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What's Next?
On Post-Awakening Practice
by Amrita Baba
First edition 9/2018, E-book
Copyright Amrita Baba
Illustrations by Helena Alhbäck
Text Editing by Karl Eikrem

Contents
Foreword, 4
Disclaimer, 6
Illustrations, 7

CHAPTER 1: 13 Bhumi Model

Introduction to 13 Bhumi Model, 13

 Buddhism and Mind
 How the Mind is Constructed
 Emptiness and 13 Bhumi Model

How to Visit Bhumis, 18

 Bhumi Visitation Exercise
 Tips

How to Open Bhumis: Dynamic Concentration, 21

 Statistics from Amrita Mandala Sangha
 Dynamic Concentration
 We're Only In It for the Fruit
 How to Use the Body
 Sutra-based Buddhism and Dynamic Concentration Combined
 Tantric Deities and Dynamic Concentration Combined

Bhumi Mapping: How to Map Oneself and Others, 27

 The General Context
 The Key Factors of Bhumi Mapping
 Tips
 Tantric Way of Bhumi Mapping: 13 Pure Land Jhanas
 Bhumi Mapping Experiences

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 CHAPTER 2: Accounts and Photos

Opening and Perfecting Bhumis, Accounts by Practitioners, 33

 Karl's Account, 33
 Jonathan's Account, 36
 Helena's Account, 39
 Tiia's Account, 41
 Mikko's Account, 43
 Pasi's Account, 45
 Nathaniel's Account, 46
 Baba's Account, 51

Bhumi Opening Comments, 54

Photographs of Practitioners: Photos from 0 to 13th bhumis opened, 59
Additional Photos: Bhumi Openings and Perfections, 65

CHAPTER 3: Shamatha Experiment

Shamatha Experiment, 76

CHAPTER 4: Additional materials

What is Emptiness? How to Make Sense of Emptiness?, 100

 Practical Points
 How Do I Know If My Understanding of Emptiness Is Right?
 Practical Advice

Seeing Enlightenment from a Photograph by Shinzen Young, 102

Bhumis in Traditional Buddhism, 103

 Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
 Jigme Lingpa
 Acarya Malcolm Smith
 Zen-master Hakuin
 Daniel Ingram

About the Author, 104

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 Foreword
My first book Awake! is, as the name suggests, about the first shift on the path to full
enlightenment. This shift is widely known as awakening or insight, and by its oriental
names like kensho, shinjin, sotapanna (stream entry) and sem-ngo tropa. This book,
What's Next?, discusses sudden and gradual aspects of post-awakening practice according
to a particular bhumi or stage progression. It also explains some universally applicable
ideas of practice and offers instructions regardless of the reader's chosen path, for his or
her quicker advancement.

I understand that the contents of this book might be unusual or even weird to many.
Nevertheless it is a buddhist dharma book with plenty of practical instructions and fresh
points of view. I am an exponent of pragmatic dharma which discusses yogic practices in
an open, common sensical and tabooless manner. If you are unfamiliar with pragmatic
dharma, please start the book from Chapter 3 with Vincent Horn's article and then come
back to the beginning. I am aware that I might get misunderstood but nevertheless as a
pragmatist and a fellow human, I feel that sharing this information is a good thing to do.
To date, these teachings have dramatically benefited hundreds of people worldwide, many
of whom are seasoned practitioners, some teachers of other traditions, so we already know
perfectly well that it works. Please read this book with a fresh and open mind.

This book is mostly about 13 Bhumi Model, abbr. 13BM. It is not an ancient or established
teaching and no Eastern lineage of buddhism teaches it. However, as far as I am aware,
none of the established schools use the traditional expositions of bhumis as their path
maps, either. I have had opportunities to ask a few vajrayana specialists whether they
knew if anything similar was done in Tibetan Buddhism and was given a negative answer.
A Tibetan translator in his lecture1 said, ”To be honest, if you ask a Tibetan today whether
they have read the Bodhisattvabhumi, I don't think you'll find too many that have”. It
seems that the whole idea of bhumis as a practice has been forgotten, although the theory
still lingers here and there. I do not know the exact reason for this but I assume it is
because things get lost and change over time. On the other hand, it might be due to the fact
that bhumis are about energy and energetic factors, such as channels and vital currents
(skt. prana), which makes it esoteric, hard or impossible to understand, without indepth
guidance from an expert. If it ever existed, such knowledge could have been lost in few
short generations, if knowledge wasn't properly passed on, unlike teachings based on
scriptures that are pretty straightforward. I have presented plenty of information about
13BM in the following pages. What's Next? is a manual about post-awakening practice in
the context of 13BM.

I want to apologize my readers because much of this book is purely technical. Also, my
exposition lacks linguistic and philosophical sophistication, for I am more a craftsman or
an engineer, rather than a poet or a scholar. I have done my best in using as little foreign
terms as possible while trying to keep the chapters relevant and understandable to any
practitioner. I hope the reader will reap much spiritual benefit through this material and
the exercises suggested.

I would like to thank my masters for their immensely valuable teachings that have helped
many people with their existential problems. Words are not enough to describe my
gratitude.

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I would also like to thank those who contributed their accounts to this book and all of my
students, the Amrita Mandala Sangha, who use 13 Bhumi Model as their map on the path
of dharma towards buddhahood or full enlightenment. You are the ones who are actively
converting the hypothesis of Amrita Mandala method to a living reality. My sincere thanks
to all of you.

Also, thanks to yogis, yoginis and teacher colleagues of various traditions who have helped
and supported me through hard times, while encouraging me to continue. Thank you!

A special thanks to Vincent Horn and Daniel Ingram for giving me permissions to include
their materials.

- Amrita Baba, 6th of September 2018

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)Art Engle's Bodhisattvabhumi lectures: https://youtu.be/5hZGEzTOswI?t=1426

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 Disclaimer
Yogic practices are meant for people with normal mental and physical health. Practices
described in this book are not suitable for people with severe mental illnesses, that prevent
them from discriminating between reality and fantasy.

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 Illustrations
1. Bhumi centers 1-6 inside the head, between the level of the eyes and the crown. The
center point of each center is located in the central channel and center line of the body.

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2. Centers of the limbs (subconscious mind) and bhumi centers (1-6) of the head indicated.

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3. The main chakra system within the physical body.

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4. The entire system of bhumis and centers.

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5. An illustration of bhumis 1-6 open and the first three (1-3) perfected.

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6. A dartboard illustration of the three main stages: 1. All bhumis closed, 2. 10 bhumis
open, 3. 10 bhumis perfected.

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 CHAPTER 1: 13 Bhumi Model

Introduction to 13 Bhumi Model

”Although your body remains human,

your mind arrives at the stage of buddhahood.”

- Guru Rinpoche, Advice from the Lotus-Born

Bhumis, lit. grounds, are stages of spiritual attainment from the beginning of the path,
until the end of it, as defined in Buddhism. Bhumis are a way to measure one's spiritual
development from pre-awakening stage, all the way through the different intermediate
stages of bodhisattva bhumis, until full enlightenment that traditionally in Buddhism is
called buddhahood. Bhumis are presented in a particular manner in this book through 13
Bhumi Model.

Buddhism is abound with path maps that give various descriptions of the stages of
meditation practice. 13 Bhumi Model, abbr. 13BM, is a special kind of path map as it puts
emphasis on sensation and perception, rather than verbal or terminological definitions as
is the case with the majority of other maps. This factor makes 13BM more challenging to
understand for those who are used to relying on written information, but, on the other
hand, easier for those who are intuitive and sensitive. Nevertheless, all can learn it.

Learning 13BM is similar to learning an art or a skill. Its logic can be quickly seen, but
learning it doesn't happen overnight. Learning it is a process that takes time and effort, but
when it is internalised, its value and uniqueness becomes appreciated because it is very
precise, like a meter for figuring out one's location in relation to the starting point and the
ultimate destination.

13 Bhumi Model looks at the stages of the path from an internal standpoint, instead of
describing them from an external point. The difference between these two is great. The
internal standpoint translates directly to a firsthand experience while with the latter, one
has to use words and terms of limited and one-sided meaning to describe states of refined
inner experience. The way how verbal description works can be compared to a literate
person describing a total experience of a banana to a person who never experienced it.
Instead of getting caught up in words, 13BM works through sensation, a living experience,
and that is ultimately what buddhahood is all about; a living and embodied reality, instead
of a theoretical one. Both bhumi mapping and verbal means can, and should be used, but
the latter alone will always lack precision.

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The 13 Bhumi Model is already embedded in the mind of every human being. It is not
something that can be placed or imposed on you, or for that matter, taken away. Here,
mind has the meaning of a subtle body, as it does in Buddhist meditation teachings in
general. Because each of us has a mind, the 13BM is universally applicable to everyone,
regardless of one's chosen denomination, tradition, style or method. It doesn't even matter
if you consider yourself a Buddhist or not because all men have the same mind. Also,
because it is universal it can be applied on anyone; from non-practitioners to practitioners,
from teachers to religious authorities, from saints to yogis to ascetics, from monks to nuns
to priests and of course to buddhas, that is, fully enlightened beings. It is a tool that can be
used to measure where anyone is at in relation to the ultimate attainment. Because of this
13BM has a potential of healing many of the ailments that the world of dharma suffers of.

When a Zen Buddhist has a kensho, or a Theravada practitioner has a stream entry, they
both open their 1st bhumi. They both experience a lasting change in the condition of their
minds and, unless familiar with this model, are unaware how this insight relates to their
subtle body. The same is true for Tibetan, Pure Land and many other kinds of Buddhists,
as well as practitioners of other systems. Practitioners of Hindu yogas, for example such as
bhakti yoga and kriya yoga, also open their bhumis if they have irreversible shifts. This
same theory also applies to devout Christians, Taoists and Shintoists. We are talking about
a path map that is truly universal. This doesn't make all paths and methods the same. The
point is that there are great similarities in the experiences of religious practitioners and
specifically a lot of similarities with the insights of all kinds of Buddhists. The differences
are in the terminological descriptions, which is the reason why practitioners of different
systems or religions have hard time understanding each other about what the experiences
are, and often mistakes what the other party means, assuming that they are talking about
the same experience when they aren't.

The simplest way of mapping the attainment of buddhahood would be binary (0/1, off/on),
where it was checked whether one was fully attained or not. All path maps can basically be
condensed to this. On the other hand the full range of attainments could be divided in
many other ways, to fewer or more stages than in 13BM. However the reason why we
discuss 13 openings and perfections in 13BM is because the 13 bhumis relate directly to the
13 specific centers of the subtle body. For this reason it is logical and easy to use. For
example, were we verifying someone's first stage of buddhahood (skt. anuttara samyak
sambodhi, tib. trekcho) with 13BM, we would tune in to that person and by feeling or
mirroring the condition of his or her bhumi centers one by one from 1 to 10 we would feel
whether or not they are perfected, in other words, if this person's karmic body is entirely
clean and clear or not. If we sensed the slightest sensation of tension, narrowness,
tightness, obstruction, in other words anything that would indicate a self (skt. Atman), or
self-based existence, we could falsify the claim. On the other hand if we carefully mirrored
through all 10 centers and their vibratory fields and felt only wonderful peace, clarity and
groundedness, we could verify the claim. To be able to do either the verification or
falsification one needs to know key parameters such as: what the bhumi centers are, where
they are, how they feel, what is the difference in sensation between samsaric and liberated
conditions, and how subtle the differences between the two get. Bhumi Mapping requires
learning but it is possible because we all are built in the same way. The bodymind of a
buddha, in its structure and mechanism, is no different than anyone elses.

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 Buddhism and Mind

Buddhism can mean many things. In this book Buddhism or buddha dharma refers to a
path of wisdom and compassion towards the attainment of buddhahood, attained through
commitment and exercise for the sake of all sentient beings. In other words, Buddhism is a
practical way for eradicating all of our confusion and suffering, and for getting out of the
wheel of compulsive transmigration by seeing through (skt. vipashyana) our self-based
confusion and becoming a buddha, which literally means awakened.

In a confused state (skt. dukkha) the energies of the bodymind are coloured and twisted by
our self-based patterns of negative emotions and thoughts. That is ”who” a suffering
person is, a bundle of stressful thoughts and emotions that cyclically repeats itself in the
mind. The perpetual compulsive bubbling of the mind happens because, as Buddhism
teaches, the mind records mental habits and patterns over numerous lifetimes, including
this one. It is irrelevant whether the doctrine of rebirth is believed or not, but if we start
looking at our minds we come to see how much stuff goes around there. It goes on and on,
with changing emotional tones. To a person who knows not of mind training, this is a
nightmare, while a yogi sees the problem, the confused mind, as a way out.

How the Mind is Constructed

The psychological anatomy of man can be explained in the following way:

1. Subject-self. Me, I.

2. Object-selves. Thoughts and emotions.

3. Subconscious mind. Body of selfing.

4. Substrate consciousness. The basis of all phenomena.

5. Awareness. Buddha-nature.

Subject-self: Awake!-book explains in detail how the subject-self is the grossest sense of
self. This aspect of self, as me or I, is located as a knot inside the head, behind one's eyes.
When analytical meditation (skt. vipashyana) is effectively applied, this sense of self
becomes deflated of self-importance and self-investment. This event is called awakening or
1st bhumi opening in 13BM.

Object-selves: The subject-self identifies itself with various thoughts and emotions. The ”I”
becomes identified with the emotion of ”anger” or ”excitement”, for example. These two
kinds of selfing can be easily separated when it is understood what they refer to. The ”I”
sits in the head while the thought or emotion rises up from the lower part of the body to
join with it. If there is nothing for the object to join with, if awakening has already
occurred, object-selfing has much less power. Object-selves arise from the subconscious
mind, which is the energy system, channels and centers within one's physical body,
especially the limbs (see Illustrations). Subject- and object-selves together create a gross
sense of self. In 13BM, thoughts and emotions relate to 2 nd to 6th bhumis. These can also be
called lower bodhisattva bhumis. As bhumis 2 to 6 open up, the binding power of thoughts
and emotions automatically loosens. This is a very significant stage for the practitioner, as

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can be read from the practitioners' accounts from this book.

Substrate consciousness: The substrate mind is the foundation of ignorance and confusion,
the bedrock of all phenomena, of myriad things. The substrate (skt. alaya vijnana, tib. kun
gzhi) relates to bhumis 7 through 10. These can be called higher bodhisattva bhumis. The
vibratory fields of these centers relate to the energy field, commonly called the aura. In
meditation the substrate is experienced as more or less apparent veils, like a gradation of
different densities of fog, that deceptively obscures or veils the natural state. Because there
is no gross selfing and the problem of existence appears to be solved, many meditators
mistake the substrate consciousness for the natural state. This mistake has unfortunate
consequences. The substrate mind has no form so it is much more difficult to illuminate it
(skt. vipashyana) compared to the gross selfing, especially by sutra methods. Specific
instructions are required so that this can be achieved.

Awareness. Buddha-nature: Awareness, or buddha-nature, is widely discussed in Buddhist,

especially Vajrayana scriptures. This is the aspect of our mind that is ever free from
confusion, anger and greed. Awareness has no self or other and therefore it is loving,
compassionate, wise, caring, clear minded, supportive, reasonable and has clear morals.
Mind of awareness is what we truly are, the real me and you, without the slightest trace of
petty minded entityness and its compulsive habits. We all know our true being of love and
clarity to some extent, but because it is clouded and obscured by our selves and the stuff it
carries with it, it is not lived and embodied. It is rarely even glimpsed, but even for a
deluded person it makes sense. To be a buddha, means to be awake with the external
circumstances whatever they may be. Three different aspects of buddha-nature are
distinquished with bhumis 11-13 in 13BM. The centers relating to these bhumis are far
outside the karmic body, i.e. the physical body and the aura. At the same time it is openly
hidden within the bodymind. Dzogchen-teachings, such as those offered by Amrita
Mandala, discuss an uncommon set of channels (skt. nadi) and centers that always
remains free of karmas, kleshas and samskaras, and are therefore immediate doorways to
buddha-nature.

Awareness that is self-cognizant, imbued with aliveness and stable like a mountain, can be
compared to a pure white movie screen, on which the mentioned psychological functions
appear on, like the images projected by the movie projector. What Buddhist meditation
(skt. vipashyana) does is that the actors, figures, colours and shapes on the screen are all
realized to have the same pristine clarity and pureness as the movie screen. All things and
phenomena can be separated as things on relative level, but ultimately they all share the
same mind, have the same taste and scent, that is devoid of self.

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Our existential confusion (skt. dukkha) is constructed like Matryoshka, the Russian Doll.
In 13 Bhumi Model the Russian Doll has 13 layers where the first 10 are tainted with a
sense of self, in the above mentioned manner, and the remaining three represent our
buddha-nature.

Emptiness and 13 Bhumi Model

Opening and perfecting of bhumis is all about wisdom meditation (skt. Vipashyana),
characteristic of Buddhism. Vipashyana can be practiced in sutra- or tantra-styles. The
Two-Part Formula for awakening, for example, is a sutra practice since there are no
empowerments, gurus, deities or mantras involved, which are the main features of tantric
practice.

Whether sutra or tantra, the result of buddhist meditation is the same: realisation of
selflessness (skt. Anatman), or more commonly, emptiness (skt. shunyata). Progression in
buddhist meditation, regardless of style, can be measured by 13BM.

Openings and Perfections of Bhumis

In 13BM, each bhumi relates to an energy center (skt. chakra). They are really the same
thing. Bhumis can be experienced as balls of energy or plates. When a bhumi opens up, it
means that the center of it becomes drilled through and from then on it remains open,
hence having the effect of perceptional shift. An opening can be big (big hole) or small

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(small hole), but nevertheless an opening is an opening, and has an effect. Sometimes
bhumis get cracks in them, but these don't have a lasting change and therefore don't
qualify as genuine insight or bhumi openings.

With bhumis we are looking at a stack of 13 energetic plates. When someone wakes up, the
1st plate gets punctured as if someone took a drill and drilled a hole through it. When the
2nd bhumi opens, the next plate above the 1st one opens up and so on. Someone who has
opened all of his bhumis, has drilled holes through the whole stack of plates. Find first
hand accounts from those who have opened all of their bhumis in this book.

When a bhumi is perfected the plate disappears and only pure nondimensional space
remains. The borders of the plate disappear. As beings, entities, we are located in time and
three dimensional space. When insight practice evolves we become less and less identified
as beings. We become as if erased from time and location. This is what liberation actually
is. This takes place through perfecting of bhumis.

In Amrita Mandala we mainly practice tantric yoga, Rainbow Body Yoga. With the
exception of the opening of the 1st bhumi we use this practice to open bhumis 2-13 and for
perfecting bhumis 1-10. I discuss practices in more detail in How to Open Bhumis:
Dynamic Concentration.

How to Visit Bhumis

Every human has the same energy body, the same structure of centers (skt. chakra) and
channels (skt. nadi). For this reason anyone with theoretical understanding and some
mindfulness skills can learn to visit one's own bhumis. Visiting, or emulating bhumis,
means that one consciously enters the vibratory rate relating to a certain bhumi through its
subtle center, that then allows that frequency to be spread to the whole bodymind.
Through this experience and the following exercise one can learn to know how certain
bhumis feels like. This process can be compared to a child learning different colours.

Bhumi Visitation Exercise

This exercise, like all buddhist practices, should be practiced with a clear motivation for
one's own attainment of buddhahood, for the sake of all sentient beings.

From Illustrations 1 and 4 you can see where the bhumi centers are located.

1. Relaxation and Space: Sit in an upright posture and relax thoroughly. Take a
comfortable seat with eyes open or closed. Scan through your body with attention
and release tensions anywhere you notice them. Scanning the body means that you
look, feel and listen into the body space and scan around it, as if using a flashlight in
a dark house. When a tension is found and released, pay close attention to what is
found in the area of that released tension. Look closely. What you find is mere open
space. After you make a mental note of this, find the next tension, release it, and
again notice the open space in the place of tension. Continue doing this for 3-10
minutes with some sharpness of attention. At some point you will notice that the
small locations of space are actually connected, and a greater open space becomes

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 revealed. Good. Feel into it. Notice and enjoy that spaciousness with your whole
being. If you didn't end up in the open space but got distracted or frustrated instead,
start the exercise all over with sharper attention.
2. Finding the Central Channel: After the initial relaxation, feel into your spine and
slowly, with light attention, scan it up and down between the crown and the tip of
the tailbone. You'll find the central channel by finding the canal inside the spine.
Refer to anatomical pictures for locating the spine. The central channel actually has
several layers but at this point any of those will do. Simple feel into the central
channel by moving your attention in the spinal canal. When you find the central
channel, you will notice that your mind becomes calm and clear, as if turning down
the noise and turning up the light in the room. Notice that. Recognise the calmness
and clarity with your whole being. You can especially feel into the upper part of the
central channel between the neck and the crown. The spine doesn't extend all the
way to the crown but the central channel does. It actually goes much further than
that through all the bhumis. All bhumi centers are in the central channel.
3. Finding and Tuning Into Bhumis 1-6: Then, with as light and gentle touch as
possible, feel into the place where the 1st bhumi is indicated in the Illustrations. Let
your attention stay there gently. If you put your mind there with too much weight
and pressure, you will not be able to feel anything. Your attention needs to be fine,
like the antennas of a butterfly. This requires simultaneous focus and relaxation.
Feel into the location of the 1st bhumi. Don't rigidly stare at it but rather let the
sensation of the bhumi's vibratory rate come to you, through being mindful about it.
After spending 1-10 minutes on the 1st bhumi, continue to the 2nd bhumi location.
Simply raise your attention from the level of the eyes (1st bhumi) to the level of the
brows (2nd bhumi). Again, with as light and gentle touch as possible, feel into the
place where the 2nd bhumi is located. Again, with relaxation and focus, let the
vibratory rate come to you, instead of trying to figure it out. Spend 1-10 minutes on
the 2nd bhumi and then continue one by one all the way to the 6th bhumi at the top of
the head. In the beginning you might not be able to locate all bhumis exactly but as
your antennas develop, the location and vibratory rates will snap on naturally
without having to do much.
4. Finding and Tuning Into Bhumis 7-13: Bhumis inside the head are all close to each
other and therefore relatively easy to find. The centers above the head are also in
even intervals but because they are outside the body and the distances between
them are much more, it can be challenging to find them. They are there, however,
you just need to find them. If you've never done this exercise before, you will likely
enjoy it very much since the higher bodhisattva bhumis (7-10) and the mahasiddha
bhumis (11-13) feel very pleasant, combined with increasing clarity with each
bhumi.

The 7th bhumi center is located about 15 cm or 0.5 ft. above the crown. Gently feel into this
area and let its frequency descend into your body and mind. Feel it with your body. You
will notice that there is a noticeable difference between how the 6 th and 7th feels. Take it in
and enjoy it for 1-10 minutes, or longer, if you like.
Bhumis 8-13 are set in even distances between the location of the 7 th (15 cm/0.5 ft above
the head) and the location of the 13th at 5-6 meters or 15-18 feet above the crown. The exact
distance of the highest center above the head, 13th, can be measured by your body height by
multiplying it by 3. For most (average height) people the distance of the 13 th bhumi is
somewhere between 5-6 meters or 15-18 feet.
Bhumis 8-13 are set in even distances, roughly a bit less than 1 meter/3 feet between each.

