All Things, The Body of a Buddha

 

All Things, The Body of a Buddha

Hello friends. Time for a little update.

Many things come and go in my mind but there is no change. All things rest in zero and the zero is pointless. We chase the meaning of life and try to find a purpose but of course this is just a self-based pursuit, another way that the self seeks to justify its existence. Reality is simply the way things are. Naked seeing, naked reality. If there is someone seeing the flower, the flower is not seen.

You are a buddha. Wakefulness is in all functions and actions that you do. There is no need to seek the wakefulness because it is already who you are. All life is the perfect flowering of things, a radiance that is original, complete and profound. In zero, reality blooms! In zero, satisfaction is perfect.

In reality there is no drama, no beauty, no meaning. You were never born and will never die. None of us will! Ah, the heart beats until it stops, unbelievably fantastic. Every thing in every moment, an eruption of joy and pleasure, never stopping, inexhaustible.

All things, the body of a buddha. No day, no night. No master, no disciple. No learning, no seeking, no finding, not without. Already complete and full! In heavens and earth, the dragons sing and lions dance. It is complete, it is complete already! 

-KR, 25.1.2022

Abuse and Trauma in Buddhism

 

Abuse and Trauma in Buddhism

Few days ago I was discussing “crazy wisdom” and abuse in buddhism with a friend who wasn’t aware how typical it is and how bad in many cases it has been. I’ve contemplated it since, like I have for many years.

Over the years I have corresponded with a number of victims and survivors of abuse by buddhist teachers, as well as been a member of Association of Victims of Religious Abuse (Uskontojen Uhrit ry) in Finland since the mid 90’s, so I have pretty good idea about the whole thing.

Having been bullied in school myself and having had to live under a threat of violence and verbal abuse for most part of 3 years in higher elementary school, I’ve been sensitive of abusive behaviour. Then when during my practice of dharma, I was verbally abused and publicly shamed by an Indian guru, I’ve become disillusioned about “lineage holders”. After that I started seeing many things in a different light but never doubted the dharma itself, though many victims of abuse do.

It’s a shitty world where samsaric people, some of them lineage holders, do shitty things to each other. These actions have harmful karmic consequences for all involved and in fact harms the reputation of dharma. Some bad gurus think they are enlightened enough, forget about ethics and re-write the rules. They rise high and fall hard in shame, leaving a trail of hurt and devastated disciples some of who never heal of their trauma and who cut their ties to dharma. I think that teachers who intentionally destroy the hearts of their followers are the lowest of the low. They are scum and there is no excuse.

All yoga and dharma should begin and end with the fact that all beings have pure wakeful nature, and that the whole path is about discovering it and the students getting empowered through that. There is no place of giving away of one’s power and independence or worship of guru’s personality in dharma. From the beginning until the end it is a path of self-discovery and accumulation of self-knowledge, helped and supported by a method of practice, and by the community and one’s teacher. To me, both as a student and a teacher, there is nothing more sacred than this.

But to remind how bad things can get, once again, here is the letter long term students sent to Sogyal back in 2017. Since then, Sogyal was widely critisized by various lamas, even by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and was forced to resign from his organisation. He passed away a year or so later due to cancer, or so they said. There are rumours about the way he died.

Have a nice day. Let’s keep it real and honest,

-KR, 21.1.2022

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjRl7SkyML1AhWJrYsKHVl6CvEQFnoECAgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lionsroar.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F07%2FLetter-to-Sogyal-Lakar-14-06-2017-.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1MIVQUbgrbfaMfkkOMfKko

Asana as Mudra

 

Asana as Mudra

When master yogis, mahasiddhas, go about their daily lives, they naturally manifest the yogic seal (skt. mudra) of the two awakened bodies. These two bodies are; mental body of empty phenomena (skt. dharmakaya) and mental body of playfulness (skt. sambhogakaya). Be it day or night, in peaceful or wrathful circumstances, the minds of mahasiddhas are in perfect harmony and balance. This is the great yogic seal, mahamudra, which entirely concerns nonphysical bodies of man. There is no question about the fact that the foundation of yogic accomplishment is the mind.

In human form, however, seals or mudras can take a further expression of physical postures or asanas. Before delving further into the meaning of asana, the reader should remember that the foundation of all and any type of yogic practice is the nature of mind, in other words, basic wakefulness-kindness-peacefulness. If asana yoga is exercised by practitioners who haven't yet established natural state as their default mode of being and remain in the samsaric state, this needs to be simultaneously adressed during asana yoga by appropriate techniques that enable the practitioner to resume recognition of the two awakened bodies whenever it is lost. Without this, the real meaning of asana as mudra will never be understood as mahasiddhas of the past understood them.

The real meaning of asana is mudra, and the real meaning of mudra is asana. Asanas, regardless of their simplicity or complexity, are physical expressions of the awakened nature of all sentient beings. Also, as is commonly said, asanas are a way to stay healthy and strong. From this perspective we could say that asana yoga is maintenance of our body instrument that we use to live in this world. What is interesting is that contrary to advancement in the yoga of mind*, which is irreversible, one can never achieve a state in physical yoga that would be irreversible. If one doesn't practice asana, be it on yoga mat or in any other form, the condition of the physical body begins to deteriorate.

