Ahoj, nabízím knížky za odvoz, viz:
[OOHN @ Tibetsky BUDDHISMUS]
[OOHN @ Tibetsky BUDDHISMUS]

dík za doporučení :)

DANIELSOFT:
No já nevím. Není ten článek tak trochu opička?

Ahoj.
Srdečně zveme na přednášku " Jasná mysl uprostřed neklidného života "
Bude to o praktikování zenu v každodenním životě a o všem, na co se budete chtít
zeptat mnicha, který přednášku povede.
Pro zájemce bude součástí i krátký úvod do meditace zazen.

Více na : https://www.facebook.com/events/4283559591675162/?ref=newsfeed
nebo : https://www.zenkaisen.cz/kalendar-akci/

Dōgen recognized that things we usually separate in our minds are,
in action, one reality. To express this oneness of subject and object Dōgen says,
for example:
If a human being, even for a single moment, manifests the Buddha’s posture
in the three forms of conduct, while [that person] sits up straight in
samādhi, the entire world of Dharma assumes the Buddha’s posture and
the whole of space becomes the state of realization.


Když lidé věří v tu
správnou věc (a cvičí zazen), pak chytří a hloupí lidé bez rozdílu
dosáhnou stavu pravdy (Dharmakaya) - Dogen

"Všechny cítící bytosti mají Buddhovu přirozenost. Tathágata existuje věčně a beze změny," a proměnil ho takto: "Všechny bytosti jsou cítící, všechny věci mají Buddhovu přirozenost. Věčný Tathágata je ne-existující, a přesto existuje a mění se." Tak dal této pasáži úplně nový význam.

Víme jen málo o zbytku Dógenova pobytu v Číně. Víme, že Njodžó chtěl, aby Dógen přijal vysokou funkci v jeho klášteře, a že Dógen odmítl a začal se připravovat na návrat domů. Dohromady strávil Dógen v Číně pět let. Dógen se vrátil do Japonska "s prázdnýma rukama". Když se ho ptali, jaké učení z Číny přivezl, odpověděl: "Oči jsou vodorovně a nos je svisle." Jindy prý odpověděl: "Ráno za ránem slunce vychází na východě; noc za nocí měsíc vychází na západě. Mraky se rozplývají a hory se objevují; déšt ustává a Čtyři hory ustupují jako odliv.

http://zen-asociace.webzdarma.cz/Kuseny/1995/kuseny_v_dojo_01.rtf


Učil : “Sadnite si do zazenu a realizujte svoju pôvodnú tvár”. Potom dodával: “Poznať cestu dokonalého osvietenia znamená skúmať seba samého, vidieť seba samého rovnako, ako všetko ostatné. Uskutočniť to znamená opustiť telo i myseľ, svoje aj cudzie”. Hlboké Dógenove učenie vychovalo mnoho mníchov. Neskôr napísal Dógen tri slávne vety, v ktorých osvetľuje všetkým mníchom rozdiel medzi skutočnou praxou a iluzórnym hľadaním.
“Samotná prax je dokonalým osvietením, ktoré je bez konca a prax je bez začiatku. Satori nie je na konci, ale prax a satori tvoria jednotu. Skutočná cesta je bez cieľa a zisku, preto nie je čo hľadať a niet sa čoho zbaviť. Skutočná cesta je cesta bez strachu”.

- Mistr Dógen

There is No Findable Self

Bon teacher, Tenzin Wangyal offers a simple way that dissolves the “me”, the self that you always felt and thought was “you”. What remains is a selfless space of vast, pure, empty awareness (Buddha Mind); that has no personal identity. The “me” and the “story of me” suddenly vanish.

A wisdom arises at this exact moment that now knows that there never was a real personal self. There is nothing further as “path work” necessary. The one that seemed to need the path simply vanished, without ever completing the path.

The Buddha’s path of Anatta (no self) offers no benefit for “anyone”, yet all suffering ends. Without a self to suffer, who remains to suffer?

**

A bodhisattva understands that ultimately there are no beings to save, but chooses to reside and remain active in the world of beings.

**

Alfred Korzybski proposed a theory of sanity in his general semantics. He believed sanity was tied to the structural fit or lack of thereof, of what is going on in the world. He imposed this notion in a map-territory analogy: "A map is not the territory it represents, but, if correct, it has a "similar structure" to the territory, which accounts for its usefulness."[3] Given that science continually seeks to adjust its theories structurally to fit the facts, i.e., improves its maps to fit the territory, and thus advances more rapidly than any other field, he believed that the key to understanding sanity would be found in the study of the methods of science (and the study of structure as revealed by science). The adoption of a scientific outlook and attitude of continual adjustment by the individual toward their assumptions was the way, so he claimed. In other words, there were "factors of sanity to be found in the physico-mathematical methods of science." He also stressed that sanity requires the awareness that "whatever you say a thing is, it is not"[4] because anything expressed through language is not the reality it refers to: language is like a map, and the map is not the territory. The territory, or reality, remains unnamable, unspeakable, and mysterious. Hence, the widespread assumption that we can grasp reality through language involves a degree of insanity.

