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

Claim of Attainment by Yuthok

 

Claim of Attainment by Yuthok

Yuthok: "There’s greater merit in praying to me for one year than in praying to other gurus for a whole lifetime; there’s more merit in praying to me for a month than in praying to others for a whole year. Rather than praying to others for a whole month, by praying to me for just a day, one minute, or a mere instant, blessings will come quickly. If this isn’t true, for having deceived sentient beings, may all the Buddhas and their spiritual offspring of the ten directions smash my skull into pieces like shattered plaster.”*

*Chenagtsang, Nida. Mirror of Light: A Commentary on Yuthok's Ati Yoga (p. 27). 978-1-950153-01-5. Kindle Edition.

Infinite Love and Perfection of Wisdom

Infinite Love and Perfection of Wisdom

In opening and openness of heart there are typical signs. Some people get so high on love and bliss that they stop caring about everything else and stop using their mental discrimination. In terms of the three basic characteristics this means overdoing aliveness/love with the expense of knowing quality. Then there is a subtler form of this which I have a story of.

Couple of years back we had a special guest at our center in Finland. He was American lama who had really extensive training in vajrayana and hinduism but in the last 15 years had really diven deep into heart through teachings of Irmansyah Effendi. He spoke much the same way like Alex, "Top and bottom collapsed together, and exploded with infinite love in the heart.". 

I was really impressed by our lama friend's energetic skills. He had been a direct stdent of Dudjom Rinpoche and was trained since the age of 7 by him, so he got his skills down... but he was impossible to talk to. He would go on and on and on for hours on end, until people literally walked away. He was completely convinced that the heart path he followed was significantly better than any buddhist path he knew, and he knew all of them, though had not perfected his vajrayana practice. Listening him, I was like, "Oh really? And how many buddhas and rainbow bodies this path has produced...".

The problem was that he kept bypassing his emotions, always going back to his safe place in the heart when his own emotions started coming up. He had gotten really good at that, like the moment some dirt started showing up he had already shifted back to his safe place of immense and infinite love. It was nice and cute but completely pretentious, an ego trip. We had planned a course that he would teach at our place but the situation was so bad that I had to cancel it. He had mahasiddha bhumis open too.

I understand from my own experience of many years of professional kriya yoga practice which had really strong flavour of love, how great love feels for someone whose heart has been kicked in by the world and people who were supposed to love you. It is amazing and useful to a degree... but that's not the whole story of our mind/psyche and neither it is the whole story of practices.

The three characteristics are excellent guideposts.

It is curious that buddhist dharma describes perfection of wisdom or prajna paramita as a mark of buddhahood. Perfection of wisdom is born out of completing the whole vipashyana process, that is, realising emptiness of all phenomena. This is the first stage of buddhahood, perfection of the first 10 bhumis, hence arriving or abiding on the 11th bhumi, if you will.

Vajrayana buddhism is very particular about different bodies, like nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya and dharmakaya. In hinduism they never really made such divisions even if they discuss Shiva (dharmakaya) and Shakti (sambhogakaya) principles. Buddhism is very insistent on this point and it has both pros and cons. The con is that because most practitioners are unable to stabilise knowing awareness (rigpa), they misunderstand the meaning of emptiness. You know, mosts buddhists don't look like they enjoyd life very much. Ha. I think the constant discussion about the empty nature of this and that, and me and other makes buddhists go a bit lifeless and boring. But, emptiness itself is far from lifeless and boring. Good side of separating bodies is that at least theoretically it brings much more clarity than without the separation. I think that it is because of this very emphasis why buddhist practitioners are much more succesful in their practice than hindus are, at least based on what I know. And having said that the division between bodies from the point of view of big picture or dzogchen is completely artificial. I see it as a pedagogical tool because it helps with the learning of it but purity of emptiness is not all there is to buddhanature. There is also light and colours, like there is in all life. This is something that only dzogchen teachings talk about.

