How can a Guru be this excited and honored to make connection with me?

 

How can a Guru be this excited and honored to make connection with me?

Q: Yeshe Tsogyal is the guru calling to me the strongest at this time. I have been chanting her mantra a little bit every day this week. She rushes into me, and feeling her enthusiasm and gratitude for connecting with me is actually greater than my enthusiasm and gratitude for connecting with her. This was astounding to me in the beginning. How can such a powerful being be this excited and honored to make connection with me?

Baba: Yeah, isn't that astounding... For centuries, the masters have been telling the humanity to turn to them but they don't do that. I've been saying for 15 years that they're just waiting for people to call for their help. Literally, just waiting (tick tock tick tock) for people to do that. Their presence is literally hanging in the atmosphere right outside the aura of each individual and they won't come in unless they're invited. The personal blessings of all the great masters of all religions and contemplative traditions are available to anyone anywhere. All we need to do is ask. This single thing is one of the most basic building blocks in Amrita Mandala that to a large degree defines whether the practice develops or not. 

 

Yeshe Tsogyal

How to Help Children with Panic Attacks and Scary Situations

 

How to Help Children with

Panic Attacks and Scary Situations

OK, gotcha. This is nothing unusual, though I'm sure it is troubling and concerning to see it in a young boy. You should surround him with guru's blessings, and/or the blessings of the refuge jewels. Ask blessings from GR and YT to him, also mother should ask. And you chant on his behalf. He is a small child and cannot chant in the way an adult can, so you two chant for him. As you chant guru mantras, NGR or NYT or both at the same time, imagine that the blessings surround and engulf him. This can also be done by combing, where you chant and with your hands put the charge into his body and aura. Having guru's presence in his bodymind, he will be able to relax and let go for a moment but it might only last for a short time. Then you do it again, and again, whenever necessary.

You should also play mantra music at your house or where the boy lives. Dosn't matter which mantras, whether Deva Premal or artists like that, Hare Krishna, hindu deities (there are relly good musical recordings of those) or buddhist mantras. The idea is to fill the atmosphere with pure energy and blessings.

You should also bless his food by asking guru's blessing and/or chanting few mantras for his food.

Fill him and his life with pure and safe energy. You simply pray for him and wish him good. That will check all the boxes and you will see a change in him. The important thing is to keep doing it. He will also learn many things from this as he sees and feels the effects of these practices. Maybe he starts chanting himself.

You can and should tell him about gurus who he can always invite to him to feel safe and comfortable. Children in general are very open and pure so they can actually see GR or YT coming to them. He will see and feel the light radiating from the guru so he will feel good about it in an instant.

You can also explain him about basic emotions of fear, panic, anger etc. in a manner that a child can understand it so that he can use the knowledge when he experiences it. Teach him how to see these scary experiences and visions in a down-to-earth manner. Tell him that he need not be afraid and that many people experience same things. It is important for him not to feel abnormal about strange experiences.

Finally, it is as important for you two adults to understand that these things happen and they are not uncommon. Children, like many adults, see these things. It will be easier for you to approach this situation and the child when you establish guru's presence in yourself, when you discuss these things with him. In other words, when you don't know what to do or are lost, call the guru to yourself, everytime, over and over again.

You'll be alright and can grow together three of you. It'll be alright :)

 

Kim, 28.3.2021

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

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

 

Become a monthly supporter or make a single donation here: https://www.pemakobuddhism.com/34566 

Sailing the Seas of Samsara

Sailing the Seas of Samsara

Hi all!

I hope you're all doing fine and practicing well during this time of global hardship. Coronavirus has taken us all by surprise but really there is nothing new in it as a samsaric occurrence. It is good time to contemplate transitoriness of life and to re-kindle our motivation for mahayana buddhist practice. Hardships like this can be great catalysators for dharma practice because when samsara becomes concrete, veils of illusion drop like drops of water from ducks feathers. The good in hardship like this is that our lazyness, distractedness and nonsensical excuses disappear like mist in the sun. So, please do make use of the opportunity and think about these occurrences in the light of dharma. Without dharma, we'd all be drowning. With dharma we can keep our noses above the water and learn to swim.

