About Bhumis and Prejudice

 

About Bhumis and Prejudice

I've taken a long break of bhumi work. I haven't done bhumi analyses for... at least a year. I did so many of them, literally around 5000 during the past several years, so I got fed up and needed a break. Then, this past week I've noticed myself thinking of doing bhumi analyses again and today I thought of publishing a series of bhumi analyses of well known teachers. That didn't go well back in 2016... at all... For those who don't know what happened back then, I'll tell you.

In late Summer of 2016 I published couple of dozen photographs of well known buddhist and other spiritual teachers, all very public figures, with my bhumi analyses according to the Open Heart Bhumi Model. I've discussed this model with great detail in my freely available book What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice.

I published the photos in my blog each with a bhumi measurement. The series included for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, other leaders and Tibetan buddhist teachers, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ramana Maharishi, bunch of zen teachers, theravadans and so on. I'm trying to come up with the most fitting description how my "Bhumi Study Series" was received by the internet. The word that best describes it, is: shitstorm.

I had never witnessed aggressive religious fundamentalism before but I sure witnessed it back then. It came to me as a total surprise. My point of view was that I felt I was trying to make sense of the path and stages of the spiritual path from unawakened state to fully enlightened state, also known as buddhahood. Even though buddhism offers a number of path maps with stages, these are not used by anyone so the whole discussion about shifts or awakening experiences is a completely grey area. Out of many millions of meditators in buddhism, not to mention other systems, few know where they are on the map or whether they even are on the map. I had received this bhumi mapping system (that I've explained in my book) from my gurus, so I knew I had a solution. I was simply trying to help and offer a solution that worked for anyone, regardless of their chosen methods or paths. I really thought I was doing everyone a big favour. Fundamentalists didn't see it that way and a massive shitstorm broke. They hated it and instantly rejected it. In their mind, I had crossed a sacred line and discussed the levels of attainment of their precious gurus. That was something they weren't going to tolerate. It was too much for them so they instantly called it bogus, branded me crazy and banned me from their discussions.

I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't hurt. It hurt a lot. That was real aggression and I got lots of it. Had I been on sight, I'm pretty sure I would have been chased and attacked. At the same time these emotionally charged reactions confirmed to me what I had analysed in my thousands of analyses. Bhumi openings or their closedness, and the degree of purification of mind (i.e. bhumi perfection), is reflected in the actions of men, and since I was treated very meanly, it was and still is an indication that my analyses not only about the various spiritual leaders but also their students, were correct. For some time I tried to have a dialogue with these people, explaining how it worked etc. But as they weren't capable of it, I decided to remove the analyses from my blog and find a hole to lick my wounds.

I still find it hard to believe how and why(!) would anyone be so offended about 1. differences in view which in this case meant that even if attainments are not traditionally openly discussed, they still can be discussed, and 2. things that could be empirically tested, tried and learned. To me, who am a bit of an engineer, it was mind boggling why would anyone get mad about a thorough explanation how it all works... But that was exactly what I didn't understand about the samsaric mind before, at least not well enough, so I stepped right into it...

See, when you've invested all your life into any form of religion or spirituality that you think is going to take you ”all the way”, even if you don't know exactly how and when, and then comes in some bastard who maps your favourite religious leader very low on the spectrum, it can piss people off!!! Because of the time-money-energy-investment and religious belief, very few people who have been following this or that method for many years, are willing to admit that they've wasted their time-money and energy. Samsaric mind, even that of ”practitioners”, gets attached and attachment as dharma teaches us, makes people angry.

I can and do symphatize with that, as I feel I wasted most of my 8½ years of continuous retreat doing practices that were only distantly relevent, or actually not very relevant at all with my wish to get awakened. I wasted my best years because I believed as blindly as so many out there. I thought I was open minded the whole time but really, I was fixated, I was attached, I was a believer... I trusted without the slightest doubt training systems that ”had been passed down in an unbroken lineage since the founder of buddhism to our generation” and taught ”practices that were time tested” and therefore offered very reliable tools. I heard that sales pitch so many times and bought it without questioning... until several years and literally twenty-four-thousand hours of practice later... No, it didn't work as promised... My time-energy-and money was mostly wasted. I was pissed off about that for years myself!

Later when I started to talk about this with others, I met many people who had been disillusioned about the ”tradition” like myself. It was clear that there was something very wrong with how the basics were or weren't taught by the traditions. I say traditions in plural because the same problems exist everywhere. I base this not only on my own bhumi analyses but also in discussions with hundreds of practicioners and many teachers of various incl. Tibetan buddhism, zen, theravada, advaita and so on. It is actually interesting how some come to see the issues or problems in training methods, their teachers, their communities and their culture, while others don't. I think this has a lot to do with readiness or merit as it is commonly known. If you really want the truth, you can't settle for poor answers. A lot of people start with that pure need for knowing the reality but get distracted along the way, usually with all the externals such as forms and rituals, authorisations, hierarchiesand stuff like that, and end up fundamentalists, usually subtly.

So, anyway, that is what happened back in 2016 and that's behind me now. However, now that I've taken a break of bhumi work and feel refreshed about it, I cannot help thinking about the benefits of the 13 Bhumi Model. It is not particular to Pemako Buddhism or me. It is universal. We all have bhumis because we all have the same energy body with channels and centers. We all have bhumi centers that can be perceived. We all have bhumi centers that are either closed or open, and if they are open, they are on their way to be entirely purified, or perfected. Open Heart Bhumi Model is an excellent model, an excellent path map. It matters not what people think about it because it works... And it applies to everyone out there...

I wouldn't want to start another shitstorm but I do wonder how could I represent the bhumi model in a way that is attractive and interesting to people.

Much love and blessings. You are the real deal.

Kim Katami, 23.10.2020

Open Heart: Buddhism, New Religion Or Something Else?

Open Heart: Buddhism, New Religion Or Something Else?

In the following text I would like to clarify a few common misunderstandings regarding Open Heart-teachings and myself. I’ll answer to these below, as a response to the comments by Erik on Facebook. I’ll also write about other relevant experiences.



For years I’ve kept hearing a lot of weird rumours about myself and OH in various Buddhist groups and by various Buddhist parties. I hope that especially those with strong opinions about me and Open Heart will take a moment to read this text in its entirety. I’ve linked to several additional texts to provide the reader with the whole picture. It will take time to go through the links, but after doing so, the reader will have a clear perception of what Open Heart is and what it is not. I thank you for your time.