So, again speaking of three basic characteristics of the natural state, there is a good reason why clarity or knowingness of given more emphasis in the beginning until rigpa become stable with the opening of the 11th bhumi. Looking at our lama friend's and Alex's cases, even such advanced practitioners who have all bhumis open can apparently be mislead by the samsaric experience of infinite love. It is precisely because of this why buddhism is so much more successful in yoga. I base my statements about success and failure of paths on bhumi analyses (OHBM).

Heart and it's ability to feel love is very meaningful but without clarity it leads astray. Again, buddhahood comes through perfection of wisdom, not through perfection of emotion, such as love.

-Kim Katami, 4.9.2019

Open Heart Sangha,

www.en.openheart.fi

Siddhas Without Religion

Siddhas Without Religion

The figures found in these lists are generally acknowledged to be “Buddhists.” Certainly, the legends surrounding them and the words attributed to them have influenced countless Buddhists in India, Nepal, and Tibet for a thousand years; but in their original setting, it is not always easy to separate them out—whether in terms of terminology, rhetoric, or practice—from similar figures in non-Buddhist, especially “Hindu” traditions. They seem quite closely related to Shaivite ascetics like the Pasupatas and Kapalikas; tantrikas like the Kashmiri Shaivas and Bengali Shaktas; or the wonder-working Nath siddhas and Rasa siddhas. More broadly, there are general similarities between ideas and practices found in Buddhist siddha writings and those of other Indian yogic and ascetic communities—from such “textualized” movements as those reflected in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and the Samnyasa Upanishad to such seemingly timeless and “unwritten” groups as the Nagas, Kanphatas, and Aghoras. Nor can their possible connections with similar sorts of groups in, for instance, Persia, central Asia, or China be overlooked; the resonance, and possible historical connections, between Indian siddhas and Chinese Chan masters or Taoist immortals suggest an especially intriguing, if uncertain, path for further research.

What is more, it is entirely possible that, as suggested long ago by Agehanada Bharati, most of the siddhas actually were pre- or nonsectarian wandering yogins, who appropriated various religious terms without intending to promote a particular religion—yet willy-nilly were appropriated by those very sectarian traditions that they resisted or ignored.

From Tantric Treasures by Roger R. Jackson

Taoist Master Attains Rainbow Body

Taoist Master Attains Rainbow Body

From book ”Qi Gong” by Baolin Wu

Du Xinlin, known as the Master of the Purple Luminescence, was an extraordinary modern seer. From his earliest childhood to his mystical passing from this plane, he lived his life as something more than a mere man. Tales of his feats of divination, martial artistry, and healing are recorded within the annals of both the Purple Cloud and White Cloud Monasteries.

At the age of 116, Master Du left the earthly plane. He lived his life as a towering mystic and master of the Taoist arts and had decided to dedicate his passing to a demonstration of the truth of his lifelong beliefs. What he accomplished was a manifestation of the power of Oi Gong few have ever attempted and no one had ever truly succeeded at in the modern era. His accomplishment is a significant event in Chinese cultural history. To present the inner teachings of 9 Palaces Microcosmic Orbit Oi Gong is a testament to his attainment and the fulfillment of his last living wish.

Du Xinling in 1987, photographed by Patrick Kelly

A few years before, when Dr. Wu was still living with him, Master Du told him that he believed that Lao Zi, Wang Chongyang, and all his other teachers were waiting for him in the Nine Central Heavens. As Lao Zi's disciple, he was ready to join him there. He told the young boy about the Rainbow Body that a worthy believer could cultivate inside his mortal body and that if his righteousness  merited it, it could leave the body with consciousness and spirit intact, instead of physical death, to fly up to Heaven in a rainbow of light.

Transubstantiation and eternal life that bypasses corporeal death has a long tradition in the East. It is known as hong hua, literally a form of the word "rainbow" that can be used as a noun or verb: The Rainbow Body is cultivated within a righteous person's physical body at the moment in passing. Taoist and Tibetan Buddhist tradition is peppered with stories of famous monks, hermits, and high lamas who attempted this feat by devoting their lives to meditation, training, and saintly acts. The ones who attained the RainbowBody were revered forever as saints and Immortals. Those who tried to pass over by "rainbow-ing" but did not succeed in leaving the world without a trace of their physical remains left behind were still venerated , the remnants of their bodies kept enshrined as holy relics. One such relic had been housed in the White Cloud Monastery when Dr. Wu was a boy there. It looked like a tiny, shriveled little man about a foot and a half high, covered in leathery, age-darkened skin. It was explained to him that if there were any portions of the Rainbow Body practitioner's body that had not been properly purified beforehis or her attempt, it would be left behind in a shrunken, desiccated form.

