From Beginningless Past to Endless Future

 

From Beginningless Past to Endless Future

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

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

This is the love we are.

Kim, 11.10.2021

Open Secrets of the Rainbow Body

 

Open Secrets of the Rainbow Body

To practice atiyoga means to recognise the utterly obvious and simple freedom and peace that is already present in the body and in the mind. The so called great perfection isn't anything else but this simple, naked, joyful, playful and restful reality that already permeates our being and our day to day life. Simple presence is here, and here, and here... All life rests in this great perfection and is an embodiment of it. This is not advanced spirituality or "advanced dharma", it is the reality right now. Free of drama... Simple... Clear... In this presence all beings are equal.
To remind about this simplicity here is a picture of Dilgo Rinpoche, a fully enlightened man.

Receiving and giving a loving hug,

Smiling and laughing together with friends and strangers,

Dancing with joy, enjoying a drink,

Surrendering to love, offering a helping hand

Feeling and sharing ways of happiness, and

Healing those who are ill,

-Are all methods of thogal,

Ways to attain the great perfection of love and light.

- Kim Katami 

Pemako Buddhism, 

www.pemakobuddhism.com

Become a monthly supporter or make a single donation here: https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/34566

 

Cessation

Cessation

What I always liked about photos taken right after shifts is how people's faces, like Ugi's here, look as if they've just been thrown with a bucket of cold water. There's kind of a shock there. That's how cessation looks like.

If you are not familiar with the word cessation, that is a hot word in buddhist yoga :) Cessation refers to ceasing of notions and impressions, or ceasing of all self-based mind processes. It is discussed and described everywhere in both buddhist and hindu scriptures. In Sanskrit words such as nirvana, nirodha and nirodha samapatti are used to refer to this experience which actually is an opposite of experience because cessation is rather ceasing of all kinds of experiences. 

 

Tibetan word trekcho, that is frequently used in dzogchen is samapatti in sanskrit which means "correct recognition of reality" or "correct recognition of truth". There are different interpretations of its meaning and there are short and extensive commentaries that discuss it. By all means, study those sources.

Long story short, all bhumi openings and perfections are cessations, so you already know its meaning and profundity of it. When selfing ceases, be it for 1 second, for a day or for good, yourself as a buddha shows up. This is what buddhahood means: to be free of selfing (gross and subtle) that happens in time and place. The first stage of buddhahood is a complete cessation, as the whole karmic body (bhumis 1-10) ceases to spin the dualistic notions and conceptions of me, other and all kind of phenomena. 

 

Yup. Have a nice day all and remember that each one of us is the source of blessings. We are already what we seek. 　

Kim

Sameness of Yogic Practices

Sameness of Yogic Practices

I firmly believe that all yogic traditions like buddhism, hinduism, taoism and christianity have at some stages known and offered paths to full enlightenment. They still do in varying degree. One thing that enchants me is the similarity of practices in different traditions. 
 
For example, in this photo you can see me sitting in meditation, or to be exact nonmeditation (skt abhavana), as it is known in Great Seal of Natural Awareness tradition (skt mahamudra). To be specific, this is a photo of an upward gaze of Leaping Over to the Great Enjoyment (tib thogal long ku, vyutkrantaka sambhogakaya). 

 
In most buddhist meditations separation is made between clarity aspect and energy aspect. For example, vipashyana and metta or cutting through and leaping over (tib trekcho and thogal, samapatti and vyutkrantaka). Same principles are in shaiva tantra as Siva and Shakti where the former is masculine principle and the latter feminine. 
 
In many systems of hindu yoga, incl shaiva tantra that I’m familiar with, this gaze is known as Seal of the Divine Feminine (skt shambhavi mudra), or Seal of the Divine Energy. This mudra or meditation is practiced in both dzogchen of Tibet and tantra of Southern India, to realise the divine energy of enjoyment. To me, it is obvious that both traditions are referring to same principles and using the exact same practices... which I think is really cool. I do believe that there has been and still is, or at least could be, fully enlightened masters or mahasiddhas in all yogic traditions. 
 
