Buddhahood! Will We Ever Get There!?!?

 

Buddhahood!

Will We Ever Get There!?!?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I guess we'll see when the time arrives.

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

Kim Rinpoche, 22.11.2020

Pemako Buddhism

www.pemakobuddhism.com

About Trauma, Therapy and Tantric Trauma Therapy

 

About Trauma, Therapy and

Tantric Trauma Therapy

Hi William. I went back to your first message to get a better understanding where you're coming from as you mention "psychological problems". You wrote,

"1) are you seeing a therapist? Do it if you are not. 2) This may be related to early life issues, so they may overlap. You have to feel them, but do feel them in the wisest way. It will take time-- feel your body and breath. 3) This is your work as a human, it sucks that it doesn't immediately go away, but this is what you have to work with."

So you are talking about trauma, right? You also say,

"Natural State is apart from us, we are it and it makes up the essence of the issues we have. But in of itself--it will not cure all our psychological problems".

I see where you're coming from and in most cases I agree with you that recognition of the natural state may not heal emotional trauma, just like it won't effect a full release of karmic tendencies (full enlightenment) but the methods vary greatly.

The natural state can be viewed in the context of trauma therapy. I know from my own teaching and practice experience. Traumas vary, some have big some small traumas, but for example when talking about human related trauma, the tantric meditational practice of applying the pure view to 1) oneself and 2) to those people who caused the trauma, maybe parents for example, is a very effective trauma healing.

Here you can find a simplified and secularised form of this exercise presented by Daniel Brown, mahamudra teacher: https://youtu.be/z2au4jtL0O4

As a dzogchen practitioner, you can probably see that he is applying pure view to one's parents.

On the same breath I would like to present this quote from Gary Van Warmerdam,from https://pathwaytohappiness.com/blog/podcast/66-trauma-symptoms-and-treatments/

"You may have been trying to change your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors through certain modalities of talk therapy or self help programs or meditation/mindfulness, and those are going to be ineffective if you have a trauma history. And surprisingly a lot of people have a lot more trauma history than just a small percentage. And so If you’ve been struggling with making changing in your thought process and negative thinking and emotional state and depression/anxiety, there may be other causes to that that need to be addressed in different ways. Because, if you have trauma in your history, talk therapy is not going to work; the general approaches of therapy don’t work; some do; but there are specific treatments for trauma that are effective. So if you have that as a source of these emotional, negative thinking and behavior patterns, to get the right tool to get to the source of the problem is what I’m hoping to convey. Someone that is working through a trauma history needs to do practices that address the nervous system more directly. Effects from trauma can lead to symptoms that look like ADHD, anger issues, anxiety/panic attacks, depression, OCD, strong self judgment, bipolar, anything that’s labeled with a disorder after it is often the result of trauma. People try to solve these issues or talk about theses issues, but they are not getting to the source of what is happening in the brain and nervous system so they end of going around in circles, not really solving it. You need a different tool set to solve this...[for example,] with sexual abuse, when triggered, your thinking is not going to solve it, your mindfulness meditation exercises aren't going to solve it, because what you do with your conscious awareness attention does not get deep enough into the layers to address these primal protective functions. You can't think your way out of overriding the limbic system. That's why there's very specific treatments for trauma.” - Gary Van Warmerdam

There are lots of pscyhologists and psychotherapists saying that talking therapies in many cases are ineffective and can cause retraumatisation.

So, when saying that the natural state doesn't heal one's emotional traumas, based on my experience, I disagree, but it is all about the application and context.

In case if you're interested in this I suggest you find a FB group called Pemako Buddhism.com. There will be some guided videos published about the Tantric Trauma Therapy that I mention, free of charge.

Kim

About Bhumis and Prejudice

 

About Bhumis and Prejudice

I've taken a long break of bhumi work. I haven't done bhumi analyses for... at least a year. I did so many of them, literally around 5000 during the past several years, so I got fed up and needed a break. Then, this past week I've noticed myself thinking of doing bhumi analyses again and today I thought of publishing a series of bhumi analyses of well known teachers. That didn't go well back in 2016... at all... For those who don't know what happened back then, I'll tell you.

In late Summer of 2016 I published couple of dozen photographs of well known buddhist and other spiritual teachers, all very public figures, with my bhumi analyses according to the Open Heart Bhumi Model. I've discussed this model with great detail in my freely available book What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice.

I published the photos in my blog each with a bhumi measurement. The series included for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, other leaders and Tibetan buddhist teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ramana Maharishi, bunch of zen teachers, theravadans and so on. I'm trying to come up with the most fitting description how my "Bhumi Study Series" was received by the internet. The word that best describes it, is: shitstorm.

