What is Dzogchen?

"Since all things are naked, clear and free from obscurations, there is
nothing to attain or realize. The nature of things naturally appears
and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness.
The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance
and openness to all situations and emotions and to all people,
experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and
blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes onto oneself."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
The word Dzogchen in Tibetan means "The Great Perfection." The
basic ground of our experience is and has always been a
fundamentally pure and unstained awareness a "time-transcending
awareness." Through various skillful means and connection with an
authentic lineage a realized teacher practitioners of Dzogchen
come to recognize this basic awareness (rigpa) and train in stabilizing
that recognition.
The only thing that obstructs the recognition of rigpa is our habitual
mind or 'ego'. Essentially the activity of habitual mind is to
automatically and compulsively accept and reject whatever arises in
the field of experience. This is the automatic discursive storyline
which is constantly running in our minds. It conditions all of our
experience and in our habitual conditioning we no longer recognize
rigpa. What arises is always fresh and naked awareness, but the
machinery of habituated mind conditions that moment of awareness
and obscures its true nature. Because of our habitual obscuration we
are constantly 'out of synch' with the truth of 'things as they are' and
therefore we suffer and create suffering for others. This deluded
reality is called Samsara. The whole world seems to operate for the
most part in a samsaric mode of being and it is rare to have the
opportunity to meet with genuine practitioners of Dzogchen. At the
same time it is useful to remember that whatever realm of suffering
people or ourselves seem to be stuck in the fresh moment of
recognition of rigpa is always the basis for experience. In that sense
there is always hope and we can never give up on our Bodhisattva
resolve to save all sentient beings.
.

Dzogchen Meditation
Recognizing Natural Awareness

"Do not resolve the Dharma,

Resolve your mind.
To resolve your mind is to know the one which frees
all.
Not to resolve your mind is to know all but lack the
one"
Guru Rinpoche

The practice of Dzogchen Meditation is based on the recognition of

Natural Awareness which is referred to as Thamal Gyi Shepa or Rigpa
in Tibetan. Natural Awareness is the true nature of our mind when it
is free from habituation. This is the quality of our present experience
which is uncontrived and unfabricated cognizance. It has been
described as naked and unborn in the sense that it is awareness
which is stripped bare of any conditioning or habituation. Ordinarily in
our day to day lives our minds are continually involved in habitual
thought and projection. This habitual mode of being is generally how
we operate and what keeps us trapped in a cycle of ignorance,
delusion and suffering.
Habitual thought,projection and the
compulsive fixation on what arises in our minds obscures our
recognition of Natural Awareness. Therefore we can understand
Dzogchen Meditation as a practice which purifies the mind of
habituation allowing us to recognize Natural Awareness. Since
habitual mind depends on constant movement, distraction and the
manipulation of what arises in our experience, the fundamental form
of practice in Dzogchen is to sit still and be undistracted -- to leave
whatever arises in our field of awareness as it is -- that is, not
to manipulate or strategize our thoughts or the sights, sounds and
sensations that we perceive. This is called the "resting meditation of
a kusulu."

"Keep your body straight, refrain from talking, open your

mouth slightly, and let the breath flow naturally. Don't
pursue the past and don't invite the future. Simply rest
naturally in the naked ordinary mind of the immediate
present without trying to correct it or replace it. If you rest
like that, your mind-essence will be clear and expansive, vivid
and
naked,without
any
concerns
about
thought
or
recollection, joy or pain. That is awareness (Rigpa)."

Khenpo Gangshar

To practice Dzogchen meditation we sit on a cushion or chair in the

meditation posture. The spine is straight, not leaning to the right or
left, front or back-- comfortable and relaxed but upright, alert and
awake. The eyes are open either looking straight ahead or slightly
downward about six feet in front. We aren't looking around with our
eyes or staring intently at anything. We aren't engaging the sense
perception of sight particularly. The mouth is open slightly and the
breath naturally goes in and out. The basic idea here is that what we
do with our body affects our mind. This posture helps our mind
to recognize and 'let be' in the present moment which is essentially
the complete practice. There is nothing else that we are doing. From
the practical point of view it is helpful to set aside a practice space
which is tidy and quiet. It is also helpful to have a meditation timer
with a bell rather than using a clock or other device that one checks
constantly. Set the timer and do the practice until the bell rings
and the time is up. A beginner should start with 20 minute periods of
practice. Try to do several of these per day. It is essential, however,
to find an authentic Dzogchen teacher to clarify one's practice.
Hopefully this introduction will serve to give you some idea of the
essential points of Dzogchen practice.

"One can define meditation as a process of letting go, of

giving up conflict, not in a passive, spineless sense, but in the
sense of being present yet not manipulative. So we are faced
with the moment-to-moment alternative of either opening to
space, of being in harmony with it, or of solidifying and
fixating it."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Precious Human Birth, Impermanence and the Motivation for