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Find them by moving your attention up and down the central channel which extends from
the crown all the way to the 13th bhumi. Again, you need to be mindful as well as intuitive,
to be able to do this.
At about 3 meters/9 feet above the head you will notice a change in the view, so to speak.
This is where you access the 1st mahasiddha bhumi, or 11th bhumi, after the first 10 bhumis
that constitute the samsaric mind. Feel it with your body. Without hurry, smell and taste it.
I think going up the whole ladder (1-13) and then coming back down again (13-1) makes a
good exercise. If you spend 2 minutes on each bhumi, the above exercise takes about 30
minutes. That is time well spent. When we create a connection between the bodymind and
mahasiddha bhumis, the bodymind that for us samsaric beings is our samsaric condition,
becomes in contact with the fully enlightened buddha within each of us. That is what we all
want!

Tips

If you have never done exercises that could be defined ”energetic” and you have no history
of meditation training of any kind, be prepared that it might take a while before you
develop any sensitivity. This stuff is not easy for beginners. For those who have done some
meditation training, it should be quite easy to sense something from the first few sessions.
For those who have studied healing, reiki or practice tantric buddhism, it should be no
problem at all to get the study going. Regardless of the state of your sensitivity, work with
what you have and you'll eventually master it.

When you visit different bhumis, mentally note each of them with a number. For example,
when you start sensing the vibratory rate of the 4th bhumi, you say ”4” to yourself, or ”9” on
the 9th bhumi. Doing this makes it easier when learning the locations. The numbering also
gives your subconscious mind a concrete memory of the exercise. This makes your learning
faster.

The vibratory field of the 13th bhumi center extends beyond 5-6 meters/15-18 feet
indefinitely, so if you only want to do a session tuning into the 13th bhumi alone,
corresponding to full rainbow body (tib. jalus) attainment, you can move your attention to
the imaginary midday Sun over your head and the 13th will snap on automatically. While it
is relatively easy to visit bhumis it takes a lot of practice and purity of mind to be able to
properly feel and comprehend the profoundness of them, especially in the case of 12 th and
13th bhumis.

Bhumis are taught in buddhism. Buddhism in turn, is blessed and guided by buddhas and
mahasiddhas. It is a good idea to ask a blessing for your Bhumi Visitation Exercise from a
particular guru, and buddhas and bodhisattvas in general, if you are open for the idea. Just
like taking in and feeling the energy of each bhumi, take in the blessings after your prayer
for the exercise.

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A Tibetan buddhist monk visualizes a deity, Vajrasattva, above his head. He receives a
charge, a blessing, that liberates the gross animalistic features of his mind. By an unknown
painter.

How to Open Bhumis:

Dynamic Concentration
Statistics from Amrita Mandala Sangha

Amrita Mandala is a community (skt. sangha) of about 70 people worldwide. All of our
practitioners are awakened (1st bhumi opening) due to the Two-Part Formula. To date, half
of the practitioners in our community have had six or more (bhumis 1-6) shifts, or
kenshos, during their involvement with Amrita Mandala. From the beginning of their
practice, it took them roughly 1 month to 1½ years to have 6 openings. Further, 15 people
have opened all 13 bhumis and have therefore stabilised their knowing awareness (tib.
rigpa), or natural state, as taught by vajrayana masters, have made it their default mode
of being. Find first-hand accounts from some of them from this book. These people are in
the process of perfecting their bhumis. From the beginning of their practice, it took them
roughly 2½ months to 3½ years to have 13 openings. For a while now I have verified about
5-10 bhumi openings in our community on a monthly basis. The main reasons behind this

21
unusually fast progress lies in the following simple factors:

5. The Two-Part Formula that opens the 1st bhumi,

6. Dynamic Concentration, and specifically
7. Combination of Tantric Deities and Dynamic Concentration to effect the
consecutive openings.

Also that students have a clear understanding how the practices are done and why, while
having plenty of access to a teacher, are key elements.

In the following I will explain what I mean with dynamic concentration, and how common
sutric or tantric buddhist practices become way more effective when used together with
dynamic concentration.

Dynamic Concentration

Being concentrated means that ones attention is concentrated, focused one-pointedly on a

single object of focus. This object of focus can be the movement of the breath on some
particular location in the body, such as the lower belly or the bridge of the nose, it can be a
mantra consisting of a single syllable or many syllables, a visualisation and so on.

Concentration practices are commonly taught with low intensity. For example, when
mindfulness of the movement of the breath (p. anapanasati, skt. prana apana smriti) is
taught, the student is instructed to keep his attention gently on the breath and return the
attention back to the object when distracted. In a similar way, when mantras are recited,
they are always recited with gentle concentration, never with high intensity, with stronger
or even explosive focus.

This light or gentle focus can be compared to a volume knob of a stereo system. In this
example light focus is analoguous to low level which produces low but still audible volume
of music. This would equal perhaps 5-10% of the total volume output. However, the
volume knob can be turned higher. It goes up to 30%, 60%, 90% and with each level we
hear a corresponding change in the volume. Turning the volume high has an immediate
effect. In this analogy, zero would equal not having concentration at all, yet not being
distracted either, i.e. the natural state. 90% would already be very loud and not very
enjoyable for an extended period of time. However we all have times in our lives when for a
moment we want to turn up the music. And how wonderful it is! The neighbours maybe

22
don't like it but it is fun nevertheless.

Regardless whether we follow the breath or chant mantras, the same can be done in yogic
practice. Dynamic focus greatly changes the effect of the concentration practice. With light
focus, as in commonly known shamatha, with constant distractions it takes time to calm
the monkey mind. Whether an exercise of light focus ever cuts through the layers of the
subconscious and substrate minds is rightly questionable. It takes years of long hours of
daily training to build the muscle of concentration to get the benefits of shamatha
meditation (tib. shine). This approach is followed by a large number of Buddhist methods.
I think that there are better and more effective ways of doing the training, especially for
householders whose daily time for practice is limited.

Concentration can be momentarily heigthened, like turning the volume knob high
suddenly to create a short (0.3-2 seconds) explosion-like, momentary peak. This creates a
quick punch of sorts, like an explosion that can be controlled. This punch hits through all
of samsaric mind and reveals the natural state in a very short period of time. We are
discussing an exercise that indirectly has been used in Buddhism and many other yoga and
dharma teachings for centuries through meditation, recitation, religious art and yogic
exercise and yet very few schools have realised the immense value of dynamic
concentration to give it a central place in their teachings. Within Buddhism, as far as I am
aware, only the practitioners of Dzogchen shout mantras, usually syllables such as Phet!,
Ha! or Ho!, but they haven't developed dynamic concentration systematically. I got the
idea from living in a Shinto temple in Japan where prayers were shouted syllable by
syllable in ways that I present below. That is the only connection I have seen shouting used
as a regular and composed daily exercise.

Dynamic concentration can be adapted to fit the view and practices of any yogic approach.
It can be adapted and practiced by secular buddhists, mahayana buddhists of all schools
such as Zen or Pure Land, tantrics of all sorts and those who prioritise the recognition of
nature of mind, namely Zen, Mahamudra and Dzogchen. It is very easy for anyone to test
whether dynamic concentration really works. All you need is a few minutes of time and a
comfortable place to try it.

We're Only In It for the Fruit

Above I gave some statistics of the progress in our Amrita Mandala community. Anyone
who has been around yoga and dharma knows that these results are exceptional. Dynamic
concentration is one of the main ingredients why Amrita Mandala practitioners experience
consecutive awakenings so fast.

Looking at some stories from traditional sources we can learn that students sometimes get
the 1st bhumi opening quickly, some on their first retreat, although generally for most it
takes from a few years to several years of dedicated training. Some don't awaken even after
10-20 years of regular training, which I find is a great pity. In traditional systems
consecutive openings come a lot slower after the first one, and generally in the case of
individuals the number of awakenings, opened bhumis, remains rather low.

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With awakenings, we are discussing perhaps the most important aspect of dharma
practice. That is what changed Shakyamuni's life and started buddhism so I feel that it is
common sensical to prioritize insight, that is, the recognition of the natural state. As
mentioned above this can be done without changing one's denomination. I can understand
that trying and learning practices such as dynamic concentration that are external to one's
own tradition might seem a strange, or even an outrageous idea. It is a good idea to ponder
why are we doing this in the first place.

How to Use the Body

The muscles of the body should be as relaxed as possible. Especially muscles in the head,
mouth, throat, neck and shoulders should be kept relaxed, so that the muscles in the
stomach area (stomach, diaphragm, sides and lower back) mostly create the push for each
shout. Having said that there are numerous other muscles that subtly contract. The thumb
rule is that throughout the exercise, both during and after the shouting, your body remains
as relaxed as possible. Make sure the shouts are sharp, but don't accumulate tensions. The
exercise should be comfortable and enjoyable, never strained or forced.

You do not need to breathe in any special way but when the shoulders are relaxed and kept
down, the breath naturally goes to the belly, instead of being high in the chest and
shoulders. It is incorrect if the shoulders raise with each shout or inhalation. Once you get
a hang of the technique, your body will draw the breath naturally, just like a dog does
between barking. The key is in relaxing and focusing simultaneously just like in more
traditional forms of exercises. Seek comfort throughout the practice. Once the natural
state, your buddha-nature, becomes revealed, it will help in this greatly.

Small children shout a lot, but when we grow we don't use our voice loudly anymore. At
first, shouting may feel strange, but once you get a taste it becomes very enjoyable and you
feel a sense of freedom doing it. It also releases energies stuck with thinking and talking.

The first few practices might make your throat a bit sore but that will pass. If your throat is
exceptionally sensitive and you feel pain, discontinue the practice on that sitting and self-
pace.

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 Sutra-based Buddhism and Dynamic Concentration Combined

In the following I would like to suggest a few exercises for Theravada and Mahayana
Buddhists to try dynamic concentration according to their view. As most Buddhists take
Refuge in the Three Jewels, here is a formulation based on the three words and their six
syllables.

BUD! DHA! DHAR! MA! SANG! HA!

BUD! DHA! DHAR! MA! SANG! HA!
BUD! DHA! DHAR! MA! SANG! HA!

Here are some ideas how you can formulate the exercise.

Take a steady tempo, perhaps 60 bpm that you can see from a pointer of a watch. You can
make the rhythm lower or faster, realating to how high or low the intensity of
concentration is. If you are doing for example, three series' of the same mantra, you can do
the first round slowly, the second faster and the third fast.

You can shout through the six syllables once or many times, let's say up to the duration of a
couple of minutes. You can also try doing 30-60 seconds of repeating the syllables, then
take a silent pause of about 1 minute while letting energies flow freely, then do a second
series of 30-60 seconds of shouting the syllables, again a minute long break, then a third
series of shouting and finally just rest in the recognition of the selfless nature of mind.
With a very strong, almost 100% focus you might just shout the first two syllables of ”Bud!
Dha!” and it might be enough, for the occasion, to cut through the layers of the mind to see
your ”True Face before your parents were born”.

Other examples:

Mantra from the Heart Sutra, Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra:

GA! TE! GA! TE! PA! RA! GA! TE! PARA! SAM! GA! TE! BO! DHI! SVA! HA!
Or just:
BO! DHI! SVA! HA!

Mantra for Amitabha Buddha's veneration in Japanese from Pure Land Buddhism:
NA! MO! A! MI! DA! BU! TSU!

Mantra for Amitabha Buddha's veneration in Chinese from Pure Land Buddhism:
A! MI! TO! FO!

Mantra for Amitabha Buddha's and His Pure Land veneration in Tibetan:
A! MI! DE! WA! HRIH!

Mantra of Avalokiteshvara in Japanese:

KAN! ZE! ON! NA! MU! BU! TSU!

Name of Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit:

AA! VAA! LOO! KII! TEESH! VAA! RAA!

Homage to Shakyamuni Buddha, a common theravada prayer:

NAA! MOO! TAS! SAA! BHAGA! VAA! TOO!

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These are just few examples. Feel free to take a mantra or prayer you like, divide it into
single syllables and combine with dynamic concentration.

Tantric Deities and Dynamic Concentration Combined

The main practice in Amrita Mandala is Rainbow Body Yoga. In this tantra we shout the
syllables related to its deities in our daily practice. As in tantric teachings commonly, an
empowerment is required. A unique aspect of our tantric practice is that we combine up to
24 peaceful, wrathful, healing and passionate deities into one, where all of them are
cultivated through four short syllables. Bringing many deities together means that they
cover the whole field of samsaric traits in the mind, plus reveals different bodies (skt. kaya)
of the enlightened nature. The mantras, deities, are in turn cultivated through both low
and high intensities of concentration through chanting and shouting. A Amrita Mandala
practitioner is literally punching the buddhas into his or her energy body, namely the
centers (skt. chakra) and channels (skt. nadi), hence creating a circumstance where the
powerful blessings of the guru and deities are forcefully (not forcibly) injected into the
karmic mind.

If the reader is involved with some tantric teachings, practicing 100-syllable Vajrasattva
mantra or some other mantra, you can simply divide it into syllables and start pounding.
Through doing this you will likely notice three things:

1. Your mind becomes clearer because of dynamic concentration,

2. The energy of the mantra, deity or guru, becomes clearer because of number 1, and
3. The charge or blessing of the mantra, deity or guru, becomes stronger because you
created a bigger hole, figuratively speaking, to your mind through which the
blessing can flow in.

Fortunately, there are also practices in tantric buddhism that do not require an
empowerment so I can give you some concrete examples. I refer specifically to Tantric
Guru Yoga.

In Tibetan vajrayana buddhism it is common that students receive an empowerment to

Guru Yoga with some particular mahasiddha guru from a lineage teacher (tib. lama),
before beginning that practice. This protocol is fine but not actually necessary in the case of
mahasiddhas, because they have gone beyond time and place and therefore are available to
anyone, at any time or place. One can simply make the call and the guru will pick up the
phone, figuratively speaking. It is very simple to get to enjoy the living company of a guru
and imbibe the blessings from any mahasiddha, who are many. This point, that the
mahasiddhas and buddhas are within anyones reach, has been stressed by many teachers
and masters of the past.

Here I present Guru Yoga mantras with a few of the most famous Buddhist mahasiddhas.
Refer to instructions regarding the use of the body, rhythm and ways to build up the
exercise, above.

Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, mantras:

1. NA! MO! GU! RU! RIN! PO! CHE!

2. OM! A! HUNG! BEN! ZA! GU! RU! PE! MA! SID! DHI! HUNG!

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 3. BEN! ZA! GU! RU! PE! MA! GU! RU!

Yeshe Tsogyal mantras:

1. NA! MO! YE! SHE! TSOG! YAL! YAI!

2. NA! MO! GU! RU! GYA! NA! DA! KI! NI! YE! SHE! TSOG! YAL! RIN! PO! CHE!
3. OM! A! HUNG! BEN! ZA! GU! RU! GYA! NA! SA! GA! RA! BAM! HA! RI! NI! SA!
SID! DHI! HUNG!
4. YE! SHE! TSOG! YAL! YE! SHE! TSOG! YAL!

Milarepa mantras:

1. NA! MO! GU! RU! MI! LA! RE! PA!

2. OM! AH! GU! RU! HA! SA! VAJ! RA! SAR! VA! SID! DHI! HUM!
3. MI! LA! RE! PA! NA! MA! HA-aa!

Shakyamuni Buddha's mantras:

1. SHAK! YA! MU! NI! BUD! DHA! YA-aa! SHAK! YA! MU! NI! BUD! DHA! YA-aa!
2. OM! MU! NI! MU! NI! MA! HA! MU! NI! MA! HA! MU! NA! YE! SO! HA!

Dynamic Concentration enables one to cut through the many layers of the mind into the
natural state. This simple exercise makes a world of difference because we have seen that it
generates consecutive awakenings, bhumi openings. It has the power to crack the nut. This
enables practitioners to stabilize the natural state within a reasonable time, without a
superhuman effort, and is be suitable to modern laypeople.

Bhumi Mapping:
How to Map Oneself and Others
Bhumi Mapping takes place by studying the subtle energy and the condition of particular
subtle centers (skt. chakra) of the person himself or the recipient. As told, the first six
bhumis (1-6, see Illustrations) relate to the subtle centers inside the head and the following
seven (7-13), mainly to the centers above the head. Bhumi centers 7-13 are also below and
around the body, but bhumis can be read solely from the ones above the head. Through
training it is possible to learn to read or sense whether these centers are shut or open, and
if they are open, to what extent or whether they are borderless, that is, perfected.

During the last three years 13BM has been extensively studied and discussed in our
community of about 70 practitioners. During this time I have filed over 480 bhumi
analyses of my students alone, excluding roughly a thousand others. We have also
extensively mapped and discussed teachers and practitioners of many traditions. We have
come to see that the progression of insight can indeed be seen and measured by studying
the subtle body, as told in this book.

The General Context

This study or analysis can be done in person or through a photograph. It is curious that

27
just like the energetic documentation in black ink trace in Zen Buddhist calligraphy, as
taught by my late Zen master Terayama Tanchu Sensei and his predecessors of many
generations, a good photograph also captures a moment through which the mind, the mind
state, and hence the stage of attainment by the concerned person, can be accessed and
measured in detail by someone who knows how to use the tools, or 13BM.

To give the reader some basic ideas behind 13BM, I would like to present a quote from
Awake!-book:

”I was trained in the Japanese Rinzai Zen buddhist tradition. My studies included
meditation training in a monastery with daily meditation interviews (jap. sanzen) with the
master, Shodo Harada Roshi, and also extensive studies of Zen art, specifically Zen
calligraphy, with another renown Zen-master, Terayama Tanchu Sensei. I also studied
reiki, a form of healing and meditation extensively.
It is not the case in all schools and lineages of Zen Buddhism, but it certainly was with both
of my masters, that they put a lot of emphasis on non-verbal examination of the student.
The master would look straight into my eyes, feel me thoroughly (and I would feel them
feel me), examine me and then either verify or falsify my awakening (jap. kensho). As far as
I am aware this skill of looking and feeling into the student's mind has become near extinct
in Buddhism today... My Zen calligraphy master, Terayama Sensei, was a master of Rinzai
Zen as well as yoga and martial arts. He had done traditional training with his masters,
including Omori Sogen Roshi, one of the greatest masters of 20 th century in Japan, but he
also studied a large number of other approaches. The large quantity of his knowledge lead
him to review what he had learned. For example, he did not teach koans, although he
would have been eligible to do so. He neither taught martial and health arts as he had
learned them, but formulated his own approach which brought together the beneficial
aspects of all of them.
The main thing in Terayama Sensei's teaching of zen art was that the calligraphic art piece
is required to embody the heart and spirit of zen. This in turn would have an uplifting
effect on the viewers. He explained this in great detail and gave many examples. At his
home and country side dojo I used to gauge the works of such zen giants such as Hakuin,
Yamaoka Tesshu and many others... The main idea is that if a painting is brushed by
someone who is enlightened to some degree, and a long-time meditator, the ink will
automatically carry the awakened mind-energy of the artist and is transmitted on to the
canvas or paper. In this way the awakened or pure energy is caught in the art piece and can
be appreciated even centuries later. This is a proper long tradition in several Asian
countries. Excellent calligraphies done hundreds of years ago by Zen, Pure Land, Shingon,
Shinto or Taoist masters, all point out and transmit the nature of mind. When a person
looks and feels into an authentic piece of Zen art, it transmits a blessing, a subtle charge,
that clarifies the viewer's mind...
Reading the energy, mind and awareness of a person can be developed to a high degree. I
have often heard fellow dharma teachers and practitioners say something vague like the
eyes can reveal stability or lack of it, but I have never met anyone who took this seriously.
Why? I am confident that at some point of time and history this skill has been highly
cultivated within some traditions but unfortunately that isn't the case anymore. Anyhow,
this study can go into a lot of detail and can be very beneficial in many ways.
I was introduced to analysing energies through Zen, Zen art and reiki. After this I was
taught further by tantric and Dzogchen masters and learned about analysing different
levels of attainments or ”grounds” (skt. bhumi). It is the same principle that the Zen-
master uses in meditation interviews, that is essential in Zen art and what I have applied in
photographic analysis when verifying or falsifying stages of awakenings. In principle, the

28
history of this goes back at least a thousand years.”

Terayama Tanchu Sensei and Amrita Baba in 2005.

One of the most famous zen-calligraphies of all times,
Dragon by Yamaoka Tesshu (1836-1888), on the right.

The Key Factors of Bhumi Mapping

Bhumi Mapping consists of the following two factors:

1. Locating bhumi centers inside and above the head

2. Tuning in and sensing whether the concerned bhumi is shut, open or perfected

We have already discussed visiting or emulating bhumis, so the reader already knows how
to locate one's own bhumis. In the case of other people, it is done in the following way:

 Sit down and relax. Let your mind quiet down a few moments so that your mind is
not restless, as it prevents you from making clear observations. You can say a prayer
for the benefit of all beings or ask a blessing from a guru figure. If you do, feel the
energy of the prayer or the blessing properly.
 Whether you are using a photo or the person you are going to map is with you, does
not matter. However, in general people are not used to others watching them in the
eyes for an extended moment of time, and therefore they often feel uncomfortable if
they are new to bhumi mapping. For this reason, I personally prefer using photos.
Using photos is also much more handy since they can be delivered online, instead of
having to travel.
 Have the person or the photo in front of you, so that you can see his or her eyes, face
and the space around the head well. Look into the persons eyes. Make a connection.
You need to be mindful but if you use excess concentration or attention, it will

29
 prevent you from picking up the mind-energy of the person. Relaxed openness,
without being distracted, is the key here.
 As you gaze into the eyes of the person, let the energy, mind and awareness of the
person tell you, nonverbally, what the condition is. You don't have to do much to
pick up the signals. Actually, the less you do, the easier it is, assuming that your
mind is not distracted due to your own mind-stuff. Spend a moment just being in
the connection and letting the general feel of the person, and his mind come to you,
so that you notice something. When you feel something, what do you feel? What
does is tell you?
 Next, start feeling into the locations of the person's bhumis. His bhumis are at the
same locations as your own. Through his eyes, sense into the bhumi centers, inside
his head and above his head. You have already visited your own bhumis so the
sensations you get, should be very similar when mirrored from another person.
 A bhumi center that is shut, feels like a dammed puddle, or like a solid knot that
doesn't let the water or energy flow through it. However, if the dam is even slightly
opened, the water from the puddle immediately starts to flow from it. It is quite easy
to notice whether the center is completely shut or if there is even a small hole in the
center which enables free energy flow. If the center is open, you can sense how big
the hole is. If the center has no borders at all, it can be assumed that the center has
been perfected.
 Just like when visiting one's own bhumis, in the beginning it is a good idea to go
through all bhumis one by one, from down upwards (1-13) and from up downwards
(13-1). Once you get a hang of it, it becomes a smooth drive. It is a fascinating way to
study yoga and mind. The key, as mentioned above, really is to let one's own
bodymind mirror the condition of the recipient. If you let that happen, it will, and
you will acquire the skill of bhumi mapping quickly.

