About karma and good manners

 

About karma and good manners

Over the years this sangha has seen a dozen people who had many bhumi openings quickly but didn't pay attention to their (bad) attitude, ethics, bodhicitta or didn't appreciate their teacher. They came into the sangha, learned and did the practice for a year or two, burned on a flame too big, not listening and came up with some problems that were really in their own minds, to end up burning bridges to me for good.

It has always felt strange to me how casually people take these things and I have always warned people not to make dumb decisions, especially in this context, because you really don't want the kind of karma that comes from breaking the dynamic with a tantric teacher and their lineage. It is never a problem to leave a teacher and find a new one but to treat the teacher who has enabled one's advancement poorly, badly or in nasty way, creates karma that keeps lineages away of you for long periods of time. The dynamic is a bit different if the teacher in question has done something bad and hurt someone but to burn bridges with a teacher who hasn't done any of that, is one of the biggest mistakes one can do. Once again, we are talking about tantra which is all about energy and energetic connections.

You know about the mahasiddha family, these masters hovering in the atmosphere, observing the mankind and ready to give their blessings if someone asks them. There are of course countless other masters than the ones in ms family, though these masters really represent the creme de la creme of all major yogic and dharmic lineages and traditions. The point is that they aren't somewhere far away from us or from the mankind but very close and like us, they are intelligent. They think and observe, make conclusions and decisions, and of course lots of those decisions have to do with individuals they work with, i.e. the individuals who turn to them for blessings and support.

So if we think about the above described situation that a student comes into a lineage, is fortunate to learn the practices right away, gets the process going and keeps at it for a short period of time, makes a bold conclusion that she/he has advanced and begins to critisize and say bad things about one's teacher (no elements of harm or abuse involved) to then end up in a conflict with the teacher and possible other sangha members, in such a hassle these people usually fail to hit the breaks before saying or doing things that can't be undone. Once or twice some of my students have been gaining momentum, speeding up towards a clash but then managed to hit the breaks, fortunately. Usually, however, because these people haven't developed discrimination and necessary skills to keep one's reactions in control to not let them interfere with one's dharmic relationships, what happens is that these people keep speeding up, jumping into false conclusions, saying things that they will later regret, burn the bridges and end up not having a teacher, practice or a sangha anymore. Unless the students has done something really bad that requires instantly kicking them out (have had those as well) I always try to cool down the situation before their emotional impulses and delusions get the best (or worse) of them but I've seen people disregard those attempts of mine, to keep pouring gas in the fire. At some point, the teacher has to let go and in those instances I always politely ask the person not to practice my tantric teachings anymore. I remember couple of people who replied that it is not my business to ask them that and said they'll do whatever they wish with the practices. It is indeed strange how someone can be completely against the guru and yet wish to practice his teachings but in those cases I've taken the empowerment back. I've had to do that a number of times.

Sometimes, after some time passes, these people come to their senses, apologize and some of them would like to come back. I have received a bunch of apolology letters over the years and it has always been nice to see that they didn't remain in their delusions and compulsive opinions for longer than they did. I always forgive but might not take them back, nor give them another chance in the sangha, depending how bad their crash got.

So, the karma one gets from such blunders... Well, karma is real... but if you haven't yet discovered that it is, then you don't take things that seriously and do whatever you want or whatever your self-based reactions dictate you to do, without thinking about the consequences. Not understanding karma is a sign of immaturity as a practitioner but can't be used as an excuse for deluded behaviour.

So, if one does these things and insults the sources of refuge, the karma that one accumulates from it keeps the refuges away. Mahasiddhas who govern the lineages see this but remain at distance if these karmic causes are there. Person with such a karma simply can't access certain teachings anymore. Then one is left with lesser teachings or some hodgepodge that has no teaching of reality. Basically, what this means is that one's karma sends one back to samsara for a long and hard learning of suffering.

So, I'd like to make a request in case you leave this sangha some time in future. Go in peace and with manners. If I haven't turned into an abusive monster and done all the bad things that many teachers do, leave well-mannered and in peace. If you don't feel satisfied about something keep it to yourself, I don't need to know why you didn't like the buffet. When you want to leave, it makes sense that you stop practicing my tantric teachings. When you wish to leave, talk to me, shake my hand and go. If some day you wish to leave my sangha, please do it like this. Then we'll both feel good after years pass and you won't have to regret about something you said or did, and you didn't create this awful karma. If you leave like this, it is easy for me to take you back should you want to come back.

What I ask here isn't "dharmic". It's just good manners but because I have seen how the most civilized and educated people can turn into the dumbest samsaric fools, is why I felt like clarifying this for you..

Blessings,

Baba, 8.12.2022

Yogis on display-project has started!

Yogis on display-project has started!

It has been my concern for many years that in the West dharma is hidden. There are no temples to tell people about dharma and no nuns, monks, yoginis or yogis in public places to show people that this kind of lifestyle exists. In the West dharma is kept hidden even though there are millions of practitioners worldwide. If dharma is kept hidden it will never be integrated with the culture. Most worrying is the thought that westerners don't get to know that such a thing like dharma even exists.

The reason why we can discuss about dharmic traditions of many Asian countries is because since the teachings were brought to each country on the Asian continent, they were actively brought to people's awareness. To bring dharma - teachings of health and enlightenment - and any of its practices into the awareness of those who don't know about them is a genuine action of compassion that accumulates lots of merit and good karma. This is the reason why it is necessary to bring all and any forms of dharma out in the open and put it on display so that people can see it.

I have generated an idea by the title "Yogis on display" that adresses this problem by encouraging practitioners of any type of yoga, meditation or dharma to practice in public places where they can be seen. Anyone who wishes to partake in this project can take her/his meditation cushion or yoga mat to any public place and simply practice where others can see it. One can do yoga postures, chant prayers, sing mantras or simply sit silently doing an internal practice. Do your own practice in the open and if people approach you and ask you what you're doing, tell them. That's all.

You are welcome to have a photo taken of yourself or take a photo of yourself and publish it with hashtag #yogisondisplay

Follow @yogisondisplay at Instagram.

Let's bring dharma into the awareness of people together.

Monsoon blessings,

-Amrita Baba, 5.12.22

About arts and pristine being

 

About arts and pristine being

I love arts and have spent large part of my life learning them. I've studied music, calligraphy, painting and different physical modalities for decades. I love it and it is one of my greatest joys to discuss art in depth with fellow artists. However there is one limitation that arts can never overcome.

Art, in any shape or form, is dependent on itself and an artist is always bound by her chosen artform. Musician plays music, poet writes poems, painter paints paintings. There is no musician without music, no a poet without poems, nor a painter without paintings. In this way, artists are bound by their artforms and their expressions.

To me as an artist, this was a fundamental dilemma as it has been to some artists throughout history. This dilemma lead me to discover what necessarily has to preceed an artform for it to increase the artists freedom, instead of decreasing it. The limitations set by artistic expression lead me to a state of mind where pristine being is the most profound form of art and the rest follows after that.

This is the basic setting what in my teacher's tradition is called ”zen art”.

