Put your faith in spiritual masters, while studying with teachers

 

Put your faith in spiritual masters, while studying with teachers

I understand that faith towards one's/your teacher because I was once there myself. In my case blind faith which is the wrong kind of faith shattered because the practice just didn't give the sought results.

I've seen so many people turn solely to their living physical teachers and turn away from nonphysical masters such as Jesus, Babaji or Padmasambhava, even when they never needed to choose either or. Well, in some cases like yours your religion prohibits you from turning to other masters but even if it didn't, people still make that choice. It's been said over and over by past masters that their help and blessings (that are immensely powerful) are available to anyone at anytime and yet people keep missing that precious opportunity and stick to their partially awakened teachers and lineage holders instead with very limited results. It is one kind of dharmic stoopidity. What is mindboggling to me how most people get stuck and agreeably fixated with their less than enlightened teachers like little babies to their mothers without the slightest ability of common sensical thinking. Even committed practitioners get attached to teachers of this world just because they think it is automatically a better option but that is completely wrong. 

There are all the samsaric realms inhabited by countless sentient beings. The only ones who are free from samsaric mind and samsaric rebirths are the mahasiddhas, the genuine gurus and attained master yoginis and yogis. So, you have all categories of samsaric beings who are bound by their karma and their self-centered delusions and then you have mahasiddhas who are free and fly in and out the realms like majestic eagles. To yogis, to people who study and validate dharma through their own experience rather than dogma, all of this is play.

The mistake many practitioners make that it would be better to put one's faith on the guy or gal who is little or partially awakened rather than to turn to masters who've already left this plane and no longer inhabit a physical body. It's such a rookie mistake because what people are left with is a teacher who is categorically a samsaric being and not a mahasiddha with perfect knowledge and pure energy. Your teacher might be just a little bit farther in your practice than yourself. Such a teacher should be very careful about making rules to her/his students because such limiting actions have serious consequences, plus keeps the progress of the students bound. I am saying that you can have both.

You have a very good connection with Jesus. Cherish it! Make him your compass and you will never regret it.

-Baba, 22 Feb 23

Practices of Emptiness and the Lightbody

 

Practice of Emptiness, Practice of the Lightbody

(from a facebook post)

Dealing with trauma ain't no funny business. That's what you're left with after purifying bhumis, (if one has proper trauma). It can make one feel infested with strong negativity, just very negative world view. And the difficulty is not that you can't "purify" it but because the whole way of seeing the world is distorted. This means that the energy system where the trauma is stored is broken. That's psychic injury or trauma.

I am not sure if the past generations of masters understood trauma the way our generation experiences it. It is logical that they did and there are many central practices like smiling meditation, shamatha, loving-kindness or jhanas (skt. dhyana) that are excellent for healing trauma and have been practiced for millennia but I'm still not sure. I've met a few lineage holders who had no clue about trauma though. They just thought it was a form of compelling self-delusion.

In Amrita Mandala we dive deep into the world of emptiness insight (skt shunyata) from the beginning. We do this because our primary concern is to remove self-delusion that gives brth to existential confusion (skt duhkha). Our method is built to get one from ignorance to wisdom (skt prajna) very quickly because the priority of dharma is to awaken. We don't have a period of shamatha/calm abiding meditation to prepare and no mandatory preliminaries, apart from doing 1 year of Rainbow Body Yoga Lite before taking up the full version of Rainbow Body Yoga. In traditional systems, new students would practice simple calm abiding or do preliminaries at least for one year before even giving them empowerments and practices like RBYL/RBY.

Amrita Sundari

I have built the method in this way purposefully because removing of dukkha needs to be a priority. You can't get true relief from shamatha if you're very much troubled by the sense of self. I know that from experience, having started with lots of shamatha practice leading to a dead end of sorts where I was existentially as miserable as I was before I started practicing. Same happened to Shakyamuni who practiced jhanas for 6 years. My point is that from the purely dharmic perspective the sense of self with all its friends and buddies needs to go first, i.e. emptiness or wisdom needs to be established first.

Traditional methods start differently. They start with calm abiding (skt shamatha), preliminaries, jhanas or such and usually don't give instructions of emptiness insight from the start. There are exceptions but this is how it usually is. The reason why these kind of practices can be extremely frustrating to someone whose hair is on fire due to existential discomfort is because shamatha and jhana meditations work on the subtle body made of meridians which is not where self-delusion is even located. The good side of these practices is that one purifies the meridian system but the bad side is that one's existential issues remain intact.

I think that most lineages and traditions don't even know that there are two different types of subtle bodies: 1. one made of nadis and 2. other made of meridians. These two systems are closely related but are different and have different laws.

If we practice shamatha or jhanas, the cultivation happens in the body or field of meridians which is the subtle system closest to the physical body and its organs. The sense of self as defined in buddhadharma and doctrines of awakening is not there so from the perspective of wisdom awakening these practices are utterly pointless and useless. They just prolong one's existential pain. But, and this is very important, from the perspective of healing of trauma these practices can be golden. I say can be because I also know many people who practiced shamatha for years and still had huge traumas. 

