Why It's Not Working and How It Can
Many here in our groups and at retreats have shared with me that even after 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years of diligent Dharma practice; they are still not stable in rigpa, have not had any "final breakthrough" and still suffer much as they always had. I then set out to try to figure out why people weren't able to find success in their practice.
I did discover the major flaw in the whole "enlightenment project" paradigm. Let me explain:
A student goes to a teacher with the basic problem of human suffering. They are looking for relief through applying the Dharma. The teacher gives them things to read, practices to do and a series of advices. They then check in with the teacher or a teacher from time to time for advice. Some have sufficient competency and just practice on their own. That's the typical model.
We have two issues always at work: the subject who seeks relief and the objective issues they seek relief from. In their interactions with a teacher the topic is always dealing with the "issues" side:
"Are my turbulent thoughts and negative emotional states becoming less intense? Are my occasional moments of clear awareness (rigpa) lasting longer and becoming stable? Are my problems within my life experience not being such a burden? Are my doubts regarding my inner states of recognition resolved?"
These are just some typical issues that one would being seeking to resolve in their exchanges with a teacher or as a lone practitioner. The teacher too is interested in resolving and improving on the practitioner's concerns.
The idea is that if we could manage resolution on all the above issues, the practitioner would end up being a living example of the workability of the Dharma and the proof that successful application of all teacher's advices and instructions assures success. The problem is, there is no or very little success occurring.
Since 1966 when I was 16 and began practicing Soto Zen under the instruction of Matsuoka Roshi, I have never met a single practitioner in any Buddhist (or any non-Buddhist) tradition who has had complete success according to their own assessments and standards.
So what was and is wrong with this picture? I believe with great conviction, that the problem lies with how the Dharma is being taught and applied. The model in the West is based on the notion of "what can the Buddha Dharma do for me?", with total focus on "me" and "my" benefit.
Our barometer for measuring our success is based on if "I" am feeling better, "I" am having more stable rigpa, "my" emotional states are less turbulent, "I" am experiencing more stable joy, "my" life is going better, "I" am suffering less. It's all about "me"!
As a result only one side of the process is getting attention and is being addressed; "my" issues and their resolution. That then becomes our basis for judging success in our overall "enlightenment project".
But no one ever asks or focuses on "to whom do these problems and issues belong?" This is the subject side of the subject/object dichotomy. It's the fundamental "workhorse" of our new approach:
"To whom do these problems and issues belong?"
We may answer "to me!". But then look if that "me" can be found as other than thoughts and feelings "about" a me without ever finding the "me" the thoughts are describing.
When in a difficult mind-state, look into this question to uncover the true underpinning to the whole issue. The "me" that owns the problems, issues or emotional states can't be found.
We can discover that all of our problems and issues (the object side) are mere daydreams or empty conceptual constructions. That can be accomplished with great success through vipassana meditation and diligent application of the emptiness teachings. However the one who "owns" the problems (the subject side) is usually left unscathed and perhaps only more emboldened that it is now free of its burdens. It may even have increased in self-pride due to its successes and "brilliant insights" in how well it has managed to overcome it's problems and can now better control it's world.
Unfortunately by all this focus on resolving the challenges and burdens on the "object side" the subjective "self" may have become only further reified and solidified by all the attention directed toward self-improvement and its "enlightenment project".
What's always missed is that without the conceptual construction of the fictional self, there is no one to own the issues and problems on the "object side". Take away the imaginary subject as the fictional "I" and it's "story of me" and instantly all the problems and issues disappear. This is how the Dharma needs to be applied.
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."
The cornerstone of the Buddha's teachings were centered on "anatta" or no-self. Today this teaching has been reduced to a "non-self" interpretation that implies that a self does exist but that it should be focused on its not being independent and inherently existing, it should see "it-self" as being an interdependent part of the whole. The subject "I" remains standing but in a new and more integrated garb. The mentally contrived self is believed to validly exist on its "own side" but that it should free itself of all egoic selfishness. This is THE
primary error. There is no valid personal self findable.
So perhaps the teachings should start on the "no self" teaching of anatta instead of on trying to reduce samsara. As most or many have discovered, it can take a lifetime to remove or dissolve all the karmic leaves on the samsaric tree through practices, study and effort.
One may even remove some major supporting branches. But nothing can compare to extracting and destroying the roots that support, nourish and assure the tree is held firmly in place by the mind's fictional belief and mental construction of an illusory self. Cut the roots and the tree falls all at once.
No 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.
"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