Master Du told young Wu the day and the hour he was going to Rainbow and made him swear to be there to watch his attempt, no matter what. Soon he became so focused on his future that he would spend the whole day quietly whispering, "I'm going, I'm going" to himself. In the beginning, the boy thought, "My teacher must be too old ... what is he talking about, all day long just saying, 'I'm going, I'm going!' Toward the end, when he had to return to Beijing for his studies, he remembers pleading with his master to stop worrying and continuously talking about it with him, assuring him that he would skip school and do whatever else he had to do to be there and watch him when he was ready to leave. Even with his childhood of Taoist training, the teenage Dr. Wu was still skeptical of his master's unconventional ways and crazy ideas. But when that particular day finally came to pass, Master Du attained his Rainbow Body. Ever since, Dr. Wu deeply believes.

 

The day before he was set to make his attempt, Master Du called his young student to his side. He told him, "Tomorrow I will be rainbowed. I am goingto my place in the Ninth Level of Heaven to do my practice there. I am going to continue my studies with my master Lao Zi and sit at his feet, learning what he teaches, but from now on you are going to have to study by yourself. You're going to have to work hard. Of all my students, you have learned much, but I am worried for you. You don't study hard, you are skeptical in your practice, and yet you absorb my teachings so well. All that I know, I must pass to you because none of my other students have the wisdom and insight that you barely realize that you possess. Because of the troubles in China, there is no time or place to find someone better than you to pass these traditions to."

As he sat in a tub of hot water strewn with fragrant flower petals, being washed by his student, he talked to him at length about the key points of 9 Palaces and 5 Centers Qi Gong. He told him of the real meaning of martial arts, When you learn martial arts, you are not going after specific movements, or their proper visual form, or if your hand moves correctly or not. You have to have the feel of a natural force living within you. If you feel it rising inside you, then you can bring it out with power and dynamism. Why does it take more than one person to catch, control, and subdue an insane person? They have left behind all the things that have separated them from their original abilities. Within your own original abilities lies your power. Why was Wang Xiangzhai (the founder of yiquan) so successful in his martial arts? Because he was able to bring out his own personal essence, his own unique force. There are special trainings to accomplish this. If you just focus on supple movements it might be good exercise, but if you really want to learn true striking power, true healing power, true energetic power, the basic foundation is Qi Gong.

They talked together like that all night, the student bathing the master, the

master transmitting his last words of wisdom, from eight o'clock in the evening to five the next morning. When Master Du had said all that he could,he faced his apprentice seriously. "I know you question what I have taught you, but tomorrow I will show you the reality of this knowledge. Of all mystudents, you are the one with the most doubts. You have difficulty trusting in me or believing in the teachings. But I believe, because I believe my owneyes. I believe in myself. I know you are a good student. You're a very smartperson. You have good comprehension and understanding, you can see things through, clearly and quickly. You have your own measure of wisdom. If tomorrow I fail to attain the Rainbow Body, all I ask is that you bury my remains in the place I have directed you. You can go on with your life and never think about Taoism again. I have high hopes that if tomorrow you seewith your own two eyes that I have indeed succeeded, you will vow to teach the 9 Palaces nine hundred and ninety nine times in honor of the truth you have been witness to."

