Non-Duality: The Way of Liberation Part Two-The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibet By Anthony Court “Truly, I have attained nothing from total enlightenment”. The Buddha The author Arthur Koestler (Darkness at Noon, Ghost in the Machine) once said that the human race seems to have a fundamental flaw. Jed McKenna in his Enlightenment Trilogy (Spiritual Enlightenment-The Damnedest Thing, Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, and Spiritual Warfare) suggests the human race is still in its infancy and has not as yet even emerged from the kinder garden stage. If we take a serious look at this proposition there seems to be an intuitive sense of truth behind these statements. There is nothing noble, mature, wise or compassionate about the way governments, religions, ideologies or any other human institutions work. They bully, squabble, argue and fight over possessions, and ideas. No different to kids in a playground. Well the possible reason for this madness, is that they (the majority of the human race) believe themselves to be awake, when in fact; they are asleep, steeped in Maya, or the illusion of appearances. These appearances are taken to be the real (reality) I have always loved the image of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky sitting outside of a café in St Petersburg, Russia, and Gurdjieff telling Ouspensky to watch all the people hurriedly passing by and to comment on what he saw. When Ouspensky stated he was not sure how to answer. Gurdjieff said “Look, they are all asleep”. He went on to say “Man is asleep; he has no real consciousness or will. He is not free; to him, everything happens. He can become conscious and find his true place as a human being in the creation, but this requires a profound transformation”. "Man's possibilities are very great. You cannot even conceive a shadow of what man is capable of attaining. But nothing can be attained in sleep. In the consciousness of a sleeping man his illusions, his 'dreams' are mixed with reality. (These dreams include religion and in many cases, spiritual systems) He lives in a subjective world and he can never escape from it. And this is the reason why he can never make use of all the powers he possesses and why he lives in only a small part of himself." The Buddha said something similar “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?” So in this series will look at non-duality in different traditions, as the path, or way of reaching the awakened state is an ancient one, but the core teaching of self-liberation has been covered up by cultural language and practices, dogma, ritual, religion and ignorance. Dzogchen the Path of Liberation: Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection" or “Great Compleation” is a central teaching of Dzogchen and is considered the highest and most definitive path to awakening or enlightenment in both the Tibetan Buddhist and Bön Traditions of Tibet.
I have to add a personal note here. In 2001 under the auspicious direction of Lama Khemsar Rinpoche I completed the Dzogchen Ngondro (Foundation Teachings) called the ‘Aa-trid Kaloong Gya-tsho’ one of the three streams of Bön Dzogchen this comprised of 900,000 practices. I should add that this was one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life. As I was working during the day, and teaching many evenings. I sometimes practiced through the night for many hours to complete this practice. So in this article on Dzogchen, it would be inappropriate of me to talk of specific or personal practices or teachings. From the perspective of Dzogchen, the ultimate nature of all sentient beings is said to be pure, all-encompassing, primordial awareness or naturally occurring timeless awareness. This "intrinsic awareness" has no form of its own and yet is capable of perceiving experiencing, reflecting, or expressing all form. It does so without being affected by those forms in any ultimate, permanent way. This pristine awareness is what Dzogchenpas (those who have the Dzogchen view) refer to as rigpa. Rigpa is a Tibetan word, which in general means ‘intelligence’ or ‘awareness’. In Dzogchen, however, the highest teaching in the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, rigpa has a deeper connotation, ‘the innermost nature of the mind’. The whole of the teaching of Buddha is directed towards realizing this, our ultimate nature, the state of omniscience or enlightenment – a truth so universal, so primordial that it goes beyond all limits, and beyond even religion, spirituality or any philosophical standpoints whatsoever. The analogy given by Dzogchen masters is that one's nature is like a mirror which reflects with complete openness but is not affected by the reflections, or like a crystal ball that takes on the colour of the material on which it is placed without itself being changed. Having distinguished rigpa from mind, one is not distracted by the mind, i.e. one does not let thoughts lead oneself. This allows thoughts to naturally self-liberate without avoidance. A most important point is that rigpa is both empty and luminous; empty meaning…not nothingness, but unlimited possibility and luminosity means the “aware” or “knowing” aspect of the mind. These two aspects are inseparable, they are not two things. So Dzogchen is a view, a way of seeing, as HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (one of the Dali Lamas main teachers) says: The everyday practice of dzogchen is simply to develop a complete carefree acceptance, openness to all situations without limit. We should realise openness as the playground of our emotions and relate to people without artificiality, manipulation or strategy. We should experience everything totally, never withdrawing into ourselves as a marmot hides in its hole. This practice releases tremendous energy which is usually constricted by the process of maintaining fixed reference points. Referentiality is the process by which we retreat from the direct experience of everyday life. Being present in the moment may initially trigger fear. But by welcoming the sensation of fear with complete openness, we cut through the barriers created by habitual emotional patterns.
When we engage in the practice of discovering space, we should develop the feeling of opening ourselves out completely to the entire universe. We should open ourselves with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind. This is the powerful and ordinary practice of dropping the mask of self-protection. We shouldn't make a division in our meditation between perception and field of perception. We shouldn't become like a cat watching a mouse. We should realise that the purpose of meditation is not to go "deeply into ourselves" or withdraw from the world. Practice should be free and non-conceptual, unconstrained by introspection and concentration. Vast unoriginated self-luminous wisdom space is the ground of being - the beginning and the end of confusion. The presence of awareness in the primordial state has no bias toward enlightenment or nonenlightenment. This ground of being which is known as pure or original mind is the source from which all phenomena arise. It is known as the great mother, as the womb of potentiality in which all things arise and dissolve in natural self-perfectedness and absolute spontaneity. All aspects of phenomena are completely clear and lucid. The whole universe is open and unobstructed - everything is mutually interpenetrating. Seeing all things as naked, clear and free from obscurations, there is nothing to attain or realise. The nature of phenomena appears naturally and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness. Everything is naturally perfect just as it is. All phenomena appear in their uniqueness as part of the continually changing pattern. These patterns are vibrant with meaning and significance at every moment; yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings beyond the moment in which they present themselves. In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true”. The Buddha So Dzogchen is a serious approach to uncover our true and original nature. The fabrication of religions (especially mono-theistic religions) by the mind of man has produced untold suffering in this world. It is estimated that eighty-five percent of all current wars are caused by religion (are religions anymore than fairy stories for grownups?). Why don’t we start to reject these conceptual, man made ideas, and return to the sanity and wholesomeness of the naturalness of the original and primordial nature of mind? “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed. Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don't rely on logic alone, or speculation. Don't infer or be deceived by appearances Do not give up your authority and follow blindly the will of others. This way will lead to only delusion. Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real” The Buddha.
When we watch a film (our life story in time and space) on a cinema screen (our inherent present awareness) we mistake the film for who we are, and do not recognizes that the screen is our basic nature on which all things arise and return. The natural, primordial state (the screen, has no centre and no periphery) it is without limitations. There seem to two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish, spiritual (as though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify themselves with the ego, by realising its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being. Wei Wu Wei Why are you unhappy? Because ninety nine, point nine per cent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself - And there isn't one. Wei Wu Wei Anthony Court: www.internaldynamics.co.uk