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Dudjom Rinpoche
Video Media Print Media Dalai Lama Penor Rinpoche Video Media Gyatrul Rinpoche Video Media Print Media Khenpo Jigphun Video Media Getse Rinpoche Tulku Sang Ngag Video Media Khenchen Namdröl Video Media Penam Rinpoche Lobpön Nikula Kusum Lingpa Dodrubchen Rinpoche Chagdud Rinpoche Drugchen Rinpoche B. Alan Wallace |
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The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra (excerpt)
Between the mahamudra and the dzogchen there are no real, significant differences, but there is one subtle difference, and that is in the way the nature of the mind is introduced. In the mahamudra approach one is instructed to recognize that all objective appearances arise from the mind and are one’s own mind only. So one understands that the five sense organs and their corresponding sense fields—meaning everything we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel—all arise only from the mind. This is what first must be established and realized, and then one must establish the nature of the mind to be empty, one must realize it to be empty. This is the mahamudra approach.
As for the dzogchen approach to this introduction to that same nature, it is dependent upon recognizing one’s own empty pure awareness, dharmakaya. This is originally pointed out by the lama to the disciple through the pointing-out instructions, and the practice begins with the investigation into where the mind arises from, where it remains, and where it passes to. This is called the jung nei dro sum, the three of arising, abiding, and going. Then, in dependence upon physical postures and meditation, one will persevere in the practice and the time will come when the lama will ask, “Where is the mind, and what is it’s nature?” Depending upon the answer the disciple is able to give, the lama will directly point out the disciple’s rigpa, the disciple’s pure awareness, saying, “This is it…” In this way the disciple is to be introduced to his or her own pure awareness nature, and that becomes the result, the result of dzogchen.
There are three divisions for the teaching on mahamudra and maha ati (dzogchen). First is the common teaching on trekchöd, second is the uncommon teaching on tödgal, and third is the teaching on the nondual shamata (peaceful abiding) and vipassana (penetrating insight). As we begin, keep these three divisions in mind.
To begin with this first division, the door to the dzogchen is opened through the common teaching on the trekchöd. Trekchöd is usually translated as “cutting through”. The door opens through the shamata meditation, the practice of peaceful abiding. In some other traditions the peaceful abiding practice might be interchanged with the jung nei dro sum—the practice of looking to see the place the mind arises from, the place it remains, and the place it passes to—but in this tradition, the union of mahamudra and maha ati, one definitely begins with the peaceful abiding practice because this is the only way to put to rest the movement of the conflicting emotions, which are like a turbulent wind.
On this path, one will persevere in this practice of peaceful abiding for however long it takes—which, depending on the disciple, could be months and years—until the movement of the discursive thoughts, the conceptual proliferations, have come to rest and become peaceful. Until this occurs, one cannot receive a proper introduction to rigpa, one’s own pure awareness. Even if an introduction to rigpa is give by the lama, one will not receive it because of the turbulence of one’s own concepts and thoughts moving about like the wind all the time.
Therefore, to put to rest the unceasing flood of emotions one must have the basis of peaceful abiding. The mind must remain still and firm, firmly still. One perseveres in the method until one achieves just that. Then, when the mind is peaceful and still, and when the pointing-out instructions are passed from the lama and one is introduced to rigpa, one will receive them and move on to the next level of practice. But if the mind has not been put to rest through shamata, if it is not peaceful, one will not receive the instructions, one will not be introduced, and one will not go any further. It is extremely important to understand this point. Furthermore, there are many, countless benefits to the shamata practice, and there are many faults that arise without it, but without going into an explanation of all those benefits and faults consider that the most important point is what you just received.
Excerpt from an oral teaching by Yangthang Rinpoche on the union of dzogchen and mahamudra, given in Los Angeles in 1991. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.
Between the mahamudra and the dzogchen there are no real, significant differences, but there is one subtle difference, and that is in the way the nature of the mind is introduced. In the mahamudra approach one is instructed to recognize that all objective appearances arise from the mind and are one’s own mind only. So one understands that the five sense organs and their corresponding sense fields—meaning everything we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel—all arise only from the mind. This is what first must be established and realized, and then one must establish the nature of the mind to be empty, one must realize it to be empty. This is the mahamudra approach.