I had never witnessed aggressive religious fundamentalism before but I sure witnessed it back then. It came to me as a total surprise. My point of view was that I felt I was trying to make sense of the path and stages of the spiritual path from unawakened state to fully enlightened state, also known as buddhahood. Even though buddhism offers a number of path maps with stages, these are not used by anyone so the whole discussion about shifts or awakening experiences is a completely grey area. Out of many millions of meditators in buddhism, not to mention other systems, few know where they are on the map or whether they even are on the map. I had received this bhumi mapping system (that I've explained in my book) from my gurus, so I knew I had a solution. I was simply trying to help and offer a solution that worked for anyone, regardless of their chosen methods or paths. I really thought I was doing everyone a big favour. Fundamentalists didn't see it that way and a massive shitstorm broke. They hated it and instantly rejected it. In their mind, I had crossed a sacred line and discussed the levels of attainment of their precious gurus. That was something they weren't going to tolerate. It was too much for them so they instantly called it bogus, branded me crazy and banned me from their discussions.

I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't hurt. It hurt a lot. That was real aggression and I got lots of it. Had I been on sight, I'm pretty sure I would have been chased and attacked. At the same time these emotionally charged reactions confirmed to me what I had analysed in my thousands of analyses. Bhumi openings or their closedness, and the degree of purification of mind (i.e. bhumi perfection), is reflected in the actions of men, and since I was treated very meanly, it was and still is an indication that my analyses not only about the various spiritual leaders but also their students, were correct. For some time I tried to have a dialogue with these people, explaining how it worked etc. But as they weren't capable of it, I decided to remove the analyses from my blog and find a hole to lick my wounds.

I still find it hard to believe how and why(!) would anyone be so offended about 1. differences in view which in this case meant that even if attainments are not traditionally openly discussed, they still can be discussed, and 2. things that could be empirically tested, tried and learned. To me, who am a bit of an engineer, it was mind boggling why would anyone get mad about a thorough explanation how it all works... But that was exactly what I didn't understand about the samsaric mind before, at least not well enough, so I stepped right into it...

See, when you've invested all your life into any form of religion or spirituality that you think is going to take you ”all the way”, even if you don't know exactly how and when, and then comes in some bastard who maps your favourite religious leader very low on the spectrum, it can piss people off!!! Because of the time-money-energy-investment and religious belief, very few people who have been following this or that method for many years, are willing to admit that they've wasted their time-money and energy. Samsaric mind, even that of ”practitioners”, gets attached and attachment as dharma teaches us, makes people angry.

I can and do symphatize with that, as I feel I wasted most of my 8½ years of continuous retreat doing practices that were only distantly relevent, or actually not very relevant at all with my wish to get awakened. I wasted my best years because I believed as blindly as so many out there. I thought I was open minded the whole time but really, I was fixated, I was attached, I was a believer... I trusted without the slightest doubt training systems that ”had been passed down in an unbroken lineage since the founder of buddhism to our generation” and taught ”practices that were time tested” and therefore offered very reliable tools. I heard that sales pitch so many times and bought it without questioning... until several years and literally twenty-four-thousand hours of practice later... No, it didn't work as promised... My time-energy-and money was mostly wasted. I was pissed off about that for years myself!

Later when I started to talk about this with others, I met many people who had been disillusioned about the ”tradition” like myself. It was clear that there was something very wrong with how the basics were or weren't taught by the traditions. I say traditions in plural because the same problems exist everywhere. I base this not only on my own bhumi analyses but also in discussions with hundreds of practicioners and many teachers of various incl. Tibetan buddhism, zen, theravada, advaita and so on. It is actually interesting how some come to see the issues or problems in training methods, their teachers, their communities and their culture, while others don't. I think this has a lot to do with readiness or merit as it is commonly known. If you really want the truth, you can't settle for poor answers. A lot of people start with that pure need for knowing the reality but get distracted along the way, usually with all the externals such as forms and rituals, authorisations, hierarchiesand stuff like that, and end up fundamentalists, usually subtly.

So, anyway, that is what happened back in 2016 and that's behind me now. However, now that I've taken a break of bhumi work and feel refreshed about it, I cannot help thinking about the benefits of the 13 Bhumi Model. It is not particular to Pemako Buddhism or me. It is universal. We all have bhumis because we all have the same energy body with channels and centers. We all have bhumi centers that can be perceived. We all have bhumi centers that are either closed or open, and if they are open, they are on their way to be entirely purified, or perfected. Open Heart Bhumi Model is an excellent model, an excellent path map. It matters not what people think about it because it works... And it applies to everyone out there...

I wouldn't want to start another shitstorm but I do wonder how could I represent the bhumi model in a way that is attractive and interesting to people.

Much love and blessings. You are the real deal.

Kim Katami, 23.10.2020

Ramana, Eckhart Tolle and Bhumis

 

Ramana, Eckhart Tolle and Bhumis

Q: Ramana and Eckhart Tolle have such a "enlightenened" way about them and still I am supposed to be more enlightened than they are

Kim: Both Tolle an Ramana have had decades to mature within their few opened bhumis, and decades to talk about it. You've opened a bunch of bhumis literally this and last year, and haven't had any time to soak in it, so you don't know what hit you... and you're still going ahead with openings. Eventually, if you haven't already, you'll open all of them and start perfecting them, if not this year, then next year. Can you see how different is your situation to theirs? You also as a young man don't have the life experiences Tolle has and that gives him confidence. 

