us western non-practicing christians learned some basic prayers in childhood that invite the blessings of God and Jesus Christ. Inviting Jesus to us *is* guru yoga, so most westerners are already somewhat familiar with the concept even if they weren't taught anything more specific about it.

It is a pity that the christian establishment messed things up so bad. It started quite soon after Jesus resurrected and continues to this day. Consequentially, like I've seen over the years, western yoga meditators get upset even by the mentioning of Jesus's name because they associate him with all the bad, immoral, wrong and dogmatic things exercised by the religious establishment.

From a different perspective, it is very fortunate that the christian establishment exists because of the baptism of babies, and sometimes adults. When a person is baptized it creates a direct karmic connection with Jesus. That is extremely precious even if people have no clue about its effect or are non-practicing christians. It is like taking refuge in buddha, dharma and sangha. These things have a huge impact but to get back to our topic, this karmic link or seed needs to be taken care of and embraced in a non-dogmatic way. In general terms, spirituality needs to be brought back and specifically through Jesus because he's the greatest and best known world guru (skt. vishwa guru) ever.

I think this is the way to bring true peace, mental health, sanity and knowledge (skt jnana) to many people. In the context of psychological therapy, this could be something for therapists to look into. 

 

 

Sangha - The Next Buddha

 

Sangha - The Next Buddha

Many buddhists think about the coming of Maitreya Buddha in the future. It is said that Maitreya is the next great buddha who will come to revitalise the teaching of reality (dharma) when it has deteriorated too much. Maybe this view is right as there has been great buddhas in the past too. However, I like to play with this thought and interpret the meaning of Maitreya Buddha in a different way.

Buddhism has had many problems with guru worship and how our spiritual masters are seen as super heroes with superior abilities, that common people don't have. It doesn't help that scriptures speak about attainments in such aggrandizing and mystical manner.

Anyhow, I think that the culture should grow beyond hero figures, beyond spiritual idols and the community - sangha - should be the next one to become a buddha. The world needs idols and examples but what is more important is understanding that we all have buddhanature and that it can be realised in a single lifetime. 

 

Photo of Maitreya Buddha's statue

This understanding of our potential as well as the methods that would enable full buddhahood without having to spend decades in intensive full time practice. However, even though such methods are rare, they do exist and because of this fact it is potentially possible for the sangha to be the next buddha.

Imagine the world with not just a handful of mahasiddhas (buddhas), but each sangha, or perhaps every other, or at least every tenth(!) sangha with a number of mahasiddhas. Imagine how different the dharma culture would be... How different the world would be... This is a dream, but it could actually be reality.

 

What I mean by this is normalisation or casualisation of buddhahood. Buddhahood brought near and within the reach of any practitioner who is serious about exhausting all phenomena. I dream of such striking pragmatism in dharma that the ultimate attainment, like the very first shifts and stages that are now openly spoken in more or less traditional circles, among many thousands of people worldwide, would be discussed, approached and attained with the same efficacy. This is not that impossible of a task though there are major challenges. 

 

What I know of ancient India and Tibet, it has been similar but I don't think buddhahood has ever been brought as close to (so many) people as what I mean here.

 

But, you know, I'm just a fellow with big dreams without that much of impact to the world culture of dharma... but I'll do my best. The second edition of my book, that I hope to publish at the end of this year or early 2022, will include first hand accounts of a handful of people from our sangha who have attained exhaustion of all phenomena. It will be precise and down-to-earth, without nonsense. 

 

I pray and hope that this simple act will send ripples throughout the world to start an avalanche of true dharma! But you know the world is what it is...

 

-Kim, 21.5.2021

Harvest Is At Hand

 

Harvest Is At Hand

All beings have buddhanature. All humans have buddhanature and of course, all practitioners have buddhanature. However, despite of this basic fact it is uncommon for practitioners to truly come to know themselves as perfectly fresh beings devoid of any delusion, abound with love and compassion.

It is a simple fact that very few people out of tens of millions of practitioners worldwide become graduates, fully enlightened buddhas, in a single lifetime. It means that from the methods that many people follow, most get small benefits while only few get great benefits. Instead of the majority of sanghas becoming fully enlightened buddhas or awakened to a mature degree, there arise one or two people who become to be considered as outstanding practitioners who are then seen as special. Yet, at the same time more than one or two people have a deep yearning to become enlightened.

This means that there is a gap between the innate potential and revealing it. This question has been burning in my mind since I became disillusioned about old, traditional, ”timetested” methods of yoga and meditation that actually didn't work well despite of backbreaking efforts. I know many who have had the same problem.

First of all, if you want to get true benefits of your practice (through recognising yourself as a buddha), you need to keep asking questions. This is something most people don't do because they trust those timetested methods along others. Practices, when practiced correctly, need and are required to deliver glimpses and insights of recognition on continual basis from the very beginning of practice until the final goal of buddhahood. As long as practice is continued, there should be no plateuing but if practice is continued and plateuing still happens, there is something very wrong with the practice! This is common sense.