****

Promarnit vlastní život je snadné

Promarnit vlastní život je snadné
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWkn4x4x0SM

Emptiness Teachings Primer

It seems many, if not most, in my groups have very little experience or familiarity with the Buddhist Emptiness Teachings. Due to this, many of my posts and comments must seem bizarre and nihilistic; not so. These powerful teachings, especially “Prasangika”, are really complete paths in themselves. So perhaps everyone could engage with these texts below, and ask questions as needed.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso:

“Emptiness ultimately means that genuine reality is empty of any conceptual fabrication that could attempt to describe what it is.”

“Emptiness does not mean complete nothingness, it means dependent origination. Emptiness and dependent arising have the same meaning.”

Twofold Emptiness Explained

The first fold is "emptiness of self":

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding regarding the question of selfhood and whether a personal, individual self of any kind actually exists. Some think there is a personal self that underlies the fictional self, which is only a conceptual construction. This is the view of an "atman" or "self-soul" that the Buddha thoroughly refuted. The so called conventional self can't be found to exist within the body-mind nor outside the body-mind. That leaves no other option for its existence except within imagination.

In a dark room, a rope may be mistaken to be a snake, along with all the descriptions about snakes that the mind contains. We feel anxiety, fear and our adrenalin and blood pressures go up, as well as heart beat.

But if we look closely at the rope in brighter light, we won't be able to find a snake within the rope, or upon the rope, nor outside of the rope. That leaves only the imagination as its residence. It's the same regarding our snake-self. Our body-mind is like the rope. The mind infers a self as a personal "me" upon and within the body-mind in the darkness of confused mental functioning. We have real feelings felt about this imaginary "me" that create moods, altered bio-chemistry and sense of a "suffering me". But if we introspectively look within our mental events, we won't find a "me" anywhere; not in the body, not in the mind; we only find thoughts and feelings ABOUT a self, but no self is discovered. Then the lights go on and suddenly the subconscious mind ceases to generate the mistaken "me" belief. The personal self or "me" was no more real than the imaginary snake! There is no "liberation or enlightenment" beyond this direct insight and cessation of this cognitive error, and none without it. Read this below.

Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso:

"When we realize the selflessness of the individual, however, this whole process stops. The wrong views that have their root in the belief in self cease, then the mental afflictions cease, then karmic actions cease, and as a result of that, birth in samsara’s cycle of existence ceases."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyamtso

"We can formulate the following logical reasoning: Karmic actions and results are mere appearances devoid of true existence, because no self, no actor, exists to perform them. This is a valid way to put things because if the self of the individual does not exist, there cannot be any action, and therefore there cannot be any result of any action either."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyamtso

"Someone might ask, “Isn’t it nihilistic to think that karmic actions and their results do not exist?” In fact, this is not a nihilistic view because there exists no self to have any nihilistic view. There can be a nihilistic view only if there is someone to hold it, but since there is no one to have any view, then there can be no nihilism. Furthermore, since the thought of nihilism neither arises nor abides nor ceases, there can be no nihilism in genuine reality. Genuine reality transcends the conceptual fabrications of realism and nihilism. It transcends karmic actions and results, and the absence of karmic actions and results as well. If karmic actions and their results do not exist in the abiding nature of reality, then what is the quality of their appearance?

Nagarjuna describes this in the chapter’s thirty-third verse:

Mental afflictions, actions, and bodies, as well as actors and results, are like cities of imaginary beings, like mirages, and like dreams."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso

"Some people might argue, “There are yogis and yoginis who realize selflessness, and this proves that the self really does exist after all, or else who would be the ones who possessed this realization?”

Nagarjuna answers this claim in the third verse:

"The ones who do not cling to “me” or “mine” do not exist either. Those who do not cling to “me” or “mine” see accurately, So they do not see a self."
Khenpo Tsulstrim

The second "fold" is "emptiness of all objectively existing things":

In the Sutra Requested by Madröpa, the Buddha said:

Whatever arises from conditions does not arise. It does not have the nature of arising. Whatever depends on conditions is explained to be empty, And to know emptiness is the way to be conscientious.

IN THIS CHAPTER, Nagarjuna explains the meaning of this passage and proves its validity with logical reasoning. The reason Nagarjuna composed this chapter was that people believe that causal conditions are real. As a result of that, they believe that things really happen. They believe that arising is real. When they believe that, it is difficult for them to believe in emptiness and to gain confidence that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. However, in order to understand the true nature of reality, we must realize that nothing ever really happens. We must realize that arising and birth are not real. Therefore, Nagarjuna analyzes causes, conditions, and arising, and he proves that they are in fact empty of any inherent nature.