 

Something that I do not understand and do not agree is when shamatha or jhanas are marketed as techniques that develop concentration. I don't think developing concentration is that important when compared to healing. In my zen days I developed concentration to very high degree that I could burn holes into sheets of paper, figuratively speaking, but that skill is quite useless. I wish shamatha had been presented to me as a way to heal but because it wasn't I missed a huge opportunity to heal my traumas because my teachers didn't even know that sphere of human issues and I also didn't even get awakened which is what I had come for. What a miserable sorry ass pancake. 

 

If we look at the human subtle bodies from a different perspective after one has purified the body of nadis (bhumis), which is where the self-delusion is stored, one can be fully and completely awake and yet still have lots of trauma stored in the body of meridians. In traditional systems this doesn't happen, or ideally shouldn't happen because the meridian system should by that time be already purified. But in our system it is the opposite way, the traumas and echoes of the former samsaric mind are still there because the body of meridians hasn't yet been adressed.

During the past few years I have given empowerments and teachings of the Ten Wisdom Goddesses (skt Dasha Mahavidya) and various hingu guru yogas that adress the meridian system but I am just now about to really get the engines started regarding this matter.

I have been working on this question in my lab day and night for over a year now and I am glad to say that my work has produced results. I have given trauma healing teachings before but the best is yet to come. I found that an excellently effective way to adress the meridian system and get the traumas washed out from there is in my old old friend - kriya yoga. For those who don't know I used to teach a form of kriya yoga called Sundara Kriya Yoga until about 10 years ago before switching over to buddhist tantra.

These years and the constant experimenting with various tantric practices have been both very fruitful but to me also very frustrating at times because I haven't been given ready-made answers by my gurus. I had to dive deep into my system and contemplate my butt off to come with solutions and results. An example of this is figuring out whatboth myself and my students were experiencing after bhumi perfection stage when they started feeling distant echoes of the former samsaric mind or still had the same psychic injury they had before. It took me a while to figure out that they are coming from a *different energy system*. Then I had to find out *how to adress* them effectively. This investigation has been a massive undertaking but I am finished with the processing now and have everything my students need. 

 

So just to be clear when it comes to wisdom we have RBYL and RBY, guru yoga with Yeshe Tsogyal and Guru Rinpoche, vipashyana instructions, bodhicitta, basic prayers and so on. No change there. I will, however, introduce a different set of hindu tantric exercises side of these buddhist tantric exercises. The name for this set of exercises of Amrita Kriya Yoga.

Our sangha members have seen glimpses of this already. Few weeks ago I posted an image of Amrita Sundari, which is a form of Tripura Sundari given by mahasiddha Agastya. Amrita Sundari is the main deity of Amrita Kriya Yoga. There are other supplementary practices such as Amrita Sundari Astottara Shata Namavali or 108 names of Amrita Sundari. Like Rainbow Body Yoga, Amrita Kriya Yoga is a program that consists of different yogic exercises.

When Rainbow Body Yoga results in realization of emptiness of all phenomena, Amrita Kriya Yoga results in lightbody, healing traumas and removing old samsaric imprints from the meridians along the way.

Monsoon blessings your way,

Baba, 23 Jan 23

Deathless Body of Light and Why Getting Fully Enlightened Isn't That Simple

Deathless Body of Light and 

Why Getting Fully Enlightened Isn't That Simple

Sketch from my upcoming book "Life As A Buddha.

I think there is lots of confusion and mistakes in presentations about "full enlightenment" or the most refined type of buddhahood. In everyday discussions I also use the term full enlightenment for less refined states that nevertheless are states of perfect liberation of the mind (emptiness of all phenomena, bhumis 1-10). However if we think about this in binary fashion there is really only one kind of full enlightenment and this most traditions do not know about.

When a fully enlightened human being dies, there are no physical remains at all. This is because the physical body has been integrated and made a continuation of the enlightened mind. If the body has not been made a continuation, then there will be a physical corpse. What actually happens at death when a fully enlightened master leaves the body is that as the physical body is seamlessly connected to the subtle body, the physical body gets sucked into the subtle body. It is as if the enlightened subtle body pulls or vacuums the physical body into it and in consequence no remains will be left. This has been exemplified by legendary buddhist masters like Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra but also by Jesus, Ramalinga from Tamil Nadu (in 1874) and Du Xin Ling, a taoist master from China, in 1989 (see link below). These masters left no remains at all. Both Ramalinga's and Du Xin Ling's cases have been documented and reported by officials. Also the orthodox christian tradition of desert fathers knows this phenomena well though it is difficult to acquire information from their highly secretive tradition. A technical term for this full enlightenment is "full rainbow body" or just "light body".

People might think all this is crazy talk but even over the past decade there has been written and photographic accounts (see photos from the links below) from Tibet where some highly accomplished practitioners attained "small rainbow body". In small rainbow body, where the physical body and its cells are not completely integrated with the enlightened mind, the body shrinks over the next few days after the heart stops beating. It is as if the body was scaled back to the size of babies body with the exception that also the head shrinks with the rest of the body. This is a sign that the practitioner has reached a point in her/his practice where the smallest building particles (I just call them cells) of the physical body are included and cleaned in the purification process. I will explain this in more detail in my upcoming book about buddhahood.

