Shock amazement also designates a practice: a practice that is simple – yet, perhaps, too simple. Riding a horse is also simple, unless it is found difficult. If it is found to be difficult, then the explanation of a teacher will be necessary.
Dzogchen is the state of referenceless relaxation in the vastness of each moment. It is vast because it is undelineated by time. It is referenceless because the moment is experienced without allusion to past moments or future moments. Dzogchen is the self-existent confidence of being8 which arises spontaneously from beginninglessness. In terms of the experience of the path, the realised state—which is ever-present—seems to arise spontaneously.
Dzogchen approaches our essential nature absolutely directly, but—because it is: too close, too accessible, too present, and too simple—it seems elusive.
Certainly, without the richness and support of a religious tradition, it proves difficult to persevere through times when practice seems ‘unrewarding’. From our experience, one has to belong somewhere. One has to be part of something which is sufficiently larger than oneself. To find support in a higher, deeper, broader context, one requires a context which goes beyond the isolated island of ‘me and my process’.
Inspiration is crucial to maintaining the practice of meditation; therefore there is a need to address the issue of how and from where inspiration is derived.
2 – naljor zhi: approaching the natural state
View provokes or incites natural intelligence. Meditation opens realisation to the view. Action is the pure appropriateness or spontaneity in the state of realisation. Action arises out of view and meditation – when they are realised—inseparably—as the spontaneous appropriateness of the nondual state.
View is pragmatic: when view is experientially integrated, it disappears. View then becomes personal knowledge. This knowledge is similar to breathing – inasmuch as there need be no reminder concerning how to breathe: people simply breathe. View therefore, is a means of employing intellect to transcend intellect. To this end, view must always be tested in the laboratory of experience. This is a creative use of intellect in which the sensation of beingness is confronted. Although intellect can be a masturbatory diversion from life, it is nevertheless, a genuine faculty – and can therefore become unentangled. An exploration of being entangled—and of how being becomes free from entanglement—is an essential precursor to Dzogchen.
To approach Dzogchen, it is vital to understand the meaning of self-liberation. According to the view of Dzogchen, the vehicles of Buddhism are divided into Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen. Sutra is the path of renunciation. Tantra is the path of transformation. Dzogchen is the path of self-liberation.
Sutra focuses on the experience of emptiness. It therefore renounces addiction to form as a definition of being. It renounces attachment to reference points – and releases the need to protract a fixed perception of identity. Tantra focuses on the experience of that which arises from emptiness. It is based on the experience of emptiness and aims to realise the nondual nature of emptiness and form.
The transformation spoken of in Tantra addresses the energy of dualism – from the basis that this energy is simply a distortion of the nondual state. Dualistic derangements,9 being, as they are, distortions of the nondual state, enable practitioners to recognise the nondual state through identifying—one-pointedly—with the fundamental energy of emotions.
Dzogchen is based on the experience of nonduality and actualises the nondual nature of emptiness and form – in every moment. It achieves this through naked observation – and concomitant nonreferential recognition of the self-liberating nature of arising form. That which is transformed through Tantra, is self-liberated through Dzogchen.
Nothing is renounced, as it is in Sutrayana – and nothing is transformed, as it is in Tantrayana. Whatever appears in terms of dualism is allowed to liberate-of-itself. There is therefore, no idea of liberation for the self or by the self – simply the natural propensity of everything that arises from emptiness to be undivided from emptiness.
The dualistic predilection is to interfere referentially. The word ‘referentiality’ refers to compulsive self-identification in terms of: employing the phenomenal world to prove that individual identity is solid, permanent, separate, continuous, and defined. This manipulative compulsion provokes constant attempts to make the world conform to the preferences prompted by conditioning.
When allowing the emotional realm to be as it is, the freedom to experience the texture of life arises directly – and it becomes possible to sidestep the sour orthodoxy of preordained likes, dislikes, and habitual concepts.
Allowing perceptual life to be as it is, everything is self-liberated as it is – resulting in freedom from restrictive social rôles, conventional preoccupations, conservative anxieties, and mundane personal expectations.
Dzogchen speaks of the nonduality11 of pattern and chaos. It speaks of continuity and discontinuity13 as being undivided.
This is a process in which habits of compulsive attachment to conditioned patterns of intellect start to become transparent. The reach and range of reasoning-mind is small – and, although reasoning-mind is capable of remarkable feats, it cannot give us access to all the answers.