Spiritual Practice
How much time should we practice? If we think about how much
time we spend reinforcing our habitual mind on a moment-to-moment
basis then it becomes obvious that we need to spend a lot of time
undoing that habit through meditation practice. In the 1960's and
70's many westerners were able to meet Tibetan teachers who had
been trained in the Tibetan system as it existed before it was
destroyed by the Chinese communists -- Kalu Rinpoche, Dilgo
Khyentse Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and many others. Those
men and women who made it out of Tibet --many died in Chinese
prison camps-- had spent 12 to 20 years in solitary retreat during
their lives with meditation as their only activity. This generation is
nowpassing away and it is increasingly rare to find people who have
done this amount of practice. Yet, for those of us who met these
people their realization was unmistakeable. As the Vidyadhara would
say "The proof is in the pudding." Their example is what we need to
take to heart now. If we really want to help the world, it is quite clear
that we need to practice meditation and attain realization! Most of
us are unused to the idea of spending a lot of time meditating.
Instead we spend most of our time trying to make money, finding a
mate, or engaged in other "worldly activities".
If we have not
committed to at least 2 hours of formal meditation practice a day -then we haven't really made meditation practice a priority in our
lives. We need to make spiritual training, meditation practice, our
main priority if we want to progress on the path. In order to engender
the correct motivation for our spiritual practice it is important to
contemplate our situation. We possess a certain amount of leisure
time and we have the freedom to pursue whatever interests we want.
If we wanted to we could devote much of our time to spiritual
activities. This is a unique situation called a "precious human birth."
It is unique and precious because most sentient beings are not able
to actually contemplate the ultimate meaning of their lives -- they are
so engaged in the struggle to survive. We have a precious human
birth. But it will not last long -- time passes "like an arrow shot from a
bow." So this time when we have the leisure to contemplate the
spiritual nature of our lives is rare and fleeting. "Death comes without
warning, this body will be a corpse."

"Sincerely take to heart the fact that the time of death lies
uncertain. Then, knowing that there is no time to waste,
diligently apply yourself to spiritual practice!"
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

When we contemplate the fleeting quality of our precious human birth

it becomes easier to focus our lives on our spiritual practice-- we
recognize the urgency and don't become complacent. This type of
motivation is important because we need to do a lot of practice and in
the beginning it isn't easy!

We need to sit and look at our minds directly and when we first sit
down without any entertainment and become aware of our mind's
activity it is shocking to see how crazy our discursive mind actually
is. Our first notion of meditation is that this crazy mind is the problem
and that we need to stop its activity in some way -- that the purpose
of meditation is to repress thinking and dwell in a thought-free state.
In fact most people believe meditation is about stopping or
repressing discursive thought. Actually discursive thinking itself isn't
our main problem. The problem is that because of unawareness or
distraction (marigpa in Tibetan) we habitually react to thoughts as
they arise in our minds. In this way every thought that arises in our
mind habitually conditions and obscures our true nature -- Natural
Awareness. In the Dzogchen view, thoughts are simply the dynamic
action of Natural Awareness -- like waves are the movement of the
ocean. In our confused and distracted state we mistake the thought
for something existing on its own apart from the mind or awareness in
which it has arisen. In this way we get caught by the thought when
we react to it as though it were separate from mind/ awareness. This
obscuration quickly subsumes our awareness and we become
enveloped in a dream state or realm of habituation -- this is called
samsara. It is the function of dualistic projection and habitual
fixation. It is like not seeing the forest for the trees.

Perceptions also arise in mind/ awareness and are also subject to the
same habitual fixation. What we take to be the "outer world"( i.e
sight, sound. touch, taste, smell) also does not exist apart from the
awareness in which it has arisen. When seen with awareness which is

stripped bare of habitual reaction this outer world is recognized as the

expression of Natural Awareness:

"In brief, the basic cause of everything is nothing but your

present natural awareness. Therefore the sublime key point
is to continuously maintain your natural awareness
throughout both day and night without any separation."
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

Any form of authentic Buddhist Meditation is designed to break the

habit of this dualistic fixation, not simply smooth it over by making
our Samsaric experience more comfortable and less stressful. When
we practice Dzogchen we begin to see how our habitual mind
operates and to differentiate between the simple, undistracted
awareness of the natural state (rigpa) and the distracted state of
habitual reaction (sems). Eventually, through meditation training the
habitual conditioning (which can be described as habitually accepting
and rejecting) is seen through completely. At that point, whether there
is thought activity or not the true nature of our mind, Natural
Awareness, is no longer obscured. In one sense we wear out or 'cut
through' the confusion of habitual reaction to thought and projection.
We cut through with our awareness or nondistraction. At that point
discursive, habitual thinking becomes like a thief in an empty house -though thoughts may arise they are not fixated upon by the grasping,
habitual mind. The habitual mechanism is broken or disabled through
awareness practice.

"Whatever arises as objects in awareness ~

Regardless of what thoughts arise from the five emotional
poisons ~
Do not allow your mind to anticipate, follow after, or indulge
in them.
By allowing this movement to rest in its own ground,
you are free in Dharmakaya."

Guru Rinpoche

Getting Started
Of course reading the profound pith instructions of masters like Guru
Rinpoche makes this process sound quite simple -- and it is! Simple
to start but very difficult to continue. When we first sit on the
meditation cushion there may be a moment of openness. But after
several minutes we notice an on rush of "discursive thinking".
Meditation practice is like turning up the lights in a dark room. In
this case we are turning the light of awareness to shine on our minds
and we quickly realize how much discusive thinking we have and we
become frustrated by our inability to stay present and undistracted.
We seem carried away by every thought that we have. Trungpa
Rinpoche refers to this period of training as "hot boredom." We are
agitated and bored for entertainment and our mind seems to be wild
and untamed.

"When resting in this way, your mind will not remain in the
state of empty and cognizant awareness for long but will
become restless, disturbed, or unsettled and will move about
like a monkey. This is not the mind-essence. It is called
'thinking'. If you indulge in it, this thinking will recall, make
thoughts about, or plan to carry out anything! In the past,
this is exactly what has thrown you into the ocean of
samsara. For sure, it will throw you there again. Now,
wouldn't it be better to stop this insidious, deluded thinking?"
Dudjom Rinpoche

In order to tame this monkey mind it is helpful to engage in a

progessive approach to meditation training. In general this training
entails first developing nonwandering awareness through one-pointed
shamatha training. Once this has been developed sufficiently we
move into practice which is more open and not dependent the
support of a technique to maintain our undistracted awareness . This
stage in our training is referred to as resting in "simplicity" or
"nonelaboration" in the mahamudra system of the four yogas.

