Chakras are the Wisdom Lights of Rigpa

The chakras are the Five Lights and the Five Buddha Wisdoms. By releasing their contracted energetic states, their wisdom-light illuminates consciousness and transforms our limited and fixed perspectives.

Dzogchen master, Tenzin Wangyal, explains how to open the crown chakra. By doing so, incredible insights into the true nature of reality and self, arise spontaneously:

“Upward-moving prana: this practice opens the top of the central channel and the throat and crown chakras. Inhale. With your mouth closed, pinch your nose shut and blow out very, very gently, as if clearing your ears in an airplane or while diving. Be very careful and very gentle so as not to hurt your ears. The point is not to clear your ears but to use the internal pressure to direct your attention to the crown chakra. As much as possible, experience the sensation on the crown of your head. Use your imagination to concentrate the pressure in the central channel and to feel it open the chakra. If you don’t feel anything, just keep your attention fixed on the crown. Exert a slight pressure with your held breath. When you do feel the sensation, be present with it. Let the breath become natural. Stay focused in the crown chakra, but let the awareness be completely open and free. Exhale, directing the prana upwards through the chakra. Do this practice any time you wish, but particularly when feeling down, depressed, or dull; when feeling that you don’t have the strength to handle the tasks you need to do; when lacking clarity or wakefulness; and when distracted or confused.”

(Excerpt from his excellent book,
“Healing with Form, Energy and Light”)

Who loses character, he loses all


Ahura Mazda, thou dost create man; thou dost not create his character. It is man's own creation. Man is its maker and it springs from within him. It is his inestimable personal acquisition.

Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds form character. It is the outward manifestation of man's inner life regulated by the moral order of Asha. It is the symbolic representation of Daena's religion practiced and lived by man. When truth and righteousness and virtue are woven together on the loom of life, they make for character.

Man of character outshines men of talents and birth and fortune, and outlives them all. Character is greater than genius. When intellect weds character it becomes matchless. It loses its luster when, alienated from character, it stands by itself. Character alone exalts. It makes a peasant more honored than a prince.

The beauty of character surpasses all other beauties. Character shines with greater brilliance than does the diamond. Character commands respect and trust of all as nothing in the world does.

The weakening and loss of man's character brings his fall. It is the end of his life. Man leaves his all at death behind. Character alone endures and the man of character takes it with him to heaven.


35 - Who loses character, he loses all
https://www.zarathushtra.com/z/article/dhalla/ch1b/ib35.htm

The Mirror in Dzogchen

Tenzin Wangyal, Bonpo Dzogchen Master, captures the essence of Dzogchen in this video, please watch it all the way through and do the exercises with him:

Being the Mirror, Not the Reflection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNK7g5xZu7w&feature=youtu.be

Přirozeně dokonalý stav tady a teď (Dzogchenové Držmo)

+ biosynteza.cz

The Basic Philosophy of Dzogchen

Dzogchen means “Great Perfection”. It teaches that all phenomena, all experiences, all events, all creatures and their actions, thoughts and behaviors, are perfect however they appear.

The Source of manifestation is perfect and therefore all its manifestations are perfect. We are all Buddhas now, generating our own perfect Buddha-lands.

Through our mind’s capacity to conceive, we conceive falsely that we are not perfect Buddhas and that our environments and their inhabitants are not intrinsically perfect, however they appear.

We all are “now” perfect Buddhas in a perfect Buddha-land, but think and believe otherwise.

Dzogchen talks about primordial purity (Kadag) instead of emptiness. One’s nature and one’s manifest expressions are primordially pure. The concepts and beliefs that one’s nature, environment and others, are not perfect are empty, fictional thoughts. But even those fictional thoughts are the primordial purity, and being intrinsically empty, are left as-is.

Nothing need be corrected, renounced or transformed, because however inner or outer phenomena appear, it is the primordially pure, perfection appearing. There is only a Great Perfection to be enjoyed or much suffering when one believes otherwise.

Your Awareness (rigpa), is like an empty mirror that is never altered, improved or damaged, no matter what types of images or reflections as perceptions, thoughts, emotions, sensations, illnesses, death or identities appear within consciousness, as its primordially pure appearances.

Now relax! It’s all always perfect
just as it is, however it is.