Let us take an example. Thinking is not an effective means of dealing with emotional pain.
Thinking about emotional pain invariably generates thoughts which run circles around themselves. Thinking never brings anyone nearer to an understanding of what they are individually experiencing. Thinking about pain merely constitutes ‘thinking around it’ – thinking about the circumstances which surround the pain. People seldom think about pain itself – the reason being, that if they were to think about pain itself, they would unavoidably enter the language of pain. Thought is not capable of bringing us to an understanding of the fundamental texture of pain. Pain can only be investigated with the non-conceptual observation of meditation.
But before such natural ease can be considered, it is indispensable to be able to walk, trot, canter and gallop—without falling—when circumstances cause the horse to stumble, swerve, or rear.
The term ‘functional success’ here simply refers to being a conventionally psychologically healthy adult, i.e., with the ability to carry out actions and plans – and take them to completion with competence. It does not refer to the acquisition of wealth or fame – it simply refers to capability. Once functional success is achieved, the fact that it undermines itself in a predictable manner becomes increasingly evident with observation.
If one gives up (or fails to exert enough effort to obtain what is desired), then the point at which suspicion of success arises is never reached. With the obtainment of desire—either as possessions, circumstances, or associations—something unexpected occurs. This is often presented as disappointment at the hollowness or worthlessness of desired objects – but, whereas this is useful from a renunciate point of view, it does not address what Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche describes as the ‘infinite purity of the phenomenal world’.
In order to enter the path of transformation it is necessary to see that identity is momentary. The ‘I’—of what I may be—is only there, in the instant. This ‘I’ cannot be made into a project. A project is anything that extends ‘I’ beyond the moment.
Shi-nè means remaining uninvolved. The literal meaning of shi-nè is peaceful dwelling or calm abiding – but these terms are not as pragmatically descriptive as remaining uninvolved. Shi-nè is the practice which undermines addictive referential attachment to the thought process. The word ‘referential’ describes the way in which phenomena—including conceptuality—are employed to prove that individual identity exists.
Shi-nè provides face-to-face experience with: insecurity, fear, loneliness, vulnerability, and bewilderment. These underlying tensions are common to all – and create distortion whether or not shi-nè is practised. Avoiding shi-nè is therefore not an answer. There is no choice in the situation. Whether the dualistic condition is acknowledged or not – it is what it is.
Self-hidden vulnerabilities cause greater conflict in being hidden than in being exposed. Clarity spontaneously arises from the discovery of openness within the practice of shi-nè – and, once openness is discovered, the experience of the colour, tone, and texture of thought is also discovered. These qualities arise because sufficient experience of openness is developed in which thought is seen in a spatial context. Self-transparency manifests – and motivation becomes simpler in being seen nakedly. A natural compassion arises – a compassion which does not need to be forced or fabricated. This is the first real taste of freedom.
It will show that: To practise perfectly is to proceed without force. If the attempt is made to force thought out – the mind rebels. If the attempt is made to force thought to be continuous – the mind rebels. This is why, in the practice of shi-nè, thought is not encouraged – yet neither is it blocked. It is expedient now to introduce the adage: Meditation – isn’t. Getting used to – is. When it is said that ‘Meditation isn’t – it means that meditation is not a method of doing. It is a method of not-doing. There is no involvement in doing anything – there is simply the maintenance of presence in motiveless observation. When it is said that ‘Getting used to is’ – it means simply getting used to – being. This requires acclimatisation to the undefined dimension of existence – getting used to being referenceless.
The practice of shi-nè therefore, is the gateway to the art of freedom – but first it is necessary to disengage from the imagination – and cease to invent. Working with active imagination or envisionment4 belongs to the sphere of Tantra. Although those tantric practices are extremely valuable, their principle and function is different from that of Dzogchen sem-dé. Dzogchen sem-dé moves beyond emptiness and that which arises from emptiness into the sphere in which there is simply naked nature of perception – rigpa.
Stripped of referential clinging to the illusion of duality,7 mind is self-divested through bare attention. The essential reality of what exposes itself, is simply as it is.
Mistrust of existence is the primary dualistic fixation – but it is a veiled mistrust which disguises itself as obduracy, irritation, obsessiveness, suspicion, and depression. Because existence is mistrusted, the experience of being has to be continually scanned for concretely viable proofs. This mistrust of existence sets the scene for the manufacture of intermittent yet interminable struggle with the world.