"First let the mind follow the in and out rhythm of the breath
until it becomes calm and tranquil; then rest the mind more
and more on the breath until one's whole being seems to be
identified with it. Finally, become aware of the breath leaving
the body and going out into space, and gradually transfer the
attention away from the breath and towards the sensation of
spaciousness and expansion. By letting this final sensation
merge into complete openness, one moves into the sphere of
formless meditation proper."
Trungpa Rinpoche

Again, on a more practical note, it is absolutely necessary in the

beginning of our training to practice with a supportive group of
individuals who follow the same teacher or lineage. In order to
practice and come to realize the Dzogchen teachings one must find
an authentic lineage within which to train. As the Vajra Regent once
said, "sit with others, sit a lot, and relax." Without a community it is
almost impossible to get to the meditation cushion and stay on it for
any length of time. Time on the cushion makes all the difference. We
also need the auspicious connection with an authentic guru who holds
the lineage so that we are less likely to lose our way.

Within our formal practice of meditation -- wherever we may think of

our practice on a scale of "beginner" to "advanced" meditator-- there
are always moments of complete openness and unhabitual
awareness. This is called "knowing the key point of natural
awareness" or "knowing the one which liberates all". Identifying
these moments within our personal experience is the key point of our
training and realization. Actually, it is realization itself.
In
otherwords, every moment we recognize and let be in unhabitual
awareness -- on the cushion or in daily life -- is a moment of genuine
realization. This experience is what is pointed out by the teacher to
the student not through words but by a direct manifestation of
unhabituated, naked reality.

Minding the Gap ~ Knowing the Crucial Point of Recognizing

Natural Awareness

"When your past thought has ceased and your future thought
has not yet arisen and you are free from conceptual reckoning
in the present moment, then your genuine and natural
awareness, the union of being empty and cognizant, dawns as
the state of mind, which is like space -- that itself is dzogchen
transcending concepts, the cutting through of primordial
purity, the open and naked exhaustion of phenomena.
This
is exactly what you should recognize. To sustain the practice
means simply to rest in naturalness after recognizing."
Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche
One traditional practice instruction states that when our habitual
involvement in one thought has ended and we have yet to become
habitually engaged in the next thought we have the opportunity if we
are attentive to recognize uncontrived Natural Awareness. This is a
very simple instruction and yet it is the key point of practice. Without
knowing this key point our efforts in practice will essentially be
worthless. So what is it saying? How does this moment feel
experientially? When we are doing our practice there are moments of
simple awareness and there are periods of time when we are
distracted and essentially caught in a daydream.

"Sometimes in meditation there is a gap in normal

consciousness, a sudden complete openness. This only arises
when one has ceased to think in terms of meditator,
meditation and the object of meditation. It is a glimpse of
reality, a sudden flash which occurs at first infrequently and
then gradually more and more often. It may not be a
particularly shattering or explosive experience at all, just a
moment of great simplicity. Do not make the mistake of
deliberately trying to force these experiences to recur, for this
is to betray the naturalness and spontaneity of reality."

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

This is the "Heart Essence" of the Dharma. This simple experience is

what all the teachings of the Buddha and subsequent realized
masters point to and help us to experience in our own mind. We need
to "recognize" this experience within our own mind stream and then
clarify and "resolve" this recognition through whatever means -- but
especially through diligent meditation practice. Our practice is this.
And this recognition is called "knowing the one which liberates all".
Without really 'resolving our understanding of this we can only have
a superficial understanding of the Dharma. We know the words but
not the sense-- the many but not the one. The student teacher
relationship is based on pointing out this gap to the student.
"Unless you realize the key point of natural awareness -- that
knowing one thing liberates all -- you won't find any certainty
in pursuing endless seemingly "important" information."
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

As Dudjom Rinpoche reminds us however, it is not enough to have

recognition. Knowing the crucial point of practice we need to train
diligently and stablize our recognition.

"You haven't arrived at the state of liberation simply by

recognizing awareness. For beginningless lifetimes, we have
been enveloped within the cocoon of deluded tendencies. Up
until now, we have been spending our lives deep under the
shit of this conceptual thinking...Therefore, you should now
practice sustaining the continuity of the awareness that you
have recognized, and nothing other than that. The great
omniscient master Longchenpa said:
'You may have
recognized your nature, but unless you become familiar with
it, the enemy, thinking, will carry you off like an infant on a
battlefield.'"
When we sit and practice with unbiased awareness, which is what we
do in Kusulu practice, we become aware of these gaps between the
distraction of daydreams. That is the gap we are recognizing again
and again in our practice. In this way meditation practice can best
be understood as a process of familiarizing ourselves with Natural
Awareness through recognition of these gaps.

Dudjom Rinpoche writes, as we continue our practice we gain

confidence through this process of familiarization that the distraction
of habitual thoughts is "self-liberated":

"Just as waves on the ocean subside again into the ocean,

gain confidence in the liberation of all thoughts, whatever
may arise. Confidence is beyond the object of meditation and
the act of meditating. It is free from the conceptual mind that
fixates on meditation."

We recognize the gaps in our habitual fixation on discursive thinking

and come back again and again to a basic awareness of being There
is no need to apply some kind of conceptual idea of what our
meditation should be but rather we 'let be' directly in an awareness of
what is-- that is, in awareness that is undistracted by the usual
habitual picking and choosing-- accepting and rejecting of what
arises. Tsele Natsok Rangdrol writes:

"When it happens that you do get involved in thoughts that

recollect the past or entertain the future, then let be directly
in awareness. If a thought pattern continues, there is no need
for a separate antidote since whatever takes place is
liberated by itself."

