“Of course in the process of one just getting "familiar" with Dzogchen teachings, the mind is engaged in looking for and "recognizing" "recognizing" what this "changeless, pure presence as rigpa" is. This isn't an intellectual pursuit, nor a gradual process of renement through through working through the leels of shamata and ispasana. That is the gradual path of lower ehicles. !n Dzogchen, one egins # ecoming directl# directl# oriented to this "rigpa" aware presence immediatel# immediatel# without an# supports of an# kind. This "orientation" is actuall# a "familiarization" "familiarization" with what is is alread# full# present in one's cognitie awareness. !t is like recognizing #our face in a mirror amongst man# other re$ections, rather than receiing receiing some "knowledge". %t the moment moment of this "recognizing" "recognizing",, nothing new has een added to one's condition nor has an#thing een remoed, remoed, just a re&focusing of attention attention from eing focused on "mental "mental constructions" as thoughts, feelings and perceptions perceptions to the highlighting of one's current naked and pure state of changeless aware nowingness.(
“!n the Dzogchen iew, the goal is alread# present. )othing has to e deeloped, onl# recognized. The fundamental practices of Dzogchen are not aimed at deeloping an#thing, not een positie *ualities. The practice is simpl# aiding in the nature of mind in which all *ualities *ua lities are alread# present present and can spontaneousl# arise. +en the methods and supportie practices are not essential. ethods can ecome an ostacle to aiding in nondual awareness if the practitioner eliees that one must use the practice to renounce something or transform something. -ractices are onl# used to connect to the natural state and stailize in it.(
"!t is eas# to recognize recognize it. ou ou just hae to drop thinking and it is right there. There is not a lot to e done. ou ou do not hae to do this and that and the other. other. !t is like the e/ample of tr#ing to touch space with #our nger. To touch space, #ou do not hae to moe #our nger at all, do #ou0it is alread# touching space, isn1t it2"
"!n eer# instance there is an aware *ualit# that is oth empt# and cognizant and neither altered nor corrupted # an# thoughts. 3impl# keep this natural state and remain without stra#ing from it."
"4asicall# and fundamentall#, our mind is utterl# empt#, sheer liss, totall# naked. 5e 5e do not need to make it like this6 we do not need to cultiate it # meditating, to create this state # meditating."
"7ie up thinking of an#thing at all, aout the past, the future or the present. 8emain thought&free, like an infant."
"!nnate suchness is unoscured the moment #ou are not caught up in present thinking." "This is not some state that is far awa# from us9 thought&free wakefulness actuall# e/ists together with eer# thought, inseparale from it... ut the thinking oscures or hides this innate actualit#. Thought free wakefulness :the natural state; is immediatel# present the er# moment the thinking dissoles, the moment it anishes, fades awa#, falls apart."
"4ut #ou will see the mind&essence and it will e clear and e/pansie, iid and naked. 5hen we sa# “clear,( this is like the clear aspect of the mind. 5hen we talk aout it eing clear or luminous, sometimes we understand that as meaning some sort of a light0a lazingl# right light. 4ut that is not what this means. !t means that it can know and understand. !t does not stop. 5e do not turn into some sort of rock. That is not what happens9 there is the clear, knowing aspect of the mind. !t is also e/pansie, which means here that the clarit# is ast9 we can see and know man# things. Then the te/t sa#s “iid and naked.( “
"There is nothing to remoe. 5e do not need to stop or get rid of an#thing, thinking, “This is emptiness. This cannot e estalished as a thing.( The nature of the mind is ne just as it is. )or is there an#thing to add to the mind&essence, thinking, “That is missing. This is clarit#. This is something ! need to gain.( !f we just look at the mind&essence rightl# and rest in e*uipoise within this nature of the mind just as it is, not following our thoughts, we will see that it is rightness. 5e do not need to think, “!t is emptiness(0its essence is naturall# empt#. 5e do not need to think, “!t is clear(0its essence is naturall# clear. 8esting with this mind, as it is, is “iewing rightness rightl#.( 5hen we see that essence as it is, at that moment we will e lierated from our faults and from samsara."
"This is wh# we just rest right in the nature of mind as it is. The dharma nature is unchanging. 5hen the great meditators of the past meditated on it, the# saw that we do not need to alter it in an# wa#. 5e just need to come to thoroughl# know the dharma nature as it is. 5hen we see that, this is the mind that we call clear and e/pansie, iid and awake."