Once struggle is underway: there must concomitantly be struggle with the outcome of that struggle, in order that the activity of struggling maintains itself.
Whilst practising shi-nè—when attention is found within the gap which arises between thoughts—the inclination is to fill such gaps with conceptual material in order to feel comfortable. Within these gaps, the inclination is to: grab the experience of the gap; to retreat from the gap; or to retract presence from the gap. These three modes are termed attraction, aversion, and indifference. Whatever the mode of reaction however, the end result is the same: the gap is compulsively filled.
The tendency is to do anything rather than remain present in the openness of being. Gaps of any kind—because they contain no confirmation of existence—are habitually filled. There is no intrinsic human trust in beingness. Being is both: thought and absence of thought; phenomena and emptiness; pattern and chaos. When practising shi-nè however, it becomes evident that this existential definition is not comfortable to a dualistic mindset.
In order to exist, ‘I’ have to know—all the time—that ‘I’ exist. In order to be convinced of that knowledge, ‘I’ need constant proof of ‘my’ existence in terms of finding ‘myself’ to be: solid, permanent, separate, continuous, and defined. The discovery of shi-nè confronts fear of non-existence as being both the driving force of duality – and the sparkling through of nonduality. So—in one sense—it is quite justifiable to mistrust the nature of personal identity. That mistrust however, is usually aimed in the wrong direction. The open dimension of being is mistrusted rather than the conceptual criteria by which existence is habitually validated.
it is discovered that definitions of existence are a barrier to enjoying existence. The barrier is built of feelings of insubstantiality, fear, isolation, agitation, and phlegmatic tedium. Shi-nè is a provocative irritant to each of these feelings. Life also irritates these feelings – but not as definitively. As long as there is insistence on maintaining fixed definitions of personal identity, the practice of shi-nè and life will both appear to promote dualistic discomforts – and temporary dualistic remedies for them.
the relaxation of that continual struggle for self-definition.
they are. It reveals—either impishly or demonically—a strong belief in definitions. Shi-nè displays—either daintily or dreadfully—that dualistic mind thrives on definitions.
Diffidence, susceptibility, deficiency, mistakenness, and alienation—paired with confidence, perspicacity, benevolence, accomplishment, and relaxed openness—relate with the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
What should it have beyond what it is? Seeking for what might be lacking, can the nature of what is missing be elucidated? What should anyone have beyond what they are? What is this ‘incompleteness’? How does this ‘sense’ arise—if no basis can be discovered—on which it could rest? These are peculiar questions – but they may shed…
According to the Aro gTér,12 referentiality is the process of attaching to thoughts in order to provide proofs of existence. Referentiality is an unending unfulfilling process. The practice of shi-nè highlights the process of…
Thoughts, ideas, images, feelings, sensations, people, places, and things however, are not reference points in themselves. They are empty of referential qualities – but phenomena are reduced to reference…
The messages that are imagined as being received from the phenomenal world are attributed rather…
Without thoughts there are no reference points. Without thoughts there is nothing to validate the experiential qualities of being as solid, permanent, separate, continuous, and defined. Shi-nè is getting used to that. In everyday life, the continual search for reference points…
Although the sensation of unsatisfactoriness is irritating or torturous, it appears to be endurable – in that it satisfies the need for self-definition. This is what makes it possible to be distracted from being through continual attempts to be – and this ‘attempting to be’ is manufactured by ‘doing’: ‘attempting to be solid’ is acted out; ‘attempting to be permanent’ is acted out; ‘attempting to be separate’ is acted out; ‘attempting to be continuous’ is…
This basic misconception is that it is only the form qualities of being which have the capacity to validate existence. Dualistic vision takes ‘existence’ and ‘non-existence’ to be mutually exclusive – and in so doing, strays into unending cycles of dissatisfaction. Through grading what is perceived in terms of reference…
what is perceived substantiates personal definitions, attraction arises. If personal definitions are threatened, aversion manifests. If the phenomena of perception neither substantiate nor threaten personal definitions, there is indifference. What cannot be manipulated referentially is ignored. Phenomena are rarely experienced as they are. Experience is limited according to the need for…
Finding Mind to be a referenceless ocean of space allows the dualistic knot of panic to untie itself. In experiencing this space, a brilliant discovery is made: being referenceless is not death. If immanent incidence13 can be maintained in natural uncontrived presence—without sinking into oblivious drowse—spontaneous clarity is disinhibited. Stars appear in the sky and their brilliance is reflected in the referenceless ocean of being. Explanations such as this can either be understood on the basis of immediate recognition—which originates in practice—or from the sparkling through of the nondual state.
