Long Cessations: How Buddhahood is Actually Attained

 

Long Cessations:

How Buddhahood is Actually Attained

Tomi: "I have started to have full Rigpa moments; yesterday it lasted for two hours."

Kim: Reg. "full rigpa moments". These are long periods of the mind entirely ceased. This is directly experiencing "emptiness of all phenomena", the whole mind from 1st to 10th bhumi empty. I say long because they last much longer than few seconds or minutes. It means literally experiencing oneself as a fully enlightened buddha.

Awakening experiences (bhumi openings) are usually brief. They are like flashes of all lights of a house switched on but it (cessation) lasts only from seconds to few minutes. Despite of the briefness of bhumi openings and perfections, these breakthroughs indicate that the type of practice is correct because despite of their briefness at this stage of practice, cessations are directly seeing one's buddhanature, which is the heart and soul of all dharma and spirituality. There is no dharma other than awakening experiences.

Based on several accounts of our sangha members, this begins to happen roughly around the perfection of 1st-6th bhumis. As you keep perfecting them and have smaller perfecting shifts (for ex. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3) inside major perfections (7,8,9), durations gets longer. For example, let's say from 1-2 hours, to 4-5 hours, to 12 hours, to 24 hours to 48 hours. The longest I've had so far was 60 hours or 2½ days nonstop in August 2020 when I was (still am) working on perfecting the 10th bhumi.

So, when someone has more than six bhumis perfected (and all 13 open), it means that her or his mind is more than 50% purified. In other words, in the mind of such person, one's natural state has become prevalent over self-deluded state, and because of this cessations start getting longer and longer, or in other words, one doesn't only "begin" to see oneself as a buddha but really gets to try living as one. This keeps happening until insight of emptiness penetrates into all bits of the psyche (1-10 bhumis).

So with what Tomi here calls "full rigpa moments", we are talking about not partial, nor short but complete recognitions during which one gets to live, breathe, taste, touch and act as a fully enlightened mahasiddha for hours or days, depending how long it lasts. During these moments we really get to experience how life is for a mahasiddha. Through this experience we really come to know what purity and freshness (suddha/kadag) are. We come to understand why they call it the "great perfection" that is "unexcelled" (anuttara samyak sambodhi). Again, it is very different from brief glimpses... You get to live as a mahasiddha, that's it!

Nine Pemako sangha members so far have told me they've had these lasting anything from an hour to half a day. This indicates that we are approaching buddhahood as a group of individuals in the near future.

We have been reminded again and again by past masters, such as Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, who said that in his lifetime he met "many men and women" who had attained buddhahood, that it is "not a fable or a fairytale" and that it is possible indeed for people "world over". These words can be found from his book Repeating the Words of the Buddha.

Living grace and guidance of our gurus, Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal; correct view of emptiness that unites samsara and nirvana; correct view of compassion that is equal to all sentient beings; correct application of practices that in the case of Pemako many are unique to our method; committed internal work to make us strong and fearless in the face of hardship; and faith in the teachings of mahasiddhas who've lived before us. That's how we've made it work.

-Kim, 3.3.2021

Cessation

Cessation

What I always liked about photos taken right after shifts is how people's faces, like Ugi's here, look as if they've just been thrown with a bucket of cold water. There's kind of a shock there. That's how cessation looks like.

If you are not familiar with the word cessation, that is a hot word in buddhist yoga :) Cessation refers to ceasing of notions and impressions, or ceasing of all self-based mind processes. It is discussed and described everywhere in both buddhist and hindu scriptures. In Sanskrit words such as nirvana, nirodha and nirodha samapatti are used to refer to this experience which actually is an opposite of experience because cessation is rather ceasing of all kinds of experiences. 

 

Tibetan word trekcho, that is frequently used in dzogchen is samapatti in sanskrit which means "correct recognition of reality" or "correct recognition of truth". There are different interpretations of its meaning and there are short and extensive commentaries that discuss it. By all means, study those sources.

