Source Text
In the first case an assumption is rendered that the nondual awareness of pure presence is the natural disposition and that nothing can be done to attain what is already there in reality.
that we are already in that inexpressible nondual reality in which absolute and relative are one. The difference seems as basic as that between chalk and cheese; the gradual and the immediate paths are incommensurate.
In the view of Longchenpa in this treatise the gradual and the immediate paths are the two sides of that same coin; they may be as far away as the earth is from the sky but they complement each other.
asserts that we are presently under the spell of magical illusion and that by recognition of that fact we are, instantaneously, released from a conceptual cage into an enchanting reality that is pure pleasure itself.
We begin in the heat of desirous attachment to our egoistic selves, and merely through recognition of our deluded condition, chilled out in the birthless and deathless space of reality, we find respite and release in the magical display of our everyday life.
It is such contemplation that provides the sense of vast mystery, exhilarating and uplifting, that allows us to recognize our momentary release from the heaviness and density, the confusion and pettiness, of samsaric existence. That title also carries the sense of a resolution of the dilemmas of dualism in a respite of relaxed, carefree refreshment, basking in the sun of intrinsic awareness.
All our experience of life is like last night’s dream; it is like a magic show of an infallible master magician; it is like optical illusion; it is like a mirage in the desert; it is like the reflection of the moon in water; it is like an echo reverberating between mountain crags; it is like a cloud land which we call the city of the gandharvas; and it is like an apparitional emanation, like a phantom or a ghost. Thus this book is a manual of atiyoga that opens the door into Dzogchen’s nondual reality, the reality of maya — magical illusion, happiness.
Maya and its Aspects
The first is ‘the basic immaculate maya’ that is our original, natural, disposition. It is this nondual maya of our self-illuminating awareness that constitutes our innate three-dimensional buddha-being inseparable from its intrinsic primal awareness. This unitary reality presents itself spontaneously and perfectly in every instant of the here and now as an integral part of the cosmic whole, like a hologram. This is the maya of the Great Perfection and in its nondual awareness it lies beyond the intellect.
The second aspect is the delusory maya created by the intellect, known as ‘the maya of false conception’. This maya arises within the space of immaculate maya as a loss of the natural intrinsic awareness of our original disposition, and we call it ‘ignorance’. This maya unfolds as the wheel of life.
AI Summary
Maya Yoga by Keith Dowman, Palden Longchenpa presents key insights from the Dzogchen tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.