When we feel and take into our hearts the confusion and disorientation of people and all beings (really palpable these days!), we become bodhisattvas and things start going click in our mind. Layer after layer, click, click, click, calcified views of our self and existence burst open. That's the bhumis opening and perfecting, indications of correct practice, the ultimate medicine in action. So, please remember that the vow, literally, the *vow* of a mahayana bodhisattva is to personally "I vow to liberate, all sentient beings". Without deeply feeling this motivation, one will not attain the mahayana path to buddhahood and is not likely to have indications of correct practice either. When the course of a boat is right, it is easy to go ahead and sail the seas but if the course is wrong, sailing becomes difficult and you just keep hitting the reef. Bodhisattvas, even though they take a serious and compelling vow, travel with light feet. Bodhisattvas learn to sing and dance on the fields of fire and turmoil. 

 

This world of human beings and animals, by definition, is a samsaric realm. There is never a time when all beings on this planet do not have a need for support. However, during times like this this need is even greater. People are drowning in this ocean of suffering, scared and confused, and yet so many do not have the ripeness and fortunate karma to meet with dharma in one form or the other. But again, our own contemplation, developing of compassion - bodhicitta - and dedicating merits of our practice for all beings is what increases readiness for others. The more we feel the vow of a bodhisattva, the more it gets personal and emotionally binding, the more our practice helps others. Without emotional energy of love, care and devotion our practice becomes reduced to lifeless words and forms. This loving emotion keeps us nourished along the way.

Finally, our gurus, Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal, are fully enlightened and magnificient beings. They are beyond samsara. They have fulfilled their bodhisattva vows and became buddhas. They have done it like we are doing now. They have open invitation for everyone. "Here, grab my hand, I'll pull you to the shore. Just grab it!". When we turn to them for help, we find a safe place in all of samsara. We find a refuge, a safe place where we can come to understand what the heck is going on here. Day and night, we can grab their hand: Namo Guru Rinpoche, Namo Yeshe Tsogyal Ye, Namo Guru Rinpoche, Namo Yeshe Tsogyal Ye, Namo Guru Rinpoche, Namo Yeshe Tsogyal Ye. Spin that mantra with love, for the sake of all sentient beings, and especially for the sake of those around us who are now in deep trouble. Take refuge and share it. Keep taking refuge and keep sharing it!

May all beings be free!

-Kim Katami

Pemako Buddhist teacher,

www.pemakobuddhism.com

Pemako Buddhism: Western Vajrayana Pioneers

Pemako Buddhism:

Western Vajrayana Pioneers

Q: I again come to expectations and concepts, how a buddha should be and behave. Like it would be an automation that fully realized buddha would be teaching, doing charity and so on.

Kim: We, Pemako buddhists, are pioneers and the West is the ground where we have arrived to our pioneering work. There has been mahasiddhas before but not outside the cultures of the East (not known at least). Honestly, I think that, we are the first ones on this hemisphere getting close to buddhahood and eventually becoming mahasiddhas in this life, the first ones within just few years from now, based on divinations and the present stage of a handful of our practitioners.

Already for couple of years, half of our sangha members have achieved stability of rigpa or knowledge of oneself as a buddha. I've spoken about statistics and details on many occasion before so I won't get into that here but people new to this should read What's Next? On Post-Awakening Practice, which gives you a clear and practical sense of this, what to newcomers and outsiders might seem like an outrageous claim. So anyway, it's a completely new thing what we do here in the modern West. Also, Pemako Buddhism is the only non-Eastern lineage of vajrayana to exist. There simply are no others, as all existing lineages of tantra have come from Tibet, in most cases. So we are doing groundbreaking work, like pioneers who roam to new lands, build roads and villages for others to come. In the wider perspective of history this has been done many times before but in our time and culture, it hasn't been done.

There is not a single person existing who grew up in the West and became a mahasiddha. I think we might have to go back 2000 years to find such a person in Jesus Christ but since then there has been nobody, although there has been many monks, nuns and hermits in the Christian tradition.

Looking at the present Western world, there is no one out there who had life experiences like ours because no mahasiddha ever grew up and practiced in the modern West. All available accounts and biographies of yogis and masters are all Eastern and if you start reading them, I at least, always found something to relate to but mostly something I couldn't relate to. I didn't grow up in buddhist culture riding yaks, cooking food on fire, living in tents. I grew up in a modern secular society, watching Sylvester Stallone movies, getting drunk in bars as a teenager, experienced depression, anxiety attacks, wasn't married (twice) by my parents and so on and so on.