We do not need nor should we attempt to apply an antidote when we

realize we have been caught in habitual thought. The reason is that
at that moment when we realize we have been daydreaming we are
actually experiencing a moment of recognition of mind essence. At
that moment we are outside of the discursive dualistic thinking and in
an open and aware state. Just let be or go to the awareness of
breath very simply and directly. Its not useful to berate oneself for
being a bad meditator --which is a strong impulse at this point
because at that moment all we can remember is that we were
daydreaming and not following our breath. We simply have to pay
attention to what is arising in our experience with an unbiased

awareness. Very literally following the breath is a great way to

develop a feeling for this unbiased awareness which leads us to the
experience of vipashyana --the essence of Dzogchen. Any attempt to
apply an antidote carries with it a huge kind of hangover because we
are trying to 'fix' our meditation state which is really just another
habitual, discursive thought. The profound fact of kusulu meditation is
that we are sitting there doing nothing and occasionally, if we pay
attention, we realize that we are sitting there doing nothing!
.
As beginners it is necessary for us to first work very literally and
precisely with the techniques of shamatha/vipashyana -- or stillness
and insight meditation. One of the most important elements in the
beginning of practice is the development of one-pointed,
nonwandering awareness. This is the ability to place our awareness
one-pointedly on something without wandering for as long as we want
it there.

Traditionally in Mahamudra training this is called "settling the mind

in awareness with the support of the breath."
We place our
awareness on the breath counting both the inhalations and
exhalations up to ten and then returning to one. In the beginning we
find that we are constantly losing count and drifting off into habitual
discursive thought. Each time we become aware of being distracted
from the breath we acknowledge that and then return to counting the
breath starting with one.
Through persistent effort this practice
brings us back again and again to a simple awareness of the breath
until we can sit with undistracted awareness on the breath and the
count for our full meditation session.

The development of this one-pointed samadhi is absolutely essential

to the development of one's meditation practice. We need to think in
terms of accomplishing the discipline and refinement of one-pointed
awareness in our sitting practice of meditation. Without developing
the ability to cut through our distracted habitual train of thought we
can spend years practicing and never accomplish realization. Often
we sit in a subtly distracted state and are unaware of the
undercurrent of discursive thought that is running through our minds.

This type of "meditation" is really just hanging out in a stupor and is

of no benefit whatsoever. Working very closely with our technique
refines our discipline and our awareness and cuts through both subtle
and coarse thought patterns. As our practice of one-pointedness
develops our awareness becomes more and more refined and settled.
We can be completely present with our breath and our count and our
awareness becomes settled in a nonwandering and undistracted
state.

As part of this practice of one-pointedness it is also taught that we

should place the awareness in the lower abdomen approximately four
finger widths below the belly button. This place is considered the
center of our awareness and when we place our attention there we
develop a very steady sense of being that is not startled or distracted
easily. It isn't necessary to overdue this. Keep a lighthanded touch
but just repeatedly come back to this technique very literally and very
precisely. We begin to realize when we are present and when we are
not. We develop that sense of presence by diligently coming back
and working with our awareness of the breath as it leaves our body
and as it comes back in -- very simple and very precise.

Shamatha practice is often described as dwelling in peace -- or

tranquility practice but this really is the wrong idea of what we are
doing. The point of shamatha meditation is to cut through our
attachment to habitual, discursive thought and we do this by working
closely with the breath as a focal point for our awareness. Placing our
awareness on the breath works as a feedback mechanism. When we
lose our awareness of the breath we know that we are engaging in
habitual discursive thought. By dealing very closely with our degrees
of attention we refine our awareness. We don't become absorbed in a
kind of trance state -- but by refining our attention we can tell when
we are aware without any distraction. There is a definite sense of
"knowing" that Trungpa Rinpoche describes as a "sense of being."

Shamatha ,when done with the correct view, allows us to develop our
recognition of this 'sense of being.' This moment is the same as the
unfabricated, undistracted state. By letting be completely with the

breath and giving up any thoughts concerning a goal for our practice
quite by accident we find ourselves unconditionally aware in the
present moment.

"When the primordially free rigpa is nurtured by innate

mindfulness, the rigpa is nuturing or sustaining, watching
itself. Mahamudra uses the word watchfulness or keeping
guard, indicating a sense of watching. For some people,
without some watchfulness or keeping guard, without some
mindfulness, there is no abiding and the meditation is lost.
Without this support they have no meditation. So it is said
"by fabricating mind, one is led to the natural state.'"
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Once we have developed the precision of shamatha with the support

of our awareness of breath as our technique then we can loosen our
focus on the support and allow our awareness to rest without such a
tight focus on technique. At this point in a students development we
can begin working with the meditation techniques that Trungpa
Rinpoche taught his western students which combine shamatha
precision with vipashyana awareness.

"Without bringing forth the natural strength of awareness, a

numb and inert state of stillness will never yield any progress
whatsoever. So it is crucial to bring forth the steady clarity of
awareness. There are many meditators, but few who know
how to meditate. It is truly important to utilize the vital
points."