Pragmatic Dharma

To begin with I want to state that Open Heart is a group practicing what is called pragmatic dharma. If this definition is not familiar to the reader, I recommend reading the following article:



Vincent Horn: Core Features of Pragmatic Dharma:
http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-core-features-of-pragmatic-dharma.html



As a pragmatic dharma community and method, Open Heart’s ways differ clearly from traditional Buddhism. Among other things, these characteristics include open discussion about spiritual experiences and attainments, and allowing all kind of discussion and questions (there are no taboos). With these two characteristics alone, there is a notable difference to traditional Buddhism, in which these elements tend to not be present.



When it comes to doctrine, Open Heart represents Mahayana, or more specifically Vajrayana, or Tantric Buddhism. Our main practice, Open Heart Yoga, is a Tantric practice with all the essential characteristics, beginning with empowerment. Much information about our other practices can be found through our website and Youtube channel.



Because Vajrayana Buddhism has such strong connections to Tibet and its culture in people’s perception, it would be good for the reader to read the following text by David Chapman. In the text he explains how Vajrayana Buddhism is not synonymous with Tibetan Buddhism.



David Chapman, Vajrayana is not Tibetan Buddhism:
https://vividness.live/2013/11/27/vajrayana-is-not-tibetan-buddhism/

Pragmatic Tantra And Its Unofficial Position

Tantric Buddhism, although sharing its primary goal with Mahayana Buddhism, is deeply connected to mysticism. If we familiarise ourselves with the teachings of the masters of Tantric Buddhism and their biographies, we will encounter recurring references to mystical experiences. A person who is unfamiliar with the subject may think these experiences to be products of imagination or religious woo-woo. However, for me these experiences and visions began as a small child, without anyone speaking of, instructing or teaching me anything about them. I received my first meditation instructions from my Judo teacher as a seven-year-old boy. I have given an account of these experiences in this interview, for example, which I hope the reader will listen to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3Owt9mF0o



All Open Heart-teachings have been received mystically. As far as I am familiar with the Tibetan tradition of tertons, the discoverers of dharma treasures, I can only state that my wife and I have received teachings in a similar manner.
As yogic teachings based firmly on universal Buddhist principles, the philosophy of emptiness and bodhicitta, it is irrelevant whether anyone believes that we received them directly or not. This belief does not matter any more than it mattered in the case of the Tibetan tertons, as in the end everyone has to verify the validity of the teachings by themselves. Anyone can try these teachings without any sort of a commitment to Open Heart. 
 
I recommend getting familiar with the Awake! Handbook of Awakening, for example. Our Youtube channel also contains a large amount of guided Tantric practices which do not require empowerment, and do not bind the one trying them out in any way to Open Heart or myself. 
 
A collection of Open Heart-practitioners’ comments exists in text and in video format.



No high-ranking Tibetan lama has authorised me in any way. Although I participate in Tibetan Buddhist teachings now and then, I have no formal relationship with any line of teachings of a Tibetan lineage. Thus, I am an outsider to the Tibetan Buddhist institution. Of course, I do have friends and acquaintances, some of them Tibetan Buddhist lamas. Their comments of endorsements, however, do not have any formal importance, nor are their statements authorisations. Even the fact that one lama has included the Two-Part Formula in their own teachings is irrelevant in this manner. 
 
A couple of Nyingma-school lamas have regarded me and my wife as tertons and me as a reincarnation (tib. tulku) of a certain famous Tibetan yogi, but these conversations over coffee carry no formal significance. I am not a part of the Tibetan Buddhist institution, nor have I ever claimed to be. 
 
As a sidenote regarding the previous paragraph let it be said that my unorthodox position is problematic because 0f the vast majority of the dharma culture around us being based on certificates and authorisations. I hope that one day some high lama like HH Dalai Lama, HH Karmapa or some other senior lama will hear of Open Heart and will investigate, or will be mentally capable to directly perceive what is true. But high lamas, like HH Dalai Lama or HH Karmapa are almost impossible to reach, especially for an outsider like myself, with no contact to the schools they represent, their teachings or even Tibetan Buddhism as a whole.
This situation would have been significantly less difficult 20 years ago when more lamas of the old Tibet still lived. The younger generation of lamas simply have not practiced and progressed in their yogic skills the same way their predecessors had. If, however, an acknowledgement or recognition does come at some point in time, it would certainly help my own, as well as Open Heart’s position in Buddhist culture.

Nevertheless, even with a recognition of this kind, every practitioner still has to recognise the validity of the teachings through their own practice. As far as formal recognitions from tertons are concerned, they do not in any way guarantee that the terton is advanced in their practice. No outer recognition or authorisation guarantees true comprehension of the dharma or the nature of the mind.
Despite the unofficial status, Open Heart still represents pragmatic Tantric Buddhism. Open Heart -teachings contain no new inventions, despite our ways of practice having some unique characteristics ( such as Two-Part Formula, dynamic concentration, practising several tantric deities simultaneously).

Open Heart And Ethical Values

Our staff, teachers and guides have committed themselves to universal dharma ethics, such as honesty and doing no harm. They will also have signed the following Safeguarding Policy: http://www.en.openheart.fi/34248

Question & Answer

Erik K.: Can Open Heart Sangha be called Buddhist? Looking at the website, it contains many theories in great conflict with traditional Buddhism. For example, the peculiar “bhumi theory”, which mixes Hinayana, Bodhisattvayana and Vajrayana.



Kim: I doubt that our website truly contains “many theories” in “great conflict” with traditional Buddhism. Of course, I do not know what is your idea of “traditional Buddhism”.



First of all, Buddhism is an enormous whole, encompassing all kinds of things. Secondly, the same thing applies to Mahayana Buddhism alone. Thirdly, it also applies to Vajrayana Buddhism. And finally, Buddhism has always been a living entity, constantly giving birth to new ways of interpreting the core principles and teachings. This applies to all Buddhist vehicles and movements and has been happening all throughout Buddhist history. 
 
Additionally, it is noteworthy to point out that each time this renewal has happened, it has created resistance in the orthodox communities. In my opinion, justifiable criticism is a good and welcomed, but discrimination and violence I do not accept in any form. Neither at the level of thought, speech or action.