As for the dzogchen approach to this introduction to that same nature, it is dependent upon recognizing one’s own empty pure awareness, dharmakaya. This is originally pointed out by the lama to the disciple through the pointing-out instructions, and the practice begins with the investigation into where the mind arises from, where it remains, and where it passes to. This is called the jung nei dro sum, the three of arising, abiding, and going. Then, in dependence upon physical postures and meditation, one will persevere in the practice and the time will come when the lama will ask, “Where is the mind, and what is it’s nature?” Depending upon the answer the disciple is able to give, the lama will directly point out the disciple’s rigpa, the disciple’s pure awareness, saying, “This is it…” In this way the disciple is to be introduced to his or her own pure awareness nature, and that becomes the result, the result of dzogchen.
There are three divisions for the teaching on mahamudra and maha ati (dzogchen). First is the common teaching on trekchöd, second is the uncommon teaching on tödgal, and third is the teaching on the nondual shamata (peaceful abiding) and vipassana (penetrating insight). As we begin, keep these three divisions in mind.
To begin with this first division, the door to the dzogchen is opened through the common teaching on the trekchöd. Trekchöd is usually translated as “cutting through”. The door opens through the shamata meditation, the practice of peaceful abiding. In some other traditions the peaceful abiding practice might be interchanged with the jung nei dro sum—the practice of looking to see the place the mind arises from, the place it remains, and the place it passes to—but in this tradition, the union of mahamudra and maha ati, one definitely begins with the peaceful abiding practice because this is the only way to put to rest the movement of the conflicting emotions, which are like a turbulent wind.
On this path, one will persevere in this practice of peaceful abiding for however long it takes—which, depending on the disciple, could be months and years—until the movement of the discursive thoughts, the conceptual proliferations, have come to rest and become peaceful. Until this occurs, one cannot receive a proper introduction to rigpa, one’s own pure awareness. Even if an introduction to rigpa is give by the lama, one will not receive it because of the turbulence of one’s own concepts and thoughts moving about like the wind all the time.
Therefore, to put to rest the unceasing flood of emotions one must have the basis of peaceful abiding. The mind must remain still and firm, firmly still. One perseveres in the method until one achieves just that. Then, when the mind is peaceful and still, and when the pointing-out instructions are passed from the lama and one is introduced to rigpa, one will receive them and move on to the next level of practice. But if the mind has not been put to rest through shamata, if it is not peaceful, one will not receive the instructions, one will not be introduced, and one will not go any further. It is extremely important to understand this point. Furthermore, there are many, countless benefits to the shamata practice, and there are many faults that arise without it, but without going into an explanation of all those benefits and faults consider that the most important point is what you just received.
Excerpt from an oral teaching by Yangthang Rinpoche on the union of dzogchen and mahamudra, given in Los Angeles in 1991. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.
Introduction to the Nature of the Mind: the Meditation (excerpt)
The pointing out instructions that are given to help actualize the view are the instructions on the twofold practice of shamatha and vipassana—peaceful abiding and penetrative insight. After establishing the dzogchen view, one will then go on to practice the method of shamatha, peaceful abiding. The word “peaceful” refers to the pacification of mental grasping and clinging, the mind of conceptual proliferations, specifically the mind of the five conflicting emotions: lack of awareness, aggression, attachment, pride, and jealousy. This also includes the pacification of thoughts of the past, present, and future—for example, constantly recalling the events of the past, anticipating what will happen in the future, and pursuing the sense fields and their objects in the present. When all of these thought generations are put to rest, the mind becomes still and peaceful. This is the meaning of “peaceful”. “Abiding” means simply remaining in this state of mind without the thoughts of the here times and without any other conceptual distractions. This is the definition of “peaceful abiding”.
