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!!!⛔️

There are just fictional thoughts occuring in impersonal, Knowing Emptiness.
FULL STOP!!!⛔️

Tsultrim Gyatso:
"From the palace of Dzogchen – appearing emptiness,
I look back into my mind.
And what I see is “clinging to me”.
And I suddenly remember that there is no self in what I think is me or I think is mine.
And there’s a reason why I remember this, it's because none of the body/mind are a self and because there is no self apart from them.
I know for sure that from the very start
there has never been any self at all."

Stable Nirvana
Nirvana is outside of space, time, change and conditioning. It never wobbles. It's your only place of residence. You have never moved out of Nirvana.
Nirvana is the impersonal empty, cognitive space where seemingly personal stories and holographic landscapes with inhabitants arise and dissolve.
Imagine you are flat on your back in bed at night. You close your eyes and immediately dream that you have a dream body similar to your "physical" body. With that body you travel to various lands and interact with many people. Horrible things happened to you and you did horrible things to others.
Then suddenly your eyes open and you realize you are still in your bed, flat on your back; you never moved.
Nothing horrible happened to you nor did you do horrible things to anyone. Nothing ever actually happened. Your memories about the dreamed events don't make them real.
Likewise you are in Nirvana now. You never moved into samsara, not even for a short visit. You have no body, no personal self or form and never have. You have never been harmed nor have harmed. You never appeared in a physical world. No one has ever appeared in any world.
Just sit still with eyes closed, and observe your thoughts as they come and go along with the central thought that "you are an entity observing your thoughts coming and going". That central thought of "you" being a witness to the passing thoughts, is also just an empty thought with no one there as a real witness. This is like the witness you seem to be in a dream at night who is observing the dream landscape. Is there really someone looking at the dream landscape or is the one looking just an imaginary mental construction like the landscape?
Open your eyes. Could the one looking at what you are seeing, also be just an imaginary projection of mind looking at a mentally projected landscape?
Engaging in this exercise often and at length, will reveal that no one is actually present as a personal "me" except that mental projection that claims otherwise. ALL THOUGHTS are only the building blocks of the dreaming mind. When all thought ceases, only "Awake Awareness" remains.
The Buddha having seen this, recognized his true condition was always Nirvana. The single Wisdom Eye opened revealing that no one ever existed, so who could leave Nirvana? And that if no one existed, who could return to Nirvana through "practice and enlightenment"?

Whatever you look at, you see only the Diamond Emptiness Dharmakaya :)

One does not have to "purify" or transform or stop the alaya in order for rigpa to arise. The empty nature of the alaya or karmic mind is itself rigpa. Rigpa's energy (tsal) is itself manifesting as the alaya or karmic mind.

"All objects of the senses—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tangible—as well as the objects of the mental sense power—in sum, all phenomena that appear to the six senses, are the object of negation. They’re all hallucinations. The entire world, even the Dharma path, hell, god realm, positive and negative karma, and enlightenment, were made up by your own mind. Your mind projected the hallucination of things existing from their own side.
This hallucination of inherent existence is the foundation. Then, on top of that, you pay attention to certain attributes and label “wonderful,” “horrible,” or “nothing much.” When you think, “He’s awful” and get angry, you label the person an enemy. Not aware that you created the enemy, you believe there is a truly existent one out there and project all sorts of other notions on him."
Lama Zopa on Prasangika View

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche:
"One sign of having trained in rigpa, the awakened state, is simply that conceptual thinking, which is the opposite of rigpa, grows less and less. The gap between thoughts grows longer and occurs more and more frequently. The state of unfabricated awareness, what the tantras call "the continuous instant of non-fabrication," becomes more and more prolonged. The continuity of rigpa is not something we have to deliberately maintain. It should occur spontaneously through having grown more familiar with it. Once we become accustomed to the genuine state of unfabricated rigpa, it will automatically start to last longer and longer. By simply allowing the expression of thought activity to naturally subside, again and again, the moments of genuine rigpa automatically and naturally begin to last longer. When there are no thoughts whatsoever, then you are a Buddha. At that point the thought-free state is effortless, as well as the ability to benefit all beings.