Whether Open Heart -teachings truly are Buddhist can be judged by anyone themselves based on the enormous amount of materials available. A quote from one of my students:



”I studied the texts of Buddhism, including Mahayana and Tantra, and figured out that what you teach is according to the scriptures, except that Open Heart teachings are stripped off of any baggage.”



Of course, it is true that regarding the Open Heart Bhumi Model, for example, our method differs from the mainstream. In the prologue to my second book, What’s Next? On Post-Awakening Practice, I have said:



This book is mostly about Open Heart Bhumi Model, abbr. OHBM. It is not an ancient or established teaching and no Eastern lineage of Buddhism teaches it.



The book can be downloaded for free from here: http://www.en.openheart.fi/35532



Buddhism has a large amount of various path maps, both as a whole and regarding specific vehicles. OHBM is the map that Open Heart-practitioners use for their practice and development. I continue in my book:



However, as far as I am aware, none of the established schools use the traditional expositions of bhumis as their path maps, either. I have had opportunities to ask a few Vajrayana specialists whether they knew if anything similar was done in Tibetan Buddhism and was given a negative answer. A Tibetan translator in his lecture said, ”To be honest, if you ask a Tibetan today whether they have read the Bodhisattvabhumi, I don't think you'll find too many that have”. It seems that the whole idea of bhumis as a practice has been forgotten, although the theory still lingers here and there. I do not know the exact reason for this but I assume it is because things get lost and change over time. On the other hand, it might be due to the fact that bhumis are about energy and energetic factors, such as channels and vital currents (skt. prana), which makes it esoteric, hard or impossible to understand, without indepth guidance from an expert. If it ever existed, such knowledge could have been lost in few short generations, if knowledge wasn't properly passed on, unlike teachings based on scriptures that are pretty straightforward.



The core idea of OHBM is easy to understand, but understanding it properly takes time and practice, as with any other map. It is simply naive to denounce a path map based on superficial familiarisation with it. Furthermore, as mentioned before, OHBM differs from every other model I know of, in that it is not based solely on exchange of words in its use. I’ve witnessed that only using written descriptions for the purpose of creating path maps leads to difficulties for practitioners.



In any case, the bhumi openings and perfections represented in OHBM are unquestionably Buddhist yoga. We talk about bhumi openings just as Zen Buddhists talk about kenshos and satoris, Tibetan Buddhists talk about semngo tropa or dakme thokpey sherab (source: Erik Pema Kunsang, http://www.en.openheart.fi/35937), and Theravada Buddhists talk about paths within their own context.



Sokuzan Brown, a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist kagyu- and the Japanese Soto Zen -tradition says:


"There is only one awakening. There is not a shikantaza awakening, mahamudra awakening, zen awakening or tantric awakening. There is only reality. If you awaken to it, you know it. You are not in doubt, you are in certainty."



Brown uses the word “reality”, with which he refers to the empty nature of mind (sunyata) and awakening to it. OHBM measures the progression or depth of this emptiness realisation based on 13 bhumis. It observes and studies changes in the subtle body, that is, the energetic body of the practitioner.



As far as “the peculiar bhumi theory mixing up Hinayana, Bodhisattvayana and Vajrayana” goes, in this context it must be understood that all Buddhist vehicles share the teaching about the empty or no-self-containing (sunyata/anatta) nature of things. Mahayana, as much as Vajrayana, are based on the Hinayana-level realisation.



In OHBM the arhat level of Hinayana relates to the perfection of bhumis 1 - 6. The perfection of bhumis 7 - 10 relates to the boddhisattva stages, and when the 10th perfects, the practitioner becomes a living buddha due to their selfing and mind phenomena having been wholly seen through (vipashyana). 
 
This can probably be viewed as a “mix” of different vehicles, but it is important to remember that OHBM measures the depth of the emptiness realisation in a universal way. Besides, all Mahayana practitioners begin from Hinayana-level realisations (emptiness of subject – and object selves) despite their motivation being practice for the sake of all beings.



Erik: Kim Katami claims to be a mahasiddha and to reside in the Open Heart Sangha’s 13th bhumi (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SHsjIJyKFZQ).



Kim: I do not and have never claimed to be a mahasiddha. This, quite common misunderstanding has happened because you have nor familiarised yourself with the Open Heart Bhumi Model, and especially the difference between bhumi openings and perfections.



Erik: In Buddhism there are 10 bhumis, and the 11th bhumi is already a perfect Buddha, like Sakyamuni. Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri are said to reside on the 10th bodhisattva bhumi.



Kim: This clarifies your conception of Buddhism to the degree that you seem to be used to the ten bhumi model:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bh%C5%ABmi_(Buddhism.
It most certainly is not the only traditionally established bhumi model: https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Bhumi



Bhumis can thus be defined in various ways. In OHBM there are 13 bhumis, of which the perfection of bhumis 1 - 10 refers to the purification of the entire karmic body, and thus to attaining the first level of buddhahood (11th bhumi), as was the case for Shakyamuni Buddha. 12th and 13th bhumis relate to the continued stages of being a Buddha, that is, the rainbow body, which is especially discussed in the Tibetan Buddhist schools Kagyu, Nyingma and Bön.



In the spirit of pragmatic dharma I would like to state that even though the attainment of a “perfect buddha” is immeasurable, every buddha in the past, present and future times, realizes their attainment through the empty nature of the mind and phenomena. 
 
It is important to understand that when you, me, or any practitioner experiences an awakening, or a kensho, or a semngo tropa, it is about seeing into the very same empty nature of things as for every buddha and bodhisattava. How would the realization of theirs and that of our own be any different, except in its extent?
I relate to accomplished buddhas and mahasiddhas with sincerity and respect but also regard buddhist dharma as a hypothesis, a opportunity to accomplish complete Buddhahood ourselves. In this regard I do notput buddhas or buddhahood on a pedestal, out of our reach.



Erik: Quite the claim from Kim, who also mentioned not believing in miracles, despite the fact that a mahasiddha should not have trouble walking on water, through walls, flying or doing other miracles.