Our primordial condition is fully present in this moment, we have never left that primordial state of the Dharmakaya.
"Until we realize that intrinsic awareness is already present, we must understand that striving to generate that awareness is a wrong path." Rigtsal, Tulku Pema
Just thoughts arise that tell a story to the contrary. Those thoughts are arising in the space of the Dharmakaya, your true and unchanging nature. Thoughts about inherent "self identity", about "reified things and others", and thoughts about good and bad, thoughts about "not knowing rigpa" etc. etc. arise and release naturally in each moment. Realizations and "recognitions" are also just more empty arisings that offer no benefit or harm. You are that in which all arisings are occurring as your own display, and relax as the causes of suffering just arise and release in each moment. That's the meaning of this unique path of Dzogchen as the path of "self-liberation".
"The Three Incisive Precepts, Patrul Rinpoche says,
" Spontaneous arising and release are incessant; Whatever occurs nourishes naked empty presence; Whatever moves is the creativity of sovereign pure being. It is traceless natural purity—amazing! When thought arises, if we recognize its arising without following it, that itself is the crux of liberation, and the thought will not touch the meditation but rather intensify it. As it is said, “The more thoughts, the more dharmakaya.”
"In short, resting completely in whatever arises, there is no need of any antidotal practice. Totally relaxed, gaze into whatever arises, and clear and pure presence (rigpa) will occur naturally. There is no need to ask for confirmation from outside because confirmation will arise confidently from within."
"Once we are accustomed to such an automatic process of release, whatever thoughts of happiness or sorrow arise simply dissolve by themselves, and, unaffected by them, we experience confidence arising automatically."
Rigtsal, Tulku Pema (2013-02-19). The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen (p. 220). Snow Lion. Kindle Edition.
"On the other hand, intrinsic awareness (rigpa) is the essence of the dharmakaya, forever untouched by the habitual tendencies emanating from nominal delusion. It does not depend as much as a hair’s breadth upon the meritorious two accumulations and traversing the path of liberation. In the knowledge of basic natural perfection, pure presence is reflexively released and thus is a result not generated from a cause.
"That spontaneously arisen pure presence, timelessly free of any blemish, abides in its own space as the buddha-potential of the dharmakaya. We must understand that it always stays in the space of the unconditioned essence."
Rigtsal, Tulku Pema (2013-02-19). The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen (p. 219). Snow Lion. Kindle Edition.
"Until we realize that intrinsic awareness is already present, we must understand that striving to generate that awareness is a wrong path. If we wonder how effortless self-arising awareness is practiced, look at this: during formal and informal contemplation, no matter what outer object of the five senses arises and no matter what afflictive inner thought arises, at the moment of its arising sustain that space without modification, and it will release itself as it arises, just like a drawing on water. What is self-arising and self-releasing will not abide for a second moment, but will just disappear like a line drawn in water or a snake’s coil unwinding. There is no need of any antidote to the dualistic perception because it releases into the dharmakaya, just as it is."
"Real mind, the nature of mind, mind in its natural aspect, is primordially free of the discursive elaboration of subject and object, of grasper and the grasped. It does not consist of substance or material things. On the contrary, the essence of the nature of mind is uncompounded and immutable. The primal awareness that is the true nature of mind is profound clarity abiding in the Vase Body of Eternal Youth, the dimension of eternal life in pure being and primal awareness."
Rigtsal, Tulku Pema (2013-02-19). The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen (p. 219). Snow Lion. Kindle Edition.

And in The Heart-Essence of Vimalamitra, Longchenpa says,
Buddha will never be attained on the paths of the nine graduated approaches by engaging in their view, meditation, and conduct. Why not? Because in the views of the nine approaches, there is only intellectual conjecture that is sometimes convincing and sometimes not, but which can never induce the naked essence.
In this context, Pema Rigtsal explains, This pure presence is primordially free of conceptual elaboration and is the contemplation of the minds of all the buddhas. Putting any effort into purifying it or adulterating it by concepts tends to conceal its nature and is counterproductive. We need to abandon all effort, along with deductive reasoning and speculative concepts.
Shamata meditation technique is not exempt from this blanket rejection of all contrived meditation methods:
During formal contemplation, gross happiness and sadness will not arise, but when we get up from shamata, the joy or the pain will come as before. Just as we contain a heap of dust by sitting down slowly on it, but upon our getting up, the dust arises in clouds, in the concentrated absorption of child’s play, gross thoughts are stopped for a while, and we seem to experience happiness, but when we arise from the concentration, we find that more gross thoughts intrude than before.
Shamata, concentrated absorption, does not induce recognition of the nature of mind, but it can provide a relative calm in which to appreciate the profound refinements of cultural Vajrayana. Indeed no cause or condition can make manifest the realization of pure awareness as the ground from which all causal phenomena arise.
Keith Dowman commenting upon Tulku Pema Rigtsal's text