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso

“Whatever object we analyze, we find that it is merely imputed to exist in dependence upon its parts. Analyzing the parts themselves, we find that they too are imputed to exist in dependence upon their own parts. Down to the subtlest particles of matter imaginable, nothing has any type of existence other than as a mere dependent imputation. Therefore, since there really is no object out there, no reference point for any notions of pleasant or unpleasant, pleasant and unpleasant themselves cannot exist. This is what Nagarjuna teaches in the ninth verse:
How could it be possible for sentient beings who are like illusions or objects that are like reflections, be either pleasant or unpleasant?”

“Nirvana does not truly exist because when we analyze, we cannot find anything or anyone that can actually attain it.”

“IN THIS CHAPTER, Nagarjuna explains the meaning of this passage and proves its validity with logical reasoning. The reason Nagarjuna composed this chapter was that people believe that causal conditions are real. As a result of that, they believe that things really happen. They believe that arising is real. When they believe that, it is difficult for them to believe in emptiness and to gain confidence that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. However, in order to understand the true nature of reality, we must realize that nothing ever really happens. We must realize that arising and birth are not real. Therefore, Nagarjuna analyzes causes, conditions, and arising, and he proves that they are in fact empty of any inherent nature.”

“We can formulate the following logical reasoning: Karmic actions and results are mere appearances devoid of true existence, because no self, no actor, exists to perform them. This is a valid way to put things because if the self of the individual does not exist, there cannot be any action, and therefore there cannot be any result of any action either.”

Milarepa:
“There is no karmic act, no maturation, so even the name “samsara” does not exist.”

“Someone might ask, “Isn’t it nihilistic to think that karmic actions and their results do not exist?” In fact, this is not a nihilistic view because there exists no self to have any nihilistic view. There can be a nihilistic view only if there is someone to hold it, but since there is no one to have any view, then there can be no nihilism. Furthermore, since the thought of nihilism neither arises nor abides nor ceases, there can be no nihilism in genuine reality. Genuine reality transcends the conceptual fabrications of realism and nihilism. It transcends karmic actions and results, and the absence of karmic actions and results as well. If karmic actions and their results do not exist in the abiding nature of reality, then what is the quality of their appearance? Nagarjuna describes this in the chapter’s thirty-third verse: Mental afflictions, actions, and bodies, As well as actors and results, are like cities of gandharvas, like amirages, and like dreams. This verse teaches us that karmic actions and their results do not genuinely exist; they are mere conventions, mere superficial appearances, like cities of gandharvas, mirages, and dreams. Thus, even though actors and actions do not genuinely exist, in apparent reality they do exist as dependently arisen mere appearances. So you do not need to worry or be afraid of reality being nothingness. Reality is appearance and emptiness undifferentiable, and this appearance-emptiness is open, spacious, and relaxed.”

“The Heart of Wisdom Sutra teaches: There is no ignorance nor any ending of ignorance, no aging and death nor any ending of aging and death.”

“Milarepa sang: No meditator and no meditated, No paths and levels traveled and no signs, And no fruition bodies and no wisdoms, And therefore there is no nirvana there,
Just designations using names and statements.”

“This whole passage is a logical reasoning that progresses in stages. First, Milarepa sang that there is no meditator. There is no meditator because there is no self. If there is no meditator, there cannot be any object of meditation, and if there is no object of meditation, there cannot be any path or any signs of progress on the path. If there is no path, there cannot be any fruition at the end of the path in the form of the fruition bodies and wisdoms. If there are no fruition bodies or wisdoms, there is no such thing as nirvana.”

“Since samsara is just a dependently arisen appearance, it is naturally open, spacious, and relaxed. Therefore, we do not have to cleanse ourselves of samsara, only of our thoughts that samsara truly exists.”

“Furthermore, whatever arises in dependence upon causes and conditions does not truly arise. One way to understand this is to see that it is not the case that just one single cause or one single condition can bring something into existence, but rather, that many causes and conditions must come together for any one particular result to arise. Thus, if we look at any particular result and first see that it requires a number of causes and conditions to come together to produce it, we can then look at those causes and conditions and see that each one of them as well requires an incredible number of causes and conditions to cause it to arise. We can go back and back and get to even the most subtle causes and conditions, and we find that these too do not exist independently, but rather can only exist in dependence upon a multitude of their own causes and conditions. Then we realize that nothing exists independently with a nature of its own, that there is nothing truly there. Everything is like a dream and an illusion. The same can be said for all of the thoughts that arise in our minds, whether they are good thoughts, bad thoughts, or neutral ones. There is not a single thought that can arise on its own, that can decide to come to existence and then be born. Thoughts can arise only when many causes and conditions come together to produce them. Since these causes and conditions also exist only in dependence upon their own causes and conditions, and those causes and conditions themselves need their own causes and conditions in order to arise, and on and on, all of them are empty of inherent existence. The arising of thoughts is therefore empty of any inherent nature.”

“Along these lines, in his song No Birth, No Base, and Union, the lord of yogis Milarepa sang: The true nature of appearances is that they’ve never been born. If birth seems to happen, it’s just clinging, nothing more. The spinning wheel of existence has neither a base nor a root. If there is a base or root, that’s only a thought.”