According to the method of dzogchen, which is my own practice and tradition, the way to achieve this is to remain, naturally relaxed, in the uncontrived awareness. Now first of all, if you are in a family life situation you need to isolate yourself from your worldly activities when you are going to practice this type of meditation. Whatever activities you have planned should be completed so that when you are ready to practice there will be nothing to distract you. When you sit down to practice you don’t get up again to do something else. You sit and you practice; that is what you do and nothing else. You put everything else aside. In the past, practitioners would retreat to isolated mountain retreats in caves or other types of isolated environments to practice so that they wouldn’t be distracted by anything. But these days, as you are householders in the world, in family situations, and probably won’t be able to go out into the wilderness somewhere, you can practice in a quiet room in your home, a place where you can be isolated right in your own environment. The, as I already said, you must put aside all of your activities. Prepare a comfortable seat, sit down, make yourself comfortable, and allow the mind to relax. You should feel very good about where you are sitting, and the mind should be happy and wanting to perform the practice. Then you should place your body in the seven-point posture of Buddha Vairochana.
The sitting posture is important because the body must be very straight when you are meditating. If the body is straight the channels will be straight. If the channels are straight the movement of the wind, the air, will flow freely. And if the wind, the air, is able to move freely and unobstructedly throughout the body, then the essential fluids will also be able to flow evenly throughout the body. Each is dependent upon the other. The channels, the wind, and the essential fluid are all very much dependent upon one’s physical posture; this is one of the reasons why the posture is important. The other reason is that the posture alone has the power to purify negative karma and obscurations. The straight posture causes the central channel, uma, and the two side channels to its right and left, roma and kyangma, to become very straight and erect. The twenty-one knots that usually are obstructing the movement of air are then untied, and the air is able to proceed evenly, into and through the wisdom channels. With it, the air brings the essential fluids so that the essential fluid, specifically the white bodhichitta essence fluid, is distributed evenly throughout the body, which causes the mind to become peaceful. In this way, the mind is very much dependent on the physical body when one is seated in meditation.
Once you have assumed the proper position, you then allow the mind to simply relax in its natural place. Whatever arises, be it the concepts of the three times or whatever, you needn’t do anything about it. Neither obstruct it nor react to it. Just allow it to be as it is, and it will naturally dissolve into its own place. This is the way to practice the shamatha, the peaceful abiding meditation, according to dzogchen. It is the best, the superior practice of peaceful abiding, and if you can perform it in this way, you should certainly do so.
If you cannot practice the peaceful abiding in this way, remaining in the natural place, you may use the mahamudra approach, which is to use a support for the mind. That support for the mind can be an image or the movement of air. For instance, you can put a stone or a stick as a support in front and then focus the mind upon it. Or you can use an image of the Buddha, which is also very good to use, and you can practice by focusing on the different parts of the Buddha’s presence—like the crown bump, or the navel, or the endless knot in the heart, or the dharma wheels on the Buddha’s body, or the entire body at once. You should focus on one specific part of the body until you have achieved the ability to remain with single-pointed awareness on that part. Then you should move to another part of the Buddha’s body and focus on that part, and then move on to the next, and so on. Finally, you should focus on the entire body at once. And while you are focusing, you shouldn’t have any distracted thoughts. This technique of using an image of the Buddha as a support is called the nirmanakaya peaceful abiding technique.
You may also visualize an image of Buddha Vajrasattva as a mental support, visualizing it to be about the size of your thumb joint. Or you may visualize the dharmakaya buddha Kuntuzangpo. Another method is to draw the Tibetan syllable AH and use that as a mental support by placing it in the space in front. In the beginning you can use a medium-sized syllable AH. In eastern Tibet, many of the lamas who performed this meditation would first draw it quite large, and as they become more adept in the meditation they would draw it smaller and smaller. It is said that at first, as the mind is not in control, it is easier to captivate the attention of the mind with a large mental support. After on has made some progress and has more mental control, then a smaller support can be used. Gradually the AH would be drawn smaller and smaller until only a small one would be necessary. Some lamas would practice for seven successive days, or twenty-one successive days, or even for an entire month, doing nothing but simply gazing at the syllable AH in the space in front.