Kim: I have not said that I do not believe in miracles. Instead I have said, that I have never seen an actual “miracle”, an event that would defy the laws of physics. I have heard of stories about miracles both within Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, but there is no credible evidence to any of these events. To be honest, I don’t regard hand- or footprints imprinted in stone as proper evidence, as they can be carved in and be charged with spiritual power afterwards. Thus, I have never witnessed a real miracle but do not deny their possibility either.



Daniel Ingram, one of the founders of pragmatic dharma, comments on the traditional bhumi model in his book, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha,



”This is probably a good time to introduce the Tibetan Ten Bodhisattva Bhumi Model. The word “bhumi” mean ground, or something like level. It is a model of progressive stages of enlightenment that gets very different emphases depending on the author, but one of those emphases has to do with powers and how many duplicates of one’s self one can manifest psychically. I actually like the Bhumi model, as other takes on it have to do with giving up the notion of personal territory and realizing shunyata or emptiness and deeply integrating that into our perception, paradigm, practice, and personality. It is a model that addresses many fronts, only one of which unfortunately is the powers... The details of the Ten Bhumi Model can be found in various Mahayana texts, such as “The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom” and “The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”. Chogyam Trungpa gives a nice description of it in The Myth of Freedom. Some texts also list other numbers of bhumis, such as 7 or 13, but they all share similar elements... It is a very complex model that ascribes a wide range of exceedingly high and complex criteria involving emotions, paradigms, concentration abilities, perceptions, psychic powers and a whole host of other aspects to those of each stage. Thus, from my point of view, it is fraught with problems and assumes simultaneous, synchronised development on numerous axes, a notion I consider a bit naive and idealised. However, like most of the teachings, it contains some very interesting points made in what I consider very unfortunate ways... The biggest problem with this model is that it delineates the number of duplicates of one's self that one should be able to manifest as bodhisattvas at each bhumi, and as the bhumis progress the numbers quickly get so large as to be absurd. Why some whack job included this bizarre ideal of many-fold bi-location in the model I have no idea, but somehow no Tibetan since has had the balls to throw it out, and so a thousand years later they are still stuck with it.”



Ingram presents his thoughts in a very colourful manner but is simultaneously right about many things. To me it looks like what has happened to other old texts has also happened to Buddhist classics. They have been edited so much throughout the centuries that their substance has been clouded, and the content of the texts are hard to relate with concrete practice. When personal experience of the empty nature accumulates, however, it gets easier to see through symbolisms and idealisation.



In this text Ken McLeod, an expert in Vajrayana Buddhism and a teacher with a long career talks about source texts losing their meaning: https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2019/01/ken-mcleod-meaning-of-scriptures.html



Traditional bhumi accounts put weight on miracles and other factors exceeding the laws of the physics. However, the core of the issue crystallises in the following quotation of Guru Rinpoche, from the book Advice from the Lotus-Born:



”Although your body remains human, your mind arrives at the stage of buddhahood”.



Erik: Anyways, it is weird to see videos that “prove” attainments, bhumis. I have not seen such an act by anyone else.



Kim: That no one has done it before does not mean that it cannot be done, nor that it is not possible to sense the attainment of another from an image or a video like in real life. That you regard it as weird and as ”proof” of attainments is your own opinion. In Open Heart Sangha we have the habit of documenting the progress of a practitioner with pictures or videos.



See a playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-Ulm8dH7A&list=PLqTm9fV9DGhvQjdBRYAM45uWuLUwmbqiM



My book What’s Next contains pictures of practitioners at various stages of Open Heart Bhumi Model, beginning from page 59.



In the following quote, Shinzen Young, a well-known buddhist teacher (shingon, theravada, rinzai zen) gives an account of the first time he saw people photographed in a state of no-self:



”I was at a student's house and I saw this book. Its one of these photo books that people would put on coffee tables. What's interesting is that there's nothing by the photographer, the author of the book, but there is an intro, a preamble by Tony Morrison who is a fairly important person in the world of art and literature. This tells you that this is a significant book but there is nothing by the person who actually took the photos, in other words the photos have to speak for themselves. Its this huge book of photographs (indicates a large size) and I start to look through these photographs. These are all portraits and I'm freaking out because its very evident to me what this book is about and I had never seen a book like this, ever. I go to my friend and say, ”This book is amazing!” and she says, ”The photographer, is a distant relative of mine”. ”Well, can you get his telephone number?”, I asked. We called him up and he was there. I told him what I thought his book was about and he freaked out. He said that I was the only person who ever understood what the book was about, of all the people that had seen it at exhibitions or whatever. The name of the book is A Kind of Rapture by Robert Bergman. He went through the rust belt of United States, the old decaying cities, photographing street people, who for whatever reason, usually a combination of hard life and physical, and mental illness, had been thrust into a no-self state, in other words, people for whom the blows of life had driven them to a rapturous no-self experience. He went around the country looking for those kind of people, catching them at the moment when they manifested non-ego, that their hard life had taken them to. You know, if you see one or two pictures like that it doesn't have an impact like that but if you see 50 pictures like that, picture after picture after picture, then it hits you, what the whole thing is about. The reason why I thought they were so extraordinary is that although there is a lot of books about enlightenment or no-self coming about through practice, and there are number of books written by people who have had spontaneous enlightenment experiences, what no one has looked at is this whole thing, this whole other aspect. In terms of a subject matter it is very unusual and the message and the medium is very unusual. Instead of writing a book, talking about this phenomena, he shows it to you and you either get it or you don't.”



Source: Shaktipat or Energy Transmission in Buddhism, 25:00 minutes: https://youtu.be/HGmU1oVroLM?t=1499



Thus it is possible to do this.



Erik: There’s room for religions here in the world and Open Heart Sangha can certainly fit in, but it does not seem to follow Buddhist traditions. Just to let those who wish to get familiar with the Buddha’s teachings know.



Kim: Open Heart is not a religion. Previously, I referred to the definition of pragmatic dharma. We work on and authenticate the classical Mahayana Buddhist hypothesis with our own Tantric practice. 
 
Regarding our Buddhist teachings, I can briefly mention the Four Noble Truths, refuge in three ordinary and two Tantric jewels, bodhicitta; the practicing for the sake of all beings in samsara, dedicating merit, lay ordination, the empty nature of the mind and the goal of attaining Buddhahood in this life. 
 
Tantric core elements include empowerments, deities, visualisations, Guru Yoga, mantras, nadis, chakras, mudras and prana, and are the exact same ones as in Tibetan Buddhist Tantric teachings, although the outer form is significantly simplified. 
 