“If there is no “me” in the first place, How could there be anything that belongs to me?”

From Nagarjuna:

“CHAPTER 17: AN EXAMINATION OF KARMIC ACTIONS AND RESULT:

Mental afflictions, actions, and bodies, as well as actors and results, are like imaginary cities of gandharvas, like mirages, and like dreams.”

“Similarly, sentient beings are not bound and do not become free.”

“CHAPTER 9: AN EXAMINATION OF WHAT COMES FIRST
The one who experiences perceptions does not exist before, during, or after the experiences of seeing and so forth. Knowing this, all thoughts of an experiencer of perceptions either existing or not existing are over-turned.”

“In Chandrakirti’s text Entering the Middle Way, he explains, “The present does not abide; the past and the future do not exist.”

“Analyzing in this way makes it clear that the three times do not truly exist, that time is just a creation of our thoughts.”

“CHAPTER 7: AN EXAMINATION OF THE COMPOSITE
Arising, abiding, and ceasing do not exist, and therefore there are no composite things.”

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso:

“The Heart of Wisdom Sutra teaches:
All phenomena are emptiness: They have no characteristics, no birth, no cessation, no stains, no freedom from stains, no decrease, and no increase.”

“Nagarjuna wrote this chapter to explain how it is that views themselves do not exist.”

From Sri Lankan Master Niyananda:

"If, for instance, a whirlpool in the ocean comes to cease, can one ask where the whirlpool has gone? It will be like asking where an extinguished fire has gone. One might say that the vortex has 'joined' the ocean. But that, too, would not be a proper statement to make. From the very outset what in fact was there was the great ocean, so one cannot say that the vortex has gone somewhere, nor can one say that it is not gone. It is also incorrect to say that it has joined the ocean.

A cessation of a whirlpool gives rise to such a problematic situation. What, in short, does it amount to? The vortex ceased and now 'became' the great ocean itself? That is the misunderstood significance of the comparison of the emancipated one to the great ocean.

The commentators do not seem to have paid sufficient attention to the implications of this simile. But when one thinks of the relation between the whirlpool and the ocean, it is as if the realized practitioner has become one with the ocean. But this is only a mis-turn of speech.

In reality, the whirlpool is merely a certain momentary state of the ocean itself. That momentary state (a personal self) is now no more. It has ceased. It is because of that momentary altered state and its whirling self-grasping that there was a manifestation of suffering (and the personal self).

The cessation of suffering could therefore be compared to the cessation of the whirlpool, leaving only the great ocean as it is.

Only so long as there is a whirling vortex (conceptualizing mind) can we point out a 'here' and a 'there'. In the vast ocean, boundless as it is, where there is a whirlpool, or an eddy, we can point it out with a 'here' or a 'there'.

Even so, in the case of the saṃsāric individual, as long as the whirling round is going on in the form of the mental vortex, there is a possibility of designation or naming as 'so-and-so' (identity). But once the mental vortex has ceased, there is actually nothing to identify with, for purposes of (personal) designation. The most one can say about it, is to refer to it as the place where a vortex has ceased.

Such is the case with a Buddha too. Freedom from duality is the cessation of the vortex itself (the conceptualizing mind and it's imaginary self).

We have explained on a previous occasion how a whirlpool or vortex comes to be. A current of water, trying to go against the mainstream, when its attempt is foiled, in clashing with the mainstream, gets thrown off and pushed back, but turns round to go whirling and whirling as a whirlpool. This is not the norm. This is something abnormal. Here is a distortion resulting from an (the egoic mind) attempt to do the impossible (to survive as a self). This is how a thing called 'a vortex' (samsaric mind and self) comes to be."

"Yā c' eva kho pana ajjhattikā paṭhavidhātu, yā ca bāhirā paṭhavidhātu, paṭhavidhātur ev' esā. Taṃ n' etaṃ mama, n' eso 'haṃ asmi, na meso attā 'ti evam etaṃ yathābhūtaṃ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ."(from the Buddha)

"Now whatever earth element that is internal, and whatever earth element that is external, both are simply earth element. That should be seen as it is with right wisdom thus: 'this is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.'"

The implication is that this so-called individual, or person, is in fact a vortex, formed out of the same kind of primary elements that obtain outside of it. So then, the whole idea of an individual or a person is a mere momentary self-illusion. The notion of individuality existing in beings is comparable to the apparent individuality of a whirlpool in a stream. It is only a pretence. That is why it is called asmimāna, the conceit 'I am'. In truth and fact, it is only a conceit.”

Prasangika from Gen Lamrimpa:

"The entire universe and everything in it is conceptually designated."

"We say that phenomena are established by the power of conceptual designation."

"Since phenomena do not exist inherently, they must exist conventionally. And since phenomena are established by the power of convention, they exist in a dependent fashion. Phenomena are dependent upon something else; in particular, they are dependent upon conceptual designation."