Sam Sara's answer to What really takes place in the human brain when we reach the state of enlightenment? - Quora
https://www.quora.com/...-the-human-brain-when-we-reach-the-state-of-enlightenment/answer/Sam-Sara-3

igpa as Quantum Coherence

A "quantum coherent state" is one where a condition of perfect symmetry and part-less wholeness abides. This is our "natural state" of rigpa awareness.

It seems that only concepts can interfere or create an incoherent state of rigpa called dualistic mind (sem) as samsara. The decoherence and loss of symmetry is experienced as discomfort, egoic selfing, and a sense of separation and isolation.

When the conceptualizing mind is allowed to become inactive, the natural state of coherence as rigpa, arises spontaneously.

It's like holding an inflated ball under water; whenever you let go of it, it pops back to surface effortlessly. We hold the mind "under water" in dualistic decoherence continuously through engaging in conceptualizing, daydreaming and thinking.

When the mind ceases conceptualizing and thinking, the quantum coherent state of rigpa automatically reappears and pops back into surface consciousness, as that consciousness. Then continuous insightful wisdoms, bliss and unconditional love are automatically appearing as the intrinsic qualities of our naturally coherent state.

This is why it's agreed amongst all Buddhist traditions that nirvana is a non-conceptualizing state.

The Buddha: MN 140 Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta:

" ‘He has been stilled where the currents of conceiving do not flow. And when the currents of conceiving do not flow, he is said to be a sage at peace.’ Thus was it said. With reference to what was it said?

Monk, “I am” is a conceiving. “I am this” is a conceiving. “I shall be” is a conceiving. “I shall not be” ... “I shall be possessed of form” ... “I shall be formless” ... “I shall be perceiving ” ... “I shall be non-perceiving” ... “I shall be neither-perceiving-nor-non-perceiving” is a conceiving. Conceiving is a disease, conceiving is a cancer, conceiving is an arrow. By going beyond all conceiving, monk, he is said to be a sage at peace.

Furthermore, a sage at peace is not born, does not age, does not die. He is unagitated, and is free from longing. He has nothing whereby he would be born. Not being born, how could he age? Not aging, how could he die? Not dying, how could he be agitated? Not being agitated, for what will he long?

So it was in reference to this that it was said, ‘He has been stilled where the currents of conceiving do not flow. And when the currents of conceiving do not flow, he is said to be a sage at peace.’"

Nagarjuna: "What language describes is non-existent. What thought describes is non-existent. Things neither arise nor dissolve, just as in Nirvana."

"Thought is bondage; the immeasurable openness of empty awareness is freedom."
Dzogchen Master Nyoshul Khenpo

One of the greatest realized Indian Buddhist masters the planet has known is Tilopa. He lived almost a thousand years ago. He realized the non-dual state of Awareness, which is called Mahamudra in his tradition. Here are his Six Points of Practice advice for entering Mahamudra directly:

"Don't recall.

Don't imagine.

Don't think.

Don't examine.

Don't control.

Rest."

Let's take a look at what two Dzogchen masters have to say, starting with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and then Longchenpa.

He says in his book: Present Fresh Wakefulness:

"Give up thinking of anything at all, about the past, the future or the present. Remain thought-free, like an infant."

"Innate suchness is unobscured the moment you are not caught up in present thinking."

"That which prevents us from being face to face with the real Buddha, the natural state of mind, is our own thinking. It seems to block the natural state."

"Rigpa, the Natural State, is not cultivated in meditation. The awakened state is not an object of the intellect. Rigpa is beyond intellect, and concepts."

"This is the real Buddhadharma, not to do a thing. Not to think of anything. Like Saraha said, "Having totally abandoned thinker and what is thought of, remain as a thought-free child."

"Thinking is delusion."

"When caught up in thinking we are deluded. To be free of thinking is to be free."

"That freedom consists in how to be free from our thinking."

"As long as the web of thinking has not dissolved, there will repeatedly be rebirth in and the experiences of the six realms (of suffering)."

"The method: But if you want to be totally free of conceptual thinking there is only one way: through training in thought-free wakefulness. (rigpa)."

"Strip awareness to its naked state."

"If you want to attain liberation and omniscient enlightenment, you need to be free of conceptual thinking."