Without reservations

 

Without reservations

Robert: You've mentioned saints and sages 'chillin in the pure lands' and not necessarily working to liberate samsara, that it's quite common. I have a problem with this, like I can see that one would take a break one or two kalpas to gather knowledge or skills elsewhere to serve the cause, but to sit around or play cards or whatever, I don't get it. Everyone wants to get back to dharmakaya, that seems the highest purpose available in all of existence, and we are cells in the same organism, we are all the trikaya just with differentiated points of view. In the analogy mahasiddhas are like the white blood cells. But you don't see white blood cells loitering about when there's an ongoing infection.

Yes all will be healed in time, that seems a natural fact, everything sooner or later returns to its natural state, why would minds be any different. But we can spare so much needless pain and shorten the process exponentially with the aid of mahasiddhas and the holy dharma. All mahasiddhas have my reverence and I wouldn't speak I'll about someone, ever, this phenomenon can however be discussed in general terms I think, shall it hurt to talk about then so be it. Have been meaning to ask your view on this and the OP kind of goes in line with this question. Thank you, it is my wish is that this will help with deepening my devotion and subsequent service to the jewels. May all beings be free!

Baba: Laziness is common, as is lack of commitment and effort due to insufficient understanding of compassion. If you take a look around at all the dharma activities of teachers and their sanghas, what do you see? I don't see that many compassionate individuals who really take it as their bodhisattvic duty to bring dharma to others. I don't see that many dharma heroes around. Do you?

However, all dharma teachers and practitioners create fortunate karmic connections for themselves, and in dependance to their chosen vehicles and merits, access the chillin' in pure lands, like you say. In one sense this is merely cause and effect because it is as promised: practitioners are saved from the endless transmigration in the six realms or at least committed practice alters it greatly.

Having said that, just like there aren't dharma heroes here walking around, there is no place in common pure lands where heroes gather, except in places like Guru Rinpoche's Pure Land. Most pure lands, like most ashrams and training centers, are easily accessed. But in Guru Padma's Zangdok Palri, there are no unprepared or lazy individuals because they are not granted access there. But even then, master's pure land is there only to offer a place for karmically connected individuals to finish their practice of two stages: emptiness and light body. Pure lands are not more special in that sense. Guru Padma's pure land isn't any different in terms of purpose than our sangha is.

If individuals want to take it easy and relax, and not worry too much about furthering dharma whether in this or other worlds, it is their own choice. They have the freedom to do so but if you ask me, I think this does not indicate true understanding of the nature of mind and the nature of samsara. Like you say, white cells don't chill and take it easy when there is an infection in the body.

Many take dharma too lightly, as a hobby or something like that but it boils down to being a matter of life and death. It is not a game or a play, or to make one's life 5% happier because for those who suffer, the suffering is real. This is where Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching starts, from suffering and without it, there is no becoming free from it. Only those who start from suffering, having understood that self-based existence is actually a hell, can truly understand what dharma is because to them it is not a game or a small bonus on top of everything else but like a lifeline that keeps them alive. Are you such a person? I think it is from this real, felt suffering where the true understanding of reality and development of human character grows from.

Having found dharma, the medicine that heals our existential illness and pain, we are fortunate to keep paining. That might sound a bit strange but you see, many start dharma because they recognise their suffering and the medicinal benefits of dharma but then, somewhere along the way, their pains are alleviated enough and as they are unable to see how much more causes of pain are still yet to be liberated, they lax their efforts and commitments, and start taking it easy. I can't tell you how many people like this I've seen along the way but it is OK too.

It is a blessing to keen paining all the way until light body because it keeps you in the move and you don't start chillin' too early. Like I have explained many times, this is the gift of tantra because it doesn't allow you to bypass your blindspots. At the same time, if one doesn't have the need or resolve to go all the way, tantra can add to one's pain by revealing the darkness within too much. I've seen people like this too, even asking my permission to not practice. Silly! Whether you practice or not is nobody elses business than yours, so don't ask me and please don't bother me with your reasonings about such matters. My job is to help, instruct and lift those who want to commit to practice.

Even those who have realized the full scope of emptiness and have become first stage buddhas, according to the mahayana buddhist model, can be very ignorant. From one perspective, this is an outrageous statement but it is true. Buddhism emphasizes and relies on emptiness so much that it is both its strong and weak point. Fact is that emptiness is only one stop on the way to the real, full enlightenment, also known as light body or rainbow body. How many buddhist traditions teaches about both emptiness and light body? Only few. How many other religions?

Part of the reason why we see so few adepts attain small or full rainbow bodies is because of the above mentioned reasons. Also, methods vary greatly.

In principle, dukkha - existential pain and suffering - is optional but not all people of the world are karmically ready to attain full enlightenment or even much lesser attainments in this life, even if there were conditions to make it happen. Most people, incl. most of those who are already associated with dharma or practice it, are taking mini-steps to create karmic causes for their liberation some time in the distant future. Such people are like amateur athletes, they don't need professional coaches or high training methods.

If you ask my opinion, based on my own life experience, I can say loud and clear that suffering is real and that life can be hell. Mine was and still is a little bit. Having had the fortune to meet the dharma, to learn and practice it extensively, I feel it is my duty to spread the dharma. I don't chill. I can't because I know there are thousands and thousands of people out there who live in hell when they needn't to. If you think of the history of dharma, buddhist or otherwise, can you say that the past generations of teachers have been succesful in bringing the dharma medicine for those who need it? No, they have utterly failed. I know there are countless people out there just like the younger me who was eaten alive by one's self-delusion. I can't ignore the suffering in the world. I am requiring for my students who teach because this is my realization of bodhicitta and the dharma of Amrita Mandala. To me this alone is dharma and if genuine dharma is to have a future, this is the spirit it needs to have.

I work in dharma because I have to, because that's what the natural state is to me. I feel the pain of the world, so I act on it. Because of that I got to do my best and find ways to reach those people. I don't take a second for granted.

I have to admit though, that I rarely have enjoyable days at work. I am a lone wolf, without support from lineage, without support of anyone else in a culture where people don't know what dharma is. The past 15 years of teaching the way I do, has been another form of hell but this time I've had the support of my gurus and the buddha within, so it hasn't killed me, though it came close few years ago. I have thought of quitting for thousand times but never once I lost bodhicitta and it has kept me going. If I die doing what I have sworn to do, I will leave without regrets.

To me, there is no other way to sow the seeds of dharma into this soil, so I do it without reservations.

If you do the same, the buddhas will come before you and bow their heads at your feet. Many take Bodhisattva Vows but bodhisattvas are hard to find.

15.11.22

Remembering death

 

Remembering death

(unedited excerpt from my yet to be published "Manual for Seekers, Students and Teachers of Spirituality")

Some people talk about their near-death-experiences, like of some special event that could have got them killed. I don't mean to belittle such experiences because they can be both shocking or healing, as well as spiritually reorienting often leading people out of the grip of the ordinary. However, to practitioners of dharma, every day life should be a near death experience.

One of the fundamental practices for students of reality (skt. dharma) is to remember one's mortality. To do this practice means to live with death and the fact that this moment could be our last. Doing this makes us see ourselves and the surrounding world in a clearer light.