"There are a number of Buddhist scriptures that make this point. For example, there are sutras that say phenomena are established by conception. Also, Nagarjuna’s writings say that phenomena are established by thought, and Aryadeva makes the same point. All these Buddhist writings say that phenomena are established by convention, and what they mean here is that they are conceptually designated."

"This is an assertion unique to the Prasangika Madhyamaka view. All four Buddhist philosophical systems affirm that phenomena are dependent upon the collection of their preceding causes and conditions. But apart from the Prasangika system, the other Buddhist philosophical systems do not assert that phenomena are established by conception. Advocates of those other systems are not able to comprehend this point."

"Nagarjuna comments that total emptiness, or universal emptiness, remains upon the complete cessation of all appearances of conventional reality. In the absence of all conventional appearances, that emptiness can be called “the clear light of the fourth occasion.” The Buddhist scholar Sangye Yeshe states that this mind of clear light pervades all of space. This indicates the essential nature, or the mode of being, of the awareness (rigpa)."

"We can ask this question in relation to the “I.” How does the “I” exist? First of all, the “I” does not exist except as a conceptual or verbal designation. Apart from that, the “I” has no other mode of existence."
(Translated from Tibetan by B. Allan Wallace)

“For example, someone may think, “Well, the Buddha died, so the Buddha is not here now. The Buddha does not exist now because the Buddha is impermanent.” If someone thinks like that, then the explanation to give is that the dharmakaya of natural purity is permanent and unchanging. The dharmakaya of natural purity is nothing other than the Buddha, and therefore the Buddha is permanent. The Buddha is precisely the natural purity of reality’s basic essence, which never ceases to exist.”

“If you study these reasonings presented in The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way, when you receive Mahamudra and Dzogchen explanations of emptiness and lack of inherent reality, you will already be familiar with what is being taught and so you will not need to learn anything new.”

co říkáte na toto?

Buddhism made EXTREMELY simple – David Leon
https://davidleon.blog/2020/09/29/buddhism-made-extremely-simple/

The Doors of Liberation

No self, no form, no goal: Thich Nhat Hanh on the truth we’re distracting ourselves from.

The Doors of Liberation - Lion's Roar
https://www.lionsroar.com/the-doors-of-liberation-may-2014/

If you are running after nirvana, you should know that nirvana is already there in yourself and in everything. If you are running after the Buddha, be aware that the Buddha is already in you. If you are seeking happiness, be aware that happiness is available in the here and now.

The Practice of Dzogchen

http://93.174.95.29/main/5DE2EC9F39401BAD5BA3191B5C2C3471


Mahamudra

How to Do Mahamudra Meditation - Lion's Roar
https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-meditate-dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche-on-mahamudra/

The Mind of Clear Light

The reason we practice or engage with Dzogchen teachings is so that the "Mind of Clear Light" becomes fully revealed in direct experience. When that occurs all lower levels of consciousness and karmic mind are absent.

The karmic mind/self suddenly transforms into the Mind of Clear Light. A primordial wisdom arises in that moment called rigpa or gnosis. This is the revelation of Ultimate Truth.

The true nature of the karmic mind is itself the Mind of Clear Light. By attention being focused upon the formative characteristics of mentation and consciousness, the karmic mind is maintained along with its endless conceptual constructions and stories.

When instead attention reverts back to the empty aware space from which its arising, the karmic mind reveals its own empty and transparent nature, which is itself the Mind of Clear Light.

Longchenpa shares how to apply these teachings as well:

"The method is directing attention upon attention or awareness. When any arising is experienced, especially thoughts, moods, emotions, or feelings of personal self-identity, one simply notices one’s present naked awareness."

"By directing the attention back to awareness, the arising dissolves back into its origin and its essential nature, awareness."

"In doing this, the arising releases its formative energy in its dissolution as a surge of further clarity of Clear Light, the power (tsal) and potency of awareness (rigpa) that energized the arising in the first place. Hence one’s Awareness presence is enhanced in the collapse of the formative arising. Hence the Dzogchen comment that “the stronger the afflictive emotion upon dissolution, the stronger the enhancement to the clarity of presence."
(Longchenpa quotes from: 'A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission', Padma Publication)

One of the important insights that will become clear is that all of reality; all perceptions, mental events, feeing/sensations, karmic mind and egoic self are all equally the primordial Mind of Clear Light appearing AS those experiences. Appearances whether as thoughts or perceptions are not appearing "to" the Mind of Clear Light but are themselves the Mind of Clear Light appearing "as" those phenomena.

Work with this in sessions while sitting with your eyes closed. Once some experiences of this become familiar, then add this method below which mechanically does the same thing but enhances the clarity
and insights tremendously:

Opening the Eye of Wisdom

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love. (From The Sermons of Meister Eckhart)"

I learned this practice from Qassim, my Sufi teacher in Kashmir. When done properly, a powerful state of intuitive awareness arises and perhaps complete enlightenment. Sit quietly on a chair or a cushion on the floor for a few minutes with the eyes closed. Let all thoughts and desires come to stillness. Notice that all thoughts are empty, meaning they have no substance or permanent basis, like empty clouds. Notice that all your stories about everything are also empty. Next notice how your sense of personal self is also just another story based on memories and is, therefore, also empty, like a dream. Notice that the space of your inner awareness is also empty and is the context in which thoughts and stories arise, along with your sense of self. Recognize that you are this changeless empty awareness.

