Tantric Methods Compared and Amrita Shakti

 

Tantric Methods Compared

and Amrita Shakti

As I've mentioned in my recent posts here and there, I've gone back fully to "hindu tantra". I actually feel a bit disrespectful towards my gurus by using the term "hindu tantra" because it is far from what is should be called but anyhow you all understand me better when I say hindu tantra.

I realize now that there are but 2-3 people in the sangha who practiced hindu tantra with me before 2014 when we shifted to buddhism. So I wonder if I should clarify what I mean by hindu tantra, and that of course is impossible to do by words alone. Y'all need experiences to understand what I'm talking about. Heck, it actually feels weird now that only few of you have been with me longer than 8 years.

Anyhow... hindu tantra (as an internal method) is all about the light body or rainbow body as tantric buddhists call it. It's all focused and geared up for this ultimate goal of all spiritual accomplishments, and there are actually many mahasiddhas (who I know, many more who I don't know) who have attained it, as Padmasambhava, Garab Dorje and Vimalamitra who are the three greatest masters of tantric buddhism. So, based on my experience of countless guru yogas and transmissions given to me by hindu mahasiddhas over the years, I can say without the slightest doubt that the real and original purpose of hindu tantra was to help adepts to attain full light body that at death would be marked by the physical body disappearing over a period of days. This is exemplified by Jesus's and Ramalinga's (Vallalar of Chidambaram) stories for example.

The core problem of the hindu yoga and tantra method is now and was back in Buddha's time the same: to get stuck in intoxicating bliss. There are different kinds of blisses that we as practitioners can experience and that the texts mention. There are gross, subtle, subtlemost and pure blisses. The problem is that without removing dualistic self-centered ignorance the first three blisses will inevitably keep the practitioner bound and shackled into a loop. This was both Buddha's as well as my problem. I meditated as much if not even more than young Shakyamuni did, sitting in different types of blissful frequencies (that now are called jhanas in theravada) but kept coming back to self-based ignorance after meditation sessions. So, without emptiness insight, the first three blisses will definitely keep one imprisoned and one will plateau in practice. Many have wrongfully commented that such blisses are "awakening" or "enlightenment" and that one only needs to remain in such states for extended periods of time to be "enlightened" but this is all wrong. The idea that one would need to remain in a special "state of meditational bliss", that obviously is in dualistic position in relation to other states, to be enlightened is completely off, or at least it is not the enlightened state of any of the masters I've met and I've met many, many times.

Without self-based karmic junk in the machine, life energy (prana) becomes pure and flows throughout the system smoothly. It is beautiful and I pray that everyone who reads this attains it. At this stage all the three blisses and their pitfalls are gone forever. At this point you cannot and won't experience gross states of bliss anymore and therefore cannot get caught in them. At this point the fourth kind of bliss -sahajananda - starts to become active. This "spontaneous (sahaja) and natural bliss (ananda)" is the bliss of the natural state itself which is depicted as pure rainbow light radiation in tantric art. In your subtle there will be beautiful rainbows radiating when you reach this point. Your energy starts becoming very soft and fresh, and people who meet you feel like they've been on a holiday after they spend an afternoon with you. In Pemako, giving birth to this rainbow phenomena of the enjoyment body (sambhogakaya) is supported and speeded up not only with basic prayers and relative bodhicitta but with visualizations and deities of the 12th and 13th bhumis, namely Kunzang Gyalpo, Dechen Gyalmo, Vajradhara and Saraswati. And with hindu deities, because like I said they really ramp up the speed of the process after emptiness (sunyata) has been realized. Because of this I have given Dasha Mahavidya, the Ten Great Wisdom Goddesses, empowerment to my students. Because they have finished wisdom practice, they reap benefits from this hindu tantric practice very quickly, and it is really at this point where the treasure of hindu masters begins to be revealed.

Over the past roughly 1500 years buddhist tantra has developed into a thing of its own. It has developed its own feel, tone and character, and it is wonderful. We could say that buddhist tantra as we know it now was made what it is because the lineage holders made decisions and created policies. It is natural to create policies and it is common maybe you could say even inevitable in all systems but defining ourselves and our practices as "buddhist tantra" necessarily leaves something out from the table. What was left out from the table of tantric buddhism and dzogchen was the ramped up fourth bliss that the hindu masters had.