Remembering one's mortality is a deeply sobering practice because it cuts right through our everyday fantasies, worries and whatever petty things we entertain ourselves with. Accepting the fact that we will all die and leave these bodies, is a forceful wake up call to many. Even thinking about death can be shocking to the uninitiated who happily sleep in their worlds beliefs and dreams but after some familiarization with death, it becomes like a therapist or a healer to oneself. Remembering death, that in our modern culture lacks true understanding, can make our lives matter, and that in turn makes our lives better, in terms of quality. It ignites genuine love and care in us.

What do I mean by living with death?

It simply means reminding ourselves that wherever we are or whatever we do, this might be our last moment in this body. It is to remember among our every day situations, that it might be the last.

This might be my last time tasting a meal, my last time seeing a friend or a loved one; my last time taking a walk, my last time making love or my last time drawing a breath. If we live this way, have a continuous near-death-experience, would it make us see our lives, our decisions, our way of life, our relationships and our use of time in a different light? Absolutely, and that's the whole point. Remembering our mortality makes us alive. That is the waking up that comes from doing this exercise. You sober up and stop wasting your time in meaningless things.

Remembering death is one of the so called preliminary practices that all practitioners should do but many skip it and don't take it seriously. They think it is something for the low-level practitioners, like an ABC for the kids or something like that. If you think so, please allow me to suggest a simple test to see if you have graduated this preliminary or not.

There is only one thing that leads out of suffering and that is dharma, or the teaching of reality that gives us self-knowledge. To practice the dharma, means to recognize one's enlightened nature for the benefit of all beings.

Someone who has mastered the basics or preliminaries of dharma-teachings, uses one's time and energy more wisely than those who live their lives invested and absorbed in their own beliefs, opinions and dreams. Someone who understands what is truly important in life, lives one's life with the intention of being of service and helping others in their existential nightmares. This can take myriad expressions but that is the basic idea.

If we are honest to ourselves, it is easy to see whether or not we live like angels, bodhisattvas or masters who have mastered the dharma of death and impermanence by never forgetting that our time is running out at every instant.

-Amrita Baba, 13.11.22

After I attain full enlightenment

After I attain full enlightenment

If, after I attain full enlightenment, I fail to bring sentient beings to full enlightenment, may I not attain full enlightenment.

If, after I attain full enlightenment, I fail to teach liberation to sentient beings, may I not attain full enlightenment.

If, after I attain full enlightenment, I fail to bring sentient beings from confusion to freedom, may I not attain full enlightenment.

If, after I attain full enlightenment, I fail to offer a place of rest to sentient beings, may I not attain full enlightenment.

If, after I attain full enlightenment, I fail to be like a mother to all sentient beings, may I not attain full enlightenment.

*

This is a re-rendering of vows that I wrote two years ago.

-Baba, 10.11.22

How does awakening, and even full enlightenment, relate to the subtle body?

 

How does awakening, and even full enlightenment, relate to the subtle body?

(from Rainbow Body Yoga Manual, written by Amrita Baba)

In Amrita Mandala, bhumis are very important because they relate to awakening experiences and different stages of purification. There are 13 bhumis, that directly correspond to thirteen bhumi chakras that are used in practice with the purpose of establishing the natural state but also as a map to understand where we are on the map, in relation to the final attainment of full and perfect enlightenment. The thirteen bhumis is a path map, an actual map that gives us the direction where to go when we aim to reach enlightenment. The map is used and read through placing one's attention to different locations in the subtle body and then sensing the felt energy.

Theoretically, the chakra pillars below and above the body are not two separate pillars but one single whole that makes our subtle body. Our subtle body is made of many chakras inside the physical body and outside it. In bhumi pillars, we have seven centers below the body and seven above. At the far ends of both pillars, there are the so called mahasiddha bhumi chakras that relate to, as the name suggests, to the mind state of the mahasiddhas or fully enlightened masters. These mahasiddha bhumis are the three farthest centers away from the body, relating to bhumis 11-13. The direct reason why all human beings can recognise, cultivate and realize the natural state is in the fact that we have natural state within us, in the form of mahasiddha bhumi chakras of our subtle body. The basic state, i.e. the ground of the masters (skt. mahasiddha bhumi) is also represented by other centers and channels in the body and aura. These are areas that never get dirtied by self-based habits and negative patterns, and the actual principle why our innate purity and loving-kindness is never taken away from us, except by being strangers to our own true being. It is because of mahasiddha bhumis, i.e. pure channels and centers, why we can recognize and re-establish ourselves as enlightened beings.

When you connect the bhumi pillars, you will notice that your mind becomes utterly clear and pure. It feels as if you enter a realm of delightful purity.

Being a Student of a Guru

 

Being a Student of a Guru

(unedited excerpt from my upcoming book, ”Manual for Seekers, Students and Teachers of Spirituality”)

In tantric yoga, guru is the reason of the student's realization. In tantra, everything depends on the guru. This doesn't mean that the guru is everything there is to the tantric path but it is guru and her/his wisdom and compassion that is the foundation of the whole path. Without guru, there is no tantra, no tantric path and no benefits from it.

For this reason, relationship with a guru is unique among all relationships. Guru shows you who you are and helps you to undelude yourself. Friends, companions, priests, psychologists, doctors, healers, teachers, parents and children can also help in the process of shedding delusions but without guru, without someone who empowers the student and lifts up one's karma, all other relationships fail in the mission of enlightenment. So, relationship with a guru is unique. It's sole purpose is your awakening, your enlightenment, your growth and maturation as a wisdom being.

People often confuse what guru is with something else. Guru may also be one's friend, companion, parent or a child but first and foremost, one's association with a guru is related to enlightenment. For this reason, one should not view or approach the guru like one approaches others. Relationships with one's guru requires attentiveness – listening – and learning of dynamics that cannot be found from other types of relationship.

In the West, some have completely misunderstood the concept of guru and reasoned that it is like a mixture of a friend, teacher, priest, psychologist and a parent, purposefully excluding the very function or dimension of guru's uniqueness and expertise. Of course, it can and should be questioned what makes someone a guru and whether or not that person has the capacity to be in that position but if one checks out, then the guru relationship should not be confused with other common or secular relationships.

One becomes a guru first by becoming a student of tantra which happens through receiving empowerment from another guru. Empowerment is followed by practice and following the instructions and advices of one's guru. Then follows spiritual growth through contemplation and awakening or insight experiences. In this way, through a lenghty and challenging process, the student becomes qualified as a guru, as a master. This process might involve one being a teacher before becoming a master but eventually, through following one's master's instructions, the student becomes like her/his master, becomes a guru. Then begins the new guru's duty to grow her own disciples, to pass the torch to the next generation. The point is that one doesn't become a master, except through a lengthy and trying process, and one isn't finished until one's guru says so.