To live in 21^st century wealthy Western society is very very little like the past cultures of the East. Pretty much the only similarity to Eastern people of the past, is existential confusion, dukkha. So, we just have to do the work ourselves and trailblaze, come up with our own stories of authentic seeking, practice and attainment. It would be nice and supportive for us to already have accounts from perfectly enlightened Western buddhas - people who look, speak and are like us - but as that is not the case we just have to do it ourselves. It's been done before in history many many times so in one sense we are not actually doing something entirely new, it's just new in our present time.

One thing is for sure: Buddhas are not gods, angels, high beings or saints. Buddhas are fully liberated of all form and types of selfing, in other words, they have the insight of emptiness of all phenomena. All texts say this but to me at least it is not so obvious to understand this because at the same time buddhism comes with a lot of cultural baggage and mushroom effect from previous generations of the East that is not helping us Westerners to understand what exactly it is that changes or is transformed with practice, and what isn't.

Our personalities will not change due to attaining perfect enlightenent or mahasiddhahood. We still remain, in my case for example, a heavy metal and electronic dance music loving goof, who plays the blues on guitar. I never was a shiny happy person, smiling that etheric smile of a buddha, so I doubt I will become one when I achieve mahasiddhahood. Actually, that sounds creepy to me and in fact, it looks like the exact opposite.

When the recent layers of self/bhumis have cleaned up for me, I find that I swear as much as I used to prior to dharma practice, when I was around 20 years of age. That's when I think I had the best sense of humour as well, and it's all coming back... I started changing myself, put a lid on my personality when meeting the dharma, like everyone does. So yeah, in my understanding, already quite close to the full attainment, it looks like I am just becoming me, completely and entirely again, except that most of the self-made bs is gone... I certainly have no problem of remaining a fan of 80's heavy metal or whatever cultural traits I have. In fact, that sounds awesome to me. I can be me, without the slightest imposition of a ”spiritual person”, a teacher, bodhisattva, buddha or whatever. Just me! Yay! And you, and we all.

Q: I love this stuff... I have come to this conclusion, too, that it's just about being myself fully. As it can't be any other way. I hate all the hypocrisy and built up "me's".

Kim: You know all these masters have said it that you, me and everything is already liberated and perfect. That we don't need to alter anything is what they mean. And actually changing oneself or imposing a new whatever spiritual-practitioner-bodhisattva-persona on oneself is not only entirely needless but also makes it worse in terms of increasing self-based confusion. But that's how the samsaric mind works and we all can't help reifying it. Also, it doesn't help that a lot of schools and lineages start by having the beginners become followers by carrying external marks and assuming certain ideas, even though they'd have very little or no authentic experience, i.e. insight into nature of mind. This is where our style of practice is different because the first thing we do is to get awakened and then keep going until all 13 bhumis are open and rigpa is stabilised. It is a very different kind of paradigm that the whole world is used to. I personally feel that to do it in any other way is a disservice but that's what people in most walks of life do. Cults of different shapes and forms are everywhere around us, some good, some bad, some harmless, most samsaric.

Pointing the Staff at The Old Man's Heart by Padmasambhava

POINTING THE STAFF AT THE OLD MAN'S HEART

by PADMASAMBHAVA

While the great master Padmasambhava was staying at Great Rock Hermitage at Samye, Sherab Gyalpo of Ngog, an uneducated 61 year old man who had the highest faith and strong devotion to the master, served him for one year. All this while Ngog didn't ask for any teachings, nor did the master give him any. When after a year the master intended to leave, Ngog offered a mandala plate upon which he placed a flower of one ounce of gold.



Then he said, Great Master, think of me with kindness. First of all, I am uneducated. Second, my intelligence is small. Third, I am old, so my elements are worn down. I beg you to give a teaching to an old man on the verge of death that is simple to understand, can thoroughly cut through doubt, is easy to realize and apply, has an effective view, and will help me in future lives.
The Master pointed his walking staff at the old man's heart and gave this instruction:

Listen here old man! Look into the awakened mind of your own awareness! It has neither form nor color, neither center nor edge. At first, it has no origin but is empty. Next, it has no dwelling place but is empty. At the end, it has no destination but is empty. This emptiness is not made of anything and is clear and cognizant. When you see this and recognize it, you know your natural face. You understand the nature of things. You have then seen the nature of mind, resolved the basic state of reality and cut through doubts about topics of knowledge.
This awakened mind of awareness is not made out of any material substance; it is self-existing and inherent in yourself. This is the nature of things that is easy to realize because it is not to be sought for elsewhere. This is the nature of mind that does not consist of a concrete perceiver and something perceived to fixate on. It defies the limitations of permanence and annihilation. In it there is no thing to awaken; the awakened state of enlightenment is your own awareness that is naturally awake. In it there is no thing that goes to the hells; awareness is naturally pure. In it there is no practice to carry out; its nature is naturally cognizant. This great view of the natural state is present in yourself: resolve that it is not to be sought for elsewhere.
When you understand the view in this way and want to apply it in your experience, wherever you stay is the mountain retreat of your body. Whatever external appearance you perceive is a naturally occurring appearance and a naturally empty emptiness; let it be, free from mental constructs. Naturally freed appearances become your helpers, and you can practice while taking appearances as the path.

Within, whatever moves in your mind, whatever you think, has no essence but is empty. Thought occurrences are naturally freed. When remembering your mind essence you can take thoughts as the path and the practice is easy.
As for the innermost advice: no matter what kind of disturbing emotion you feel, look into the emotion and it tracelessly subsides. The disturbing emotion is thus naturally freed. This is simple to practice.

When you can practice in this way, your meditation training is not confined to sessions. Knowing that everything is a helper, your meditation experience is unchanging, the innate nature is unceasing, and your conduct is unshackled. Wherever you stay, you are never apart from the innate nature.



Once you realize this, your material body may be old, but awakened mind doesn't age. It knows no difference between young and old. The innate nature is beyond bias and partiality. When you recognize that awareness, innate wakefulness, is present in yourself, there is no difference between sharp and dull faculties. When you understand the innate nature, free from bias and partiality, is present within yourself, there is no difference between great and small learning. Even though your body, the support for the mind, falls apart, the dharmakaya of awareness wisdom is unceasing. When you gain stability in this unchanging state, there is no difference between a long and a short life-span.

Old man, practice the true meaning! Take the practice to heart! Don't mistake words and meaning! Don't depart from your friend, diligence! Embrace everything with mindfulness! Don't indulge in idle talk and pointless gossip! Don't become involved in common aims! Don't disturb yourself with worry of offspring! Don't excessively crave food and drink! Intend to die an ordinary man! Your life is running out, so be diligent! Practice this instruction for an old man on the verge of death!



Because of pointing the staff at Sherab Gyalpo's heart, this is called 'The Instruction of Pointing the Staff at the Old Man.' Sherab Gyalpo of Ngog was liberated and attained accomplishment.



This was written down by the Princess of Kharchen, Yeshe Tsogyal, for the sake of future generations. It is known under the name 'The Instruction of Pointing the Staff.'



*TRANSLATED BY ERIK PEMA KUNSANG, RANGJUNG YESHE PUBLICATIONS

Introduction to Tibetan Heart Yoga

Introduction to Tibetan Heart Yoga

by Kim Katami

Open Heart, www.openheart.fi

• Man has three bodies:
  1. physical body
  2. energetic body/mind and
  3. awareness.
  Physical and energetic bodies are three-dimensional, awareness is non-dimensional.

• Practice of dharma is centered on removing dukkha or unsatisfactory and confused existence, as is taught in the Four Noble Truths. Existential confusion means perceiving our life in dualistic fashion. Because we perceive ourselves as individual entities or selves, we get confused and suffer. When this self-based dualistic perception does not arise, even momentarily, that is a moment free of suffering. 
  
  

  Introduction to Tibetan Heart Yoga: Lecture about the Principles: 

  
  

   

• Selfing is spread over the energetic body or mind. It can be removed according to the laws, functions and mechanisms of the mind. Selfing cannot be removed by denying it or by disregarding the way how the mind works. Selfing cannot be thoroughly removed by physical exercises or by the means of plain awareness approach alone, although both are very relevant. Psychology cannot be bypassed. If profound transformation or realisation is attained it is through the delusion stored in your mind, not in any other way. 
  
  

  Tibetan Heart Yoga: Guided Practice:

  
  

  
  
   
• When samsaric mind is ”seen through” by sutra or tantra practices, it gets transformed into wisdom mind. Seeing through refers to the principle of vipashyana meditation which means ”seeing clearly”. Seeing clearly or vipashyana is a principle that can be applied in sutric or tantric fashion. When a mental element, such as a thought is seen through, it means that the self-charge in it is released. Thereafter it has no binding power that causes selfing. In this way, our sense of self is seen through and released by piercing through it, not by transcending it. As vipashyana practices are applied, the practitioner's mind becomes growingly more lucid, while one's true self, selfless awareness, becomes the dominant mode of living. 
   