Guru Rinpoche

Trungpa Rinpoche is unique among Tibetan teachers in his adoption of

group sitting practice for his students. He emphasized the
importance of ongoing training in sitting meditation and faulted the
contemporary Tibetan approach for a lack of emphasis on group

sitting practice. "Tibetan's don't sit" (1975 Vajradhatu Seminary). He

clearly felt that the lack of sitting meditation practice resulted in what
he called the "corruption" of Buddhism. Tibetan teachers will be quick
to point out that just sitting still on a cushion does not mean you are
actually "meditating." One needs to really understand the key points
of mind in order to develop proper understanding of practice. But as
students of Trungpa Rinpoche we think it is nearly impossible to do
this without intensive shamatha/vipashyana training -- and this does
seem to have been the precedent with many important Tibetan
teachers in the past. Often students prepared for pointing out
instruction for five years or more by engaging in intensive
shamatha/vipashyana practice. Only when the student has prepared
properly can they actually receive mind to mind transmission from a
lineage Guru.

After an initial period of settling the mind through one-pointed

mindfulness practice Trungpa Rinpoche's students then were given
instruction on identifying with the breath as it went out. The inbreath
is not emphasized or focused on. It simply happens but we do not
place our awareness one-pointedly on it. This instruction comes from
Gampopa's meditation instructions and is called "mixing awareness
with space" and it helps the practitioner loosen their habitual grip on
"this" and release one's awareness into the environment or space
around us. The 'gap' built in to this form of meditation trains the
practitioner in the recognition of Natural Awareness. The focused
attention is let go of and awareness rests momentarily on its own.
This is training for vipashyana -- which essentially is formless
meditation.

A good way to understand this is through an art form like Japanese

brush calligraphy which was another form of practice that Trungpa
introduced to his students. When we do a calligraphy we focus
intensively on the execution of the kanji-- the Japanese ideogram.
This is one-pointed awareness just like going out with the outbreath.
It is Shamatha. Then when the calligraphy has been completed there
is a moment where awareness simply hangs there with no technique
or object to focus on. Of course, we can fill this space in many ways
with habitual thought but the point of this practice is to recognize and
let be in the space of awareness without layers of conceptualization.
This is the vipashyana aspect of this practice.

Generally this period of time where we "let be in awareness" lasts for

a very short time. As soon as we begin to contrive or manipulate the
experience we lose that recognition. It is important not to try to hold
on to that moment of recognition. But we can do the practice over
and over-- "train in short moments, many times"-- whether in sitting
meditation or calligraphy practice or any other form of practice -- and
in that way develop our stability in letting be in the space of
awareness Trungpa Rinpoche would refer to this as "flashing" on
recognition and then "disowning" or letting be in that moment.
Certain skillful means have been developed within the Buddhist
tradition to train us in recognition and in the stabilization of rigpa or
Natural Awareness.

When -- through intensive shamatha training --we have settled in an

unmoving awareness we can let go of our hold on technique as a
reference point. But as the pith instructions often tell us -- "keep
mindfulness on guard." The more tightly we try to control our mind
the more restless it becomes -- just like trying to ride a spirited horse.
As soon as we let go of that control the mind has nothing to fight
against and settles in it's present awareness. If you let your horse go
it will stay on the path. However, mindfulness or "watchfulness" is
still the key to seeing this process in your practice.

"In truth if you cannot tame your own mind, what else is there
to tame? What is the use of doing many other practices? The
aim of the whole Buddhist path, both Basic and the Great
Vehicles, is to tame and understand your mind."
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

As intelligent college educated westerners we often search for the

"best" or highest form of meditation practice because we want "the
best." Meditation doesn't really work that way. Practicing shamatha
is sometimes considered to be merely a beginner's practice.
However, it is necessary to come back to this practice again and
again in order to tame our habitual speed and aggression. If our
minds are tame then we can do any form of meditation practice

completely because the definition of a tame mind in this case is one

which is able to let be in the present moment. If we haven't
developed this fully present awareness then even if we do the highest
practice available in the Vajrayana tradition it will be of little benefit.
It is so important to realize that this simple practice is the most
profound skillful means for realizing the key point of Natural
Awareness. Nothing else is needed and even if we do want to explore
the full range of tantric skillful means shamatha-vipashyana practice
is always an essential part of our tantric training. We never 'graduate'
from the practice of sitting meditation -- there is always further to go
and more refinement possible in our practice.

"Letting the mind become peaceful and staying in a

meditation state of stillness free from many thoughts is called
shamatha or sustained calm. Recognizing the empty nature
of the mind within that state of calm is called vipashyana or
profound insight. Uniting shamatha and vipashyana is the
essence of meditation practice. It is said: 'Look at the mind,
there is nothing to see. Seeing nothing, we see the Dharma,
the source of all the Buddhas.'"
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The process of training in shamatha-vipashyana meditation has been

described as sharpening our prajna or "discriminating awareness
wisdom." Every time we notice that we have strayed into distraction
and come back to the technique we sharpen the sword of prajna. The
sword of prajna in this case is the intelligent awareness which is able
to tell the difference between being present and being distracted by
either spacing out or engaging a discursive storyline of habitual mind.
This prajna is the insight of vipashyana. It is the awareness which
sees "shunyata"-- emptiness. In the language of Dzogchen it is that
which "recognizes Natural Awareness" and it is fundamentally Natural
Awareness itself. When we talk about the unity of shamatha and
vipashyana we mean the mind that is aware and present and not
conditioned by any habitual "thinking".
The practice of shamatha/ vipashyana as described by lineage
masters is a progressive path of practice that leads us to the direct
experience of Natural Awareness. The stillness aspect of shamatha
allows the insight of Natural Awareness to manifest. We develop a

stability and familiarity with Natural Awareness through our shamatha

and vipashyana training. Shamatha should be understood as cutting
through our habitual daydream and vipashyana is the recognition of
the ensuing awareness which is unconditioned by habitual fixation on
what arises in awareness. We can understand every practice in the
Buddhist tradition in terms of this definition of shamatha and
vipashyana from development and completion stage of yidam
meditation practice up to the highest description of Dzogchen
Meditation -- trekcho and togal.

