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"Since all things are naked, clear and free from obscurations, there is
nothing to attain or realize. The nature of things naturally appears
and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness.
The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance
and openness to all situations and emotions and to all people,
experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and
blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes onto oneself."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The word Dzogchen in Tibetan means "The Great Perfection." The
basic ground of our experience is and has always been a
fundamentally pure and unstained awareness a "time-transcending
awareness." Through various skillful means and connection with an
authentic lineage a realized teacher practitioners of Dzogchen
come to recognize this basic awareness (rigpa) and train in stabilizing
that recognition.
The only thing that obstructs the recognition of rigpa is our habitual
mind or 'ego'. Essentially the activity of habitual mind is to
automatically and compulsively accept and reject whatever arises in
the field of experience. This is the automatic discursive storyline
which is constantly running in our minds. It conditions all of our
experience and in our habitual conditioning we no longer recognize
rigpa. What arises is always fresh and naked awareness, but the
machinery of habituated mind conditions that moment of awareness
and obscures its true nature. Because of our habitual obscuration we
are constantly 'out of synch' with the truth of 'things as they are' and
therefore we suffer and create suffering for others. This deluded
reality is called Samsara. The whole world seems to operate for the
most part in a samsaric mode of being and it is rare to have the
opportunity to meet with genuine practitioners of Dzogchen. At the
same time it is useful to remember that whatever realm of suffering
people or ourselves seem to be stuck in the fresh moment of
recognition of rigpa is always the basis for experience. In that sense
there is always hope and we can never give up on our Bodhisattva
resolve to save all sentient beings.
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Dzogchen Meditation
Recognizing Natural Awareness
Khenpo Gangshar
"Sincerely take to heart the fact that the time of death lies
uncertain. Then, knowing that there is no time to waste,
diligently apply yourself to spiritual practice!"
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol
We need to sit and look at our minds directly and when we first sit
down without any entertainment and become aware of our mind's
activity it is shocking to see how crazy our discursive mind actually
is. Our first notion of meditation is that this crazy mind is the problem
and that we need to stop its activity in some way -- that the purpose
of meditation is to repress thinking and dwell in a thought-free state.
In fact most people believe meditation is about stopping or
repressing discursive thought. Actually discursive thinking itself isn't
our main problem. The problem is that because of unawareness or
distraction (marigpa in Tibetan) we habitually react to thoughts as
they arise in our minds. In this way every thought that arises in our
mind habitually conditions and obscures our true nature -- Natural
Awareness. In the Dzogchen view, thoughts are simply the dynamic
action of Natural Awareness -- like waves are the movement of the
ocean. In our confused and distracted state we mistake the thought
for something existing on its own apart from the mind or awareness in
which it has arisen. In this way we get caught by the thought when
we react to it as though it were separate from mind/ awareness. This
obscuration quickly subsumes our awareness and we become
enveloped in a dream state or realm of habituation -- this is called
samsara. It is the function of dualistic projection and habitual
fixation. It is like not seeing the forest for the trees.
Perceptions also arise in mind/ awareness and are also subject to the
same habitual fixation. What we take to be the "outer world"( i.e
sight, sound. touch, taste, smell) also does not exist apart from the
awareness in which it has arisen. When seen with awareness which is
Guru Rinpoche
Getting Started
Of course reading the profound pith instructions of masters like Guru
Rinpoche makes this process sound quite simple -- and it is! Simple
to start but very difficult to continue. When we first sit on the
meditation cushion there may be a moment of openness. But after
several minutes we notice an on rush of "discursive thinking".
Meditation practice is like turning up the lights in a dark room. In
this case we are turning the light of awareness to shine on our minds
and we quickly realize how much discusive thinking we have and we
become frustrated by our inability to stay present and undistracted.
We seem carried away by every thought that we have. Trungpa
Rinpoche refers to this period of training as "hot boredom." We are
agitated and bored for entertainment and our mind seems to be wild
and untamed.
"When resting in this way, your mind will not remain in the
state of empty and cognizant awareness for long but will
become restless, disturbed, or unsettled and will move about
like a monkey. This is not the mind-essence. It is called
'thinking'. If you indulge in it, this thinking will recall, make
thoughts about, or plan to carry out anything! In the past,
this is exactly what has thrown you into the ocean of
samsara. For sure, it will throw you there again. Now,
wouldn't it be better to stop this insidious, deluded thinking?"