Imagine there is a large single eyeball embedded in the center of your forehead looking outward. It is above the location of the third-eye chakra. It’s quite large and tapers backward on both sides contacting the ears. Once comfortable with that visualization, get the feeling that you don’t have to “imagine” the eye, but rather it has always been there unnoticed.

Just rest as though you are looking into the room through that eye, with your two eyes closed. Remain in this contemplation for at least fifteen minutes at a time and repeat as often as possible. When you notice thoughts, remind yourself that thoughts are empty, stories are empty, and your sense of personal self is empty. Again notice that the space of your inner awareness is also empty and is the context in which all thoughts, stories and sense of self arise.

Recognize that you are this changeless empty awareness.

It is also excellent practice to do this exercise lying on your back when going to sleep. Fall asleep while doing this practice yet maintaining a sense of vivid clarity in the area of your forehead. The results may appear gradually or suddenly. An extremely clear state of transparency that is full of wisdom and insight arises in the area of your forehead. When fully opened, you realize the nature of reality and your true nature. That’s why this eye is called the wisdom eye. Clairvoyance and other extrasensory perceptions may also arise. The wisdom eye is recognized in Kabbalah, Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism, Kundalini Yoga, and Shamanism.

Excerpt from my book: "The Natural Bliss of Being"

Osvícení je skutečně velká věc, je to trvalý stav, který nikdy nepomíjí.

The Great Perfection: All is Always Perfect!

Rongzom Pandita (lived 1012 to 1088 a.d.) wrote a very important Dzogchen text called “Entering the Great Way” in which he defends the Dzogchen teachings against various critical competing views. He wrote the text around 300 years before Longchenpa was born. His views do vary from more modern versions of Dzogchen, so his writings offer a window into earliest or original Dzogchen.

Here are some selected quotes from this text:

“All Confused Appearance Is Seen as the Play of Samantabhadra”:

“Concerning the phrase “the play of Samantabhadra”: everything is “all-good” (samantabhadra, kun bzang), because there is nothing at all negative or to be rejected in connection with everything known to beings wandering within saṃsāra, which are confused appearances (’ khrul snang). Since there is not any goal to strive toward and no core point to resolve, since illusion is a state like a game, it is play (līlā, rol pa).”

“Totally unimpeded appearance never strays from Reality (Dharmakaya) and is in fact indivisible from Reality
itself—and thus is an ornament. Given that there is no phenomenon that is not totally perfect (sangs rgyas), everything, because of being the very proof of the Buddha Mind’s deeds, pertains to the nature of greatness.”

“Thereby, one may be described as “abiding in the view of the Great Perfection,” which is the act of simply being divorced from all clinging to views.”

“In attaining meditative absorption (samadhi), clairvoyance is attained. Through mastery of the breath, a luminous maṇḍala emerges.”

“Utter luminosity is such that it is unbearable to gaze upon.”

“All phenomena are resolved to be nondual”

“All phenomena are included within the mind. Therefore, there is nothing knowable outside of the mind.”

“...resolve how the ground of the indivisible Samantabhadra is disclosed spontaneously without effort in the present state because of the greatness that constitutes the fact that everything, everywhere, is at all times already perfect.”

“Given that there is no phenomenon that is not totally perfect..”

Kunje Gyalpo tantra:

“The meaning of 'Perfect' is the following: this Source, self- originated wisdom, pervades all and is totally Perfect in everything, such as beings, their karmic visions, everything encompassed by the universe and its beings, all buddhas of the three times, sentient beings of the six classes in the three realms, and just-that-ness. Thus, the Source is 'Perfect'. “

“The root of all phenomena is All-Creating Pure Perfect Presence. Whatever appears is my nature. The way in which appearances manifest is my magical display. All sounds and words that arise in any way manifest my state as words and sounds. Everything encompassed by the animate and inanimate universe, such as the qualities of the kayas and wisdoms of buddhas and the bodies and karmic tendencies of sentient beings, is primordially the nature of Pure Perfect Presence.”

“When followers of these vehicles, who struggle for three eons, seven lifetimes, six months, one year, or sixteen months, are taught this nature beyond action, they will come to abide in the bliss of self-perfection beyond struggle.”

“In this dimension there does not exist anything that is not perfect. Because there is one perfect, two perfect, and all perfect, activities are bliss as the Perfections. 'One perfect' means that all is perfect in Pure Perfect Presence. 'Two perfect' means that all (conventional) creations of Presence are perfect. 'All perfect' means that all Perfections are perfect. Through this perfect teaching about the one, beings can abide in this knowledge of a Buddha. Through this meaning of total perfection, everything functions as the Perfections. "Whoever abides in this effortless state, even with the body of a god or human, is a buddha in the real condition of knowledge.”