Once we have developed our ability to cut through discursive habitual

thought with our awareness we can let go of the "object" or technique
we have been using in the beginning of our practice. This is what
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol is referring to when he says:

"Cast away the fixation of rigidly meditating upon a reference

point and instead release your awareness into carefree
openness! Decide that whatever you experience is the playful
expression of awareness; don't try to improve good or correct
evil!"
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

We look directly at what arises without attempting to engage it or

repress it and in that way whatever arises is the manifestation of
Natural Awareness. At this point in our practice there is no idealized
meditation state that we are attempting to acheive by rejecting what
we are experiencing right now. Our experience is always perfect and
complete as it is when we look directly at it with no attempt to
strategize or manipulate it. When we understand how the practice of
shamatha works in cutting through our habitual fixation -- the
daydream of compulsive reaction to objects arising in our awareness-then we can understand the way that vipashyana is Natural
Awareness beyond accepting and rejecting.

Second for identifying vipashyana, no matter what thought

or disturbing emotion arises, do not try to cast it away and do

not be governed by it; instead, leave whatever is experienced

without fabrication. When you recognize it the very moment
it arises, it itself dawns as emptiness that is basic purity
without abandonment. In this way you are able to utilize all
adversity as the path, and this is therefore called taking
adversity as the path. Your realization that objects to be
abandoned and their remedies are indivisible, since thoughts
are liberated by simply recognizing them, is the heart of
Vajrayana practice and is called training in exorcism. At
this point you should feel even greater compassion for all
those sentient beings who do not realize the nature of their
own minds. While you spend your life practicing the methods
(upaya) such as the development stage with your body,
speech, and mind for the sake of all sentient beings, it is
through this type of discriminating knowledge (prajna) that,
having utterly purified any clinging to the reality of negative
emotions, you will avoid falling prey to them. It is just like
remaining unharmed when eating a poison that has been
blessed by mantra. It is with this type of practice in mind that
the following words were spoken: Neither accept nor reject
whatever arises on the path!"
Padma Karpo

Mistaken Views of Shamatha Practice

Both foundational Schools of Buddhism like the Shravakas and
Pratyekabuddhas and non-Buddhist schools of meditation use
concentration techniques in an effort to calm the mind. If the view of
shamatha is limited to the idea that the practice is only meant to
calm the mind or stop thought then we always end up creating more
obstacles to realization through our practice. On the one hand, the
practice of one-pointed shamatha allows us to slow down the speed of
discursive thought and by accomplishing this the practitioner can
experience uncontrived Natural Awareness if they have had the
"pointing out instructions" from a qualified master and know what to
look for. But on the negative side shamatha practitioners can become
attached to the 'stillness' of nonthought and mistake that for
realization. They may also cling to the temporary "meditation
experiences" of bliss, clarity and nonthought found in the cessation
of discursive mind brought about by stopping thought through the
application of concentration techniques.

By using one-pointed concentration to repress the arising of

discursive thought many kinds of peaceful and blissful states can be
experienced. Because they are pleasureable on a very refined level
shamatha practitioners may cling to these temporary experiences.
The habitual attachment and clinging to these temporary meditation
experiences keeps shamatha practitioners trapped in samsara.

"The meditation of stillness alone doesn't qualify as the

authentic meditation practice of Mahamudra. In particular, all
the authoritative guidance tests of the Old and New Schools
unanimously agree that people who fixate with attachment on
the experience of stillness will go astray in their meditation
practice."
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol

Similarly shamatha meditation can temporarily stop disturbing

emotions and thoughts and we can experience a blissful peace based
on an absorption in a type of concentrated trance .However, the
habitual patterns have not been undone, they have simply been
interrupted by the mind's preoccupation with something else -- in this
case the concentration technique itself. As soon as we stop
concentrating on the object of meditation we immediately resume our
habitual patterns of thought and our disturbing emotions engage us in
another samsaric daydream.

The temporary relief from samsaric suffering is a profound experience

and is available through this limited view of the practice of shamatha
meditation but this can be compared to the effects of a drug or the
blissful experience one has after an excercise work out. This form of
practice does not lead to realization but only to further suffering.

The real key to meditation practice is the recognition of the true

nature of one's awareness. This is the realization of awareness as
"unborn". It is "unborn" in the sense that our awareness is not
dependent upon causes and conditions. It doesn't come from

somewhere else nor does it go anywhere. It is neither harmed nor

improved by the arising of experience and it cannot be called a
"thing" in the way that we consider a rock or a physical object a thing.
Neither can it be considered to be "no thing" because it is a living
cognizance. It is present in every moment of our experience. It is our
awareness. It sounds silly to say it but we have never known a
moment when we did not have this awareness. We have never had
an experience which was apart from this Natural Awareness. What we
are doing in meditation is looking directly at awareness with
awareness. We are allowing awareness to rest in itself.

In Dzogchen and Mahamudra meditation technique is used to

establish an unbiased reference point for awareness. The use of a
technique as a reference point in meditation should not be confused
with the habitual mind's projection and fixation on habitual reference
points. In meditation practice the technique is to be aware of our
breath and because of our awareness of the breath we can notice
when we have been daydreaming, acknowlege it as distraction and
come back to this simple uncontrived" sense of being." This sense of
being and our awareness of the breath are the same at this point. At
the moment that we notice that we have been 'daydreaming' or when
we notice that we have lost our awareness of the breath we have
already come back to this unfabricated, undistracted awareness.