Long story short, all bhumi openings and perfections are cessations, so you already know its meaning and profundity of it. When selfing ceases, be it for 1 second, for a day or for good, yourself as a buddha shows up. This is what buddhahood means: to be free of selfing (gross and subtle) that happens in time and place. The first stage of buddhahood is a complete cessation, as the whole karmic body (bhumis 1-10) ceases to spin the dualistic notions and conceptions of me, other and all kind of phenomena. 

 

Yup. Have a nice day all and remember that each one of us is the source of blessings. We are already what we seek. 　

Kim

Sameness of Yogic Practices

Sameness of Yogic Practices

I firmly believe that all yogic traditions like buddhism, hinduism, taoism and christianity have at some stages known and offered paths to full enlightenment. They still do in varying degree. One thing that enchants me is the similarity of practices in different traditions. 
 
For example, in this photo you can see me sitting in meditation, or to be exact nonmeditation (skt abhavana), as it is known in Great Seal of Natural Awareness tradition (skt mahamudra). To be specific, this is a photo of an upward gaze of Leaping Over to the Great Enjoyment (tib thogal long ku, vyutkrantaka sambhogakaya). 

 
In most buddhist meditations separation is made between clarity aspect and energy aspect. For example, vipashyana and metta or cutting through and leaping over (tib trekcho and thogal, samapatti and vyutkrantaka). Same principles are in shaiva tantra as Siva and Shakti where the former is masculine principle and the latter feminine. 
 
In many systems of hindu yoga, incl shaiva tantra that I’m familiar with, this gaze is known as Seal of the Divine Feminine (skt shambhavi mudra), or Seal of the Divine Energy. This mudra or meditation is practiced in both dzogchen of Tibet and tantra of Southern India, to realise the divine energy of enjoyment. To me, it is obvious that both traditions are referring to same principles and using the exact same practices... which I think is really cool. I do believe that there has been and still is, or at least could be, fully enlightened masters or mahasiddhas in all yogic traditions. 
 
However, it is also my experience that a lot of yogic knowledge is scattered and that it is very rare to find everything one needs to know in one place. To gather the foundational knowledge and practices together is something I was told to do many years ago by my masters and I have.

Love and blessings to all,

Kim

Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 3: Twist and Shout!

Cutting through Samsara

and entering Nirvana, Part 3:

Twist and Shout!

Check also:

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

Jigme Lingpa, talks about distinguishing between samsara and nirvana in his famous book, Yeshe Lama. Rushen or korde rushen has the meaning of separating or distinguishing samsara and nirvana. This is the basic training of natural perfection, also known as dzogchen. Jigme Lingpa quoted in italics.

Rushen of body

How to do the rushen of body is explained in the root tantra:

With the body, in motion or reclining,

Or twisting and turning, perform yoga postures,

Stretch and bend the limbs

And put the body through its paces.

Just as you conceive it, physically enact

The behaviour of the six kinds of mythic beings.

Accordingly, in order to revert the physical, vocal and mental activity initiated by karma and natural propensity, and in the future to halt it entirely, go to a place where it is certain that no one will intrude and where you cannot be seen or heard... Then say to yourself, ”I am here for the sake of all sentient beings to separate, distinguish and define samsara and nirvana physically, energetically and mentally, so that in the future I need not return to samsara.”

After generating bodhi-mind in that way, strip naked and... Then, run and jump, twist and turn, stretch and bend and, in brief, move your body in whatever way comes to mind – but without purpose or design.

Rushen of Speech

Then, similarly, in order to pull apart and define samsara and nirvana in speech... Chatter, nonsensically to yourself and speak various languages randomly.

Twist and Shout!

First a reminder: Please remember that yours truly is not an adept of the orthodox dzogchen-tradition.

What we have in the previous quotes is something very interesting when done in action. My interpretation of distinguishing samsara and nirvana by bodily and verbal means is as follows.

Basically, what the great master Jigme Lingpa is saying here is for one to allow the samsaric tensions be released, shaked, vibrated, shouted or voiced by physical means. When this is done, samsara is automatically released and nirvana, open natural awareness reveals itself.

