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What is Dzogchen ?
KaldenYungdrung
Netherlands Explorer
Hi members,
Dzogchen is a method to reach Enlightenment at the time when the mind starts to disconnect form the body.
So it can be seen as a fast method, inside the world of Buddhism.
Dzoghen is at the moment very wide spread in the western world.
Best wishes
KY
1
Comments
can you please explain - when the mind starts to disconnect form the body - this part of your above sentence in more detail? thanks in advance.
When we die the elements start to dissolve.
That is the time when our mind of karma / ego starts to leave the body.
It does leave through one of those chakras which, represent the level of understanding / practice / realisation.
Tibetans train to leave the Mind via the Brahma chakra. Method is called Phowa.
It assumes a mental body which can last for some days mostly 3 or more.
It can watch, move, can see its own corpse etc.
Well this is the moment of disconnecting.
Then the Buddhist who did do some practice, can have success on these moments of dying.
Best wishes
KY,
IMHO you are leaving it a bit late ...
I don't expect you to come back and tell us of your success or failure ...
Perhaps the bardo can be understood as living mind states ... just a thought ...
Bardo can also deal with dreams and samadhi experience, that would be living mind states some how.
They can serve as preparation for the Bardo of dying.
Also Trekchöd and Thögal Dzogchen "meditation" can be used as excellent Bardo preparation.
Best wishes
KY.
The extensive treatment of Bardo teachings would deal with :
the Bardo of the sanctuary of birth (skye gnas kyi bar do), i.e., the bardo period of our incarnation in a given birth, which lasts from the time of the conception down to the beginning of the Bardo of the Time of Death (no. 4 below),
the Bardo of dream (rmi lam gyi bar do) which actually belongs to the first Bardo above,
the Bardo of Samadhi (ting 'dzin gyi bar do) which also belongs to the first Bardo and lasts as long as one remains in the state of samadhi,
the Bardo of the Time of Death (Chi' kha'i bar do) which starts when the irreversible circumstances leading to death have started their action, down to the disconnexion of the body and the mind,
the Bardo of the Primordially Pure Absolute Body (ka dag bon sku'i bar do), which is the direct experience of the natural, however it cannot be experienced by people who have not totally stabilized their Trekchö,
the Bardo of the Clear-Light of Reality (bon nyid 'od gsal gyi bar do) which can only be witnessed by adepts who have had an experience of Thögel practice up to at least the 2nd part of the Second Vision of Thogel,
the Bardo of Becoming (srid pa'i bar do) during which one faces karmic retributions and is led to another rebirth.
how does Dzogchen differ from Zen? any information please. thanks in advance.
I guess that if Zen does make use of non duality meditations then there would be no difference.
How is the sudden experience in Dzogchen experienced and how in Zen.
I guess the difference is the Sutra like Zen is mainly based on the Lankavatara Sutra and Dzogchen on many upa desheas.
Best wishes
KY
Back to the topic, what could be Dzogchen more?
Dzogchen is an especially valuable teaching for this time in the West.
It goes directly to the essence of the matter. All of us as sentient beings (sems-can) possessing mind (sems). So this teaching about mind and its nature is very useful to us in practical terms and not just theoretically.
The benefit is that Dzogchen can bring us peace of mind and happiness in our lives. In the practice of Dzogchen, there are no complicated visualizations, no difficult yoga positions, no monotonous chanting of mantras; there is only an examination of our condition and a discovery of the _Nature of Mind. _
We need to discover what really exists. Our mind is nearer to us than anything else, yet it is invisible and we do not see it. We do not immediately recognize its nature. For this reason, we need to hear the teachings and then put them into practice. This will not only bring us a calm and contented life in the present, but, in the future, it will bring the circumstances of a better rebirth.
However, in order to understand this, we first look at our own condition before we can discover and recognize this Nature of Mind.
It is part of Buddhism. But it is not the whole of Buddhism. It pays to understand others' mileages may vary, and other paths are walked.
"All roads lead to Rome". How we walk them is a personal factor, right down to whether we stroll, run or even sit for a while....
Sooner or later one will arrive at Rome. So the time or in the Buddhist way understood, the number of reincarnations do play a role.
Therefore one can say we have different karma to reach our destiny like here Rome.
Some do it fast but there also many who use detours.
But seen in the light of the unborn Mind, what is time? But on the relative level there could be suffering for the form with mind.
Therefore it is up to one`s karma what one can practice not less and not more.
I like to underline also that some practitioners never could practice Tantra, because they are not on one line with it.
Remarkable is that a Tantrist does know what is Sutra and Abhi Dhamma etc. , but a Therevada Buddhist would never do Tantra practice for some reasons.