The further the practice of sitting is taken, the more open the situation becomes. The faculties become less limited by conventional logic.
Shi-nè is the gateway to the experiential freedom in which individuation and oceanic experience are not mutually exclusive. The traditional analogy is of a fish within an ocean. When fish and ocean14 begin to participate in each other – it is realised that many seeming polarities of experience are simply ornaments of the nondual state.
Nondual realisation is possible at any moment. The intrinsic spaciousness of being is a continuous reminder to us of nondual beingness.
The idea is that the audience forgets that they are watching an intangible image projected onto a screen. There is an illusion of solidity, permanence, separation, continuity, and definition – and the audience relates to that as being real. When watching a film, the audience has to pretend that it is real in order to enjoy the film. This—in the language of drama—is called ‘willing suspension of disbelief’. With regard to the sense of being however, ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ is an actively determined—continuously prolonged—withdrawal of disbelief.
From the perspective of conventional filtered vision, the phenomena of perception are seductive, provocative, and highly misleading. Substantiality and insubstantiality dance together. It could resemble a fan dance in which the ostrich-plumes of emptiness and phenomena occlude reality, whilst simultaneously being none other than the voluptuousness of being that is being titillatingly occluded. Although, somehow, there is something else – but it can only be seen if occasionally meditation dispenses with the duality of the fans.
The naked lady of nonduality15 is only occluded fleetingly by the flickering feathers of the ostrich-plume fans. Unless this is understood, it is impossible to see what is happening. Unless it is realised that both the lady and her fans are equally naked and equally delightful,16 nothing is perceived other than form – and that form is neither the lady nor her fans. It…
The struggle required to maintain this illusion stems from the fact that nonduality sparkles through the fabric of duality – and this sparkling continually undermines dualistic attempts at manipulations. Being is continually poised on the brink of effortlessness – but continually creates distractions in order to sustain the sense of divorced individuation. These delirious, distressing, and dreary deviations from effortlessness are the mechanisms employed to maintain the illusion of duality. These mechanisms are constantly under threat of disillusionment. Disillusionment is the continuous nondual intimidation offered by the nature of reality itself – and, from the experience of this ‘intimidation’, there…
Nonduality, on the other hand, is completely relaxed in the flow of whatever is. It could be said that if all phenomena had the duration of mere minutes (if everything changed erratically everywhere) dualism might not be able to maintain itself. Nothing that comes into existence has the qualities of solidity, permanence, separateness, continuity, or definition. These qualities can…
Because everything shares these qualities on a temporary basis, it becomes possible to generate…
These versions of reality however, are simply further fan-dances – where the ostrich-plumes are either: substantiality and insubstantiality; permanence and impermanence; separateness and indivisibility;…
These fan-dances, from the nondual perspective, are not samsara. Nor are they nirvana. They are therefore beyond illusion. They are…
Shi-nè expedites experience of time without content – mind…
The nature of Mind is sheer brilliant emptiness. The instruction/direction—at this stage of practice—is to remain in this empty state and to enter into what is known as stabilised shi-nè. Stabilised shi-nè18 is a condition of mind in which mental events no longer arise for substantial periods within sitting sessions. Having reached the stage of simply continuing – the…
Duality is the artificial separation and insularisation of emptiness and form.↩︎
Female gender is used because the nondual state is called Küntuzangmo (kun tu bZang mo, Skt. Samantabadri)—total wholesomeness—in the Aro gTér lineage.
Küntuzangmo is the female equivalent to Küntuzangpo (kun tu bZang po) more generally used in the Nyingma tradition. Künzang Yab-yum (Küntuzangmo and Küntuzangpo in sexual union) is an anthropomorphic representation of the nondual state.↩︎
Oceans are referenceless if their boundaries cannot be distinguished. The sun by day—and the moon and stars by night—allow navigation – but there is no intention or design behind these appearances. The ocean of Mind is referenceless – yet the play of Mind-phenomena allows conceptual navigation. There is however, no intention or design beyond the energetic play of that which arises within Mind. Concepts arise in random-order; in arbitrary-pattern – and as Mind-phenomena they are simply an aspect of the vivid displays of primordial compassion.