 

-Let's think about bhumis in a different way. Is it better or more advanced to have 3 open or 8 open? 8 of course. Is there difference between someone who opened 3 bhumis 10 years ago and has kept practicing, is maybe close or has perfected them 3, compared to the person who opened 8 bhumis this year? Probably the one with 3 (close to perfected) is more settled. If both had same time to mature, then it would be the other way around. How about if we compare that same person with 3 close to perfection to someone who opened all 13 bhumis just recently? On 99% of cases I'd go with the person who opened mahasiddha bhumis because that person has stable natural state. The reason why I say 99% is because even if all bhumis are open, one can be too traumatised so that the subconscious tension just doesn't allow proper recognition. When the guard caused by trauma goes down however there is instantly a recognition, not of calmness but of the natural state. So I'd actually top it up to 100%.

-Then how about if we compared someone who has 6 bhumis perfected (arhat) to someone who has all bhumis open but none perfected, both's attainments this year. It gets a bit tricky here but I'd still go for all open. Six bhumis perfected gives a firm base but if the consecutive bhumis are closed, the whole feel and taste of it is entirely partial. Having mahasiddha bhumis open on the other hand, even in a bodymind that has none perfected, is like a continuous breeze of fresh air, and from there it is very easy, in relative terms, to integrate the rest into it. We are talking about few short years here, not decades, not even a decade. To sum it up, methods vary greatly. Hugely, in fact. Confidence comes by itself.

Kim

Pemako Buddhism

www.pemakobuddhism.com

About Emptiness and Dzogchen

 

About Emptiness and Dzogchen

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

 

 

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

 

- Kim, 25.10.2020 

 

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

Relationships Based on Trust and Respect

 

Relationships Based on

Trust and Respect

Buddhists talk about samaya which means a relationship based on trust and respect. We need to treat all aspects of our lives with respect and kindness, so that things won't turn against us and cause us problems.

Samaya is important in all kinds of relationships, between friends, companions, parents and children, people and their pets, people and their surroundings and people and nature. If we don't treat our friends respectfully, friendship will come to an end. If we behave hatefully towards our companions, distrust is created and that will inevitably pull the couple apart. Children who have been treated badly by their parents, don't want to hear of their parents because there is no trust. Dogs that have been yelled at or kicked, are nervous and bite their owners. Mother Earth, that together with the Sun, provides everything we need to live, but when treated with disrespect, it creates mass fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and hurricanes to indicate that such disrespectful treatment will not be tolerated. Respectful treatment is crucial even between our minds and bodies. If we treat our bodies badly, it creates illness. If we behave selfishly, everything that is good turns against us. We turn our Pure Land, our paradise, into a living hell. This is the consequence of self-based ignorance.

 

All life is good. All humans are basically good. All life is basically good. All life is imbued with immense kindness and radiates happiness. We are nurtured, protected and taken care of from the beginning. We have the power to change things for the good. We have the power to heal ourselves and others. We have the power to stop things from getting worse. We have the power to heal. We can re-establish trust and respect because all beings have the nature of perfect enlightenment.

Kim, 15.10.2020

Pemako Buddhism,

www.pemakobuddhism.com

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

Birgit's Awakening

 

Birgit's Awakening

I am sharing here a bit and photographs from Birgit's guidance to awakening that she did with Ugi.

-Kim

Birgit from Germany awakened!

Here's her final two reports:

"Dear Ugi,
Today I felt very supported in the selfless space. I called the ego and got light pressure on my head. Not quite as helmet-like as before, but rather individual pressure points. I felt into it, but there is nothing behind it. These points dissolve when I feel them. And then I had a tingling and buzzing in and around my whole body, as if I was dissolving. As if the body was dissolving.
When I think about the I, I think about my body and my appearance at the same time. But this is not the I, because this is somehow changeable.
I think the I exists only as a thought. But what is it that reacts flattered or happy or angry?"

And the final one:

"Dear Ugi,
yesterday it was very quiet inside me, I felt carried, and the noise, which usually prevails in my head, was no longer there. The volume control was probably turned to "quiet". And I had the subtle knowledge that I had unmasked it:
There's no one there inside of me. There is no I. There is no "control center" in me from which everything emanates. It is empty within me.
When I called the 'I' this time, it sounded different in me. No longer meaningful, rather meaningless. It had no effect on my feelings, because I knew that there was nothing there.
A slight, barely perceptible head pressure, perhaps, but even that had no meaning. I never left the selfless room.
I felt very calm and carried all day long. And practiced to perceive myself in the selfless space.
Even today everything feels very light. Unconcerned I watch the newsfeed on FB, which usually takes me quite emotionally. It all feels very wide inside me. Like I said, rather uninvolved in terms of the outer life.
I feel comfortable inside me. The topic, which has been on my mind and emotions for the last year, has retreated into the background. I feel freer and can enjoy life very much.
The tightness in my body is no longer there and in my head it is perhaps still minimal. But that has no relevance either.
Thoughts and feelings just come. They arise as naturally as my heartbeat or breathing or the functions of my organs. They also leave again when I let them.
Many greetings and a happy Sunday,
Birgit"

Before awakening (left) and after awakening (right)

Guidance to Awakening:

https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/34533