It is a fact that both hindu and buddhist masters have attained full light body and as a sign of this accomplishment left no physical remains at the time of their departure. But, as my students know from many of the practices that I have taught them in the form of Rainbow Body Yoga for example, all practices can be made more efficient and powerful if the principles are well understood. So, long story short the problem of buddhist mahasiddhas is that as they don't have the ramped up fourth bliss, ramped up sahajananda, on their table, only very very few of them reach full light body that would make the corpse disappear. If we call this ramped up fourth bliss energy with the name of Amrita Shakti, lit. power of deathlessness, it is proper.

Based on what I have partially experienced, based on tantric transmissions that I've received, Amrita Shakti connects the nonphysical mind with the physical body and its cells very effectively and the experience of that... is incredible. If you ask, I can gladly transmit this to my students because words fall short.

The point of my long post is that there are tantric technologies to deal and speed up everything, including how one can directly hook up enlightened mind into the physical animal body to transform it into pure light. Some of you have picked this up and felt it from my recent photos. I have not yet completed my practice with deathlessness but well on my way.

Many blessings! You are the real deal.

Kim Rinpoche, 19.4.2022

 

By Jason Steyn

Pemako as Fusion Tantra

Pemako as Fusion Tantra

The past year and post-10th bhumi purification specifically has lead me back to hindu practices and empowerments some of which I have already passed on to my students (Dasha Mahavidya last November). They are way more efficient in connecting the physical body with the enlightened mind and therefore accomplishes the outer marks of rainbow body more effectively than buddhist practices. I could add observations from my own practice but later.

I love to be back with hindu practices and masters. It's a whole new venue after buddhism and of course will and already has changed the tone and feel of Pemako. It is so joyful, playful, light and blissful, and from this perspective more complete than the character that buddhism creates. We've already talked many times about dropping "buddhism" but in addition to that I started to feel that we should come out as fusion tantrics who openly practice both hindu and buddhist tantra.

I am writing the buddha book at present and will explain the justification for using both deities in there. I remember that this was very common back in the mahasiddha era days when after mahayana view had developed and folks were applying it to their hindu tantric practices (which over time developed into buddhist tantra with its distinct feel, tone and purpose). Like I've said, I actually think that buddhadharma wasn't supposed to create a new religion but fix the problems and mistakes of the old one, hinduism, or that's how I see it. Interestingly we have now arrived at that same position, after many years of study, development and results of buddhist tantra and practices. There are practical reasons to "mix kitchens" but I also think this will soften and make Pemako more approachable to those interested in yoga and tantra.

-Kim Rinpoche, 19.4.2022

Buddhas amongst us: What the fellow Chinamen saw in Mrs Chang?

 

Buddhas amongst us: What the fellow Chinamen saw in Mrs Chang?

In the past, the dharma - teachings of reality - have flourished in many countries such as India, China, Tibet, Japan, Mongolia and Korea. At some point in history these teachings were brought over by pioneers to these new areas and locals started practicing them. As we know now there has been many great fully enlightened masters in all of these countries. If I were to gather a list of all of them, it would make a thick book. We are talking about tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals.

If we think about this it must have gone in the following way. For example, a local, let's say mister or missis Chang from somewhere in China, took up some form of dharma practice and started practicing it. Some years went by and gradually this person reaped fruits from her/his practice. Then finally one day she finished her practice, finished the whole path of purification and became equal to all buddhas and mahasiddhas - masters - in her attainment. She became a living mahasiddha. Excellent! This is how it is supposed to be.

Now, if we think of Mrs Chang and she becoming a fully enlightened master of dharma, it is inevitable that the people around her - the locals - at some point had to accept the fact that a) also Chinese people could attain buddhahood and b) that there was one (or more) of these attained buddhas living amongst them. There had to be a moment or a process among Chinese people and their culture where attaining buddhahood as a Chinaman became part of their view and comprehension. The same applies to all other ancient dharmic cultures.

