The Dzogchen Primer

by Marcia Schmidt

  The pith instructions and spiritual songs always emphasize an intensity of devotion and sincerity, which is not often found in the philosophical textbooks. An overwhelming and almost unbearably pure state of compassion or devotional yearning strips the mind bare of conceptual veils so that awareness is revealed in its most naked state. Please understand the vital importance of devotion and compassion—and in Vajrayana, especially that of devotion.

  If you have already found and accepted a Vajrayana master, then this of course implies that you try to regard whatever he or she says or does as pure. Not only the master but also your fellow practitioners—whatever they do or say you must try to appreciate with a certain purity. The general teachings do not speak much about pure perception, and I understand that it could be a problematic issue. However, the training in pure perception is, in itself, extremely effective for fast progress. It is a swift path.

  Let me summarize the essential point of the sacred Dharma. Weariness and renunciation are essentials, as are loving-kindness and compassion, as well as trust and devotion. When these three aspects conjoin in a practitioner, he or she can readily recognize and realize the view of emptiness. If something is amiss with these three, it is difficult to realize the view. Without weariness one doesn’t feel the need to practice; lacking love and compassion is like trying to fly without wings or walk without legs. Without trust and devotion—I’m sorry to say this so bluntly—one cannot comprehend the profound teachings of Vajrayana at all. Renunciation here should be the renunciation of ego-clinging, not just of some filthy place. Love and compassion should be not just for friends and family but for everyone, without bounds. To have these, we need to train ourselves.

  A synonym for Vajrayana is Secret Mantra. “Secret” refers to the fact that its own nature is a secret to the confused mind. The fact that accomplishment can be reached within a couple of years or within this very lifetime is entirely connected to realizing this nature of mind, and this requires trust and devotion.

  The importance of trust and devotion is not so clearly stated in the Buddha’s general teachings for good reason: it is hard to accept. Dear reader, isn’t it true that most people would not accept this? Isn’t it true that if beginners were told, “Obey every word this Buddhist master tells you and see everything he does as perfect,” then their immediate reaction would be to say, “It’s a cult!” And yes, it definitely looks like it, at first glance anyway. This is certainly a difficult issue.

  Let us not limit pure perception to the master, however. A Vajrayana practitioner should regard his or her vajra siblings with the same respect and purity. This principle does not apply only to our vajra siblings; we should regard every sentient being that way and all phenomena as well. A Vajrayana practitioner should repeatedly train in seeing everything that could possibly appear and exist as having the nature of the three kayas. The great mandala of appearance and existence as the manifest ground—that is the pivotal point of inner Vajrayana, no matter from which angle you approach it.

  These three principles—weariness and renunciation, loving-kindness and compassion, and trust and devotion—allow you to quickly experience the highest, noblest view. This is my earnest conviction. Dharma studies separated from those three may enable you to speak eloquently on the Buddhist view, but, honestly, when has mere talk ever been able to transform the mind? Talk is cheap. You can teach a parrot to say “tongnyi” (emptiness), “kadag” (primordial purity), or “lhündrub” (spontaneous presence).

  I would like to add that progress on the Buddhist path does not require far-reaching study and reflection. Rather than gather information, it is much more important to take the topics personally as one goes along and apply them to oneself. It does not necessarily follow that extensive studying leads to renunciation of ego-clinging. There is no guarantee that being learned also means being compassionate, nor does it necessarily follow that one has deep trust and compassion. Sometimes it does happen that vast learning hinders progress, so I would like to emphasize that we pay special attention to the proper method of studying the Dharma.

  Here is how not to approach it: Do not use Buddhist information to fuel your ego and sharpen your intellect in order to find faults only in others. The tendency to attack, believing that the opponent is other than oneself, inflates a certain type of pride that makes it very difficult to open up and tame one’s mind. Isn’t this obvious?

  When you study the Dharma, please do so with a willingness to admit, “I do have some faults. They are mine and I am also the one who needs to change them.” Once we face ourselves with this type of sincerity, the door is wide open to genuine progress by quickly taming our own minds.

  I know it is human nature to think, “I am flawless; the others are wrong!” We have the tendency to always place the blame and point away from ourselves. If we maintain such an attitude while studying the sublime statements of the Buddha, of course we can learn the words, but we then tend to use them to embellish and inflate our pride and look down on others. One may also begin to criticize everyone but oneself. This often happens to those who have done some study.

  In short, the way to use this study book is to integrate the topics with your own personal experience. The guideline is always this: we need to tame and soften our own minds. Otherwise, the Dharma does not work. Mere talk does not help, no matter how impressive. I tried to encapsulate this in a poem once:

  Studying the Buddha’s words and the treatises

  Removes your triple faults and makes you gentle and peaceful.

  By reflecting, you feel sure of liberation from the depths of your heart.

  By meditating, you experience self-existing wakefulness from within.