Bhumi centers can be compared to three-dimensional spheres or discs that vibrate. The
first 10 bhumis (1-10) store karmic patterns that are stored in the energybody as imprints
and are displayed through actions. The centers inside and above the head are places that
tell the condition of a certain vibratory area, or a bhumi, of one's mind. So when we are
tuning into the 1st bhumi, for example, we are not only sensing or seeing into a small area
inside the head but to a field of vibration that connects to different parts of the energy body
through numerous subtle channels. In the case of the 1 st bhumi, the related areas are in the
shoulders and hips. Similarly, each bhumi has a corresponding area in the body or in the
aura. The opening of a bhumi can be slightly hastened by giving the bhumi centers a little
bit of attention, but the point is that if the larger area of the bhumi is not adressed by the
practice, merely staring at the bhumi center doesn't open the bhumi.

When we are looking at a certain bhumi center, we are actually tuning into a larger field
that might not be so obvious to see. Anyway, when measuring whether the bhumi is merely
opened or if it is also perfected, we can simply try to feel the whole three-dimensional area
where the bhumi center seems to vibrate. If we sense even the slightest of borders, which
implies karmic impurities, the bhumi is not perfected. If the bhumi is perfected, there is
nothing to perceive, just open space.

Tips

Mapping seasoned meditators requires much more sensitivity than mapping those without
much training. This is because a seasoned practitioner has already purified his mind to

30
some degree which is why there is less to find.

Mapping practitioners of different schools or lineages can be tricky because depending on

the practices, they vibrate in slightly different frequencies than yourself might do due to
your own practices. Regardless, all people have the same bhumis and can therefore be
mapped.

Few people wake up, open their 1st bhumi, without practice. When it comes to spontaneous
bhumi openings, it pretty much ends with the first one, though. No one opens consecutive
bhumis or perfects them without continued efforts. The fact how much you, or someone
else has practiced, also gives some indication where someone might be at, in terms of
bhumis.

The 13BM is meant to be used as a constructive tool, not as a competitive measuring stick.
In fact, if you find self-gratification in having more bhumis open than your sangha friend
or some saint, this emotion is a sign of immaturity. In that case, you should get back to
vipashyana this very instant. Just like any other system or a map, the 13BM can become an
ego-trip. It is good to remember that ultimately, we are either buddhas or samsaric beings.

Tantric Way of Bhumi Mapping: 13 Pure Land Jhanas

In Amrita Mandala teachings we have the so called 13 Pure Land Jhanas, and their
concerned deities, for distinquishing whether one has perfected bhumis. Unlike the Pali
word jhana suggests this practice is of tantric nature but does refer to karmic factors that
cause meditative absorption (p. jhana). 13 Pure Land Jhanas requires an empowerment
from a teacher to be efficiently applied.

The basic idea of Pure Land Jhanas is that buddhas, who are fully enlightened archetypes
or qualities of our own mind and awareness, can be set on different bhumis and then
meditated on. Tuning in to a certain deity and its corresponding bhumi, reveals whether a
bhumi or several of them are perfected. If there is plenty of karma still to be purified, there
will be notable sensations. If there are little karmas left on a particular bhumi, mild bliss is
experienced. If the bhumi is perfected, there is no sensation at all, only the sense of
boundless openness.

Bhumi Mapping Experiences

”I check for awakening by gazing openly at the eyes of the person, feeling into them to see
if there is a knot, or a contraction in the area of the eyes. I also check if there is a veil in
front the eyes, as it seems to me that after awakening the person is actually making eye
contact, whereas before they are mostly closed off in their own little world. Like if they are
just looking at the inside of their own eyes, stuck in their own little world. I find it easier to
judge awakening if there are both before and after photos.
For the rest of the bhumis, I also gaze openly at the eyes, but instead of actively checking
any particular area I just wait for the energetic sensations to take place in my own body.
That is, I am not going up the pillar of centers, just sensing the area inside my head and
above it as a whole. After 15-30-60 seconds some sensations usually appear, a locus of soft
energy where the highest open bhumi is. When that happens I give it a bit more time for
the sensations to become clearer, before I try to determine which bhumi it is based on
location.

31
I have also found that it is possible to zoom in on the bhumi in question to read more
information about it, that is, whether there is just a crack, if it is properly opened or if it is
matured.
Some bhumis are easier to read than others. The first bhumi is usually fairly easy to read.
Same goes for 2nd-6th bhumi. The higher bhumis on the other hand, I find much more
tricky to distinguish from each other, though determining whether the person is a
mahasiddha or not, is an easier task. It's hard to miss the wonderful softness that they
radiate.
In addition to actually practicing the art of bhumi reading, I have found that another
important factor in developing in it, is how mature one is in one's own mind purification
process. Naturally, it is much easier to read the energy body of others when there is less
stuff going on in one's own.
Fun fact: When I initially encountered The Two-Part Formula for Awakening and Amrita
Mandala, I came to the conclusion that it had to be the real deal by looking at the eyes of
Baba and the others who claimed to have awakened. I had no clue about bhumi reading at
the time, but I could sense that there was something about the eyes, a relaxedness that I
recognised from other spiritual teachers I had encountered who also claimed to be
awakened.”

”I first check for awakening, by looking for the knot between the eyes. Then I sense or
recall the clarity of the 2nd bhumi, and see if I can detect that clarity in the eyes in the
picture, then the 3rd bhumi, 4th bhumi and so on, until I no longer feel that the person in
the picture has that level clarity. Then I go back down, and in this way going back and forth
gradually narrow down the range of the bhumi. I'm not sensing the bhumi in the body so
much, as in the mind. It also feels like each bhumi has a frequency of clarity, like a musical
pitch.”

”I have done my bhumi mapping when my mind is clear and I feel peace. I have always
asked guru's help when doing that. I always ”mirror” the person that I am mapping with
my own bhumis and I feel a sense of openness in a bhumi that is open. Usually in that way
it is correct. I can see the difference in pictures too, but mirroring without a photo is my
thing.”

”It is easier if you have a before and after photo, so that you can compare the feeling, and
especially how the eyes look and feel. Feeling into the energy of the person in the picture:
Does it feel constricted or not? Comparing to my own energetic feel: Does it feel like I clear
up or am I weighed down? How do face and eyes seem, bright or murky? Are the eyes
looking wide or constricted? Where in my own body mind do I feel a tingle when looking at
the picture?”

”I certainly found that as my mind purification progressed, my ability to bhumi read or

connect and harmonize with anything energetically for that matter, increased. My energy
body started to take on this wonderful mirror-like quality the clearer my mind became. I'm
certainly no expert, but to me it seems that the key to bhumi mapping is the same relaxed
awareness of atiyoga combined with a simple openness without any expectation of result
whatsoever - and play with it - read everything in the book of nature - calligraphy,
mountains, people, trees, water, rivers, the sky, masters, yogis, the pet dog etc. I am
finding now that I can simply look at a book or piece of art, and get a sense of the author's
level of awakening, as well as the subtle tones of their emotions and mental state. I have
been doing this and it has been very instructive. It is a wonderful skill to dive into!”

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 CHAPTER 2: Accounts and Photos

Opening and Perfecting Bhumis

Accounts by Practitioners
Karl's Account
Description of events between January 2016 – August 2018
In this text I will mainly focus on the overall experience of travelling through the bhumis,
as well as how the individual bhumi cycles have changed with time.
1st bhumi opening: The opening of the 1st bhumi was a very energetic experience for me. I
had been processing the feeling of me-ness inside the body, using the Two-Part Formula
for awakening under the guidance of Amrita Baba for five days, when the ”I” finally popped
on the 10th of January 2016. During the last formal analysis session of the day I could feel
a very strong tingling sensation behind the eyes, like a current of electricity only confined
to one particular spot. This sensation had gradually become more and more apparent
throughout the guidance and as I focused in on it, at one point it grew so strong that I
became absorbed in the sensation. I imploded into this one point behind the eyes.
The onepointedness lasted for about a minute or so, before, out of nowhere, I exploded
outwards and was shattered to pieces. After this I got up and went to the toilet where I
noticed that the sound of the beam hitting the water in the toilet was somehow different. I
could also hear the wind outside much more intimately than what I usually did. I kept
noticing small things like this until I realized that what was different was that there was no
small me anymore. It was simply gone! And with that the difference between the space
inside my body and outside of it disappeared; awareness had no location.
2nd- 6th Bhumi openings: However wonderful this realisation was, it soon faded somewhat
as my usual patterns kicked back into action. By all means, there was a permanent and
recognisable shift in my mind, but after the initial two or three honeymoon days my usual
reaction patterns started flooding to the surface. It was as if the opening of the 1st bhumi
had pulled a plug, so to speak, so that I couldn't keep suppressing stuff like I had for years.
The 2nd (opened 30th April 2016) to the 6th (opened 10th August 2016) bhumis were very
much centred around very gross emotions such as anger, anxiety, frustration, shame, guilt,
jealousy, alienation and so on. These had to be dealt with in monthly cycles, which
consisted of several faces. Shortly after a bhumi had opened, there would be about 2 days
of a calm clarity before stuff would start bubbling to the surface with increasing vigour.
Then a little more than half-way through the cycle there would be a strong and flashy
energetic experience in mediation, similar in intensity to the experience right before the 1st
bhumi opening as described above. This energetic event would trigger strong euphoria that
that lasted for a while eventually leading to a period of increased negative emotions and

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suffering, also called a dark night. Then when least expected, the same familiar clarity of
awareness would shine through the negativity as the next bhumi would open, starting the
cycle anew.
To illustrate how strong the emotions of the early bhumis could be in my case, I would like
to tell about a particular incident that took place around the 3rd or 4th bhumi. A friend of
mine and I were driving in my home town when my friend told me that he had to meet a
particular person. Now, I had no interest in even being in the same room as this person as I
considered him a pain in the ass, but my friend had already made plans that we go pick
him up. So, as we were driving along the road, I started feeling anger rise in me. I was no
stranger to anger, but this time it became absurdly strong. I started sweating, the energetic
sensations in my body felt like they were much bigger than my own body and I could feel
my stomach starting to complain as well. I figured that it wasn't safe to be driving like this,
so I pulled off at the nearest gas station were I ran for the toilet. Once inside my stomach
violently expelled whatever I had ate a few hours earlier while I was dry heaving at the
same time. All out of pure anger triggered by a completely trivial matter.
6th-10th Bhumi openings: After the opening 6th bhumi, the intensity, as well as the
experiential context of the surfacing reaction patterns changed somewhat. As the bhumis
opened there was an increasing sense of space around the mind objects, which made them
loose a bit of their gripping power. By all means, there was plenty of stuff that would still
catch me off guard and cause identification, but it did become easier to study them with
the increasing sense of spaciousness. There was also the sense of these objects becoming
more oriented around very primitive intercollective human defilements, for example in the
form of thoughts revolving around violence or of a sexual nature. In the beginning this was
somewhat disturbing as I made it clearer how much confusion there was in my mind.

Furthermore, with the progression into this new territory, there was an increasing sense of
there being karmic clouds, so to speak, around the body. These clouds were not easily
identifiable objects, such as the previous mind stuff, but rather they appeared as energy
fields that produced more primitive mind states such as dullness and stupor, or, on the
other hand, euphoric bliss. These clouds are what is meant by substrate consciousness.
Another quality of the territory of these bhumis was that the cycle became a little less
predictable than before. The cycle still usually lasted for about a months time, but several
smaller cycles within the bigger became more recognisable.
If I were to make subcategories within this section of bhumis, the 6 th, 7th, and 8th were very
similar to each other, whilst with the opening of the 9th bhumi (in September 2016) there
was a sort of leap into greater recognition of the non-locality of the physical body and the
energetic body. The 10th bhumi (25th October 2016) was very similar to the 9th.
11th- 13th Bhumi openings: The opening of the 11th bhumi was a paradigm shift for me.
Around the 10th of September it was as if a conceptual border around the body fell of and
an aliveness that I had only briefly experienced before, flushed the totality of my body. This
aliveness only increased with the 12th bhumi a month later and the 13th on December 31st.
The level of recognition of the nondimensionality aspect of awareness remained the same.
However, soon after each bhumi opening it became apparent that there was still a lot of
stuff left, and that it was mostly the context of experiencing it that once again had changed.
Perfection of bhumis: The 1st perfection took place in early February 2017 and I remember
thinking that for the first time that I could really understand how buddhahood is the end of
all suffering. This was because awareness became significantly more integrated with the

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physical body, significantly more embodied. It was the experience of body as both form
and emptiness at the same time.
The initial clarity lasted for 3 or 4 days until mind stuff started appearing again. Overall, I
would say that the cycling changed somewhat as I entered the perfection phase of the
bhumis. A prominent change was that the perfection cycle was longer than the opening
cycle, with many more smaller shifts inbetween.
Another interesting feature about this territory was that there was a sense of going back to
dealing with things I had already dealt with before. With the perfection of the lower
bhumis for example, there was that same sort of gross emotions etc. that I had experienced
when opening these bhumis, but of course the context was very different from back then.
Because of the increased sense of emptiness, or spaciousness, the gross emotions appeared
much less dense than the first time around, which made them a lot easier to deal with.
In the beginning of December 2017 what I believe to be the perfection of the 6 th bhumi took
place. The empty nature of the body became much clearer and more stable and for a few
days everything that appeared around me, inanimate or animate, had this wonderful clear
glow to it. Furthermore, in the initial time period after the perfection I did not have any
dreams at night. When going to bed in the evening, I would close my eyes and rest in this
wonderfully soft, spaciousness and then, after what appeared to be seconds later, I would
open my eyes to greet a new day. It sort of felt like I hadn't slept at all, except that I was
totally fresh like after the best night of sleep. This freshness was not affected by the lenght
of the sleep either, as I remember one day being abrubtly waken after 4 or 5 hours of sleep
feeling just as clear and bright as if I would have had the best 8 hours of sleep. This seemed
to be because there was no sense of waking up from anything, as some part of me had been
awake all the time and did not have to go through any layers from deep sleep to waking
state.
Now, this particular feature didn't last very long as karmic dreams crept back into my
nightly cycle. However, on a more permanent note the dark night periods became less
centred around objects such as thoughts, emotions and feelings and more about the subtler
states of mind that give rise to such objects, the already mentioned substrate
consciousness. In practice this meant that the dark nights became more about feelings of
dullness and mild depression; a lack of motivation to get out of bed in the morning, mental
tiredness and a lack of ability to focus etc. This is still the case for dark nights up to this day
although they are getting lighter every time.
Current situation: At the time of writing, late August 2018, although I am not entirely
certain were I am on the bhumi scale, my estimate is that I have perfected 8 bhumis (1-8),
leaving the 9th and 10th yet to be completely purified. This estimate is based on analysis in
meditation, by meditating on each bhumi inside and above the head, as well as a
comparison with the feeling of opening these bhumis the first time around.
What is new as of recent, is that I have started having more frequent and longer lasting
moments of nonmeditation, were the totality of the mind is effortlessly seen to be
completely empty. So far though, the aggregates of karmic mind still keeps turning back on
after a while. I do not know how long it will be until buddhahood, but at least there is a real
comfort and motivation in actually having a pretty clear picture of what buddhahood
means in practice. It will come when it is time, of that I am certain.
This account was written 1 year and 8 months after opening of the 13 th bhumi

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 Jonathan's Account
Description of events between January 2017-October 2017.

1st Bhumi opening, 31st January 2017: On the 15th January 2017 I contacted Amrita Baba to
request a Guidance to Awakening. I had tried the Two-Part Formula (2PF) from the Amrita
Mandala website and it had immediately highlighted a fault in my dharma practice of 18
years, namely, that I had been too focused on the objective self and not on the subjective
self. Up to that point, my practice had matured to the point where I experienced
momentary glimpses of the natural state, or buddha nature regularly both on and off
retreat. Although this was always fresh, inspiring and wonderful, I had not experienced a
single kensho, or irreversible shift. My late teacher, Aloka David Smith (1946-2015) had
confirmed that these glimpses were indeed glimpses of buddha nature, but was also clear
to me that I had not yet awoken. His words were that there was still ‘A little bit yet to go….’.
It was frustrating for me, but there was nothing I could do other than keep on with the
practice in good faith. He died several years later, and after about 18 months, I started to
look for help from a new teacher.

I had always been inspired Aloka’s account of his own awakening and that’s what
motivated me to practice for all those years. I found the Amrita Mandala website and was
intrigued by the Guidance to Awakening process. The 2PF technique made perfect sense to
me, and working with the second mode, it was painfully clear to me that I had missed a
blind spot in my practice; namely a failure to adequately tackle the subjective self. A couple
of days later, I started a guidance with Amrita Baba, which took 15 days to complete. There
were difficult periods and wonderful periods of the guidance, and at all times I felt like I
was in the hands of someone who really understood the process of awakening. Towards the
end of the guidance, I had a strong insight. I realised that I had been in a dream my whole
life, from which I was gradually waking up from. However, I also realised that ‘I’ could
never awaken from this particular dream. The ‘I’ had to fall away, because it too was part of
the dream; the ‘I’ had to completely fall away and take the dream with it, for good. I
realised that once this happened, nothing could ever put the illusion of self back together
again. Gradually over the final days of the guidance, the remaining traces of subjective self
started to break up. I will never forget the feeling of joy, when on the 15th day, on the 31st
January 2017, in my kitchen, the last traces of the ‘I” finally slipped gently away, never to
return. Visually, everything seemed more vibrant than before, music so clear. My own
mind felt liberated of a block that had been there for so many years. It actually felt
hilarious. One of the most wonderful things about the awakening was that there was no
attachment to the experience whatsoever. It felt clear, open, free. When I started to have
glimpses of buddha nature many years previously, there was a lot of attachment to the
experience, which was painful and difficult to work with. My awakening was free of this
stickiness. Getting a confirmation of awakening from Baba immediately had the effect of
freeing me from any remaining traces of uncertainty regarding what had just happened.

2nd Bhumi opening, mid February 2017: It took a few days to recover from the awakening. I
felt groggy, sensitive, somewhat stunned, like someone who had just woken up from an
operation and was recovering from a heavy anesthetic. Meditation, post awakening was
much freer and open than before. The sense of subjective self was gone, so vipassana
practice into the lakshanas (the so called marks of existence as taught in buddhism) really
opened up. There was no more subjective self getting in the way any longer. It was very
liberating. My relationship with other people softened and became more open, less edgy. I

36
became lighter, less burdened by issues I had been carrying for many years.

About 2 or so weeks after awakening, my 2nd bhumi opened completely unexpectedly, while
sitting at my computer at work. I had been feeling frustrated by a personal financial issue
for a day or so, and a pressure in my forehead, when suddenly something popped
dramatically inside my skull. Immediately, all the negativity was cleared, and I noticed an
immediate shift in clarity that felt like my previous awakening. There was a softening of
tension in the body. My mind was clearer and more silent. I also noticed a shift in personal
ethics, as if my own standards of not harming others suddenly became more important
than before.

It was a surprise to have another shift so soon after awakening, but Baba had mentioned in
an email post awakening that the effects of many years practice might mean that the next
few bhumis would probably come quickly, I also recalled that my previous teacher had
opened the first few bhumis relatively quickly after awakening.

It was around the time my 2nd bhumi opened thet I decided to committ to Rainbow Body
Yoga.

3rd Bhumi opening, early March 2017: I cannot recall where I was or what I was doing
when the 3rd opened up. However, I recall at this state that again there was a sudden shift
in clarity and a softening of the heart. This bhumi opened not with a 'pop' but with more
like a tearing (not painful) sensation in the forehead. Awareness felt more panoramic and
stillness deepened. In terms of practice, 3rd bhumi is still a fairly low level of attainment.
One's mind still feels quite muddy, unclear.

4th Bhumi opening, early April 2017: When the 4th opened, it initially opened as a small
crack. The sensation felt like a small upward piercing inside the head, and an upward
flowing of awareness and an upwelling of heartfelt joy. At first, after the initial opening,
there was the experience of a more intimate and healing awareness with external reality
and an opening and softening of the heart. Awareness seemed to radiate out and touch
external objects. A day later, the initial crack opened out dramatically and the sense of
awareness radiating out heightened. Also, the body felt as if it suddenly lost half its weight.
It felt very light. Also, there was a feeling of there being ‘no going back’ from this clarity, as
if something had finally been resolved or ‘put to bed’. My mind cleared significantly, and
the heart opened.

5th Bhumi opening, 28th April 2017: This bhumi opened dramatically when I was staying at
our sangha's centre in Birmingham, UK, sitting alone in the office and working on my
laptop. Around 1 pm in the afternoon, with no forewarning, there was a sudden shift in
clarity and a strong opening of the heart. I remember not being able to do much for about
half an hour, it was such a strong and sudden experience. The bhumi opened completely at
once, not with an initial piercing and subsequent widening as had happened for the 4 th
bhumi. All I could do was sit quietly and take it all in. There was a overwhelming feeling of
gratitude towards the Amrita Mandala Sangha and Baba, for all the wonderful things that
were now happening. Once things settled down, my impression of the 5 th bhumi is that it is
quite like the 4th except awareness is more vibrant, dynamic, confident and free.

6th Bhumi opening, 3rd June 2017: This bhumi opened quite unexpectedly, while sitting
watching TV one evening in my house. Initially only a slight crack opened. This opening
widened out after a day or two. There was a lot of joy, wonderment and emotional relief.

37
Suddenly things became a lot clearer. The initial impression was that thoughts became a
lot ‘lighter’.

After a week or so, it became clear that that had been a noticeable shift in the ’terrain’ of
practice. The objective self - negative thoughts and emotions, had lost a significant amount
of their self based charge. So, the objective self still bubbled up from the subconscious
mind, but these discrete bubbles seemed to pass through the body in a much less sticky
way. Instead, what I had to work with in meditation was a kind of lethargic, cloud of
dullness. This was not experienced as an discrete object that could be identified anywhere
in the body, but rather a heavy, sticky cloud that is experienced in the body and aura. It is
subtle, clearly identifiable, but is not an ‘object’. This is how substrate consciousness or
alaya vijnana is experienced. Traditional 'object-based' vipassana is of little use in
working with substrate consciousness.

7th Bhumi opening, 4th July 2017: From 6th bhumi onwards, substrate consciousness is the
primary selfing mechanism that needs to be worked with. Tantric practices, such as
working with mantras, to stir up substrate consciousness and bring it into the light of
awareness, are very helpful in processing this karma, as is atiyoga, also known as
nonmeditation. I do not recall what I was doing when the 7th opened up. However, my
impression of this bhumi was that as the objective self was loosing it’s binding charge even
further and, because there was less and less identification with internal objects (objective
self), external and internal objects start to feel the same. The distinction between ‘inside’
and ‘outside’ weakens. The effect of this is a closer relationship with the external world and
other people. It brings an increased vibrancy to life.