"Being free of thought is liberation."

"This is not some state that is far away from us: thought-free wakefulness actually exists together with every thought, inseparable from it... but the thinking obscures or hides this innate actuality. Thought free wakefulness (the natural state) is immediately present the very moment the thinking dissolves, the moment it vanishes, fades away, falls apart."

"Simply suspend your thinking within the non-clinging state of wakefulness: that is the correct view."

Longchenpa wrote: "A Buddha with a thinking mind is an ordinary sentient being (unenlightened) , but a sentient being without a thinking mind is a Buddha."

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."

One of this century's greatest Dzogchen masters was Tulku Urgyen. He wrote on this topic often and with great emphasis. Here is a quote from his book titled As It Is, volume 2, pages 168 and 169:

A student asks: Can there be thinking during Rigpa?

Rinpoche: "It is essential to resolve the fact that there is no namtog (thought) whatsoever in the state of rigpa; it is impossible. Darkness cannot remain when the sun rises. A hair cannot remain in a flame. It is only in a moment of distraction that you lose the continuity of rigpa. It is only out of that loss, which is marigpa, unknowing, that thinking can possibly start to move. This loss of continuity, in the sense of forgetting and being distracted, is called co-emergent ignorance. To reiterate, thinking means to conceptualize out of the state of unknowing. Thinking only begins after marigpa sets in, at the loss of rigpa! During the non-distraction of rigpa, no thought can begin. I cannot emphasize this enough - there is no thought during the state of rigpa!"

"On the level of ultimate reality, there is no difference in the extent of qualities found in samsara and nirvana. All apparent reality issues forth as equal in nature. When this is not realized, we assign a low status to samsara, considering it negative, and a high status to liberation, considering it positive; samsara appears as suffering and liberation as bliss. On the level of ultimate reality, the sphere of experience of the buddhas, samsara is seen as the pure land of great bliss, and liberation is seen as the pure land of great bliss."

from "Music In The Sky: The Life, Art, And Teachings Of The 17Th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje" by The Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Michele Martin

Everything arises out of emptiness and karma arises "as we take ourselves for others and outside"?

The Buddha: MN 140 Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta:

" ‘He has been stilled where the currents of conceiving do not flow. And when the currents of conceiving do not flow, he is said to be a sage at peace.’ Thus was it said. With reference to what was it said?

Monk, “I am” is a conceiving. “I am this” is a conceiving. “I shall be” is a conceiving. “I shall not be” ... “I shall be possessed of form” ... “I shall be formless” ... “I shall be perceiving ” ... “I shall be non-perceiving” ... “I shall be neither-perceiving-nor-non-perceiving” is a conceiving. Conceiving is a disease, conceiving is a cancer, conceiving is an arrow. By going beyond all conceiving, monk, he is said to be a sage at peace.

Furthermore, a sage at peace is not born, does not age, does not die. He is unagitated, and is free from longing. He has nothing whereby he would be born. Not being born, how could he age? Not aging, how could he die? Not dying, how could he be agitated? Not being agitated, for what will he long?

So it was in reference to this that it was said, ‘He has been stilled where the currents of conceiving do not flow. And when the currents of conceiving do not flow, he is said to be a sage at peace.’"

Nagarjuna: "What language describes is non-existent. What thought describes is non-existent. Things neither arise nor dissolve, just as in Nirvana."

"Thought is bondage; the immeasurable openness of empty awareness is freedom."
Dzogchen Master Nyoshul Khenpo

One of the greatest realized Indian Buddhist masters the planet has known is Tilopa. He lived almost a thousand years ago. He realized the non-dual state of Awareness, which is called Mahamudra in his tradition. Here are his Six Points of Practice advice for entering Mahamudra directly:

"Don't recall.

Don't imagine.

Don't think.

Don't examine.

Don't control.

Rest."

Let's take a look at what two Dzogchen masters have to say, starting with Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and then Longchenpa.

He says in his book: Present Fresh Wakefulness:

"Give up thinking of anything at all, about the past, the future or the present. Remain thought-free, like an infant."

"Innate suchness is unobscured the moment you are not caught up in present thinking."

"That which prevents us from being face to face with the real Buddha, the natural state of mind, is our own thinking. It seems to block the natural state."

