Dzogchen Quotes

This is what the path of Dharma is like. It's not that you have to do all the practices. It is sufficient to take just one of them, whichever one you really have an affinity with, and through practicing that one alone, for the rest of your life, you will achieve enlightenment. Whichever practice you choose doesn't matter; they are all valid methods for achieving enlightenment—if you practice. The key is to practice with diligence for the rest of your life.

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a great Dzogchen master of the last century, taught, “There is one thing we always need, and that is the watchman named mindfulness, the guard who is on the lookout for when we get carried away in mindlessness.

When we begin to genuinely appreciate the illusory, dreamlike nature of our waking experiences, we are starting to mix those appearances with the appearances of our nighttime dreams. We are bringing those two states closer together.

Consider the fact that no matter how many planets and stars are reflected in a lake, these reflections are encompassed within the water itself; that no matter how many universes there are, they are encompassed within a single space; and that no matter how vast and how numerous the sensory appearances of samsara and nirvana may be, they are encompassed within the single nature of mind (sem-nyid).

All the various types of teachings and spiritual paths are related to the different capacities of understanding that different individuals have. There does not exist, from an absolute point of view, any teaching which is more perfect or effective than another. A teaching's value lies solely in the inner awakening which an individual can arrive at through it. If a person benefits from a given teaching, for that person that teaching is the supreme path, because it is suited to his or her nature and capacities. There's no sense in trying to judge it as more or less elevated in relation to other paths to realization.

When you have no hope, you have nothing to fear, nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing to lose.

Abiding in the space of the nature of mind, we not only are free, we are freedom.

All sentient beings are buddhas, but they are covered by temporary obscurations. When these are removed, they are truly buddhas enlightened.

To produce a primary [karmic] cause which is potentially capable of having an effect, three things are necessary: intention, the actual action, and then satisfaction.

The essence of meditation practice in Dzogchen is encapsulated by these four points: ▪ When one past thought has ceased and a future thought has not yet risen, in that gap, in between, isn’t there a consciousness of the present moment; fresh, virgin, unaltered by even a hair’s breadth of a concept, a luminous, naked awareness? Well, that is what Rigpa is! ▪ Yet it doesn’t stay in that state forever, because another thought suddenly arises, doesn’t it? This is the self-radiance of that Rigpa. ▪ However, if you do not recognize this thought for what it really is, the very instant it arises, then it will turn into just another ordinary thought, as before. This is called the “chain of delusion,” and is the root of samsara. ▪ If you are able to recognize the true nature of the thought as soon as it arises, and leave it alone without any follow-up, then whatever thoughts arise all automatically dissolve back into the vast expanse of Rigpa and are liberated. Clearly this takes a lifetime of practice to understand and realize the full richness and majesty of these four profound yet simple points, and here I can only give you a taste of the vastness of what is meditation in Dzogchen. … Dzogchen meditation is subtly powerful in dealing with the arisings of the mind, and has a unique perspective on them. All the risings are seen in their true nature, not as separate from Rigpa, and not as antagonistic to it, but actually as none other–and this is very important–than its “self-radiance,” the manifestation of its very energy. Say you find yourself in a deep state of stillness; often it does not last very long and a thought or a movement always arises, like a wave in the ocean.  Don’t reject the movement or particulary embrace the stillness, but continue the flow of your pure presence. The pervasive, peaceful state of your meditation is the Rigpa itself, and all risings are none other than this Rigpa’s self-radiance. This is the heart and the basis of Dzogchen practice. One way to imagine this is as if you were riding on the sun’s rays back to the sun: …. Of couse there are rough as well as gentle waves in the ocean; strong emotions come, like anger, desire, jealousy. The real practitioner recognizes them not as a disturbance or obstacle, but as a great opportunity. The fact that you react to arisings such as these with habitual tendencies of attachment and aversion is a sign not only that you are distracted, but also that you do not have the recognition and have lost the ground of Rigpa. To react to emotions in this way empowers them and binds us even tighter in the chains of delusion. The great secret of Dzogchen is to see right through them as soon as they arise, to what they really are: the vivid and electric manifestation of the energy of Rigpa itself. As you gradually learn to do this, even the most turbulent emotions fail to seize hold of you and dissolve, as wild waves rise and rear and sink back into the calm of the ocean. The practitioner discovers–and this is a revolutionary insight, whose subtlety and power cannot be overestimated–that not only do violent emotions not necessarily sweep you away and drag you back into the whirlpools of your own neuroses, they can actually be used to deepen, embolden, invigorate, and strengthen the Rigpa. The tempestuous energy becomes raw food of the awakened energy of Rigpa. The stronger and more flaming the emotion, the more Rigpa is strengthened.