What we are training in is the recognition of that moment --the

moment when our past thought has run down and the future thought
has not gripped us yet. There really is nothing more to do when we
come back to this simple awareness -- in fact, if we attempt to force
ourselves to stay present we taint that uncontrived awareness. The
most difficult aspect of our practice is learning to "let be" once the
daydream falls apart because there is a tremendous habitual urge to
jump on to the next thought. Trungpa Rinpoche's practice instruction
is to "touch and go." Through engaging in meditation practice we
repeatedly
"touch" this moment of uncontrived awareness as a
'sense of 'being.' This is simply the moment that we are fully present
with our breath. Then rather than holding it or trying to keep it we let
it go -- we 'disown' it. Because this sense of being is really the basis
of our awareness we cannot actually grasp it or solidify it in any way.
We can't hold on to it -- we can only be it by letting our awareness be
without distraction.

Our uncontrived Natural Awareness is only discovered by letting be -by touching it, recognizing it and then letting it be that way. The
Formal practice of 'sitting meditation' as it is called is really just
creating the conditions which are more conducive for this recognition
and letting be. It is only through doing this type of practice
repeatedly that we wear out our tendency to jump to our next
habitual distraction. This is called attaining 'stability' in the natural
state. Many teachers recommend "short moments many times". but
this type of instruction only works when you are in a longterm retreat.
If we just practice for short periods between checking our Iphone or
facebook page we never wear out our habitual patterns. So we
recommend "short moments many times for a long time". Just sit
there and wear out the boredom and frustration, the fascination and
exhilaration. We only gain confidence in our Natural Awareness
through watching every reaction arise, dwell and dissipate over and
over again. Eventually we become quite 'shinjanged" -- which is a
tibetan meditation term for completely processed out. Our shocking
thoughts no longer shock us. We see them just as thoughts. We can
see everything that arises in our mind and we no longer react
habitually as though the thoughts were real or solid. There is no
substitute for intensive sitting practice within a group retreat. That is
why we offer 10 day "Heart of the Matter" retreats here at the Center
four times a year.

Gradually through doing this practice we begin to recognize a quality

to awareness that permeates all of our experience. What begins to
bleed through is what is called "'vipashyana"-- or "clear seeing." We
begin to perceive thoughts, feelings, emotions and objects beyond
the obscuration of our habitual fixation. What begins as a gap
between discursive, habitual daydreams expands and undermines all
of our delusive habitual conditioning. What we first notice only by
experiencing the boundary between periods of daydreaming and
Awareness begins to expand. Trungpa Rinpoche used the analogy of
the vast ocean of Natural Awareness undermining the mainland of
habitual mind until it collapses into the ocean. In other words -- the
boundaries are undermined by Awareness until there are no
boundaries -- just Natural Awareness.

"There is a children's story about the sky falling, but we do

not actually believe that such a thing could happen. The sky
turns into a blue pancake and drops on our head -- nobody
believes that. But in maha ati experience, it actually does
happen. There is a new dimension of shock, and new
dimension of logic ... Our perspective becomes completely
different."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Awakening from the Daydream

"When you rest nakedly and naturally in the great openness
of this awareness, do not be concerned with your old
archenemy, the thinking that reflects, has myriad attribrutes,
and has never given you a moment's rest in the past.
Instead, in the space of awareness, which is like a cloudless
sky, the movement of thoughts has vanished, disappeared
collapsed. All the power of [habitual] thinking is lost to
awareness. This awareness is your intrinsic dharmakaya
wisdom, naked and fresh!"
Dudjom Rinpoche
Even though the basis of our experience has always been the
primordial perfection of Natural Awareness, up until we engage in this
type of meditation training we have been trapped in an habitual
daydream. Everything that arises in our field of awareness is
conditioned by an habitual discursive dream state that we believe is
reality. We take our projected habitual thoughts to be our reference
points -- the story we tell ourselves of what happened yesterday and
the story we tell ourselves of what we will do tomorrow, of who we
love and who we hate -- all sorts of scenarios and schemes that are
just habitual discursive thoughts. In our confused state we take
these habitual reference points as solid and real-- as truly existing
outside of our present experience --but of course they don't actually
exist apart from the mind which is projecting them. They are just
thoughts. The memory we have about our friend is not actually true.
Our friend is not actually there. But we react to the thought of our
friend as though it were real -- as though he was standing right in
front of us. These thoughts have no solidity and no reality outside our
discursive, habitual mind.

What happens when we begin to dissolve this fiction through

meditation practice? First of all, the world comes alive through direct
perception. Every moment of experience is fresh, completely open
and we are fully present in that moment. All experience, while unique
in itself, has the same taste of wild vividness, presence and boundless
space. When the solidity of our habitual reference points dissolves
the entire samsaric structure is shaken to its foundation and we
experience "Sacred World." One analogy for this realization is the
image of the moon reflected in water. Just as the reflection of the
moon is not separate from the water in the same way all arising
phenomena in our experience are not and have never been separate
in any way from Natural Awareness itself. This is experienced as
"wakefulness."

At the same time the experience of boundless openness and clarity

that we have when the cocoon of habitual reference point has fallen
away initially can be a frightening experience. For countless lifetimes
we have obscured this fresh present wakefulness with our habitual
discursive thought and projection. When we cut through and actually
experience this fresh vividness it can be a freaky experience. Part of
us is frightened and wants to run back to our familiar habitual world.
We become very aware of impermanence and of loneliness. Fear
begins to arise along with a feeling of immense space. The habitual
reference points have begun to fall apart and awareness has
expanded.