That day, the temple was decorated with flowers and auspicious banners. Monks with musical instruments played continuously. Over one hundred people were assembled, including silent monitors from the Communist Party. Master Du sat in complete stillness and silence on a silken meditation cushion embroidered with dragons. At high noon, the moment for the transition had arrived. At first he remained immobile. At his side, Dr. Wu momentarily grasped his shoulder with a small shake. Suddenly his teacher flared with a burst of energy. Still enclosed in profound contemplation, his body began to levitate, spinning straight up from its cushion, rising by itself and revolving faster and faster. Turning so fast his body was a blur, he hovered for a fleeting moment just above the heads of the stunned onlookers. The solidity of his form shifted, became indistinct. His outline evaporated into red smoke; a piercing ray of red light shot straight through the center of the sun, transfixing him; and at once, the Master was gone. He had departed. No trace was left, except a pleasing fragrance that filled the courtyard for hours after.

How can this be understood? How can it be explained? For the rest of the afternoon, Dr. Wu and his companions were lost in wonder and shocked

speechless. They had been witness to proof of the heights a lifetime's study

in Qi Gong could achieve.

White Cloud Temple & Du Xinlin

excerpt from Infinite Dao by Patrick Kelly, p 242-244, buy here.

Before departing China, we chose to do a little sightseeing. A look at the Great Wall and other compulsory first visit tourist attractions, served to make clear how little China has retained from its position as the “country at the centre of the world” of previous millennia. We investigated many Daoist and Buddhist temples but the only one where we felt something real still existed was the White Cloud Temple in Beijing.

It seems that at the time of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ when most temples – at least those in accessible locations – were being self-righteously and systematically ransacked, Premier Zhou Enlai realising the destruction was unstoppable, had concentrated his influence on protecting the White Cloud Temple. I had read that Daoism was previously split between the north and the south. This temple was the headquarters for the northern branch. Most impressive was the head sage. In his eighties or nineties we guessed, with a long white beard, he looked every bit the part. Mostly he sat quietly inside the main temple building where the other trainee monks would regularly come for chanting, summoned by the ringing of a bell. We later learnt his title and name – Dragon Gate Master Du Xinlin.

The old sage Master Du, was quiet but observant and wishing to communicate with him we waited patiently in front of him. After about 5 minutes of studying us he began to talk and once begun he continued non-stop for more than half an hour. He ranged boldly from political subjects like the persecution they had suffered in the ‘Cultural Revolution’ to the depths of Daoist philosophy. He said that in the archives of the temple they had preserved manuscripts on the theory of Taiji that had been more than a hundred years old and irreplaceable as far as he knew. All of these were destroyed by ignorant people in the previous few decades.

He joked that just like a bad smell seems to linger on, so the traces of the ‘Cultural Revolution’ were taking a long time to dissipate. He appeared happy that we were interested in his opinions and gradually became more outspoken. Towards the end, laughing, he explained, “When people get old like myself, if they have lived their lives correctly they will have wisdom based on deep personal experience and are worth listening to. But common people dissipate their energy, selfishly seeking only personal comfort. Then, growing old they became more stupid and a drag on society rather than a benefit to it.”

We discovered that this old sage was a teacher of Taiji so we arrived at 5:30 that morning hoping that by practising outside his gates we might tempt him into revealing something. His hands constantly played with a set of inter-linked wooden rings – each about 12cm in diameter – as he talked. It appeared that long years of this practice had given his hands a soft, flexible, almost ethereal appearance. I would have enjoyed experiencing his touch at Pushing-hands. But when we politely asked him to show us something of his art, he apologised saying it was only for the Inner School.

Talking to some of the stall holders – the temple had become something of a market place under Communist control – we learnt that though most of the workers in the temple we saw were dressed in monks’ robes, this was just a show for the tourists. Each evening these same people dropped their monks’ disguise and joined the normal commuters back to their homes and families. But the few young monks who came at the call of the bell to the main shrine where Master Du Xinlin sat, suggested a core of genuine Daoism still existed within his White Cloud Temple. No trace could be found of him on our subsequent visits several years later – whether he had died or been ‘officially removed’, I am unsure.

I had felt a strong connection with him during our talk and afterwards he broke his firm and long-standing rule of “no photographs”, posing serenely for my camera in front of his temple door.

Though this tour had its high points being my first visit to China, without the anticipated presence of Master Huang it fell short of expectations. Within a year we were to be called again by the Master and asked to prepare for his second attempt on China.

Du Xinlin in 1987, photographed by Patrick Kelly

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