One of the things that requires special attention in the relationship with one's guru is promises made by the student. In a relationships with a friend, parent or others, you might make promises too lightly and end up forgetting what you've promised or simply don't care what you've promised, and it might still turn out fine, meaning that the other person might not think too much of it. Well, if you don't take the trash out even if you promised to, it's not that serious but if you don't do what you promised to your guru, that is instantly something that the guru pays attention to because even in the case of taking the trash out you're not doing what you promised. In something so simple what to most people might seem insignificant, you communicate to the guru that your words can't be trusted, that you might be an untrusthworthy student. If one cannot be trusted with small simple tasks, it is out of the question to give big responsibilities to such a student. Also giving advanced teachings is out of the question because the student hasn't even mastered the basics of honest conduct, trustworthiness and commitment. If you ever find yourself in a situation that you suddenly realize not having kept one's promise to one's guru; bow your head down and apologize from the bottom of your heart. Then go about fulfilling your promise immediately. Leaving promises unkept, ruins your relationship (skt. samaya) with one's guru. That has long-lasting and detrimental consequences. You don't want to ruin unique karmic connections to gurus and lineages that are the only way out of samsara to full enlightenment. The student's mind has limitations and because of that we cannot avoid mistakes but making mistakes and rectifying them is an essential part of the whole growth process. When you become aware of a mistake, apologize, correct it and move on. That's the correct way to go about it.

There is a saying, ”To normal people big mistakes are small mistakes. To spiritual practitioners, small mistakes are big mistakes.”

Actions, manners, ethics, attentiveness, considerateness, and trustworthiness are all under a special microscope when it comes to spiritual practitioners and in a relationship with a tantric master. Masters of all times have instructed us to be very attentive of our actions – thoughts, words and physical – because we don't want to accumulate negative karma but we do if we don't pay attention to what we do and think. This is a crucial point because we end up confused and lost exactly because we don't pay attention or don't know how to pay attention to our actions. We are in samsara, going round and round in our minds, lifetime after lifetime, solely because of our own actions. Imagine one life with an unhappy self-centered, then imagine ten thousand unhappy lives. It's a long haul and it is all because of our me, me, me, I, I, I. There is no other entity, like an almight God in heaven, doing any of that to us or deciding things on our behalf, it is all our own responsibility, actions and their karmic consequences. And here we come to a very important point about the guru relationship.

By definition, a tantric master sees more in you than you do in yourself because the master has finished the path or is at least farther than the student is. This is the underlying principle that makes the student's growth possible, if the student is paying attention and listening. If you are still getting to know the guru and probing whether the guru-figure is trusthworth and suitable for you or not, it is probable that the guru either won't pay much attention, give you one-on-one time or have expectations towards you. You should take your time feeling into the guru, her person, her qualities and her personality traits. Taking time to feel this out means to seek into the physical company and presence of the guru, whether in formal or informal circumstances, at retreats, satsangs and so on. You should spend time with the guru to find out if her teachings and her as a person feels like a match for you. If you take the time, there will be a moment when you realize that it is or isn't a fit. If you feel that it is a match, you have found your spiritual home, a guru and/or a lineage that you have good connection with. If, on the other hand, you feel that it is not a match, then make a bow and go about finding a master who resonates with your heart. If you are sincere and have a real need to find a guru, i.e. to get out of samsara for the sake of all beings, you will find your heart-guru relatively quickly. If you don't feel the heart connection with some guru and reason that you will take empowerment and practice the teachings even if you don't really even like the guru, don't do this because this has potentially negative karmic consequences. At least, if you stay with some guru until you find a more suitable one, you should always remain honest and respectful in your behaviour. If you behave badly, the karma is on you and again with spiritual relationships you don't want such karma for yourself because it will keep good teachers, gurus and lineages away from you possibly for many lifetimes. If you treat people badly, they want to stay away from you. If you treat a guru badly, you create karma in your subtle body, like a banner hung on your chest that says, ”I don't have manners and I treat masters poorly and unfairly”. Authentic gurus have the ability to see such karma and don't take such people as students. Then you are left with inauthentic ones or lesser paths that don't lead to full enlightenment, possibly for lifetimes.

That the student takes the time and makes the effort to find this out is important because it lays the foundation for the whole path that comes after it.

About friendship and boundaries in dharma

 

About friendship and boundaries in dharma

>Not as a student lecturing his teacher but as a Dharma friend sharing his observations to a Dharma friend.

-This is going to be long and winding... The word friendship gets used a lot nowadays but I think the concept of friendship has lost a lot of its depth and meaning. When people start to practice guru yoga and are trying to figure out what it is, who this guru is and so on, I always tell them to look at it as if they were getting to know a new person. It makes sense in the context of guru yoga too that it takes time to know the guru, not to even mention developing trust and faith. A friendship does not develop overnight but in my experience takes years and many shared experiences to build it on. This is one big reason why online sanghas and online dharma is so problematic because people don't even meet physically. Basically, you don't get to know a person through online exchange.

I've been blinded by my own western democratic conditioning and it has made my life and my work a lot more difficult that it could have been. Through many years of inventing "pragmatic tantra" I've learned that some principles of pragmatic dharma (as defined by Ingram and others) cannot be applied to tantra and just makes everything problematic and even conflicting.

They knew all about this in Asian dharma traditions. By setting up forms and norms, they set up boundaries. Personally I never had problems with boundaries because I've learned the traditional ways (incl. etiquette, code of respect, senior-junior, methodology and hard training) since I was a child but in my lack of understanding spiced with the Western spirit of invention (arrogance?), I questioned if dharma could be boiled down to the bare essentials. It worked great but then I started seeing the cracks, actions and decisions by my students that seemed stoopid, immature and disrespectful. At first I had no idea what was wrong but then I started realising that they lacked the context. My students had realised emptiness, traversed through all the bhumis but their "realization" looked only partially like mine. That's because most of you were never exposed to the above mentioned traditional ways.

It is true that I never formally taught a course entitled "The six paramitas". I never gave you a list of them or other similar expositions, and explained to you how all things in life can and should be tied together in the context of dharma practice. Having said that, I've spoken about all of it all the time. I've taught about ethics, lifestyle, work, family-life, patience and generosity. I've even lead pointing out sessions where you tie all these things with one's recognition of the natural state. And yet, I can say that none of my students got and understood what I've pointed out, told them and first and foremost exemplified with my daily example, be it online or in person. When I've said that my students haven't been listening, this is what I've meant. You heard some, the bits about meditative practice but missed most of the rest. Ay yay yay, you missed a lot. I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just stating what you got and didn't get.

I've told my students for many years to go and study with other teachers, especially if you/they have hard time getting my teaching. I've said that I don't teach the very basics and of course I don't teach the dharma like most other teachers do. But now that my style, in my view, has turned out to be so insufficient and incomplete, the method needs to be changed quite significantly so that students get taught and develop understanding from those traditional or Asian aspects of dharma, or what you might call the other paramitas than meditative (dhyana paramita). Yeah, despite of having more than a dozen students who've realized the full scope of emptiness, I don't see the perfection of wisdom (prajna paramita) in you because you say and do things that in my view are stoopid, immature and disrespectful. I am not calling anyone stoopid, I am just saying that your realization doesn't look like mine and you don't feel the same as I do, except partially. I admit that at this stage of my dharma work, I feel I have failed but fortunately there is still time to rectify these mistakes and better the method before I die.