“!n fact, rigpa is coming all the time. !t is alwa#s there so there is nothing to do. There is no meditation to do ecause it is there all the time. There is no need of mantra, no need to do an#thing in particular, no need to isualize something6 it is just there.(
"!f we depend on intellectual speculation alone, howeer, we shall e er# far awa# from the Dzogchen iew. !t is not a matter of thinking "a#e Dzogchen is like this or like that." That is something articial6 it is not direct e/perience. The introduction is er# simple9 we just look ack at ourseles."
"!n the gap etween former and later thoughts non&conceptual wisdom shines continuousl#. "
"This is what he meant9 Our former moments of discursie thought gie rise to later moments of thought and we follow along after the thoughts so that we hae rst, second, third, and so on thoughts. !f #ou strike gentl# ut decisiel# at discursie thoughts, #ou will see in the gap etween discursie thoughts the self&arising rigpa, no&thought wisdom. ou need to rest in e*uipoise on that. 3elf& arising rigpa is reall# like that6 it occurs in etween discursie thoughts. =ow do we go aout looking at this2 =aing dropped all discursie thoughts, the "ordinar# mind" :rigpa; of now&ness is there."
">rom the perspectie of the ahamudra and Dzogchen teachings, we can wake up right now. 5hen we wake up from our confused state of mind, that is enlightenment. There is no di?erence etween this moment and enlightenment. The nature of our mind is full# awakened right from the eginning, and this awakened state is nothing other than our ordinar# e/perience of emotions, thoughts, and perceptions. !f we can genuinel# see our emotions, senses, and thoughts just as the# are, without tr#ing to change them or improe our wa# of seeing them, then we can see the asic state of wakefulness. The state of fruition is
simpl# the recognition of this nature of mind. That is what we call "nirana," or "freedom from samsara." There is nothing more."
"The essence of meditation practice in Dzogchen is encapsulated # these four points9 @. 5hen one past thought has ceased and a future thought has not #et arises, in that gap, in etween, isn1t there a consciousness of the present moment, fresh, irgin, unaltered # een a hair1s readth of concept, a luminous, naked awareness2 5ell, that is what 8igpa isA B. et it doesn1t sta# in that state foreer, ecause another thought suddenl# arises, doesn1t it2 This is the self&radiance of that rigpa. C. =oweer, if #ou do not recognize this thought for what it reall# is, the er# instant it arises, then it will turn into just another ordinar# thought, as efore. This is called the chain of delusion and is the root of samsara. . !f #ou are ale to recognize the true nature of the thought as soon as it arises, and leae it alone without an# follow up, then whateer thoughts arise all automaticall# dissole ack into the ast e/panse of 8igpa and are lierated.(
"When we understand that key point, then our perspective changes, and we realize that our ordinary perceptions, which are based upon our present state of confusion, do not truly exist as they seem. They are purely adventitious and supercial, and the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the nature of mind, is completely unaected and unsullied by these adventitious factors. They have nothing to do with the actual nature of our mind as it is, because that nature is not sullied by such supercial manifestations. !t is with the condence that comes with such a view that we can arouse a state of perception that is not ordinary, but divine, and which pertains to the deity
rather than to ordinary ways of seeing things. !n a way, it is uite automatic. #nce we understand things from the point of view of the nature of mind, then the condence that gives us means that our ordinary way of perceiving things simply ceases, as a matter of course. $nd in its stead there arises this divine state of perception, this way of seeing things from the point of view of their innate purity."
"!n every instance there is an aware uality that is both empty and cognizant and neither altered nor corrupted by any thoughts. %imply keep this natural state and remain without straying from it."
"The &reat 'erfection does not reuire analysis nor cultivation. (ather, it is merely a matter of recognizing, as your own nature, this very wakefulness of natural knowing that is self)existing and spontaneously present throughout samsara and nirvana."
"$ccording to this king of views, our *zogchen tradition, whether expressions of thought movement occur, remain, or dissolve, the essence does not change but remains a fresh, basic state of naturalness. +o matter the variety samsaric or nirvanic displays that may arise, there is nothing else to be attained apart from or superior to this unchanging essence suused with awareness, which transcends being liberated, even though the labels "uddha" or "fruition" may be given to it. %ince this essence has never been tainted by confusion, it is free from the seeds for taking rebirth... 'rimordial purity -kadag means that the basic nature of awareness belongs to neither samsara nor nirvana, and therefore its identity is primordially pure. +o type of virtuous karmic cause and eect improves this primordial purity, nor does any type of unvirtuous karmic cause and eect worsen it. This primordially pure identity of awareness can be neither
improved nor harmed by anything whatsoever. !t is an unchanging openness of awareness that continues throughout the day and night."