8th Bhumi opening, 16th July 2017: Soon after the 7th opened, another bhumi shift (the 8th)
occurred. As I recall, I was cycling at the time. As one progress higher in the bhumis, the
shifts between bhumis become more subtle and less dramatic. My impressions of this
bhumi were that the sense of self, where my ‘centre’ was, seemed to diminished. Also, I
noticed that rigpa, knowing awareness, was becoming easier and easier to access both on
and off the cushion.

9th Bhumi opening, 25th July 2017: The 9th bhumi opened in late July 2017, initially as a
crack, the following day more fully. At this bhumi level, rigpa starts to emerge. Even
though one is not in rigpa, it feels close, easily accessible, all of the time. Patches of rigpa
(for say 2-3 seconds) can be experienced. Connecting with the guru in Guru Yoga is much
easier to establish, since the mind is so close to the natural state all of the time. In
comparison to the unawakened mind, negative thoughts or emotions rarely have any
significant binding power. It is actually rare for the mind to become distracted at all, by
anything from the objective self. The mind is almost never ‘gripped’ by a thought or
emotion of any kind. Quite a huge difference to the pre-awakened mind, yet hard to convey
properly in words. It has to be experienced to be believed.

10th Bhumi opening, 24th August 2017: The opening of the 10th bhumi feels like a extension
of the 9th. Rigpa becomes clearer still and feels deeper.

11th Bhumi opening, 14th September 2017: At 11th bhumi, it is clear that rigpa is the ‘default
mode’ of the mind. By default mode, I mean that it takes no effort to be in rigpa. It’s not
that one is 100% established in rigpa all of that time (that would be buddhahood), but that
rigpa is impossible to avoid. It takes no effort to access it. This bhumi opened initially as a
crack for a few days, then fully and dramatically while having dinner at an Autumn Retreat

38
in Tromso, Northern Norway. The feeling of relief when it opened fully was wonderful.
Such joy!

12th Bhumi opening, 28th September 2017: The opening of the 12th bhumi took place at
work. It was a subtle but noticeable shift. Rigpa feels deeper, more established than the
11th. I felt nothing radically ‘new’ about this bhumi, other than an increased clarity and
stability of rigpa.

13th Bhumi opening, 4th October 2017: Like the transition from the 11th to the 12th, the
transition to the 13th bhumi stabilises and deepens rigpa even further. This shift was also
subtle.

The Bhumi Cycles: Typically, when a bhumi opens, there is an initial period of clarity,
calmness and joy (perhaps even mild euphoria) that lasts for anything from a few days to a
week or so. Then the ‘honeymoon’ period comes to and end and one returns to more
normal practice. This continues for a while until things get more difficult as one progress
further in that particular bhumi. Things can actually get very difficult for a period. This is
not a sign of bad practice, but rather that one’s practice is bringing karmic patterns into
awareness. There can also be mini cycles in the middle of a bhumi. Eventually things ‘reach
a head’, and pressure builds. If one knows the cycle, it can be obvious that the next bhumi
is about to open, and if one is not careful, the anticipation of this can cause dukkha,
confusion. The bhumi opening ‘event’ is always a complete surprise. As the saying goes,
‘The darkest hour is always before the dawn’. No matter how many times we go through
this cycle, it seems as if we always forget this. In the cycling that I experienced, the peaks
and troughs were not pronounced in comparison to some of the accounts of other Amrita
Mandala practitioner’s experience. The reason for that I think is because of many years of
prior practice experience. Nevertheless, although things were fairly stable, there was a
clear cycling pattern. I have added a bhumi cycling here rather than in each bhumi
description above because it was fairly similar for all bhumis; a clear open period for about
2-3 days after a bhumi opened, followed by a period of ‘normal’ practice which lasted
anything from a few days to about a month, followed by a difficult period for about 4-5
days, and then another opening and the process starts all over again.

This account was written 11 months after the opening of the 13 th bhumi.

Helena's Account
Description of events between February 2015-August 2018.

I was asked to share my experience about opening and perfecting bhumis. I have grouped
the openings in to three groups, bhumis 1-6, 7-10, and 11-13. The groups have a similar feel
or flavour to their bhumi openings among them.

1st-6th Bhumi openings: The 1st bhumi opening, which can be called awakening, kensho or
stream entry, happened after practicing the Two-Part Formula for 2-3 days. After applying
the techniques, I was suddenly not able to find the subjective I, this solid I that I was so
used to feel. I can recall a feeling of finally being able to breathe properly, for the first time
in my life. I was suddenly surrounded by this massive silence that was incredibly alive. It
felt so natural I could not believe how I had missed something this obvious. This initial
clarity did not last for more than a few days, after which things started to bubble up and

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cloudiness to come back.

The cyclic nature of the whole did not to show up for me as I progressed towards the 2nd
bhumi opening, some 1½ years after the 1st opening. Only after having opened a few
bhumis, I could recognize there was a clear pattern. After each opening there is an
increased clarity and feeling of space in the energetic body, but after a while, things start to
surface back up, and one would go through a new dark night. This would be released when
a bhumi opened and a new deeper layer of clarity would emerge.
The first few bhumi openings, their dark nights and their general feel were very heavy and
thick energetic sensation to them, but with an increased clarity of the mind and the
energetic body. Both becoming slightly less heavy with each opening. I could compare it
with clearing out a forest, and cutting down the trees, it is hard work.

Noticeable effects of the progression have been how you emotionally engage less when
confronted with a situation that previously would have caused you a lot of emotional
discomfort. As you progress and your sense of self gets even further seen through, your
personal space opens up, first within the body space and later on outside of the body space.

This diminishing of the heaviness had a shift on the 6th bhumi, when the energetic and
physical body felt open and light for the first time. However, the clarity and reduction of
mental chatter, that came with the opening of the 6th can be easily be misleading. After the
initial clarity after the bhumi opening, by paying close attention, one can feel a subtle
muddy undertone in the awareness, that starts to weigh one down. This is alaya vijnana
also known as the collective substrate consciousness.

Around this time, I realized that I was not anymore identifying my self, with my thoughts
or emotions. Not 100% of the time, but most of the time. Thoughts we're floating outside
my bubble, and not in the middle of my mind.

7th-10th Bhumi openings: On the 7th- 10th bhumis, there was again a change in the feel of the
openings. All openings were characterized by the energetic and physical body space feeling
more open and integrated in to the awareness and openness, deepening and stabilizing
further with each opening. The rawness and brutality from 1 st-6th changed to being
confronted with much subtler hinders on the 7th-10th bhumis.

11th-13th Bhumi openings: At the opening of the 11th there was a new change in the feel of
the opening. There was this intense aliveness present in the always deepening awareness.
It felt as if most of the effects of the mental and physical strain to my life were healed in the
course of the next few days after the 11th bhumi opened. Vitality increased and sleep
became more resting.
The progression from 11th to 12th to 13th integrated the openness and awareness and
deepened and embodied the aliveness even further.
A clear aliveness, calmness and effortless being has deepened through out these bhumi
openings, encompassing and stabilizing in both mind and body.
Genuine compassion started to build up, as the sense of self diminishes, and one
experiences the first hand interconnectedness and unconditional love towards all beings.
Practice is not only about progressing yourself, it is for the benefit of all beings.

Perfecting of bhumis: With the experience of two perfected bhumis (1st and 2nd), I can say
that clarity becomes much more embodied and integrated in to ones over all being.
Phenomena are at times almost see-through thin, stuff still comes to surface, however they

40
have almost no grip.
The energy body connects outward beyond your personal space and and new level of clarity
and aliveness is embodied.

Final thoughts: Tantric practices pierce through to deep levels of the subconscious mind,
and brings to the surface fears and anxieties, causing dark nights. These are the things we
need to work through, and that get released when a bhumi opens. And then the cycle starts
all over again.
For me the process of opening bhumis has been a very physical process. Each opening has
had a distinct physical sensation, with energy build up at the root of the spine shooting
upward and piercing the bhumi plate, causing the Chakra at the center to open up. I have
there fore been able to identify each opening my self.
With each opening and each perfection I have felt my heart open up more and more. I am
filled with wonderful compassion towards all beings and appreciation towards the
teachings that have brought me this far.
Devoting practice to the benefit of, and for the liberation of all beings is very powerful and
the best base for all practice.
It is today some 3½ years after my awakening. With the emerging experience of this at
times spontaneously arising, location and timeless perfect mental and embodied clarity, I
have started to believe that there is an actual possibility to eradicate suffering during this
lifetime and to attain Buddhahood.

This account was written 8 months after the opening of the 13 th bhumi.

Tiia's Account

Description of events between October 2012-August 2018.

Everything has turned out to be just ordinary. This is how I could describe the state of
being right now, in August 2018. I have practiced daily for six years in Amrita Mandala. 13
bhumis have opened up and a few matured. Everything is seen clearly and in that sense,
life is amazingly and often touchingly beautiful. But everything is rather plain, ordinary.
Along the way there has been mystical experiences, worlds embracing feeling of oneness,
dark nights of soul, everything that can happen in mind, but they are only phenomena,
always coming and going.

Before the 1st bhumi opening, ie. awakening from subject-I, that was on April 2014, there
was a period for a few months when I conceptually tried to figured out, what is "I, me".
Three times I had glimpses, when the mind was very clear, and it was different than usual
mind state. Nothing bothered or caused stress, state of being was natural. These glimpses
lasted for a few days or weeks. I knew all the time, that "I" will return back. Finally with the
help of Two-Part Formula the secret of "I" opened up: there was no "I" anywhere. Only
spacious, endless emptiness and very warm, heartful freedom. This was my first
remarkable insight. I knew it was permanent, as it is not possible to see a delusion same
way as before, once it has been seen through. It felt like I had returned home, the one
which always had existed, but is usually forgotten. How come I hadn't realized before?

We have to face our shadows, return from heights back to the ground. After the 1st bhumi
opening, it was a challenging period for 1½ years, with strong emotions. Many times I

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though that I can't be awakened - an awakened person doesn't feel or act like this. Then we
had a weekend retreat with my teacher and close sangha members, and this short retreat
with lot of practicing boosted an opening and relief. I was amazed of this sudden clarity
and easiness. I didn't have to do anything, just sit, and I was full of joy. I didn't know about
bhumis back then. On that retreat 2nd bhumi had opened.

2nd bhumi opening was a remarkable for me, as after that, next bhumis have opened up
every 2-4 months. I realized what all the practicing was about, where it was aiming to. I
continued daily practice, sometimes I had a few days break from Rainbow Body Yoga
during the most challenging times when resting was needed. Next bhumis have opened up
usually during meditation, or even during asleep at night, but the main point in the whole
bhumi thing is, what opening and maturing of bhumis mean for the state of mind - is the
mind stable, open and clear, or something opposite?

Usually before bhumi opening I have felt that energies are kind of squeezed or pressed
down and the pressure must ease up soon. There has been many kind of feelings in the
body, also physical pain and aches, but the worst has been exhaustion and depression that
usually has lasted for a few weeks. I anyway always have been confident, that it will pass,
which has brought a great comfort. Of course one must practice according to what is
needed, sometimes have to push more, sometimes do and listen very gently.

I feel the bhumis inside and above the head. Always when the bhumi has opened up, also
the aura, energy field around the body, has expanded, like there was more room around my
physical body. 1st-6th bhumis have been the most difficult ones to open and mature, as all
the personal karmas that have the strongest clinging to "I, me" and cause reactions, have
been stored there.

On 7th-10th bhumis mind is rather quiet. There is no arising of thoughts like before, nor
similar attachment to them, at least how I have experienced it. The biggest challenge has
been to recognise sinking to sleepiness and stupor, or existing of other subtle layers, like
supermundane bliss. These all states can feel very pleasant, especially if one is in need of
rest, sleep or eg. healing energy, but one should notice that there is no clear recognition of
awareness, rigpa. Mind is not awake and sharp. One must use willpower to get awakened
from this state and to see through the thin, cloudy layers.

On 11th-13th bhumi openings between June-September 2017 there was a profound certainty
of clear awareness. There is nothing between, the boarders of the physical body and energy
body disappear. "Similarity" is everywehere, as the ground of everything. There is no doubt
what dzogchen and mahamudra masters have talked about. There is understanding, what
"knowing" means, what is recognition of awareness and bright vividness in it. No tricks are
needed, the same awareness is there what ever is done. When asleep I don't recall to have
clear awareness, but sleep has been refreshing and in the morning the same recognition
has continued naturally.

After 11th-13th openings recognition of awareness is relatively easy, but there are hard
periods after these openings as well. Usually there is no need to do any mind calming,
mantra chanting etc to enable awareness recognition. Preparing practice was needed only
during the most stubborn dark nights, that have appeared mostly as torpor or depression,
and I had lost enthusiasm and joy. Recognition happens inside the head and it simply is,
very obviously. All the thoughts disappear right away, when the essence of mind is
recognised. New thoughts will arise, but they bubble away, as soon as appear. Extreme

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emotions have gone, I haven't had them after 11th opening (for over year now) as there is no
identification to them.

Along the bhumi perfections, limitless state of being settles down and expands inside the
head, in the whole body and energy field. There is only a natural, easy, ordinary, smooth
being, without any drama. There is a flow of events, all phenomena, but no clinging to
them. Subtle, radiant joy is there, what ever is done, and that causes that things seem to be
arranged and settled down rather easily. There is no need to meditate, chant or do
anything. It is enough to be, sit, move, rest, live an ordinary life. Challenges itself do not
necessarily disappear, but the attitude and view changes. This is of course the most
profound motive for the whole practice.

This path of Amrita Mandala and insights in a such short time hasn't been an easy road,
and can't be taken for granted. Devotion to the practice has sometimes been hard, also
physically. Sometimes I have asked if the practice and life have to be so rocky and tough.
But sooner the better, I think. We can never know how many days or years we have in this
body left. Nevertheless, the path and life have become easier all the way. Thanks to the
tantric practice, it hasn't been necessary to even face all the fears from eye to eye.
Sometimes only afterwards, after a challenging situation, I have noticed that I didn't have
any reaction or fear.

Comparing to six years back and now, life is totally different. I feel calm, confident, way
more altruistic. Also my family and friends have noticed the positive effects on my being
and behaviour. Personal traits do remain, but they even out and calm down, as the basis of
the mind has changed from messy to clarity. Awakened, selfless state of being is wider and
more pervasive. Without bhumi mapping I would be doing perhaps little bit of this and
little bit ot that, not knowing where I am going with my practice. 13 Bhumi Model is just a
wonderful tool to analyze if any steps forward has been taken.

This account was written 11 months after the opening of the 13 th bhumi.

Mikko's Account

I’ve mostly practiced Theravada buddhist techniques: Vipassana, Samatha and the Brahma
Viharas. These practices took me all the way to the Fourth Path* or Arhatship as it’s
defined in pragmatic dharma. Afterwards, I felt like the itch had been scratched but, at the
same time, it was obvious that the train didn’t stop there. Also, I had become more and
more curious about Tantric practices as I had learned that there are really no limits to the
ways of working with the mind. I had known about Amrita Mandala (Amrita Mandala) for
a while and seen Amrita Baba do his best to explain the practices to people online that
were, let’s say, less than receptive to them. It was probably Baba’s patience that
encouraged me the most to give Amrita Mandala practices a try.

The way I did the practices was very simple: once a day every day exactly as instructed.
This was new to me since my approach towards Theravadan techniques had been very
improvised and trial-and-error. In any case, Amrita Mandala practices seemed to work. I
immediately noticed that during a session my mind became clearer and dualistic tensions
were relaxed. I started to become more familiar with Rigpa which I had previously been

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able to touch just briefly. A little later, I also started to understand what was meant by
Alaya Vijnana or substrate consciousness. Eventually, Rigpa grew to be my default mode of
experience. Although, it’s still a seesaw battle between clarity and spontaneity and old
conditioned patterns, I now consider Buddhahood to be a very real possibility.
From the time I started Amrita Mandala practices to when, according to Baba, I opened my
13th Bhumi, there were 10–15 significant changes in my everyday experience. Bhumis 7-13
opened over a six month period. Some of them were more significant than others, and the
most significant ones seemed to correspond to descriptions of specific Bhumi openings of
other practitioners as well. These were the openings of the 9 th, 11th and 13th Bhumis. Below
are short descriptions of the effects of these openings. I’ve also included the first and
fourth paths of the Theravadan model as they have clear correlates in the Amrita Mandala
Bhumi model.
First Path/Stream Entry/1st Bhumi – 1/2016: An identity made out of thoughts was
suddenly no longer believed in. This left an emptiness that the mind kept poking at for a
while like your tongue checking for a missing tooth pulled by a dentist. Eventually, the
mind relaxed as it realized that nothing was really lost. In addition to starting a new path
and slowly going through the stages of insight again, repeated cycling began with every
cycle taking less and less time.
Fourth Path/6th Bhumi – 3/2017: The reference point in the middle of experience was seen
for what it is. In a striking way, the Buddha’s saying “In seeing, there’s only the seen…”
became an accurate description of everyday experience. The obsessive never-ending chase
after anything referring to a sense of self stopped, and practice was now on a different
basis. Sense of identity shifted from that of a person to the entirety of experience.
Otherwise, life continued with little change.
9th Bhumi – 12/2017: The difference between Rigpa and not-quite-Rigpa became clear.
Before, it had been possible to practice Atiyoga without noticing that some subtle
something was still obscuring experience. After what I would consider to be the opening of
the 9th Bhumi, this was no longer an issue. Soon afterwards, the opening was verified by
Baba as well.
11th Bhumi – 3/2018: There were many shifts and changes around this time, but one left
behind a feeling that Rigpa had become a permanent way of being. Maybe a more accurate
description would be that Rigpa became easily accessible even off-the-cushion. Based on
what I had heard of other practioners’ experiences, I considered this to be the opening of
the 11th or 13th Bhumi. It felt unlikely that there could be more significant openings left as
emptiness was already such a pronounced feature of experience.
13th Bhumi – 4/2018: The opening of the 13th Bhumi happened on a solo retreat, towards
the end of which I was doing multiple sessions of Rainbow Body Yoga a day. At some point,
there was a shift, and I felt that whatever I had set out to do when I decided to give Amrita
Mandala practices a go had been done. Afterwards, the practices seemed exhausted and
letting them go felt natural. Rigpa had turned from being barely recognized to something
everyday experience quietly rested on. Soon, Baba verified that the 13 th had indeed opened.
One peculiar thing that started during the retreat and continued after was spontaneous
Mudras. I was already very familiar with Kundalini Kriyas*, but stories of spontaneous
Mudras had always sounded incredible to me. Little did I know. Although I felt that the
practices had run their course, by no means did it feel like the end. It was just that the basis
of practice had shifted once again.
*Kundalini Kriyas are known by different names such as Spontaneous Kriya and TRE. In Amrita Mandala it
is called Rushen which is a whole practice of its own that begins with chaotic movements and sounds but

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over time develops into spontaneous mudras, yogic movements, dances, mantras and chants of the various
tantric buddhist deities.
This account was written 4 months after the opening of the 13 th bhumi.

Pasi's Account
Description of events between 2012-August 2018.
At Baba's request, I want to share something about my awakening and bhumi
progressions. I hope that sharing my own experience would help others on their paths
about the stages of insight and how it can be measured with the 13 Bhumi Model (13BM).
I work as a psycho-physical therapist that works with the minds of the patients mainly
through physical means. Before my awakening in 2012 I had been practicing astanga
yoga, shamatha meditation and mindfulness exercises. However before getting acquainted
with Baba, the real purpose of practice was lacking in my training. I read many related
books and through them I gained a longing for deeper, more powerful, and direct methods
for approaching the mystery of being that I was yet to experience.
When I contacted Baba and learned tantric yoga, I felt that I had found a teacher, a path,
and a sangha. It felt like a match. In Amrita Mandala Sangha we talk matters such as
practice, awakening and enlightenment as casually as others talk about the weather over
coffee, that I value. I recall Baba's now obvious comment that the purpose of dharma
practice is to assist the practitioner for him to achieve “Buddhahood” in this lifetime,
through practicing wisdom and devotion. At first I had some questions about this. At first I
didn't understand why awakening would not be enough. After awakening (1 st bhumi
opening) I realised that it wasn’t the end of the path, but the beginning of it.
My awakening happened by reading Gateless Gatecrashers book by Liberation Unleashed.
I began to look directly at my sense of me-ness and something just happened. After a few
emails Baba verified that awakening had taken place. That was in 2013 before the
introduction of the Two-Part Formula (2PF) and 13BM.
Now in August of 2018 I am confident that the 12th and 13th bhumis have opened, as there
is a sense of comprehensive freedom in my heart and mind, that is also felt in the rest of
the physical body. Knowing awareness (rigpa) is very clear. In regards to perfections of
bhumis, I am quite certain that at least the 1st bhumi has perfected. All in all, up until
today my practice in Amrita Mandala has lasted about 6½ years.
The consecutive shifts after the first one have been notable with increasing openness,
depth and clearer perception of basic awareness. There has been no fireworks, ecstasy or
angels singing. However, after each opening, there has been periods of varying lengths of
bliss. When the glow right after bhumi openings have vanished it has been easy to discern
a permanent change, a new clarity of mind and a new way of understanding things. A sense
of surrender and loss of voluntary control have increased when bhumi openings have
added up. There is no longer any need to artificially dress an ego or a self to get things done
or to act, because the shifts have worn it down. Openings of bhumis have brought more
and more confidence and relaxation to my being while worries, sorrows, fears and
impoliteness have decresed dramatically. I have become more patient and grateful in
everyday life. Absolutely. I have not faced particularly difficult times, or dark nights that
practice does for many people. Put simply, each bhumi opening effected a change to more
clarity, aliveness and basic sanity of mind. A sense of connectedness and intensity of
moment to moment experiences are very strong and clear that they weren't before.

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To me, the quickest and most profound practice for revealing the nature of mind, has been
Dzogchen Atiyoga or Nonmeditation which is the heart and soul of Amrita Mandala-
teachings. I really like the simple nonsectarian, nondual and nongradual approach where
all selfing disappears automatically, along with all its problems, karma and stress.
However, I don’t think it has made the gradual approach unnecessary. I think that they are
not mutually exclusive.
I think that in my case combining three methods together: 1. tantric practices, 2.
concentration training and 3. physical body awareness exercises, have helped me to clear
my mind faster than what mere pointing out to the nature of mind, or dzogchen practice
would have done alone. One has to understand the underlying principles of these
approaches, for example how to use visualization to understand the purpose of particular
techniques and exercises. Especially in tantric practices one needs guidance from a
qualified teacher to avoid misunderstandings in order to get real benefits from them.
There is still stuff coming from my subconscious, but its great to have the ability to clearly
see how they rise and penetrate into the nature of these mind manifestations on the spot.
The main shift is from being a “witnessing observer” to releasing and relaxing into a
nonsubjectified awareness that is neither a subject nor an object, nor a state. It’s a state of
impersonal aware beingness. It’s an awareness with no subjective or objective reference
points. Yet it knows itself as this.
On my path I have reminded myself of honesty, had willingness to encounter fears, and
dropped expectations as much as I could. It is really nice to see through the conditioning of
being a human and its means of survival and mind strategies, and to distinguish them from
delusions and storylines of mind. This really arouses respect for life in all its
manifestations.
In regards to 13 Bhumi Model, I have come to learn that its amazing how you can get hints
and be able to evaluate your own state of mind by watching other peoples pictures and
from the way they describe experiences verbally.
I think the most useful lesson that I have received from Baba, is his own example of
pioneering tenacity, the courage in setting goals high and then making a commitment to
them. I like his shameless, incorruptible, sometimes radical punk attitude, as well as his
humor.