Furthermore, we practice from the point of view of the so called two truths, the absolute and relative truths that the Mahamudra teachings speak about. From the beginning of the practice, Open Heart -practitioners get pointed to the naturally cognisant foundation of the mind (tib.rigpa), which gives our approach a heavy dzogchen emphasis. What part of this is not Buddhist?

The Meaning Of Authenticity

Erik: Good luck on your path, though I still do not believe Kim to have an authentic Buddhist lineage behind him, but as I said there is room here in the world for views and different religions. In Buddhism, lineage is emphasized enormously because it traces its roots to Buddha Sakyamuni. The meaning of lineage is especially emphasized in Vajrayana.



Lineage always begins from a master, who has (possibly) realised something. They teach their realisation forward and this creates a lineage. Even if the master dies, there is someone to carry on the tradition, and they have the same understanding as or at least have received the full teachings from their master.



Kim: The question about an authentic lineage verifying a teaching is questionable in several aspects.



First of all, it is known that lineages currently regarded as authentic have been “fixed up” posthumously. The teacher-student-connection has severed in many traditions, but have been fixed up afterwards and put together into documents regarded as official. Secondly, Buddhism has entire schools founded by people with no formal competence.



I’ll mention, for example, the Japanese Pure Land school, founded by Honen, and Rinzai Zen, resuscitated by Zen master Hakuin. Both of these examples are currently accepted and recognized. 
 
All contemporary Rinzai lineages come from Hakuin, who had no dharma transmission. Therefore, with your logic, you can brush away all Zen lineages reciting Hakuin’s name in the morning. There are a lot of them as Hakuin was the most wanted Zen master of this time in Japan. 
 
As a sidenote I’ll mention that the “validity” of a teaching or a lineage is a significantly larger question for a Westerner who is used to testimonies and verifications, than it is for an Easterner.



Buddhist teacher and academic, Acarya Malcom Smith, says:



”The tantras do not say, "Examine master so and so for his lineage recognitions, endorsements, associates, etc." What do they say? They mention nothing about lineage heads, etc. They only mention the personal qualities and learning of the prospective master in question.”



A teacher having an official dharma transmission does not prove their true understanding of Buddhist practice, that is, it does not measure their realisation. Many “valid” teachers teach completely external things and only focus on the continuance of the tradition and its form, which they hold dearly. In some cases, even despite it being completely clear that the tradition and its method of practice is not that powerful. A great example of this is Buddhism in Japan, which has withered for two hundred years already.



I have even come across an American Zen master, who was not at all bothered by the fact that one teacher of his lineage, having progressed through the entire koan system, had never had a single kensho. Anyone with an understanding of koan practice, knowing its fundamental purpose, can understand how weird this is.
This to-be-graduated teacher even stated in his speech that a kensho is not actually important. This is like saying that buddhanature is not important in Buddhism. Nevertheless, the Zen master stated that his trust in the traditional practice method would hold. How do you imagine a teacher like that would be able to point their students towards their buddhanature?



There is, however, nothing new about this, as this is how the orthodox operate in any religion, including Buddhism. They are the ones who immediately close their ears if you cannot display a certificate. They measure external factors without observing content. This is one more of the significant differences between orthodox and pragmatic dharma. One key idea of pragmatic dharma is using whatever gets the job done. Considering that the main purpose of dharma is to remove dukkha, the logic of only looking at certificates makes no sense. I do not consider a person without a notably clear and bright mind to have Buddhist authority. Whether the mind is clear or not is measurable and visible with the OHBM.



Third of all, it is justifiable to question the credibility of Buddhist teacherhood by reflecting on the recurrent scandals connected to formally qualified teachers. These scandals and cases of abuse (sexual, psychological, physical, financial) are numerous. I can mention e.g. Sogyal, Trungpa, Mipham (1, 2, 3), Norlha, Kalu, Sasaki, Shimano, Maezumi, Katagiri, Genpo and so on. This list is not comprehensive, just a scratch on the surface. All of them have been involved in larger scandals discussed in public, and each one of them has an “authentic lineage”.



Smaller cases where a teacher has, for example, lied or behaved outrageously have occurred in Finland, too. For example, a Zen teacher active in our country, a mental health professional by profession, persuaded a student significantly younger than him to smoke cannabis with him, after which he made sexual advances on the student. Despite the teacher making an apology to his group, this whole episode makes this teacher questionable. If something like this happened in any other subject field between a teacher and a student, it would make a lot of noise and firing the teacher would at the least be discussed.



In my mind, cases like this are common enough to question the methods followed and taught by these teachers. It is fully clear that traditional methods can succeed and fail. In this context it can be mentioned that there also exists a bunch of traditionally authorised teachers, who have seen through the hypocrisy of their tradition and resigned from it.



I think that an understanding of the empty nature of mind is the most important authorisation. My own Zen calligraphy master, Terayama Tanchu Sensei, a Rinzai Zen master, was a case like this. He went through the traditional koan-system and was the principal heir of his teacher Omori Sogen Roshi in Japan. He was, however, of the opinion that the koan system was not very powerful and did not teach it for this reason. He did not give a formal dharma transmission either, instead asking some of his students, myself included, to carry on his legacy.



Thinley Norbu Rinpoche explaining the meaning of a lineage:



"Some people think lineage depends on a teacher. Especially some easterners believe that westerners cannot have lineage because they are not linked from birth to a spiritual teacher. Unless we are nihilists and believe only in the visible, we cannot judge the spiritual qualities of someone who has no visible teacher in this life. If someone takes water from the tap because we have not seen them take it from the source, is this reason to say it is not water? On a pilgrimage, pilgrims need a guide at first, but when they know the path, they can go alone. In the end, just because they have no visible guide, we cannot say they do not know the path. Of course, for most people lineage depends on a visible teacher and in general if we can find a good teacher it is necessary to have a guide. But according to the Buddhist tradition, if we believe in karma, we believe that because some people had a visible teacher in previous lives and have experience with the pure essence of their elements, they can be reborn to become enlightened without depending on a visible teacher in this life. Even if we have one hundred teachers, when we separate from our natural mind, we have broken lineage. Even if we have no teacher, when we are connected to our natural mind, we have true Wisdom Mind lineage."