Back to your comment.

Reg making dharma friends. I have learned the hard way how westerners misunderstand and misinterpret their relationship with a western master. Again, I could say that this happens because you're not hearing me well, and additionally because you're not meeting me in person (or do so too rarely) or living with me. Karl, the Lion of Norway, is still the only one whose ever lived with me and because of that he knows my pulse the best.

My view of friendship is like I described above. If you don't meet me and get to know me in person, friendship between us won't develop. I would even say that not meeting my students in person sabotages my dharma transmission (again) because dharma transmission is much more than just pointing out the nature of mind.

As a person, I am not above you. As people, we are equal. In dharma, mutual respect between teachers and students is essential. Just like in all relationships, one might feel uncertain, doubtful or scared to say something but it is only a sign of understanding what a true friendship is when you speak your mind even when you might not feel that comfortable doing that. You've seen me do that so many times. I'm not going to have my students be disrespectful or offensive towards me anymore (one of my problems because of my western democratic mind) and I am learning to set my boundaries as a teacher of tantra, but if I sense your sincerity and honesty, it will be OK.

Baba, 25.10.22

Be yourself, find your own way

 

Be yourself, find your own way

For few months, I haven't been that active in facebook. I've taken time off to contemplate my public persona. Some of my students left and some were upset about my various posts at various places. I know I have made comments that were contradictory and make jokes that are harsh, and in general say things that are direct. Apparently that Finnish directness is interpreted as aggressiveness by some non-Finns.

At first I felt that I'll just stop saying what I really think. I've tried that for a while now... and yeah, that hasn't felt good. If you've ever tried censoring yourself, you'll know that it will make you feel like shit. It takes the life and joy out of you. I can't do that, even with the cost of loosing some students or some people getting upset. Many years ago I was adviced to "be yourself, find your own way" by one of my gurus. It's one of the best advices I ever got.

It sounds crazy that someone like me who can teach everything about wisdom practices and who should be able to say a thing or two based on my life experiences, has to try self-censorship in trying to find out a way to not make people upset but that's what I had to do. Like with everyone else, there is an exchange between myself and others and back, and this time I was in this situation when I had to go into this territory. I could do with people and my students not loving me but when I feel not even being liked, it makes you feel strange. I've asked myself if I really am a very difficult and unpleasant person to be around with.

There are countless dharma stories of students who couldn't deal with their masters and left. I can say for certain that very few people would be willing and ready to study with someone like Guru Rinpoche. Most people just couldn't deal with him or masters like him because they are very demanding and uncompromising. If Padmasambhava was here now, people would be red flagging and stigmatising him as a reckless abuser, all over the place on internet forums. Yup, he'd be crossing people's boundaries on daily basis and they wouldn't be able to take it. You know, he was actually and actively involved with an assassination plot. Most buddhists past or present would never approve that.

Sometimes I wonder if all the modern things and easy lifestyle has made things better or worse for dharma. Sometimes I think that modern people have become like big babies who say they're after the truth but are actually just spiritual materialists. Oh gosh, I miss the old days. And I actually miss the Asian ways because sometimes this overtly touchy-feely leftist "Western dharma" is just too much to deal with.

I've seen it countless times that especially towards a Western teacher, Western students loose their ability to listen fast when their Western worldview and values are questioned. People approach the dharma with the same view as they approach everything else in life. People wear the dharma like they wear cheap jewelry. It is not serious enough. Not enough hardships and setbacks. Not enough humbling experiences. Not enough dead ends and despair.

Anyway.

In the middle of all this I've contemplated something Yogananda wrote in his autobiography about his guru, Sri Yukteswar. He wrote that had Sri Yukteswar been less direct, he'd have probably been the most sought after guru in all of India. Apparently the Lion of Bengal was also direct and didn't save his words. I would choose him as my guru any day for the fact that he was enlightened.

Spirituality (skt. dharma) cannot be separated and isolated from the rest of the world. There is no "pure spirituality" that is separate from people and their/our lives and our experiences but there is this persistent belief that such "pure and clean spirituality" exists because there are so many teachers who never loose their pretense and self-censorship. I feel bad for saying this but someone's got to say it because it doesn't sit right with me that people are fed such childish fairytales.

Spirituality is all about people, their lives, their stories, their experiences and their expression, and that's a lot of different feels, tones and hues.

If being me shoots me in the foot in terms of popularity, so be it, but for my own truth's sake, I have to be and express things in a way that feels right to me.

With you,

Baba, 20.10.22

When Yogis Laugh

 

When Yogis Laugh

I remember having tea or lunch at Terayama Sensei's home. He'd sit on the other side of the table, making slurping and chewing sounds. As he ate and drank, his lips would move together with his cheeks. Watching him do this I thought that the foods and beverages didn't taste even nearly as good in my mouth as they did in his! He was able to enjoy shamelessly and full-heartedly what was in front of him.

When people eat good food, they say, "Oh wow, this is good..." and munch it. They raise their glasses for good wine. Over urinals, men grunt with the relief. People, when having orgasms, let out animalistic sounds. When they laugh, there is sound. But all these are typically tame. There is always a lid of fear, insecurity, doubt or shame attached to these moments. Yogis and yoginis don't have these burdens or at least have less of them. When yogis grunt over urinals, it is like New Year's fireworks. When yoginis have orgasms, it is like the last long note sung by Goddess Sarasvati herself. When yogis laugh, the voice echoes into the eternity never dying down. It is true.

Baba, 6.10.22

Enlightened Action

 

Enlightened Action

I think there is much more to expression of realization than what Karl wrote, "With the further perfections of 11th, 12th and 13th, this ordinary experience becomes much purer, warmer, softer, more beautiful and complete. But even then, the expression of this realization (i.e. conduct) is not perfect due to the traces of karma in the physical cells."

I am sketching the often mentioned manual for students (also to seekers and teachers) and thinking about ways how to convey and adress this question because it is the heart and soul of dharma. Ultimately, spiritual realization and expression of it, or conduct according to the awakened nature are not two separate things but the same thing. This means that spirituality and conduct, that is expression in action in this world, do not exist separately from each other, i.e. neither of them exists in vacuum. And yet some have completely missed this point thinking that they do exist separately.

The first vow of the Vows of Bodhisattva goes, "I vow to liberate all sentient beings". This can be looked at from two different perspectives: from the perspective of one's personal practice where one's self-based habits are the beings that one vows to liberate and from the perspective of self-based habits of all beings that one vows to liberate over endless future lives. It may sound overwhelming but ultimately these two perspectives are not separate but same.

I have often said that I don't think that there will ever be time when all sentient beings are realized buddhas but from the perspective of vow or conduct, it doesn't matter. By taking a vow to do it anyway or to strive towards the liberation of all sentient beings, including their personal karmas, is what bodhisattva-hood and buddahood takes a stand for. Bodhisattvas take this impossible vow not because of the final ultimate enlightenment of all beings in some distant future but because something can be done about it right now. That's the rebellion, that's the passion in true compassion. This in turn flips the whole question of conduct or expression around. In a sense, this turns the finger to point at ourselves.

