One day in the remote hills of western China near the Tibetan frontier, a Dzogchen master was having a brief lunch in a roadside inn while on his journey returning to Tibet. It so happened that a master of Chan (Zen) had just entered the inn looking to partake in some lunch as well. As there was only one seat left at the table, the Dzogchen master offered the Chan master a seat at his table. A lively discussion occurred between the two concerning the Buddhadharma.
The Chan master offered that it was only necessary to cut-off the thinking and conceptualizing mind in one stroke in order to expose the pre-existing Buddha Mind with all of its perfect qualities.
The Dzogchen master replied that he thought that seemed rather heavy-handed, requiring too much effort, and asked "who is the one that should do this "cutting-off" of the thinking and conceptualizing mind?"
With that the Chan master whacked him over the head with his walking stick, but of course not harming him in any way.
In the next moment the Dzogchen master deeply bowed to him and left rubbing his stinging head.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Dzogchen - Be a Dzogpachenpo every moment of life
In the Bon tradition, Dzogchen practice is the highest teaching of all. Through the practice of Dzogchen one can attain enlightenment in this very life. Dzogchen is a Tibetan term that is made up of two words. The first word is ‘Dzog’, the second word is ‘Chen’. ‘Dzog’ means complete, and ‘Chen’ means great. In the West, Dzogchen is known as The Great Perfection. Dzogchen practice is found in Bon teaching and Nyingmapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.
Three lineages of Dzogchen in Bon tradition
Dzogchen practice is to face each moment as it is without fear, and without judgment. To do this we need a heart that has the quality of love and compassion, and the wisdom of understanding. By turning away from things as they are, we are creating a wall between reality and the nature of our mind. This is one of the major reasons for the suffering in our lives.
Dzogchen is the practice of Open Presence. Openness and presence are the inherent aspects of Dzogchen. The unification of openness and presence is its essence. Openness reveals the nature of emptiness, or the interdependent nature of all beings. Presence reveals the true nature of awareness. The practice of Dzogchen can be just an idea, a philosophy. But if we actualize it’s meaning and integrate it with our experience of the world outside and inside of us, we become a Dzogpachenpo.
When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest its essence by living in the present moment. We neither hold on to our concept or understanding of emptiness nor to awareness. Otherwise our concept or judgment begins to dominate our mind and distance it from its true nature. When we are free from grasping imposed by conditioning, we make it possible for ourselves to experience reality as it is. When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest this unified nature of emptiness and awareness within the continuum of each moment that is clarity. Emptiness and awareness are not separate. They are co-arising.
For instance in the art of ‘deep listening’ or ‘Bearing witness’, what would be the qualities of openness and presence in this act of listening? Openness is the ability to provide space for another person to speak by giving non-fear. It is also providing space for what we are hearing and not letting it pressure or stimulate our conditioning of judgment or disagreement. When the listener is open, this gives strength to the speaker to be more open. The quality of presence is our ability to decide that we do not have to take care of, respond to or fix everything all the time. Sometimes it is so valuable just to bear witness and leave things as they are. Dzogpachenpo witnesses every situation without being distracted by the external object or demands, or by internal conditioning. Often our rational mind thinks that we have to respond, to give advice or suggestions, or to correct others.
Sometimes we encounter a situation where people are not listening to us. Then we start blaming the other person for not listening, or we start judging ourselves. For Dzogchen practice, this is a basic obstacle caused by our unmet psycho-emotional needs. We lose contact with our innate wisdom and our capacity to be non-judgmental, and we lose contact with our innate qualities of acceptance, forgiveness, love, and compassion. We need to ask ourselves: Would it be possible to accept the situation that the other person is in with genuine compassion? When we do this, we are connecting to our basic human nature of goodness. We are manifesting love and openness. We are becoming Dzogpachenpo.
Sometimes we live in the relative world and practice for the world of the absolute. We live on this earth, and pray for heaven. The practice of Dzogchen helps us not to fall into the extremes of both the relative world and the absolute world, of both heaven and earth. To the Dzogpachenpo two are not separate. They are one. Dzogchen practice is to realize the absolute nature within the relative, so that we do not wander in search of the absolute truth riding the board of the relative.