"Everything is naturally perfect just as it is." Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche

"It is perfection of all in that whatever appears is completely perfect."
Longchenpa

The Künjé Gyalpo Tantra says:

"This has nothing about it at all that is not perfect."

The earliest known Dzogchen text:

The Six Vajra Verses

"Although apparent phenomena manifest as diversity yet this diversity is non-dual, and of all the multiplicity of individual things that exist none can be confined in a limited concept.

Staying free from the trap of any attempt to say it's 'like this', or `like that', it becomes clear that all manifested forms are aspects of the infinite formless, and, indivisible from it, are self-perfected.

Seeing that everything is self-perfected from the very beginning, the disease of striving for any achievement comes to an end of its own accord, and just remaining in the natural state as it is, the presence of non-dual contemplation continuously, spontaneously arises."
(Translation by Namkhai Norbu)

The great early Dzogchen master yogi and scholar, Rongzom (1012-1088) wrote; regarding that even if one doesn’t yet see this view of the Great Perfection, the perfection of ALL current phenomena, in direct experience:

“Thus it is not in any way a mistake if one, rather than that, is inclined to approach simply by faith, regarding the scriptures and oral instructions as valid. One will then gain access through trust.”

(Excerpt From
“Establishing Appearances as Divine” by Rongzom, translated
By Heidi I. Koppl)

The very early Dzogchen master Rongzom, says even if one hasn’t seen the perfect nature of all and everything directly, just having faith in this universal perfection, is itself of great benefit.

My point is asking “how would just having and holding the concept that all phenomena, mental states, actions and events are always absolutely “perfect”, influence our state of mind, stress and enjoyment of life?”.

One can find many benefits regarding having a positive attitude for body and mind in the medical literature. But what would an unbreakable conviction regarding the total perfection of all phenomena and experiences do? I would suggest such a view, even if only conceptually held, could be completely transformational in nature.

But through the approach of Dzogchen methodologies when applied, actual experiences of this “total perfection” arise as the non-conceptual, conscious insights of rigpa’s unique wisdoms.

Without this insight into the “total perfection” of all and everything, indestructible joy, the ending of fear, unconditional love and infinite compassion would not be possible.

"The bottom line of being introduced to mind essence is to recognize that it is empty, cognizant, self-existing, suffused with knowing. That is the true training in recognizing the nature of mind.

The key point, after being introduced and recognizing, is to not do anything to the natural state. We do not have to try to improve upon this empty cognizance, or try to correct it in any particular way that requires effort on our part. In fact, we do not need to do anything to make our mind empty and cognizant. It does not require any job whatsoever. This nondoing itself is the training, and it is the opposite of our usual habit. Simply train in not correcting this empty cognizance, which is our natural state."
Tulku Urgyen

Read carefully:
“However, as the 8th Karmapa extensively discussed, buddha nature is not just some small core or space that is literally and only located “within” every sentient being. In fact, it is the other way round—our whole existence as sentient beings is in itself the sum of adventitious stains that just float like clouds within the infinite, bright sky of buddha nature, the luminous, open expanse of our mind that has no limits or boundaries. Once these clouds dissolve due to the warm rays of the sun of wisdom shining within this sky, nothing within sentient beings has been freed or improved, but there is just this radiant expanse without any reference points of cloudlike sentient beings or cloud-free Buddhas.“
Karl Brunnholzl

Thogal theory and Practice

I am writing this as a "quick start" instructional guide that will allow anyone to begin practicing thogal effectively and safely.

Thogal means "over the skull", "over the crest". It actually means to arrive instantly without jumping to get there, like a quantum leap. Thogal practice makes it very easy to experience, know and differentiate rigpa from all other mind states, in its purest form.

Rigpa is our primordial Buddha Mind that is intrinsically perfect, permanently. Because it's permanent, it's always present. But it is not our experience, rather our experience is other coarser states of mind as content, which are appearing within the space of changeless rigpa awareness.

By practicing thogal, rigpa itself becomes its own self-experience. What is experienced is its own penetrating transparency, insightful clarity, wisdoms, and absence of a "me" egoic identity, as well as the absence of the sense of an "external" universe. Eventually the physical body will dissolve into pure Light as the practice comes to perfect fruition.

Thogal focuses on the visual apparatus. That means we use our eyes as our path.

Traditionally we use the sun by looking towards the sun in early morning and late afternoon. One does not look directly at the sun but slightly underneath it or off to the side, and with sun glasses on. I find using one eye at a time works best. One squints so that the ball of the sun is no longer visible but only a diffraction pattern of colored rays and a background tapestry of circles as though similar to looking at a peacock's feather. Within that diffraction pattern you can see little round spheres that may have little circular rings within them as well. At first they may just look like this but completely round: @

They get larger over time with consistent practice. They are called "thigles" in Tibetan. (Pronounced: teeglay)

One then begins to focus on one little sphere by not moving the eyes. You just gaze at it. So do just this much for several sessions. I recommend a safer and easy way to do thogal:

Use your iPhone or similar phone with only the black screen. Hold it down toward your waist, angle it so you can look down and see the reflection of the sun. Squint your eyes until the ball disappears into the light refraction and continue as described above. This allows practicing throughout the day, even at noon. But be sure to wear sun glasses. Between the UV absorption in the phone's black glass and your sun glasses, no harmful UV rays should be entering your eyes. It's only the UV rays that damage the eyes. I recommend 20 minute sessions. 10 minutes with each eye. Start with one session per day and add a session later in the day if desired. But practice everyday. The effects will last and are cumulative.

