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