Zen master Joshu on the prioritisation of things:



“Even though it be someone seven years old, if he or she is spiritually my superior, I will ask that person to instruct me. Even though it be someone a hundred years old, if he or she is spiritually less advanced than I, I will give him or her instruction.”

Teacherhood And Making Dharma Available

Erik: I feel greatly bewildered by many things in Open Heart and in Kim’s teachings, but we all carry the responsibility for our own actions. And as a teacher especially, also because the fact that if you teach what the Buddha taught, you keep up the tradition of Buddha and are not mixing in your own delusion to the Buddhadharma. A teacher has a responsibility to lead their student to the right direction, not to deeper delusion. With regards to this, lineage plays a role, as well as one having received an authorisation to teach from one’s own master. In Tantric Buddhism the teacher-student relationship is especially important and the teacher has a special responsibility about their students. If a student gets into the hells, the teacher goes after them. This is the responsibility of a teacher.



Kim: I am well aware of the responsible position of a teacher, and the people who know me know well how seriously I take my job. I have worked as a full-time teacher for over 10 years and I have around 80 students worldwide, most of them in England and Ireland. I’ll mention that around a quarter (25%) of this group has practiced buddhism for more than 20 years before their Open Heart-practice. One student wrote this:



”I took buddhist refuge almost 30 years ago but in the beginning did not seriously practice meditation, usually only read prayers. I was a student of a Tibetan buddhist lama for 16 years, and also received empowerments from the Dalai Lama. When I received empowerment of Open Heart Yoga, I felt an extremely strong energy. I have never felt such before. It was very comfortable. I experienced a shift, opening of 5th bhumi, during the empowerment, that revealed how the reality is empty of self. The way how you teach Refuge and Bodhichitta was a grand discovery. I have been reading the text of Refuge since 19 years old and never had such a profound effect. The same with Bodhichitta. Very intimate and deep feelings. Thank you again!”



A while ago I found out about a Buddhist tutor with a long career in Finland, who says that Open Heart -teachings are “dangerous” and potentially harmful to one’s mental health. In my opinion, it is strange that this Buddhist tutor mentions the endangerment of mental health, because this gives the impression of this being a real risk to Open Heart practitioners. The reference is unfounded and has no factual basis. They also criticise the use of Internet (empowerments transmitted through Internet) in our activities, and the teachings costing money, as well as me not having authentic dharma heritance.



About the teachings having a price, both myself and the other full-time Open Heart-teacher are laymen, which involves financial obligations. Despite our teachings having a set price, no one has ever been left out due to lacking funds, and those less well-off have been encouraged to negotiate a discounted payment if necessary. People who are able to afford only a nominal payment regularly attend our teachings. As far as the future is concerned, we are currently working on a funding system for our community to allow all teachings and retreats to be fully free of charge.



Teachings transmitted through Internet, including Tantric empowerments, are commonplace these days. Ten years ago, they were not but since then this has become more common. So the fact that I transmit empowerments through Internet is not unique or exceptional in any way. Tibetan Buddhist lamas give Tantric empowerments as well as pointing out-instructions through the Internet. Also, Zen teachers give dokusans, personal guidance, through the Internet.



The question about mental health is always valid when it comes to dharma. In general, I do not teach people who suffer from psychoses or schizophrenia due to that preventing the person from seeing the difference between fantasy and reality. If I was to be approached by a person with this kind of a background, I would require a written permission from a doctor and continuous professional monitoring in order to give any kinds of meditation instructions.



If, then, we talk about ”authenticated” Buddhism in its relation to mental health problems, many articles provide evidence for the occurrence of it. Also, reading Internet forums focused on Buddhism and dharma shows this.
It is not uncommon to read how inexperienced meditators at their first retreats experience sudden, powerful anxiety and destabilisation of the mind, which is then treated as dualistic delusion of the mind by teachers who do not understand the subject matter. This has happened in Finland, too, as you can read from the Ihmisten Puolesta-blog (in Finnish): http://ihmistenpuolesta.blogspot.com/



As the founder and main teacher of Open Heart I have thought a lot about the form of our practice and retreats. I have spent countless hours in traditional Buddhist retreats, seeing how one-sided the practice can be. Due to this, the form of our retreats is diverse. We do not simply sit and be quiet. Our way of practice involves reciting mantras and prayers, as well as singing.
We also exercise in many ways with yoga, dance and free-form stretching. In all our retreats, talking and discussing with other participants is encouraged, as this is how we behave normally outside of retreat. Discussion also helps people come out of their self-centred bubble which easily develops in silence, as well as in better integrating the retreat experience into normal life.
Rest time is abundant during both day and night, and despite the diet in our retreats being plant-based, there is dairy like milk, cheese and eggs available daily. A sudden change of diet can be difficult for the body and harm practice during a retreat. Additionally, for people used to heavy food, a strict vegetarian diet can cause downgrading of their energy levels and feeling excessively light e.g. in the form of dizziness of feeling weak.
In these ways, we have eliminated from our practice the ascetic characteristics which are very common in traditional settings. We have done this for almost the entirety of my teaching career, which begun in 2008.



Despite the diversity, I do not accept beginners whose bodyminds have not been used to the practice to our retreats. Likewise, I would never (if I taught these practices) accept beginners to Zen- or Vipassana-retreats that are silent and wherein one sits for over 8 hours a day meditating silently. This is because it has been seen over and over how bad mental health problems can be triggered by these traditional methods of teaching. I saw this in a Zen monastery while residing in Japan, as well, and do not support it.



Erik: In any case, good luck with your path, you, Kim, do make your own choices - including judging whether you are mature enough to lead others. Personally, I would be careful about becoming a teacher for others, before a living master (not a voice in the mind or a mental image of a guru) would give permission and say that one is mature enough to guide others. I am sure that Kim is certainly good-hearted, kind and friendly. But I think it is important to find out whether Kim has any_authentic_Buddhism in his group.



Kim: In the light of what I told previously it is childish to imagine that a formal authorisation would make a teacher qualified to lead others. Buddhist classics explain well what the purpose of the dharma is, but as I’ve said, an authorisation does not guarantee maturity, that is, yogic expertise. 
 
