#rigpa

[mountain-sage]

In the Dzogchen teaching, if you are in any kind of place and at that moment, you are in a state of rigpa, then that is your place, your sacred or holy place. In general people want to go to a holy place such as a temple to do practice. But when you are in instant presence, then wherever you are becomes a holy place, your temple.

~ Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Here the definition of rigpa is self-existing wakefulness that is both empty and cognizant, but free from subject and object.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“Like you, I am searching for who I am, and by now I know that I am not going to find an answer in my functional machinery, ticking away automatically, but in my essential mind, just aware attention, watching. As the Dalai Lama has been pointing out in recent years, the Tibetan language has two words for these two very different kinds of “mind”: The ordinary automatic mind that they call Sene, and this other receptive stillness, which has no judgments, no associations, that they call Rigpa and translate as “awareness.” It’s a beautiful statement in a few sentences of what has previously been a very secret Tibetan practice called Dzogchen, closely allied to what Gurdjieff and others have taught as the wordless way of being totally present now, in this moment ... We’re all designed with this possibility. But what is obstructing the realization of that human potential?”

~ Jim George, in 'Last Call', from an interview with David Ulrich

[Thanks Ian Sanders]

[kongque-jiaan]

LAMA TSONGKHAPA DAY!!!!!!!

༈ དམིགས་མེད་བརྩེ་བའི་གཏེར་ཆེན་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས། ། དྲི་མེད་མཁྱེན་པའི་དབང་པོ་འཇམ་དཔལ་དབྱངས། ། བདུད་དཔུང་མ་ལུས་འཇོམས་མཛད་གསང་བའི་བདག ། གངས་ཅན་མཁས་པའི་གཙུག་རྒྱན་ཙོང་ཁ་པ། ། བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །

mikmé tsewé terchen chenrézik drimé khyenpé wangpo jampal yang düpung malü jomdzé sangwé dak khangchen khépé tsukgyen tsongkhapa lobzang drakpé shyapla solwa dep

Great treasury of non-referential compassion, Avalokiteshvara, Powerful lord of flawless wisdom, Manjushri, And destroyer of all the hosts of mara, Vajrapani, Lord of Secrets— Crowning glory amongst all the learned masters of the Land of Snows, Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa, at your feet I pray!

(Tibetan text, romanization and translation from Rigpa Wiki.)

May the wisdom and vast, systematic knowledge of Buddhist scripture attained by the great guru Je Tsongkhapa, and transmitted to us by his disciples in the gelug tradition, guide us in this upcoming year. May the teachings remain in this world and benefit all sentient beings until we attain the complete cessation of suffering.

[talonabraxas]

Dzogchen - The Garuda Talon Abraxas

Dzogchen is 'The Great Perfection', the apogee of Tibetan Tantric Buddhist meditation accomplishment. It is the Buddha's enlightenment in rainbow light.

Dzogchen is also a path of existential praxis which is the quintessence of all Tantra. But it cannot be taught or learned. Either you get it or you don't. It is the school of Buddhism with greatest affinity to the sanity of twenty-first century mystical aspiration.

A sign of Dzogchen is the Garuda, a mythical bird, Khyung or Kading in Tibetan, an ancient sun-god, the celestial bird sometimes with human face.

The Dzogchen Vision

'The first thing is vision. Dzogchen vision which sees what really is -- the nature of mind itself. This is the natural state of being, where the mind makes no distinctions and judgments. This state of awareness is called rigpa. Rigpa is naked awareness of the wholistic here and now. We cannot actually express this awareness and there is nothing to compare it to in order to describe it. It is certainly not the ordinary state of emotional confusion and conflicting thoughts, but neither is it nirvanic cessation. This state cannot be produced or developed, and on the other hand it cannot be stopped or extinguished. We can never be free of it and nor can we fall into error in it. It is impossible to say that we actually exist at that moment but we cannot say that we do not exist. This experience is neither of infinity, nor of anything specific.'

'So, to be brief, because the nature of mind, the Great Perfection, rigpa, cannot be established as any specific thing, state, or action, it has the original face of emptiness which makes it pure from the beginning, all pervasive and all-penetrating. Because the unobstructed lustre of Emptiness and the entire gamut of experience whether confused or transcendant are like the sun and its rays, Emptiness is experienced positively as everything and anything whatsoever and it has the intrinsic nature of non-dual awareness of the spontaneously arisen universe of pure quality. For this reason the recognition of the presence of what is, as the primordial natural state of being, the Real Self of the Three Buddha Bodies, intrinsic awareness as the union of light and emptiness, is called the vision of the inconceivable Great Perfection.'