We approach our lives with many expectations based on our insecurity or pride, on uneasy past experiences or projections about the future. These expectations limit our openness, our ability to be aware, and to accept each situation as it unfolds. In Dzogchen, the emphasis is on clarity or awareness. Many situations that we encounter may be unexpected and we may not be prepared for them. As a consequence, we are not fully aware of them as they happen, and of their effect on us. It is this lack of awareness along with the instability of our mind that makes us react with a state of distress or shock, and that renders us vulnerable to separating ourselves from the situation that we are encountering. Such small incidents of daily life can cause subtle feelings of stress, exhaustion, fear, or anxiety in us and make us feel hurt or disturbed. Sometimes we are so disturbed by an incident that we lose control of ourselves and disconnect from the wisdom of our mind and compassion of our heart. We make things worse for ourselves and for other through self-judgment, blame, self-justification, or guilt. Our mind continues to return and become caught up in the subtle negative emotions, which arose in us in response to the situation. Because we are inclined not to notice such reactions, we may think that they do not matter much, or we hold on to them because we want to feel safe and protected. This instinct toward protection can be so strong that it completely overshadows the presence of awareness. Yet the totality of these small, negative reactions, and the unconscious habits or conditioning that they create in us is what separates us from our inherent Buddha nature.
Awareness, on the other hand, keeps our mind clear and enables us to see clearly what is going on. Awareness in the form of penetrative wisdom cuts through the afflictive emotions that are present in us in the process of reacting. It protects us from insecure conditioning and reacting with unwise compassion. It is possible that we experience distress or pain as we respond to a situation with compassion. As we see another’s suffering, we might become hard on ourselves and invite pain into our own life. In this case, our compassion is not supported by wisdom. It is attached to our insecurities rather than to wisdom. When compassion is attached to insecurities, our feelings for the other cannot become true compassion but become the expression of our own conditioning. Anything that we do with a lack of awareness will strengthen our afflictions. It will not allow us to see reality as it is.
Dzogchen teaches us how ten thousand things every day, every hour, and every moment distract us. Many things, such as external objects that we perceive through our sense fields constantly influence us physically, emotionally and mentally. Some of these are shocking, some are pleasurable, and some are joyful. The tendency of our conditioned human nature is that we are only attracted to something that is beautiful, that is comfortable, and that we feel familiar with. But if there is something that makes us feels uneasy, we react differently. This can be the way somebody behaves, or something that somebody is saying to us that we cannot relate to, or that is opposed to our feelings. Or it could be an unpleasant sight, smell, taste, or touch. When we encounter an uncomfortable perception through our sense fields, including our mind, this distresses us. Dzogchen practice prepares us to live with the moment without distress or fear.
Dzogchen is the practice of open presence or self-liberation. It is our potential to be able to liberate ourselves from the suffering of every moment. At the heart of self-liberation is the question of how we can respond to every situation that we encounter in our lives from the true nature of our mind, rather than with a deluded or afflicted state of mind. The practice of Dzogchen empowers us to leave the things as they are. When we leave things as they are, we are providing a space for them to manifest their true nature. We are allowing them to change, to manifest their quality of who they are. It is our stable awareness that sees without judgment, and understands what the other person needs and what we need. We may not be in the position to meet the need of that moment, yet we can do our best to remain compassionate, loving, accepting and forgiving. The power of being in touch with awareness reduces the causal conditions for suffering to arise.
Due to our conditioning we tend to interrupt everything before it can manifest its true nature. It is that very interruption that obscures our wisdom and our compassionate heart from reaching out to others. In Dzogchen Practice, our wisdom manifests in the form of clarity. Clarity allows us to be aware of the situation without distraction. And our compassion keeps us stable and allows us to reach out with equanimity so that we are at ease, no matter how things manifest. If both wisdom and compassion are present together, we can make a clear decision what would work best for the particular situation at that very moment without being governed by our preferences.