Teaching of reality - dharma - has only one purpose, that of helping people to become who they truly are, or in other words shedding what they aren't. If people are who they truly are, they have no self-delusion and are buddhas. To achieve this is the sole purpose of all dharmic teachings, i.e. the purpose of yogas and tantras. And there is no other way to validate the purpose of dharma except through first hand experiences and by becoming a living buddha oneself. That someone else in India or China has achieved this is inspirational but only so, and this is not enough. The meaning and purpose of dharma can only be verified first hand. This is the only authentic way to develop faith towards the teaching and towards one's guru.

So, according to our example, Mrs Chang took up practice and became a fully realized individual. And the locals had to accept that them too could take up practice and go all the way. After all, the central tenet of mahayana and especially vajrayana says that enligtenment is possible in this life and in this body. Some tantric manuals even say that one who has the right methods, the blessings and guidance of a guru and works hard, can finish the path in a matter of few years, namely 2-7 years.

So, by her example Mrs Chang testified to the validity of the view and took her place in the lineage. This made her dharma clear, palpable, alive and down to earth. Had her dharma been mere shallow words supported by big money of the rulers and the religious establishment, people wouldn't have paid attention to it, unless being forced.

The people who knew Mrs Chang, lived with her and had interactions with her, had to accept that she had indeed fully awakened. The energy and verbal expression of a mahasiddha, who knows the nature of mind inside out, does not go unnoticed, unless if one is not listening. So the locals saw the change in Mrs Chang, felt the wisdom energy pouring out of her and simply had to accept that a fellow Chinaman had become a holder of wisdom.

This process must have happened countless times not only in China but in each of the countries I mentioned. By looking at the local community now we can see that it is not a problem for Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean or Tibetan people to accept and appreciate that some of them are living buddhas. For them it is natural to have people like that among them. It is also natural for the locals to bow their heads, to touch the feet (to receive blessings), to visualize their gurus in meditation and to offer themselves and everything they have to their gurus. I have seen people do that and I have done that myself, both in front of my Asian and Western gurus.

To me it has never been a problem to acknowledge whose medicine kept me alive. Knowing this I never had a moment when it wasn't clear and therefore my gratitude towards my gurus is to this day, to this moment, incessant. Anyway, the process of acceptance that happened in Asian countries hasn't even started in the West.

Dr Daniel Brown, a professor and teacher of Tibetan buddhism, was the only voice within Tibetan buddhism who publicly stated that two people in his sangha had attained buddhahood. He-was-the-only-one-in-the-whole-field-of-dharma-who-openly-stated-this. To my knowledge he was the only one to state this among thousands of dharma teachers active in the West. Well, I have too but I am unknown and not part of the establishment so whatever I say is disregarded by most buddhists.

Anyhow, Dr Brown did and by saying this publically he was in fact doing the same thing as countless past masters who openly stated that they had attained the end of the path. I am including a number of these statements, quoted from classical buddhist and dzogchen literatire, in my upcoming book. I never met Dr Brown but I highly appreciated his openness and directness, especially during the last years of his life. Some of his talks, like Sacred Sundays, are outstanding. May he enjoy his rebirth in the pure lands in the midst of masters and adepts. May he enjoy the natural bliss of being!

Unless the teachings of dharma are lucid and down to earth, they will not become part of the modern Western culture. If the teachings have too much foreign or ancient baggage, or if they are not taught well, people will not take them seriously and throw them away as mumbojumbo. If they won't take them seriously, the dharma will never become the universal existential helper and pacifier it always was and is supposed to become.

KR, 12.4.2022

Tidying the Place Up

 

Tidying the Place Up

I have been very patient and democratic leader of this sangha or at least have tried to be. I have contemplated for years about being a leader, about Pemako's purpose in this time, about tantra in the modern world, tantra in the new cultural environment and most of all what will be the future of it, if it will even have one. Like I wrote at Teachers' Lounge I have contemplated long about taking the secularization of Pemako as far as possible but have recently realized that that is not the way to go and not the way that I want to lead this ship. To me tantra would lose something essential if it was made to look and feel like sutra. May sutrics be sutrics and tantrics be tantrics!