Another method is to hold a mala in your hand and observe the exhalations and inhalations that occur in a natural breathing state. You are not counting each breath with the mala, but you are using it to help maintain awareness of the breath as it goes out and comes back in, one bead for each cycle of inhalation and exhalation. Just being barely aware of moving the beads, without any mental wandering you simply observe the motion of the breath.
All of these methods are called peaceful abiding methods with characteristics. The peaceful abiding method without characteristic is simply to remain in the equipoise of the nature of emptiness free from elaborations, limitations, or the conceptualizing intellect. Of these various methods, you can choose whichever method you have an affinity for.
In the practice of peaceful abiding one will progress through different levels of development. It is kind of like going to school, where you proceed from first grade to second grade to third grade and so on, up to the higher grades. Dharma practice is just like this. Ordinarily this type of mind nature teaching would not be given until one had already passed through the different levels of peaceful abiding practice and accomplished them but, according to your wishes, I am teaching it all now. Therefore, as you have requested the teachings, and as I have introduced you to some of the different techniques for peaceful abiding practice, and as this is a practice that must be accomplished, you should choose the method you want to practice and practice it on your own level.
Excerpt from an oral teaching given by Yangthang Rinpoche in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1990. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as Dzogchen Commentaries: Dzogchen and the Nine Yanas, and Introduction to the Nature of the Mind.
The pointing out instructions that are given to help actualize the view are the instructions on the twofold practice of shamatha and vipassana—peaceful abiding and penetrative insight. After establishing the dzogchen view, one will then go on to practice the method of shamatha, peaceful abiding. The word “peaceful” refers to the pacification of mental grasping and clinging, the mind of conceptual proliferations, specifically the mind of the five conflicting emotions: lack of awareness, aggression, attachment, pride, and jealousy. This also includes the pacification of thoughts of the past, present, and future—for example, constantly recalling the events of the past, anticipating what will happen in the future, and pursuing the sense fields and their objects in the present. When all of these thought generations are put to rest, the mind becomes still and peaceful. This is the meaning of “peaceful”. “Abiding” means simply remaining in this state of mind without the thoughts of the here times and without any other conceptual distractions. This is the definition of “peaceful abiding”.
According to the method of dzogchen, which is my own practice and tradition, the way to achieve this is to remain, naturally relaxed, in the uncontrived awareness. Now first of all, if you are in a family life situation you need to isolate yourself from your worldly activities when you are going to practice this type of meditation. Whatever activities you have planned should be completed so that when you are ready to practice there will be nothing to distract you. When you sit down to practice you don’t get up again to do something else. You sit and you practice; that is what you do and nothing else. You put everything else aside. In the past, practitioners would retreat to isolated mountain retreats in caves or other types of isolated environments to practice so that they wouldn’t be distracted by anything. But these days, as you are householders in the world, in family situations, and probably won’t be able to go out into the wilderness somewhere, you can practice in a quiet room in your home, a place where you can be isolated right in your own environment. The, as I already said, you must put aside all of your activities. Prepare a comfortable seat, sit down, make yourself comfortable, and allow the mind to relax. You should feel very good about where you are sitting, and the mind should be happy and wanting to perform the practice. Then you should place your body in the seven-point posture of Buddha Vairochana.
The sitting posture is important because the body must be very straight when you are meditating. If the body is straight the channels will be straight. If the channels are straight the movement of the wind, the air, will flow freely. And if the wind, the air, is able to move freely and unobstructedly throughout the body, then the essential fluids will also be able to flow evenly throughout the body. Each is dependent upon the other. The channels, the wind, and the essential fluid are all very much dependent upon one’s physical posture; this is one of the reasons why the posture is important. The other reason is that the posture alone has the power to purify negative karma and obscurations. The straight posture causes the central channel, uma, and the two side channels to its right and left, roma and kyangma, to become very straight and erect. The twenty-one knots that usually are obstructing the movement of air are then untied, and the air is able to proceed evenly, into and through the wisdom channels. With it, the air brings the essential fluids so that the essential fluid, specifically the white bodhichitta essence fluid, is distributed evenly throughout the body, which causes the mind to become peaceful. In this way, the mind is very much dependent on the physical body when one is seated in meditation.