In Guhyagarbha (māyājāla tantra) it is said: In any of the four times and ten directions Enlightenment will not be found Except in the Mind, which is the fully enlightened state. Do not seek the Buddha in any other source. (Otherwise) even if the Buddha (himself) searches, it will not be found.

The light of the sun is the manifestation of the clarity of the sky; and the sky is the basic condition necessary for the manifestation of the sun's light. So, too, in the sky two, three, four, or any number of suns could arise; but the sky always remains indivisibly one sky. Similarly, every individual's state of presence is unique and distinct, but the void nature of the individual is universal, and common to all beings.

Even in our own lives, there are times when we want something so much that we cannot let go of the thought of it. Whether that is an object, a person or a state of mind, whatever it is, we long for it, but it remains out of reach. Then, at the very point where we totally give up and let go of it, we get what we have been wishing for.

The highest practice is the one that is most effective, not necessarily the one categorized as “higher.

What is drama, and what is dharma? I guess you could say drama is illusion that acts like truth, and dharma is truth itself—the way things are, the basic state of reality that does not change from day to day according to fashion or our mood or agenda.

Someone who begins to develop an interest in the teachings can tend to distance themselves from the reality of material things, as if the teachings were something completely apart from daily life. Often, at the bottom of all this, there is an attitude of giving up and running away from one's own problems, with the illusion that one will be able to find something that will miraculously help one to transcend all that. But the teachings are based on the principle of our actual human condition. We have a physical body with all its various limits: each day we have to eat, work, rest, and so on. This is our reality, and we can't ignore it.

Controlling the position of one's body and keeping a straight back are not contemplation, but can in fact become an obstacle to contemplation. ...when leaving the body 'uncontrolled' is spoken of, what is meant is simply allowing the body to remain in an authentic, uncorrected condition, in which it is not necessary to modify or improve anything. This is because, since all our attempts at correcting the body come from the reasoning mind, they are all false and artificial.

Although other (yānas) assert that liberation will be achieved by renouncing the objects, one will not be bound by the mere appearances or the mind and the objects (Yul Dang Ch'os-Su sNang-Ba), but will be bound if one attaches (Zhen-Pa) to them. So it is taught (in scriptures) that one should renounce apprehension and attachment. Tilopā said: 'Appearances do not bind, but attachments do. So, Nāropa, cut off the attachments....

Enlightenment, or Nirvana, is nothing other than the state beyond all obstacles, in the same way that from the peak of a very high mountain one always sees the sun. Nirvana is not a paradise or some special place of happiness, but is in fact the condition beyond all dualistic concepts, including those of happiness and suffering. When all our obstacles have been overcome, and we find ourselves in a state of total presence, the wisdom of enlightenment manifests spontaneously without limits, just like the infinite rays of the sun. The clouds have dissolved, and the sun is finally free to shine once again.

Dzogchen masters.

All the philosophical theories that exist have been created by the mistaken dualistic minds of human beings. In the realm of philosophy, that which today is considered true, may tomorrow be proved to be false. No one can guarantee a philosophy's validity. Because of this, any intellectual way of seeing whatever is always partial and relative. The fact is that there is no truth to seek or to confirm logically; rather what one needs to do is to discover just how much the mind continually limits itself in a condition of dualism. Dualism is the real root of our suffering and of all our conflicts. All our concepts and beliefs, no matter how profound they may seem, are like nets which trap us in dualism. When we discover our limits we have to try to overcome them, untying ourselves from whatever type of religious, political or social conviction may condition us. We have to abandon such concepts as 'enlightenment', 'the nature of the mind', and so on, until we are no longer satisfied by a merely intellectual knowledge, and until we no longer neglect to integrate our knowledge with our actual existence.

If these key points are not understood, some people will neglect clear visualization and the holding of vajra pride, and concentrate solely on the repetition of mantra. Some will hold that the deities and pure realms exist in their own right, and so even though they engage in sadhana practice they will not awaken to buddhahood. Thus, you must understand these key points!

From this perspective, we can say that genuine faith is simply confidence and trust in ourselves, in our own intelligence and understanding, which then extends to the path we’re traveling.

No matter what we do in this life, all the information we gather and all the knowledge we accumulate and all the effort we make to amass wealth through work and business—when the time comes for us to leave this life, all of it is futile and in vain. It will not help us in any way whatsoever. I can easily say this since I am not educated at all! So I can smile and act big about this. Don’t be angry, please.

