The Gift of Mahayana

 

The Gift of Mahayana

To me the Bodhisattva Vows are really the dividing line between complete and incomplete dharma. We all need a firm basis* but there is so much more** to our minds and what is possible for us. On the level of words the teachings of the small and great vehicles sound the same but in energy the difference is vast. It is plain wrong when theravadins equate the way they see the buddhanature with the way mahayanis see it. Sometimes even mahayanis say the same thing but saying so they only reveal their lack of understanding.

*1-6 bhumis, hinayana/theravada terrain

**7-13 bhumis, mahayana and vajrayana terrain

The vow to be voluntarily reborn endlessly and to continue bodhisattvic activities life after life to help beings out of samsara, is not an artificial vow, something artificially imposed or a peculiar metaphysical belief. Not at all. The Bodhisattva Vows are based on how the greater subtle body that connects all life is built.

All beings are connected via the subtle system of countless subtle channels. You can see it if you meditate a lot and take a look. You can actually see countless thin threads made of light that connect all the people you know and have met, as well as animals and places. You have such connections from this life and countless past lives. You alone have millions of connections and each individual has the same. That's how the greater subtle body is built and where vowing to save all beings comes from. But if one's knowledge of the greater subtle body is insufficient and one doesn't see the point of making a commitment to that vow, is to ignore large part what is possible to us.

To focus on one's own liberation, to merely wish well, to pass blessings and to teach people how to practice shamatha and vipashyana of course accumulates good karma and merit but without the willingness to go to hells and awful places to help and liberate beings, to do whatever is needed, it's still basically a self-centered endeavor, a holiday of sorts. The heart and energy of a bodhisattva cannot be replaced with anything else.

There is a reason why masters of the past spoke of two (or three) different vehicles. They didn't do so to make themselves look better or wiser than those of the lesser vehicle but out of compassion because they actually cared. I also speak of this because I care but people don't see it that way. To point out that there is much more to go is a massive favour but people take it the wrong way, missing the fact that mahayana and vajrayana masters speak about the potential of all people, not just the potential they or people of their sect have.

My advice to hinayanis is to test the energy of the Bodhisattva Vows. Sit and calm down, and then recite the four great vows. See what happens in your subtle body, especially in the aura outside your body. That's where the higher bhumis, 7-10 are, that are not accessed at all with hinayana practice.

To mahayanis I suggest the opposite. You're used to opening and stretching the aura open, so do the opposite: just focus on our own liberation and express it through a prayer. "I want to attain liberation". For this experiment, forget your Bodhisattva Vows and just focus on your own freedom. Do it a number of times and feel the energy of that. It feels like being locked inside a cage. It feels like that because the subtle body is split in half and you only feel the insides of the body*.

*bhumis 1-6

What I have said here might be unpleasant for many to hear but I have given instructions for you to test and verify the underlying principles yourself so that your knowledge will be based on direct experience, rather than books, sayings or dictated by your own karma from past lives. If you hate me and say that this guy is a fraud who teaches outrageous nonsense against the true dharma, that's OK with me. By speaking out I have merely delivered the message that the buddha within you wants you to hear. If you wish to fight it, go ahead but sooner or later there will be a time when you become disillusioned by lesser paths and realize the gift of mahayana which is the gift of your own true being. In the end, we both win.

Bodhisattva Vows

I vow to liberate all sentient beings.

I vow to end all self-based confusion.

I vow to exercise the dharma that frees.

I vow to attain the great perfection.

Many blessings,

-Amrita Baba, 22 Jan 23

May Women Thrive as Tantrics!

May Women Thrive as Tantrics!

The past of buddhism is maledominated. All major religions that have emerged during the past roughly 2000 years have been maledominated, and still remain so. Maybe this is because this has been necessary in the past. Maybe this is because otherwise teachings – dharma – wouldn't have taken ground. If we started talking about the many problems of maledominated religions, that would be a long conversation. Without doubt we would feel bad about many issues, wrongdoings and mispresentations done and imposed by religious men. That is highly unfortunate. Personally, I feel sorry for the fact that equality between sexes didn't exist in the past and in many ways still doesn't exist today. However, I also see some positive light coming up in the horizon.

Over the last roughly 100 years, dharma has been brought to the West. Here in the West, we have a very different kind of history and traditions, also in regards to gender equality. I think that in this setting women can begin to flourish as dharma practitioners and realized masters. According to my father,

“The basis for realizing enlightenment is a human body. Male or female–there is no great difference. But if she develops the mind bent on enlightenment, to be a woman is better.” -Guru Padmasambhava

 

I think that women have an ability to understand tantra better than men. In general, women are more intuitive in their use of the body and mind. They also might have more sensitivity than men. Also, the fact that they are embodiments of the feminine principle, puts women closer to full buddhahood known as rainbow body, if we look at female constitution alone, and I think this is what Guru Rinpoche is referring to in his quote. This is a somewhat artificial categorisation but I think these things are true. 