*purification of mind, advancement in bhumis

Asana as Mudra

A common way that asanas are practiced, is to just do the movements and put one's body into some postures. One tenses, relaxes and stretches the muscles of the body and opens its joints through various applications. From the point of view of keeping the body healthy and strong, this is perfectly sufficient. From the point of view of practicing asana as mudra, however, this is incomplete.

For one to understand what asana as mudra means, one has to meet the following requirements,

1. have recognition of wakeful nature of one's mind

2. feel the spontaneous unification of the wakeful mind and the physical body

3. learn to move the body while recognising the wakeful mind

4. study the alternation of tensing, stretching and relaxing of muscles while recognising the wakeful mind

5. realise that there is no difference between tensing, stretching and relaxing of muscles while recognising the wakeful mind

6. realise that all postures and movements, both in and out the yoga mat, are asana as mudra

I have taught extensively on point 1. how to recognise the wakeful mind so I will simply refer to Pemako-website and youtube, and won't repeat anything here but to introduce this idea, asana as mudra, I will write a bit more on point number two because it is a decisive stage.

Unification of the Wakeful Mind and the Physical Body

All types of yogic physical practices begin from a simple standing posture, known as tadasana or samasthiti. Same is true in Chinese yogic traditions.

The real meaning of tadasana is to have wakeful mind and physical body unified, to study the connection and relation of the two, and to learn to adjust the muscles and joints in a subtle manner that enables staying in this posture for long durations (up to 30 minutes), if so wanted, without any discomfort.

To those who want to practice asanas purely for physical benefits, standing in stationery posture might sound pointless. However, in this stage one makes a wonderful discovery after the other about how the body becomes unified, in the midst of basic wakefulness. One's whole being becomes full of delightful light and subtlest of blisses (skt. sahajananda) often discussed in the writings of mahamudra masters. This stage of learning is demanding because it takes some time and effort to strengthen the internal muscles of the body and consequentially feel unification that can be described as sense of unified relaxed strength, that feels as if the body was weightless.

All right, I think this is enough for now. Feel free to contact me if you have questions. I'm happy to share my understanding of asanas.

KR, 19.1.2022

If You Learn Them Well, Basics Will Take You to Buddhahood

If You Learn Them Well, 

Basics Will Take You to Buddhahood

From email exchange.

>I guess my start with Pemako practices was too advanced for me. So I will turn around and stick to the basics for a while and will do the tantric trauma therapy sessions. And as far as I understood the basics are sitting and observing, correct?

I will follow your advice and observe my mind as much as possible. Your answer makes completely sense to me. That’s the thing. When you explain something, e.g. in a mail or during the retreat, it does make sense and I get it. But when I have to transfer it do different situations such as the exam situation, I don’t seem to remember of the things you ever said. Thanks again! And hopefully I won’t have to bother you anymore with basic stuff in the future.

-I think that beginning dharma practice is very much like any other art, though dharma is the art of arts because it is about the mind, nevertheless the same principles apply.

When I was a kid I fell in love with jazz music and started practicing jazz guitar. You know, jazz is one of the most complex kinds of music there is but the thing is that in the beginning one is required to establish a foundation by practicing the basics a lot. One learns scales, chords, harmony, melody and basic skills of one's instrument. It is all so simple but can be very boring and frustrating because it all seems a mystery how one is supposed to create jazz music from C major scale, C D E F G and so on. A beginner doesn't understand because she/he hasn't built the foundation, and yet if you listen to a record such as Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, which is the most sold jazz record of all times, the music in it is extremely simple, basic stuff really. Yet, if a beginner just copied the notes played by musicians on the album it doesn't sound even nearly the same.

So how is it possible that a master of jazz is able to create amazing mindblowing heart touching life changing music from the basic scales? This question burned in my mind as a youngster that it kept me up all night practicing endlessly. I would sit and practice up to 14 hours a day, until my fingers didn't move.

All dharma practice starts with genuine heartfelt motivation, you want to attain buddhahood in order to help all sentient beings. Aligning one's energies with this motivation is preceded by acknowledging that the core of our problems is self-delusion. When these two are had and felt you will not have problems in your dharma practice and the path opens up before you like an open highway. On the other hand without these two to inspire and motivate your practice, one will come up with all kinds of self-created obstacles and problems. Not even mahasiddhas can help in that situation.

I don't think you came to Pemako too early or that Pemako is too “advanced” for you. Rather, I think that you need to realise that like learning to play jazz or for one to become a professional yogi (which is what you need to be if you aim for buddhahood in this life), you need time, effort and patience. Like I explained, the path of yoga is about ongoing learning of one's own mind.

So my advice to you, since you study with me, is to pay attention to what I say, think about what I say and apply.

Like Miles's music, what I teach is the basics. It just doesn't seem that way to you because you haven't assimilated the basics yet. However, if you stick to it, you will.

KR, 17.1.2022