In Buddhism, we aren’t trying to look at the physical world by itself; instead, we’re looking at the mind and its relationship to the appearances of the world. We observe the mind to see what the mind itself is and how it acts in relation to our internal and external experiences of everything—from thoughts and emotions to actual things.

Ah, my young lad, powerful lord of awareness, you will not be freed merely by my explaining and your hearing such things. Examine and analyze the fundamental nature (ngang-tsul [ངང་ ཙུལ་]) of what I have set forth, so that direct experience is elicited from the depths of your being, and stabilize your ongoing understanding and awareness.

Methods can become an obstacle to abiding in non-dual awareness if the practitioner believes that one must use the practice to renounce something or transform something. Practices are only used to connect to the natural state and stabilize in it.

You do not need to fabricate at all. Once you utterly let be, involvement in thoughts of past, present and future subside. By letting be, you are no longer involved in the thoughts of the three times. When utterly letting be, wakefulness is vividly present.

In psychotherapy it’s common to think that problems begin at a certain point in life as a result of certain situations, and that the particular time and situation must be dealt with in order to remove the problems. This may be so for particular problems, but suffering begins long before childhood, long before birth. No matter how perfect the childhood, everyone will still have problems.

But it can happen that a phrase intended to indicate a state beyond concepts just becomes another concept in itself, in the same way that if you ask a person their name and they reply that they have no name, you will then perhaps mistakenly call them 'No name'.

Transcendent generosity is simply a willingness to be open and do whatever is necessary in the moment, without any philosophical or religious rationale. Seeing someone in need, you’re willing to share your wealth, your happiness, or your wisdom, and you’re also willing to share in the pain of others. Yet when you give, you need to do so with the awareness that your gift will be both appropriate and helpful.

When we speak of the sangha, we speak of the "arya sangha," which means the "exalted sangha". At the time of the Buddha this referred to the arhats and bodhisattvas, the disciples who studied under him and achieved various levels of realization through their practice. But now who is the arya sangha? It is all of us, all of the practitioners of the present time. The moment we take refuge, which is to begin on the path, we hold the title of "sangha". As such, you should understand that you are one of the Three Jewels. You shouldn't put the Three Jewels outside of yourselves; you should always think of yourselves as being one of the Three Jewels—and that includes your body, your speech, and your mind.

Refutation of the Assertion That the (Phenomenal) Appearances Are Mind Although forms appear to the mind, the (objective) appearances are not mind.... When the reflection of your face appears in a mirror, it appears as the face looks, because the clear surface of the mirror is capable of making the reflection appear and the face has the potential of appearing or of projecting the reflection. At that time, the reflection of the face is not the face, nor is there any other face than the face which imprinted it. Likewise, various kinds (of phenomena) are appearing in the deluded mind because of the interdependent origination of the causes and conditions of delusion. The various objective appearances, such as mountains, are not mind. Also there is nothing in the mind which truly exists, but (merely) appearances (created by the) delusory habituation of the mind. So they are the forms of delusory appearances. They are wrong appearances, just as the person who has "hairy vision" will see hair before his eyes....

To this I replied, "I still think that my body is not merely a sensory appearance, for surely it came from my parents, who were its cause and condition." He said, "If you think that your body came from your father and mother, then what are the beginning and end of these parents? What are their source, their location, their final destination? Tell me!" I answered, "I think that they exist, but I am not aware of what they are. It seems to me that a physical body without parents is not possible." He retorted, "Consider this. Who are the parents of the body in a dream, in the bardo, and in the hell realms?" With that, I arrived at the decision that this body has never existed, being simply a sensory experience.

Dra Thalgyur Tsawai Gyud,

I am so simple that you cannot understand me. I am so close to you that you cannot see me.

Our self is not a thing but a space of potential located inside the space of awareness,

In Dzogchen one learns to become responsible for oneself without following rules. A person who follows rules is like a blind person who needs someone to guide them in order to be able to walk. For this reason it is said that a Dzogchen practitioner must open his or her eyes to discover their condition, so that they will no longer be dependent on anyone or anything.

When your own painful experiences inspire you to the extent that you become truly determined to break free of suffering, that is what the Buddha taught as the attitude of “renunciation.

In the beginning, our one-pointed focus on our goal of personal freedom is necessary; however, if carried to extremes, it can also lead to a kind of narrow-mindedness and sense of claustrophobia.