Once you have assumed the proper position, you then allow the mind to simply relax in its natural place. Whatever arises, be it the concepts of the three times or whatever, you needn’t do anything about it. Neither obstruct it nor react to it. Just allow it to be as it is, and it will naturally dissolve into its own place. This is the way to practice the shamatha, the peaceful abiding meditation, according to dzogchen. It is the best, the superior practice of peaceful abiding, and if you can perform it in this way, you should certainly do so.
If you cannot practice the peaceful abiding in this way, remaining in the natural place, you may use the mahamudra approach, which is to use a support for the mind. That support for the mind can be an image or the movement of air. For instance, you can put a stone or a stick as a support in front and then focus the mind upon it. Or you can use an image of the Buddha, which is also very good to use, and you can practice by focusing on the different parts of the Buddha’s presence—like the crown bump, or the navel, or the endless knot in the heart, or the dharma wheels on the Buddha’s body, or the entire body at once. You should focus on one specific part of the body until you have achieved the ability to remain with single-pointed awareness on that part. Then you should move to another part of the Buddha’s body and focus on that part, and then move on to the next, and so on. Finally, you should focus on the entire body at once. And while you are focusing, you shouldn’t have any distracted thoughts. This technique of using an image of the Buddha as a support is called the nirmanakaya peaceful abiding technique.
You may also visualize an image of Buddha Vajrasattva as a mental support, visualizing it to be about the size of your thumb joint. Or you may visualize the dharmakaya buddha Kuntuzangpo. Another method is to draw the Tibetan syllable AH and use that as a mental support by placing it in the space in front. In the beginning you can use a medium-sized syllable AH. In eastern Tibet, many of the lamas who performed this meditation would first draw it quite large, and as they become more adept in the meditation they would draw it smaller and smaller. It is said that at first, as the mind is not in control, it is easier to captivate the attention of the mind with a large mental support. After on has made some progress and has more mental control, then a smaller support can be used. Gradually the AH would be drawn smaller and smaller until only a small one would be necessary. Some lamas would practice for seven successive days, or twenty-one successive days, or even for an entire month, doing nothing but simply gazing at the syllable AH in the space in front.
Another method is to hold a mala in your hand and observe the exhalations and inhalations that occur in a natural breathing state. You are not counting each breath with the mala, but you are using it to help maintain awareness of the breath as it goes out and comes back in, one bead for each cycle of inhalation and exhalation. Just being barely aware of moving the beads, without any mental wandering you simply observe the motion of the breath.
All of these methods are called peaceful abiding methods with characteristics. The peaceful abiding method without characteristic is simply to remain in the equipoise of the nature of emptiness free from elaborations, limitations, or the conceptualizing intellect. Of these various methods, you can choose whichever method you have an affinity for.
In the practice of peaceful abiding one will progress through different levels of development. It is kind of like going to school, where you proceed from first grade to second grade to third grade and so on, up to the higher grades. Dharma practice is just like this. Ordinarily this type of mind nature teaching would not be given until one had already passed through the different levels of peaceful abiding practice and accomplished them but, according to your wishes, I am teaching it all now. Therefore, as you have requested the teachings, and as I have introduced you to some of the different techniques for peaceful abiding practice, and as this is a practice that must be accomplished, you should choose the method you want to practice and practice it on your own level.
Excerpt from an oral teaching given by Yangthang Rinpoche in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1990. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as Dzogchen Commentaries: Dzogchen and the Nine Yanas, and Introduction to the Nature of the Mind.