What the master suggests here, in effect is no different than what ancient tribes have done when singing and dancing around the fire. The effect is the same when people of today sing and dance to different rhythmical music at concerts. Recently I witnessed a growd dancing to a wonderful Korean electronic dance group. The thoughtless and clear minds of both these, dancers and musicians were noticeable. The drummer spent long times in the thoughtless state, fervently beating his drums! All these people surely experienced the effect of this, whether they knew to call it with the proper technical term known in dzogchen or other schools.

Kriya

Several years ago I came to spontaneously think that shaking the body briskly is a wonderful way to release tensions, both physical and mental. When one begins to shake the body, soon the shaking takes on it's own and there is no need to continue it anymore as it does itself. This is a natural mechanism of the human nervous system, animals have it and use it too.

In yoga, spontaneous physical shaking, trembling, jumping, moving, shouting and voicing in a non-rhythmical non-composed manner, is called by the term ”spontaneous kundalini kriya” or just ”physical kriya”. To some people this begins by itself, often to their surprise, while to others this doesn't start spontaneously at all. However, the nervous systems of all men have this ability to shake off what doesn't belong there. It's just spontaneous shaking and voicing which naturally covers areas of physical and psychic blocks in the bodymind that seek for a release.

This mechanism may be consciously stopped at anytime. This has nothing to do with going into a hypnosis or a trance. One is perfectly aware and conscious of this happening.

TRE

Dr. David Berceli, founder of the TRE-system has done wonderful scientific research and fieldwork with this principle. TRE refers to ”trauma releasing exercises”. In TRE some simple exercises and stretches are used to get the natural trauma releasing mechanism working which then takes on on it's own. His organisation has educated hundreds of TRE-instructors worldwide. What they do is no different to what Jigme Lingpa is suggesting or what is done by those with physical kriyas. However, the theoretical explanation and the meaning of it varies.

Rushen-practice in the Open Heart-style

In the beginning of a Rushen-session, sit quietly for a moment, let your breath calm down and relax. After a moment, chant Machig Labdron's guru mantra 4 or 8 times aloud. After this initial contact with the master, stand up, lie on your back or take a position that you feel like taking. Allow physical shaking and/or spontaneous voicing to begin. Let it happen naturally on it's own. Don't manipulate the natural chaotic pattern of the shaking or shouting. Don't try to release tensions, the inbuilt mechanism takes care of this on its own. Allow it to happen. When the body wishes to take a new position, allow it to happen. You will see that the natural stress releasing mechanism goes through all the tensions in logical manner. Just observe this, as you would observe thoughts or emotions come up and go by in open awareness meditation (ati yoga).

Continue for 20-30-40 minutes in one session. After a shaking session, lie down and rest for 5-10 minutes. You might feel very tired after the first couple of sessions but this tiredness goes away eventually. Then sit up and practice Ati-meditation. This Rushen-practice may also be done as a preparation for Tibetan Heart Yoga-session.

The way how the body shakes goes in periods. It may be very slow and calm while on the other hand it might be very fast, aggressive and uptempo. Allow it to be as it comes, don't change it. Yet know that it can be stopped at any time.

What is very important is to be able to observe objectively. This is a basic skill of meditators. However, if you are a beginner, know that sometimes strong emotions can come up. If this happens your body might shake aggressively, you might shout in fear, you might start crying and so on. Something like this that you didn't expect to happen, might happen. It's totally OK. It's subconscious tensions, stresses and traumas, samsaric bodymind content releasing itself. However, if you feel it's too much, you can stop the session at any time. If you feel uncomfortable to return to Rushen-practice, do it in a group or with a friend. You can also do this eyes open which will help you to stay ”here”, instead of getting lost in emotions or memories. In general, one can have eyes open or closed whichever is preferred.

