Dharmakaya

Ngedön Tendzin Zangpo ,
The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche
(1759-1792) 

Now listen, fortunate. one. Look without distraction at the
naked self-clarity of this present moment of awareness. Do not
indulge your thoughts or try to rein them in. Awareness cannot
be spoiled by moral judgments or tainted by hope and fear.

It is clear, yet ungraspable; lucid, yet without inside or out; wide
open, but without slipping into a state of diffusion. It is inherently
radiant, yet cannot be identified.

It is transparent, expansive,
and even. This naked state, just as it is, is the Dharmakaya
itself-naturally luminous and unchanging.

Simply maintain recognition of this ungraspable self-radiance.
This is Buddhahood, pure and pristine,
The Dharmakaya of unchanging self-awareness. Vivid,
vibrant, and clear, like a cloudless autumn sky.
Rest like a mountain, steady and immutable.
Rest like the ocean, still and clear.
Rest like space, infinite in breadth.

However still your mind may be,
Rest in that as the state of awareness.
However your mind may manifest,
Rest in that as the radiance of awareness.
Motion and stillness are self-awareness,
Isolate their pure lucidity and rest.
Rest in the self-clarity of phenomena,
Which never waver from the state of awareness,
Just as birds can never escape space, wherever they may fly."

Ngedön Tendzin Zangpo , The Third Dzogchen Rinpoche (1759-1792) 

Ten spiritual observations

Lama Surya Das

Truth telling is a rigorous spiritual practice.

Buddha's not pretending.

We can't just believe whatever we think. We think, therefore, we err.

That which we call "I" is just impermanent, ownerless karma rolling along. Don't take it personally.

Everyone is a little crazy. Remembering this helps us lighten up.

We need a spiritual life, not just special experiences.

Grasping fleeting things to tightly gives us rope burn.

Awareness practice helps us become more transparent to ourselves.

Resistance is another form of clinging.

Practice being there while getting there.

From Words of Wisdom, © 2008 by Lama Surya Das. Reprinted with the permission of Koa Books, koabooks.com - From: Tricycle Magazine

The Heart Jewel of the Fortunate - Personal Advice on Dzogchen

Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje

"There is nothing in samsara and nirvana that is not embraced by non-dual awareness. From beginninglessness, non-dual awareness is ever-present. It is inborn within us, yet utterly beyond the range of referentiality, effort, and imagination." - Appreciative Acclamation of my Lama.

Concerning Dzogchen, Padmasambhava said:

"Do not investigate phenomena – investigate the nature of Mind. Once the nature of Mind is discovered, one will know the one thing, whereby everything is self liberated. If one fails to find the nature of Mind, one may discern everything but one will know nothing. "

When beginning to meditate on the nature of Mind, sit with body upright, inhaling and exhaling naturally. Gaze into space with eyelids neither drowsily hanging nor stretched unnecessarily wide. Watch the face of Küntuzangpo with awareness and in the knowledge of all beings having been one’s mother. Strongly invoking the presence of one’s Tsawa’i Lama—as inseparable from Padmasambhava—one mingles one’s mind and settles in meditative equipoise.

Once settled, one may not remain long in awareness. Conceptual mind may begin to move and one may become agitated. Conceptual mind may fidget; scampering like a monkey – here, there, and everywhere. What is experienced at this point is not the nature of the Mind but merely that which arises in the nature of Mind. If one follows that which arises in the nature of Mind, one will merely find oneself recalling past events, speculating about various needs, and scheduling various activities. It is precisely this conceptual activity which hurled us into the lugubrious ocean of samsara in the past. There is no doubt that referentiality will produce the same result in the future. Would it not be preferable if one could sever the proliferation of referentiality?

If one breaks the chain of referentiality, however – how does non-dual awareness appear? Is it not limpidly stunning, light, free, and joyous? Is it not unbounded? Is it not undemarcated by self-attributes? There is nothing in samsara and nirvana that is not embraced by non-dual awareness. From beginninglessness, non-dual awareness is ever-present. It is inborn within us, yet utterly beyond the range of referentiality, effort, and imagination.

