Dzogchen

File:White-A (Dzogchen).svg

A white Tibetan letter A inside a rainbow thigle is a common symbol of Dzogchen.Template:Sfnp The Sanskrit letter A is also a common symbol for non-arising in Mahayana Buddhism.

Dzogchen (Template:Bo 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as atiyoga (utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence.Template:Sfnp The goal of Dzogchen is the direct experience of this basis, called Template:Translit (Sanskrit: Template:Translit). There are spiritual practices taught in various Dzogchen systems for discovering Template:Translit.

Dzogchen emerged during the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, around the 7th to 9th centuries CE. While it is considered a Tibetan development by some scholars, it draws upon key ideas from Indian sources. The earliest Dzogchen texts appeared in the 9th century, attributed to Indian masters. These texts, known as the Eighteen Great Scriptures, form the "Mind Series" and are attributed to figures like Śrī Siṅgha and Vimalamitra. Early Dzogchen was marked by a departure from normative Vajrayāna practices, focusing instead on simple calming contemplations leading to a direct immersion in awareness. During the Tibetan renaissance era (10th to early 12th century), Dzogchen underwent significant development, incorporating new practices and teachings from India. This period saw the emergence of new Dzogchen traditions like the "Instruction Class series" and the "Seminal Heart" (Template:Bo).

Dzogchen is classified into three series: the Semdé (Mind Series, Template:Bo), Longdé (Space Series, Template:Bo), and Menngaggidé (Instruction Series, Template:Bo). The Dzogchen path comprises the Base, the Path, and the Fruit. The Base represents the original state of existence, characterized by emptiness (stong pa nyid), clarity (lhun grub, associated with luminous clarity), and compassionate energy (snying rje). The Path involves gaining a direct understanding of the mind's pure nature through meditation and specific Dzogchen methods. The Fruit is the realization of one's true nature, leading to complete non-dual awareness and the dissolution of dualities.

Dzogchen practitioners aim for self-liberation (Template:Bo), where all experiences are integrated with awareness of one's true nature. This process may culminate in the attainment of a rainbow body at the moment of death, symbolizing full Buddhahood. Critics point to tensions between gradual and simultaneous practice within Dzogchen traditions, but practitioners argue these approaches cater to different levels of ability and understanding. Overall, Dzogchen offers a direct path to realizing the innate wisdom and compassion of the mind.

History

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Dzogchen arose in the era of the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (7th to 9th centuries CE) during the Tibetan Empire and continued during the Era of Fragmentation (9th to 11th centuries). American Tibetologist David Germano argues that Dzogchen is likely a Tibetan Buddhist development.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp However, numerous ideas key to Dzogchen (like emptiness and luminosity) can be found in Indian sources, like the Buddhist tantras, buddha-nature literature and other Mahāyāna sources like the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Furthermore, scholars like Sam van Schaik see Dzogchen as having arisen out of tantric Buddhist completion stage practices.Template:Sfnp

The earliest Dzogchen sources appeared in the first half of the 9th century, with a series of short texts attributed to Indian saints.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The most of important of these are the "Eighteen Great Scriptures", which are today known as the "Mind Series" (Semdé) and are attributed to Indian masters like Śrī Siṅgha, Vairotsana and Vimalamitra.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The later Semdé compilation tantra titled the All-Creating King (Kunjed Gyalpo, kun byed rgyal po) is one of the most important and widely quoted of all Dzogchen scriptures.Template:Sfnp

Germano sees the early Dzogchen of the Tibetan Empire period as characterized by the rejection of normative Vajrayana practice. Germano calls the early Dzogchen traditions "pristine Great Perfection" since it is marked "by the absence of presentations of detailed ritual and contemplative technique" as well as a lack of funerary, charnel ground and death imagery found in some Buddhist tantras.Template:Sfnp According to Germano, instead of tantric deity yoga methods, early Dzogchen mainly focused on simple calming (śamatha) contemplations leading to a "technique free immersion in the bare immediacy of one's own deepest levels of awareness".Template:Sfnp Similarly, Christopher Hatchell explains that since for early Dzogchen "all beings and all appearances are themselves the singular enlightened gnosis of the buddha All Good (Samantabhadra, Kuntu Zangpo)", there is nothing to do but to recognize this inherent awakened mind, relax and let go.Template:Sfnp