 

I hope that dharma takes root and becomes authentic in the West. I hope that women empower themselves through the practices available to them which wasn't at all the case in the history of buddhism. I hope that Western women especially take up the practice of tantra because vajrayana suits them better than sutrayana. That is the way to truly empower women.

Personally I hope that I can give many of my female students dharma transmission so that they can become representatives and embody the teachings of Pemako Buddhism for the benefit of all sentient beings. I wish that these authorized female teachers, can show an example and encourage other women to become true practitioners who aim for full enlightenment. Looking at our sangha and sensing into the future, I feel that the future is bright in this regard.

May women thrive as tantric yoginis!

May women fully embody our original state free of confusion, full of love!

May women of this world become buddhas!

May women become fully realised masters who lead sentient beings out of samsara!

Ho! May true dharma spread in all directions!

I bow to my guru father, Guru Rinpoche,

and join the smile of my guru mother, Yeshe Tsogyal,

Kim Katami, 6.10.2020

Pemako Buddhism

www.pemakobuddhism.com

 

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The Incomparable Gift of Buddhist Refuge

The Incomparable Gift of

Buddhist Refuge

When one chants, ”I take refuge in the Guru. I take refuge in His Pure land...” and so on, one instantly becomes a buddha. The ultimate reality becomes even more compelling when chanting, ”I am the Guru. I'm in the Pure Land...” By taking refuge, one uncovers oneself as an entirely free, selfless, timeless and yet vividly and effortlessly present being. Oh, this is the field of buddhas and bodhisattvas who dance and rejoice in the sheer purity of presence, sending out rays of healing and compassion to burdened beings. In other words, by taking refuge, one becomes the eye of wisdom that sees the emptiness of all phenomena.

This simple chant makes us discover our true being that is so well hidden by self-based misperception. The story goes that when Gautama the Prince realized and became Shakyamuni the Buddha and met merchants, who asked a teaching from him, he told them to take refuge.

Maybe the incomparable preciousness of refuge isn't obvious in the beginning but with gradual practice, one realizes that all teachings of sutrayana, tantrayana and even atiyoga are contained in, ”I take refuge in the Guru...”

Kim

Losing Faith In Buddhist Tradition

Losing Faith In Buddhist Tradition

I have always thought of buddhist tradition as a solid and reliable source of information leading to experiential wisdom. I've had this deep conviction about it since I came across it. I realize that I've kept this belief subconsciously up until today. At the same time seeing all the problems and faults in traditions, I realize that I don't have that trust at all anymore. It is the exact opposite. It is a peculiar feeling, finding that one's beliefs aren't even nearly the same they used to be. My trust towards the Three Jewels and my Guru is as unshakable as always.

I have spent years examining buddhism and its practices, and found few key problems that prevents the tradition from being a tradition of experiential wisdom. In this blog and in my talks I have talked about this in great extent. To clarify my point, I specifically refer to lack of wisdom and insight among living buddhists. I think that buddhism, in all of its vehicles (skt. yana), have mostly become established religion, exactly like different branches of christianity, drained from any real meaning. Millions of followers are lead by leaders with little or no insight at all. It didn't work in the past, it doesn't work now and it never will in the future.

The potential is immense in terms of written sutras and tantras but the outcome is very little in terms of actual emptiness realization. Even Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a pioneer and heavyweight of Tibetan buddhism, admitted that Shakyamuni Buddha failed to establish a system that would quarantee awakening for it's followers. I've discussed poor pedagogy, irrelevant practices, poorly understood practices, lack of theoretical understanding and other points extensively. In my view, there is absolutely no point doing practices that do not generate insight but because of religious beliefs, many stick with it for years and decades. If we compared growth of buddhist meditators to human babies, it is like the buddhist community never even become toddlers. They remain helpless like newborn babies without insight; thinking, seeing and acting in divided ways. Without emptiness insight and the vision of equality arising from therein, there cannot be compassionate action that would lead us to peace and harmony as a whole.

I always looked at practice as a way to change the hurtful and shortsighted habits of the human kind but this will not change if we keep thinking in terms of ”us and them”, or even in terms of the ”planet and us”. If our eye of wisdom is shut, we are screwed like the rest of numberless sentient beings who transmigrate the six realms, just causing harm and hurt for themselves and others.

It is so easy to forget that we are not here to stay. By living our lives and going about our careers, relationships and achievements, we forget that we are not here to stay. Then one day we get ill, get old or die, and that's it. What will be the worth of our efforts when the moment of death arrives? When we leave our human bodies all we can take with us is our memories and emotional impressions. Will we go with a clear mind or will we still keep feeling our hurts? Those who have the fortunate connection to dharma, can choose, so we are priviledged.

It all boils down to knowing ourselves as unborn and undying, timeless being that is full of love and kindness. As buddhas we are free, always in balance and this love pours out as acts of kindness like monsoon pours water. This is who we are and this is what emptiness meditation leads to. So, if you practice, do it properly.

-Kim Katami, 9^th of August 2019

Open Heart Sangha,

www.en.openheart.fi