But what—you may ask—is it like to recognise the face of non-dual awareness? Although one experiences it, one cannot describe it. It would be like a mute person trying to describe dreams. It is impossible to distinguish between oneself resting in non-dual awareness and the non-dual awareness one is experiencing. When one rests naturally—nakedly—in the boundless state of non-dual awareness, the urgency of injudicious hyperactive conceptuality, memories, and troublesome plans – evaporates and disappears in the spacious sky of awareness. Referentiality collapses and vanishes into non-dual awareness.

One has this awareness within oneself. It is the clear, naked wisdom of chöku.
But who can introduce it? On what should one establish a foundation? Of what should one be certain? It is one’s Lama who displays the state of awareness – and when one recognises, it is then that the nature of Mind is self-introduced. The appearances of samsara and nirvana are merely the display of your own non-dual awareness – so establish a foundation on this awareness alone. Just as waves rise and sink within the sea, thoughts emerge and dissolve within non-dual awareness. Being certain of this arising and dissolution, one will find oneself devoid of a meditator and that which is meditated upon. One will find oneself beyond the meditating mind.

On hearing this one might feel that there is no need for meditation – but I assure you there is a need. Mere recognition of non-dual awareness will not bring one to complete liberation. Throughout lives from beginninglessness one has been a pathetic slave to referentiality enveloped in counterfeit premises and deluded habit. And when death arrives one’s destination is uncertain. One follows one’s perceptions and responds accordingly. This is the reason for meditation and continuously finding the presence of awareness to which one has been introduced.

Kunkhyen Longchenpa said:

"One may recognise the nature of Mind, but if one does not meditate and thus become accustomed to that nature, one will be like a baby left on a battlefield. One will be carried off by the foe – the ruthless mercenaries of your own referentiality."

Dzogchen means being spontaneously natural and constantly present. Through this one becomes accustomed to resting in the primordial uncontrived nature. Dzogchen means one becomes familiar with leaving the state of non-dual awareness as it is.

How do we become accustomed to remaining in the nature of the Mind? When thoughts arise, let them arise. There is no need to regard thoughts as enemies.

When thoughts arise, relax in their arising. If thought do not arise, do not create them by nervously speculating as to when they will arise. Simply rest in their absence. If concretely clearly defined thoughts suddenly appear during meditation, it is easy to distinguish them – but when inconsequential subtle movements occur, it is not easy to recognise these movements immediately.

They are ‘ög-gyu’i namtog (’og gyu’i rNam rTog), the undercurrent of ideational wandering – the thief of meditation. It is thus important to remain present. If one is constantly present in meditation and post-meditation – then whether eating, sleeping, walking, or sitting, that is it – that is the natural state.

Padmasambhava said:

"A hundred points may be explained – or even a thousand may be elucidated – but there is only one thing to know, and everything is freed: Remain within non-dual awareness of the nature of Mind."

If one does not meditate, one will not gain certainty – but if you meditate, you will. But what is this certainty? If one endeavours in meditation with strength and joy, then signs will appear which will show that one has become familiar with remaining in the nature of Mind.

The tight clinging of dualistically experienced phenomena will gradually loosen. Obsession with happiness and suffering, hopes and fears – will dwindle.

Devotion to the Lama will burgeon. Sincere trust in the Lama’s instructions will mature. Tense dualistic attitudes will evaporate. Gold and gravel, victuals and vileness, deities and demons, righteousness and culpability, will be the same. One would be at a loss as to whether one would opt for the heavens or the hells.

Until this point is reached, however, one takes dualism seriously – and therefore righteousness and culpability, the heavens and hells, pleasure and pain, actions and results – will still seem real.

Padmasambhava said:

"My view is as vast as the sky, but my actions are finer than flour."

So one should not lurch and stagger through life claiming to be a Dzogchenpa or a Dzogchenma when all the while one may be little more than a flatulent oaf, rank with greed, and stinking of stale beer.