Sometimes we encounter situations that upset us or make us feel afraid. We might also feel hurt by a situation or the circumstances. For instance, we may be in a situation where a friend, or our spouse, becomes angry with us. Dzogchen practice is to be aware, noticing the situation fully. If your friend is angry with you, you notice that with stability and clarity and bring your awareness to it. Stability helps us to witness the state of our mind, our feelings and the situation. Clarity empowers us to manifest love and compassion. At that moment we can draw strength from our love and compassion to be able to forgive or accept our friend or the situation. If we approach the situation with the presence of awareness or clarity, maybe our very unconditional love for our friend or for the situation can manifest and express itself in how we respond. It will manifest whatever is necessary at that very moment of our life. When we feel clear and secure, the energy becomes calm. Everything falls into the field of awareness, and this protects us from further unskillful reactions. Noticing the situation with the quality of Open Presence allows us to face the situation more skillfully. This is Dzogpachenpo, the Great Perfection.
Dzogchen practice gives us a clarity that is powerful enough to recognize that whatever emotion we experience, be it anger, depression, fear, or joy is not separate from the true nature of the mind. This recognition is wisdom. It gives us the strength to leave things as they are. Our ability to leave things as they are reduces our subconscious attachment to the conditioning that judges or manipulates our emotions. We are accepting our feelings. We are becoming aware of what we are feeling right now, and we stop right there. We don’t allow that emotion to take over our life. We do not allow it to obscure the true nature of the mind and to become an obstacle. We make our peace with whatever we are feeling. If we feel disappointed, this may give rise to anger. If we feel angry, it may give rise to hatred, or to depression. This is unnecessary. If we can accept what we are feeling, we are manifesting the essence of self-liberation. We are leaving each thing as it is. We are creating a conditioning to become a Dzogpachenpo. By nature, everything is self-arising, and self-luminous, and self-dissolving. It comes, and it goes. It does not stay forever. But this is only possible if we allow it to manifest this nature.
If we are able to accept that our emotion is not separate from the nature of our mind, this will allow us to touch our healing wisdom. Our healing wisdom is our primordial potential to heal ourselves, to free ourselves from suffering. We all have this potential. If we have anger, we too have love and compassion. Emptiness reveals the truth that nothing lasts forever. Awareness points us toward this truth and allows us to experience it. And their unification, clarity, enables us to act skillfully. At the same time, it gives us the strength to live with the constant demands of our everyday life with ease and joy.
©Tempa Dukte Lama (excerpt from forthcoming book) - From: Olmo Ling
Three lineages of Dzogchen in Bon tradition
- Dzogchen
- A-Khrid
- Zhang Zhung Nyengyud
Be a Dzogpachenpo every moment of life
Dzogchen says that every being has the inherent potential to be a Buddha. However, we are often not aware of our innate potential. Not being aware of our potential, we fail to manifest it. We empower our conditioned nature rather that our Buddha nature. We easily turn our face away from the truth, from the reality that we encounter in our lives because of our deep-seated conditioning.Dzogchen practice is to face each moment as it is without fear, and without judgment. To do this we need a heart that has the quality of love and compassion, and the wisdom of understanding. By turning away from things as they are, we are creating a wall between reality and the nature of our mind. This is one of the major reasons for the suffering in our lives.
Dzogchen is the practice of Open Presence. Openness and presence are the inherent aspects of Dzogchen. The unification of openness and presence is its essence. Openness reveals the nature of emptiness, or the interdependent nature of all beings. Presence reveals the true nature of awareness. The practice of Dzogchen can be just an idea, a philosophy. But if we actualize it’s meaning and integrate it with our experience of the world outside and inside of us, we become a Dzogpachenpo.
When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest its essence by living in the present moment. We neither hold on to our concept or understanding of emptiness nor to awareness. Otherwise our concept or judgment begins to dominate our mind and distance it from its true nature. When we are free from grasping imposed by conditioning, we make it possible for ourselves to experience reality as it is. When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest this unified nature of emptiness and awareness within the continuum of each moment that is clarity. Emptiness and awareness are not separate. They are co-arising.