"The eight lower yanas cannot be thought of as accurate, for they are based on mental constructs that are at variance with the ground of being. According to this perspective, naturally occurring timeless awareness is in essence free of mentation, and so its true nature, which transcends causes and conditions, is a supreme and timeless emptiness, free of the biases of thought."
Longchenpa
"Philosophical Systems "

Alaya versus Rigpa
In Dzogchen the karmic mind in its totality is called the "alayavijnana" or "alaya" for short. It's the karmic ground consciousness as "kunzhi nampar shes pa".
It has a characteristic possible that manifests as a very clear and pleasant state of consciousness. But that clarity and pleasure are dependently originated karmic mind-states. Many practitioners mistake this clear and present state as being rigpa. It's not.
Rigpa is different because it is not dependently originated from prior causes. It has no "cause" and always contains the vivid spark or flash of "self-arising, self-recognizing wisdom" or "rangjyung yeshe". A non-conceptual certainty is present that validates rigpa as being the actual Buddha Nature; there is NO doubt about this. Because of this unmistakable Buddha wisdom, differentiating the alaya from rigpa is not difficult at all.
One does not have to "purify" or transform or stop the alaya in order for rigpa to arise. The empty nature of the alaya or karmic mind is itself rigpa. Rigpa's energy (tsal) is itself manifesting as the alaya or karmic mind.
So when in a karmic mind state, simply close your eyes and observe the energetic aspect of that karmic mind state. Notice how the mind state is occurring in your "knowing awareness". Now notice the empty quality of your "knowing awareness". The moment you actually "see" the empty nature of your "knowing awareness", the empty nature of the mind state will immediately appear.
It's not that the karmic mind state first dissolved and thereby revealed an underlying "knowing awareness", but rather that the karmic mind state revealed its true nature to be itself "knowing awareness" appearing as the karmic mind state! This immediate insight is a wisdom of rigpa itself.
This actually applies to all mind states, thoughts, images, feelings, sensations, perceptions and experiential life events.
However it requires being able to know this "knowing awareness" directly in experience.
Here's how:
Complete Instructions for Dzogchen Atiyoga
"Relax into basic space beyond beginning and end,” introduces the nature of mind. Once you recognize it, there is no need to wait for another time in the future. Basic space never began and does not end in any way whatsoever. Rigpa never began and does not end. It is totally endless, utterly beginningless."
Tulku Urgyen
"This wakefulness that is primordially pure is the empty quality of the nature of our mind. In the moment when we recognize our nature, we do not see any ‘thing’ whatsoever. It is already utterly pure and perfect. That is exactly what we call primordial purity. Inseparable from that is a quality of knowing: we are cognizant, at the same time. This is the spontaneous presence. These two aspects are indivisible."
Tulku Urgyen
Direct Introduction to Pure Awareness (rigpa in Tibetan):
Sit in a comfortable posture in a well lit and bright room or outdoor space.
Close your eyes.
Notice the color at your closed eyelids. It will usually seem like an orangey color with brownish or gray tinges. Whatever the color, just observe the color that seems to be in front of your awareness that's noticing the colors.
Now, instead of attention being on the colors at the eyelids; notice that which is the "observing" awareness that knows the colors are present. Bring attention from the object to the subject side that is doing the observing.
"There is an oral instruction about the way to look. It is said,
“It is as though your eyes were looking through the back of your head instead of looking forwards.” Mingyur Rinpoche
"It is as though your eyes are looking backwards instead of forwards as they usually do. You are looking out with your eyes but are looking back at the same time. Do not try too hard with this though, otherwise you will really make a big mistake. You just sort of look back ..." Mingyur Rinpoche
Notice the empty nature of your own awareness that is observing. There is an empty space of awareness that knows itself, but not as a thing with shape, form or substance.
"The way to do this is just to turn your attention slightly inward, not to look deeply inside, just to turn your focus from outward to inward in a very light way. The moment of recognizing this state is the blessings of the lineage." Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Being that empty, observing awareness; just notice again the colors at the eyelids. Do the colors alter or change your empty awareness or do they just appear in awareness like clouds appearing in a changeless sky? This analogy applies as well regarding all thoughts, images, sense of self, emotional energies, sensations and perceptions that also appear harmlessly in the empty space of changeless awareness.
Relax attention again and again from the colors or any inner phenomena, so that attention and the empty, observing awareness occupy the same exact space, inseparably so.
It's possible to notice the empty, transparent nature of your own observing awareness that deepens as one remains empty of attentiveness to any mental or perceptual content other than empty awareness itself.
"Without any in or any out - utter openness. How is it that ‘openness’? It’s empty, awake, luminous and simple..." Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Whatever occurs to the senses or mind, just leave everything as-is and relax in your native state of vivid and awake awareness. Your heightened awareness will guide your actions in life with great precision. There are no further instructions.
Here is an ancient quote from a fundamental Great Perfection Tantra, or scriptural text, called the “The Heaped Jewels.” It com­pletely summarizes the unique method of Dzogchen practice.
"When anyone rests in the natural state without concen­tration, understanding manifests in that individual’s mind, without someone having to teach all the words by which the mind understands these meanings. As this understanding dawns in the mind, all that is non-man­ifest and all sensory appearances, which in themselves entail no concepts, are seen to be naturally pure." (From
Longchenpa’s Precious Treasury, Padma Publications.)
Kalu Rinpoche:
"Mind is poised in the state of bare awareness, there is no directing the mind. One is not looking within for anything; one is not looking without for anything. One is simply letting the mind rest in its own natu­ral state. The empty, clear and unimpeded nature of mind can be experienced if we can rest in an uncon­trived state of bare awareness without distraction and without the spark of awareness being lost."
In daily life:
"It is easy to re-recognize it (rigpa). You just have to drop thinking and it is right there. There is not a lot to be done."
Mingyur Rinpoche
A direct pointing instruction from Lama Tsultrim Allione
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i34IuGJUj30