--The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism

Sarva Mangalam!

May all beings be happy!

[mahayanapilgrim]

"If the body gets sick,

separate awareness from its support.

If you are distracted by unfortunate appearances,

place awareness within.

If dense dullness occurs,

eject consciousness out.

If you are afraid of the four doors of birth,

train in rigpa energy.

If you are shy to practice virtue,

place awareness in its own place.

If many conceptions arise,

abandon them in the nectar of rigpa.

If there is no progress in experience,

change your type of awareness.

If you develop pride of greatness, act in a humble way.

If you receive wealth and prominence,

put on clothes of rags.

If your virtuous practice advances,

extend your commitments.

If craving persists,

cut bindings forcefully.

If delusions arise in your mind, afterwards reaffirm your vows.

Kunga! Sometimes act crazy,

and experiential realization will fall from above!"

~ Padampa Sangye

From: "Lion of siddhas : The Life and teachings of Padampa Sangye"

[radical-revolution]

If someone shows you two pills — one pill, you keep your anger. The other pill, you'll never have an anger problem again. If you have that choice, which pill will you take it? Do you want to be rid of your anger? Or do you still want to be angry, a little bit? Or maybe you think you need to be a little bit angry, a little bit aggressive, to succeed in the world. Maybe you don't want to pacify all of your anger, or jealousy, or passion.

So here we are, we're being tormented by emotions, but at the same time we're inviting them. We kind of like them, feeling that we need them. And that is sometimes called delusion, or in Buddhist terms, avidya, ma-rigpa.

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

[zerogate]

The still revolutionary insight of Buddhism is that life and death are in the mind, and nowhere else. Mind is revealed as the universal basis of experience—the creator of happiness and the creator of suffering, the creator of what we call life and what we call death.

There are many aspects to the mind, but two stand out. The first is the ordinary mind, called by the Tibetans sem. One master defines it: “That which possesses discriminating awareness, that which possesses a sense of duality—which grasps or rejects something external—that is mind. Fundamentally it is that which can associate with an ‘other’—with any ‘something,’ that is perceived as different from the perceiver.” Sem is the discursive, dualistic, thinking mind, which can only function in relation to a projected and falsely perceived external reference point.

So sem is the mind that thinks, plots, desires, manipulates, that flares up in anger, that creates and indulges in waves of negative emotions and thoughts, that has to go on and on asserting, validating, and confirming its “existence” by fragmenting, conceptualizing, and solidifying experience. The ordinary mind is the ceaselessly shifting and shiftless prey of external influences, habitual tendencies, and conditioning: The masters liken sem to a candle flame in an open doorway, vulnerable to all the winds of circumstance.

Seen from one angle, sem is flickering, unstable, grasping, and endlessly minding others’ business; its energy consumed by projecting outwards. I think of it sometimes as a Mexican jumping bean, or as a monkey hopping restlessly from branch to branch on a tree. Yet seen in another way, the ordinary mind has a false, dull stability, a smug and self-protective inertia, a stone-like calm of ingrained habits. Sem is as cunning as a crooked politician, skeptical, distrustful, expert at trickery and guile, “ingenious,” Jamyang Khyentse wrote, “in the games of deception.” It is within the experience of this chaotic, confused, undisciplined, and repetitive sem, this ordinary mind, that, again and again, we undergo change and death.

Then there is the very nature of mind, its innermost essence, which is absolutely and always untouched by change or death. At present it is hidden within our own mind, our sem, enveloped and obscured by the mental scurry of our thoughts and emotions. Just as clouds can be shifted by a strong gust of wind to reveal the shining sun and wide-open sky, so, under certain special circumstances, some inspiration may uncover for us glimpses of this nature of mind. These glimpses have many depths and degrees, but each of them will bring some light of understanding, meaning, and freedom. This is because the nature of mind is the very root itself of understanding. In Tibetan we call it Rigpa, a primordial, pure, pristine awareness that is at once intelligent, cognizant, radiant, and always awake. It could be said to be the knowledge of knowledge itself.