However, it is also my experience that a lot of yogic knowledge is scattered and that it is very rare to find everything one needs to know in one place. To gather the foundational knowledge and practices together is something I was told to do many years ago by my masters and I have.

Love and blessings to all,

Kim

God Took Him With The Body by Ivo Kalushev

God Took Him With The Body

by Ivo Kalushev

”Nobody "verify" this kind of result in christian mystical tradition. When after death, they discover that the body is missing from the tomb after just couple of days, they just consider that "God took him with the body also", and they consider this as a sign of his great spiritual realization. That's it. You can find a lot of recordings of facts like this in some texts called "teachings of the olders". I remember a story which impressed me, from such a texts of "desert fathers", about a monk, who came suddenly at a monastery in Sinai, become a monk, practiced the contemplative hesychast tradition very seriously in his cell, without talking almost with anybody, and after some years died suddenly, and his body disappeared from the tomb after couple of days. Even the authors if this old texts asked themselves who was this man, what was his real name, what was his history before coming to the monastery.. But they all praised his high spiritual realization, his great humbleness... At the highest stage; the practitioner will experience "the Uncreated Light" continuously, without any break, even in sleep, and here they acquire all kinds of extraordinary power: levitation, extraordinary knowledge, etc. But the essential characteristics of this advanced practitioners/saints is the overwhelming love, and the extraordinary capacity to sacrifice themselves for anybody, (with great joy!), a deep humility, and (the essential aspect) the continuous experience of "Uncreated Light". There are hundreds of example like this in the history of orthodox Christianity. But what impressed me the most is the fact that in the texts which records this facts, there are also a lot of references at a strange phenomenon: sometimes when a great saint like this one died, his body was impossible to be found in the next days. This is a very known phenomenon, and it is considered a clear sign that the realization of that individual was so complete, that "God took him with the body" also.

Tibetan buddhist nun who attained small rainbow body in 2016.

Tibetan buddhist nun who attained small rainbow body in 2016.

In Bulgaria, where I come from, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition there are numerous instances of what appears to be the lesser rainbow body among the early isihast mystics. The body shrinking to the size of an infant is considered a very common sign of spiritual accomplishment and these remains are preserved in many, many monasteries throughout the land to this day. Anyone can go to the Rila Monastery to see one of the most famous remains of St. Ivan Rilski, but the same goes for many other places and for Greece too where many such remains are also kept. On Mt. Athos presumably the isihast practices are even still preserved and practiced, although generally not in the monasteries but only by the hermit community in the caves. The knowledge of these shrunken bodies was very common when I grew up. It was even taught in school as a normal part of the Orthodox tradition and everyone was very comfortable with the idea as everyone had seen these relics as they are all over our monasteries. I have seen them numerous times when I was a kid. Almost every major monastery has one - either a full body or a limb, or fingers, etc. They are all the size of an infant. The isihast tradition was very deep, they practiced only in caves, the teacher-disciple connection was of paramount importance and it was all oral transmission. From what I heard during my childhood they definitely had some thogal-like practices using postures and light."

See also: Bodily Dissolution in Dzogchen, https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2019/10/bodily-dissolution-in-dzogchen-by-fr.html

Basics of Natural Awareness (Dzogchen) Part 1

Basics of Natural Awareness 
Part 1 (Dzogchen)

Here, I'd like to present some information of the basics of great perfection (tib. dzogchen) as passed to yours truly by the great mahasiddha Vimalamitra. I've mentioned these two aspects of natural awareness or knowing awareness (tib. rigpa) briefly here. Later I will add another text on this topic covering two more aspects of rigpa.

The reader may keep in mind, that the author's knowledge of dzogchen has not been derived from the exponents of the traditional orthodox Tibetan dzogchen but directly from the mentioned master or masters. In this text, I compare the teachings received by yours truly with a traditional presentation of dzogchen by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama.