"Rigpa, the Natural State, is not cultivated in meditation. The awakened state is not an object of the intellect. Rigpa is beyond intellect, and concepts."

"This is the real Buddhadharma, not to do a thing. Not to think of anything. Like Saraha said, "Having totally abandoned thinker and what is thought of, remain as a thought-free child."

"Thinking is delusion."

"When caught up in thinking we are deluded. To be free of thinking is to be free."

"That freedom consists in how to be free from our thinking."

"As long as the web of thinking has not dissolved, there will repeatedly be rebirth in and the experiences of the six realms (of suffering)."

"The method: But if you want to be totally free of conceptual thinking there is only one way: through training in thought-free wakefulness. (rigpa)."

"Strip awareness to its naked state."

"If you want to attain liberation and omniscient enlightenment, you need to be free of conceptual thinking."

"Being free of thought is liberation."

"This is not some state that is far away from us: thought-free wakefulness actually exists together with every thought, inseparable from it... but the thinking obscures or hides this innate actuality. Thought free wakefulness (the natural state) is immediately present the very moment the thinking dissolves, the moment it vanishes, fades away, falls apart."

"Simply suspend your thinking within the non-clinging state of wakefulness: that is the correct view."

Longchenpa wrote: "A Buddha with a thinking mind is an ordinary sentient being (unenlightened) , but a sentient being without a thinking mind is a Buddha."

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."

One of this century's greatest Dzogchen masters was Tulku Urgyen. He wrote on this topic often and with great emphasis. Here is a quote from his book titled As It Is, volume 2, pages 168 and 169:

A student asks: Can there be thinking during Rigpa?

Rinpoche: "It is essential to resolve the fact that there is no namtog (thought) whatsoever in the state of rigpa; it is impossible. Darkness cannot remain when the sun rises. A hair cannot remain in a flame. It is only in a moment of distraction that you lose the continuity of rigpa. It is only out of that loss, which is marigpa, unknowing, that thinking can possibly start to move. This loss of continuity, in the sense of forgetting and being distracted, is called co-emergent ignorance. To reiterate, thinking means to conceptualize out of the state of unknowing. Thinking only begins after marigpa sets in, at the loss of rigpa! During the non-distraction of rigpa, no thought can begin. I cannot emphasize this enough - there is no thought during the state of rigpa!"

★★ What Is "Mahayana Essentials of Sudden Enlightenment in Entering the Way"?
____________________________________________

◆ Chan Master Baizhang Huaihai expounded to the public as follows：

“Q：What is "Mahayana essentials of sudden enlightenment in entering the Way"?

A：You first let go of all conditions, put all things at rest, and altogether put down all things no matter good or bad, mundane or supramundane. Then, be sure to have no committing to memory, no deluded thinking to a particular thought, no clinging to the conditions, and no attachment to any thought; and let go of the body and the mind so that they are all at ease. When the deluded mind takes a full rest like wood and rock, the mouth has no discoursing and the mind is of effortlessness. Thus far, suppose the mind ground is empty, the wisdom is spontaneously manifested just as the sun appears when the clouds part. Chan practitioners merely rest all clinging to the conditions, let the consciousness of greed, hatred, craving, grasping, impurity and purity come to an end; then, being immovable to five desires and eight winds, not hindered by seeing, hearing, perception and cognition, not confused by all realms, they naturally possess all merits and virtues, and possess all spiritual powers and their subtle functions, thus they are the practitioners of emancipation.”

▲ Chan Master Baizhang instructed that all Chan practitioners to let go of all forms, put all things at rest, and think all things neither of good nor bad, mundane nor supramundane. Then, at the very moment, the self-nature of true suchness manifests thoughts, their six sense faculties have the functions of seeing, hearing and pure awareness, and they are adept at differentiating all forms of things while remaining non-abiding in all things and all realms. Therefore, if Chan practitioners are able to always manifest genuine awareness of prajna wisdom (non-abiding awareness), in a moment all their deluded thoughts take a full rest, and they suddenly realize the “no thought” principle of Suddenness Chan. That is to suddenly see into self-nature and have insight into the true mind. Those with one realization of no thought immediately penetrate into all things, immediately see into the realms of all Buddhas, and immediately ascend to the rank of Buddhahood.