• Samsaric mind, in other terms, the psychology of man, has four main aspects:
  1. subject-self
  2. object-selves referring to thoughts and emotions
  3. subconscious mind (energetics inside the physical body, bhumis 1-6) and
  4. substrate consciousness (energetics outside the body, bhumis 7-10, skt. alaya vijnana).
  All aspects of the mind correlate directly to energy channels (nadi) and energy centers (chakra). The ”mind” consists of numerous energy channels and centers. Having a samsaric mind that goes round and round in thoughts, emotions, fantasies and dreams means that the channels and centers are filled with junk, junk that is our selves with all the habits, tendencies, needs and drives. 
   
• By tantra practice, all of samsaric mind is transformed into wisdom mind. This means that the self-charge, self-delusion, is released from the mind elements. This is the outcome of vipashyana practice. ”Wisdom mind” means that all the thoughtforms and formless energies of the subconscious mind (numbers 3. and 4. together) become embodiments of awareness itself. When the self-charge is released from mental elements, their true nature is experienced. True nature refers to qualities such as sense of freedom, openness, lucidity, clarity, lightness, elation, naturalness, aliveness and utter ordinariness. All these are qualities of awareness or buddha nature.
  
  
• In tantra, the self-charge is removed with the help of a guru and buddha-deities, that the master or guru has assigned for practice. In Open Heart we ask blessings and meditate many different masters of the Mahasiddha Family, but the main masters are Guru Padmasambhava and Guru Ma Yeshe Tsogyal. Buddha-deities are cultivated through singing and repeating mantras, verbal sounds, which are the main technique of tantric yoga. Also Guru Yoga is one of our central practices where master's presence is invoked and felt in one's own bodymind. 
   
• Deities are always learned or received through empowerment given by the guru or his representative so that the practitioner gets the deity or deities correctly. 
   
• In Tibetan Heart Yoga, there are over 20 different buddha-deities. The list can be found from the website.
  
  
• By using mantras relating to buddhas, the practitioner's mind goes through a transformation where the self-charges are released from all mentioned areas of the mind systematically. While some effects can be instantly experienced, thorough transformation takes time and committed effort because selfing is so deeply ingrained in the channels and centers of the energy body. 
   
• In addition to mantras, the practices include mudras (hand gestures), visualisations and breathing techniques. 
   
• Open Heart-method includes three approaches: sutra, tantra and dzogchen. Tantra is recommended to householders because it is easy to learn and practice, and it gives fast results. Results of Tibetan Heart Yoga can be observed from publicly released bhumi studies from the Open Heart-blog and Open Heart-YouTube-channel. 
   
• In Open Heart, progress in practice is measured with Open Heart Bhumi Model. 
   
• The first task in practice is to open the bhumis, all the way up to the 11^th bhumi which is the first ”mahasiddha bhumi”. Throughout this process one has glimpses and insights into the selfless nature of the mind and also grows in experiencing natural awareness. 
   
• When the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th bhumis open up, awareness becomes one's default mode. Opening of the 11^th bhumi brings an important paradigm shift as one mostly rests in the natural state. There is no need to ”get back to it” anymore. From this point onwards, tantric and dzogchen practice is continued for the reason of removing all habits, tendencies and karmas which in other words is perfecting the bhumis.
  
  
• First (of three) stages of buddhahood is attained when the whole energetic body, including all channels and centers, relating to the four aspects of the mind, and the first 10 bhumis, is fully purified. After this there are no impulsive actions in one's mind at all. Being a ”buddha” means being free of one's mind while still having it. This is what the famous line from the Heart Sutra means: ”Form is emptiness, emptiness of form. Form is form, emptiness is emptiness”. A buddha does not experience selfing at all and because of this is no longer a samsaric being. The first stage of buddhahood could be described as ”mental nonduality” while the latter two stages, referring to 12^th and 13^th bhumis concern ”physical nonduality” and the so called ”light body” or ”rainbow body”. 
   
• In Open Heart, attaining the first stage of buddhahood where all of psychology has dissolved into awareness, is seen as a realistic goal to be achieved in this body and life. It is not something that should be postponed because that is what we truly are.

Open Heart

www.openheart.fi

*

May be freely copied and quoted with mentioning the source

Copyright Kim Katami 2017