Rigpa

Rigpa which could be translated as "knowing awareness" is a term often heard in Tibetan buddhism and dzogchen. This term, rigpa, points out to a distinct state of our awareness which is natural, unobstructed and always present. Rigpa is described as the "ground" of our being. For a meditator, these description give clear hints of what this rigpa actually is. When elements of thought and emotion subside, the ground of awareness becomes revealed. This is the primary purpose of meditation and spiritual practices, to know ourselves as open spaciousness, as awareness, devoid of any entity.

Dalai Lama* on rigpa: "Generally speaking, when we use the word sem, we are referring to mind when it is temporarily obscured and distorted by thoughts based upon dualistic perceptions of subject and object. When we are discussing pure awareness, genuine consciousness or awareness free of such distorting thought patterns, then the term rigpa is employed".

Aspects of rigpa

In traditional Tibetan dzogchen, rigpa is presented in four different ways. Pure awareness is said to have four aspects to it. Terms of the first two aspects used in traditional Tibetan dzogchen are:

1. Gzhi rigpa - Basis of knowing (gzhi - basis, rigpa - knowing)
2. Ngobo rigpa - Essence of knowing (ngobo/ngowoi - essence, rigpa - knowing)

From Dalai Lama's book* we can find the next translations of these terms:

Gzhi-ground
Rigpa - awareness, pure awareness
Gzhi rigpa - ground awareness/rigpa
Ngobo rigpa - essential awareness/rigpa

As the meanings of these terms are difficult to grasp, I'd like to translate them in the light of my own experience, as transmitted and received from my master.

The two aspects of rigpa can be described as:

1. Thoughtless awareness (gzhi rigpa) and
2. Thoughtless awareness imbued with life and love (ngobo rigpa)

As an experience

First, we have a state of awareness which is devoid of any sort of thought or emotion (gzhi rigpa). Here, thoughtlessness should be taken literally as "no mental content" at all. This thoughtless awareness is the ground or basis of our being, again devoid of entity. Getting to know awareness without any mental stuff is sort of the first "relief" that a beginner of meditation meets with. But again, for it to qualify as gzhi rigpa, according to Vimalamitra, it has to be entirely without thought. This can be accessed briefly, for a second or two, by most beginners and the longer one continues to practice, the more sustained it becomes. The key is to return to it again and again.

The second aspect of ngobo or ngowoi rigpa, is based on the first one, throughtlessness, but has an additional flavour to it, that of extremely sweet lovingness. When speaking of lovingness or lifeness of rigpa, it should be remembered that the love which is referred to here is not gross emotion common to biased mind but rather very subtle one combined with extreme clarity of awareness. Thoughtlessness, emotionlessness, sweetness and clarity are simultaneous. So, the first rigpa is thoughtless and the second is both thoughtless as well as imbued with pure aliveness, pure sweetness. 

It's pretty simple and anyone can glimpse it briefly for their benefit. However, despite of the simplicity of it, it should be said that when speaking of a really comprehensive recognition of rigpa, one has completely and permanently extinguished the confused mind (purity of mind). This is the minimum requirement for it. In the Open Heart Bhumi Model, this would refer to the 6th bhumi or higher.

Conclusion

From this explanation we can come to understand that these aspects of rigpa are not something lofty or distant. Rather, these aspects of pure awareness are the ground of each of us. When in one way or the other the obscured dualistic mind (tib. sem) is momentarily bypassed, the knowing awareness reveals itself and recognises itself. With further practice, this natural recognition becomes extended while the obscured mind gradually looses it's grip. For a fully blown master (mahasiddha/buddha) this state is uninterrupted.

I hope this explanation sheds some light on these commonly used terms.

Thank you for reading. 

- Baba Kim Katami




Open Heart
www.openheart.fi

*Dalai Lama's book: Dzogchen, Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, Snow Lion.

Related links

• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/01/full-list-of-my-teachers-and-masters.html
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/02/loving-kindness-and-awareness.html
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/01/my-connection-with-living-buddhas.html  
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/02/stages-of-spiritual-attainment.html