Dzogchen and the Nine Yanas (excerpt)
Any discussion of the nine vehicles begins with a discussion of the essence of the sugatas, which is the essence, or foundational buddha nature, of all beings. In dependence upon the essential nature we all possess, the nine vehicles arise. In dependence upon the foundational buddha nature, samsara and nirvana arise. When the fundamental nature is realized as it is, this is nirvana, a place which is beyond sorrow and suffering. When it is not realized, when one is basically unaware of one’s own buddha nature, this is samsara, cyclic existence. So by not realizing one’s own fundamental buddha nature, gradually the different cycles, or progressive stages in cyclic existence are created. The six classes of beings arise only from that lack of awareness. The nine vehicles have come into existence as well, to lead sentient beings back to a realization of their own nature, which is nirvana.
If we examine that foundational buddha nature, the essential nature of all living beings, we come to know that it is utterly open. It is a vibrant nothing: emptiness. Its quality is that it is naturally luminous. It is sheer luminosity, or clear light. When one realizes that it is open and radiantly clear, then with pure awareness one experiences its compassionate quality, which is all-pervasive. This is the quality of rigpa, pure awareness. In this way the three—openness, clarity, and compassion—are really one. Although they are expressed as three, they are just the one foundational buddha nature as it is. That being the state of buddha, that is buddha, which is why it’s called the buddha nature. Samsara is a state of confusion or mistaken awareness. The mistake—which actually causes cyclic existence, the experience of being a sentient being rather than a buddha—occurs when we fail to recognize that nature. In that moment of lack of awareness we establish objective awareness, we create objects: external phenomena.
To partially illustrate the nature of the mind, the analogy of space is used. The mind is likened to space because space has no shape, no color, and no characteristic. It is free from any conditioning or characteristic at all. In this way the example of space provides a suitable analogy to illustrate the nature of the mind, but there are other aspects to the mind—its radiant clarity and unobstructed compassion—that space doesn’t necessarily possess. If we don’t have a clear realization or understanding of the nature of the mind, then we have some confusion. Even if there is only the slightest bit of confusion, in that confusion we establish objective appearances, and that is the failure to realize the true nature of the empty quality of mind. When we are unaware of the luminosity, the natural clarity of the mind, we do not see the expression of enlightened presence—kayas and primordial wisdom energies—specifically the five primordial wisdoms as they arise. When we are unaware of that as the inherent display of the empty nature, we establish the external universe and the sentient beings, the animate creatures within. When we fail to realize the unobstructed compassionate nature of mind, that leads to mind itself. In this way objective appearances arise, specifically sentient beings and mind. These three: objects (or appearances), (bodily) form, and mind are the confused interpretation of the nature of the mind, which is emptiness, clarity, and compassion. This is how samsara arises from that which is in fact already liberated, which is the buddha nature. Because of confusion, lack of awareness, we establish samsara in the place of awareness of the nature of the mind as it is.
We can consider that sentient beings are those who have failed to recognize the threefold quality of their basic buddha nature, which is the foundational nature of the sugatas. Sentient beings are those who have entered a state of confusion, which is called samsara, cyclic existence. Kuntuzangpo (Samantabhadra), the primordial buddha, is the awareness of the nature of mind being utterly open and empty, and this is the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya aspect of the nature of the mind is inherently, naturally, luminously clear and radiant, and this quality is the sambhogakaya. That same essential nature is also all-pervasively, unobstructedly, unceasingly compassionate, and this quality is the nirmanakaya. So these three kayas are inherent in the state of Kuntuzangpo, the primordial buddha. This is nirvana, the state of perfect freedom, primordial freedom. If it is not recognized, realized, then rather than experiencing the three kayas one experiences the three realms of cyclic existence, which arise only from the lack of awareness of one’s own nature. In fact there is much to be said about the innate primordial nature, but it is not the main subject this evening.
Basically, what you need to know as far as the nine vehicles are concerned is that…
Excerpt from an oral teaching given by Yangthang Rinpoche in New York, 1990. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as Dzogchen Commentaries: Dzogchen and the Nine Yanas, and Introduction to the Nature of the Mind.