If sun is not available you can flip the phone around and use the flashlight feature as though looking at the sun, but no sunglasses are necessary. You can also use an ordinary light bulb.

There are specific recommended postures for during thogal practice but I have not found them necessary and Namkhai Norbu stated that once the practice is working the postures are no longer necessary. I have taught dozens of people this approach in my retreats and it works for everyone without exception.

Once you are a little familiar wth the inner landscape and can focus on these thigle spheres easily, then while looking at the spheres ask your self "who or what is doing the looking?". "Where exactly is the observer?" Is there a "someone" looking or is there just empty perception?".

Also from time to time notice the empty space between the thigle and the place from where you are observing. Notice that completely clear and transparent space. Sense that space behind you and all around you and through you.

Also notice your state of inner empty clarity, transparent and vividly awake; from time to time.

Pay less attention to the condition of the thigles than to your empty awareness that is looking.

After you finish, look closely at various textures and surfaces close up and notice the sharpness of detail. Sometimes you can actually feel the textures by sight alone. Vision will become amazingly clear along with a sense of transparency and absence of selfness. It's this transparency (zangthal) and absence of selfing that transforms the mind completely into its own vivid emptiness. There is nothing to think about or workout. The practice does it all automatically.

There are many more aspects to all of this. To learn more and for additional support please join our thogal group here at FB, Dzogchen Thogal.

I am posting this on the general Dzogchen group to encourage those interested to practice. There is currently lots of misinformation out there regarding thogal and I would like to keep this technology available in an easy and workable format that can bring infinite benefit to any competent practitioner that wants to learn.

There are several lineage authorized books on the open public market now that explain thogal in complete detail. Now the traditional lineage Lamas have allowed these thogal teachings to be propagated broadly for everyone's benefit also out of a fear that these precious teachings may disappear eventually.

I received the thogal transmission and practice instructions privately in 1985 through the Yeshe Lama text as presented to me by a Nyingma Lama who was taught by Dudjum Rinpoche. I later received the detailed Bon transmission of Shardze Rinpoche's text "Heart Drops of the Dharmakaya" trekchod and thogal instructions personally from the Bon Menri Lopon. Shardza Rinpoche attained the "rainbow body of light" in the 1930's. Neither of my teachers asked me to keep these teachings secret, nor have I pledged any samaya regarding not sharing any of the Dzogchen teachings with others.

Please share your successes and insights in our thogal group as well as your practice issues.

I recommend reading my book and gaining familiarity with all the practices in the appendix before commencing thogal practice: "The Natural Bliss of Being", as well as attending one of my thogal retreats.

May all beings benefit! Emaho!

DRZEEF:

Three Styles of Approach
Because of most people’s difficulty in having practical and enduring results with working with only the “direct path” of sudden recognition, as taught in Dzogchen and some Zen schools, I have recommended in my book three alternative methodologies: the direct path, the path of meditation entailing shamatha and vipassana or zazen and the path used exclusively by Milarepa; kundalini yoga or tumo.
If the inner subtle body chakras have not become relaxed, illuminated and fully blossomed, through the transformation of the karmic mind’s prana into the wisdom energy of kundalini, the real insights of vipassana will remain more as very subtle intellectual conceptions.
In this case the main centers necessary to be released from their dense and energetically contracted states are the root chakra at the bottom of the spine, the navel chakra, the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the third eye and the crown chakra fully opened at the fontanelle.
It’s the contracted state of the subtle body energies that give the illusion of being a localized entity existing apart from everything else. The main contraction is in the heart, felt as “I” or “me”. When that contraction suddenly releases, the sensation of self vanishes
completely.
One should practice in formal sessions of zazen slowly extending the periods of resting in the vivid and awake clarity of no thought, up to sitting for three hours in a single session. This will bring about a true condition of thought-free shamatha or shiné fairly quickly within days or weeks.
Success in shamatha is measured by a deep and profound sense of calm and thought free clarity, which will be followed by the spontaneous wisdom insights of vipassana.
In between sessions of kundalini practice and zazen, always rest in trekchod.
All three approaches will instigate an arousal of profound insights into the nature of reality and the absence of self; all reducing experiences of suffering significantly.
Use my book as your handbook with full instructions regarding all three of these approaches, in chapter 5 and in the appendix.
Let’s see how you all do with this expanded approach, utilizing all three methodologies simultaneously.
This combined approach is much as taught in the Yeshe Lama text.