Therefore there are differences which are in Buddhism not by every body understood why they exist.
Then i know very well that one can say that if somebody did arrived in Rome he is a Buddha. That is what i doubt because in Rome, some have to go to a special address.
So the Path to Rome can differ as well the fruit.
I know many will disagree with this and will say in this and that Sutra etc. is this written and explained etc., but that does not mean the realisation of that is done in the same time with the same methods.
KY
If a person attains Nibbana, does it matter how they got there, or how long they took?
Well the attainment of the Arhat is by some Buddhists doubted if this would be ultimate attainment.
Then sure the time it took to come at Rome, depends upon if there are robbers on the road, one does not get an accident etc. That is called suffering in Buddhism (posessing a bodily / human form or other like demon, gods, demi gods etc.
Therefore some like to avoid suffering and want asap have caused Enlightenment.
Then in the position of a Buddha is the best way to help etc.
But that is meant for persons with a high motivation, they go for it and they like be as fast as a Ferrari. Sure we do not want to cause here a competition about who is first.
KY.
Good example of the Dzogchen vision and related practice of the abiding in one´s Natural State = the State of Enlightenent which is unspeakable and non dualistic of Nature.
This one page text in Tibetan, entitled Nyag bla byang chub rdo rje’i rdzogs pa chen po ka dag khregs chod lta sgom spyod ‘bras don mdor bsdus bstan pa, was translated, at the urging of Lama Wangdor, on 25 June 2005 in Oakland, California. Disciple of Nyag bla Padma bdud ‘dul, Nyag bla byang chub rdo rje, whose dates are sometimes given as 1838–1953, was the principal Dzogchen teacher of the contemporary master Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche.
Line Drawing by Nigel Wellings;
Published In TANTRIC POETRY by Steven Goodman11/16/2015;
------------------------
Nyela Rinpoche Rigdzin Changchub Dorje
(Nyag la rin po che rig 'dzin byang chub rdo rje, 1826 – 1961/1978)
The Heart Advice from the Tibetan meditation master Nyela Changchub Dorje:
A Concise Teaching on Seeing, Deepening, Responding and Arriving according to Dzogpachenpo Kadak Trekchö.
KYE HO!
dear children, listen closely!
what you call mind isn’t anything at all
allow your own mind to look at itself.
past thoughts are no longer here, and
the future’s not yet here
and whatever arises now
is beyond reckoning.
let all thoughts
the past, present and future
settle, right now,
and in this moment
see how it is
if you see
colors & shapes
this is a sign
you’ve wandered
into the house of delusion.
if you think “it’s nothing, there’s nothing”
you’re trapped
in the numb empty state
and the richness of your own nature
will not emerge.
you know,
you can investigate
meditate for a hundred years
and not be
moving towards freedom
great natural perfection
is present
awareness right now
no thoughts & conditions
clear & radiant, like the sky
this never changes
it is dharmakaya, the primordial
clear & radiant awareness
is unceasing in its splendor
it is sambhogakaya, the rapturous
the arising of all possible things,
an ever-present vibration
it is nirmanakaya, the magical
whatever
whenever something
happens
don’t do
anything
with it
let it
settle by itself
thoughts are fuel
flaring up &
toxic
let them come
and go
they will
dissolve into space
coming
going
no difference
when they come
look directly
how they come
when they go
look directly
how they go
it is
exactly
the same, no
favorites no
choosing
eating
sitting
walking
standing
sleeping
talking,
whatever
you do,
when
you do it
look directly
how you are
this is how
ordinary beings
become buddhas
nothing is more direct
than this
more profound
than this
teaching
& for those who rely
on this
teaching
causes & conditions are gone
this is the space
just this
directly know
every experience
is magical
the wisdom eye
is now open
clairvoyance
now here
your body is no longer solid
you can travel unrestrained
death time comes &
your material and vital forces break down
and your elemental energies transmute
into the blessings
of rainbow remains
never changing
it’s now dissolved
back into
the primal state
awareness settles back
into space
Dharmakaya, the primoridal
and it activates
all tangible dimensions
releasing enlightened activities
bringing benefit
to all who live
wide as space itself
this is how it is.
now bountiful benefits
will flow
BE HAPPY! GEY-
Prof. Steven D. Goodman is co-director and core faculty in the Asian and Comparative Studies Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco). He co-edited Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation (New York: SUNY Press, 1992), and studied Tibetan Poetics as a Rockefeller Scholar in residence at the Rice University Center for Cultural Studies. Board of director at Jonang Foundation, Working Committee at 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha and Advisor at Khyentse Foundation.
This poetry appeared in Tibetan Literary Arts, Curated by Marit Cranmer, published by Shang Shung Institute, Neilson Library, Smith College, May 2007.