  Therefore, persevere in learning, reflection, and meditation.

  The real benefit of studying the Buddha’s teachings and the statements of enlightened masters is to be inspired to change the way we think, speak, and behave, which will make us more civil, gentle, and peaceful. When we thoroughly investigate the value of the meaning presented, it becomes obvious that we can become free—each and every one of us. This confidence is achieved through understanding, and understanding is a result of thinking the teachings over. We do not need to let the teachings remain as mere words or ideas; we can put them to use in our own experience. This is how the buddha nature can be revealed, since it is already present in every one of us. That is why I encourage you to study, reflect on, and personally apply the teachings.

  Let me phrase this differently. If you want to have the certainty that Dharma practice will liberate you and others, it is necessary both to study and to reflect: What is it that obscures our basic nature? Why do we lose track of it and get bewildered? Well, yes! It is due to this habitual clinging to duality. If this is so, how do we dissolve dualistic clinging? Well, yes! We need to train in being free of clinging to duality. When this attitude, which maintains duality, is allowed to not be formed, to disappear, to dissolve, to vanish—what is left? What remains is given the name “nondual wakefulness.” Well, yes! This is the freedom from duality; this is how to be free. Now it is clear! Liberation is to be free from clinging to an ego. Liberation is to be free from fixating on solid reality! This is how we can gain some genuine certainty, even without having to go through detailed studies.

  For many people, liberation from samsara is imagined to be a place far away; this is true for many religions. “When I get to paradise, the buddhafields, then I will be free! I will pray to God or the Buddha, purify myself, create merit, and please the gods, and they will take care of me. They will magically transport me to that pure land.” This may well be a popular belief, but the true Buddhist liberation is to be free of the two obscurations. For that, wouldn’t it be better to understand what the two obscurations are? They are the emotional and cognitive obscurations. As Nagarjuna taught, stinginess and the like are the emotional obscuration; and thoughts that conceptualize the three notions—subject, object, and action—are the cognitive obscuration. All you need is a go
od explanation to understand and identify them in yourself. Of the two, unless and until you manage to dissolve the tendency to conceptualize the three notions, there is no true freedom from deluded experience.

  When someone has recognized and is able to sustain the true Dzogchen view of primordial purity, then all aspects of practice are automatically included within it. The realization of the view is the ultimate refuge; it is also the ultimate bodhichitta as well as the true dedication and perfect aspiration. In other words, everything is included within that one state. If it is authentic, such a person can just sit without doing any conventional practice whatsoever. Other people may think, “He’s not doing his chants, refuge and bodhichitta.” But the fact is that such a master is actually practicing the perfect refuge and bodhichitta in completeness. This is an extraordinary and incredibly special quality, and, of course, its actuality is hard to grasp.

  Let me make one thing clear: in order to dissolve this tendency to conceptualize the three notions, unless and until you recognize and become able to sustain the continuity of original wakefulness that does not conceptualize the three notions, deluded experience will not end, nor will it vanish. Whether this is said bluntly or sweetly, whether or not you do a lot of purifying of bad karma and gathering of merit, you always have to return to this central point. Any practice that lacks this vital point will, of course, reduce the intensity of confusion. Every noble intention, every altruistic frame of mind, will undeniably loosen up the rigidity of confusion and weaken the clinging to things as being real and permanent, but not permanently and not completely. The only sure way is to train in thought-free wakefulness. Isn’t this obvious? This is what we need. It is the most important point of all.

  INTRODUCTION

  Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche

  Let’s take it as a given that you are one of those people who have set their mind on becoming a buddha. You have heard that one can attain enlightenment, and you want to attain it as well. So, how does one go about doing so? How do we make ourselves capable of being buddhas?

  There is one particular approach that emphasizes pithy instructions and simple methods, as was the way of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Nowadays, people believe that there is such a style of using just a few quotations from scriptures and primarily focusing on simplicity. This may very well be true, but if we look into the fine details we see that Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s approach is based on the traditional Dzogchen teachings.

  Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s style of teaching was entirely based on this traditional foundation, and it is here that he invited individual practitioners to embrace the traditional Dzogchen instructions and to progress along the path to becoming a buddha. The Dzogchen Primer is an attempt to formulate Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s unique style into a study and practice book. This is the aspiration I was presented with, and I am delighted to add my good wishes. However, I would like to make clear that in his teachings, Tulku Urgyen used a path that is outlined in the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo, which is published in English as The Light of Wisdom (Rangjung Yeshe Publications) one that gives a very clear-cut way of proceeding. That was the basis he used. It is for this very reason that I am happy to see that Marcia Binder Schmidt has tried her best to select teachings that cover the same instructions in the same sequence as The Light of Wisdom.