To me the thought that in this period where tantra is introduced from East to West, tantrics would lose their external characteristics, is faulty and dreadful because it does a great disservice to the people and culture around us. External signs have always been extremely important in dharma but at the moment in the West, concerningly few Westerners, even dedicated practitioners and teachers, seem completely unbothered by this. Most in dharma only dress up their robes and put on other marks for events inside their centers. They keep their dharma practice secret, intentionally or unintentionally but regardless this is a major problem. Considering the fact that this is samsara and that time is running out from one moment to the next, this is incredibly shortsighted and in fact stoopid. This is the opposite of being clever (skt. upaya) and indicates the lack of understanding what is going on. I am guilty of having thought that way and have wasted countless precious opportunities myself by not wearing marks.

That's not how it ever was in Asia, nor actually in christianity. Everyone wears marks of their profession, their religion, their whatever, and dharma practitioners need to do the same. I think that dharma is the most important thing in samsara because it is the only thing that has the power to take beings out of it and therefore I think the outer marks of practitioners is the most important of all marks.

In history and at present all over Asia, to some degree in our christian societies, we recognize spiritual practitioners *if* and because they carry their external marks. Without the external signs, the important message of there being spiritual practices, traditions and their practitioners, goes entirely unnoticed to people who needs that information. Like I have told, whenever I wear my robes in public it catches lots of attention and often people ask me who I am or what do I do. I tell them that I am a buddhist meditation teacher or something like that. It is stated in sutras that seeing practitioners (it probably says "seeing monks in their robes") is extremely fortunate and spiritually beneficial in many ways, a bit similar to having the sight (skt. darshan) of a living buddha. The basis and proof for this is as solid as Mt Kailash.

Finally, I have contemplated the fact that vajrayana isn't a democracy where everyone gets a vote or has a say in the matters of a sangha. I have rebelled against this idea and have deeply questioned it in everything what I have done as a teacher because as a Westerner I had to and needed to. However during the past year I have realized that vajrayana cannot and has never been democratic, and it never will be because it is based on requirements, empowerments, instructions set by the guru to their students. Therefore Pemako neither is a democracy. Despite of my rebelliousness, I have come to see and accept this principle.

This is the reason why I am tidying up our sangha and the way how things are set up at the moment. I am making the system clearer because clearer is always better. It also becomes stricter in some ways because when things are hanging loosely, things need tightening. I avoided setting up rules on purpose because I wanted to avoid making mistakes and people take these things the wrong way but the time has come for giving this system, the sangha and our soon ordained members the backbone they need and deserve.

I have spent couple of decades studying and sorting these things out and I don't change things without a thorough analysis and insight. I have been leading this ship for almost 15 years so I know what I am doing. If you wish to disagree with me, you may do so but as long as you are my student, in my sangha, practicing and reaping fruit from what I have taught and empowered you, you will have to accept that certain things are done in the way that I see best. If you're not OK with that, remember that you're here because of your own choice and are free to leave any time.

Before, as a practitioner, yet as a teacher to my students, I have purposefully avoided the spotlight and referred to Guru Rinpoche regarding various matters. Like other teachers who are still on their way, I have said that "it is all because of him" and in one sense that is right. However, now that I am done with practice I can say that the whole Pemako project has been 90% my efforts, and 10% Guru Rinpoche's. Despite of his crucial role in giving the method a healthy beating heart, as well as being a mahasiddha bodhisattva whose blessings have been ever available to us, he has never taught a single course, a retreat, wrote emails, traveled and so on. I say with love that this has been easy to him because giving blessings requires zero effort from a mahasiddha. It is me who has done all this possible and used the energy of my body to carry and lift the karmic energy of this sangha one retreat after the other for years and years. It was me who carried you with your karmic energy on my back all these years and doing so postponed finishing my own practice. To not give the wrong idea, I consciously chose to do things this way this time. I wanted to test myself and do something new and different, and I did. Mixed with other hardships and difficulties in life, I can say that it was very hard but I don't regret it. With this, I am simply stating what has been going on between you and me for the past almost 15 years. I am no longer turning your attention to Guru Rinpoche. It is time to speak of things as they are.

KR, 2.4.2022