Anyhow, if we think about the various doctrines and practices of yoga, meditation, dharma and tantra we come to see that most traditions don't even mention this phenomena. In most systems even masters leave corpses to be buried or burned but it simply is a fact that the process can go much further than that and most importantly, if we have the fortune to meet and study with genuine masters, learn highly effective practices and have the readiness and eagerness to go all the way, we - you and I - we all, can actually go all the way to full rainbow body.

In my view this does not require special circumstances like having to become mountain recluses or having to do long retreats. In my experience, as a householder myself, this can be done in the midst of 21st century city living.

-Kim Rinpoche, 4.5.2022

http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2018/06/taoist-master-attains-rainbow-body.html

http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2019/10/god-took-him-with-body-by-lama-ivo.html

https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2019/10/bodily-dissolution-in-dzogchen-by-fr.html

Yogas With or Without Knowledge

 

Yogas With or Without Knowledge

I don't think that emptiness teaching is or was meant to start a new religion that we now know as buddhism. I think it was meant to fix the central problem in hinduism but then things went otherwise and a new religion was developed. It is a whole another discussion how is it possibe that there is so many basic misconceptions and misunderstandings in hinduism, considering that jnana yoga is one of the most basic forms of hindu yogas. There cannot be any other knowledge or jnana than knowledge of one's true nature. All other jnanas come far second and yet, it is these secondary knowledges that most hindu practitioners spend their lives with, left ignorant of one's true nature. That is a tragedy.

The way I see it is that both self-delusion and its removal through the teaching of shunyata are both universal. We have to reset the karmic counter back to zero (shunya) to be able to have the primary knowledge of our existence. However, considering that this teaching isn't available to that many people and it comes together with the religious packaging of buddhism, so people associate the teaching of emptiness with buddhism, Asia and so on, are signs that many things went wrong along the way for various reasons. If we look at great founders like Jesus and Buddha, I think what they meant to do was to offer and bring medicine for the humanity, not start their own groups for the sake of having a group. Although I feel that I'm a buddhist, often when looking at what goes on in buddhism, I feel like a complete stranger to it. It is just what Babaji told me years ago, that there is no this or that yoga, you could say no this or that religion. There is only that which works and that which doesn't in terms of existential confusion. People get so confused when faith and belief come into the picture and loose sight of what is truly important. To me there cannot be other type of dharma than dharma that releases dualistic (plus or minus) confusion into zero. And this was always the real meaning of yoga.

Kim, 11.6.2021

Physical Dynamic Concentration in Other Traditions

Physical Dynamic Concentration

in Other Traditions

Dynamic Concentration

The idea of Dynamic Concentration (DC), as has been explained in the previous chapter of this book, is to cut through all layers of the self-based mind and in consequence access one's pure wakeful nature. This type of yogic exercise is done with sudden explosive yet purposeful and controlled force. It can be done solely on the level of the mind but easiest way to apply it is through shout, often as repeated shouts.

Physical Dynamic Concentration

Dynamic Concentration can also be done physically. In Pemako Buddhism this is known as Physical Dynamic Concentration (PDC). Find Physical Dynamic Concentration with simple tantric mantra of Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal taught in this video, under the name of Vajra Body-exercise.

The idea of Physical Dynamic Concentration is to tense all muscles of the body at once in a controlled yet forceful manner while being fully aware of it. Because tensing of the muscles is so engaging, during this type of concentration it is very difficult for the mind to start drifting and therefore PDC also accomplishes very well what the practitioner intends to do, which is to access and establish one's wakeful nature. Flexing is kept for few seconds, usually while holding the breath, with tantric elements such as mantras and visualisations, and then relaxed. As in the above video instruction, PDC should be done at least few times before a brief pause (half a minute or a minute) before second (-third-fourth) series of repetitions. Same idea of several repetitions (up to 100 in one series) and few sets (usually 2-4) is used with both DC and PDC in Pemako Buddhist practice. This is because many repetitions and sets works more effectively and accomplishes the task splendidly in comparison to just few repetitions.

Physical Dynamic Concentration in Other Traditions

Yogananda

Probably the most widely practiced form of PDC, is Paramahamsa Yogananda's Energisation Exercises. Yogananda is famous through his Autobiography of A Yogi. He is one of those who brought a type of hindu tantra called Kriya Yoga to the West beginning in 1920's. See from this video how he formulated PDC, together with prayer and breathing practices.

According to Swami Satyananda, Yogananda's childhood friend and dharma brother, Yogananda got the idea of PDC from a book on gymnastics by a German physical educator in the early 1900's. According to Swami Kriyananda, Yogananda's close disciple, Yogananda practiced Energisation Exercises twice every day of his life until his passing. See a photo of Yogananda taken just an hour before his passing in 1952, at the age of 59. I find his energy and appearance quite impressive.

Goswami

Another, though much less known, tradition of hindu yoga that uses PDC is the lineage of Shyam Sunder Goswami. Goswami published few books and was the founder of the Sweden-based Goswami Yoga Institute. His Advanced Hatha Yoga introduces PDC as ”Carana Yoga”. See these pictures of Goswami students practicing ”yogic bodybuilding”.