  There is another traditional text that is much loved and well used, namely, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. In this book Gampopa, the great lord of the Dharma, begins by stating, “I will write this for the benefit of both myself and others, using the words of my guru, the great yogi Milarepa, as a basis.” Gampopa then begins the teachings with this sentence: “Generally speaking, all phenomena are included within two: samsara and nirvana.” This means that all phenomena, no matter what we may experience, belong to either samsara or nirvana. Gampopa continues, “That which we call samsara is, by nature, emptiness.” But so is nirvana. If samsara and nirvana are both empty by nature, it would appear there is no difference. What is the difference? “Samsara’s form is one of confusion, and its characteristic is such that it is experienced as painful.” This is the point when you have to wake up, look around, and begin to wonder, “What is this all about? What is my life? What is the very nature of aware experience?” You should begin to admit and accept that your life is one of confusion, that in fact your way of experiencing is the way of samsara, and it is painful. That is when you gain the sincere wish to be free.

  Now, what is nirvana? We can hear long stories and lengthy explanations about the enlightened qualities, but let’s begin with this simple definition: nirvana means having transcended suffering. Gampopa says that its nature is emptiness. He also states, “Its form is one in which all confusion is exhausted and has vanished. Its characteristic is to be free of each and every type of suffering.”

  Now comes one of the main questions, which is raised by Gampopa himself: “So, who gets bewildered into this state of samsaric confusion?” Whom are we talking about when we use the word samsara? Gampopa answers his own question: “It is the sentient beings of the three realms who get bewildered.”

  Why does this happen? “What is the basis for this bewilderment?” he asks. “They are bewildered about emptiness,” he replies.

  Gampopa continues to question, “What causes them to be bewildered?” He replies, “The great ignorance bewilders them.” “How do they get bewildered? They get bewildered into the experiences of the six classes of sentient beings.”

  Gampopa raises and answers more questions: “What is the analogy for this bewilderment? They get bewildered just like in sleep and dreams. How long have they been bewildered? They have been bewildered since beginningless samsara. What is wrong with being bewildered? It is to experience nothing but suffering. When is this bewilderment cleared up?” When does the confusion dawn as wisdom? Gampopa replies, “It is cleared up the moment you attain unexcelled enlightenment.”

  And here is the last statement: “If you think that this bewilderment will clear up by itself, then samsara is famed as being endless.”

  Gampopa concludes his opening to The Jewel Ornament with this summary: “Consequently, the way of samsara is one of bewilderment, has immense suffering, lasts interminably, and does not become free by itself. Therefore, from this very day forth, you must strive the best you can to attain unexcelled enlightenment.”8

  Here we have Gampopa’s basic view on why to practice the Dharma. In the rest of his book he unfolds how to go about practicing by assembling the necessary factors—the basic material, the support, the circumstance, and so forth—in a way that includes all the topics of contemplation and practice. You will also find these explained in this book.

  The Light of Wisdom summarizes everything in this one sentence: “It has that to be understood, that which causes realization, and the final result”—that which you need to know, the path that makes it known, and the result of having fully realized it. These three we usually call ground, path, and fruition.

  From The Light of Wisdom, Volume I:

  The ground to be understood is the all-pervasive sugata essence.

  Uncompounded, luminous, and empty, it is the natural state of awareness.

  Beyond confusion and liberation, it is completely quiescent like space.

  Although it abides without separation in samsara or joining in nirvana,

  Due to the great demon of coemergent and conceptual ignorance,

  From the solidified habitual patterns of grasping and fixation,

  And the different perceptions of worlds and inhabitants,

  The six classes of beings appeared as a dream.

  Although this is so, you have never moved and will never move

  From the original condition of the essence.

  Endeavor therefore in purifying the temporary stains.9

  Here we have the basic framework, the very reason to practice the path. The rest of The Light of Wisdom contains explanations of the various levels of practice, as well as buddhahood itself—the preliminar-ies; main
part; view, meditation, and conduct; empowerment and samaya; and so forth.

  Very often, people are unsure why they should practice: “What is the reason? Where does it lead? Where are we now?” Therefore, I feel it is essential to understand our basic potential, the buddha nature, what obscures us, how to remove obscurations, and the outcome. Using this simple framework we can understand the path as well as what enlightenment is.

  Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s special quality was to begin with the view rather than end with it; to train in devotion, compassion, and renunciation, perfecting the accumulations, and removing obscurations, all within the framework of the view. The practitioner was encouraged to see all these aspects of practice as the very expressions of the view itself. That was Tulku Urgyen’s unique style. The two major scriptures I have mentioned here do not categorically begin with the view. What these two scriptures present is the tried and proven path suitable to all types of practitioners. Begin with a sound understanding of buddha nature and appreciate your real support, the precious human body. Connect with the real circumstance for insight, a qualified spiritual teacher, and receive the methods, the oral instructions. This is how to progress step-by-step, all the way to the ultimate level of fruition.