Jax bio


Bio
From time to time l am asked if I have any actual training in the traditional Dzogchen lineages. I then each time put together a short "bio" regarding my Dzogchen background. For those curious to know:
I have all lineage teachings, lung and practice instructions for Dzogchen Semde, Longde and Mangagde including Yangti from Namkhai Norbu in 1985-1988. I was his private chef for a time and spent much personal time alone with him. He gave me permission to teach Dzogchen Semde. I also received the Dzogchen trekchod and thogal instructions of Shardza Rinpoche directly from the Bon Menri Lopon. I also received the thogal transmission for the Yeshe Lama through Dudjum Rinpoche's lineage. I also received the essential Mahamudra teachings in a practice retreat from the lineage of the Dalai Lama. In 1978 while in Nepal Sabchyu Rinpoche performed the initial empowerment for generation stage practice for the Karma Kagyu personally for me. I received many more transmissions both from Kagyu and Nyingma for gTumo yoga. I received and practiced the tantric sadhanas of Vajrayogini and the Siamukha tradition of Ayo Khandro as well as a Chod practice tradition of Machig Labdron. I received personal instruction from Trungpa Rinpoche in 1979 and others including Kalu Rinpoche and Lama Wangdor in the 80's. I attended a retreat with Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche regarding Tibetan medicine in relation to Dzogchen.
I have been leading retreats all over Europe, North and Central America for almost ten years with hundreds of past attendees.

Who are You?
At the level of your deepest Buddha Nature, you are projecting each moment of conscious experience as perceptions and their meaning. You are PROJECTING this moment of consciousness, NOT perceiving it.
Each moment of consciousness includes a projected "perceiver" of what you are projecting. First you, as a Buddha, project your mandala display (your world) followed by projecting a "perceiver" of it, a micro-second later.
This is like at night where you as the dream character, look at the dream landscape and sense it preceded you and was already there. But in fact the subconscious projects the dream landscape and "you" looking at it in the same moment, but with the sense that the landscape preceded "you".
It's the same in our daytime life; to the projected "perceiver" as "me", it always seems that what it sees was "already" there. The magic is in the slight time lag
as to how the "perceiver" always arrives late to his own party! It looks like the party was already happening by the time he walks in the door.
So in summary; your deepest creative Buddha Nature projects a sensory and inner world of experience that is then perceived by a secondary consciousness that is projected as a "perceiver" a micro-second later. It's that secondary consciousness that is who you believe you are are; and it feels like "me". But it's actually a dependently originated "me" generated by conditioning, mental self-images, memories and imagination.
The movie projector is projecting the 3D movie up on the screen along with the character who seems to be immersed in the images while experiencing and interacting with all that appears. That's the self as the "me" that "you" seem to be. It ceases to exist the moment the projector stops projecting.
It's that imagined "who" projection that I am referring to when I am pointing out that your "me" doesn't exist other than as a mental construction or projection. That's why I annoyingly always ask "who?" is practicing or trying to stabilize a state etc.
Because here, the projector stopped projecting long enough that it became obvious that there was no real "me" in here, that I relentlessly try to share the same. It's only that imaginary "me" who suffers in its projected role. It's structural constituents are only fictional thoughts.
That means "you" have no karma, no defects, no actual location, no life, no death and no existence, except as projected in the imaginary story of "you".

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emptiness is not an experience. Emptiness is where "you" disappear. As a baby you had no self-image or sense of personal identity. It arises around 15-24 months. It's just a bunch of thoughts about identity that then becomes a chronic thought. The "me" identity can just suddenly cease being projected by the subconscious.

Sorry, I would like to understand: Is there 'you' in Buddhahood? Thanks.

No.

Suffering
"What is more, suffering cannot exist apart from any thought of it—it must depend upon the thought of the suffering in order to exist. Without the concept of suffering, there is no suffering in the slightest."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso

Whatever you look at, you see only the Diamond Mirror Emptiness Dharmakaya, a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts. There are just fictional thoughts occuring in impersonal, Knowing Emptiness. There are no entities. An empty mirror remains the same before, during or after reflections appear.

KOCOURMIKES: Whatever you look at, you see only the Diamond Mirror Emptiness Dharmakaya, a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts.

An empty mirror remains the same before, during or after reflections appear.

there are no entities

There is only a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts!


There are just fictional thoughts occuring in impersonal, Knowing Emptiness

"In his Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Conduct, the bodhisattva Shantideva teaches:
Then wanderers, these dreamlike beings, what are they? If analyzed, they’re like a banana tree— (hollow,empty)
Sentient beings who wander in samsara are like sentient beings who appear in dreams. Once we analyze, we find that they are like banana trees—when you look at a banana tree, it seems solid, but once you peel away the layers of its bark, you do not find any core. The bodies of sentient beings are the same—they appear to be solid, truly existent things, but we can apply the analysis of composite entities that we have undertaken in this chapter to sentient beings’ bodies as well and find that they are not truly existent after all, that they have no real substance, because they do not really arise, abide, or cease. Thus, sentient beings are illusory appearances."
Khenpo Tsulstrim Gyatso

There are no parts

There is only a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself

There are no parts

There is only a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts

! There are just fictional thoughts occuring in impersonal, Knowing Emptiness

There is only a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts

There is only a Single Consciousness appearing to Itself as Itself. There are no parts! There are just fictional thoughts occuring in impersonal, Knowing Emptiness.
FULL STOP!!!⛔️