Gazing2 is an openness which sees—with transparence3— the nature of our relationship with reference points. Dualistic reactions to sheer naked presence4 of the nondual state cause convoluted contrivances to play themselves out as the dualistic texture of life experience. We therefore act as if there were no connection between what we are and where we are – as if there were no connection between ‘I’ and what this ‘I’ has come to describe as ‘the external world’.
Within this free condition—of the natural philosophy of reality—everything subtly affects and changes everything else. It is therefore not possible to set up a ‘private reality’ without creating a staggering array of absurdly unworkable complexities. Any attempt to insularise areas of interest or involvement is always subject to the continuing modifications that are outside our…
The fabric of existence is a fluxing web5 or ‘magical manifestation web’ of infinite dimensions. Existence is a fluxing web whose threads are the energy of form and…
One cannot ‘enact’ without affecting everything and, at the same time, being affected by everything. Pattern affects pattern, creating further pattern. Pattern evolves out of chaos and becomes chaos again. Pattern and randomness dance together: ripples in water extend and collide with other extending ripples; a fish leaps to catch an insect; a wild goose takes to the sky; the wind blows; and, a child throws a pebble into the lake. Nothing in this fluxing web happens…
Beyond the experience of emptiness6 is the experience of how energy manifests as the…
It is not surprising that this idea exists – because many forms of meditation instruction deal with the stabilisation of shi-nè, in which emptiness is the goal. It is not unusual therefore, that little emphasis is…
Dzogchen however, requires subtlety and precision with regard to how emptiness is defined as being an aspect of the goal. This is not particularly controversial, because the Heart Sutra states quite…
The aspect of Sutra10 which equates with form is compassionate activity. Form is never seen as separable from…
If emptiness and form are nondual, then the experience of emptiness must relate with the unimpeded arising and dissolving of form. From this perspective, emptiness without relation to form could…
Let us examine the matter in closer detail. Emptiness is the fruit of the practice of shi-nè. The end result of this practice is the…
The discovery of emptiness is a stage in the process of realising the beginningless nondual state. So, if we become fixated with the idea of resting in the space of Mind…
Mind without thought is a condition which is as unnatural as Mind occluded by thought. So why proceed thus far, merely to experience another limited state of being? In order to answer this question we need…
Observing Mind in this way would merely reveal an endless series of thoughts – and this self-limiting activity would never uncover the nature of Mind: it would just ensnare us in an intellectual kaleidoscope, which we would doom ourselves to revolve incessantly. Unfortunately that would be the end of the quest whether we realised it or not. It…
Thought would be examining thought with thought – which would become incrementally ludicrous. The thoughts with which thoughts were examined would have to be examined – and what would examine those thoughts apart from thought (which would also need to be examined)? Thought cannot examine itself in any ultimate sense – it is a closed system. Thought can no more examine its own nature than a knife cut itself, or an eye see itself. The only way an eye can see itself is to avail itself of…
In order to discover what other means there are at our disposal to investigate the nature of thought, we need to detach from obsessive relationship with thought. So shi-nè—the practice of…
Thinking does not prove that there is continuity in terms of that which gives rise to thought. Mind is misunderstood as a patchwork or a pastiche of interlocking, overlapping thought. It is as if one were looking at the surface of a lake ruffled by the wind, or the sky churning with clouds.
When involvement with thought is retracted however, the turbulence diminishes – the cloud-cover attenuates. The wind subsides and we begin to see reflections on the surface of the lake. Occasional gusts may ruffle the surface again – but we know that water is not always in motion; sometimes it is still.
As soon as it is understood that the two-dimensional screen of thought is a construction, we can commence to inaugurate the process of discovering emptiness. Once emptiness is revealed, the concomitant discovery is that existence without reference points is possible.
