A
Look at Awakening and
the
Two-Part Formula
Until
now the world has not known a way that would help anyone get
awakened. Various teachers and traditions have offered a wide range
of practices for this single purpose but very few of them actually do
the job, especially within a realistic time frame and effort. I know
from my own experience and from the accounts of many others that with
most techniques that are said to produce awakening, only a marginal
group manages to do that while for most techniques simply don't work.
The
two-part formula is not a new invention. Despite of me having come up
with it, I did not invent it. I merely remembered it from my previous
life. The two-part formula has been taught as a preliminary exercise
within some lineages of Tibetan dzogchen. Also some forms of buddhist
meditation and advaita have a lot of resemblance with it, yet aren't
exactly like it. Traditionally this practice would be called semdzin,
which means to see or to hold the natural state (tib. semnyid). This
technique has actually been practiced and used for many hundreds of
years inside Tibet and before that on areas where dzogchen was
taught, but because it has been guarded by the vow of secrecy, it has
only been taught to few inside the tradition. I am happy and humbled
to be able to help others through offering this teaching. I am well
aware that the world really needs it. I have heard over and over how
people have struggled with various teachings that have been said to
lead to awakening, without it ever arriving even after decades
of practice. I find that very unfortunate.
I
have kept statistics since people started to ask me to be guided. Now
when 95 people have undertaken the guidance, 93 of them ahve awoken
by using it in 5 days of average. This means that 98% of those who
sincerely tried it awoke. The age of these people range from 20-75
years. The group includes both men and women, from highly schooled
academics and doctors to common workers from many countries. Among
this group of people there were many who had never practiced
meditation before. On the other hand there were many who had done
extensive meditation training. The shortest duration of guidance was
6 hours and the longest was 5 weeks of continuous exchange. 9 people
awakened while they were preparing for the guidance. Not getting a
desired result in two cases was caused by the lack of expertise of
the guide, yours truly, during the guidances early on.
For
all these reasons I think that the two-part formula is suited for all
kinds of people, whether spiritually, philosophically or
scientifically orientated. The two-part formula doesn't belong to any
religion nor does the result of awakening pertain to a particular
group of people. It is applicable by anyone who suffer of the dilemma
of existence. It is universal.
Self-delusion
I've
been told by people that the simplicity and directness of the
two-part formula became too obvious for them after the insight but
before that no one ever came to think of joining the two modes of the
formula. It is indeed interesting how people in the seeking mode
never come to think of joining the two modes. When one begins to
think about it 1. first recognising open awareness, especially behind
one's eyes and 2. then comparing open awareness with the I-thought by
bringing it up by thought. The term self-delusion
is widely used term and still techniques where one brings back the
I-thought by thinking
it are
very rare. The self which means our sense of me-ness or I-ness exists
largely as thought. If he have no thought at all in our minds, we
don't have an existential problem either. Therefore, the logical
conclusion is to bring back the I-thought repeatedly and simply be
aware of it, until it looses it's meaning, the charge stored in it.
The two-part formula is a simple little technique that really is the
selfing mechanism itself.
Selflessness
As
it has been described in the dialogues of this book, when awakening
happens, people tell how all of a sudden they feel freer, clearer,
more peaceful, more creative, more relaxed, more healthy, less
stressed and so on. Awakened people say that the shift brought them
all the good things, so to speak. With awakening the investment that
we have put into our self which creates our sense of me-ness, becomes
deflated. With awakening, the self that is like a balloon is
purposefully emptied of stale air.
In
buddhism this is called an insight into the empty nature of the mind.
Emptiness (skt. sunyata) or no-self (skt. anatman, p. anatta) refer
to the selfless nature of any mind phenomena. It means that once we
have the realisation, we no longer believe that we, ”me” or
”you”, exist as an entity, and the entityness, belief in the
solidity of ourselves becomes deflated. Before the insight it is
common for people to believe in the concept that they actually exist
as entities that live inside their bodies. If people are asked to
find where their mes are located at, people always end up pointing
their fingers to their heads. Without noticing it we gain the belief
that there would be this small being, me, inside our heads looking
out from our eyes, listening through our ears, thinking through our
brains and living through our bodies. But once we start considering
this belief of there being some kind of a small being or entity
inside our head, the belief begins to seem absurd.