There is nothing else to enlightened conduct than to be of service and to help others in all means available. A bodhisattva fulfills her/his vow by helping and serving others, in other words, by helping seekers to find and practice the dharma so that they can discover who they are. That's it. That's all and it is extremely important because if bodhisattvas don't act on their vow, who else will? Who else can? This is the sole duty of bodhisattvas who have taken the vow and have become bodhisattvas. The point is that there cannot be bodhisattvas apart from bodhisattvic or compassionate action. Which bhumi or stage one is at, is besides the point.

The thing is that we are here now and we will not be here later. In few decades or so, none of us will be here anymore. Then what? How will you be able to help beings then?

If we are bodhisattvas who have sworn, have taken an oath, to help and serve others (sentient beings) through the dharma there is never a later time for action simply because it doesn't make sense. The world is on fire now, people are in pain now so how could we postpone fulfilling our vows later? If we see people drown but decide to help them later for whatever reason, they will drown and die right in front of our eyes and the chance to help them will never come back. If we understand the vow and the immense depth and power of it, and have contemplated the fact of impermanence and death, how could we wait to express what is in our hearts already? Like I said, the enlightened heart-mind and expression of the enlightened heart-mind are not two separate things.

In hindu dharma this is expressed in the three most basic forms of yoga: jnana yoga (eradication of dualistic delusions, emptiness practice in buddhist terms), bhakti yoga (devotional practices that reveal the original softness of the heart, compassion/sambhogakaya practices in buddhist system) and karma yoga, the yoga of action and service. These three are not separate but facets of the same thing. Actions coming from a clear head and soft heart. If you just want a clear head and soft heart but there is no action or the actions are limited to suit one's own preferences, well according to countless masters and bodhisattvas this is nothing but an egotrip, far from great perfection.

So the question was will there be a point when expression is perfect? My answer is that it will never be perfect without actions of service towards those around us. It is because of this mistaken view that some attainment or state of the mind alone is perfection, is whats wrong here.

Realization is what you do. Without action, the buddha has no body.

If it helps for you to know, I have spent about 30 000 hours in sitting practice but more than that I have answered emails, made facebook posts, wrote books, wrote posts on dharma forums, wrote my blog, talked on the phone, talked on Skype, travelled in cars, trains and airplanes; booked venues, went to pick up the key, swept the floors, carried chairs, put the coffee on, solved problems, did bhumi analyses, gave advice and had long discussions and finally on top of everything else, taught hundreds of courses and retreats. I've done all this when being badly burnt out, severely sleep-deprived, extremely socially anxious and financially broke for years and years, just because that's what the vow is to me.

In the words of Vesa-Matti Loiri, one of the greatest finnish actors and artists of our time, "If you don't give it your all, you don't give anything". I had the fortune to meet him once when he told me of him having taken Bodhisattva Vows.

If you don't give it your all, you don't give anything.

 

Shirin: >would you do everything exactly the same way if you could choose?

-Exactly the same way, of course not but at the time I didn't have options. I did what I did and that's the reason why you are all here. That's why there's over 200 awakened people in the world now. I could have started teaching after my full enlightenment. That'd mean I would be just starting out things now. This would mean that, you Shirin for example wouldn't hear of me or my teachings in years or even decades. There'd be no dozen buddhas, no sangha of 80 people, no 200 people awakened. On the other hand I would have been saved from tons of harmful and stressful things that I've had to endure, but I chose to begin to teach early because it was the only thing that made sense.

>would you recommend to others to do as much as you did even though they feel close to a burn out?

-You all, my students and those who teach, get everything ready because I have laid out the way for you. You don't need to work as hard as I did. This has down sides. We all know the story of the rich man who made a fortune out of nothing and whose children got spoiled. I am not saying this angrily nor harshly but with genuine care.

How many of my students are ready to endure even half or even quarter of the hardship that I've endured? How many have really grown out of the ego and act in the world for the spiritual wellfare of others?

I've said for years that I am in the business of growing lions, instead of sheep but how many lions have grown and matured in this sangha? How many can match and even go beyond my energy? How many will ever match it? With these words I am trying to wake you up from your stubborn slumber and deliver a vital message so that you'd realize what we could do together!

I sat and practiced and did a million things for you and all sentient beings. I took rebirth voluntarily and journeyed the whole range of realization, just to be an example to you. I went through hells for you and all sentient beings. I knew I'd lose my health but I did it anyway. I knew I'd be broke for years but it didn't worry me. My heart has been broken countless times throughout these years and it hurt every time but I'm still here. The only reason for that is my vow, in other words my love for all sentient beings, particularly my students, and my doubtless devotion towards my gurus.

All this out of necessity and just because it is possible. When the moment of my death comes, I'll jump right into it, knowing perfectly that I gave it my all. That'll be a good death but until that moment I'll keep punching and pointing out the heartmind of the buddha for human beings, hopefully with your help.

-Baba, 26.9.22

Religious Indoctrination vs Actual Liberation

 

Religious Indoctrination

vs

Actual Liberation

Can I ask you a few questions? Alright.

Ask yourself what is it that you really and actually want from your dharma and meditation practice? What is it that you need? Do you want to get the same benefits and results that yogis and yoginis of the past did? That Buddha did? Do you want to know yourself in the most thorough meaning of the word or do you wish to follow a religion, be it any form of religion? What is it that you want of this thing?

I've seen it in many of my friends who I started practicing with back in the day and who I've known over the years, that they heard about enlightenment, about bodhi, and they relate to it so deeply that they want to have the same awakening, the same transformation and the same existential wisdom that the Buddha and other masters got. Countless masters have told how great this discovery or these discoveries are. It has been well described by both past and modern masters how great of an impact awakening, discovery of the buddha within, can have and it rings our bells so loudly that we automatically want the same thing. I've seen the ignition of this inspiration in so many people everywhere around the world. It is awesome to see when people find out what has been the matter with them and realize that there is a way out of this constant sense that something is off in their lives, that something is somehow fundamentally wrong. By reading a book or by hearing a talk we can so easily discover what is our problem and how it could be removed. This in turn leads people to practice; to dharma, meditation, retreats and so on.

What happens next is that people find their way to dharma centers and meditation groups, and this is where things get tricky. Why? Because if you start thinking and analyzing it, how many centers, groups and lineages actually help you to awaken? How often you are taught about the nondual nature of the mind and given practices to realize it? How often people are taught forms and ways that do not help generate awakening? Think about it. Awakening and transformation happens in the mind and mind alone but are we really taught that way from day one when we enter dharma centers? Are we given practices that can right away be applied to generate the very same insights and awakening experiences as the Buddha had? In 99.9% of cases the answer is no. If you, as a beginner, ask for a practice that will help you have the same insight, the same opening as the Buddha did, you get laughed at, chuckled at, you're told to just count the breath (shamatha), you're told to ”just do the practice” or to ”follow the tested method”, you're told that such practices do not exist or you're told anything else except how to get awakened. Whatever answer you get they all say that it's ”not possible” or at least it's not possible ”yet” for whatever reason. Then what happens is that you take their word for it, after all they have the authentic lineage that goes way back to the Buddha, so surely they know what they're talking about. Some people try a different dharma center but get the same answer. At this point your initial motivation and inspiration starts to get muddied and the calling starts getting unrecognizable. Some people when not getting clear answers never go to dharma centers again.