For instance in the art of ‘deep listening’ or ‘Bearing witness’, what would be the qualities of openness and presence in this act of listening? Openness is the ability to provide space for another person to speak by giving non-fear. It is also providing space for what we are hearing and not letting it pressure or stimulate our conditioning of judgment or disagreement. When the listener is open, this gives strength to the speaker to be more open. The quality of presence is our ability to decide that we do not have to take care of, respond to or fix everything all the time. Sometimes it is so valuable just to bear witness and leave things as they are. Dzogpachenpo witnesses every situation without being distracted by the external object or demands, or by internal conditioning. Often our rational mind thinks that we have to respond, to give advice or suggestions, or to correct others.
Sometimes we encounter a situation where people are not listening to us. Then we start blaming the other person for not listening, or we start judging ourselves. For Dzogchen practice, this is a basic obstacle caused by our unmet psycho-emotional needs. We lose contact with our innate wisdom and our capacity to be non-judgmental, and we lose contact with our innate qualities of acceptance, forgiveness, love, and compassion. We need to ask ourselves: Would it be possible to accept the situation that the other person is in with genuine compassion? When we do this, we are connecting to our basic human nature of goodness. We are manifesting love and openness. We are becoming Dzogpachenpo.
Sometimes we live in the relative world and practice for the world of the absolute. We live on this earth, and pray for heaven. The practice of Dzogchen helps us not to fall into the extremes of both the relative world and the absolute world, of both heaven and earth. To the Dzogpachenpo two are not separate. They are one. Dzogchen practice is to realize the absolute nature within the relative, so that we do not wander in search of the absolute truth riding the board of the relative.
We approach our lives with many expectations based on our insecurity or pride, on uneasy past experiences or projections about the future. These expectations limit our openness, our ability to be aware, and to accept each situation as it unfolds. In Dzogchen, the emphasis is on clarity or awareness. Many situations that we encounter may be unexpected and we may not be prepared for them. As a consequence, we are not fully aware of them as they happen, and of their effect on us. It is this lack of awareness along with the instability of our mind that makes us react with a state of distress or shock, and that renders us vulnerable to separating ourselves from the situation that we are encountering. Such small incidents of daily life can cause subtle feelings of stress, exhaustion, fear, or anxiety in us and make us feel hurt or disturbed. Sometimes we are so disturbed by an incident that we lose control of ourselves and disconnect from the wisdom of our mind and compassion of our heart. We make things worse for ourselves and for other through self-judgment, blame, self-justification, or guilt. Our mind continues to return and become caught up in the subtle negative emotions, which arose in us in response to the situation. Because we are inclined not to notice such reactions, we may think that they do not matter much, or we hold on to them because we want to feel safe and protected. This instinct toward protection can be so strong that it completely overshadows the presence of awareness. Yet the totality of these small, negative reactions, and the unconscious habits or conditioning that they create in us is what separates us from our inherent Buddha nature.
Awareness, on the other hand, keeps our mind clear and enables us to see clearly what is going on. Awareness in the form of penetrative wisdom cuts through the afflictive emotions that are present in us in the process of reacting. It protects us from insecure conditioning and reacting with unwise compassion. It is possible that we experience distress or pain as we respond to a situation with compassion. As we see another’s suffering, we might become hard on ourselves and invite pain into our own life. In this case, our compassion is not supported by wisdom. It is attached to our insecurities rather than to wisdom. When compassion is attached to insecurities, our feelings for the other cannot become true compassion but become the expression of our own conditioning. Anything that we do with a lack of awareness will strengthen our afflictions. It will not allow us to see reality as it is.