Shaolin

The only buddhist tradition that uses PDC exactly in the same way as Pemako Buddhism and the other examples is the Shaolin-tradition from China. Shaolin monastery is considered to have been founded by Bodhidharma, the yogi who brought Zen from India to China.

Over the past 1500 years, the training system of Shaolin temple has developed into a three-way system: 1. kung fu, 2. chi gong and 3. meditation (c. chan). Roughly speaking, kung fu refers to martial arts training, chi gong refers to conditioning of the body, focusing of the mind and cultivation of breath energy (c. qi) and meditation refers to cultivation of mindfulness. These three can also be explained as physical cultivation (c. jing), cultivation of breath energy through intention (c. yi) and cultivation of wakeful nature (c. shen). 

https://www.shaolinshixingmi.com/

The Gift of Physical Dynamic Concentration

People arrive and have glimpses of the natural state accidentally, as a side-effect and purposefully. The point of DC and PDC is to have a reliable and mechanical tool that enables recognition of one's wakeful nature anywhere and anytime to anyone, with or without a tantric empowerment.

Thank you for reading and many blessings,

-Kim Rinpoche, 16 of July 2020

Pemako Buddhism, www.pemakobuddhism.com

* This text is additional material to What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice

* See also this video playlist of Dynamic Concentration and Physical Dynamic Concentration

How to Receive the Greatest Gift of Reality

How to Receive

the Greatest Gift of Reality

In this text, I will discuss mahasiddha bhumis, lit. grounds of great accomplishment, and their importance in yogic practice. I have written a book entitled What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice that I recommend for new readers.

Biographical Note: First Glimpses

As a little boy, growing up in a family that was shadowed by my father's alcoholism, I began to pray and meditate spontaneously. I often went to my room, sat down on the bedside, and suddenly the room would be filled with immense peace and light, that entirely dispersed any anxiety I had. At the time I had no idea what happened but since they gave me great relief, I kept doing it. In retrospect, I have learned that I experienced both visitations of past mahasiddhas, masters of great accomplishment, as well as a descent of grace from my own mahasiddha bhumis, as they are called in Open Heart. I have discussed these experiences in some detail in this interview.

After 4 years of arduous training in Zen Buddhism in Japan and Finland, my health forced me to find a different path. As a young samurai-spirited fool who was desperately in love with zen, I would never have thought I would leave zen but I needed to and within few months my path took an unexpected turn towards sanatana dharma, or more commonly, hinduism, and its tantric methods, kriya yoga in particular. In December of 2006, I received my first empowerment of kriya yoga and I am not exaggerating when saying that after the first practice session of kriya pranayama spiced with strong guru devotion, my life wasn't the same anymore. I am neither exaggerating when saying that the clarity and depth of mind after 30 minutes kriya yoga practice, equaled a weeklong zen retreat where one sits in quiet meditation for over 12 hours a day. For those 4 years that I trained in zen, I had sat for 8 or more hours everyday without exceptions, following instructions of my teachers to the letter, so it wasn't like I hadn't tried.

Kriya Yoga and Paravastha

Nowadays there are many kinds of kriya yoga and not all of them have to do with Babaji, the modern time founder of kriya yoga, who is mentioned in Paramahamsa Yogananda's autobiography. I started kriya yoga in a lineage that had been passed from Babaji to Lahiri Mahasaya in 1860's, to Swami Sriyukteswar (d. 1936) and Paramahamsa Hariharananda (d. 2002), and finally to the yogi who initiated me, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda. In kriya yoga, I learned something called paravastha, which is short for turiyavastha or paraturiyavastha. Paravastha literally means state beyond mind. In kriya yoga this is done after magnetisation of the central channel with deep breathing, equipped with the emotion of loving devotion. To go into paravastha, the practitioner catapults her or his attention high above one's head. I do not recall what they told beginners about the energetic principles behind this exercise but nevertheless this exercise together with sweet devotion changed my life overnight. After finding kriya yoga, I still kept practicing 8 or more hours a day. 

 

Tibetan buddhist monk visualises tantric deity, Vajrasattva, above his head.

Sivakami

I followed that lineage for about a year until I found Sivakami Om Anandi's website. We started emailing and I received initiation from her. Over time and many emails, she became my teacher and very dear dharma friend for 3 years until she passed away in late 2010. Before she passed, she asked me to continue her lineage.

Sivakami was unusual among teachers. She was an American grandmother who had retired some years before from a lifelong career breeding dogs. By the time I got in touch with her, she had moved to the island of Kauai, which is one of the main islands of Hawaii, due to very severe form of arthritis. She never allowed any of her students to meet her in person, so I never met her in person. Back then I couldn't understand or appreciate her choice but now I do. All communication was done through email or telephone calls. My emails with her add up to 600 pages.