Those who stay despite of not getting clear answers, start to do some prayers and meditations, bows and other forms, start getting instructed by a teacher, and perhaps even take some vows. In this way one gets sucked into the system which is not necessarily a bad thing but the original question remains unanswered: ”What is awakening? How do I get awakened? Have I awakened yet? Do these practices and commitments help me to solve the fundamental problem of self-based delusion? Do I really feel any clearer or sober in my daily life? I still experience myself as a separate entity, I haven't had any insight into the empty nature of mind, I guess I'll just stick to the ways of the system...”

This is how you get indoctrinated to a belief-based dharma, also known as religion. Years go by but the fundamental existential problem remains... and is left unadressed... ”Just follow the way that has been followed for centuries”. Over time the initial spark dies and the real inspiration and hunger to get awakened is lost, even with daily recitations of prayers that say, ”Buddhahood in this life, for the sake of all beings...” Sincere connection with this motivation gets lost and mixed in the pool of religious beliefs. Looking at the promise and encouragement of actual liberation in a single lifetime, given by the past and modern masters such as Padmasambhava and Tulku Urgyen, the projection of you actually getting there looks perfectly unlikely, at this stage. This is the harm done by religious indoctrination.

Years or even decades go by and sure there is some transformation that takes place but first hand certainty about the nature of dharma remains a mystery, and it always will in a dogmatic setting. People remain in doubt about their own authority because they do not know themselves as a living buddhas. They keep reading books, collecting quotes, asking lamas and remembering good old times. At this point they have so much ”experience” of dharma that others look up to them and ask for their advice but really all they have is religious baggage and experiential limitations, not living recognition of buddhanature. The irony is that this basic nature has been with them or us all along, through all the years of ”spiritual training” that didn't help us to discover it and failed to make our lives complete. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is one of the very few who has had the guts to admit that buddhism has failed*. It certainly has. Buddhism is no different than all other religions. It was just another attempt to help mankind awaken but like all other attempts it failed and became a belief-based religion. Jetsunma went even farther in saying that Shakyamuni himself failed because he couldn't (even) offer a technique that would pop people's minds, that would help them awaken easily and quickly. She herself confirmed me that this is what she meant in her interview.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKoIK6pQMzY

What starts as a system of yoga and realization over time becomes distorted into a religion and those who are indoctrinated always fail to see the fact that they aren't practicing yoga - the art and science of liberation – anymore. Believers always miss the essential points and will instantly pick a fight with anyone who makes claims of authentic realization, even if that's exactly what was done by a large variety of past and modern masters (see links below) . Ironically, so many masters who later became regarded as great masters were met with contempt and insult of religious fundamentalists. Even some profound teachings of dharma, like mahasandhi (t. dzogchen) was met with contempt until it was integrated into the religion. Looking at the history and present, the church goers will always be there to swing their banners of truth to protect it from the false believers. At the swimming pool, all the noise comes from the shallow end, as the saying goes.

I started by asking you what is it that you really want and seek? What would make you so satisfied that you didn't need any medicine anymore? What would need to happen for you to get rid of all and any practices? It's a big question but it does have a simple answer.

If you are familiar with the basic view about buddhanature, you already know that the answer is buddhanature. Your existential problems will disappear when you know that you are a fully realized buddha – awakened being – yourself and this happens through a process of familiarization. This is simple logic based on mahayana buddhist theory and some of its methods of direct realization. According to the teachings of countless past and modern masters, there is nothing else that will quench our thirst except our awakened nature. And the good news is that we all have that nature. No matter what you try, nothing else will make us satisfied and complete, and therefore the only way to finish this project of enlightenment is to start discovering, familiarizing and getting to know this awakened nature. This is obvious. It is the only way to finish the process of enlightenment and therefore also the only way to start it. For this reason all practices that we do should enable us to recognise our buddhanature and if this requirement is not met, then we are merely wasting our time. Most practitioners out there are following views and doing practices that keep them away from recognising their awakened nature and therefore stay bound by confusion (samsara).

Methods to buddhahood need to be discovered and rediscovered again and again for the simple reason that old things break and collect dust. Apply common sense and hear what masters like Tulku Urgyen and many others have repeatedly said: It is possible to attain full enlightenment – buddhahood – in this life. Don't get indoctrinated. Avoid getting dusty. Stay sober and honest. Keep asking questions. I'm just repeating what the Buddha told us to do.

From day one you should demand teachings that will enable you to have glimpses and awakening experiences that will profoundly change the way you are and the way you see yourself and the world around you. From day one, from your first week of practice, from your first month of practice you should get glimpses. If you have a great teacher and do practices that actually enable you to recognise yourself as a buddha on daily basis, in 1-2-3 years you'll be a completely different person than before. Depending on your readiness, effort and compassion you can finish the whole path of emptiness meditation and become a buddha in few years, exactly like the training manuals say. Few years, people... This is the power of correct recognition and the immense gift of efficient methods.

I wrote this text to (again) adress some fundamental problems out there. It will be met with ridicule and contempt by those who are victims of the very indoctrination I explained. There are always people who cherry pick from the teachings of the masters to suit their own worldviews, or in this case to suit their indoctrination but really what I have said here is the same message that has been delivered over and over and over by countless teachers.

To some readers these words are like fresh breeze and it is for you that I have written this to remind you of the fundamentals and to tell you that there is still hope in authentic realization of dharma.

Despite of all the chaos of samsara and various problems in dharma, there is a fully awake being in you right now. In seeing, there is buddha. In hearing, there is buddha. In thinking, there is buddha. In sleeping, there is buddha. There is no moment when wakefulness was away from you, except when kept away by your belief in yourself as a separate entity.

Please take refuge in the three jewels; buddha, dharma and sangha

Please grab the hand of the mahasiddha gurus that is always extended out towards you. Sit, breathe and live with Padmasambhava.

Dudjom Vajra, 8 July 2022

Adverse Effects from Practice

 

Adverse Effects from Practice

I remember a story of a tibetan buddhist monk whose health collapsed soon after he swore to do some special practice for 2-3 years. He couldn't eat, drink, defecate, his hair fell off, lost lots of weight and was bedridden for over half a hear... but he kept saying the mantra... to overcome the karma that made him ill and ignorant. This had happened less than a decade ago in some monastery in Northern India. These things happen. He regained his health after a long period of symptoms that would terrify most practitioners and make them run away from the practice.

I don't think people have a clue how the whole thing works and how profound the benefits of mantra practice can be. When unusual illnesses and ailments happen to dedicated practitioners, the illness is a sign that great benefits and realizations are coming. This applies to dark nights as well.The worst thing to do at that point is to quit practice. I'm saying all this assuming that one is practicing under a professional teacher and a method that works.