During the Tibetan renaissance era (10th century to the early 12th century) many new Vajrayāna texts, teachings and practices were introduced from India.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp At this time, the Nyingma school and its Dzogchen traditions reinvented themselves, producing many new scriptures and developing new practices influenced by the Sarma traditions.Template:Sfnp These new influences were absorbed into Dzogchen through the practice of finding treasure texts (terma) that were discovered by "treasure revealers" (tertons).Template:Sfnp These tantric elements included subtle body practices, visionary practices like dark retreat, and a focus on death-motifs and practices (such as funerary and relic rituals, bardo teachings, phowa, etc).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

These new methods and teachings were part of several new traditions such as the "Secret Cycle" (gsang skor),Template:Sfnp "Ultra Pith" (yang tig),Template:Sfnp "Brahmin's tradition" (bram ze'i lugs),Template:Sfnp the "Space Class Series,"Template:Sfnp and especially the "Instruction Class series" (Menngagde),Template:Sfnp which culminated in the "Seminal Heart" (snying thig), which emerged in the late 11th and early 12th century. The most influential texts in this period are Seventeen Tantras (rgyud bcu bdun).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The most important scholarly figure in the systematization of these new traditions was Longchenpa Rabjampa (1308–1364).Template:Sfnp

Later figures who also revealed important treasure text cycles include Karma Lingpa, (1326–1386, who revealed the bar-do thos-grol), Rigdzin Gödem (1337–1409), Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798), who revealed the influential Longchen Nyingthig and Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904).Template:Sfnp

Etymology and concepts

Dzogchen is composed of two terms:Template:Sfnp

• rdzogs – perfection, completion
• chen – great

According to the fourteenth Dalai Lama, the term dzogchen may be a rendering of the Sanskrit term mahāsandhi.Template:Sfnp

The term initially referred to the "highest perfection" of Vajrayāna deity yoga. Specifically, it refers to the stage after the deity visualisation has been dissolved and one rests in the natural state of the innately luminous and pure mind.Template:Sfnp According to Sam van Schaik, in the 8th-century tantra Sarvabuddhasamāyoga, the term refers to "a realization of the nature of reality" which arises through the practice of tantric anuyoga practices which produce bliss.Template:Sfnp In the 10th and 11th centuries, when Dzogchen emerged as a separate vehicle to liberation in the Nyingma tradition,Template:Sfnp the term was used synonymously with the Sanskrit term ati yoga (primordial yoga).Template:Sfnp

Rigpa (knowledge) and ma rigpa (delusion)

File:Sun behind the dark clouds.jpg

A widespread metaphor for ignorance is the obscuration of the sun by clouds.

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Rigpa (Sanskrit: vidyā, "knowledge") is a central concept in Dzogchen. According to Ācārya Malcolm Smith:

A text from the Heart Essence of Vimalamitra called the Lamp Summarizing Vidyā (Rig pa bsdus pa’i sgronma) defines vidyā in the following way: "...vidyā is knowing, clear, and unchanging" In Sanskrit, the term vidyā and all its cognates imply consciousness, knowing, knowledge, science, intelligence, and so on. Simply put, vidyā means unconfused knowledge of the basis that is its own state.Template:Sfnp {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Ma rigpa (avidyā) is the opposite of rigpa or knowledge. Ma rigpa is ignorance, delusion, or unawareness, the failure to recognize the nature of the basis. An important theme in Dzogchen texts is explaining how ignorance arises from the basis or dharmatā, which is associated with ye shes or pristine consciousness.Template:Sfnp Automatically arising unawareness (lhan skyes ma rig pa) exists because the basis has a natural cognitive potentiality which gives rise to appearances. This is the ground for saṁsāra and nirvāṇa.Template:Sfnp