The three poisons are exactly what creates the three realms of samsara. Attachment creates the realms of desire. Aversion creates the realms of form. Indifference creates the realms of formlessness.

We can give ourselves a little love and compassion, especially in hard times. Of course, we think of others, too, but we won’t have much compassion to give others if we’re not being kind to ourselves.

The truth is that a better society will only arise through the evolution of the individual. This is because society is made up of millions of individuals. To count to a million, one has to start with number one, which means one has to start with the individual, the only real place one can actually begin to change something. This doesn't mean putting oneself first in an egotistical way, but rather it involves our coming to understand the condition of the whole of humanity through understanding our own experience. With this experience as our guide, we will know how to behave with awareness in any circumstance in every type of society.

Everything is already integrated within this mind so it is not about keeping the good and the bad separate. The good and the bad have no essence or substance; they are the ceaseless play of the clarity of the mind.

The Gnostics believed that we can experience resurrection before death. In other words, Gnostics are granted such special knowledge that they can regenerate their bodies and resurrect themselves before dying. Moreover, they have special abilities to control their DNA. The Sufi Dervishes know and teach these practices. Additionally, in Dzogchen (a teaching from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism) they speak of the "Rainbow Body". The exceptional practitioners of Dzogchen, when they are about to die, concentrate on their Body of Pure Light. His physical body releases itself into a body of non-material light (a Sambhogakaya) with the capacity to exist and to remain where and when indicated by one's compassion. In Gnosticism, this is called the radiant body, resurrection body, or immortal body (the soma athanaton). This body has also been called 'The Philosopher's Stone.

But beyond the mind, beyond our thoughts, there is something we call the 'nature of the mind', the mind's true condition, which is beyond all limits. If it is beyond the mind, though, how can we approach an understanding of it? Let's take the example of a mirror. When we look into a mirror we see in it the reflected images of any objects that are in front of it; we don't see the nature of the mirror. But what do we mean by this 'nature of the mirror'? We mean its capacity to reflect, definable as its clarity, its purity, and its limpidity, which are indispensable conditions for the manifestation of reflections. This 'nature of the mirror' is not something visible, and the only way we can conceive of it is through the images reflected in the mirror. In the same way, we only know and have concrete experience of that which is relative to our condition of body, voice, and mind. But this itself is the way to understand their true nature.

In my experience, some Dzogchen masters are better teachers than others. I have been in the presence of several of the most revered Tibetan lamas of our time while they were ostensibly teaching Dzogchen, and most of them simply described this view of consciousness without giving clear instructions on how to glimpse it. The genius of Tulku Urgyen was that he could point out the nature of mind with the precision and matter-of-factness of teaching a person how to thread a needle and could get an ordinary meditator like me to recognize that consciousness is intrinsically free of self. There might be some initial struggle and uncertainty, depending on the student, but once the truth of nonduality had been glimpsed, it became obvious that it was always available—and there was never any doubt about how to see it again. I came to Tulku Urgyen yearning for the experience of self-transcendence, and in a few minutes he showed me that I had no self to transcend.

Whatever our desires may be, getting the object of our desire is not the same thing as contentment, which comes from within. In the end, we’ll never find complete contentment, a perfect sense of peace, if our mind isn’t content and at peace.

But karma is not in fact a material accumulation, and does not depend on externals; rather its power to condition us depends on the obstacles that impede our knowledge. If we compare our karma and the ignorance that creates it to a dark room, knowledge of the primordial state would be like a lamp, which, when lit in the room, at once causes the darkness to disappear, enlightening everything. In the same way, if one has the presence of the primordial state, one can overcome all hindrances in an instant.

The Buddhist view asserts that the nature of all beings is primordially pure and replete with positive qualities. Once we wake up enough to see through our confusion, we see that even our problematic thoughts and emotions are, at heart, part of this pure awareness.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

never give up on anyone. Even if you can’t help someone now, don’t abandon him or her mentally or close the door to your heart. That is the direct word of the Buddha, our ancient revolutionary friend, and if you forget it, you’ll hear it again from the mouth of the rebel buddha you’re living with right now.

Buddhism is primarily a study of mind and a system for training the mind. It is spiritual in nature, not religious. Its goal is self-knowledge, not salvation; freedom, not heaven. It relies on reason and analysis, contemplation and meditation, to transform knowledge about something into knowledge that surpasses understanding.