Shakyamuni
Buddha says in the Bahiya Sutta:
In
the seen, there is only the seen,
in
the heard, there is only the heard,
in
the sensed, there is only the sensed,
in
the cognized, there is only the cognized.
Thus
you should see that
indeed
there is no thing here.
If
we
listen to a sound, there is no me or I listening the sound, there is
only hearing of the sound. If we look at an object, there is no me or
I looking at the object, there is only seeig of the object. When we
see, hear, think and live through our entityness, we inevitable
become deluded and cannot experience things just
as they are.
Our self causes us to push and pull. Once we have deconstructed of
our entityness, we are able to see, hear, think and live directly
without the self twisting and falsely interpreting everything that we
come to meet.
As
the dialogues testify, one's life becomes freer, healthier and more
spacious with awakening. The buddhist term ”emptiness” is a bit
misleading but what the emptiness means is absence of selves, in
whatever form they come. And once we start taking chunks of
emptiness, start having glimpses and shifts of the natural state
(tib. rigpa), we automatically feel freer and more natural which is
just what we have beenwanting and looking for all along.
Ideal
circumstances for awakening
In
my analysis I have come up with five key factors that create an ideal
situation for anyone to wake up.
The
teacher is awakened and knows exactly what it is and how it happens.
He
has clarity and skills to convey it through exact verbal pointers.
He
has particular techniques that are succinctly meant for generating
awakening.
There
is enough one-on-one exchange between the teacher and the student so
that the processing can be finished quickly.
The
student has recognised that his problems are essentially caused by
self-delusion. Therefore he is motivated to go through the process.
The
opposite of these five key factors are:
The
teacher does not exactly understand what awakening is or how it
happens, even if he himself is awakened.
He
doesn't have clarity and skillfulness to convey it through exact
verbal pointers.
He
does not know distinct techniques for generating awakening. In fact
his techniques might be completely irrelevant or only vaguely
relevant.
There
is not enough one-on-one exchange between the teacher and the
student which is why getting to the result is needlessly delayed.
The
student doesn't have correct motivation, no real need for awakening.
I
have had discussions with many teachers and practitioners from many
traditions. When hearing about issues that hinder the understanding
of the students or the teachers I am often reminded how fields of
secular education are passed to students. For example. If we consider
the above five points in the case of learning mathematics in school,
we can be certain that the education system quarantees these key
points. However, in spiritual education (skt. dharma), this rarely is
the case. When one starts to think about it, this doesn't become as a
surprise to anyone who has spent a decade or more in the dharma
scene. It is absolutely certain that the old traditions have a lot to
improve in their old ways.
Comments
from the awakened
Here
are some comments from people who got awakened by the two-part
formula. These comments have been given by them one year or more
after their awakening event.
Question:
What
awakening has meant for you? What kind of change has it made in your
life?
Answer:
Awakening
is the most impressive and profound change in my life. There is no
longer a need to imagine me being this or that. I have no need to
seek explanations and relief from books, or to take treatments. I
have no need to forcibly alter the ways of thinking in any way,
either. There is no need to grasp at self-importance or in some way
define what I am, what I like and what I don't like. It is enough to
be. There is no need to seek anything. There is a natural distance to
emotions, thoughts and events that formerly created a chaos in my
mind. Being calm has increased in my life and the extremes from the
height of blissful happiness to gloom and depression has evened out.
Answer:
Awakening
has brought clarity to my life. Meditation is easier. I feel more
relaxed. Inner peace has increased. I understand the things happening
around me better. Acceptance and tolerance have increased. I am able
to notice the happenings around me in more detail as if my ability to
be mindful has come better. It feels as if the state of meditation is
switched on all the time.
Answer:
Awakening
has removed the constant and never ending search for the truth.
Awakening has brought more humour, relaxation, patience, courage and
also a sense of responsibility and compassion towards others.