Urgyen Tulku
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncrNEAAMgSs

Everything as Natural Perfection
(nothing needs correction)
Longchenpa explains:
"Atiyoga is the great perfection—that is, naturally occurring timeless awareness, free of elaboration, not subject to restrictions or extremes— and the pinnacle of all spiritual approaches, in that it is the total perfection of all that is meaningful in them.
The All-Creating Monarch states:
Perfection in one, perfection in two, perfection in awakened mind: there is ease in the abundance of fresh possibilities. There is perfection in one—perfection in what is created by ordinary (karmic) mind. There is perfection in two—perfection in abundance. There is perfection in everything—perfection in awakened mind.’"
"In these lines, the phrase “created by ordinary mind” refers to the phenomena of the impure states of samsara—phenomena that constitute what is perceived to be the universe of appearances and possibilities and are subsumed within the mind-body aggregates, fields of experience, and components of perception. It also refers to view, meditation, and con- duct—that is, all that is classified as the ground, path, and fruition of spiritual approaches."
"These phenomena pertain to a state of confusion— a state driven by the habit patterns of ordinary mind—because they are adventitiously created by the architect that is ordinary mind. They are experienced as appearances that manifest and are perceived out of confusion, and so at present seem absolutely real. But ultimately they cannot be found to have any finite essence, and so, because they do not stray outside the scope of naturally occurring timeless awareness, they are perfect."
"The phrase “perfection in abundance” refers to utterly lucid and naturally occurring timeless awareness: its empty essence as dharmakaya, its lucid nature as sambhogakaya, and its aware responsiveness as nirmana- kaya. So there is perfection in that the three kayas, which are timelessly and completely present as natural attributes, do not need to be achieved through effort in some other context."
"Perfection in awakened mind” refers to the fact that all phenomena— all appearances and possibilities—regardless of’ how they manifest, whether perceived as pure or impure, are fundamentally subsumed within the scope of naturally occurring timeless awareness, arise within that scope, and abide within that scope."
"The situation is similar to the way in which a person’s state of sleep, and the various dream images that manifest therein, are subsumed with in the scope of that person’s aware- ness, arise within that scope, and are dependent on that scope. And so there is perfection in mind itself, awakened mind."
From Longchenpa's "Philosophical Systems", Padma Publications