In Dzokchen, compassion is much more than the virtue of loving kindness. Nor does the word compassion in the Dzokchen context denote its English etymological meaning, “suffering together” or “empathy,” although both these meanings may be inferred. Essentially, compassion indicates an open and receptive mind responding spontaneously to the exigencies of an ever-changing field of vibration to sustain the optimal awareness that serves self-and-others’ ultimate desire for liberation and well-being. The conventional meaning of compassion denotes the latter, active part of this definition, and, due to the accretions of Christian connotation, response is limited to specifically virtuous activity. “Responsiveness” defines the origin and cause of selfless activity that can encompass all manner of response. On this nondual Dzokchen path virtue is the effect, not the cause; the ultimate compassionate response is whatever action maximizes Knowledge—loving kindness is the automatic function of Awareness.

There is a specific dzogchen meditation practice in which we bring ourselves to the place of stillness by closing the eyes and contemplating all of the body’s physical actions over a lifetime, action by action, day by day, year by year. Although we can’t review our entire life in a single meditation session, we can elicit enough physical memories to bring ourselves to the point of exhaustion. The instant we arrive at this point, we release all the actions into the stillness of the moment and abide without changing. “Abide without changing” means that as our thoughts and experiences continue to arise and dissolve, we continue to rest in our own nature and simply observe without elaborating. We try not to follow the past, plan the future, or change the present. We “leave it as it is.

In meditation which is a continuous flow of staying in the state at all times and in every circumstance there is neither suppression nor production of dwelling and proliferation; if there is dwelling, that is the dharmakaya’s own face and if there is proliferation, that is preserved as the self-liveliness of wisdom, so, “Then, whether there is proliferation or dwelling,” Whatever comes from mind’s liveliness as discursive thoughts, be it the truth of the source—afflictions of anger, attachment, and so on—or the truth of unsatisfactoriness—the flavours of experience which are the feelings of happiness, sadness, and so on—if the nature of the discursive thoughts is known as dharmata, they become the shifting events of the dharmakaya, so, “Anger, attachment, happiness, or sadness,” That does not finish it though; generally speaking if they are met with through the view but not finished with by bringing them to the state with meditation, they fall into ordinary wandering in confusion and if that happens, you are bound into cyclic existence by the discursive thoughts of your own mindstream and, dharma and your own mindstream having remained separate, you become an ordinary person who has nothing special about them. Not to be separated from a great non-meditated self-resting is what is needed . . . Additionally, whatever discursive thought or affliction arises, it is not something apart from dharmakaya wisdom, rather, the nature of those discursive thoughts is actual dharmakaya, the ground’s luminosity. If that, which is called ‘the mother luminosity resident in the ground’, is recognized, there is self-recognition of the view of self-knowing luminosity previously introduced by the guru and that is called ‘the luminosity of the practice path’. Abiding in one’s own face of the two luminosities of ground and path become inseparable is called ‘the meeting of mother and son luminosities’ so, “The previously-known mother luminosity joins with the son.

The true bodhisattva spirit grows out of this personal sense of freedom. You discover that you don't feel so needy anymore. You don't crave another refueling - with shamatha or with other people's love and attention - because you know within yourself how to be free, how to be confident. With this sense of security and freedom, you begin to direct your attention to the needs of others. The compassion expands.

the mind’s true nature of selflessness. We must see that, in the end, the root of all our suffering, all our pain, all our confusion is our own self-clinging, our sense of self-importance. That self is always causing us pain. There is no other root cause. It is just ego—that flash of “I” that’s the central reference point in our personal universe. No matter what we’re doing, our actions always come from and reflect back to this sense of self-consciousness. It’s the starting point of duality, the splitting apart of what’s naturally whole.

In the West everyone wants the “highest” practice, a wish that indicates a misunderstanding of the path. Everyone wants to hurry through the foundational practices (ngön dro). But great masters do these practices all their lives. They continue to contemplate impermanence, cultivate compassion, do purification practices, make offerings, and do Guru Yoga. It is not a stage to get over. The most accomplished masters and teachers do these practices and cultivate these qualities all the way to the highest stages of realization, because there is still benefit in doing them.

Buddhist spiritual path is the mind. The closest thing to the notion of a god in Buddhism is probably the state of enlightenment. But even enlightenment is regarded as a human accomplishment: the development of consciousness to its highest state. The Buddha taught that every human being has the capacity to achieve that level of realization. That’s the difference in the approaches of nontheistic and theistic traditions. If I said, “I want to become God,” it would sound crazy or even blasphemous to a theist. It would be considered a very ambitious, very ego-centered thought. But in the Buddhist tradition, we’re encouraged to become like Buddha—awakened ones.