Both are partial conditions – but, once we have learnt that we can let go of thought, we can open up to a more fluid, frictionless, non-adhesive relationship with thought. It may come as a surprise…
Many practitioners therefore, come to the conclusion that thought itself is the enemy. Thought however, is a natural function of Mind. Where nothing arises from emptiness, there is no energy – and, consequently, no clarity. The reason for continuing in practice in order to arrive at a state without thought…
Lhatong If we return to the idea: meditation – isn’t, getting used to – is, we can see that the process, or space of unlearning, is getting used to the referenceless quality of being. Letting go of neurotic involvement with thought can be looked at in a similar way to letting go of a drinking problem. If one wishes to overcome alcoholism, one may well have to desist from drinking for a protracted period. If however, it never becomes safe to drink again—without the fear of…
The time spent resisting the inclination to become inebriated—and time undergone without the sense of deprivation—are significant to the learning process. Time is deployed—in this case—to prove that alcohol is not needed in order to live. Once there is the certainty that drunkenness is no longer a refuge, one can drink and see what happens.14…
The dissolution of shi-nè can seem to be the defeat of everything one has sat so long to accomplish – but it is a vital part of the process if one is interested in continuing the journey into vastness. Unless shi-nè is dissolved there is a possibility of becoming addicted to absence. Practitioners who simply…
It is difficult to remain for long in stabilised shi-nè without drifting into sleepy shi-nè. It is comforting to dwell in the condition of sleepy shi-nè and—from the initial standpoint of never having…
In order to dissolve shi-nè, we have to allow namthogs to re-emerge – but not by re-engaging in the neurotic process of generating reference points. When we dissolve shi-nè—and allow the natural energy of Mind to re-emerge from…
This type of experience is likened to the leaping of fish from the still surface of a lake. When fabulous fish leap into existence from nothingness—exploding the mirror surface of the lake—there are three vital considerations: the still lake; the leaping fish; and, the awareness which is present in both. The still lake is emptiness, or the…
The leaping fish, or arising namthogs (texture/colour/pattern/ thought/sensation), move without referential co-ordinates.…
Namthogs now arise in a spatial context. Lhatong allows the experience of colour, texture, and tone. With the practice of lhatong, we find the presence of awareness in the movement of the energy which arises from the empty state. Within this spaciousness we can ultimately find moments of instant presence, or nondual recognition of being. In this way, the movement of arising and dissolving namthogs becomes the nature of the path. One method of allowing…
This movement of namthogs—this jumping of the fish from the clear lake of stabilised shi-nè—is called gYo-wa. gYo-wa means ‘movement’ – and it is in this movement that the presence of awareness must be found (rather than losing presence through attachment to the intellectual content of the moving namthogs). No comment is made on the namthogs. There are no judgements as to whether the jumping fish are beautiful or grotesque – presence…
These auxiliary practices—belonging to the categories of mind, voice, and body—relate to the three spheres of being. These are chö-ku, long-ku and trül-ku. Chö-ku is the sphere of unconditioned potentiality – the dimension of emptiness. Long-ku is the sphere of intangible appearance – the dimension of energy (the infinite display of light and sound). Trül-ku is the sphere of realised manifestation – the dimension of physicality. Whatever problem of distractedness arises, one begins at the level of mind. If that proves ineffective, one moves to the level of voice. If that is fruitless, one moves to the level of body. The three exercises which follow are practices of mind, voice, and body and should be practised in that sequence.
Find the presence of awareness in the appearance of the ‘A’.
Two: the practice of voice
Allow the ‘A’ to attenuate gradually and disappear into silence. Repeat the ‘A’ with each out breath. Allow the sense of being to be flooded by the sound of the ‘A’. Find the presence of awareness in the dimension of the sound. Whenever distracted – return to the presence of awareness in the dimension of sound.
Whilst lying down – simply practise lhatong.
It symbolises the indestructibility of the primordial state of awareness. The three spheres of being are often called ‘the three vajras’, illustrating that the integrated condition of these three spheres of being are beyond conditioning.
The principle of this practice is nalma.
Through a highly specific method of exhaustion, neurotic involvement is weakened with respect to thought as the definition of being. In the state of nalma it is difficult to conceptualise. Through nalma therefore, it can become easier to enter into a condition where frames of reference can dissipate. In the state of nalma there is far less interest in generating thought merely to identify and fix reference points.