Traditional exegesis

The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva (Dorje Sempa Nyinggi Melong, rdo rje sems dpa' snying gi me long), a major Dzogchen tantra, explains the term Dzog (Perfection) as follows:

Because rigpa is perfect wisdom in the realm beyond effort, it is perfection. Because meditation is perfect stainless wisdom in the realm beyond concepts, it is perfection. Because behavior is perfect universal wisdom in the realm beyond correction, it is perfection. Because view is perfect non-conceptual wisdom in the realm beyond achievement, it is perfection. Because fruit is the perfect twenty-five wisdoms in the realm beyond frame of reference, it is perfection.Template:Sfnp{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The Mirror of the Heart of Vajrasattva explains that Dzogchen is "great" because:Template:Sfnp

• It is the pinnacle of all vehicles, views, meditations, behaviors, goals.
• It is "never moving from the natural state."
• It functions "without obstacles in the realm beyond change."
• It manifests "beyond concepts in the realm beyond attachment."
• It manifests "without attachment in the realm beyond desire"
• It manifests "in great bliss in the realm beyond speech."
• It is "the source that pervades pure enlightenment."
• It is "non-substantial rigpa beyond action and effort."
• It remains "in equality without moving from the realm of total bliss" and "without moving from the essential meaning."
• It exists "everywhere without being a dimension of grasping."
• It is "the essence of everything without being established with words and syllables."

Three series

The Three Series of Dzogchen (Template:Bo) are a traditional Tibetan Buddhist classification which divides the teachings of the Nyingma school's Dzogchen tradition into three series, divisions or sections. These three are: the Semde ('Mind Series'), the Longdé ('Space Series') and the Menngagde ('Instruction Series'). Traditional accounts of the Nyingma school attribute this schema to the Indian master Mañjuśrīmitra (c. 8th century).Template:Sfnp

According to modern Tibetologists, this doxographic schema actually developed in the literature of the Instruction Series (c. 11th century onwards) as a way to distinguish and categorize the various Dzogchen teachings at the time.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp According to Instruction Series texts, the Mind Series is based on understanding that one's own mind is the basis of all appearances and that this basis, called mind itself, is empty and luminous. The Space series meanwhile is focused on emptiness (Skt. śūnyatā, T. stong-pa nyid). Finally, the Instruction Series itself is seen as the most direct kind of realization, without the need to meditate on emptiness or mind.Template:Sfnp Over time, the Instruction Series came to dominate the Dzogchen tradition and it remains the series that is most widely practiced and taught while the other two series are rarely practiced today (with the exception of a few masters like Namkhai Norbu).Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

According to Namkhai Norbu, the three series are three modes of presenting and introducing the state of Dzogchen. Norbu states that Mennagde is a more direct form of introduction, Longde is closely associated with symbolic forms of introducing Dzogchen and Semde is more focused on oral forms of introduction.Template:Sfnp Germano writes that the Mind Series serves as a classification for the earlier texts and forms of Dzogchen "prior to the development of the Seminal Heart movements" which focused on meditations based on tantric understandings of bodhicitta (byang chub kyi sems).Template:Sfnp This referred to the ultimate nature of the mind, which is empty (stong pa), luminous ('od gsal ba), and pure.Template:Sfnp According to Germano, the Space and Instruction Series are associated with later (historical) developments of Dzogchen "which increasingly experimented with re-incorporating tantric contemplative techniques centered on the body and vision, as well as the consequent philosophical shifts his became interwoven with."Template:Sfnp

Base, Path, and Fruit

File:Sam Taeguk.jpg

A gankyil, a Tibetan symbol which can symbolize various triple part ideas, such as the ground, path and fruit

In Dzogchen, there are three central aspects: the Base, the Path and the Fruit. The Base represents the original, unchanging state of existence, characterized by emptiness, clarity, and compassionate energy.

The Path comprises three key elements: view, practice, and conduct. The view focuses on gaining a direct understanding of the pure nature of the mind. Practice involves meditation techniques and specific Dzogchen methods. Conduct means integrating these practices into daily life.