Dudjom Rinpoche
"First let the mind follow the in and out rhythm of the breath
until it becomes calm and tranquil; then rest the mind more
and more on the breath until one's whole being seems to be
identified with it. Finally, become aware of the breath leaving
the body and going out into space, and gradually transfer the
attention away from the breath and towards the sensation of
spaciousness and expansion. By letting this final sensation
merge into complete openness, one moves into the sphere of
formless meditation proper."
Trungpa Rinpoche
"When your past thought has ceased and your future thought
has not yet arisen and you are free from conceptual reckoning
in the present moment, then your genuine and natural
awareness, the union of being empty and cognizant, dawns as
the state of mind, which is like space -- that itself is dzogchen
transcending concepts, the cutting through of primordial
purity, the open and naked exhaustion of phenomena.
This
is exactly what you should recognize. To sustain the practice
means simply to rest in naturalness after recognizing."
Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche
One traditional practice instruction states that when our habitual
involvement in one thought has ended and we have yet to become
habitually engaged in the next thought we have the opportunity if we
are attentive to recognize uncontrived Natural Awareness. This is a
very simple instruction and yet it is the key point of practice. Without
knowing this key point our efforts in practice will essentially be
worthless. So what is it saying? How does this moment feel
experientially? When we are doing our practice there are moments of
simple awareness and there are periods of time when we are
distracted and essentially caught in a daydream.
Shamatha ,when done with the correct view, allows us to develop our
recognition of this 'sense of being.' This moment is the same as the
unfabricated, undistracted state. By letting be completely with the
breath and giving up any thoughts concerning a goal for our practice
quite by accident we find ourselves unconditionally aware in the
present moment.
Guru Rinpoche
"In truth if you cannot tame your own mind, what else is there
to tame? What is the use of doing many other practices? The
aim of the whole Buddhist path, both Basic and the Great
Vehicles, is to tame and understand your mind."
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Our uncontrived Natural Awareness is only discovered by letting be -by touching it, recognizing it and then letting it be that way. The
Formal practice of 'sitting meditation' as it is called is really just
creating the conditions which are more conducive for this recognition
and letting be. It is only through doing this type of practice
repeatedly that we wear out our tendency to jump to our next
habitual distraction. This is called attaining 'stability' in the natural
state. Many teachers recommend "short moments many times". but
this type of instruction only works when you are in a longterm retreat.
If we just practice for short periods between checking our Iphone or
facebook page we never wear out our habitual patterns. So we
recommend "short moments many times for a long time". Just sit
there and wear out the boredom and frustration, the fascination and
exhilaration. We only gain confidence in our Natural Awareness
through watching every reaction arise, dwell and dissipate over and
over again. Eventually we become quite 'shinjanged" -- which is a
tibetan meditation term for completely processed out. Our shocking
thoughts no longer shock us. We see them just as thoughts. We can
see everything that arises in our mind and we no longer react
habitually as though the thoughts were real or solid. There is no
substitute for intensive sitting practice within a group retreat. That is
why we offer 10 day "Heart of the Matter" retreats here at the Center
four times a year.
There are ,of course, many people who are buried under layers of
habituation who will not experience the Guru's mind or not recognize
it when it is right in front of them. In the beginning of practice it is
necessary to have faith -- just do your practice and clear away these
habitual obscurations. Its very helpful even in our cynical age to trust
the words of our lineage Gurus! Some people in this life will never
realize the nature of the Guru's mind but will mistake it for something
else. This boils down to 'precious human birth." Believe it or not, the
crazy people who recognize this mind are the lucky ones! Working on
faith and devotion and pure perception is of the utmost importance on
the path of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.
"In order to truly recognize your nature, you must receive the
blessings of a guru who has the lineage. This transmission
depends upon the disciple's devotion. It is not given just
because you have a close relationship. It is therefore vital
never to separate yourself from the devotion of seeing your
guru as the dharmakaya buddha."
Shechen Gyaltsab, Pema Namgyal