The main reason why this is done is to shake off samsaric mindstuff from our bodymind in order to recognise our natural knowing awareness. It's that simple. Doing this has other benefits as well. Your physical fitness can become better, your sleep becomes deeper and more restful, your overall vitality becomes enhanced and of course you'll just feel fresh and clear after doing these sessions, both physically and mentally. This is because the knots of your dualistic mind are loosened or untied. Rushen (outer) combined with tantric practice, such as Tibetan Heart Yoga, which is called ”inner rushen” by Jigme Lingpa, does the same thing, emphasizing more the inner aspects of our dualistic conditioning. The general purpose of all of this is to cut through samsara and enter nirvana. Use it and enjoy it!

Sources

TRE-introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPFbXdSGSkc

TRE-beginner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMxQH_39FQ

Kim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1e1zVwX78g

Jerry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBLJxl9QJQ

Pau: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6gZfKGVsw8

Pau doing yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq0IE0ntbks

Spontaneous movements may develop to ”deity embodiment” as demonstrated in several videos by Pauliina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrY43Y5iGeI

Thank you for reading,

- Kim Katami, 29.5.2016

Open Heart

www.openheart.fi

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

Cutting through Samsara

and entering Nirvana, Part 2:

Cessation/Nirodha

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

Check also:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a nice day,

- Kim Katami, 11.5.2016 

 

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

Cutting through Samsara

and entering Nirvana,

Part 1:

Cutting through

Check also:

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

Cutting through Samsara and entering Nirvana, Part 1-guided practice

Samsara means being caught up by a mind that goes around in cycles. Samsaric mind refers to thoughts, feelings and subtle energy where thoughts and feelings are born from. This includes the sense of separate self or the sense of ”I” or ”me”. Actually all thoughts and feelings are charged with some sense of me-ness.

When the samsaric mind is too busy and makes one go crazy because the mind is so scattered, there is a need to cut this cyclical function of the mind that thinks and feels.

This cutting has to be thorough, a thorough cut through all levels of the samsaric mind. The talkative mind can be silenced simply by relaxing the jaws and the surface of the subconscious mind can be calmed down by relaxing the belly and the physical body but to cut through through all levels of the samsaric mind, we also have to cut through the subtle energy that is beyond the form of thought and emotion. This subtle energy is dormant and has no form. That is why it is not easy for meditators to perceive. However, this is a way to cut through through that as well. And when this is achieved, a stateless state of open awareness, where the mind has been completely blown out, is entered. The meaning of nirvana is literally ”blown out” as in candle's flame that is blown out.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche says in his book Ground, Path and Fruition:

The practice of the Thorough Cut is like taking a great big knife and just cutting the snake of solidified confusion. You take a machete to all the thoughts of the past and the future, to the whole complex of confusion about what is real and what is not, and just hack them down in one fell swoop. There is no visualization. Do not think about it. Just cut it. Drop it. It is very energetic. It is not like having a nice meditation.

There are many methods to help with this and one whole class of those methods is the one called Parting Samsara and Nirvana. In it, you get your body moving-active, walking, anything-and then stop and look, immediately, and in that moment completely cut through all of the thoughts-conceptual, intellectual, gross, subtle, whatever.

You can shake your body violently or you can shout or whatever; just work for four or five minutes and suddenly drop everything.

In terms of the traditional methods of parting samsara and nirvana, practitioners would go to the jungle, take off all their clothes, and just jump, jump, jump, shout, shout, shout, and do crazy things to cause a real breakdown. Or they would jump into icy water. By these methods you can intoxicate all the small states of mind and really stay in rigpa.

Basics of Natural Awareness (Dzogchen) Part 1

Basics of Natural Awareness 
Part 1 (Dzogchen)

Here, I'd like to present some information of the basics of great perfection (tib. dzogchen) as passed to yours truly by the great mahasiddha Vimalamitra. I've mentioned these two aspects of natural awareness or knowing awareness (tib. rigpa) briefly here. Later I will add another text on this topic covering two more aspects of rigpa.

The reader may keep in mind, that the author's knowledge of dzogchen has not been derived from the exponents of the traditional orthodox Tibetan dzogchen but directly from the mentioned master or masters. In this text, I compare the teachings received by yours truly with a traditional presentation of dzogchen by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama.