First you make a solid substance, 'me,' and then you can apply an evaluative matrix: good, bad, right, wrong, successful, unsuccessful and so on. But when I am here with you there isn't a 'me' and a 'you'; there is 'me with you'. It is our being with each other that allows the evolution of the shared field of experience and moment by moment it is what it is. This is dzog pa chen po – it is complete – it is just this. What else should it be? 'Ah, but James you could have been talking about something else? Why did you choose this when you could have chosen that?' This has gone and that has never arrived. How you can compare the fantasy future to the vanished past I don't know, but we do it all the time and this is how we persecute ourselves: 'If only I had done that!' Not possible. Each moment is this.

The Three-Step Emotional Rescue Plan described in this book isn’t about having a perfect life or even a completely pain-free life. In the end, life is still life, with all of its challenges, mysteries, comedies, and tragedies. Some days may be stormier than others, but you know that sunshine will follow the blustery weather.

You’re not wearing rose-colored glasses—you can see challenges very clearly. But instead of only focusing on how hard it all is, you see possibility and potential within the intense energy of your emotions: anger’s brilliant clarity; jealousy’s content and generous heart; attachment’s pure love and compassion.

For any kind of mindfulness training to work for you, you have to be present in your life. That includes being present—mind and body—when your emotions are stirring things up. That’s when you want to be clear about your thoughts, and clear about what you see, hear, and feel. That’s when mindfulness really becomes your greatest friend.

Kindness is not always about saying yes or giving out compliments. But in whatever way it’s expressed, kindness never undermines or denigrates. Its message is always, Whatever you’re going through right now, it’s all right to be you—to be who you are.

So when emotions come up, mind the gap. First feel them, then hold still without reacting, and then look—look at the gap.

We can also lose our way if we misunderstand selflessness or emptiness. When we confuse relative reality with ultimate reality, or misinterpret ultimate reality as something that destroys the conventional world, then we fall into the trap of the nihilists who see no meaning or purpose in life. Then our view of emptiness is inspired by sadness and depression, and it becomes just another tool to shut everything down. Instead of looking at the world with joy, we see it as hopeless.

You’ll never find just emptiness or just compassion alone. On this elemental level, they are never divorced. It’s a somewhat romantic image—this universe of space and energy as passionate, loving, and selfless all at once.

However, whatever your own path is, wherever it takes you, there is one instruction you should protect and always carry with you: never give up on anyone. Even if you can’t help someone now, don’t abandon him or her mentally or close the door to your heart. That is the direct word of the Buddha, our ancient revolutionary friend, and if you forget it, you’ll hear it again from the mouth of the rebel buddha you’re living with right now.

Maybe you think you can wake up 50 percent, just enough to get beyond the “crazy” stage but not all the way to “wisdom.” However, it’s not the message of the Buddha or the intention of Buddhism to provide a partial recovery from confusion. The message of the Buddha is that you’re awake now and that you can, if you apply yourself, realize it.

Once we walk through that door, however, we’re met with a paradox: the forms disappear. On the other side, there are no statues of buddhas, no incense bowls, no sound of gongs or chanting, no tatami mats or brocades, no meditation cushions, and no meditators. Why? These forms and activities are simply the means to enter the open dimension of our own mind. The wisdom they point to has no tangible form of its own.

All of our training relies on these two practices: mindfulness and awareness. Awareness is our consciousness of being in the present. Mindfulness means “to remember” or “not to forget” to watch the mind and see when it drifts away from the present. The moment we see that, we’re back again. Without the activity of mindfulness, we get lost in the mind’s continual flow of thoughts, and our awareness becomes like a child lost in a thick forest. Of the two, mindfulness is usually emphasized more because it’s responsible for maintaining the continuity of our awareness. Mindfulness means to remember again and again. It has a certain quality of repetitiveness. That’s how we develop all of our habitual patterns, negative or positive—through repetition. So in this case, by cultivating a sense of mindful presence, we’re establishing a positive tendency that has the power to transform any negative tendency.

There is a thin bright line between a sentient being and a Buddha, and this line is intrinsic to Dzogchen. Confusion just isn’t enlightenment. Yet the intrinsic nature of the confused mind is totally and already enlightened, always-already. There is a disturbing gap between this nature of mind (Tibetan, ngowo) and how it appears as confusion: disturbing because it seems so categorical, yet at the same time, I cannot locate it anywhere, since confused mind’s essence is totally enlightened.