As Trungpa Rinpoche points out, the barrier that comes up at this

point is a reaction to that larger awareness of space -- the habitual
reaction to this feeling of groundlessness, of no habitual reference
point -- is generally fear. The way we work with this fear and
groundlessness is to let be and open out into it without attempting to
change it or manipulate it. We lean into the direct experience and
continue to open and cut through any habituation or defense
mechanisms with greater openness and awareness:
"Clarity of awareness may in its initial stages be unpleasant
or fear-inspiring; if so, then one should open oneself
completely to the pain or the fear and welcome it. In this way
the barriers created by one's own habitual emotional

reactions and prejudices are broken down. When performing

the meditation practice one should develop the feeling of
opening oneself out completely to the whole universe with
absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind, ridding oneself of
all protecting barriers."
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Beyond Meeting and Parting: Meeting the Guru's Mind

"Awareness is first pointed out by your master. Thereby, you
recognize your natural face, by yourself, and are introduced
to your own nature. All the phenomena of samsara and
nirvana, however they may appear, are none other than the
expression of awareness itself. Thus, decide on one thing -awareness!"
Dudjom Rinpoche

There are many ways to receive the 'pointing out instruction' of

Natural Awareness in the Tantric tradition. But it is very important
that we rely on an authentic lineage and the blessings of a realized
Master. "Receiving the Blessings" means that when we are in the
presence of someone who has completely removed the obscuration of
habitual reference point we can recognize a particular quality to our
experience.
What we experience in their presence may not coincide with our
conceptual idea of what "Awakened Mind" should feel like. In fact,
quite often our neurosis can be heightened or we may feel completely
freaked out for no apparent reason. Many times we feel very exposed
and naked. We feel it and we come to recognize the feeling through
repeated encounters with the guru's mind. Later on in our own
practice or just walking down the street we can recognize that again
and again. Our heightened neurotic response generally is our
habitual mind attempting to cover over the gap or the naked
awareness of the unhabituated mind of the guru. At the point of
encountering this naked mind we might be tempted to run for cover -and quite often we do -- but some part of us recognizes the Awakened
Mind or Natural Awareness in that experience.

In the Tantric Tradition we bind ourselves to that naked mind through

yidam practice and guru yoga. The meaning of the samaya vow is
that having recognized the nature of the Guru's mind as our
Awakened Nature we commit ourselves to never turning away. We
bind ourselves completely to the Awakened Nature of the Guru and
the Lineage he represents. This is what it means to depend on and
have devotion for a realized master.

There are ,of course, many people who are buried under layers of
habituation who will not experience the Guru's mind or not recognize
it when it is right in front of them. In the beginning of practice it is
necessary to have faith -- just do your practice and clear away these
habitual obscurations. Its very helpful even in our cynical age to trust
the words of our lineage Gurus! Some people in this life will never
realize the nature of the Guru's mind but will mistake it for something
else. This boils down to 'precious human birth." Believe it or not, the
crazy people who recognize this mind are the lucky ones! Working on
faith and devotion and pure perception is of the utmost importance on
the path of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.

"In order to truly recognize your nature, you must receive the
blessings of a guru who has the lineage. This transmission
depends upon the disciple's devotion. It is not given just
because you have a close relationship. It is therefore vital
never to separate yourself from the devotion of seeing your
guru as the dharmakaya buddha."
Shechen Gyaltsab, Pema Namgyal

Depending upon the openness and receptivity of the student, the

genuine "pointing out instruction" can be through words, through
the symbolic transmission of Tantric initiation, or through direct mindto-mind transmission. Actually, we say that transmission can occur
through these three means but really all genuine transmission is
"mind to mind." The skillful means may be getting slapped by a
sandal in the face or the sound of a bell ringing or the taste of good
gin. It doesn't matter. The Guru's mind is the mind of the Buddha

and of the lineage of genuine masters who have thoroughly realized

unhabituated mind -- enlightenment. In this way he or she is a living
manifestation of the Buddha. At the same time having experienced
this directly, a disciple is bound to maintain this realization. This is
called maintaining one's samaya vow.

The principle of samaya, or sacred bondage, becomes

extremely important once we have taken abhisheka. The
definition of yidam as the sacred bondage of ones mind was
discussed earlier. When we receive empowerment to practice
the sadhana of Vajrayogini, we take on that samaya, or
bondage. We bind ourselves to indestructible wakefulness,
committing ourselves fully to maintaining sacred outlook
throughout our lives. This is done by identifying oneself
completely with the vajra sanity of the teacher and of
Vajrayogini. One is inseparably bound together with the
teacher and the yidam; and, at this point, ones very being
and ones sanity depend on keeping up this commitment.
Trungpa Rinpoche

The Guru's mind is completely unhabituated Natural Awareness and

that is what we recognize in the Guru. Thereafter, we meet this mind
every time we recognize and 'let be' in Natural Awareness in our
practice or in our daily life. When there is a genuine meeting
between an authentic teacher -- one who has realized Natural
Awareness and completely stabilized that realization -- and a worthy
student -- someone who has ripened themselves through faith,
practice and devotion -- this authentic transmission can take place.
We are so lucky to live in a time and place where this genuine
meeting is still possible. It is a very rare situation. As practitioners
we must continue to practice the main point. When we do this the
Guru's mind is always 'beyond meeting and parting.'
As Dudjom Rinpoche wrote

"My own guru said to me:

I have no thought besides the guru.

I have nothing to chant besides supplication to him.

I have nothing to practice besides nonaction.
I simply rest in that way.
Now I am in a happy state -- open, spacious, and free from
reference point.
For accomplishing the permanent goal of one's wishes,
The profound instruction of Dzogchen is enough in itself."