1 2 Awake! Handbook of Awakening First edition, Free e-book 8/2014 Second edition, Free e-book 7/2018 Copyright Kim Katami, [email protected] Contents Endorsements 3 Foreword 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Awakening 7 How to Become Awakened, The Two-Part Formula 9 Dialogues: Case 1: Timothy, incl. Written Account and Photos 12 Case 2: Jason, incl. Written Account 26 Case 3: Dan, incl. Written Account 41 Case 4: Wolfgang, incl. Written Account and Photos 50 Case 5: Mike 59 Case 6: Mark 73 Case 7: Jonathan 77 Case 8: Shane 88 Case 9: Matthew 89 Case 10: Trevor 94 Case 11: Hannah 96 Case 12: Tom 102 Case 13: Monica 110 Case 14: Pauline 111 Case 15: Kim 115 Pointers to Awakening 116 CHAPTER 2 A Look at Awakening and the Two-Part Formula 122 Analysis of Attainments 128 Photographic Analysis: Before and After Photos 130 Awakening Statistics 136 About the Author 138 3 Endorsements "It would be nice if someone would come along and find a method by which people could awaken. Even the Buddha couldn't do that." "I rejoice that Kim is enabling so many practitioners to get awakened in such an approachable manner. May the Dharma flourish for the benefit of all beings!" - Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo "As far as I know at present, the Two-Part Formula is as old and timeless as the teachings of the Buddha. The steps are a simple and experiential way of combining shamatha and vipashyana to reveal a timeless fact: that there never was any real ego: I, me or myself. Calling it awakening is fine. According to what I have learned from Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, he calls it dakme tokpey sherab, the insight of seeing egolessness, in the context of personal identity. It corresponds to the awakening of a hinayana practitioner." - Erik Pema Kunsang 4 Foreword It was a beautiful winter’s morning when my friend and I were chopping wood together. We had been given this work assignment as our daily work at the Japanese zen monastery where we were training. As we chopped the wood and put it in stacks, we were discussing things related to our daily life at the temple. I remember clearly the moment when we started talking about practice. My friend, who was a few years senior to me, told me that he had recently passed a koan and that the master of the monastery, a very renown zen master, had given him his second koan. Koans are particular zen riddles that cannot be answered or solved through logical reasoning. Furthermore, passing a koan indicates that the practitioner has experienced kensho, insight or awakening into the True Self. As my friend was telling me this, with calm confidence, I had a hard time believing it. It was a shock, and it had not happened to me. I had read both ancient and modern stories of people who got awakened, but I had never personally known anyone who had been awakened. I assumed, as most do, that our master was awakened and much more, but he was a Japanese zen-superman who had been raised in a temple since he has a child. He was not 'normal' in that sense. So, when my friend told me this, I was shocked. As he told me this, I looked sharply into his eyes and weighed his words. Could he be awakened? Did he look somehow different? Perhaps I did notice some difference. It was hard for me to believe that he had awakened because he was just an ordinary American guy who had stayed in the monastery for a few years. He really didn't seem like a superman, quite the opposite actually, and yet somehow he had awakened. I couldn't believe it! Ever since I had started practicing myself I had wanted this, but for some reason awakening had never happened. I was sitting 8 hours or more everyday but still nothing. It was very frustrating. At the time, I actually didn't even know exactly what awakening was, but I intuitively knew it was something very important. I wanted to put an end to my existential confusion, and worked very hard for it, following all the instructions to the letter, day and night. A decade later, in 2014, I had left zen buddhism and had done tantric practices for several years. By that time my view of dharma practice had changed significantly from the zen days. I had awakened myself a few years earlier through a certain mantra and had continued my daily practice, so I was now a lot more experienced. One day in late March I got an email from a man, Alan, who asked for my help. He told me that he had meditated as hard as I had for over 30 years but still hadn't awakened. He had even been a monk for 12 years. As I read his email I intuitively knew I could help him. I really wanted to because I knew from my own experience how significant the shift was. I closed the computer and sat down to contemplate what would be the best way to help him awaken. And then all of a sudden I understood how to do it. The Two-Part Formula just popped into my mind. The next day I emailed him the instructions and we started a dialogue. Alan was to use the technique as a basis for his awakening practice and to report to me every day for further pointers and instructions. We worked on it together and four days later Alan awakened. His description of what had happened to him was almost identical to many classic stories, like those found in Philip Kapleau's 'Three Pillars of Zen' or Eckhart Tolle's 'Power of Now'. 5 Also, Alan's eyes and his whole face had lit up and became somehow radiant, as if he had just returned from the best holiday ever. This could be seen from the photographs taken before and after awakening, just like it can be seen in person. That people would awaken with the Two-Part Formula was hard for me to believe at first. I had been raised in the ancient traditions where it seemed that awakenings were not common, but quite rare, so I was doubtful. It took 30-40 guidances after the first awakening for me to gain confidence that the technique really worked, regardless who they were or whether they had a practice history or not. Now after well over 100 guidances, with a success rate of 98%, I am fully convinced that the Two-Part Formula works for the vast majority of those who try it sincerely. Just like regular exercise makes one's physical condition better, so does the Two-Part Formula wake people up. I feel obliged to share it with anyone who is interested in getting awakened and through that, finding relief from their existential confusion. Awakening matters, it really does, as has been taught by generations of yogis, mystics and teachers of most spiritual traditions. My sincere wish is that the knowledge and instruction found in this book spreads far and wide, for the benefit of seekers and dharma practitioners. Thank you. - Kim Katami 6 Chapter 1 7 Introduction to Awakening Awakening is known and given emphasis in many spiritual, yogic or psychological methods around the world. In hinduism and buddhism, which I am most familiar with, awakening is known by names such as kensho (lit. seeing one's true nature), semngo tropa, dakme tokpey sherab, shinjin, stream entry (p. sotapanna), insight or awakening. Also christian and sufi mystics discuss awakening. Interestingly there are also people who awakened without following any tradition or didn't engage in any type of training. I think it is correct to say that awakening is universal, common to all people, regardless of their race, culture, religion, gender or social status. The Purpose of Awakening Various spiritual teachings talk about self-delusion. The idea is that self, our sense of self, is the cause of our unsatisfactoriness and confusion. Through contemplation it is easy to understand that life is marked with suffering (skt. dukkha) because we believe in our assumptions, ideas and thoughts. This basic unsatisfactoriness is created in our own mind by our sense of being a separate self, a separate entity apart from others, encased inside our bodies. The sense of self comes with many wants, desires and preferences which when blindly followed fortify the sense of self and make us even more alienated. This mental- emotional process, subconsciously reacting to arising conditions of life, makes us tied into a knot of sorts. Everytime we have a self-based reaction, whether that of anger or jealousy for example, the knot becomes tighter. A person who is highly self-absorbed cannot but be also highly unsatisfied, plagued by narrowminded and selfish ways of thinking. This is suffering according to buddhism. Awakening or insight dissolves the central part of the self, hence causing a sense of ease, unobstructedness and freedom. The purpose of awakening is to liberate from the sense of self. How the Self is Constructed The sense of self (skt. atman) is multifaceted. The delusion of self appears in three main forms. These are: 1. subject-self; I or me, 2. object-selves; thoughts and emotions and 3. ground of self (skt. alaya vijnana, tib. kun gzhi) which is the basis of the first two When we meet something unpleasant, for example, we become frustrated or angry. We would say, 'I am angry because the petrol ran out'.