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.