The Fruit represents the ultimate goal – realizing one's true nature and achieving Buddhahood. This involves discovering the inherent state of the base and integrating all experiences with one's awareness of it. Ultimately, it leads to complete non-dual awareness, transcending egoic limitations, and dissolving dualities.

The Base or Ground

File:Samantabhadra 04.jpg

An image of the Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra with his consort Samantabhadri. These images are said to symbolize the union of space (emptiness, the female aspect) and clarity - awareness (male).Template:Sfnp

A key concept in Dzogchen is the "base", "ground", or "primordial state" (Tibetan: gzhi, Sanskrit: āśrayaTemplate:Sfnp), also called the general ground (spyi gzhi) or the original ground (gdod ma'i gzhi).Template:Sfnp The basis is the original state "before realization produced buddhas and nonrealization produced sentient beings". It is atemporal and unchanging and yet it is "noetically potent", giving rise to mind (sems, Skt. citta), consciousness (shes pa, Skt. vijñāna), delusion (ma rig pa, Skt. avidyā) and knowledge (rigpa, Skt. vidyā).Template:Sfnp Furthermore, Hatchell notes that the Dzogchen tradition portrays ultimate reality as something which is "beyond the concepts of one and many."Template:Sfnp

Three qualities

According to the Dzogchen-teachings, the Ground or Buddha-nature has three qualities:Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

• ngo bo, "essence", oneness or emptiness (Template:Bo),
• rang bzhin, "nature", luminosity, lucidity or clarity (as in the luminous mind of the Five Pure Lights) (Template:Bo),
• thugs rje, "power", universal compassionate energy (Template:Bo), unobstructed (Template:Bo).

Herbert V. Guenther points out that this Ground is both a static potential and a dynamic unfolding. They give a process-orientated translation, to avoid any essentialist associations, since

ngo-bo (facticity) has nothing to do with nor can even be reduced to the (essentialist) categories of substance and quality; [...] rang-bzhin (actuality) remains open-dimensional, rather than being or turning into a rigid essence despite its being what it is; and that thugs-rje (resonance) is an atemporal sensitivity and response, rather than a distinct and narrowly circumscribed operation.Template:Sfnp{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The 19th–20th-century Tibetan Buddhist scholar, Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurme Pema Namgyal, sees the Buddha-nature as ultimate truth,Template:Sfnp nirvana, which is constituted of profundity, primordial peace and radiance:

Buddha-nature is immaculate. It is profound, serene, unfabricated suchness, an uncompounded expanse of luminosity; nonarising, unceasing, primordial peace, spontaneously present nirvana.Template:Sfnp {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Direct introduction

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Direct introduction is called the "Empowerment of Awareness" (Template:Bo, pronounced "rigpay sall wahng"), a technical term employed within the Dzogchen lineages for a particular lineage of empowerment propagated by Jigme Lingpa. This empowerment consists of the direct introduction of the student to the intrinsic nature of their own mind-essence, rigpa, by their empowering master.Template:Sfnp

Pointing-out instruction

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In Dzogchen tradition, pointing-out instruction (Template:Bo) is also referred to as "pointing out the nature of mind" (Template:Bo), "pointing out transmission", or "introduction to the nature of mind".Template:Sfnp The pointing-out instruction (ngo sprod) is an introduction to the nature of mind.

The Path

There are three major divisions of the Dzogchen path, known as the "Three Dharmas of the Path."Template:Sfnp These are tawa, gompa, and chöpa. Namkhai Norbu translates these three terms as 'view,' 'practice,' and 'conduct.'Template:Sfnp

Garab Dorje's three statements

File:Garab Dorje.gif

Garab Dorje (c. 665), an Indian sage purportedly from Oddiyana. He is traditionally held to be the first human teacher of Dzogchen.