Not all Buddhist factions are yogic in a similar fashion, some are more oriented towards. e.g. studying theory, but the writings of the masters do make it clear that the core of the dharma lies in the realisation of emptiness and its extent. My thanks to Erik for his appropriate commentary.



I welcome everyone to study what Open Heart-teachings are through our website, YouTube, and my blog.



Open Heart-website:
www.en.openheart.fi
Open Heart in YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQDYq3A1seWhAZ3UXP8gA3Q
Open Heart-blog:
http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/



This text may be linked freely, but I hope that out-of-context quotations will be refrained from.



Thank you and bows to all who have read this. Thanks to Akseli and Karl for English translation and stilisation.



- Kim Katami, 11.3.2019.

Requests of Formal Investigation Have Been Sent to High Lamas of Tibetan Buddhism

Requests of Formal Investigation Have Been Sent to High Lamas of

Tibetan Buddhism

Dear Students and Dharma Friends,

For several years there has been ongoing doubt and crticism online about the authenticity of Open Heart teachings, taught by yours truly. Although there has been cases like mine in Tibet where tertons have gone unrecognised until advanced age, it is customary within the tradition of Tibetan buddhism to recognise tulkus (reincarnations) and tertons (revealers of fresh dharma teachings) by high lamas of particular schools. I have personally tried to connect and meet some lamas over the past years with a request that they'd look into Open Heart teachings but I have not been able to reach lamas who would have the power to do formal recognitions, or rejections. For this reason, early this year I asked my close student Karl Eikrem to write a formal request of investigation about Open Heart and myself, and send it to several high lamas of various schools of Tibetan buddhism. These letters were sent late March 2019 and at the moment we are waiting if any of them answers it. I have decided that this will be the last effort to reach out for formal investigation. After this I will not spend any more time on this matter but of course I hope some of these lamas will look into the matter.

Open Heart is often discussed in negative light and is shunned by many because I do not have a letter of formal recognition. It is understandable because I use some Tibetan terms and descriptions in my teachings and also because Open Heart is said to be both mahayana and vajrayana path. It is understandable that followers of orthodox Tibetan vajrayana traditions question and critisize this because I do not have the type of qualification they expect to see. It is always the case that the validity of dharma and yogic teachings need to be verified first hand but since there is the Tibetan establishment with its ways and forms, it has sometimes been suggested to me to try to reach out to high lamas of Tibetan vajrayana for verification. Personally I do not feel a need for such recognition but I know perfectly well that in this world where everyone's papers and credentials is the first thing checked, having such recognition would be greatly useful and beneficial. So personally I don't feel a need to be verified by anyone because everyone can verify the authenticity from our freely and openly given teachings online or at events. However, I would be delighted to connect with high lamas with both yogic skills and power to conduct such investigations.

The biggest problem that lies on the way of this possible recognition or rejection is that Open Heart has no connection whatsoever with any lama of any Tibetan buddhist lineage. Open Heart is an outsider when it comes to the Tibetan vajrayana establishment and therefore also it might be difficult to get in touch with high lamas. It would be a different case if I was a long time student of Tibetan buddhist lama as there are many Western students, lineage-practitioners, who have been recognised by Tibetan lamas. Being a Westerner is not the problem, being a complete outsider is.

It has now been about 2 months since the letters were sent, some by email, some in snail mail. I hope we will hear of them soon. I also hope Open Heart Sangha says prayers for this purpose in their practice. I do not know how long it might take the assistants to get to our email and when we could wait for their response but I guess if any of them is going to do anything about it, 6 months should be enough time for initial reply. Now we just have to wait and hope for the best.

If an investigation by the below mentioned high lamas will ever take place and produce an outcome, whether approval or disapproval, I will make these results public.

The formal request of investigation was sent to the following lamas:

HH 14^th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, Head of Gelug

HH 17^th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Head of Kagyu

HH 17^th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, Head of Kagyu

Jigme Losal Wangpo Rinpoche, Head of Nyingma

HH Shakya Trichen, 41st head of the Sakya

Chetsang Rinpoche, Head of Drikung Kagyu

HH Ratna Vajra Rinpoche, 42nd head of the Sakya

Dudjom Tulku Sangye Pema Zhepa Rinpoche, Head of Dudjom Tersar

Zurmang Rinpoche, Head of Zurmang Kagyu

Yours in Dharma,

Kim Katami, 29.5.2019,

Founder and Head Teacher of Open Heart Sangha

Open Heart, www.en.openheart.fi

In its entirety, this post may be freely shared.

The Five Paths and the Ten Bhumis by Geshe Rabten Rinpoche

The Five Paths and the Ten Bhumis

by Geshe Rabten Rinpoche

Teachings given by Geshe Rabten Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, in 1969. Source: lamayeshe.com



There are five successive paths on which a bodhisattva develops:

1. The path of accumulation (sambharamarga)
2. The path of training or preparation (prayogamarga)
3. The path of seeing (darshanamarga)
4. The path of intense contemplation (bhavanamarga)
5. The path of liberation or no more training(vimuktimarga)
   

When bodhicitta has been developed until it is natural and intrinsic, the bodhisattva has completely obtained the sambharamarga (which has lower levels before this point). Then many spiritual powers (rddhi) are attained, such as psychic power (mahabhijna), which enables the bodhisattva to know other people's thoughts, to know the past and future events of other beings' lives, to fly, to have multiple bodies, and so forth. A bodhisattva does not concentrate on these techniques specially to get a particular power; these powers come naturally. But the bodhisattva is able to put them to good use because these powers aid greatly in seeing the karma, spiritual development and potentialities of other beings, and whether or not they are in a state where they can be helped escape from samsara. The bodhisattva can see at which place beings can receive teachings from the buddhas and bodhisattvas in the various buddha-fields. ¹⁴ Many other virtues also accrue to the bodhisattva.

At this point the most important thing for the bodhisattvas is to meditate on emptiness, which is still not perceived clearly. When emptiness becomes clearer the second path, the path of training, is attained; this stage immediately precedes becoming an arya-bodhisattva.