It is essential to have a stable foundation of devotion and maintained vows, and to endeavour to proceed with a well balanced strength of joy that is neither too rigid nor flaccid. If one meditates—if one turns aside from mundane societal concerns—it is certain that one will attain the profound path of Dzogchen. Why wait for future lives when one could encapsulate the primordial bastion in this moment?

This advice is my heart blood – so hold it closely and never separate from it.

On Meditation

Nisargadata Maharaj

Questioner: All teachers advise to meditate. What is the purpose of meditation?

Maharaj: We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but of our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little. The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness. Incidentally practice of meditation affects deeply our character. We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are masters. Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its causes and its workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious. The dissolution of the unconscious releases energy; the mind feels adequate and become quiet.

 Q: What is the use of a quiet mind?

M: When the mind is quiet, we come to know ourselves as the pure witness. We withdraw from the experience and its experiencer and stand apart in pure awareness, which is between and beyond the two. The personality, based on self-identification, on imagining oneself to be something: 'I am this, I am that', continues, but only as a part of the objective world. Its identification with the witness snaps.

 Q: As I can make out, I live on many levels and life on each level requires energy. The self by its very nature delights in everything and its energies flow outwards. Is it not the purpose of meditation to dam up the energies on the higher levels, or to push them back and up, so as to enable the higher levels to prosper also? M: It is not so much the matter of levels as of gunas (qualities). Meditation is a sattvic activity and aims at complete elimination of tamas (inertia) and rajas (motivity). Pure sattva (harmony) is perfect freedom from sloth and restlessness.

Q: How to strengthen and purify the sattva?

M: The sattva is pure and strong always. It is like the sun. It may seem obscured by clouds and dust, but only from the point of view of the perceiver. Deal with the causes of obscuration, not with the sun.

Q: What is the use of sattva? M: What is the use of truth, goodness, harmony, beauty? They are their own goal. They manifest spontaneously and effortlessly, when things are left to themselves, are not interfered with, not shunned, or wanted, or conceptualised, but just experienced in full awareness, such awareness itself is sattva. It does not make use of things and people -- it fulfils them.

Q: Since I cannot improve sattva, am I to deal with tamas and rajas only? How can I deal with them?

M: By watching their influence in you and on you. Be aware of them in operation, watch their expressions in your thoughts, words and deeds, and gradually their grip on you will lessen and the clear light of sattva will emerge. It is neither difficult, nor a protracted process; earnestness is the only condition of success.

Nirvana, the Waterfall

Shunryu Suzuki

Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the Universe. This is called “Mind-only,” or “Essence of Mind,” or “Big Mind.” After we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling.

You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the Universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing.

When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life. When the water returns to its original oneness with the river, it no longer has any individual feeling to it; it resumes its own nature, and finds composure. How very glad the water must be to come back to the original river! If this is so, what feeling will we have when we die? I think we are like the water in the dipper. We will have composure then, perfect composure. It may be too perfect for us, just now, because we are so much attached to our own feeling, to our individual existence.

For us, just now, we have some fear of death, but after we resume our true original nature, there is Nirvana, That is why we say, “To attain Nirvana is to pass away,” “To pass away” is not a very adequate expression. Perhaps “to pass on,” or “to go on,” or “to join” would be better.

We say, “Everything comes out of emptiness.” One whole river or one whole mind is emptiness. When we reach this understanding we find the true meaning of our life. When we reach this understanding we can see the beauty of human life. Before we realize this fact, everything that we see is just delusion. Sometimes we overestimate the beauty; sometimes we underestimate or ignore the beauty because our small mind is not in accord with reality. 

To talk about it this way is quite easy, but to have the actual feeling is not so easy. But by your practice of zazen (meditation) you can cultivate this feeling. When you can sit with your whole body and mind, and with the oneness of your mind and body under the control of the Universal Mind, you can easily attain this kind of right understanding. Your everyday life will be renewed without being attached to an old erroneous interpretation of life.

When you realize this fact, you will discover how meaningless your old interpretation was, and how much useless effort you had been making. You will find the true meaning of life, and even though you have difficulty falling upright from the top of the waterfall to the bottom of the mountain, you will enjoy your life.