Sivakami was a mystic and a bhakta, not a yogi. She had excellent karmic connections with nonphysical masters who taught her during her countless night time astral travels (sleep yoga) and meditation. She also met and learned many physical teachers but never clicked with them enough to become a student, which now that I think of it, is exactly how I have come to feel. When one gets a hang of tantric guru yoga with a mahasiddha, it is not an option to settle for less. That's how I feel, anyway.

One of the nonphysical teachers Sivakami met was Lama Thubten Yeshe, who at the time (1984-1985) was in between two reincarnations. Lama Yeshe offered her his teachings but she kindly refused because she was never attracted by the buddhist vibe. She had immense devotion towards Yogananda in whose organisation she started practicing in 1976. Later she got connected with widely known masters, Babaji and Thirumular, who I also worked closely with for several years.

Thirumular and Sivakami had been together in previous lives, so their connection was unique. I, by the way, never believed a word of any of the mystical stories she told me, until I checked them through my own meditation. I verified the brief connection with Lama Yeshe and her connection with Thirumular, for example, through my own meditation, and that I did, made her satisfied because I wasn't blindly accepting whatever she told me.

Riding the Mahasiddha Bhumis

I had been visited by nonphysical mahasiddhas since I was a boy and in 2007, they started to make themselves known to me in a more personal than before. I began to receive teachings, visit subtle planes and had many mystical visions. Sivakami's guidance in understanding them was immensely helpful and now I believe that not many people in the whole world would have been capable of providing such advice based on their own first hand experience.

She also taught paravastha or what in Amrita Mandala are called mahasiddha bhumis. Connecting with these subtle centers had a central role in her teaching. In 13 Bhumi Model, which is one of the teachings I have received and taught, there are 7 centers above the head. These 7 can be split into two main groups: bhumis 7-10 and bhumis 11-13. That's how she taught them and called them 8^th and 9^th centers above the 7 chakras within the subtle system inside the body, from root center (skt. muladhara chakra) to crown center (skt. sahasrara chakra). She also called mahasiddha bhumis by the names of High Self and Oversoul, which I also used until 2013 when Amrita Mandala switched from Sundara Kriya Yoga to buddhist tantra.

”There are two chakras beyond the crown of the head.

The 8^th is that part of one's soul that never incarnates.

The 9^th is our connection to the Oversoul, wisdom and love.

These are not spoken about, and yet they are very important

at this time in humanity's spiritual unfoldment.”

- Sivakami Om Anandi (27.6.2008)

”I believe in the next 30 years, there is going to be a push

by these Siddhas to bring back High Self... 8th and 9th chakra understanding among disciples that are ready for it.”

- Sivakami Om Anandi, (3.3.2009)

What she says in the latter quote about mahasiddhas pushing to bring mahasiddha bhumis back is interesting. As far as I know, they are taught in some forms of kriya yoga (not all) and hindu tantra, few forms of Taoism, few forms of reiki and new age healing. In Tibetan buddhist phowa, which is the technique of exiting the body at death and aiming for Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land Sukhavati (tib. dewachen), and some other visualisations where one visualises buddhas or gurus above one's head, it is taught although I have never seen it explained why exactly they are imagined above one's head. In Rainbow Body Yoga mahasiddha bhumis are exercised a lot, through pillars above and below the body. In a simple form, this is taught already in the Introductory Practice, under Jewel Visualisation.

Getting Back to Basic Principles

In Rainbow Body Yoga connection between the reincarnated bodymind and one's mahasiddha bhumis is done extensively because this is the most direct way in which our pure nature and its energy can be brought to the tainted mind. In RBY this is further fortified with breathing exercises, deity mantras and mudras. This is a highly efficient way to generate purification of mind, in our terminology, opening and perfection of bhumis.

Mahasiddha bhumis can be accessed within one's body and aura as well, through certain channels and secret centers, such as those taught in Vimalamitra's Wisdom Meditations. With specific instructions from a tantric lama this can be taken as a valid path but it is my observation that practitioners of various sutrayana paths do not systematically access this inner potential, the ground of being. Mahasiddha bhumis are also cultivated through common buddhist practices such as Refuge, Bodhicitta and Lineage Prayers but since the energetic charge accompanied with prayers almost always goes unnoticed and is not pointed out by lamas, I think it can be said that the students are not learning a correct way of practice. This is very unfortunate, of course.

”These are not spoken about, and yet they are very important at this time in humanity's spiritual unfoldment”, Sivakami said. I think the reason why she said that these centers are very important at this time, is because we are in the midst of the most destructive period according to the yuga-theory. Our time in the history of mankind is marked by technological advancement but because ethics, clarity of mind, and love and compassion for others are missing, a lot of technological advancement turns against us and as a matter of fact, against the whole planet we are living on. Since the illness of mankind is strong, humanity needs strong medicine to heal. I really wish more people would be ready for the medicine I discuss here.

From what I have witnessed in my own practice and that of my students, I can say that this type of yogic exercise, connecting directly to one's own buddhanature, emulating the grounds of these attainments in one's daily practice, is undoubtedly the greatest gift there is. There is no way to remain crooked with this medicine, nor there are side effects.