Dzogchen teaches us how ten thousand things every day, every hour, and every moment distract us. Many things, such as external objects that we perceive through our sense fields constantly influence us physically, emotionally and mentally. Some of these are shocking, some are pleasurable, and some are joyful. The tendency of our conditioned human nature is that we are only attracted to something that is beautiful, that is comfortable, and that we feel familiar with. But if there is something that makes us feels uneasy, we react differently. This can be the way somebody behaves, or something that somebody is saying to us that we cannot relate to, or that is opposed to our feelings. Or it could be an unpleasant sight, smell, taste, or touch. When we encounter an uncomfortable perception through our sense fields, including our mind, this distresses us. Dzogchen practice prepares us to live with the moment without distress or fear.
Dzogchen is the practice of open presence or self-liberation. It is our potential to be able to liberate ourselves from the suffering of every moment. At the heart of self-liberation is the question of how we can respond to every situation that we encounter in our lives from the true nature of our mind, rather than with a deluded or afflicted state of mind. The practice of Dzogchen empowers us to leave the things as they are. When we leave things as they are, we are providing a space for them to manifest their true nature. We are allowing them to change, to manifest their quality of who they are. It is our stable awareness that sees without judgment, and understands what the other person needs and what we need. We may not be in the position to meet the need of that moment, yet we can do our best to remain compassionate, loving, accepting and forgiving. The power of being in touch with awareness reduces the causal conditions for suffering to arise.
Due to our conditioning we tend to interrupt everything before it can manifest its true nature. It is that very interruption that obscures our wisdom and our compassionate heart from reaching out to others. In Dzogchen Practice, our wisdom manifests in the form of clarity. Clarity allows us to be aware of the situation without distraction. And our compassion keeps us stable and allows us to reach out with equanimity so that we are at ease, no matter how things manifest. If both wisdom and compassion are present together, we can make a clear decision what would work best for the particular situation at that very moment without being governed by our preferences.
Sometimes we encounter situations that upset us or make us feel afraid. We might also feel hurt by a situation or the circumstances. For instance, we may be in a situation where a friend, or our spouse, becomes angry with us. Dzogchen practice is to be aware, noticing the situation fully. If your friend is angry with you, you notice that with stability and clarity and bring your awareness to it. Stability helps us to witness the state of our mind, our feelings and the situation. Clarity empowers us to manifest love and compassion. At that moment we can draw strength from our love and compassion to be able to forgive or accept our friend or the situation. If we approach the situation with the presence of awareness or clarity, maybe our very unconditional love for our friend or for the situation can manifest and express itself in how we respond. It will manifest whatever is necessary at that very moment of our life. When we feel clear and secure, the energy becomes calm. Everything falls into the field of awareness, and this protects us from further unskillful reactions. Noticing the situation with the quality of Open Presence allows us to face the situation more skillfully. This is Dzogpachenpo, the Great Perfection.
Dzogchen practice gives us a clarity that is powerful enough to recognize that whatever emotion we experience, be it anger, depression, fear, or joy is not separate from the true nature of the mind. This recognition is wisdom. It gives us the strength to leave things as they are. Our ability to leave things as they are reduces our subconscious attachment to the conditioning that judges or manipulates our emotions. We are accepting our feelings. We are becoming aware of what we are feeling right now, and we stop right there. We don’t allow that emotion to take over our life. We do not allow it to obscure the true nature of the mind and to become an obstacle. We make our peace with whatever we are feeling. If we feel disappointed, this may give rise to anger. If we feel angry, it may give rise to hatred, or to depression. This is unnecessary. If we can accept what we are feeling, we are manifesting the essence of self-liberation. We are leaving each thing as it is. We are creating a conditioning to become a Dzogpachenpo. By nature, everything is self-arising, and self-luminous, and self-dissolving. It comes, and it goes. It does not stay forever. But this is only possible if we allow it to manifest this nature.
If we are able to accept that our emotion is not separate from the nature of our mind, this will allow us to touch our healing wisdom. Our healing wisdom is our primordial potential to heal ourselves, to free ourselves from suffering. We all have this potential. If we have anger, we too have love and compassion. Emptiness reveals the truth that nothing lasts forever. Awareness points us toward this truth and allows us to experience it. And their unification, clarity, enables us to act skillfully. At the same time, it gives us the strength to live with the constant demands of our everyday life with ease and joy.