Any discussion of the nine vehicles begins with a discussion of the essence of the sugatas, which is the essence, or foundational buddha nature, of all beings. In dependence upon the essential nature we all possess, the nine vehicles arise. In dependence upon the foundational buddha nature, samsara and nirvana arise. When the fundamental nature is realized as it is, this is nirvana, a place which is beyond sorrow and suffering. When it is not realized, when one is basically unaware of one’s own buddha nature, this is samsara, cyclic existence. So by not realizing one’s own fundamental buddha nature, gradually the different cycles, or progressive stages in cyclic existence are created. The six classes of beings arise only from that lack of awareness. The nine vehicles have come into existence as well, to lead sentient beings back to a realization of their own nature, which is nirvana.
If we examine that foundational buddha nature, the essential nature of all living beings, we come to know that it is utterly open. It is a vibrant nothing: emptiness. Its quality is that it is naturally luminous. It is sheer luminosity, or clear light. When one realizes that it is open and radiantly clear, then with pure awareness one experiences its compassionate quality, which is all-pervasive. This is the quality of rigpa, pure awareness. In this way the three—openness, clarity, and compassion—are really one. Although they are expressed as three, they are just the one foundational buddha nature as it is. That being the state of buddha, that is buddha, which is why it’s called the buddha nature. Samsara is a state of confusion or mistaken awareness. The mistake—which actually causes cyclic existence, the experience of being a sentient being rather than a buddha—occurs when we fail to recognize that nature. In that moment of lack of awareness we establish objective awareness, we create objects: external phenomena.
To partially illustrate the nature of the mind, the analogy of space is used. The mind is likened to space because space has no shape, no color, and no characteristic. It is free from any conditioning or characteristic at all. In this way the example of space provides a suitable analogy to illustrate the nature of the mind, but there are other aspects to the mind—its radiant clarity and unobstructed compassion—that space doesn’t necessarily possess. If we don’t have a clear realization or understanding of the nature of the mind, then we have some confusion. Even if there is only the slightest bit of confusion, in that confusion we establish objective appearances, and that is the failure to realize the true nature of the empty quality of mind. When we are unaware of the luminosity, the natural clarity of the mind, we do not see the expression of enlightened presence—kayas and primordial wisdom energies—specifically the five primordial wisdoms as they arise. When we are unaware of that as the inherent display of the empty nature, we establish the external universe and the sentient beings, the animate creatures within. When we fail to realize the unobstructed compassionate nature of mind, that leads to mind itself. In this way objective appearances arise, specifically sentient beings and mind. These three: objects (or appearances), (bodily) form, and mind are the confused interpretation of the nature of the mind, which is emptiness, clarity, and compassion. This is how samsara arises from that which is in fact already liberated, which is the buddha nature. Because of confusion, lack of awareness, we establish samsara in the place of awareness of the nature of the mind as it is.
We can consider that sentient beings are those who have failed to recognize the threefold quality of their basic buddha nature, which is the foundational nature of the sugatas. Sentient beings are those who have entered a state of confusion, which is called samsara, cyclic existence. Kuntuzangpo (Samantabhadra), the primordial buddha, is the awareness of the nature of mind being utterly open and empty, and this is the dharmakaya. The dharmakaya aspect of the nature of the mind is inherently, naturally, luminously clear and radiant, and this quality is the sambhogakaya. That same essential nature is also all-pervasively, unobstructedly, unceasingly compassionate, and this quality is the nirmanakaya. So these three kayas are inherent in the state of Kuntuzangpo, the primordial buddha. This is nirvana, the state of perfect freedom, primordial freedom. If it is not recognized, realized, then rather than experiencing the three kayas one experiences the three realms of cyclic existence, which arise only from the lack of awareness of one’s own nature. In fact there is much to be said about the innate primordial nature, but it is not the main subject this evening.
Basically, what you need to know as far as the nine vehicles are concerned is that…
Excerpt from an oral teaching given by Yangthang Rinpoche in New York, 1990. The complete teaching is published by Vimala as Dzogchen Commentaries: Dzogchen and the Nine Yanas, and Introduction to the Nature of the Mind.