Garab Dorje (c. 665) epitomized the Dzogchen teaching in three principles, known as "Striking the Vital Point in Three Statements" (Tsik Sum Né Dek), said to be his last words. They give in short the development a student has to undergo:Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Garab Dorje's three statements were integrated into the Nyingthig traditions, the most popular of which in the Longchen Nyingthig by Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798).Template:Sfnp The statements are:

1. Introducing directly the face of rigpa itself (ngo rang tok tu tré). Dudjom Rinpoche states this refers to: "Introducing directly the face of the naked mind as the rigpa itself, the innate primordial wisdom."
2. Deciding upon one thing and one thing only (tak chik tok tu ché). Dudjom states: "Because all phenomena, whatever manifests, whether saṃsāra or nirvāṇa, are none other than the rigpa’s own play, there is complete and direct decision that there is nothing other than the abiding of the continual flow of rigpa."
3. Confidence directly in the liberation of rising thoughts (deng drol tok tu cha). Dudjom comments: "In the recognition of namtok [arising thoughts], whatever arises, whether gross or subtle, there is direct confidence in the simultaneity of the arising and dissolution in the expanse of dharmakāya, which is the unity of rigpa and śūnyatā."

View

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File:Appearance of sky for weather forecast, Dhaka, Bangladesh.JPG

The metaphors of sky and spaciousness are often used to describe the nature of mind in Dzogchen.

Nyingma Dzogchen texts use unique terminology to describe the Dzogchen view (Tib. tawa). Some of these terms deal with the different elements and features of the mind and are drawn from classic Buddhist thought. The generic term for consciousness is shes pa (Skt. vijñāna), and includes the six sense consciousnesses. Worldly, impure and dualistic forms of consciousness are generally referred to with terms such as sems (citta, mind), yid (mānas) and blo (buddhi). On the other hand, nirvanic or liberated forms of consciousness are described with terms such as ye shes (jñāna, 'pristine consciousness') and shes rab (prajñā, wisdom).Template:Sfnp According to Sam van Schaik, two significant terms used in Dzogchen literature is the ground (gzhi) and gnosis (rig pa), which represent the "ontological and gnoseological aspects of the nirvanic state" respectively.Template:Sfnp

Nyingma Dzogchen literature also describes nirvana as the "expanse" or "space" (klong or dbyings) or the "expanse of Dharma" (chos dbyings, Sanskrit: Dharmadhatu). The term Dharmakaya (Dharma body) is also often associated with these terms in Dzogchen,Template:Sfnp as explained by Tulku Urgyen:

Dharmakaya is like space. You cannot say there is any limit to space in any direction. No matter how far you go, you never reach a point where space stops and that is the end of space. Space is infinite in all directions; so is dharmakaya. Dharmakaya is all-pervasive and totally infinite, beyond any confines or limitations. This is so for the dharmakaya of all buddhas. There is no individual dharmakaya for each buddha, as there is no individual space for each country.Template:Sfnp {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The Dzogchen View of the secret instruction series (man ngag sde) is classically explained through the eleven vajra topics. These can be found in the String of Pearls Tantra (Mu tig phreng ba),Template:Sfnp the Great Commentary by Vimalamitra as well as in Longchenpa's Treasury of Word and Meaning (Tsik Dön Dzö).Template:Sfnp

Practice

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File:Lukhang mural 3.png

Lukhang Temple mural depicting Dzogchen anuyoga practices such as tummo which work with the subtle body channels

File:Lukhang mural 20.png

Yogis meditating on the letter A inside a thigle (circular rainbow), Lukhang Temple

File:Lukhang mural 14.png

Lukhang Temple mural depicting the visionary tögal practice of sky gazing.