©Tempa Dukte Lama (excerpt from forthcoming book) - From: Olmo Ling
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Heart of the Matter
My desire for achievement has led to much suffering. No matter what I do, it never feels like it's enough. How can I make peace with myself? The quality of your action depends on the quality of your being. Suppose you’re eager to offer happiness, to make someone happy. That’s a good thing to do. But if you’re not happy, then you can’t do that. In order to make another person happy, you have to be happy yourself. So there’s a link between doing and being. If you don’t succeed in being, you can’t succeed in doing. If you don’t feel that you’re on the right path, happiness isn’t possible. This is true for everyone; if you don’t know where you’re going, you suffer. It’s very important to realize your path and see your true way.
Happiness means feeling you are on the right path every moment. You don’t need to arrive at the end of the path in order to be happy. The right path refers to the very concrete ways you live your life in every moment. In Buddhism, we speak of the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. It’s possible for us to live the Noble Eightfold Path every moment of our daily lives. That not only makes us happy, it makes people around us happy. If you practice the path, you become very pleasant, very fresh, and very compassionate.
Look at the tree in the front yard. The tree doesn’t seem to be doing anything. It stands there, vigorous, fresh, and beautiful, and everyone profits from it. That’s the miracle of being. If a tree were less than a tree, all of us would be in trouble. But if a tree is just a real tree, then there’s hope and joy. That’s why if you can be yourself, that is already action. Action is based on nonaction; action is being.
I am busy from early in the morning until late at night. I am rarely alone. Where can I find a time and place to contemplate in silence? Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside. If you’re truly silent, then no matter what situation you find yourself in you can enjoy the silence. There are moments when you think you’re silent and all around is silent, but talking is going on all the time inside your head. That’s not silence. The practice is how to find silence in all the activities you do.
Let us change our way of thinking and our way of looking. We have to realize that silence comes from our heart and not from the absence of talk. Sitting down to eat your lunch may be an opportunity for you to enjoy silence; though others may be speaking, it’s possible for you to be very silent inside. The Buddha was surrounded by thousands of monks. Although he walked, sat, and ate among the monks and the nuns, he always dwelled in his silence. The Buddha made it very clear that to be alone, to be quiet, does not mean you have to go into the forest. You can live in the sangha, you can be in the marketplace, yet you still enjoy the silence and the solitude. Being alone does not mean there is no one around you.
Being alone means you are established firmly in the here and the now and you become aware of what is happening in the present moment. You use your mindfulness to become aware of every feeling, every perception you have. You’re aware of what’s happening around you in the sangha, but you’re always with yourself, you don’t lose yourself. That’s the Buddha’s definition of the ideal practice of solitude: not to be caught in the past or carried away by the future, but always to be here, body and mind united, aware of what is happening in the present moment. That is real solitude.
I’m still afraid of losing my mother or another loved one. How can I transform this fear? We can look deeply to see that our mother is not only out there, but in here. Our mothers and fathers are fully present in every cell of our bodies. We carry them into the future. We can learn to talk to the father and the mother inside. I often talk to my mother, my father, and all of the ancestors inside me. I know that I am only a continuation of them. With that kind of insight, you know that even with the disintegration of the body of your mother, your mother still continues inside you, especially in the energies she has created in terms of thought, speech, and action. In Buddhism we call that energy karma. Karma means action, the triple action of thinking, speaking, and doing.
If you look deeply, you’ll see already the continuation of your mother inside you and outside of you. Every thought, every speech, every action of hers now continues with or without the presence of her body. We have to see her more deeply. She’s not confined to her body, and you aren’t confined to your body. It’s very important to see that. This is the wonder of Buddhist meditation—with the practice of looking deeply you can touch your own nature of no birth and no death. You touch the no-birth and no-death nature of your father, your mother, your child, of everything in you and around you. Only that insight can reduce and remove the fear.
From “Answers from the Heart” ©2009 by Thich Nhat Hanh. Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press. -
From - Tricycle Magazine
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