The longer it takes to become exhausted, the longer it takes to recover from exhaustion. The longer it takes to recover, the sleepier one becomes in the process of recovery. Vajra posture solves this problem, inasmuch as it enables us to reach the state of nalma extraordinarily quickly.
we are left feeling energised, clear, and refreshed. The rapid quality of this practice is crucial – so, if it takes too long to reach the state of nalma, one would need to improve the posture in order that it became more painful. To experience pain is not appealing, but the idea of arriving at the most painful possible position is that as soon as it is found – one collapses. This should occur within seconds rather than minutes.
Dzogchen practice is not oriented towards overriding
The vajra posture is part of the trül’khor naljor23 system. This system has some superficial similarities to hatha yoga but it is different in a number of essential respects – especially with regard to vajra posture. Unlike hatha yoga, attainment of the perfect posture is not the principle; nalma is the principle. Reaching the state of nalma quickly is one’s primary concern. Those who have experience of hatha yoga should not approach vajra posture with the attitude encouraged in that system vis-à-vis the perfect posture. The principle is nalma, so it is important to discover the exact point where the angle of your legs will lead to almost instant collapse.
Nyi’mèd Simultaneous awareness24 of the clear lake and the leaping fish is the first glimpse of nondual experience. This is the discovery of nyi’mèd – and the vivid portal of Dzogchen.
There are immediately three vital considerations: the still lake; the leaping fish; and, the awareness which is present in both.
This has to be explained before we can proceed in the attempt to understand nyi’mèd – even though it may appear convoluted to divide a unitary experience purely in order to comprehend its unitary nature. As we come closer to the actual practice of Dzogchen, paradox becomes, increasingly, the default medium of communication. The division between the clear lake and the leaping fish is made in order to define methods of practice.
The fact that the clear lake and the leaping fish are experienced separately—in order, later, to discern the absence of their division—both defines the dualistic condition25 of the practitioner and provides the methodology for realising nonduality.
With nyi’mèd, what is sought is the lack of difference: between the quality of the experience of emptiness and the quality of the experiences of form; between space and energy; between absence of namthogs and movement of namthogs; and, between mi-togpa and togpa. These experiences need to be discovered as having one taste. One needs to find oneself in the condition in which one is not distracted from presence of awareness – either by mental events or by their absence.
is to recognise that manifest experience. Nyi’mèd occurs when one finds oneself in transition—without design—between nè-pa, the fruitional phase of shi-nè, and gYo-wa, the fruitional phase of lhatong.
These fruitional phases are termed: nè-pa29 (absence with presence, absence of thought, or presence of awareness)30 and gYo-wa, the free non-referential movement of that which arises in mind.
is only when both are free to alternate—beyond the remit of referentiality—that the uncontrived nature of reality can be said to be present. Having discovered the awareness that is non-separate in the presence of that uncontrived nature, one experiences the one taste of emptiness and form – and they become the ornaments of rigpa.
The one taste of nè-pa and gYo-wa cannot be sought. One cannot actually practise nyi’mèd. One can however, be open to the possibility of experiencing the one taste – and that in itself can be described as nyi’mèd.
Lhundrüp Lhundrüp is the fourth and final phase of the four naljors. This phase of practice is the actual practice of Dzogchen. It concerns the integration—of whatever arises in every moment—with the nondual state. Lhundrüp is no longer necessarily a seated posture – but rather the continuity of nyi’mèd into physical activity or into ‘ordinary life’.
5 – dzogchen: direct introduction
The four naljors are the practices which are the principal means of entry into the practice of Dzogchen sem-dé1 – the series of ‘the nature of Mind’. The four ting-ngé ’dzin2—the actual practice of Dzogchen
Ting-ngé ’dzin is the Tibetan term which equates to ‘samadhi’ in Sanskrit. Ting-ngé ’dzin is usually translated as ‘absorption’ – so we will begin by examining this word in order to see whether we can develop the sense of meaningfulness required.
This is the sense in which something receives the energy of an impact. The power of what arises is freely accommodated. It is already there, exactly where it is. Its energy is its movement and the impact is the vividness of its essential condition.
This is the state in which one is engrossed. This relates to the condition in which subject and object merge – the distinction of observer and observed have dissolved into each other.
Here every aspect of experience is assimilated of– itself—into itself—by itself. Everything is assimilated into the condition of rigpa.
gYo-wa means movement – and the meaning of this term relates to finding the presence of awareness within the dimension of the movement of that which arises in mind. When we speak of the four ting-ngé ’dzin – the initial phase is termed nè-pa and the second mi gYo-wa. With respect to the first ting-ngé ’dzin being designated as nè-pa (the nyam of shi-nè) one would expect the second ting-ngé ’dzin to be designated as gYo-wa (the nyam of lhatong) – but this is not the case.