Answer:
I've
stopped complaining. Satisfaction has increased. Everything I have in
my life is enough and good. If there is some resistance, unpleasant
feelings or even anger, the first thing that comes to mind is not
that this nasty thing has to go away. Instead, this emotion may be
calmly looked at, and seen from where and how it arises and how it
ceases. There are no instant reactions as before, mental phenomena
can merely be witnessed. It is a great relief that nothing is so
serious or personal anymore. If one has lived 30 years feeling guilty
and shameful, the dropping of that load is an immense relief.
Awakening has made my life straightforward, natural, even easy.
Meeting people has become easier as the inner voice is no longer
judging myself or the other person. The other person may have his or
her space. A need to control things has decreased. Acceptance and
trust to life and people has increased.
Answer:
After
awakening, the inner peace and stability are apparet in my daily
life.
Answer:
Awakening
has put the whole spiritual path into a proper context. In many ways
it has brought lightness and clarity to my being. It is easier to
experience and accept everything that arises in my experience as
there is no longer a personal connection to it. There are still many
sensations that make my being feel difficult and personal but they
become accepted more easily. Life is what it is. If there is an
embarrassing situation, for example, which previously would have felt
shameful, it doesn't feel as strong anymore. Instead circumstances
like this just make me smile. Old fears and all the thoughts in
connection to them do arise but these are also seen as natural
bubbling of the mind and they don't create despair. Seen from the
outside, I may appear slightly absent but nevertheless I am not, it's
just that there is no hurry anymore. In overall I'd say that my
actions are more uninhibited and creative. Being with people is more
direct.
Answer:
Awakening
was a moment among other moments but what makes it special is that it
was an entry point to spiritual path. Through it I have been able to
live my life more in a state of truthfulness where the conditioned
thoughts don't colorize the direct experience. This means everything.
Other
comments
Comment:
The two-part formula is too good to be true, except it really is
true!
This is so wonderful. The distinction between the subject-self and
the object-self is such an important distinction to make, something I
never understood until I came across the book. It's really crucial to
awakening. I spent 18 years working with the object-self doing
vipassana which would have knock on effects on weakening the
subject-self, but left it still alive and kicking, whereas after two
weeks looking at the subject-self I finally woke up! I feel so
grateful for this - it's been life changing for me. I don't think
there are many teachers out there that understand the subject versus
object self distinction. In terms of Buddhism in general, this really
is ground breaking stuff. It is a blessing
that awakening can be generated so soon with the two part formula
(2PF). It literally takes most practitioners years to awaken with
traditional practices, whether theravada or mahayana buddhism. So
much of the struggle of the practitioner working with the self, and
the paradox of practice is circumvented by generating awakening so
early. That's why I'm so enthusiastic about the 2PF. That tool could
be employed to great use in so many other schools of buddhism, since
awakening is pretty much a universal goal for all dharma
practitioners. A massive boost.
Comment:
Awakening
is still very rare, all across the world and pretty much in every
tradition of buddhism. The two-part formula has literally cracked the
code of awakening, something that as far as I know has never been
done before.
Scepticism
by
Kim Katami and Karl Eikrem
Within
the various schools of buddhism that considers awakening by different
terms such as stream entry, kensho (jap.) or satori, awakening is
relatively well defined. However, when stepping outside buddhism,
awakening gets a wide variety of meanings that from the buddhist
point of view can be entirely irrelevant. The way how awakening is
defined in this book comes from buddhism which clearly is the
strongest, most reliable and systematic of all the religions and
philosophies of the world on the topic of mind training.
One
of the problems that the authors have come across while making the
two-part formula public is that quite often it is met with great
suspicion and disbelief. Initial suspicion has sometimes been
mentioned by people who have later taken the guidance. The main
reason why people might initially have such reactions lie in the
present spiritual culture of the world that in it's history hasn't
had a reliable way of generating awakening. When this stubbornly
rooted belief is combined with all kinds of associations that one may
have of the meaning of awakening, instead of pragmatical
understanding, in some cases it seems to be enough for shutting
themselves inside a barrier of denial. This denial is often supported
by orthodox religious beliefs. However, if we honestly look at the
condition of the human mind that has had the assistance of all the
main religions for many hundreds of years, it really becomes evident
that we have nothing to loose and everything to gain. As
an attempt for understanding this scepticism, the authors have talked
to several people who have undertaken the guided awakening process
and asked them to share their experiences with us.
