Embedded Files
⚠️ Safety First ⚠️
Click to Expand
Before diving in head first, please understand the differences in risk associated and the recommendations, outlined below.
Historically, transmissions were given only in person, when teacher and student were in the same place, at the same time. Today, in this Kali Yuga, technology has sped up the pace and connectivity of the world and some Lamas have begun live-streaming their transmissions. This is an experiment to see if the connection can be made across distances.
These instructions include words and symbols, but they also include a telepathic, mind-to-mind component, known as a “wang” in Tibetan. This direct connection is essential to the student’s progress. Without it, only conceptual understanding arises in the student’s mind and this can actually act as a hinderance to further progress.
In addition to the hinderance of intellectualization, there are other practical risks to be aware of. Dzogchen works directly with the alchemy of raw emotions, energy, and mind. There will be inner upheavals, wacky meditative experiences (nyam), and extreme highs and lows. Please take this into consideration if you have a history of mental health issues or are experiencing significant emotional distress. This practice is not for everyone.
If the Mahayana path is like hiking a trail up a mountain, then Dzogchen is like climbing a sheer rock wall – it is a direct route with many more pitfalls. THINGS CAN GO WRONG!
Go check out your local Buddhist center. Seek out an introductory class, attend Dharma talks, and engage the sangha (community). Then as you continue to do this, develop a relationship with a Dharma teacher. Ask questions, and get personal instructions on your own practice of healing and transformation.
Recommendations:
Begin a relationship with a qualified and authentic teacher. A teacher can address pressing questions as they arise and give you a map and tools for the journey. As practitioners, we can rely on those who have hiked the trail before us.
Do not expect to travel this path guided only by books and the internet! Use the internet to find a teacher, then connect with them.
The responsibility to take care of your own mind rests with you; not the lama. So, take it upon yourself to be safe and use common sense.
With great power, comes great responsibility. In this case, the responsibility is to your own naturally luminous mind.
From the very beginning, your own mind is inseparable from the self-arising primordial wisdom, the natural state. Emptiness and clarity are indivisible; this is the Bönku, the Body of Reality. It is the unity of samsara and nirvana, permeated by primordial wisdom. This primordial wisdom is the ultimate nature of all phenomena. Within the Secret Mantra Tantra system, it is also described as the fundamental luminosity of reality.
Therefore, rest naturally and recognize the true face of awareness, the essence of mind. To continue in this nature is the condensation of a hundred essential points into a single instruction. Simply remain in this awareness, where emptiness and clarity are inseparable. In meditation, the correct approach is to leave whatever arises in the mind just as it is, without interference.
Resting without engaging with arising thoughts is calm abiding. The boundless, intrinsic reality of naked awareness, vivid and sharply transparent, is clarity. Recognizing this awareness, free of subject and object, is what is called special insight.
This essential point, sustaining awareness and directly experiencing the nature of mind, is the most profound instruction. It unifies the ocean-like paths of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen into a single realization.
Look outward at the appearing objects,
And like the water in a mirage,
They are more delusive than delusion.
Unreal like dreams and illusions,
They resemble reflected moon and rainbows.
Look inward at your own mind.
It seems quite exciting, when not examined.
But when examined, there is nothing to it.
Appearing without being, it is nothing but empty.
It cannot be identified saying, "that's it!"
But is evanescent and elusive like mist.
Look at whatever may appear
In any of the ten directions.
No matter how it may appear,
The thing in itself, its very nature,
Is the sky-like nature of mind,
Beyond the projection and dissolution of thought and concept.
~Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche
Google Sites
Report abuse