Nathaniel's Account
Nathaniel started Amrita Mandala practice in April 2014. By June 2016 he had opened
bhumis 1st to 6th . His 7th opened in July, 8th and 9th in August, 10th in October, 11th in
Nowember, 12th and 13th in December of 2016. This account was written in September
2018.

1st -5th Bhumi openings: Unfortunately I do not have much in the way of documenting early
bhumi openings pre-6th other than some quick notes and photographs. What I remember
from that time and what I have read from re-reading e-mails was that those early stages of
bhumi openings where experienced as a descending clarity. There where rushen,
spontaneous movements(*) and so forth as is to be expected and the usual feelings in the
body of electricity like sensations and lights but the real telling indication that I had
opened a bhumi was the sensation of deep clarity which would descend over the body from
above like someone had dropped a bed sheet of clarity over me. This would be permanent

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and my awareness was changed after that - a little clearer and mind was a little quieter.
While we always have ups and downs throughout our cycle of practice, the breakthroughs
could always be differentiated by the qualitative difference in the clarity of awareness post-
breakthrough. Bodyspace awareness began to clear as my proprioceptive awareness
cleared and refined, and the natural state began to be differentiated beneath the regular
habitual bodyspace awareness of dull cloudy churning karmic content.

(*)spontaneous physical movements during yoga and meditation are called by various names such
as TRE or rushen, as they are called in Amrita Mandala.

6th Bhumi opening on 14th June 2016: I had an interesting experience two days prior with
my practice - I was shouting empowerments mantras in the limbs as was suggested - gosh
it is powerful stuff when done in the limbs! It nearly threw my off my chair when I first
started because the spontaneous physical movements where so powerful and full bodied.
Anyway, as I was going through my last cycle of chanting in the limbs and was working my
way down my legs I noticed that my bodyspace was feeling more and more charged with
each recitation at each center - fully embodied and tense like I was going to sneeze, and
doubling in strength with each recitation. When I reached my shins and lower legs my
vision was full of white sparkling light and I felt like I was going to burst from all the
energy and internal tension. I decided to keep pushing through as I felt this was a good
thing, and when I chanted in the ankles the white in my vision and minds eye exploded
into thousands of shards and sparks of light which fell down through out the body-space
and into the room around me before dissolve into nothing. I felt clarity and peace descend
upon me. I felt the body space suddenly go clear like I had been doing PHET mantra. You
know how with the mantra recitation using the forceful intonation we can cut right
through samsaric mind into the natural state which is perfectly clear and utterly lucid?
That cut through feeling persisted for two days so I decided to e-mail Baba. My limbs felt
so subtle and clear on the inside like, when Baba first demonstrated the embodiment
sequence after nonmeditation, dzogchen atiyoga.

Atiyoga practice was very easy now. It just clicked on and really the difference I
experienced most after the 6th was that the clear open space of the head and body could
clearly be perceived merging. When they did, awareness simply became without reference
point instead of being experienced "in a body", so to speak. The empty clarity had not
deepened, rather rigpa was very full bodied with definite perceptible breakdown of
perceptual boundaries as one would expect with true rigpa and nonmeditation. No
reference points. Ah... It was so wonderful. Guru Yoga at that time felt like cutting through
practice combined with Machig Labdron's clearly perceived presence. My practice just
seemed to be pointing back to this lucid clarity with everything I did. Day to day experience
was the new clarity with very little thoughts present. Thought was now experienced as
totally other than myself, a simple mechanism of mind which I was no longer a part of. It
in no way effected the open awareness of the bodyspace. There was now no perception of
the open space closing up and tensing with movements of the mind. It was simply still
there when the thoughts had passed.

Rushen practice was usually a couple of strong movements and then the open lucid
awareness of the bodyspace was perceived and that was it. I could clearly feel the energy of
the bodyspace moving around the body space and feel it bunch up before the body released
tensions through movements, so with the added claraity of 6 th bhumi opening that was an
interesting process to observe. This liberating energy within the bodyspace moving around
and releasing deep body tensions within the deep tissues. It felt very good too. I never

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seemed to have the strong emotions reactions as some others have reported during rushen.
I would simply surrended and enjoy the process without reliving anything traumatic or
severe. This was a very profound experience and one which I will never forget. Looking
back, 6th bhumi was perhaps the most dramatic opening I have experienced. Even now.

8th and 9th Bhumi openings: As I continued to practice, I experienced many more rushen
and breakthroughs. The sensation of bhumi openings and breakthroughs during my
sessions felt more like a cascade of clarity combining into a dropping into clarity. I would
quite often see red or blue light and feel the descending sensations through my bodyspace
along with shifting and clarifying of awareness in profound ways. On 24 th of August 2016,
with the opening of the 8th bhumi, this process started to really pick up pace with lots
descending clarity and breakthroughs with red light cascading down and into my body. On
the 27th of August 2016, I opened my 9th bhumi. What was most memorable during this
period of bhumi openings was how the bodyspace awareness became more smooth, lighter
and clearer as it became more refined. It didn't have the intense aliveness anymore. It was
stiller and smoother but clearer and more refined. At this time I had a bout of intense
emotional anguish concerning the suffering of the world which Baba confirmed others had
experienced also at this stage. A lot of the clearing was being experienced more in the limbs
now. Atiyoga was more refined and clearer, and harder to differentiate from normal
awareness, at times the new awareness was so clear (compared to before) that I felt as
though I had no head.

10th Bhumi opening on 17th of October 2016: Big spontaneous movements and descent of
clarity and a lot of electricity within the limbs. Also heart space was warming up which was
very nice. After about 20th of October until the 1st of September I had gone through a
number of shifts in awareness as 10th bhumi matured. The last shift which felt like the third
major breakthrough during this period had produced a permanent change in my
awareness. The result was that I found atiyoga very easy. I just sat and it happened. There
was no intention or need to do any sort of practice. It would unfold with simple relaxation.
I began finding it very difficult to actually distinguish between open awareness and
ordinary mind - in fact. the awareness of clear empty space - which felt almost as though
you have no head at all was now a permanent state of awareness. I could only distinguish
my buddhanature by sensing the subtlest sensations of ordinary mind with its objects and
dualism, quickly dissolving and melting into the heart through the kati nadi, diamond
channel. No PHET mantra, no inquiring who is witnessing or watching - simply sitting and
letting the gaze rest on nothing in particular. No contrivance whatsoever. Atiyoga felt so
crisp and fresh – the dark womb of the substrate consciousness was still there in the
background but didn't overtake my practice and mindfulness much, if at all. I felt awake
with little distraction. More awake and present than I ever had before.

A sangha member reported she felt love when she hit the 10 th bhumi - I felt urgency to act
compassionately when I saw suffering and I experienced a clarity of presence which was
continuous and unchanging. I had zero desire to do harm, and I felt perfectly content
staring into space most of the time, something people found disturbing so I reserved it for
when I had privacy. I no longer recognized boredom. The clarity of ati which produces the
clear headless sensation which is nonmeditation, was experienced openly now down into
the whole body, arms and legs, that is outside of formal sitting practice. I felt different.
Clear. Light. Awake. Dreams where more lucid. Very simple and direct experience of life
actually. I was beginning to feel the clarity of rigpa being more and more embodied
physically.

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During my practice, a certain wrathful deity, felt like nothing anymore. Guru Yoga felt very
powerful with big rushen, so there was a bit of a swap-around regarding purification. Guru
Yoga produced feelings of bodyspace mixing and smoothing out with a warm glow from the
heart center. Ati felt crisp and clear. Embodiment sequence really illuminated the heart. I
felt its warmth blowing up the kati, or amrita nadi into the head and out the eyes and then
lighting up my flesh and chest like a lamp. Generally I felt happy, calm, and untouched by
the world. I had experiences of subtle bliss and joy in the body at times though if I was very
busy physically, my attention was too externalized on the task at hand to pick up on that.
However when things slowed down and I relax it was still there unchanged.

11th-13th Bhumi Openings: On 17th Nowember 2016, I experienced a breakthrough whereby

my whole body-space opened up and I felt expansive and clear. Massive buzzing and
opening in the limbs. I felt as though rigpa was permanent or was always there, and all
thoughts and feelings were irrelevant. Then I felt my body almost as though for the first
time, heavy and material with this expansive clear body-space awareness residing in it. I
noticed that my awareness had become permanently to a state of rigpa as though it had
taken root in it and was stable in it. When I practice atiyoga, the state of rigpa was
recognized and it was possibly to relaxed into it. It was the same awareness as before in
nonmeditation, the difference was subtle clearing from the periphery of my awareness.
Thoughts, urges and feelings felt like a foreign language to me now and still do,
meaningless and having no effect on my awareness, it is as though they simply arise and
leave without trace or disturbance yet are perceived clearly and naturally. Dreams weren't
lucid yet but sexual desire seemed to die right down and become much more physical in
quality. I still have felt arousal but there is zero motivation of drive or desire or attachment
behind it. It has become this physical thing which quickly passes, just like thoughts do.
Again it feels like a foreign language one does not know. When 11 th opened there was a
tremendous sense of peace and a mixture of joy and contentment at all times. I commented
to Baba that I felt satisfied like after a meal, but satisfied with nothing at all and never
unsatisfied. I had been wondering for a while what the point of practicing atiyoga was if we
where to achieve rigpa anyway after a certain point in our spiritual growth, but now I
understood, it is a constant introduction to rigpa, so that when we do eventually realize it
we can recognize it without mistake for what it is, our natural state of being.

My experiences of 12th and 13th openings where more of a clearing and deepening of the
experience of 11th. On the 25th of December 2016 my 13th bhumi opened. It was a shift in
awareness during my yoga practice. It was nothing too dramatic, but afterwards I felt as
though there was no longer a me, just clear light flooding down into the chest from upper
centers into the hridaya (inner heart) and body which persisted after practice. More
expansiveness and clarity beyond the body and I felt my legs and arms clear out. Direct,
clear, crisp clear light. I realized all forms are empty of self, that there is no one there other
than the spontaneous empty display of awareness's frolic. The wind doesn't need a listener.
Who is there to listen? No one. Yet it blows and still sounds sweet. Form and emptiness are
one. No one hears yet the sound is heard. This awareness I realized is beyond a self.
Thoughts where very few and quiet, there was no shifting or dulling of the experience of
rigpa after 13th bhumi opening as previously experienced at 11th. When thoughts come there
was previously (during 11th and to a lesser extent 12th) a drop in the volume of rigpa as
mental content arose and stuff came up. Now it shone like the sun in spite of the clouds.
Thoughts are empty and to see the emptiness of one is to go beyond all thought. The days
which followed felt very strange, very natural, very direct and bright/clear and so very
ordinary! The new awareness integrated and I became used to it. It was truly wonderful
and still is. So many people get lost. They spend lifetimes chasing gradualist pathways of

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practice with techniques and gods and deities, and notions of the divine, temples, rituals
and pilgrimages. All they are doing is playing a game with themselves! A game that goes
nowhere. Here it was. Right this now. This very moment.

Bhumi Perfections: Wow! I've been perfecting bhumis for nearly two years now. Time flies.
When I first hit 13th bhumi I had a lot of clearing in the limbs culminating in breakthrough
with very little sensation of energetic body and energetic body boundaries. The feeling was
that of clear light. However as the honeymoon period wore off and I continued to practice
again, I began to become aware of more stuff being cleared, and as the stuff was cleared, I
realized there was actually plenty more to go, it was just too subtle to be perceived at first.
The main experience of perfecting of bhumis was felt within arms and legs. Around
February 2017 spontaneous movements and breakthroughs started to pick up again, and
the experience of rushen changed. There is always physical responses, like tremors, spasms
and vocalizations and so on. However from a subjective point of view the energetic
sensations took up most of my awareness when they occurred. Very deep clearing within
the limbs and powerful feelings of electricity flowing though limbs into the body space,
with further openings of clarity, beginning at head and radiating down into body, as the
perfecting process progressed. Very pure penetrating radiating clarity with no boundaries.
Atiyoga began to become much more natural and spontaneous, requiring no actual effort
or technique for identification. Simple sitting and relaxing would open up the body space
and naturally reveal the shining clear light of rigpa. This was very easy to relax into as
thoughts were starting to become very distant. Almost like echos as if you were catching
the tail end of them. Body carried much less perceptible tension. Sleep comes very easily.

Around 16th April of 2017 clearing had progressed through limbs to hands and feet. I
started to become aware of a distracting buzzing within the aura especially around the
head. At first I thought it was a form of subtle bliss but as awareness progressively cleared I
identified it as krishna yoni (lit. dark womb, an alternative term for substrate mind)) or
alaya vijnana interference. As bhumis perfected, it too gradually subsided and began to
clear from the head withdrawing to the level of the abdomen. This introduced me to a new
level of clarity of awareness. Practice progress and energy body cleared to tips of fingers
and feet with more energetics withdrawing from body into limbs. Spontaneous movements
became more intense and waves of bliss surged through the body.

I thought I would clear the limbs once and that would be it. Silly me. About 17 th of June
2017, I noticed that as the limbs cleared the process would cycle back again from about the
chest and latter the gut level of the body. With each cycle clarity would increase and more
stuff would permanently be removed. This has been going till now. One major change I
noted during this cyclic purification period was an increase in the clarity of atiyoga, and a
decrease in the perceptible difference between recognition of rigpa during sitting practice
and regular awareness outside of sitting. Also lucidity and awareness during sleep
increased. While rigpa was on all the time from 13th opening, there is still a qualitative
difference between sitting practice and awareness off the cushion. That difference was
beginning to noticeably narrow.

Around the 17th of September 2017 clearing intensified as the now familiar pattern of
cyclical body-to-toe clearing continued. I felt lots of knots around the heart burn out. The
cycle of clearing was starting lower and lower each time on the body and was starting to
focus mainly on legs and arms. After experiencing some big breakthroughs and clearing
out at this time the clarity of awareness started to take on a really solid penetrating quality,
almost heavy like a mountain as it integrated more fully with the physically body. Atiyoga

50
was very clear and starting to become indistinguishable from regular awareness. It was
good for highlighting areas which still needed clearing out. They would light up with thick
dense energy against the bright clear light of rigpa. In December of 2017, clarity felt
suddenly less solid and bodybound. There was more radiance and softness with a sense of
vastness and connection extending beyond myself. Clearing was continuing but mainly
confined to hands and feet. Clarity taking on more vastness as though I was a field of clear
light. Physical body perception is reduced, my awareness is more energetic now.

As of now, there is some clearing in toes and hands. Nonmeditation feels like nothing,
except those little spots. No great cycling throughout the body, just areas confined to
extremities, though that could very well change tomorrow. Thoughts are virtually
nonexistent and the mind is quite blank and silent. No impulses or emotional ups and
downs really. Calm radiant and a deep sense of inner contentment and satisfaction from
within. My practice throughout has been Rainbow Body Yoga, Guru Yoga and Atiyoga.
Clearing continues. Dark nights still come and go, though they are less complex and
personal, more like short spurts of general depression, mild sadness, tiredness or lethargy.
They have a very nonspecific character and have much less intensity than previously which
has been welcome.

Baba's Account
Description of events between Nowember 2011-September 2018.

My journey regarding bhumis in general is quite different from those of my students. I

wanted to add it in this book in case people are interested in it.

1st-6th Bhumi openings: I had my first awakening on the 1st of Nowember of 2011. At the
time I was still involved with the practice of hinduist Shaiva Tantra and I had learned a
particular mantra of Muruga, the son of Shiva, which when I practiced it for the first time
swept away the solidity of my ”I”. It was a clear and notable change. I knew something was
different, but still didn't know whether it was the awakening, or kensho, I had long sought
for or if it was something else. My teacher Sivakami had passed away the year before so I
asked her senior-most student Devamani what I had experienced. She confirmed I had
awakened.

From January of 2003 until the moment of my initial awakening, for 8½ years, I had
dedicated a lot of time for sitting meditation. I sat 8 hours every day, often more. I did that
because I felt it was the only thing that worked for the illness of existential confusion I
suffered from. My thirst for relief was so severe that I never had to force myself to the
cushion, rather I was already getting back to it having just stood up. I basically lived in a
semi-retreat for all those years living as a working layman in Finland, on long visits to
India, in a Zen temple and Shinto dojo in Japan.

Due to a lot of prior sitting my awakening was a ”wet insight” meaning that it had a lot of
richness to it, instead of being a ”dry insight”, which is how awakening is felt by those with
little or no prior training at all. With the 1st bhumi opening, something notably changed
and I didn't feel the need to sit as much. I still kept practicing 4-6 hours a day, but the
nature of my practice changed. Through my own awakening I understood the many stories
of other peoples awakenings. I knew what they had gone through. At the time, and for

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another couple of years, I didn't know they could also be called ”bhumi openings”.

Both before and after my 1st bhumi opening I practiced a lot of tantric Guru Yoga on daily
basis. It was and still is tremendously helpful. In my experience there is nothing like it
among all kinds of yogic exercises. The only practice that equals its effectiveness is
nonmeditation, casually enjoying one's own buddhanature, but to practice it properly is
basically an impossibility without years of training. What happens with Guru Yoga is that
one becomes intimately connected with the mahasiddha guru in question. In the modern
world of buddhism where secular and non-tantric thought is popular, the idea of turning to
what seems like an external guru figure for something called blessings, seems like a far
fetched, perhaps even a medieval idea. Maybe even the idea of fully enlightened beings, or
mahasiddhas is too much for some, not to even mention of their nonphysical presence.
Well, I cannot really say much to that except that I tried a path without gurus or blessings
with very little spiritual benefit, despite of huge efforts. To me and to many I know, tantric
practices have been a true gift after stumbling with approaches where the emphasis is on
one's own effort.

Through Guru Yoga one's own mind, body and awareness becomes connected to that of the
guru's. Until 2013 I didn't know about bhumis but for some reason, because of an intuition,
I started photographing and video filming myself when I started having consecutive shifts.
This has become a standard in our sangha that students document themselves when
something changes. The videos and photos are then used for study. The 2 nd opening came a
little more than a year after the 1st one, in February 2013. The 3rd opened in March 2013
and the 4th in May 2013.

It was some time after my 4th opening when my Shaiva guru whose name is Thirumular,
gave me a simple teaching where he indicated that these 4 shifts that I had had were
related to the small centers inside my head, to their opening, and how there was a whole
row of them ahead, related to the centers above the head. I had known about the centers
above the head for years as I had learned many forms of kriya yoga. These chakras had a
very special place in Sivakami's teachings, but I hadn't known how they related to the shifts
I was having. Through Thirumular's instruction it all started to make sense. He called them
”bhumis” which literally means grounds. I have translated it as stages.

With a steady pace bhumi openings kept coming. My 5th bhumi opened in February 2014,
6th followed in July 2014. While all openings until this point were shifts that affected a
change in my everyday mind, the 6th was specially effective because all thoughts and
emotions in my mind lost much of their momentum. It was as if the selflessness of the stuff
in my own mind suddenly increased and hence had no binding power as they used to
before (which was a lot!). I enjoyed the 6th bhumi tremendously. It was clear, peaceful and
harmonious for a good 10 months before yucky stuff started to surface again.

7th-10th Bhumi openings: My 7th bhumi opened in September 2014, 8th followed in February
of 2015. Here the terrain was different than from 1st to 6th. The successive openings always
brought increased clarity and depth but openings from 7-10 felt different because these
grounds deal with the substrate consciousness (skt. alaya vijnana) that is often warned
about by past masters of dzogchen. I was dealing with thinner and thinner veils of
foggyness.

With the opening of the 9th bhumi, in July of 2016, there was a notable increase in the
recognition of natural awareness, traditionally called rigpa. Now it lasted a few seconds at

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a time which kept happening throughout the day, on and off the cushion. Before that the
recognitions of the natural state were more like flashes of lightning that lasted for a split
second. With the opening of 9th and 10th bhumis natural awareness gained some
momentum which it didn't have before.

My 10th opened on a retreat in Northern Norway in September of 2016. That was a curious
event. I was staying in a cabin room heated with a fire place. The shift occurred, I think on
the third evening of the retreat and had an energetic effect that had something to do with
the energy center in the belly, associated with the fire element and the heating system of
the body. I felt extremely cold, shivering erratically in a fetus position under two blankets.
After 1-2 hours the energies evened out and all that remained was again a clearer mind. I
wasn't the first one in our sangha to open the 10th bhumi by the way. There was one student
who opened it a few days before me. Actually looking at the numerous openings we've had
in our group, there always seems to be a popcorn effect to openings. When one pops open,
others start popping too.

11th-13th Bhumi openings: The long awaited 11th bhumi opened in Nowember 2016. From all
the previous openings I've felt 1st, 6th, and 9th were special but they were nothing compared
to 11th because that is the 1st mahasiddha bhumi, beyond the karmic body, that stabilizes
one's natural state. On all the previous grounds one has to seek one's way to awareness,
like lifting one's head above the surface of the water before it goes down again pulled by the
kleshas. With the opening of the 11th the paradigm turns upside down where the head is
always above the surface but momentarily goes under water. Rigpa doesn't last seconds, it
is ”switched on” most of the time. I cannot emphasize enough the meaning of this.
My 12th bhumi opened in the beginning of December 2016 and the 13th opened on the 24th
of December 2016, on Christmas Eve. In regards to the openings of the 2 nd and 3rd
mahasiddha bhumis, the knowing-clarity aspect of awareness stayed the same as on 11 th
but what was different was the energetic colourfulness of it. It was as if the light-energy-
aliveness aspect of awareness switched on. I came to understand how buddhahood is not a
single type of attainment and the meaning of rainbow body (tib. jalus) and their relation to
the mahasiddha bhumis.

One interesting thing happened with the opening of the 11th bhumi. Since late 2013 I had
suffered from a quite severe burn-out due to working too much. I was already having
sleeping problems that worsened greatly when our first child was born in Janurary 2014.
The baby didn't sleep properly for the first 6 weeks of her life which pretty much kept us up
around the clock. Also for the next 1½ years she kept waking 7-10 times every night. That
was devastating. I had to take pain killers for headaches almost every day, couldn't get rest
from sleep because it was so fragmented, had constant body heat problems and was
exhausted all the time. During those 3½ years I didn't experience a single day when I felt
healthy and rested. Had I stopped practicing I would have become paralyzed by the illness.
I had to keep working to support my family, so I really didn't have a choice either. So far it
has been the hardest experience of my life.

Nevertheless, the bhumis kept opening and the realisation of emptiness expanding. When
the 11th bhumi opened up, my burn out healed in 3 days, just like that. The first couple of
days after the opening was as if a healing balm was flowing through my body. I did not get
any medical treatment, nor took any medicine. I could feel I was healing and getting better
by every minute. I do not believe in supernatural miracles because I have never seen any,
but this I consider to be a miracle. It was for me, at least, because I got my health and life
back.