Pragmatic Dharma

I teach and practice pragmatic dharma (See Vince Horn's article Core Features of Pragmatic Dharma). This means that in Pemako Buddhist Sangha we discuss openly and publicly about our meditative and spiritual experiences, incl. awakening experiences and enlightenment. Dr Daniel Brown, who has made public statements about the advancement of his students, incl. that two people in their sangha have attained buddhahood, is also an example of this. This is out of the norm in buddhist culture, though it has been done historically as well. We do this for the simple reason that it is highly beneficial for the whole community, and hopefully as beneficial to dharma culture in general.

For many years myself and our practitioners have talked and given written accounts of their awakening experiences, or technically bhumi openings and bhumi perfections. If I remember correctly, I started announcing awakenings (1st bhumi opening) of my students in the Spring of 2014 which is exactly 7 years ago. Since then I've kept giving brief monthly or bi-monthly reports about the advancement of our sangha members in Facebook. We do this in more detail in our closed Facebook group that is only for sangha members. 

 

We have a strong sangha of 70 people worldwide most of who attend several retreats each year, on top of their daily home practice. I began this post by discussing the gap between the innate potential of buddhanature and lack of knowhow to access it, so perhaps I'll say a bit more about that.

The Pemako method has several unique features. Not only is our method pragmatic, that alone gives a very different feel to it in comparison to secretive methods, we do practices that no one else in the whole world does, literally. I have discussed all of this on regular basis for many years so I won't repeat what I have said before but I'll remind that we haven't invented anything new, just reshaped and refreshed the form of our practice. It is the way how the foundational principles are formulated into exercises and how these exercises are understood and practiced, what makes the difference.

When people write me and tell about their training in other styles and then Pemako, one of the things they often communicate is their frustration of not getting anywhere. This stuck happens because people are not taught the basics well, in a simple language that they could easily understand. Then a whole new world opens for them when they meet Pemako teachings and learn the basics of tantra and dzogchen, taught in simple and no-nonsense manner. Opening of a new world means repeated recognitions of oneself as a buddha.

So, without exact knowhow the distance between the potential and lived experience of it, becomes impossible to catch up. Also from this basic problem many other problems germinate which is how yogas turn into religions. Vice versa, when the method allows recognition from the start many positive features come from it, such as harmony in the sangha (which is a rarity) and the journey from unawakened state to fully enlightened state becomes swift.

Fruition

Last month I wrote a blog about Long Cessations: How Buddhahood is Actually Attained. For context, please read it if you haven't.

In few years time I will be able to give detailed statistics on this, based on 8-10 cases, but at the moment it looks like earnest Pemako practitioners attain buddhahood, perfection of 1-10 bhumis, in 6-8 years on average. Soon and during this year, I will probably be able to break news of a handful of practitioners who have reached full fruition in their practice, including some personal details. Due to the uncommon nature of this information, the accounts will be anonymous for the public but as openly celebrated as any other awakening experiences within our sangha. Harvest is at hand.

May you be filled with the grace of the buddha within,

-Kim, 9.4.2021

The Five Pillars of Open Heart by Lama Karl Eikrem

The Five Pillars of Open Heart

by Lama Karl Eikrem

Whenever the teachings of the Lotus-Born are manifested in this world, and a new lineage born, a basic structure takes form. This structure consists of five pillars, each of which has three layers of meaning: outer, inner and absolute. 

The five pillars are the Guru, His Pure Land, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and their levels of meaning are as follows:

The outer meaning of Guru refers to the revealer of the teachings, the head of the lineage. The inner meaning of Guru refers to the energetic presence and blessings of Guru Rinpoche, the master. The absolute meaning of Guru refers to Self-Arising Awareness itself. 

The outer meaning of His Pure Land refers to the center of teaching, or temple. The inner meaning of His Pure Land refers to the vibratory field of the Copper-Coloured Mountain. The absolute meaning of His Pure Land refers to Self-Arising Awareness itself. 

The outer meaning of Buddha refers to the Shakyamuni Buddha, who laid the foundation. The inner meaning of Buddha refers to Bodhicitta, the key to enlightenment. The absolute meaning of Buddha refers to Self-Arising Awareness itself. 

The outer meaning of Dharma refers to the teachings of sutra. The inner meaning of Dharma refers to the teachings of tantra. The absolute meaning of Dharma refers to Self-Arising Awareness itself. 

The outer meaning of Sangha refers to the community of practitioners. The inner sangha refers to the community of all sentient beings. The absolute meaning of Sangha refers to Self-Arising Awareness itself.

May all beings be free!
All beings are free!