If we don't take advantage of the opportunity that's in front of us in any moment - to awaken, to se, to know, to break free- then we may be giving up our very last chance.

The five poisons of desire, aggression, jealousy, pride, and ignorance are transformed, or transmuted, into their corresponding five wisdoms. Desire is transformed into discriminating wisdom, aggression into mirror-like wisdom, jealousy into all accomplishing wisdom, pride into wisdom of equanimity, and ignorance into wisdom of dharmadhatu, or reality.

Self-liberation’ implies the instantaneous dissolution of whatever enters into awareness.

the true meaning of Dzogchen: the already self-perfected state of our primordial nature, which needs no “perfecting,” for it has always been perfect from the very beginning, just like the sky.

The Dharma is a method to overcome the delusion in our own stream of being, in our own mind—a way to be totally free of the negative emotions that we harbor and cause to proliferate, and at the same time it is a way to realize the original wakefulness that is present in ourselves.

The Bodhicharyāvatāra has been widely acclaimed and respected for more than one thousand years. It is studied and praised by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. I myself received transmission and explanation of this important, holy text from the late Kunu Lama, Tenzin Gyaltsen, who received it from a disciple of the great Dzogchen master, Dza Patrul Rinpoche. It has proved very useful and beneficial to my mind.

Shamatha is presented in the Vajra Essence as a foundational practice on the Dzogchen path. Dzogchen, often translated as “the Great Perfection,” is the highest of the nine vehicles (yanas) in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Classically speaking, after achieving shamatha, the yogi will use his or her newly acquired powers of concentration to practice insight into the nature of emptiness (vipashyana), followed by the Dzogchen practices of tregchö (breakthrough) and tögal (direct crossing-over). These four practices comprise the essential path to enlightenment from the Nyingma point of view. The practice of Dzogchen brings one into direct contact with reality, unmediated by the individual personality or society.

Viele Menschen fragen sich, wie sie den Dharma in ihrem Alltag anwenden können. Sie hören allerlei Unterweisungen über Leerheit, Buddha-Natur, Mahāmudrā und Dzogchen, und nach zwanzig oder dreißig Jahren fragen sie immer noch: »Wie wende ich den Dharma in meinem Alltag an?« Sie halten immer noch nach etwas anderem jenseits dieser Unterweisungen Ausschau, nach irgendeiner Art Trick oder Fünf-Punkte-Plan für alle möglichen Situationen in ihrem Leben. »Was mache ich, wenn ich Probleme mit meinem Chef habe?« »Was mache ich, wenn ich Probleme mit meinem Ehepartner habe?« »Was mache ich, wenn ich Probleme mit meinem Hund habe?« Wir suchen immer nach detaillierten Rezepten für jede einzelne Situation und denken irgendwie, dass unser Dharma-Leben auf dem Kissen und im Schreinraum getrennt ist von dem, was wir ansonsten tun. Aber die tatsächliche Art und Weise, den Dharma in den Alltag zu integrieren, besteht darin, die Sichtweise und Meditation in alles, was uns begegnet und womit wir uns beschäftigen, einfließen zu lassen. Dazu müssen wir uns nur in jeder Situation mit der Erfahrung der Natur des Geistes in Verbindung setzen. Das ist der Plan, aber natürlich ist das nicht wirklich ein Plan. Dies erklärt vielleicht, warum der planorientierte westliche Geist meist nicht erkennt, dass die simple Idee, Sichtweise und Meditation in alles, was uns begegnet, einfließen zu lassen, eigentlich ein ausgeklügelter Ratschlag zum Thema »Dharma im Alltag« ist.

Dante 19 had it wrong. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here leads to awakening, not to the realms of hell.

Transcending the root of all negative action is only accomplished by cutting through the ignorance that leads to self-attachment. This can be done through practicing the Union of Dzogchen and Bodhichitta.

Dzogchen attempts to discover “pure mind”—the absolute nature of reality.

There’s an Asian proverb that says, “Medicine, if taken with knowledge; poison, if abused.” This is how our emotions are.

Kye! In pure presence, in the here and now, do not try to change anything, or to add or subtract anything; but without elaborating or concentrating, just let it be. Neither

You can never experience a moment of divorce from this naturally disposed, indwelling vision in the now, but through a failure of recognition it has become reified, like a natural flow of water frozen solid as ice. With the internal grasping mind as the cause and an external fixated object as the condition, you wander constantly in samsara.

Nonfixation is generosity; Homelessness is moral discipline; Unguardedness is patience; Nonstriving is perseverance; Nonthought is concentrated absorption; Referencelessness is perfect insight.