53
Looking back, the journey from 0 to 13 bhumis was a fabulous yet very demanding journey.
I had regular dark nights along the way where the habits and patterns of the samsaric mind
would cast its dark clouds and reach its tentacles all over my bodymind. I felt rage, anger,
anxiousness, panic attacks, depression, mental paralysis, huge fears and so on. All I could
do, was to follow the example set by the previous generations of yogis and keep cutting
through the jungle with the tools I had. I owe everything to my gurus because they blessed,
guided and instructed me on numerous occasion. Had I stayed with the established
traditions, I doubt I would have gotten such benefits.

Bhumi perfections: Since late 2016 until now, September 2018, I have perfected many
bhumis. Some Amrita Mandala practitioners have experienced perfections as clear events
but I haven't. To me they felt more like swinging over subtle waves, rather than sudden
drops. I have not perfected all of the karmic bhumis, though most of them. Natural
awareness is now stable and there is very little impulsive action. However, it is there. It is
like having a big tank of fresh milk but somehow a drop of gasoline got mixed in it and
spoiled the milk. The traits of samsaric mind are little, but they are there. For this reason I
keep practicing every day.

Perfections of a number of bhumis has caused a few occasions when buddhanature was
lived and experienced in full bloom for certain periods of time from 1 to 13 hours, without
any duality whatsoever, with completeness and utter purity. I do not doubt that with a
proper method, effort and supporting circumstances one could attain the primordial
purity of emptiness (tib. kadag, skt. suddha) and more.

This account was written 1 year and 8 months after the opening of the 13 th bhumi.

Bhumi Opening Comments

Various comments from Amrita Mandala practitioners regarding different bhumi
openings.

From 2nd to 13th bhumi in 6 months: ”It's been phenomenal to tell the truth, with awareness
seemingly expanding with each opening, like turning up a dimmer light switch, followed
often by a physical release, especially on 3rd, and always more clarity and luminosity.
Opening of the 6th felt different to the others especially in the days following the initial
shift, it felt like a pretty significant one where attachment to thought and emotion lessened
to the point of hardly being too bothered by them at all, although at the time this felt pretty
weird. The 7th was pretty strong too and a bit like a carry on from the previous one but
more working with a fuzziness or cloudiness in foreground. The 8 th more of the same again,
just a little brighter in contrast tone between awareness and what I now know to be
substrate consciousness with not much in way of attachment to objects at all going on.
Underlying all this from the beginning has been a growing sense of bliss wellbeing,
spaciousness and contentment. This has all being happening so fast in contrast to previous
practice, which at one point felt like a long dark night, so hopefully it will prepare me well
for any future ones.
The 12th opened in late January while trying out the new mantra whilst out for a walk
before our Sangha practice. It opened even more with my spouse commenting that I even
looked translucent when I came home and she felt she could put her hand through my

54
body, it was a pretty strong opening to put it mildly. The 13th bhumi opened a couple of
weeks after the 12th in the middle of the night.
It’s been really wonderful going through the bhumi opening process, a lot in the scheme of
things to be very grateful for!
The natural state is prevalent most of the time. In general, off the cushion there has been
times when some particularly strong emotions, namely a lot of anger has come to the
surface, but it doesn't hang about too long. I have been also working with a lot of tiredness,
although sleep is a lot better since the retreat, mild anxiety and vague physical ailments as
well.”

”During the last night I felt the same sensations I felt when the 2 nd bhumi opened. It was
gentler than the 1st. The feelings continued this morning and I feel a spaciousness in the
middle of my forehead. They just keep coming along! What a release. Warm sensation
from lower forehead to top of eye area. It actually felt warm to the touch this time and still
does. I feel very free right now.”

”My 9th opened on Friday night and then another very strong opening last night. I presume
last night's opening was just the 9th fully opening but I can't be sure. During both openings
I got a very strong glimpse at my own buddhanature. All this time I've been looking in a
fogged up mirror not realising the reflection was me. The mirror is starting to clear now.
Last night I felt Guru Rinpoche's presence stronger than ever. He was inside me and all
around me. Incredibly powerful energy surrounded me. My connection with the trees is
also getting stronger with each bhumi opening. The energy that courses through my body
when I place my hand on a tree is quite overwhelming.

”With the opening of the 11th bhumi on the first day of the retreat, I noticed that the
unbounded clarity of the natural state was just there pretty much all the time, particularly
around the actual opening and following days. Some energetic stuff obscuring it from time
to time but that yucky foggyness that was predominant, but getting lighter, from 6-10 was
lifted. There were one or two surprise reactions which seemed quite sharp in contrast to
my awareness which seemed very bright and radiant even despite some ongoing insomnia
issues. Back now a week since the retreat and that clarity is still as bright though some
more ‘light in tone’ substrate consciousness stuff seems to be rising now, but again natural
state still seems predominantly stable and effortless all the same. There also seems to be
alot more ease and a general sense of well-being and restfulness since the opening.”

”I'm wondering if I opened the 2nd bhumi before Christmas. I had 3 days of fog, heaviness
and a feeling of boredom and deep disconnect. On the third day I did some brief practice of
the pure awareness and Jewel Visualisation (taught in Rainbow Body Yoga) whilst at work
then during a conversation with someone later noticed the feeling lift and pure awareness,
joy and clarity arise. I continued feeling light, at ease with the world/my world and
challenges. That feeling stayed for the whole week and beyond although not as bright as in
that initial day or two. I've had a cold virus over Christmas so not felt well, as the illness is
lifting I can feel the lightness and clarity returning again. I'm finding a greater openness
and awareness of the world, the systems, it's vastness, it's infinite patterns and formations-
this has been building for some time now and I feel the need to work beyond the systems .”

"I went to group session this Monday and had some interesting conversations with the
people there. It was nice to get some clarity and more understanding of what has been
happening to me for last week and a half that I’ve been doing the Rainbow Body Yoga

55
practice. Based on some of those chats arose the suspicion that I may have opened a
bhumi.
I can’t describe last week as the most difficult week, but it wasn’t overly easy and cheerful
either. I had waves of rage coming through me on few occasions out of nowhere and overall
pressure in my head area which grew as the week progressed. There was a certain unease
that was just there as well. This was all happening until Saturday night when I had a very
intense practice. During the Atiyoga section of the practice I felt like I’ve completely
dissolved, it was quite intense. That was all followed by even more almost headache like
pressure for most of Sunday until my evening practice at the end of which all pressure,
headache and overall discomfort and unease just vanished and all that was left was a
feeling of spaciousness and lightness.
I had a chat with Jonathan on Monday night about it and he suggested I contact you, so
here I am. I suppose it’ll be good to know if that’s what the openings feel like, just so I’m
more aware of them. I didn’t realise I had a first bhumi opening until you checked it for
me, the same way If I had a second bhumi open on Sunday I didn’t realise it until one of
the guys on Monday describe the exact same experience as mine."

3rd Bhumi opening: ”I have been practicing regularly, with the exception of few days after
Christmas, and it has been a bit of a roller coaster at times. Overall December wasn’t an
easy month to get through. Feels like I stirred up some heavy stuff. I did however have
some interesting moments and experiences during that period that I found unusual, some
of them were quite intense.

”Overall my practice in December wasn’t an easy one. I’ve found myself lost in thoughts so
often, it wasn’t easy to focus and sometimes I had to force myself to finish the practice. On
other occasions I had some really intense practices. I remember during one of them there
was an energy shift at some sort, a very strong movement of energy through my body, I
could barely stay still on the chair, it happened while I was going through the 18 chakras
and chanting silently. I could feel it twisting and turning, swimming though my whole
body. The Atiyoga part after that was quite strong as well. The next day I had butterflies in
my stomach the whole day, for no reason whatsoever, they weren’t connected to a thought
of any kind, but the feeling was very strong again, almost unbearable at times. It was the
kind of butterflies you get when you like someone, but I couldn’t make a connection to
anything that could trigger it. It didn’t go away until the evening when I went training.”
On another occasion during Atiyoga and once again after an intense practice I felt
something in my head blowing up, as if I had a balloon in there and somebody was blowing
air into it. As soon as I focused my attention in the area though it kind of disappeared or
just stopped. I had another similar to that experience some time after.
I wish I kept track of them when they happened, my memory is starting to fail me now. I’ve
had 3-4 strong experiences in December. I wonder if any of them or all of them were part
of a bhumi opening. I hope I’ve made some progress at least, as I’ve felt quite unsettled
most of the time during the past month with very short breaks in between and it hasn’t
been easy.”

Opening all bhumis, 1-13, in 3 months time: ”I almost don't want to think about what my
life was like before. My mind is obviously much clearer than it was before. I'm not being
pushed and pulled around by emotional energy anymore, I feel really solid. No more
irrational fears and worries, I used to get a lot of this.
No more dissatisfaction with where I am in life right now. I used to have days where my
mind was completely clogged with regrets, thinking where my life would be if I had done
something differently in the past, stupid stuff, completely pointless thought process, but

56
it's all good now.
My thoughts and emotions used to sap my body of energy. I used to feel so tired all the
time for no apparent reason, I haven't felt this since my awakening.
All my addictions seem to have disintegrated. My desire to drink to excess has completely
disappeared. Before I would have lost awareness and control as the alcAmrita Mandalaol
took over. Now I see it coming with absolute clarity and I stop because I no longer want to
escape, I'm completely happy where I am. This is incredibly liberating for me. I've wanted
this for so long but failed at every attempt to make it happen.
I feel deeply connected with everything and everyone around me. My energy body feels so
calm now, but strong and deep like an ocean. It used to feel like an irritating layer of static
energy surrounding me. My body felt like it was full of poison, now it feels healthy, happy
and alive.
Thank you. I'm enormously grateful.”

”I believe I opened the 11th bhumi during last night's practice at the sangha, right after our
weekend retreat. The awareness is comprehensive and stable with spacious clarity
throughout my mind and body. I feel like I have 360 degree spaciousness as though my
aura is included in the awareness, if that makes sense. Awareness is very clear and stable. I
feel light and free.”

”It feels I've had 9th opening at the end of our lunch. Everything became light and
transparent. Very subtle though, without fireworks. I could not see what changed at first.
Only when I came home and started talking with my wife and others, I saw that I can now
express what I mean with few precise direct words. And people can understand me easier.
Before words were going through a kind of fog and were becoming heavy, dense and
distorted. Now if they go into this fog, it's instantly seen and I can pause and kind of invite
them to go the other way, not through the fog, if that makes sense.
And a little later there was another shift, noticeable but even more subtle. It was connected
to the acceptance of me not being ideal. I suspect it may be 10 th.”

This practitioners has all bhumis open and is in the process of perfecting them: ”Practice is
going well. Been clearing through a lot of junk I think and the feelings of clarity and
expansion have really taken off. Like before Atiyoga feels like nothing at all not even any
major opening or clearing of the energy body during practice - some very light clearing
around the soles of the feet. Generally I am filled with immense clarity and a warmth
which shines from the heart. Very nice experiences. Sleep has been up and down. Lucid
experiences come and go depending on where I have cleared to during Deity yoga and
recently sleep has been not like any sleep I have had before. Like my mind sBabas along
the pre-sleep stage which those random thoughts and images - I wake - then go back to
that shallow sleep and wake again. All through the night. Then I wake early and feel rested
but haven't really slept. Very strange. Overall I think bhumi perfection is coming along. I
don't really know where I am at in terms of perfection. It is getting hard to tell because the
changes and breakthroughs though strong in and off themselves when they happen seem
to produce more overall clarity in and around me through out my aura and energy body so
pinning down a spot and going "ah yes this corresponds to so and so bhumi" is hard to do.”

A comment regarding dark night, from someone who has all 13 bhumis open:
”It doesn't matter where you are, what you do and with who, if you have dark night, then
you have it. Last week I was on holiday, travelling abroad, was supposed to be happy - but
had dark night. It relieved for a couple of days but here we are again. Work load has been
huge since last Summer, I haven't been on retreat since last July, haven't practiced and sat

57
properly for a while. Definitely need some rest and time being alone and practice Guru
Yoga. Next weekend I'll go to a cottage and will sleep, rest and enjoy the blessings of the
gurus. Dark nights are real after 13th bhumi opening, but it changes after 6th bhumi, and
again changes after 11th . Stability is fine, recognition is there but it might last only a few
seconds, during a dark night. There might not be many thoughts, but the aura is not fully
open, the heart feels small and closed. Physically I feel like my shoulders are turned
inwards and I'm not standing straight. I don't want to share anything with other people. It
feels like others are sucking the last final drop of my energy. Overall feeling is quite all
right, but at this point, it is not enough, after having been seen to the other side and
knowing awareness. What potential we all have but there's some more work to do. Dark
night is the best motivator. ”

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 Photographs of Practitioners
Jonathan: From 0 bhumi (unawakened) to
13th bhumi in 9 months time (1/2017-
9/2017). Prior buddhist meditation practice
of 18 years, including monthly retreats.

59
 Karl: From 2nd bhumi to 13th bhumi in 6
months time (8/2017-1/2018, the second
photo is 12th bhumi). Prior regular buddhist
meditation practice for several years,
including monthly retreats.

60
Shane: From 0 bhumi (unawakened) to 13th
bhumi in 2½ months time (11/2017-
1/2018). No prior practice.

61
Helena: From 0 bhumi (unawakened, photo
of 1st bhumi) to 13th bhumi in 2 years and 11
months time (2/2015-1/2018). No prior
practice.

62
Maria: From 0 bhumi (unawakened, photo
of 1st bhumi) to 13th bhumi in 1 year and 5
months time (1/2017-5/2018). Some prior
training of meditation and healing.

63
Pau: From 0 bhumi (unawakened, photo of
6th bhumi) to 13th bhumi in 3 years time
(7/2014-7/2017). Few years of prior
meditation.

Find extensive photo and video collections of Amrita Mandala practitioners on various
bhumis from Amrita Mandala-blog and YouTube-channel.

64
 Additional Photos
Photos of mahasiddha bhumi openings and bhumi perfections.

11th Bhumi Opening:

65
 12th Bhumi Opening:

66
 13th Bhumi Opening:

67
 11th Bhumi Opening:

68
 12th Bhumi Opening:

69
 11th Bhumi Opening:

70
 13th Bhumi Opening:

71
 All 13 Bhumis Open:

72
 1st -6th Bhumis Open, 1st Perfected:

73
 All 13 Bhumis Open, 1st and 2nd Perfected:

74
 13 Bhumis Open, 1st -4th Perfected:

Find extensive photo and video collections of Amrita Mandala practitioners on various
bhumis from Amrita Mandala-blog and YouTube-channel.

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 CHAPTER 3: Shamatha Experiment
Foreword

This books presents and discusses 13 Bhumi Model. As it has been explained in the
previous chapters, 13BM is mostly an energetic, rather than conceptual, way of mapping
attainments. This makes it challenging to understand because they only way is know it is
through direct yogic experience. However, since buddhist meditation has three main
styles; shamatha, vipashyana and atiyoga, or concentration, seeing through and releasing
selfing and nonmeditation, it is logical that reaching mahasiddha bhumis that relate to the
buddhanature of man, should somehow be quantifiable through shamatha or vipashyana
meditations.

With the hope of quantifying the meditational benefits of bhumi openings, we set up a
simple Shamatha Experiment, in April-May of 2019. The participants were asked to do five
sessions of a classical concentration exercise as described below and count how many
times they got distracted within a given period of time. The results of the experiment can
be read from below, including answers that the participants were asked to answer, as well
as their personal notes, if they chose to include them. Several of those who joined this
experiment, have previously written accounts of their bhumi process in the previous
chapter.

Introduction of Shamatha Experiment

The following is a copy of the original email sent for the participants, in slightly edited
form.

I send this message to all Amrita Mandala practitioners who have opened mahasiddha
bhumis. Below, I present instructions for a simple shamatha meditation exercise (engl.
concentrative calmness) that will take few hours of your time during the next month. I
hope to get reports from you, so that I can add a chapter to my book discussing increased
ability of concentration in relation to bhumi openings, and specifically mahasiddha
bhumis. I hope that through presenting accounts from you, practitioners who have gone
through the system, will help others to see how immensely valuable opening of bhumis is.

Exercise and Instructions

If you haven't done classical concentration practices before, get a feel of the exercise first
by trying it out a few times. If you have done shamatha before, you can go directly to the
experiment. When you sit down for practice, you can first let the breath and energies calm
down, before starting the watch. Use a timer to measure the time.
I would like to ask you to do 5 x 30 minute sessions of the following practice. These five
sessions should be done on separate days, among normal daily routines and rest.
Shamatha instruction: Simply attend the movement of the breath, the physical sensation of
it, in the lower belly and/or in the whole body, with your concentration. The main point is
to attend the movement of the breath with concentrated attention. Where your mind is

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located in the body is secondary, that is, it can be in the belly or in the whole body. The
main point is that your concentration stays with the subtle movement of the breath and
doesn't get distracted from it. The experiment is about testing whether those who have
opened mahasiddha bhumis, are able to stay focused on one thing for an extended period
of time, without much difficulty.
During sessions, keep a count of how many times you get distracted into thinking or
fantasizing about things. When you get distracted, make a note that you got distracted
once, twice and so on. At the end of the session, write down the total number of
distractions and make other relevant notes.
I would like to ask you all to do 5 x 30 minutes. However, if you have time and wish to test
your abilities further, you can do additional sessions, say 1-3 x 60 minutes or longer, and in
the same way, keep a count of distractions.
For context, go here to see a classification of Nine Mental Abidings.

Questions

After the sessions, answer the following questions in as much detail as possible.
1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.
2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?
3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?
4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where
there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.
5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?
6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

Thank you all.

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 Reports of Participants
1. Helena
2. Karl
3. Ville
4. Karl N.
5. Maria
6. Maksim
7. Nathaniel
8. Shane
9. Tiia
10. Mari

1. Helena's Report
First Session:
Distractions 3

Second Session:
Distractions 2

Third Session:
Distractions 2

Fourth Session:
Distractions 1

Fifth Session:
Distractions 3

Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

I have not been practicing any meditation techniques before starting RBY practices 4.5
years ago. No previous shamatha or vipashyana practices.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

It took me 2 years and 9 months to get from awakening (1 st bhumi opening) to opening the
11th bhumi and 2 weeks from 11th to 13th .

Thoughts were previously like sitting in the middle of a 4K color movie with full surround
sound, where thoughts were following non-stop one after another, like on autoplay.
Thoughts were almost like solid entities. There was no way of controlling the stream of
thoughts.
The general feel after the mahasiddha bhumi openings, was an expanding and integrating
of my energetic body and mind. Mental chatter and thoughts running loose has become
minimal, and thoughts are not anymore like a 4K colormovie with full surround sound
blasting from all directions, where you can not help but get caught in. Thoughts are
nowadays more like pale sunbleached still images, floating by with a faint whisper and
dissappearing after a few short moments.

I have also experienced that the feelings I have, come from two different places. Some rise
from ego and some are expressions of selfless awareness. The selfing emotions arising from
ego fill the bodyspace with an unpleasant feeling and cloud the mind. Emotions and
thoughts that express awareness do not affect the bodyspace and one's mental clarity
negatively, but one feels open and natural, even if the message being delivered can be of a
difficult topic.

Most days and times different misshapenings, obstacles or negative things have lost their
power. You just kind of shrug your shoulders and think shit happens (sometimes not even
that) and go on and forget about it. A few moments later you can barely recall if something
did happen or if it didn't.

There seems to be a change in perception of time as well. Past, present and future seem to
lose their meaning, and coincide. Time feels more and more like a thing that only is. We
are so used to attach labels on it (yesterday, tomorrow) which we solidly believe are true.

I have always been fascinated to find out how simple and minimal a life I can live. What I
have come to realize is that the simplicity I have been looking for has nothing to do with
the amount of material possessions you have around yourself, but about the attachment
that you have to them. One can own nothing and still want things and be attached to things
and want to own different things. Asceticism does not remove the attachment to things. By
recognising and living the empty nature of mind, and step by step deepening one's mental
and energetic clarity, one's attachment to possessions and emotions becomes thinner and
thinner. I realized that this way of non-attachment actually is the simple life I have been
looking for.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

As the mind becomes clearer and calmer, through the process of opening and perfecting
bhumis, my ability to concentrate has increased significantly. I can remember when on my
first retreat 3 years ago on 1st bhumi, a nonmeditation session of about 60 minutes felt like
an agonising eternity. My mind was wondering back and forth and I only had a very short
glimpse of clarity here and there. Nowadays it feels that nonmeditation is usually pretty
effortless and that I do not want to stop as things are so clear and calm, when the 60 mins
is up.

In my experience, the biggest change in my ability to concentrate comes when the mind
grows more and more quiet. There are not that much thoughts disrupting concentration.

Also, as one's bodymind clears up, one is able to keep the clarity intact, as the interference
of other people's energies bother less and less, which also reduces external input that

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decreases concentration.

The connectedness to the surroundings increases with opening the mahasiddha bhumis. It
feels as if the contours of the body are blurred out, that that there is not a big difference
between body and aura. Also the edge of the aura is not as sharp, as the energetic field
connects with everything outside of the aura.

Moments of profound compassion towards all beings rise spontaneously and is present to a
varying extent throughout the day. Practicing not just for the benefit of oneself but for all
beings gives different flavor and depth to the practice than if one would only practice for
the benefit of oneself.

4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where

there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

I have to admit that I was annoyed at following the breath in the beginning of the
Shamatha Experiment because I couldn't just rest as effortless awareness (nonmeditation).
It felt like walking with crutches (following the breath) even if my legs were OK, instead of
walking normally (nonmeditation). Eventually this subsided, and my mind was fixed on
following the breath and resting as awareness at the same time.

However, I think that if one has not experienced empty awareness, keeping the mind busy
by focusing on the breath, helps to concentrate and stops the mind from wandering.
Following of breath, which is effort-based, should be used as a tool or stepping stone for
recognizing the empty awareness that is effortless.

5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

Shamatha was pretty easy. However, it felt like a constructed thing that was added on top
of nonmeditation, which I did not like, as it did not serve a purpose other than adding
something on top of resting.

A few years back, as a beginner, I remember thinking it was very nice to have a clear
practice program such as Rainbow Body Yoga, as it kept the mind focused on the task at
hand. Tantric practices such as Guru Yoga offers great support for recognizing the natural
state, with the help of fully attained and liberated mahadiddhas such as Guru Rinpoche
and Yeshe Tsogyal. This support is not there in shamatha practices, as taught in
sutrayana, where one is practicing solo and carrying all the burdens and weight alone on
one's shoulders.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

Nonmeditation is more important to me, as it means recognising oneself as a buddha, as

natural and pure awareness. Following the breath to calm the mind down can be used as a
stepping stone to prepare for nonmeditation, but it can not replace nonmeditation.

Just as emotions can arise from pure awareness and be expressions of the natural state,
thoughts can arise and express the natural state while in nonmeditation. Nonmeditation
does not mean remaining thoughtless. It means being with everything that arises in a

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natural, effortless and alive way.