Rigpa

Rigpa which could be translated as "knowing awareness" is a term often heard in Tibetan buddhism and dzogchen. This term, rigpa, points out to a distinct state of our awareness which is natural, unobstructed and always present. Rigpa is described as the "ground" of our being. For a meditator, these description give clear hints of what this rigpa actually is. When elements of thought and emotion subside, the ground of awareness becomes revealed. This is the primary purpose of meditation and spiritual practices, to know ourselves as open spaciousness, as awareness, devoid of any entity.

Dalai Lama* on rigpa: "Generally speaking, when we use the word sem, we are referring to mind when it is temporarily obscured and distorted by thoughts based upon dualistic perceptions of subject and object. When we are discussing pure awareness, genuine consciousness or awareness free of such distorting thought patterns, then the term rigpa is employed".

Aspects of rigpa

In traditional Tibetan dzogchen, rigpa is presented in four different ways. Pure awareness is said to have four aspects to it. Terms of the first two aspects used in traditional Tibetan dzogchen are:

1. Gzhi rigpa - Basis of knowing (gzhi - basis, rigpa - knowing)
2. Ngobo rigpa - Essence of knowing (ngobo/ngowoi - essence, rigpa - knowing)

From Dalai Lama's book* we can find the next translations of these terms:

Gzhi-ground
Rigpa - awareness, pure awareness
Gzhi rigpa - ground awareness/rigpa
Ngobo rigpa - essential awareness/rigpa

As the meanings of these terms are difficult to grasp, I'd like to translate them in the light of my own experience, as transmitted and received from my master.

The two aspects of rigpa can be described as:

1. Thoughtless awareness (gzhi rigpa) and
2. Thoughtless awareness imbued with life and love (ngobo rigpa)

As an experience

First, we have a state of awareness which is devoid of any sort of thought or emotion (gzhi rigpa). Here, thoughtlessness should be taken literally as "no mental content" at all. This thoughtless awareness is the ground or basis of our being, again devoid of entity. Getting to know awareness without any mental stuff is sort of the first "relief" that a beginner of meditation meets with. But again, for it to qualify as gzhi rigpa, according to Vimalamitra, it has to be entirely without thought. This can be accessed briefly, for a second or two, by most beginners and the longer one continues to practice, the more sustained it becomes. The key is to return to it again and again.

The second aspect of ngobo or ngowoi rigpa, is based on the first one, throughtlessness, but has an additional flavour to it, that of extremely sweet lovingness. When speaking of lovingness or lifeness of rigpa, it should be remembered that the love which is referred to here is not gross emotion common to biased mind but rather very subtle one combined with extreme clarity of awareness. Thoughtlessness, emotionlessness, sweetness and clarity are simultaneous. So, the first rigpa is thoughtless and the second is both thoughtless as well as imbued with pure aliveness, pure sweetness. 

It's pretty simple and anyone can glimpse it briefly for their benefit. However, despite of the simplicity of it, it should be said that when speaking of a really comprehensive recognition of rigpa, one has completely and permanently extinguished the confused mind (purity of mind). This is the minimum requirement for it. In the Open Heart Bhumi Model, this would refer to the 6th bhumi or higher.

Conclusion

From this explanation we can come to understand that these aspects of rigpa are not something lofty or distant. Rather, these aspects of pure awareness are the ground of each of us. When in one way or the other the obscured dualistic mind (tib. sem) is momentarily bypassed, the knowing awareness reveals itself and recognises itself. With further practice, this natural recognition becomes extended while the obscured mind gradually looses it's grip. For a fully blown master (mahasiddha/buddha) this state is uninterrupted.

I hope this explanation sheds some light on these commonly used terms.

Thank you for reading. 

- Baba Kim Katami




Open Heart
www.openheart.fi

*Dalai Lama's book: Dzogchen, Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, Snow Lion.

Related links

• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/01/full-list-of-my-teachers-and-masters.html
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/02/loving-kindness-and-awareness.html
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/01/my-connection-with-living-buddhas.html  
• http://openheartopenheart.blogspot.fi/2016/02/stages-of-spiritual-attainment.html