▲ Let's take a look at the case of Baizhang's deeper sudden enlightenment :
“On one occasion Baizhang was in attendance to Master Ma. Mazu took a look at the whisk sitting on the corner of the Chan bed. Baizhang said, ‘When merging into the function, simultaneously depart from this function.’ Mazu said, ‘In the future if you begin to do the teaching, how will you help practitioners?’ Baizhang picked up the whisk and held it upright. Mazu said, ‘When merging into the function, simultaneously depart from this function.’ Baizhang placed the whisk back on its stand. Mazu suddenly let out an earth-shaking shout so loud that Baizhang was deeply enlightened, and also was deaf for three days.”

―→ If in discoursing the Mind Dharma of Suddenness Chan, all is intrinsically ready-made. General Chan practitioners ought to directly apply the ordinary mind of non-abiding awareness, and move down-to-earth every step on the way, so as to realize “no obstruction in the interbeing of phenomena and noumena”. Then, they once again transcend upward one way to become host of the host with the mind of pure wisdom of spontaneousness & effortlessness, and ultimately and completely actualize “the patient rest in non-arising” to live their daily lives with “wearing clothes, taking a meal, and sleeping while tired”. Until now, they are able to manifest the wisdom of differences (skillful wisdom) and unfold their hands for affording skillful explications, in order to receive Chan practitioners to directly penetrate into the gate of non-arising.

▲ All Chan/Zen fellow-practitioners !

―→ ● When directly apply "Mahayana essentials of sudden enlightenment in entering the Way" for Chan/Zen mind training, one should use non-abiding awareness as the guiding concept to diligently practice Chan/Zen ― that is "while merging into 'existence', simultaneously depart from 'existence'," or "while merging into 'emptiness', simultaneously depart from 'emptiness'," or "while merging into 'existence is emptiness', simultaneously depart from 'existence is emptiness'," or even "while merging into 'no existence & no emptiness', simultaneously depart from 'no existence & no emptiness'." Then, at the very moment, one is able to ultimately realize the "non-duality and non-oneness of true emptiness and subtle existence". Moreover, one is also able to genuinely attain [of ultimate no-attainment] the ultimate nirvana.

★★ The green mountains and crystal-clear streams, the chirping birds and fragrant flowers ― everything or every sentient being in the universe is an eloquent teacher of Chan/Zen Dharma, who is always discoursing the Dharma at all times and in all places.

▲ The Chan/Zen Dharma (Buddhadharma) is simply one flavor ― the flavor of liberation through altruistic actions of ultimate no-self.

▲ Let the mind function freely with non-abiding in anything ― this is entering the gate of kindness and compassion, which dissolve suffering and bring forth true happiness for all sentient beings. ―→ This ordinary mind of non-abiding awareness is a mind of utmost freedom and liberation.

▲Take on the great vow by delivering all sentient beings, let go of all attachment by no abiding in anything. ― One is greatly liberated who can take things on and let them go simultaneously in peace and freedom.

★★ Traditional Chan/Zen Spirit
________________________________

● Chan/Zen practitioners should generate great vow [of vowlessness] with great confidence and great determination.

● Chan/Zen practitioners should tame the mind with "non-abiding awareness" in daily activities and Sitting Chan (Zazen); and for direct expression of the self-nature (Buddha-nature) on the path of delivering [of no-deliverance] sentient beings.

● Chan/Zen practitioners should maintain effortlessness and spontaneousness to tame the habit after complete enlightenment, and continue on the Chan Path (Buddha Path, or Bodhisattva Path).

● Chan/Zen practitioners should continue on the genuine great vow to truly deliver sentient beings with skillful wisdom; and to simultaneously dissolve the habit after ultimate complete-enlightenment.

● After perfectly dissolving the habit and attaining [of no-attainment] the supreme complete-enlightenment, Chan/Zen practitioners should continue on the manifestation of their compassionate actions of supreme no-self.

Sila pratelstvi, jdete spolecne na druhy breh

Knowledge is as infinite as the stars in the sky. There is no end to all of the subjects that one could study. It is better to immediately get their essence - The unchanging fortress of pure awareness.

~ Longchenpa