Nonmeditation is effortless, but that does not mean it is easy. It is simple, yet difficult to
grasp without theoretical understanding and experiential glimpses of the natural state. For
this the practices of Dynamic Concentration and Guru Yoga are indispensable. Dynamic
Concentration is a form of shamatha practice, just not how concentration is historically
taught.

When one gets the glimpse and experiences the natural state, its richness, love and
aliveness, it is breathtakingly beautiful. After that experience one can only wish the same
for all beings as it is in them.

All in all this was an interesting experiment. As I have not previously done this kind of
practice, shamatha as taught in sutrayana, it was interesting to see that the mind stayed
clear and that focus on the breath was lost only on a few occasions each session. The result
was better than what I had anticipated.

2. Karl's Report
I did 5 x 30 minute sessions:

First Session:
Distractions 2

Second Session:
Distractions 1

Third Session:
Distractions 0

Fourth Session:
Distractions 0

Fifth Session:
Distractions 0

Shamatha was, not surprisingly, the first Buddhist meditation technique I was introduced
to. I first learned it properly back in 2015 through a meditation course centred around
mindfulness of breath as taught by Bhante Gunaratana. Previous to that I had practiced
Hindu style concentration practices, but I had not systematically, nor consistently explored
them. I practiced mindfulness of breath this way for the duration of the course which
lasted about six months and required the participants to log 60 hours of practice time.

Having a very active mind that is highly prone to distractions from nature's side, I
remember finding the process difficult and frustrating. I kept loosing my concentration all
the time, spending most of the sessions daydreaming or being caught up in various
distractions, rather than actually focusing on the breath. Of course, I did occasionally have
moments were the mind settled, but in overall there seemed to be little progress except for
an increasing awareness of how restless my mind actually was. In short it seemed to
highlight the problem, rather than solving it.

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After finishing the course, I attended a 10-day meditation course in the tradition of S. N.
Goenka. The first part of the course was spent exclusively focusing on the sensations of the
breath in the nostrils for more than 10 hours a day. Due to the sheer amount of daily
practice, my mind did eventually settle somewhat as the concentration grew stronger.

I practiced in this tradition for a few months, before switching back to Hindu based
concentration practices as taught by Swami Jnaneshvara. I practiced in this way until
stumbled across Amrita Mandala a few months later in December of 2015.

As standard shamatha is not a staple of Amrita Mandala teachings, I have only occasionally
practiced it during the past three and a half years. For me, the lack of emphasis on
sustained concentration was actually a big relief and, based on my experience, it seems to
me that the importance of it, as claimed by many teachers, is somewhat overstated.

I say that because as soon as I started practicing Amrita Mandala teachings, I immediately
started experiencing permanent shifts in the clarity of my mind. It took me roughly twelve
months to open all 13 bhumis, a process which I have described in detail elsewhere.

To give a brief idea of what I am talking about, basically, with each of the bhumi openings a
layer of karmic identification is pierced through, revealing a clearer and clearer recognition
of the basic space of awareness, that is selfless. Once all bhumis are opened, the basic
clarity is more or less always there, alongside the remaining existential confusion. After
opening all bhumis, although the context, so to speak, of suffering is very different from
before, the remaining obscurations need to be cleaned out and the bhumis perfected.

If, for the sake of illustration, we could describe opening bhumis as an outward movement,
where each karmic layer is cut through, eventually leading to the bursting of the bubble
that confines us to the physical body and mind, then perfecting the bhumis could be seen
as letting that which has been revealed soak into each part of the mind and body. This part
of the process feels like allowing the natural clarity to consume the remaining causes of
existential confusion, eventually leaving nothing but the perfect and continuous
recognition of the basic space of phenomena.

Although perfecting the bhumis is still an ongoing process fore me, the basic clarity that
has been revealed has affected all areas of my life including my ability to concentrate for
durations of time.

When I recently checked my concentration by doing several sitting sessions concentrating

on the breath in the belly for half an hour each, I found that I would hardly get distracted
from the breath at all. It was simply there, known. Out of five 30 minute sessions, one
session included two distractions, one a single distraction, and three sessions did not
involve any distractions at all.

When I did get distracted, it happened in the way that a thought would cover the breath for
no more than a second or two. For the most part, though, thoughts would come and go in
the open space of mind without obscuring the knowing of breath at all. It would simply be
known along with the thoughts, emotions, sounds and all other kinds of arising
phenomena in my experiential field.

Because of this, I find shamatha practice much more enjoyably now then before. It is quite

82
easy for me to see that my previous shamatha practice carried a sort of neuroticism with it.
By this I mean that there was a struggle with regards to not losing focus on the breath, as
well as a disappointment when I eventually would. I believe this was due to being bound by
the paradigm of concentration as something that needs to be built, like one builds muscles
at gym.

When I practice it now it feels much more natural and effortless. In addition to the
increased clarity of mind, there is an element of having grown out of the mentioned
paradigm and into a new one which I believe contributes to this. Instead of the body-
building style practice, I know see shamatha as something light, a matter of relaxing into
the natural knowing of whatever sensation is the main focus. So naturally it is much more
enjoyable. It is so simple!

However, if I am to compare shamatha to nonmeditation, at this point in my practice I feel

that actively focusing in on some object in this way is superfluous on a day-to-day basis.
While it might be helpful and enjoyable on certain days, in my daily practice I prefer
nonmeditation with the aid of Dynamic Concentration. Having experienced the power and
effectiveness of simply cutting through the karmic layers of the mind and allowing the
natural radiance to shine forth, this is the way of practice that makes more sense to me.

3. Ville's Report
I did the given shamatha exercise 3 times for 30 minutes each session.

First Session:
Distractions 0

Second Session:
Distractions 0

Third Session:
Distractions 0

Then I tried it twice for 60 minutes both sessions.

Fourth Session:
Distractions 1

Fifth Session:
Distractions 0

During 30 minute sessions I was couple times close to lose the object of concentration
(breath in the body), especially at night when I felt tired and sleepy. When thoughts began
to become more intense and the ”thought train” was about to turn into fantasies, then
sharp increase was needed for me to remain focused.

During the first longer session, at around 50 minute mark, I lost concentration. There was
image and a thought that were pleasing and focus was lost. Vision became a little blurred
Getting distracted felt like a very short dip into daydreaming. Second longer session went
without distractions again.

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 Questions and Answers

6. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

I don’t remember exactly how much. I've practiced about 12 years regularly with different
practice methods and objects of concentration. Usually meditation sessions were between
30-90 minutes, excluding longer ones on retreats.

7. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in
general?

About few years. It has brought more clarity, relaxation and generally just feeling good. It
increased a natural ability to be more mindful about reactivity and subconscious patterns
of behaviour in everyday life. In practice, meditation has become more and more effortless.

8. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

Yes, concentration has become more easy. I can see it in every aspect of life where
concentration on an object for a period of time is needed. I sometimes guide shamatha
meditations for beginners, in who I can see the difference clearly.

9. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga,

where there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do
shamatha/concentration now that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe
the difference in your own words.

Shamatha feels stale and closed. Atiyoga feels alive, open and clear.

10. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

It was easy. I guess years of practice has developed an ability to concentrate or one-
pointedness. I don’t like concentration practices any more and don’t find them useful.

11. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

Atiyoga because beyond certain point concentration practices seem to become rather futile.
High concentration can lead to different kinds of fabricated states of mind, but I don’t find
them interesting.

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 4. Karl N's Report
I did 4 x 30 minute sessions.

First Session:
Distractions 3

Second Session:
Distractions 6

Third Session:
Distractions 1

Fourth Session:
Distractions 13

Notes

First Session:
In the first session I noticed that I was instantly able to be aware of the movement of the
breath in the lower abdomen or hara. When I first learned to meditate, it took me couple
of years to be able to anchor my breath in this region! I counted 3 times over the 30 minute
session where I was distracted from the object, it's hard to know for sure for how long but I
reckon for perhaps two or three breaths.

Second Session:
There was a bit more distraction from the object during this session. I put this down to a
number of conditions, mainly the time of day I engaged with it, mid-afternoon and that we
were in the planning stages of a building project at our house and had spent the morning
back and forth on the telephone with our builder and others involved with the project. Also
tiredness and the general nature of cyclical patterns within practice life. So all in all, I
noticed that I was distracted perhaps five or six occasions with thought from the object of
practice, though at the same time I never once lost focus completely, just that the substrate
mind seemed a little more denser at some points than others.

Third Session:
We are now in the midst of our building project at our house and are staying in a friends
house while these works are being carried out. My daily sitting practice has been somewhat
curtailed as my usual routine has been interrupted by this temporary move, so I take it to
be a good opportunity to see how this shamatha practice stands up to different conditions.
After an initial 5 minute period of relaxation or body scan, I set my timer. I start out the
session in the usual way bringing awareness to the movement of the breath with the body. I
am gazing out a window which looks onto a river with people walking back and forth. Very
different circumstances to my previous session! Some thoughts in the back of my mind
come and go but quickly fade, I stay with the breath without distraction for the remainder
of the session only being briefly distracted for one or two breaths at around 28 or 29
minutes. In this session I allowed attention to broaden taking in all the senses whilst
primarily focusing on the movement of the breath.

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Fourth Session:
I am back living in our house with building renovation now nearing completion. It has
been quite stressful at times with all the moving about and trying to co-ordinate all of the
building work and to check everything has been carried out correctly, if we are getting what
we paid for etc, etc. However, I view this all as ”grist for the mill” dharma-wise.
Anyhow, I found session four difficult to remain with the object for long periods without
distraction. I put this down to hitting a bank of substrate consciousness which seemed to
appear out of the blue following on from a turbulent few days since moving back to our
house, also all sorts of conditions can come into play that can affect outcomes as we all
know. All in all I counted a whooping 12 or 13 times where I was distracted from the
breath, on a few occasions being overcome by the urge to sleep.

Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced Shamatha/Concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

I have extensively practiced shamatha meditation or concentration practices in my early

days of dharma training, starting 16 years ago with the Triratna Buddhist Community
(FWBO) and then as a preliminary practice when I got involved with DharmaMind
Buddhist Group in 2006. The main practice starting out was anapanasati or mindfulness
of breathing where I would count the breath silently from 1 to 10 before the in-breath for 5
minutes then the same after the out-breath for another 5, then observing the breath
sensations entering my nostrils for another 5 minutes and finally just abiding with the
movement of the breath for the final 5 minutes. I stayed with this form of practice for
about 3 years, alternating with metta bhavana or loving kindness practice and increasing
both practices to 50 minutes within this time. I left Triratna looking to deepen my practice
in 2006 after meeting Aloka David Smith who was the teacher with the DharmaMind
Buddhist Group based in United Kingdom. Whilst with DharmaMind I used a type of
anapanasati, where I observed the rise and fall of my lower abdomen with the breath. This
was a preliminary practice aimed at quietening the restless mind. I dropped this practice
after a short time preferring to feel into the sensations of the body instead. Using the
sensations as a gateway to the natural state seemed at this time to be the most fruitful way
to practice, eventually leading to much insight.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practices how long did it take for you to open
mahasiddhi bhumi's? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

In late summer of 2017 I came in contact with Amrita Mandala via two senior group
members. By then, I had long suspected awakening had occurred already in my previous
years of practice, remembering particular occasions and shifts along the way. The first of
them was confirmed by a teacher within the advaita vedanta tradition. Amrita Baba
confirmed the two bhumis open at my early introduction to Amrita Mandala. I then
engaged with Rainbow Body Yoga. Within a month of starting this practice the 3 rd bhumi
opened, and within a total of 5 months after this all 13 bhumis were open, the 13 th opening
in late February 2018. Practice since then has been mainly about integrating and making
sense of these profound shifts. This is something that is ongoing and very hard to put
words on, with insight continuing to flow and deepen with nonduality and equanimity of
mind being more a living breathing experience with not too much room for concepts or

86
separation which had characterised my everyday living experience for most of my life.
Putting buddhist and nondual terminology aside, although at times the practice and daily
life has bore challenges, overall there has been significantly more spaciousness, joy and
lightness and a profound sense of aliveness in my everyday life and more ease and
spontaneity in interactions with others. Also there seems to be much less emotional
turbulence and attachment, in general. I feel softer and lighter physically. There also is no
effort to be in the natural state as it is clearly seen that I was never apart from it, this being
more of a felt, lived experience that is beyond words and explanation.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

Yes, as there is much less mind clutter so it is much easier to stay with things in general, if
called to. When engaging with shamatha practice early on in my dharma training, I'd be
lucky if I managed 4 or 5 breaths without distraction. In fact it was difficult to even feel the
breath and the body simultaneously at all! This became much easier post-awakening
although by this point I'd lost interest in this kind of practice. When asked to try out this
experiment it was very easy to stay with and feel the breath in the body for the duration of
most of the exercises, though I will say that as an exercise in general it did seem quite
unnatural and constricting to just remain focused on one object. I was happy to let it go
after each 30 minute session.

4. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now that you mostly practice non-
concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

To be honest it feels very unnatural and constricting to do this type of practice for this
length of time. Awareness feels open and free and inclusive of all, whereas shamatha can
feel exclusive of all other than the object.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

Obviously atiyoga. When taught correctly, it reveals the natural state, the starting and end
point to all spiritual practice, open and inclusive, not separate nor apart from any objects
or phenomena and embracing all of life. This is the real me! This realisation passed me by
for most of my life.

5. Maria's Report
I did 5 x 30 minute sessions.

First Session:
Distractions 2

Second Session:
Distractions 7

Third Session:
Distractions 2

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Fourth Session:
Distractions 2

Fifth Session:
Distractions 0

I have been meditating for 5 years, since 2014. In the beginning, I learned buddhist
shamatha meditation from the internet where concentration was held in the forehead,
imagining a ball of blue light there, breathing through it. It was hard and scary at first but
gradually it started to get better. For 3 years I practiced this technique for 15 to 60 minutes
almost every day. I have also done some vipassana, hatha yoga and mantra recitation. In
the December of 2016, I found Amrita Mandala and awakened in January 2017. After this I
learned all the central practices taught in Amrita Mandala, including Rainbow Body Yoga,
Guru Yoga and atiyoga. My 13th bhumi opened early 2018. Now, in the Spring of 2019 I
keep purifying my bhumis. My latest bhumi experience was the perfection of the 4 th, in
May of 2019. During these five years I went from sitting just 15 minutes for up to 2 hours a
day. My mindstate is very different than five years ago, not only because of regular practice
but specifically because of progress in bhumis.

This Shamatha Experiment helped me to understand nonmeditation in a new way.

Nonmeditation means being without concentration, nor being distracted, while being one
with all phenomena. Now, when I practice shamatha, it is atiyoga at the same time. There
is no difference or duality between these two. Presence includes all objects. While simply
resting in the recognition of the natural state, I may apply focus or remain without it,
without distraction. In the given shamatha exercise concentration is on the movement of
the breath but at the same rests without action. It is like zooming from vast clear space to a
single object, without loosing the space. It is like focusing on one pixel on a screen, making
it more pronounced than others. Watching it more closely, still other objects are appearing
within knowing awareness (tib. rigpa).

In Shamatha, I keep focus on breathing, concentrate to keep it stable, while letting other
things happen in the mind at the same time. When I do shamatha practice, I find it
pleasurable to focus on breathing more intensely, so that the silence aspect of mind
becomes gradually prevalent. In atiyoga, I don’t have to concentrate on breathing anymore.
One-pointed focus is freed.

Common to all five Shamatha Experiment sessions was that knowing awareness was the
same, regardless of what was happening. Sometimes there was dullness, excitement or
intense feelings that required focused effort to overcome. I had to turn up the “volume” of
concentration to not get carried away but at the same time, funnily, both intensification of
focus and effortless awareness seem to not be different.

In atiyoga the degree of concentration is zero, no effort. At some point all mind movements
stop, ome to complete halt for periods of time. With opened and some perfected bhumis,
calm spaciousness is always available. It helps a lot when there are many things, some
challening, happening in my daily life. Five years ago I would react in a narrowminded
way. Now, I am happy of even negative stuff happening to me. Phenomena is seen as an
ally, not as an enemy. I feel I have found what I was seeking.

In shamatha, distractions are close to none. I have looked into Nine Mental Abidings,

88
which is a classification of different stages of shamatha. If I compare it with my mental
state in activity, it is always between stages 1 to 7. In sitting meditation, it is between 2 and
8. I have not tried to sit for 4 hours continuously which is required in stage 9 and full
shamatha. Maybe I'll try it some time.

6. Maksim's Report
I did 5 x 30 minute sessions during a dark night, emotionally inconstant time of practice.

First Session:
Distractions 15

Second Session:
Distractions 12

Third Session:
Distractions 20

Fourth Session:
Distractions 17

Fifth Session:
Distractions 13

Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

I was practicing breath concentration for about six months, 15 minutes a day. I never
learned how to do it properly, just tried to pay the attention to the breath in arbitrary body
parts. It was mildly beneficial as a stress relieving exercise. Also, I went on a 10-day
Theravada buddhist retreat once. It happened at the end of this six months period and it
was the first time when I actually was able to access concentration. So I consider the time
after that retreat to be the peak of my shamatha career. A few months after that,
awakening happened and I stopped practicing shamatha. It's been 1½ years after that, not
practicing traditional concentration exercises at all.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

It took me 11 months to open all bhumis, incl. mahasiddha bhumis. It's tricky to say about
the changes. Right after the opening I couldn't say what was the change. It usually takes a
while for the shift to reveal the change and dark night-related fluctuations don't help.
In short, I didn't notice any specific changes related to mahasiddha bhumis. There were
deepenings of the earlier shifts, i.e. silence in the head, no verbalized thoughts, release of

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the inner voice, wide field of vision (peripheral vision), decreased anxiety and less
clinginess to mind states. In general, I felt more open and relaxed, and had more
awareness and presence in daily life.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

Yes, there's a change. Before I had learned Amrita Mandala-practices, there was a frequent
(approx. once a minute) event during the concentration practice when the focus went off
completely. I would notice this in 10-30 seconds or so and return to the practice, but
during this period I was completely unaware of the practice, just dreaming, planning and
so on. Now, after bhumi openings, the distraction events are different. There are still some
powerful mind impulses, like thoughts, emotions and body sensations which interrupt
focus, but there is no clinging to these impulses, no involvement once they appear, so it's
easy to get back to the practice. In my shamatha practice now, the distractions were quite
short, 0.5 - 3 seconds at most. Experiences of dreaming about something for an indefinite
time no longer happened.

4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where

there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

After nonmeditation, concentration exercises feel a bit artificial, that it has some extra
element which disrupts effortlessness and openness of the natural state. Because of that,
shamatha practice was a bit tiring.

5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

It was relatively easy, but not effortless like nonmeditation. I really didn't like to add
effort of shamatha because there was no need for it. Also, post-practice effects differ
between shamatha and atiyoga. Nonmeditation taps the natural state, that's it. All the
tranquility and subtle joyfulness after the session come from the natural state itself, no
sustained effort involved. However, a shamatha session occasionally adds some post-
practice flavor. I could describe it as a slight narcosis, artificial calmness or drowsiness. I
didn't really like that, either. I used to like it, though.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

This is a no-brainer. Nonmeditation is more important. I haven't really practiced

shamatha properly, and therefore it never had much effect on my relatively short career of
practice of about 2 years in total. On the other hand, nonmeditation is essential in Amrita
Mandala-teachings, together with tantric exercises that release and purify the mind.
Atiyoga balances the tantric part. Without atiyoga, karmic energies make me go
emotionally rampant. It's also my general "keeping afloat" practice for coping with stress
and anxiety. Very helpful for self-analysis as well.

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 7. Nathaniel's Report
I did 5 x 30 min sessions, attending the movement of the breath, its physical sensations
around the body and its sensation in the lower belly.

First Session:
Distractions 5

Second Session:
Distractions 9

Third Session:
Distractions 6

Fourth Session:
Distractions 5

Fifth Session:
Distractions 3

Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

Not really. I did do some thought observation where one would simply observe the
contents of their mind without being carried away or becoming involved in its contents.
This was for round about 10 minutes a sitting and was many years ago. I used to practice
this daily.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

I think it was about 2½ years. The change in practice was in the clarity of awareness and
the opening or clearing of the body-space until it all blended into open awareness
permanently. Daily life was like a continuation of practice. emotions leveled out and a lot
of the ups and downs of live slowly vanished. I would describe my state now as calm, quiet,
clear and subtly blissful.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

I can - focus or intentional awareness is very free. It does not require much effort to bring
awareness to a point and rest it there. Before, the mind was much more hard to wrangle
and was more dull and unresponsive to intention. Bodyspace will also respond to
intention, forming feelings or tones such as clarity, heaviness, breezy, or sensations of
moving spacially. This happens with a simple intention and very little sustained focus.

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4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where
there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

I would like to say that shamatha felt more skill-based or learned. The more I did it and
became familiar with it the better I got at it - learning to give awareness more intentional
focus, more sustained focus, observing that sustaining focus did not fatigue me as I
thought it would. Bear in mind that I was doing concentration practice after working 8-10
hours at a very physical job with little more than 4-5 hours sleep per night. The biggest
distraction was not getting carried away with thoughts so much as drowsiness and dream
states entering awareness during each session. When I was not distracted, thoughts would
arise occasionally but they did not draw my focus or distract my attention/intention.
Sustaining a light to moderate focused awareness on my breath did not allow then to exist
for long, and they quickly evaporated. I just kept observing were awareness was being
directed and fine tuned intended focus and it tended to move away from object of focus. A
bit like steering a car. You keep the gas on and keep it between the lines. Whereas open
awareness or nonmeditation is like stepping out of the car, lying down in some grass and
becoming the seen sky. All objects disapear and the constriction of the bodymind unwinds
as focus collapses. Also, object and subject collapse and give way to open pristine space.

5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

I found it challenging at first simply because it was unfamiliar. I liked it and can see utility.
I think having better focus could be more practical in day to day living especially in the
heavily task-like nature of secular living. I liked that I could observe and compare how the
experience of awareness would change as focus began to constrict it upon itself, and then
observe it spring open again when the awareness relaxed and release fixation.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

I think atiyoga is the more important because you are touching your most essential nature.
Resting in that state is the culminating point of all nondual systems, and it is the state one
eventually arrives at no matter what meditation approach one takes. Besides it's so
effortless and I'm a lazy person. However, as far as mind training goes I feel there is utility
in concentration exercises. I have found that you can rest too deeply in open awareness
and it can effect things like work, negatively. There needs to be a balance. One still has to
focus. If you are driving, you can not stare into the sky because you might hit something.