Thank you for reading,

A BA HU MANI PEME HUNG HRI*,

- Baba, 21.5.2019

Amrita Mandala

*A - Seed syllable of 11^th bhumi

BA - Seed syllable of 12^th bhumi

HU - Seed syllable of 13^th bhumi

MANI PEME – Mantric formula of the Buddha of Compassion, Avalokiteshvara/Chenresig

HUNG - Seed syllable of the karmic body, i.e. bhumis 1-10

HRI - Seed syllable of enlightened heart

Bringing Joy Back to Buddhism

Bringing Joy Back to Buddhism

Every now and then I feel like writing reviews about what has been going on with Open Heart. This is one of those reports. I'll be talking about Guru Rinpoche's recent instructions and guidelines along with how our method is taking new (actually old) steps in it's evolution.

Several years ago a dear friend and one of my gurus, mahasiddha Babaji, told me:

”This is one and the same yoga. There is no this or that yoga. There is only that which is according to the great tradition of yoga and that which is outside of it. At the moment much yogic knowledge is scattered around the world. It is your work to bring it all together.”

For the last 3-4 years Open Heart has taken a very buddhist tone. Along with studying scriptural sources and lectures, Pau and I received a long list of empowerments of buddhist deities, pointing out instructions and practices that has been the main cause to increase my understanding about the basic principles of sutra, tantra and dzogchen. During this time I have sometimes looked back into earlier times with hindu deities, Shaivite tantras, kundalini kriya yoga and bhakti yoga, feeling that those days have passed while wondering whether some of that, greatly powerful and beneficial style of practice will ever be integrated into Open Heart. For a long time I couldn't see how this could be done.

Head

Buddhism is a wisdom (skt. prajna) and knowledge tradition. By wisdom and knowledge I refer to the principles of seeing, knowing, thinking, analysing and understanding. Buddhism and it's many schools from theravada to mahayana and vajrayana are known for it's detailed analyses and maps. I think that having a clear and understandable map is an essential requirement in seeking our way out of cyclical existence. Without a map and direction it's very difficult to find a way out from a foreign place.

Having said that, I feel that buddhism overemphasises the masculine feature of analysis and wisdom with the expense of intuition and heartfulness, which corresponds to the feminine principle. As buddhism has mostly been transmitted and molded by men, especially monastics, it is no surprise that this is the case. This gives buddhism a very distinct feel and energy. I completely understand why some people are not attracted by buddhism because of this and choose other approaches, my teacher Sivakami was one of them.

If we look at the way buddhist practices and training systems from the vast majority of it's schools are formulated and how they are cultivated, we can see that they are the creations of men. To exaggerate it, we can observe formality, seriousness, emotional coldness, hardness, rigidity and desire to be utterly transparent. If we consider these features according to our psychology, we can see that they relate to the head space. Wisdom of the head without heart is like this. We can be very sharp, clear and discriminative in our thoughts and actions but if we lack warmth and openness of the heart, we will not feel well. Any system created by men, like buddhism, can be very lopsided and this of course, is a problem.

I have often asked the challenging question: If vajrayana's potential is to fully liberate it's practitioners in this life and body, where are all the living buddhas? It is a legitimate question. I think a great part of the problem, that extremely few buddhists of all schools actually attain full enlightenment, lies in this question.

Heart

Being heartful, open minded, a receiver (instead of a transmitter) and being intuitive are feminine features. When we become ”open minded” or are in the receiving mode, we can feel that our heart space opens and softens up, and the mind shuts down very thoroughly. We become kind and mother-like, and it is wonderful. If we overdo feminine features, for example follow our intuition without thinking what we intuit, we become onesided. If we only follow our hearts and leave the head out of the picture, we become unrealistic dreamers. Both clarity and warmth are needed because, after all, we all have heads and hearts.

As a side note I would like to add something about lack of intuition among buddhists in relation to OHBM. For a couple of years I've tried to tell buddhists of various schools about it and how wonderful and exceptional tool it is. Potentially it could solve a lot of problems in buddhism today.

I have wondered why most buddhists have hard time accepting that attainments, closed, opened or perfected bhumis, could be sensed from other person whether present physically or from distance. Although mahayana buddhism talks about bhumis and attainments, they do not have another way to measure attainments except through long term relationship and verbal exchange between a teacher and student. Of course, there is nothing wrong in this but this leaves us utterly ignorant about the attainments of others, and actually often ourselves too. Verbal communication can never be as precise as direct exchange of living experience.

I have heard buddhist teachers say that one's attainment can be detected from the gaze but it never gets more specific than that. Why not? At some point it dawned on me that while for some who consider themselves buddhists understanding OHBM is easy, to most it is hard because they lack intuition. A buddhist who follows a system that is said to have worked for generations, has no need for intuition and hence might not even know what it is. Anyway.

Misleading Joy

While blissful and ecstatic states can also be relatively helpful, from the point of view of dzogchen, the ultimate nonduality, exalted states are pitfalls. This is very common in religions other than buddhism, namely hinduism and christianity in their many forms. I have talked about this here.

Intoxicating states are caused by 1. kundalini movements in the energybody of an unawakened person and/or 2. mental-emotional impurities, i.e. karmic traces stored in the subtle body. As far as I am aware only buddhism has a clear view and ways of dealing with both of these factors, so that the practitioners don't get stuck with heavenly experiences and realms.