To be freely resting like a mountain is a measure of view; To be freely resting like an ocean is a measure of meditation; To be freely resting in appearances is a measure of conduct; To be freely resting in pure presence is a measure of fruition. The being that knows these four modes in full measure Knows the definitive meaning of the Great Perfection.

The correct practice of shamatha further and further strengthens this alert quality. It transforms into an increasing sense of being awake. Meanwhile, the mindful quality becomes more and more mindful, so that it requires less and less effort. You are just naturally mindful, naturally present. And the sense of being settled, of dwelling in the nowness, becomes more and more of the same identity as the alertness, until finally the alertness pulls this state into something that is no longer just shamatha: it has become vipashyana, the state of seeing clearly.

When the emotions are very strong and rough, the potential intelligence within them is equally strong.

In the tantric context where the aspirant strives for “enlightenment” through the ten techniques (and also in the psychological context where the patient strives for release in therapy and so on), when the absence inherent in the form of his striving becomes evident an ultimate revelation of the nature of mind can occur (see also cantos 11 and 30). But seeking and striving preclude accomplishment

Dzogchen Tantra when it suggests: ‘As a bee seeks nectar from all kinds of flowers, seek teachings everywhere. Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze, seek seclusion to digest all that you have gathered. Like a mad one beyond all limits, go where you please and live like a lion, completely free of all fear.

Intellectually, the ground of being has been described in various ways but the following six are quite common descriptions: Sometimes the ground of being is referred to as “spontaneously established.”Some describe the ground of being as “non-determinate.”Sometimes the ground of being is said to have determinate characteristics.The ground of being is sometimes presented as “mutable.”The ground of being is also said to be apprehensible in varieties of ways.And lastly, it is said that the ground of being manifests in diverse forms.

For this reason, the tantra, Dra Thalgyur, says: Various perspectives on the ground of being have been put forward—it is spontaneously established, it is mutable, it is indeterminate, it is unchanging, it is determinate, it can manifest in varieties of forms, it is amenable to conceptual thoughtforms, and it is primordially pure. It is possible to adopt many different perspectives, such as these. However, they can never provide an allencompassing view of the ground of being because it is something that cannot be understood in its completeness from any perspective. In a similar vein, the tantra, The Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra, has said: These perspectives are the creation of various thought-forms, but the ground of being is pure in its own nature. All these perspectives on the ground of being should be seen as just perspectives. They are intellectual ways of viewing the ground of being and cannot provide a direct experience of it.

Again, overcoming ego does not mean getting rid of it, because that cannot be done practically, even if one wanted to. If a person was born Caucasian and is a particular age, then those things have relevance and one cannot deny or change that. In terms of one’s past history and memories, all of those things are relevant. Their coming together constitutes what one is and what one is is not one single factor. It is a group, a corporate entity; one needs to have that concept of the self or ego. That is why it is said that we can change ourselves, meaning that we can introduce various elements into the structure of the ego so that the ego becomes transformed, the self becomes transformed.

When the practitioner remains present with the prana and is not wavering, then they have realized the marriage of the authentic state of one’s being which is space, and wisdom: ying and yeshe. These two elements, which constitute the authentic state of one’s being, cannot be brought together, and because of that they cannot be separated—they function in the state of totality of one’s authentic condition where both elements are present.

These three types of ignorance should be seen as different expressions of the same ignorance rather than as existing separately, independent of each other. These three expressions of ignorance are the actual causes for the continuation of samsaric existence. There are three conditions requiring discussion in regard to how confusion comes into being, and why it persists. The first is known as “causal condition,” and this refers to the condition of not recognizing the three aspects of the ground of being and their interrelationship, namely essence, nature, and responsiveness. The second is called “object condition,” which refers to the expression of the nature in terms of manifesting as inseparable luminosity and emptiness—and thus, everything is expressed as spontaneous presence. The third condition is “condition of fixation.” When ordinary beings do not understand the nature of spontaneous presence as indivisible luminosity and emptiness, then the dualistic concept of subject and object arrives on the scene.

From the Dzogchen point of view, that does not mean that one’s relative concept of ego is something to get rid of. The practitioner needs to understand it for what it is. The ego exists only on the relative level and does not have real inherent existence. After becoming enlightened, the aspect of the relative existence of ego is still there, not changed.

To attain enlightenment, according to Dzogchen, is not to go beyond the conditioned mind as much as knowing and understanding that the conditioned aspect is a manifestation of the unconditioned.