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 8. Shane's Report
First Session:
Distractions 1

Second Session:
Distractions 2

Third Session:
Distractions 0

Fourth Session:
Distractions 4

Fifth Session:
Distractions 0

Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

When I began meditating I was introduced to a technique called mindfulness of

breathing. However, this period of meditation practice was brief, maybe six months in
total. It wasn't until I discovered Amrita Mandala about 12 years later that I began
meditating again.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

It took about two weeks to open the 1st bhumi with the Two-Part Formula and a further
nine weeks to open the remaining 12 bhumis with Rainbow Body Yoga level 1 techniques.
The gap between each bhumi opening was approximately four or five days. Before
awakening I was completely unaware of the amount of emotional baggage I was holding
onto and
each bhumi opening was an enormous release of this emotional baggage. My life is
so much easier now. I am far more productive as I no longer struggle with emotions
that affect my ability to focus on a task. When something needs to be done I just do it
regardless of what conflicting thoughts and emotions may be present. I am also far easier
to be around as I no longer create conflicts that lead to pointless arguments.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

My ability to concentrate has improved significantly since opening the mahasiddha

bhumis. My mind is much clearer now. Before awakening a satisfactory level of
concentration could only be achieved when all external distractions were blocked
out. Now I seem to be able to focus on one thing while also being completely aware
of and at peace with my surroundings.

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4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where
there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

My experience with nonmeditation practice has led to a much more relaxed

approach to shamatha practice. I have noticed that concentration practices such as
mindfulness of breathing can create tension in mind and body, however, if atiyoga is
incorporated into the practice this tension is greatly relieved. Thoughts still arise but
they don't suck me in the way they used to and I have a much healthier relationship
with these thoughts.

5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

I encountered very little difficulty with this shamatha practice. I can stay focused
on my breathing with only minimal distraction. Even when there are a lot of thoughts
arising, they arise as separate objects and as a result have little power over me.
There is definitely benefits to be gained from shamatha practice as a way of calming
the mind but as a practice on its own I am not convinced that there is much to be
gained from it.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

As mentioned earlier, I believe that shamatha practice is most effective when

combined with a nonmeditation approach. As an isolated practice I'm not convinced
that it would be all that beneficial to me. It feels like I am creating tension in my mind
and body due to the focus on a restricted area. However, when practicing atiyoga I
clearly see how much my mind wants to expand and simply stay open. It does not want or
need to be restricted to the body.

9. Tiia's Report
I did 10 sessions during three weeks among the daily routines. Each session lasted for 30-
50 minutes, discovering that there were approximately 2 distractions every 30 minutes,
where each distraction lasted for 1-2 seconds. In a 50 minute session there were no
distractions at all, but I consider that an exception as the session took place after a
weekend retreat.

I started regular daily meditation with Amrita Mandala in 2012, about 7 years ago. Prior to
that, I had no experience of shamatha or any other meditation practice. As a lay
practitioner, I sit approximately 1½ hours per day. It has been very instructive and very
interesting to test my ability to do shamatha, as I don't practice it regularly and haven't
kept any records how it has developed. Back in 2012 and before I hardly could concentrate
for ten breaths.

From the beginning of my daily practice it took about five years to generate 11-13
awakenings, that is, from zero bhumis open, with no former meditation experience to open

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mahasiddha bhumis in 2017, which was roughly about 2 years ago. Bhumis 11 th, 12th and
13th opened within a relatively short period of time, in 4-5 months. Opening of mahasiddha
bhumis revealed easy being, effortless meditation or nonmeditation,as it is traditionally
called. There is a relief in sitting as there is no need to push things too much, whether
during tantric or some other techniques. The basic state of knowing has a light, pervasive
touch and soft recognition that includes everything and everybody without need to change
what is.

The most remarkable realization to me has been that the basic knowing, rigpa, does not
disappear. I used to question and doubt it as long as I only had glimpses of it, but through
some stabilization and longer periods of sitting in rigpa, it is obvious that alive emptiness is
there or here at all times. In relation to the body, knowing awareness or rigpa, is mostly felt
behind the eyes in the head area, and it is more and more apparent during different
emotions and energies, without distance to what is happening in the mind. The mind is
only thoughts and emotions coming and going. As soon as the high bhumis are open, all
that hassle no longer seems solid and the beauty of mind's empty nature becomes revealed.
It is evident that this recognition is the true purpose of all practices.

In everyday life the biggest change has been finding the same relief in different situations
and challenges just by recognising the basis of the mind and noticing the releasing effect of
it. Even though my days can be very hectic with work and family life, basic knowing cuts
through the haste and brings in a fresh sense of ease. In overall, the mind stays pretty clear
and positive. During challenging periods, or dark nights that still sometimes arise, there is
a need for dynamic effort to clear it up, but when the dark night passes, the soft, melodious
touch of knowing is there again.

Nowadays my dark nights are mainly about slight depression and sadness. The mind is
enveloped with a grey veil, that is caused by feeling the energy of suffering of other people
and nature. There are still tinctures of old thought and emotion patterns, but they are not
only about me, this individual person, but about the society at large and about our or their
beliefs. This leads me to clarify my motivation about the purpose of the path.

In the Shamatha Experiment I tested my ability to concentrate on breathing in the body or

the belly. I did 10 sessions during three weeks among the daily routines. Each session
lasted for 30-50 minutes, discovering that there were approximately 2 distractions every
30 minutes, where each distraction lasted for 1-2 seconds. In a 50 minute session there
were no distractions at all, but I consider that an exception as the session took place after a
weekend retreat.

The mind seemed to be surprisingly thoughtless for most of the time. Thoughtless phases
lasted for several minutes. There were energies subtler than thought going around. These
did not cause distractions. Those energies are like twinkling and has different colours. It
was quite easy to notice the changes in mind state from clarity to fogginess or sleepiness.
Concentration practice didn't have a big effect on the mind state, when compared before
and after practice. Calmness stayed quite the same, clarity and groundedness in the body
increased in some sessions a little bit.

I think that in shamatha openness and the totality of different kinds of flavours can easily
go unnoticed. Despite of that, I still think that shamatha is a good for settling down. Ability
to concentrate is important in any job or task that is done, and it is important in tantric
and atiyoga, as well. However, when concentration is focused on one thing only, leaving

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everything else outside, without an open panoramic view and clarity of the natural state,
concentration practice can get very boring and lead to sleepiness, foggyness and dullness.
For this reason I think shamatha will not result in any lasting or remarkable shift in the
mind. Awakened clarity is the only thing that is so irresistible when properly recognised,
that the mind wants to stay in it without forcing it or falling asleep.

I happened to have a dark night during the testing period, when recognition of the natural
state was not easy. There were bad pains in the body and the mind was buzzing. In the
sessions of this Shamatha Experiment it was very challenging to remain in nondistraction
because of messy thoughts and falling continuously into the deep swamp of subconscious
mind. What is interesting and notable is that when falling to subconscious mind, the pain
was felt, but for the moments when rigpa opened up, the pain disappeared. I also did
shamatha when I was very tired and let myself fall asleep during sitting and being aware of
the sleep. Openness, clarity and subtle transparency disappeared, and the mind became
closed and stuffy.

Personally for me shamatha doesn't seem to work very effectively during hard periods,
when there is anxiousness in the mind and nervous system. During dark nights,
concentration requires more effort and vital energy that can put strain on the nervous
system too much, even worsen the symptoms and lead to burnout. I find it most helpful to
recognise the natural state, as soon as possible. The mind has a natural tendency to heal
itself by recognising the fresh and healthy clarity, if it is allowed and effected to happen. All
the potential is there, but it is a matter of tapping it. All practices that aim to decrease the
suffering of people are OK, but gentle form of concentration doesn't seem to cut through
the tensions of the body, anxiousness or depressive state of mind. For me it was a relief to
let go of the concentration technique and only recognise the essence of mind and let
everything flow freely. In direct knowing there is no effort or seeking.

10. Mari's Report

I did 5 x 30 minute sessions.

First Session:
Distractions 5

Second Session:
Distractions 2

Third Session:
Distractions 2

Fourth Session:
Distractions 3

Fifth Session:
Distractions 2

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 Questions and Answers

1. Have you practiced shamatha/concentration practices before? How much? For how
long? Describe in detail.

Yes, on a 3-year Bodhi-course taught by Amrita Baba.

2. After you started Amrita Mandala practice, how long did it take you to get to open
mahasiddha bhumis? What was the change in practice and in your daily life in general?

It took 20 months. Fixation on emotions has thinned almost to none. One begins to see
through things, to see the real nature of things which is empty of self.

3. Can you see a change in your ability to concentrate? How?

There are less distractions in the mind and therefore it is easier to concentrate.

4. In Amrita Mandala, our main form of meditation is nonmeditation or atiyoga, where

there is no process of concentration. How does it feel to do shamatha/concentration now
that you mostly practice non-concentration? Describe the difference in your own words.

Concentrating feels like a distraction and extra tension.

5. Was shamatha easy or not? Why? What did you like or didn't like about it?

It felt hard. Atiyoga feels natural.

6. If you compare atiyoga and shamatha, which one of the practices do you feel is more
important to you? Why?

Atiyoga because it is clear, alive, at the moment. It feels like one's own nature and this is
why it is easy to be in atiyoga.

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 CHAPTER 4: Additional materials
What is Emptiness? How to Make
Sense of Emptiness?
Emptiness in Sanskrit is shunyata. Emptiness is also called selflessness, I-lessness or me-
lessness (anatman, anatta). Emptiness and selflessness refer to the self-empty nature of
mind. This is the basis of Buddhist thought and practice. One who has seen his mind to be
completely without a self, has mastered the teaching of emptiness, is fully awake, that is, a
living buddha.

The main reason why we suffer is the sense of self (skt. atman). We have thoughts,
emotions and reactions within our mind and because of the accumulation of the self-
thought, I or me, these mind elements make us convinced that we exist independently as
separate entities. This is the basis of delusion and suffering (dukkha).

The buddhist path is concerned with interruption and putting an end to cyclic existence
(samsara) through proper understanding of the nature of suffering and through proper
yogic effort. Particularly insight meditation (vipashyana), also called by different names
such as lhaktong or prajna, is what is unique to buddhist meditation. According to the
teachings of buddhist masters vipashyana, lit. clear seeing, is the key to removing
existential confusion (dukkha).

Buddhist teachings on emptiness such as the Heart Sutra famously states that, ”Form is
emptiness, emptiness is form”. What is the meaning of this? Form refers to any sort of
relative phenomena, physical or nonphysical. Relative phenomena occurs in one or two
ways: 1. external phenomena reflected on the mind and 2. internal mind phenomena. If all
phenomena are experienced empty, there is no cause for confusion to arise. If any
phenomena appearing in the mind is not experienced as empty, and hence causes selfing,
self-based reaction, this impulse can and should be used as fuel for vipashyana practice.

Practical Points

Emptiness cannot be properly understood by contemplating the existence of external

things, such as a chair or a desk. The only way to have a liberating insight is to see that
selfing happens in the mind, not somewhere outside.

Emptiness needs to be understood through emptiness. Even though impermanence

(anicca) and suffering (dukkha) are the other two pillars of buddha dharma, it is the
insight into the empty nature of mind that liberates, not the other two.

Understanding emptiness through insight is crucial for all buddhist meditators, and in fact
to all who suffer of existential confusion.

Meditation on emptiness is not difficult or lofty, but simple, grounded and easy-to-

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understand when taught and applied correctly. If the instructions are vague and lack
clarity, there will be no result or it will take unnecessarily long time. Without emptiness
insight it is impossible to make sense of any buddhist teachings. This is so because all
buddha dharma is built on realisation of emptiness (insight, awakening, kensho, semngo
tropa). If the foundation of emptiness is not solid, there is nothing to build a stable house
on.

In the long run, not having a proper insight leads to twisted dharma that is harmful and
misleading. The importance of direct insight has been stressed by numerous Buddhist
masters throughout the existence of Buddhism. Without insight, the noncausal paths such
as of Zen, Dzogchen and Mahamudra are impossible to understand.

On societal and cultural levels the lack of experiential understanding of emptiness leads to
great numbers of lost practitioners who are unable to have real faith about the Buddhist
path. For this reason the mahasangha of all beings doesn't reap true benefits through
interconnectedness. All practitioners should first and foremost make sure that they
understand emptiness through direct experience.

How Do I Know If My Understanding of Emptiness Is Right?

Insight, awakening or kensho means that part of one's deluded self-based mind becomes
permanently deconstructed of the sense of self, me or I. Figuratively speaking, an insight
makes a lasting hole in the wall through which the sight on the other side of the wall
becomes easier to see. Without the hole one is shut behind the wall of self-delusion. An
insight has a liberating effect. It makes a notable difference to have even a small hole in the
wall, instead of having none, because looking through the hole instead of looking at the
wall are two very different experiences.

Consecutive insights (bhumi openings), after the first one, keep making the hole bigger and
bigger and in consequence it becomes easier and easier to see what is behind the wall.
When insights are combined with regular daily practice, the outcome is that the separating
wall becomes entirely deconstructed.

Also ”glimpses” into the self-empty nature of mind are needed. The difference between a
glimpse and insight is that glimpse is not permanent.

When the hole is there our everyday life becomes a significantly different. A part of our
narrow minded selfing has been permanently removed so this cannot not have an effect on
our lives. Social relationships, work, creative work and other things in life are met from a
more open minded and less opinionated place. Because selfing no longer happens the same
way it used to, how the mind used to think, feel and react according to the self-based
habits, life becomes more direct, more fresh and more intimate. This is the most profound
change we can have.

There is nothing that can replace selfless insight because nothing else will deconstruct the
sense of self. A simple indication that one matures in insight meditation is that one feels
clear minded, Amrita Mandalaed, fresh and less reactive in everyday life.

Practical Advice

In Amrita Mandala vipashyana is practiced in both sutra and tantra forms. Sutra

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vipashyana refers to the Two-Part Formula for the first awakening, and object-vipashyana
instructions after that. Tantra vipashyana refers to Rainbow Body Yoga which, because of
the unique aspects in the practice, has the power to generate a whole series of awakenings,
bhumi openings, within a relatively short period of time. These awakenings (bhumi
openings) are matured (bhumi perfection) by regular practice over a longer period of time.

Seeing Enlightenment
from a Photograph
by Shinzen Young
In Amrita Mandala, we mainly use photos for mapping the bhumis of practitioners. The
closest reference to this by any other buddhist teacher I have come across is by Shinzen
Young, one of the pioneers of mindfulness and buddhism in the United States.

”I was at a student's house and I saw this book. Its one of these photo books that people
would put on coffee tables. What's interesting is that there's nothing by the photographer,
the author of the book, but there is an intro, a preamble by Tony Morrison who is a fairly
important person in the world of art and literature. This tells you that this is a significant
book but there is nothing by the person who actually took the photos, in other words the
photos have to speak for themselves. Its this huge book of photographs (indicates a large
size) and I start to look through these photographs. These are all portraits and I'm
freaking out because its very evident to me what this book is about and I had never seen a
book like this, ever.

I go to my friend and say, ”This book is amazing!” and she says, ”The photographer, is a
distant relative of mine”. ”Well, can you get his telephone number?”, I asked. We called
him up and he was there. I told him what I thought his book was about and he freaked out.
He said that I was the only person who ever understood what the book was about, of all the
people that had seen it at exhibitions or whatever.

The name of the book is A Kind of Rapture by Robert Bergman. He went through the rust
belt of United States, the old decaying cities, photographing street people, who for
whatever reason, usually a combination of hard life and physical, and mental illness, had
been thrust into a no-self state, in other words, people for whom the blows of life had
driven them to a rapturous no-self experience. He went around the country looking for
those kind of people, catching them at the moment when they manifested non-ego, that
their hard life had taken them to.

You know, if you see one or two pictures like that it doesn't have an impact like that but if
you see 50 pictures like that, picture after picture after picture, then it hits you, what the
whole thing is about. The reason why I thought they were so extraordinary is that
althought there is a lot of books about enlightenment or no-self coming about through
practice, and there are number of books written by people who have had spontaneous
enlightenment experiences, what no one has looked at is this whole thing, this whole other
aspect. In terms of a subject matter it is very unsual and the message and the medium is
very unsual. Instead of writing a book, talking about this phenomena, he shows it to you
and you either get it or you don't.”

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- Shinzen Young

Source of the quote:

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

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 Bhumis in Traditional Buddhism
By Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

”The essence of mind that is primordially empty and rootless is unlike holding the idea of
emptiness in mind, and it is not the same as the sustained attempt to feel empty. Neither
of these helps very much. By growing used to this natural, original emptiness again and
again, we become accustomed to it. Then there will be a stretch throughout the whole day
from morning to evening, which is only empty awareness untainted by notions of
perceived objects or the perceiving mind. This corresponds to having attained the
bodhisattva levels, the bhumis. When there is never a break throughout day and night,
that is called buddhahood, true and complete enlightenment.”
- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (1920 -1996), a master of Tibetan Buddhism and dzogchen

By Jigme Lingpa

”As the energies enter the path of the central channel, the unmistaken realization of the
first ground will arise. Each of the three signs of entering, abiding, and dissolving will
manifest. When the first knot of the central channel dissolves and the energies enter, the
qualities of the first level will manifest. When the mind-energies abide there, the qualities
of the second level will arise. Once the mind-energies completely dissolve there, dualistic
thought patterns will be purified like space and all of the qualities of wisdom will unfold.”
- Jigme Lingpa (1729–1798) , a Tibetan dzogchen master and terton who attained rainbow
body, Steps to the Great Perfection, transl. Cortland Dahl

By Acarya Malcolm Smith

”There is a correspondence between between levels of realization, the thirteen bhumis,

and the location at which the prana vayu remains stably within the central channel. This
is attendant with the realization of emptiness through completion stage practice.”
- Acarya Malcolm Smith, a scholar and translator of Tibetan Buddhism

By Zen-master Hakuin

”After a month of this I still had not experienced a single pang of hunger. On the contrary
my body and mind were both fired with a great surge of spirit and resolve. My nights
were zazen. My days were sutra recitation. I never let up. During this period I
experienced small satoris* and large satoris in numbers beyond count. How many times
did I jump up and jubilantly dance around, oblivious of all else! I no longer had any
doubts at all about Ta-hui's talk of 18 great satoris and countless small ones. How
grievously sad that people today have discarded this way of kensho as if it were dirt!
- Zen-master Hakuin (1686-1768), Wild Ivy, transl. Norman Waddell.

Baba's Comment: Hakuin became a novice monk at the age of 15. He had his first

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awakening at the age of 24 and what he called his final awakening at the age of 42.
Hakuin's main disciple Torei, in Shumon Mujintoron describes his own experience in
which he, though without doubt regarding the initial awakening, realized his functioning
was not seamlessly free in activity. Going into seclusion to practice intensively, he says he
subsequently had 89 small satori experiences, before finally arriving at a final clarification
by means of which he could grasp Hakuin's state.

*satori and kensho are both Japanese terms for awakening

By Daniel Ingram

”I actually like a few aspects of the bhumi model, such as the idea of directly realizing
shunyata or emptiness and deeply integrating that into our perception, paradigm,
practice, ethical conduct, and personality. It is a model that addresses many axes of
development simultaneously.
The details of the bhumi model can be found in various Mahayana texts, such as The
Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom, Asanga’s Bodhisattvabhumi, The Jewel Ornament of
Liberation by Gampopa, and many others...
It is a very complex one that ascribes a wide range of exceedingly high and complex
criteria involving emotions, paradigms, concentration abilities, perceptions, psychic
powers (specifically the ability at each level to create multiple emanations that increases
exponentially with each bhumi), and a whole host of other aspects to practitioners at
each stage. It is also heavy on metaphors that some unfortunately take literally. We
could take the general point that there are many, many, subtle levels of development and
a vast range of abilities, experiences, talents, qualities, personality traits, and skills that
can be developed to profound degrees by dedicated practitioners. Or, we could just go off
into Crazyland by reading those models literally. If you check them out, hopefully you
will immediately see the problems and the beautiful message to have high standards and
be developed broadly.
The most common form of Crazyland that otherwise mature adults tend to jump into
with the bhumis reminds me of the old comic book debates I had when I was about eight
years old, such as who would win in a fight between Wonder Woman and Batman. The
Buddhist version of this is when grown humans basically debate who would win in
spiritual combat, such as between an arahant like Sariputta and a bodhisattva of
whatever bhumi. Obviously, if the bhumi descriptions are accurate, best to bet your
money on the bodhisattva, as even a first degree bhumi belt fighter can shake one
hundred world systems, not to mention manifest one hundred bodies with one hundred
attendants to each body, and the numbers go up exponentially from there with higher
bhumis! Yay, mythical dharma combat! Seriously, I have heard serious conversations
between Buddhist practitioners with doctoral degrees that were that weird and weirder.
Not only are the metaphors of the abilities of practitioners at each bhumi of the grandest
variety, the bhumi models are fraught with other problems, as they assume
simultaneous, synchronized development on numerous, largely unrelated developmental
axes. I consider such notions a bit naive, and the bhumi models are among the most
complex and intricate of the package models. However, like most of the teachings, they
contain some very interesting points made in what I consider language that can be
alienating and confusing to an untrained reader of this material...
Ignoring the complexities, and speaking just in terms of fundamental levels of
realization, which is already a very narrow filter, I am very comfortable associating the
first bhumi with stream entry...

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The biggest problem with this model is that it delineates the exact number of emanations
that we should be able to manifest as bodhisattvas at each bhumi, and as the bhumis
progress the numbers quickly get so large as to be absurd. Why some realized, uh, “poet”
included in the model this ideal of very specific numbers of manifested poly-locations I
have no idea, except perhaps to challenge our limited idea of what might be possible for a
mind guided by realization of shunyata (what has been problematically translated as
“emptiness”). Why so many Tibetan practitioners since then have read this poetry
literally I also have no idea...
Somehow, no Tibetan teacher that I am aware of has since called into question the
practical applicability of literal interpretations of that presentation... Because of it you
will hear Tibetan teachers occasionally say things like, “I don’t know any living person
who has reached beyond the first bhumi as traditionally described,” which is
acknowledging this odd problem of manifold manifestation, as well as the other truly
fantastic criteria...
That said, is the Tibetan tradition so weak and fragile that it can’t go back and explain
how its ancient, myth-heavy, poetic models have relevance to modern practitioners in
straightforward terms?”
- Daniel Ingram, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, 2nd edition.

About the Author

The author of this book, Amrita Baba, is a teacher of the natural state and tantric
yoga. He is the founder of the Amrita Mandala Sangha based in United Kingdom.

When he was a small boy, he experienced meditations and yogic practices spontaneously.
Upon finding buddhism as a young adult, he embarked on the meditative path in order to
find answers to his existential questions. He received training from notable teachers and
was asked to teach by his teachers of rinzai zen, tantric hinduism, tantric buddhism and
dzogchen. His teachers helped him to understand what he had experienced spontaneously
since childhood and approved his mystical experiences connected to great masters such as
Padmasambhava, Jesus and Babaji.

Baba was asked to teach by his masters in 2008. Since then he has taught numerous
courses and retreats, mostly in Europe, based on the teachings he has received as a terton.
His expertise covers tantric yoga, and nonmeditation but also zen calligraphy, chi
gong and healing. Due to the demystified, direct and easy going nature of his presentation
Baba's teachings draw attention of both ordinary seekers, seasoned practitioners, as well as
teachers of various traditions.

Find out more from Amrita Mandala website, www.amritamandala.com

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