Then, after much meditation, the feeling arises within the bodhisattva that the mind that meditates and emptiness are one, like water poured into water; (this feeling, though, is deceptive). This signifies the attainment of the path of seeing and the becoming of an arya-bodhisattva. Although the arya-bodhisattva still retains old karma as well as some defilements, no new karma is produced from this level of attainment onwards, and there is a great increase in psychic powers. For instance, the arya-bodhisattva begins obtaining the power to eradicate past karma and even deeper defilements. Because there are many different layers of avarana, they have to be removed one by one; as the psychic powers grow stronger, the bodhisattva can remove more and more layers.
Due to the first direct perception of emptiness on the path of seeing, the bodhisattva removes the first layer of obscuration of defilements (kleshavarana). The bodhisattva now has greater wisdom because there are fewer layers of defilements covering or hiding reality. On the first two paths, the obscurations are suppressed but are not truly eradicated and therefore they can still rise again. But on the path of seeing, one layer is actually removed forever. In all, there are ten layers of defilement-obscurations; they are like ten cloths which hide reality and have to be peeled or washed away. The practitioner removes the veils covering reality in the same way that one washes clothes, by using the strength of washing soap appropriate to the amount of dirt.

There are ten levels ¹⁵ of arya-bodhisattva:

1. The joyous (pramudita)
2. The stainless (vimala)
3. The light-maker (prabhakari)
4. The radiant (arcishmati)
5. The very hard to conquer (sudurjaya)
6. The turning-toward (abhimukhi)
7. The far-going (durangama)
8. The unshakable (acala)
9. The good mind (sadhumati)
10. The cloud of dharma (dharmamegha)
    

"The joyous" level, pramudita, is reached on the path of seeing, and all the other nine on the path of intense contemplation. At each of the ten levels, the bodhisattva has increasingly greater virtue and has overcome more defilements. In several scriptures, the amount of increase in virtue is given for each level; at some levels the virtues are innumerable. All these levels are a connected stream. One layer of defilement-obscuration is removed at each of the first seven levels; at the eighth, "The unshakable," the remaining three are removed so that the bodhisattva is then free entirely from kleshavarana. With respect to the removal of defilements, the bodhisattva is equal with the lower arhats, but in terms of the virtue amassed through such practice, the bodhisattva is much higher. These defilements are all removed by meditation on emptiness; at the level of the unshakable there is particularly strong growth in the strength of this meditation on emptiness.

At the ninth level, "The good mind," the bodhisattva begins at last to remove the wisdom-obscuration— jneyavarana. This is very subtle and difficult to perceive. If we put some garlic or onion into a pot and then remove it, the smell still remains. In the same way, although the defilement has gone, this obscuration still remains. At the level of "good mind," the bodhisattva is out of samsara but the wisdom is not quite perfect. At this point the bodhisattva can recognize and begin to remove the only remaining factor obscuring reality: the wisdom-obscuration, Without the removal of the wisdom-obscuration, the bodhisattva cannot help beings to the extent that a fully enlightened buddha can. The degree to which we can help others depends on the depth of our own wisdom.

While defilement-obscuration is like a cut that gives pain, the wisdom-obscuration is like the painless scar that remains when the cut has healed but not finally disappeared. "The cloud of dharma" is the level immediately before buddhahood, on which the last traces of the wisdom-obscuration are taken away. The removal of obscurations is like removing increasingly fine and wispy veils. The development of greater spiritual power is like having stronger and stronger binoculars to see more and more clearly. At the buddha stage, all obscurations are gone. Even a small part of a buddha's mind can see all things clearly at the same time. If there is even a tiny cloud in the sky there is still a small shadow on the earth, but when this cloud has disappeared the sun can shine everywhere. At the level called "The cloud of dharma," the bodhisattva meditates on emptiness with perfect concentration. Although emptiness can be seen clearly and completely, the tenth level bodhisattva cannot perceive both emptiness and phenomena simultaneously; a buddha, however, can see both at the same time. Things are empty of independent self- existence, but they themselves are not emptiness. The moment this final trace of the wisdom-obscuration disappears, phenomenal existence and emptiness suddenly appear together. At this moment a buddha can see phenomenality and emptiness simultaneously, not only with eye-perception, but also with the other sense-perceptions. At the time of becoming a buddha, not only is knowledge of the deepest nature of everything attained, but also the final virtues of body—such as easily multiplying the body an infinite number of times—and speech—such as being able to give teachings to any being without difficulty.
The virtue of a buddha's speech is unlimited. If, for instance, a thousand people each ask a different question in a different language at the same time, a buddha, by saying just one word, can answer all their questions immediately. We do not have the inner power to do this kind of action because of our avaranas. In all, there are sixty-four virtues of a buddha's speech: sweetness, softness, an attraction that makes people want to listen, a quality that gives a feeling of peace to those who hear it, and so forth. The different virtues of the body, speech and mind of a buddha can be found throughout many different sutras, and are presented collectively in a work by Lama Tsongkhapa. ¹⁶

There are one hundred and twelve different virtues of a buddha's body. The duty of a buddha is to help sentient beings; if it is helpful, in one second he can multiply himself as many times as there are beings, or can manifest as any kind of being or object such as trees, water, and so on. The buddha performs this type of miraculous action always and only to help beings find release from samsara.
To receive such help, we must also contact the buddha from our own side. At night, when the moon is shining on the surface of a lake that is clear and smooth, the light can shine on all parts of it, but if the surface is disturbed or overgrown the moon cannot penetrate or be reflected; when it is smooth and clear, the moon is reflected clearly in it, the reflection being just like the moon in the sky. In the same way, the buddha's help goes out to all beings equally; it is the beings' receptivity that varies. We must, for our part, make contact with the buddha; if it were not necessary for us to act from our own side, the buddha would have already taken us all out of samsara. A buddha has the ultimate mahakarunika, so he would not leave beings in suffering if by his own efforts alone he were able to take them out of it. If you clap your left hand with your right, your left hand must be there to receive the blow, otherwise there is no sound.

Once all coverings are removed and the power of the virtue that has been built up is at its full height, there is nothing we cannot do. We can multiply our bodies infinitely and can give teachings on all levels, from the beginning of the path to the goal; the virtue of a buddha's mind is that even a small part of it knows the reality of everything. This buddha stage is the effect of many causes, achieved through an enormous amount of Dharma practice.

After the historical buddha, Shakyamuni, had finished his teaching on earth, all the beings there at the time who had the karma to see and hear him had done so, and so he went to continue his work in other realms. Although this form has disappeared, he can still help beings in other forms. Buddhas can take ordinary forms such as a friend, guru and so forth.