So, gYo-wa is the phase in which total identification with movement occurs as a result of lhatong – and mi gYo-wa is immediate. Mi gYo-wa could therefore be described as being unmoved within the movement.
Lhundrüp is in-itself the fruition of lhundrüp – inasmuch as lhundrüp is immediate and solely fruitional. It can be described as continuous fruition. It is fruition in-and-of-itself – and is therefore described the self-fruition of lhundrüp. Nè-pa means ‘absence with presence’, and equates with being undisturbed. Mi gYo-wa means unmoving, and equates with not being altered by ‘that which moves’. Nyam-nyid means nature of the nyams and equates to undividedness. Lhundrüp means spontaneity, and equates with uninhibited, unimpeded activity.
The fruit or result of any practice cannot actually be practised as such, because the end result of anything is theoretically a position of stasis. One can make a journey and arrive at a destination – but having arrived at one’s destination, all that can be said is that one ‘enjoys being there’. The journey involves whatever it involves and there is always a sense of time and distance – but with a fruitional path, those aspects of time and space have no direct application. All one can ‘do’ when one reaches the goal, is to remain.
Ocean and waves – sky and clouds The Dzogchen teachings use two major analogies with regard to mind and the nature of Mind: ‘waves and the ocean in which they move’ and ‘sky and the clouds which emerge and dissolve there’. If we look at Mind as being an ocean, we could say: “Ocean can never be defined by the waves which roll endlessly as its surface. One could study waves into eternity and come no closer to a definition of ocean. All one can say is that waves occur in the ocean and that they are limitless in their forms. “As soon as we relinquish our attempts to define ocean according to its waves – we realise that waves and ocean are indivisible. Ocean requires no definition – yet waves continually ornament the ocean with their temporary definitions.” If we look at Mind as being a sky, we could say: “The sky is vast and beyond limits. Within the unfettered space of the sky there is endless movement. Clouds appear and disappear. They appear from out of the sky and they evaporate back into the sky. The sky is not affected by the clouds which manifest within it – even when it is completely overcast and it appears as if its expansive blueness no longer exists. “Whether we see the sky or not – it remains there, unaltered by that which appears to occlude it. We could take the blue sky to be the perfect state, and yet to be without clouds is not the nature of the sky.”
One needs to have experienced the fruit of shi-nè and lhatong in order to make anything of direct introduction. Without these experiences, introduction by means of the ting-ngé ’dzin is impossible.
Having received the direct transmission, the disciple remains without doubt. If there is doubt, then direct transmission has not taken place. If direct transmission has taken place then there will be no doubt. Where there is no doubt, all that is left, is to remain – to continue in the state.
Shri Simha wrote down the ‘Eighteen Esoteric Instructions’- of the series of the nature of Mind on white silk using milk from a white goat. The words only became clear when held over smoke.
The word karma is often misconstrued to mean a moralistic acceptance that ‘my situation (and the situation of others) is as it is – and arises solely from past actions.’ The corollary to this is that, since past actions cannot be changed, one’s current situation cannot be changed – and consequently, there is no purpose in endeavouring to change anything. This view of karma can lead to a callous position in which one does not need to feel sympathy – on the grounds that the situation of others is their own fault. Also, this view suits a feudal society in which life runs smoothly when everyone accepts their place.
The idea that karma is not a materialistic system of cause and effect—but an experiential correlation of perception and response—was threatening to the socio-religious hierarchy. If one could escape karma through dissolving the state of mind which gave rise to the karma, then there was no reason why people should accept that their lowly feudal social status was karmic in origin and unchangeable. If it is not karma which fixes one’s social status then social reform becomes possible – and this idea would be unwelcome to a feudal elite wishing to maintain the status quo.
Dzogchen transmission therefore had to be given in secret – as it was deemed too dangerous for the general population.
Before returning to Tibet, Vairotsana also met Garab Dorje, the first human teacher of Dzogchen, from whom he received further teachings.
This view would mean that they believed Dzogchen was a commodity which could be owned. Dzogchen however, being the primordial state, is owned by everyone – but this is not a concept that settles well in a feudal society.