I do not know when was the last time in history when someone read bhumis like we do but simpler versions of “bhumi reading” is common today and undoubtedly must have been in the past.
For example, some yogi comes to meet another yogi in a temple in a cave or wherever. They have tea, talk and at least spend moments in silence, maybe even meditate together. How could they not get a feel of each other’s energy = mind = realisation? It happens to us having tea and it happens to everyone, and it is common sense that yogis who develop sensitivity to energy feel it with more understanding, i.e. they’re able to analyse some of the sensory data coming in.
I’ve experienced being measured or being investigated by zen teacher when I told her I might have had kensho. She looked me up and down, got a sense of my energy without yet saying a word, then asked me a few checking questions and concluded that it wasn’t a kensho but “taste (of kensho) on the tongue”. And she was right. This is bhumi reading.
Erik Pema Kunsang told me Tulku Urgyen had told him that someone’s realisation can be seen in that person’s eyes. When I asked him how exactly, he couldn’t say.
I love the fact that with bhumi and energy reading, a lot of personal secrets are all out in the open. I think this has immense potential for upgrading vajrayana. At the same time I know there is an army of buddhists out there who loose their peace even hearing this mentioned. Rigid religious beliefs cause conflicts at the first light of scientific analysis.