Can
it really be that simple?
Karl:
When
I encountered the method, I experienced some kind of instant
recognition of the validity of the method and the authenticity in the
eyes of those who had supposedly awakened. Still, the question
whether it really could be that simple, lingered with me subtly all
through the guidance. A friend of mine, MN (Case 10), told me that
she simply could not believe that awakening could be so simple. She
was taught, she said, that either awakening happened spontaneously to
people enduring immense suffering, or gradually through long term
meditation practice.
N
wrote me: Everything
I had read or heard about awakening previously was that it required
years of strenuous yoga, kundalini practice, meditation, breathing
practices and so on. And then one day, if you were lucky, POP, you
would get self-realization. A simple method of self-inquiry seemed at
odds with that.
This
confusion can be easily explained. Engaging in practices means that
we begin to do or perform some exercises that we believe at some
point will do the job of illuminating our sense of self. However,
when we are in the mode of seeking this always to brings about a
seeker, a subject, me who seeks. The two-part formula deals directly,
and exclusively with the sense of being a seeker or me, the subject
for the person to see through it and have the epiphany that all
seeking is futile because we do not exist the way we think we do. We
may assume that our existential confusion can be resolved by
dualistic means but that is actually impossible because the sense of
self that seeks or engages in practices is merely an illusion. For
this reason inquiry into the nature of the self, is the most direct
way to go.
Often
people with long histories in spiritual practice seem to be most
sceptical to the point of not even doing research. T when explaining
his initial scepticism, pointed to his years of meditation as a
possible reason for it, mentioning that his practice had, ”not made
promises of speedy awakening”. Soon after awakening, he says, the
amazement whether it really can be that simple, lingered in his mind.
Another
form of scepticism is self-doubt. Some people worry that perhaps
their egos are too strong or too weak for the process, or maybe they
aren't spiritual enough. P wrote she did not think the formula would
work for her because she felt she had too many problems. After having
gone through the process, she admited that in the end it wasn't
really that complicated.
The
presented statistics while indicating scientifically how well the
two-part formula works, does seem to have side-effects. In some cases
they seem to have lead to increased scepticism, that of scepticism to
the authenticity of the statistics themselves. For people who cannot
see the basic logic of the technique, the high success rate seems to
tell them that is it too good to be true and therefore is not true.
In
the instructions it is said: Before
you read on, I have a request for you: Drop all pre-assumptions you
have of awakening and spirituality. Forget that you ever practiced
meditation, read spiritual books or received spiritual teachings.
This is an essential requirement. Have a totally open mind. If you
can do that, then read on.
H
wrote: When
I first contacted Kim, I really did not even know what it was all
about. I did not have any experience of meditation or spiritual
development, nor did I know about the dual nature of mind. I mostly
felt curious about the process and what was to come, it was diving
head first. I did not have a chance to doubt my ability, as I kind of
did not really know what I was doing. After awakening I was really
happy to have stumbled on these valuable teachings.
N
wrote: Looking
back on my experiences I would say that I was wrong about what to
expect – there was no great mystical experience. No trumpets and
lights, no chorus of angels, no heavens opening up. It is all very
ordinary, but in a profound way. It is a shift in awareness; the
first step toward clarity of wakefulness. The change is a significant
one in that you are suddenly free of yourself. You get a chance to
deal with experience mindfully and vividly without habituated
self-referencing obscuring the directness and crispness of the direct
experience. In that ordinariness you discover how extraordinary life
really is, this precious chance to be alive and breathing.
F
reported: Afterwards
the prejudices and thoughts about awakening are seen as fear of the
unknown. Also the word ”awakening” itself raised prejudice in my
mind. I thought it concerned only some very special, spiritually
oriented people, who keep themselves higher than others. This
thought has turned upside down. Awakened people are tolerant and
they don’t need to bring themselves up. It feels so great that an
ordinary person like me, with normal daily routines, with family and
work, can be awakened. And every day I’m so happy of the change the
awakening has brought.
This is an exceprt from Kim Katami's to be published book, Awake!
Guidance to Awakening: http://www.en.openheart.fi/101
How to become awakened: http://www.en.openheart.fi/113