Dzogchen practice (gompa) relies on the Dzogchen view which is a "direct, non-dual, non-conceptual knowledge" of the pure nature.Template:Sfnp This is achieved through one's relationship with a guru or lama who introduces one to our own primordial state and provides instruction on how to practice. This "direct introduction" and transmission from a Dzogchen master is considered absolutely essential.Template:Sfnp

The Dzogchen tradition contains numerous systems of practices, including various forms of meditation, tantric yogas and unique Dzogchen methods.Template:Sfnp The earliest form of Dzogchen practice (the Semde, "Mind" series) generally emphasized non-symbolic "formless" practices (as opposed to tantric deity yoga).Template:Sfnp

Later developments led to the main Dzogchen practices becoming more infused with various preliminary and tantric methods like deity yoga, semdzin (holding the mind), rushen (separating samsara and nirvana), and vipasyana (lhagthong), which are all seen as skillful means to achieve the basic state of contemplation of the primordially pure state.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

The key Dzogchen meditation methods, which are unique to the tradition are trekchö ("cutting tension") and tögal, along with unique Dzogchen teachings on awakening in the bardo (intermediate state between death and rebirth).Template:Sfnp In trekchö, one first identifies the innate pure awareness, and then sustains recognition of it in all activities.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp In tögal ("crossing over"), a yogi works with various gazes and postures which lead to various forms of visions (in dark retreat or through sky gazing).Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

The most comprehensive study of sky-gazing meditation, known as tögal or thod rgal, has been written by Flavio A. Geisshuesler. Although the term thod rgal is generally translated as "Direct Transcendence" or "Leap Over," Geisshuesler argues that the expression really means "Skullward Leap" as it consists of the Tibetan words thod ("above," "over," but also "head wrapper," "turban," "skull") and rgal ("to leap over").Template:Sfnp In the larger Tibetan cultural area, it is the most elevated part of the human body—the skull or, its extension in the form of a turban-like headdress—that allows the religious practitioner to gain access to the source of vitality located in the heavens. Both the head and the headdress have deep resonances with animals—particularly deer and sheep—which are central for the sky-gazing practice because of their ability to ascend and descend vertically to move in between various realms of existence.Template:Sfnp

Conduct

Template:Further Norbu notes that "Tantric practices may be used as secondary practices by the practitioner of Dzogchen, alongside the principal practice of contemplation." Similarly, physical yoga (Tib. trulkhor) may also be used as supporting practices.Template:Sfnp Template:Expand section

The Fruit

Self-liberation

According to Namkhai Norbu, in Dzogchen, "to become realized simply means to discover and manifest that which from the very beginning has been our own true condition: the Zhi (gzhi) or Base."Template:Sfnp Since the basis, the path of practice and the fruit or result of practice are non-dual from the ultimate perspective, in Dzogchen understands the path as not separate from the result or fruit of the path (i.e. Buddhahood). Once a Dzogchen practitioner has recognized their true nature (and "do not remain in doubt" regarding this), the path consists of the integration (sewa) of all experiences in their life with the state of rigpa. All these experiences are self-liberated through this integration or mixing.Template:Sfnp

This process is often explained through three "liberations" or capacities of a Dzogchen practitioner:Template:Sfnp

• Cherdrol ("one observes and it liberates") - This is when an ordinary appearance occurs and one sees its true nature, which leads to its self-liberation. It is compared to how a drop of dew evaporates when the sunlight shines on it.
• Shardrol ("as soon as it arises it liberates itself") - This occurs when any sense contact or passion arises self-liberates automatically and effortlessly. This is compared to how snow melts immediately on falling into the sea.
• Rangdrol ("of itself it liberates itself"), according to Norbu, this is "completely non-dual and all-at-once, instantaneous self-liberation. Here the illusory separation of subject and object collapses of itself, and one's habitual vision, the limited cage, the trap of ego, opens out into the spacious vision of what is".Template:Sfnp The simile used here is a snake effortlessly unwinding its own body.

Advanced Dzogchen practitioners are also said to sometimes manifest supranormal knowledge (Skt. abhijñā, Tib. mngon shes), such as clairvoyance and telepathy.Template:Sfnp

Rainbow body

File:Padmasambhava with Rainbow Body - 19th century Tibetan thangka.jpg

19th century thangka depicting Padmasambhava's rainbow body.

