Source Text
There are earth terma, sky terma, water terma, and space or thought terma, and those terma teachings have been rediscovered by the heart sons and daughters of Padmasambhava in later times and propagated, expanded, and taught extensively in different forms.
Two paths Dzogchen incorporates two paths, or methods: Trekcho and Thogal. Trekcho means “cutting through,” and reveals the view of primordial purity beyond conceptual elaboration through combining intrinsic awareness and emptiness. When the clarity of rigpa is revealed, all of our samsaric views and beliefs are destroyed or cut through. Thogal means “leaping over,” and is related with the integration of appearance and emptiness. It works directly with the internal and external luminosity by employing certain postures and gazes. Thogal practice can only be undertaken once a practitioner has gained stability in the practice of Trekcho.
The meaning of life cannot be found by constructing all kinds of metaphysical and transcendental concepts, but rather by trying to become more in touch with our own existence, by coming in touch with who we are.
It is a metaphor, it does not mean that unconsciousness is literally underneath the consciousness. Even when we say, “Our true nature,” it does not mean that our true nature is somehow hidden inside our heart. Fundamentally, what it means is to be able to have a holistic view of ourselves. This means to unreservedly see our good and bad aspects, to develop a uniform idea of who we are.
The mind that we are normally aware of has the capacity to retain memories, and is also the sub-stratum of our traces and dispositions. The transcendental consciousness, or mind-in-itself, is basic awareness which is free from our memory, traces, and dispositions, and is also completely free from our past conditioning and habitual mode of perceiving things. It is also free of future expectations, in terms of how we wish things to be or how we want things to turn out. The capacity to be able to be aware of the moment by moment process that goes on within the mind, free of any judgments, and without using our conceptual categorization, is the transcendental consciousness, or mind-in-itself.
That is what basic awareness is. It is free from memory and free from history. It is an ahistorical process of awareness. That is why it is differentiated from our ordinary mode of perceiving, which is historical and is conditioned by external and internal factors. Whereas, basic awareness is not conditioned, it is simply present.
the difference between reality and illusion is that the reality is that which is already present, just simply there. The illusion is created when we perceive that reality through a pre-established pattern of thinking. This obscuration inhibits our ability to see the way things actually exist.
The ground of being refers to the way in which things actually exist, or the reality of things. The meaning of the terms rigpa and emptiness, for instance, would constitute what is known as the ground of being, where there is no differentiation between subject and object. The first order is sometimes translated as “ideally absolute.” “Absolute” can often refer to a god or underlying reality, however, that is not the meaning here. Absolute in this context means that the ground of being is already present within the relative. The second order is based upon causal relationships, and that is how things exist in the relative sense. Whatever we perceive, and whatever we experience, even psychologically and internally, there is nothing that has come about without being dependent upon causes and conditions. That is why it is called “causal relationship,” or “relative.”
The Ground of Being As mentioned previously, it is necessary to distinguish between the ordinary consciousness and the transcendental consciousness. Self-existing wisdom, or the ground of being, refers to the original natural state of the mind or the transcendental consciousness. It serves as the backdrop for all of our experiences of samsara and nirvana, and is also the basis of sustaining our abilities to develop wisdom and our ability to eradicate ignorance and confusion. Without the ground of being, nothing would be possible. The ground of being is the pre-condition that makes everything possible.
The ground of being, our natural state, has been pure right from the beginning, it is the alpha state, the primordial state. The ground of being has never been corrupted or vitiated by our defilements or obscurations, which are the product of primordial ignorance.
AI Summary
Actuality of Being by Traleg Kyabgon presents key insights from the Dzogchen tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.