In short, kundalini is resolved by awakening and all the many karmic traces are purified through distinct sutra or tantra methods that cover the full scope of human psychology. In the calm state, it is the deep subconscious mind (skt. alaya vijnana), in it's self-deluded mode, that causes strong bliss and ecstasy. Therefore thinking that exalted bliss is ”the” thing, is false.

It is interesting to note that great yogis and mahasiddhas who have greatly or fully nullified their deep mind, do not get intoxicated by over-emotional bhakti yoga, drugs or alcohol. A few glasses of whiskey, an easy way to test (some) one's attainment.

Joy

To know true joy, we first need to recognise and integrate it's basis which is awareness (tib. rigpa) or ”nature of mind”. While many traditions of nondualism point to this basis, as a rule in the history only tantric buddhists and dzogchenpas seem to be the only ones who manage to neutralise all karmas and hence attain the first stage of full enlightenment (OHBM, perfection of bhumis 1-10) or buddhahood.

The main point is that if we know how to avoid and remove the common pitfalls of the devotional approach, the feminine way of using emotional opening and loving surrender, it can be faster and more powerful way for getting into the natural state in it's profoundest meaning. Through emotional opening, the natural state is easily accessed and more pronounced than through mental or analytical means. That is my experience. True joy comes through uniting clarity of awareness of the head and warmth-aliveness of the heart. Together they make a whole.

Pure Land Buddhists

Recently I have corresponded with Pure Land Buddhists who have a wonderfully light and carefree spirit. Their main practice is remembrance and devotion towards Amitabha Buddha, through singing his name. This makes their apporach unique among buddhist schools because their main principle is devotion and surrender, instead of willpower and analysis.

Dharmavidya David Brazier, Pure Land Buddhist teacher:

”It does seem that traditionally in India there was a strong buddhist tradition of buddhist music until quite late on. Much of the music which style you now associate with hinduism, like Hare Krishna chanting, that sort of tambourine banging: Haa-ree Raa-maa!, that sort of thing was buddhist originally. It was a buddhist style. As India became hindu rather than buddhist again, the music continued.” (link to video)

Fujita Kotatsu in Genshi Jodo Shiso No Kenkyu about sound use of emotion in Pure Land Buddhism:

”In Hinduism, the idea of faith is expressed as bhakti. Bhakti is regarded as the highest path of interface with the gods and also implies the deepest reverence for gods. On the other hand, Pure Land prasada differs in that it appears less emotional and more serene and subtle due to its relation to prajna (wisdom) and samadhi (concentration).” (copied from here)

So it is also important to have wisdom because it naturally combines with emotional warmth.

Guidance of the masters

A few months ago Guru Rinpoche told me to,

”Bring joy back to buddhism”.

When he told me this I knew it would be another task and challenge in my work. An obvious point about his request is that I cannot bring joy back into all of buddhism, just to Pemako Buddhism, bring another bit of yogic knowledge to make our path whole and balanced. After having pondered the question of over-masculinity and emotional coldness of buddhism for some time, I understood master's request and agreed. At that point I remembered what I had heard David Brazier say in his talk quoted above and started remembering the ways and melodies we used to sing and chant back in the kriya yoga days. Those sessions were a blast!

After this year's annual Summer Retreat, in early July, Guru Rinpoche and mahasiddha Thirumular, started to introduce me to further options.

To inform those who do not know of Thirumular, he was the main guru of Open Heart before. He is one of the main founders of tantric Shaivism and a great mahasiddha who attained light body many centuries ago. A wonderful, jolly and joyful persona whose presence is felt in the physical body and it's tissues very palpably and concretely, not merely as plain awareness and subtle aliveness of the energy body, as is the case with the vast majority of buddhist masters. You can invite him over to feel him yourself. I am sure he is happy to come.

The further option they introduced me to was the option that ”the practitioner can dissolve his or her body into the Light Body (Tib. འོད་སྐུ་, ö ku), where the body transforms into light and disappears completely into space. This was done by Garab Dorje, Manjushrimitra, Shri Singha, Jnanasutra and Vairotsana.” (from RigpaWiki)

My understanding is that also Jesus and Ramalinga from Tamil Nadu attained this option of the light bodies. Interestingly, both Jesus and Ramalinga, who I consider to be reincarnations of the same person, greatly emphasised love and devotion, the feminine approach of the heart, towards the highest ideal.

Easiest Way to the Light Body

Guru Rinpoche and Thirumular asked me how I felt about mixing these two approaches, 1. emptiness/selflessness and 2. devotion of the heart to strike at the light body attainment of great perfection (tib. dzogchen). Since thogal-practices require a lot of time and specific practice circumstances for attaining light body and therefore is not a reasonable option for householders, I instantly felt this was a good and creative idea, as well as an interesting way to join different approaches, so I agreed.