Dudjom Kim, 3.7.2022

My Experience with Tinnitus

 

My Experience with Tinnitus

Dear Rick,

Thank you for telling about your tinnitus and how it has affected you over the last 10 years.

I was a musician and a music producer until 2002 until few reasons put an end to my music career, one of those was slight hear loss and tinnitus. Since then, I've had permanent slight hear loss (that would make it impossible to work professionally in a production studio) and occasional tinnitus that at times have lasted up to few days at once, and completely scared the heck out of me.

I left my career in music 20 years ago to pursue another career, that of yoga and meditation. Over the last two decades I have practiced lots of meditation (roughly 30 000 hours of sitting meditation) and the so called yogic practices that involved doing physical postures, breathing practices and mantras, that are kind of prayers chanted or recited in Sanskrit, Tibetan, English or my native Finnish languages.

The Eastern view of the human body and its energy system is I would say radically different from the view of Western allopathic medicine. To someone unfamiliar with Eastern medicine or healing arts or meditation it is easy to brush it off as woo-woo or belief-based but the fact is that these arts and really, sciences, have been practiced for thousands of years at a very high level in systems such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to cure or to help people with all the same ailments and illnesses that people everywhere around the world suffer of. I'm saying this just to point out that there are age old traditions behind these basic ideas and ways how the body and the mind is looked at in Eastern view.

I've done quite extensive training in various traditions of meditation, yoga and mantra, and have made many discoveries about the human body, mind and psyche, including tinnitus. I could describe and explain exactly what tinnitus is and why it causes the ringing in the ears but for now to save some time, I'll just say that, in my experience the ringing is caused by overstimulated energy currents in the head. I say this based on microscopic meditational study and occasional ringing of the ears over the past 20 years. It is logical that musicians who use ears as their main working instrument can get too much stimulation in the ears and in the energies flowing through the head, to then develop these health problems. What is unfortunate that many musicians are forced to stop making music and yet the imbalance in the energies doesn't go away. That it doesn't (necessarily) go away is kind of like when shoelaces that have been tied too tightly, don't unwind by themselves. This situation requires tools that can fix the situation, and in my own case I have been able to do that.

So, in my experience, it is possible to fix this. I have been a professional yoga and meditation teacher fo the past 15 years and I have never worked with anyone with tinnitus problems but like I've said several times by now, in my own experience, it is possible to fix this.

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to know more.

Kim Rinpoche,1.7.2022

Invitation

 

Invitation

The number of people who have finished their purification practice and have reached the first stage of buddhahood went up to 13 this week. Our sangha being 73 people in total this means that 18% of the whole sangha, almost every fifth person, has reached buddhahood. This means that all one's self-based habits have been weeded out and liberated from the mind.

Finishing purification of the mind is a very significant attainment in spiritual practice. It is reached by extremely few in the whole world. That so few attain it is because of various things like pedagogy, practices, dogmatism and so on. Anyhow, when all these factors come together to create ideal circumstances for one to learn and practice, results come fast, like it has been said many times in classical practice manuals of past masters.

In Pemako we practice "pragmatic dharma" where all questions are welcome and everything is openly discussed without secrecy. The way how we practice the dharma is like arts and sciences are practiced in the world, sharing knowledge and experiences openly, rather than keeping them secret or limited to a few. Based on that principle we commit and do the practice day and night until the fruit of buddhahood is ripened. Among my students who reached buddhahood there are men and women from all over Europe. They have normal jobs, lives and responsibilities. They are not super-yogis or -yoginis living in caves or special places, no. These people live in European cities such as Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Stockholm, Dublin and Zurich.

They practiced anything from 2 to 3½ to 5 to 8 years to finish their purification. The duration varies because maybe someone was ill at some point, or didn't practice for some time, or practiced less or more. Anyway, it is perfectly clear how anyone with an open mind and readiness can do this. As the founder of this method and lineage I am proud to be able to say that it works and delivers results, much like a mechanical machine. As an educated engineer, I always felt this is how methods, also yogic methods, should be, that they deliver results. Method cannot be called a method if it doesn't produce regular results. What do you call a TV that doesn't show you the programs on various channels? You don't call it a TV, you call it a broken TV, and they need to be either fixed or thrown away.

There is more to awakening or enlightenment or buddhahood than purification of mind but reaching the end of it (realizing emptiness of all phenomena) is the first liberator that lays the foundation for further refinement. At this point all things, thoughts, feelings, perceptions and experiences rest in zero without any power to create contraction. Day and night, the mind remains open, boundaryless, centerless, selfless and clear, or simply natural. This stage is so important and has been stressed by countless buddhist masters of the past for many centuries because at this point one has become freedom itself. No more stickiness, no more contraction, no more subconscious impulses, no more sudden surprises. That's done, the mind has been completely transformed and remains in its natural condition. And again, people who've put in the effort and commitment, and reached that live in the midst of us in Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland and so on. You can come to our local groups or retreats to meet us and scrutinize us as much as you like, if you like. And again, no one needs to believe a word I say but if you wish to know if what I say is true or not, you need to do the same practices. We have tons of free materials and guided practices on our website and youtube so knock yourself out.

I haven't written posts like this in a long time but for some reason I did so today. I guess you can call it an invitation. Feel free to do whatever you like with it.

Kim Rinpoche, 30.6.2022

https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2021/09/living-buddhas-in-pemako-sangha.html

Life as a Tantrik vs Renunciation

 

Life as a Tantrik vs Renunciation

Tantriks, beware of ideas of renunciation because they will create unnecessary confusion. People absorb these influences often without realizing it, thus getting confused about the fact that tantrik way and view is the exact opposite to renouncing whatever things in life that monastics and recluses see as problematic or as distraction to attaining whatever it is they seek to attain. Tantrics don't turn away from anything. We don't run away from conflicts nor from enjoyments but meet them. All the things in lay lifestyle are perfectly OK and not obstacles to realizing buddhanature. After that is clear, you go about living your life.

However to be honest I have not found a perfectly happy and meaningful life myself. Sure, I teach the dharma for living, have a wonderful relationship and so on but at the same time I am isolated from my students, am quite lonely and not happy with the way things are in my sangha, which I've often discussed. I have much to be grateful for but also fundamental problems. Like everyone else I also try to better my life but because everything is not up to me and my efforts, and involve and are affected by a number of other factors, people and even the surrounding tantric culture; I feel that too often I am forced to accept compromise that obviously I am not perfectly happy about. The buddhanature of mine might be blooming like Himalayan flower valley but I've had to accept that whatever plans, hopes, dreams and intentions I've had, and the immense effort I've put into my work, is met with a cold shower by the samsaric world and its countless karmic factors right at my door step. That's just the way it is. So, long story short, this has definitely changed the way I look at the world, people, my students, my work and my future. Myself no longer being young like you, I've had to change my plans that hopefully will solve the problems and make my life more fulfilling.

It is a tremendous question: How do I lead a meaningful and happy life while trying to benefit others?

All I can tell you is to jump into it and see for yourself.

Kim Rinpoche, 30.6.2022