Tögal practice may lead to full Buddhahood and the self-liberation of the human body into a rainbow bodyTemplate:Refn at the moment of death,Template:Sfnp when all fixation and grasping has been exhausted.Template:Sfnp Tibetan Buddhism holds that the rainbow body is a nonmaterial body of light with the ability to exist and abide wherever and whenever as pointed by one's compassion.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp It is a manifestation of the sambhogakāya and its attainment is said to be accompanied by the appearance of lights and rainbows.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Some exceptional practitioners are held to have realized a higher type of rainbow body without dying (these include the 24 Bön masters from the oral tradition of Zhang Zhung, Tapihritsa, Padmasambhava, and Vimalamitra). Having completed the four visions before death, the individual focuses on the lights that surround the fingers. His or her physical body self-liberates into a nonmaterial body of light with the ability to exist and abide wherever and whenever as pointed by one's compassion.Template:Sfnp

Critique

Simultaneous and gradual practice

As noted by van Schaik, there is a tension in the Longchen Nyingtik tradition of Dzogchen between methods which emphasize gradual practice and attainments, and methods which emphasize primordial liberation, simultaneous enlightenment, and non-activity. This seeming contradiction is explained by authors of the tradition as being related to the different levels of ability of different practitioners.Template:Sfnp

For example, the works of Jigme Lingpa contain criticisms of methods which rely on cause and effect as well as methods that rely on intellectual analysis. Since Buddhahood is uncaused and transcendent of the intellect, these contrived and conceptual meditations are contrasted with "effortless" and "instantaneous" approaches in the works of Jigme Lingpa, who writes that as soon as a thought arises, it is to be seen nakedly, without analysis or examination.Template:Sfnp Similarly, a common theme of Dzogchen literature is the elevation of Dzogchen above all other "lower" ('og ma) vehicles and a criticism of these lower vehicles which are seen as inferior (dman pa) approaches.Template:Sfnp

In spite of these critiques, Dzogchen cycles like Jigme Lingpa's Longchen Nyingthig do contain numerous practices which are not instantaneous or effortless, such as tantric Mahayoga practice like deity yoga and preliminary methods such as ngondro (which are equated with the path of accumulation).Template:Sfnp Furthermore, Jigme Lingpa and Longchenpa also criticize those who teach the simultaneous method to everyone and teach them to dispense with all other methods at once.Template:Sfnp

In response to the idea that the gradualist teachings found in the Longchen Nyingtik texts contradict the Dzogchen view of primordial liberation, Jigme Lingpa states:

This is not correct because Vajradhara using his skill in means, taught according to the categories of best, middling, and worst faculties, subdivided into the nine levels from sravaka to atiyoga. Although the Great Perfection is the path for those of the sharpest faculties, entrants are not composed exclusively of those types. With this in mind, having ascertained the features of the middling and inferior faculties of awareness holders, the tradition was established in this way.Template:Sfnp {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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This division of practices according to level of ability is also found in Longchenpa's Tegchö Dzö.Template:Sfnp However, as van Schaik notes, "the system should not be taken too literally. It is likely that all three types of instruction contained in the threefold structure of YL [Yeshe Lama] would be given to any one person."Template:Sfnp Therefore, though the instructions would be given to all student types, the actual capacity of the practitioner would determine how they would attain awakening (through Dzogchen meditation, in the bardo of death, or through transference of consciousness). Jigme Lingpa also believed that students of the superior faculties were extremely rare.Template:Sfnp He held that for most people, a gradual path of training is what is needed to reach realization.Template:Sfnp

See also

Teachers

• Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
• Dilgo Khyentse
• Dudjom Rinpoche
• Dzogchen Rinpoche
• Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
• Jigme Phuntsok

 

• Lopön Tenzin Namdak
• Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche
• Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche
• Sogyal Rinpoche
• Tharchin Rinpoche
• Tulku Urgyen

Terms

• Ganachakra
• Lukhang
• Mahamudra
• Ngagpa
• Trul khor
• Tukdam

References

Works cited

Dzogchen texts

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Contemporary Buddhist sources

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Western academic sources

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Further reading

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