Since Padmasambhava's attainment, his presence and vibration, emphasises transparency (emptiness) and subtle aliveness (and therefore doesn't concretely connect with the physical tissues), they demonstrated to me how both of their vibrations could be joined together. For this reason the vibration and transmission through Namo Guru Rinpoche-mantra has been different for a few weeks now. Now, it is very different compared to the common buddhist vibe. One can easily feel joy and lightness, together with penetrativeness (emptiness) through chanting it. Such a delight!

In case someone is new to this mantra, it does not require an empowerment, you can just start using it and plug into Guru Padmasambhava directly, he will take care of the rest. If you used this mantra before or if you have done other Guru Rinpoche'mantras from other lineages, you can easily feel that the charge reaches your physical body, soft and hard tissues, in a solid manner. This is a huge blessing from the gurus, so cherish it with sincerity and love. This guru yoga is one of the two ways to activate this particular vibration.

Another way to do this is through a particular mantra which is the seed mantra (skt. bija) of the 13th bhumi within ones own bodymind. It corresponds to the light body attainment and when used, starts to make it a reality. According to Guru Rinpoche's will, there is no need for an empowerment of this mantra either but you can ask him a blessing for it and you will receive it.

This mantra is HU. English speakers can get the correct pronounciation by considering ”Whooo?”. It can be chanted a few times or longer duration-wise, according to the situation and it will do the trick.

Bringing Joy Back

Beautiful and unique developments. I invite anyone to try out the mentioned mantras. That's how we will bring joy back to buddhism, at least to Pemako Buddhism.

Thank you for reading.

Yours in dharma.

• Orgyen Pema, 21.8.2017

Open Heart, www.openheart.fi

Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 2: Cessation/Nirodha

Cutting through Samsara

and entering Nirvana, Part 2:

Cessation/Nirodha

Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 2 - speech and guided practice.

Check also:

• Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 1: Cutting through-text and video
• Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 2: Cessation/Nirodha-text and video
• Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 3: Twist and Shout!-text

Feedback from Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 1:

S: ”After watching your latest video about the chanting, and doing it, something shifted and there was a clear seeing completely through thought, to the empty nature that is it, which has remained open.”

J: ”After 2 hours after the shouting session, my mind and perception kept flickering off and on. It was similar to lights being turned off and on, off and on, again and again, in a quick rhythm. These cessations lasted for a few seconds at a time. It kept happening again and again. Afterwards I felt very tired”.

You describe going "unconscious without going unconscious", awareness shifting and going through something that is new to you. This is called cessation or nirodha. It is like turning off the lights and electricity of the house but not becoming unconscious. These moments are like big leaps, in spiritual sense. This is so because cessation resets the mind momentarily. It's like if you have a big, noisy and messy engine going on and on, making noise, creating fumes, like the dualistic mind does. But when you take electricity plug out for a moment... The engine stops for a moment. This is a glimpse to the natural mind, natural awake awareness. There is nothing and no one there. Literally. This is the permanent mind state of a fully enlightened one, mind of a buddha. That's the mind of no-self. No self in any shape or form. In other words, That's emptiness.

When cessations start happening they might feel dramatic at first. When the lights come back on and the usual mind state resumes, you might feel, ”What was that!? Am I going insane?” Mind reacts like this, with fear and confusion, because it tries to figure out what happened. But it can't because cessation is non-conceptual and conceptual understanding only goes so far. So for some period of time cessation feels like a dramatic drop into the unknown and coming out of it also feels as dramatic, like a jump or something like that. There is this big threshold. If cessations are long, say minutes or hours, which are very rare, one is not able to be active and do things during cessation. Usually cessations are just a few seconds long, at a beginner stage. Later they can be for minuts and hours. People who wake up, have a short cessation and it has enough power to take the charge out of the subject-self.

In hindu dharma, this dramatic leap is called kevala nirvikalpa samadhi. It's a beginning stage of cessation. But with time and practice the drop into and jump back from cessation wears off. With practice, it becomes natural, it transforms. In hindu yoga this mature stage of cessation is called sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi. Sahaja means natural. This means that one's conditioned dualistic mind becomes permeated by no-self realisation. Here the dramaticity of it, is gone and one can do things in cessation. Eventually, cessation is not interrupted, it becomes natural. It grows on you and at some point you don't even notice it happening. Mahasiddhas and buddhas are in the state of natural cessation all the time, bodhisattvas aren't yet.

At first when you sit down and start meditating without doing anything, Ati-meditation, you might be self-aware, aware of sitting somehow, aware of the breath, aware of being there. But at some point a shift happens, a cessation takes place and knowing also disappears. In cessation there is no knowing at all. Nirodha is a stateless state of no body, no mind, no God, no buddha, no wisdom, no compassion. It is non-conceptual and without self-awareness. It is a complete stop, a full stop, complete disappearance. Cessation is a peak of meditative experience. And there is a good reason why all meditative traditions and texts have mentioned cessation as something very important. Cessation is sort of like a reset button of a meter, like there used to be in old video or tape players. Everything returns back to zero in cessation and therefore it has a significant impact on the mind and our psychological being.

In case you are wondering what sometimes happens in your meditation and especially Ati-meditation with open eyes, this is it. There is surely a relation between cessation and progress in bhumis as well. 

Have a nice day,

- Kim Katami, 11.5.2016