-- The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

[madamlaydebug]

Growth from Death

-

If I had my life over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practice which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs. —MURIEL SPARK

-

The Buddha said death—not some human teacher—was his primary guru. He said we should all keep the reality of death in the forefront of our consciousness so we can better prioritize our daily activities and thus better direct our attention to that which is most significant and meaningful.

-

Tibetan Buddhism tells us that the clear light of Rigpa—innate awareness, spontaneous wakefulness—dawns momentarily for everyone at the moment of death. Anybody who is sufficiently aware can merge consciously with this transcendent pure light at that crucial moment of transition.

-

For most of us, there is no greater fear than the fear of death. It’s difficult to believe that an easy acceptance of the possibility of death can help put joy in the life you are living, but it can—and will. The Sufis say, “Die before you die, and you shall never die.”

________________

🎨Art by Anthony Clarkson

[chodpa]

Natural Great Peace by Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje

Rest in natural great peace

This exhausted mind

Beaten helpless by karma and neurotic thought

Like the relentless fury of pounding waves

In the infinite ocean of samsāra.

Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje Natural Great Peace

So clear, so direct. This is the start and the end of it. Rest in natural great peace, the nature of mind, Rigpa.

The beginning, middle and end of Dzogchen

How do we start in Dzogchen? We are introduced to this natural great peace. We are directly pointed to a recognition of Rigpa which is primordially peaceful as it lies entirely beyond the sufferings of Samsara. This is the view, this Tawa.

What is the path of Dzogchen? Simply resting in this recognition, nothing more. You don’t need to cultivate anything. You couldn’t change or improve this natural great peace even if you tried! Once you are introduced to the nature of mind then all you need do is rest there. It’s not a path of renunciation. There’s nothing we need to give up. All of life is available to us with the Dzogchen path. All of it can be integrated. All of it reveals the true nature of mind.

Rest there in this empty luminosity. Rest in whatever manifestations arise. Rest as they naturally cease. Never straying from that nature, however diverse their appearances. This is Gompa — meditation, and Chopa — conduct.

....................

You can read the full post for free at my Luminous Emptiness blog:

Reflections on Natural Great Peace by Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje

[ani-tsultrim-wangmo]

When, from out of the primordially pure Dharmdhatu, suddenly Rigpa arises, and with it there is an instaneous recognition, it is like finding a precious jewel in the depths of the ocean, no-one has created it - it is just the Dharmakaya.

~ Garab Dorje

本來清淨法界中

瞬間覺性從中生

伴隨頓時之覺知

如深海處尋獲寶

於中無有造作者

而它不外法身也

~ 噶繞多傑 (極喜金剛)

[primordialsoundmeditation]

I walked barefoot at

the top of the world,

I was boundless in

both time and space

the Arctic moon reflected,

my limitless original face

I was simply

cloud jumping,

as my mind was

fixed on nowhere

from emptiness arises

every myriad being

and thing and they

appear everywhere

there was nothing to know

just that “it is what it is”

as it always has been,

just to be silently present

in the eternal moment of Now

thus there was nothing

at all to understand,

as only between

words and Silence,

can one even begin

to apprehend, the

hidden mysterious Tao

I wandered off the

clouds, flying traceless

through infinite Sky

there was the vast void

of emptiness everywhere,

So I pivoted Awareness

around in search of the

origin of Original “I”

not a single myriad

being or thing in sight

was it dark, yes this

enigma was darker

than the darkest night

I laid down in the field

of Rigpa, awaiting for

Rumi to meet me there

I saw Sufis whirling, their

inner lights illuminating

the darkness turning

the dark night into day

they said Shams of Tabriz

sent them to shine their light

on their Beloved Rumi’s Way

I knew I was at Source as

Rumi was about to appear

there was only the

Essence of Love,

it was scintillating

throughout the air

just then I heard a noise,

It wasn’t the primordial

sound of OM, no this was

the sound of the wind,

it went whistling on by

through an ancient pine

ten times ten thousand

myriad beings and things

all began to arise, there were

mountains, rivers, oceans

and sentient beings, within

my boundless Buddha Mind

as galaxies continued

to spin and collide

I rode on the back

of a white crane,

to Hidden Mountain,

to my humble abode,

where I simply abide

I’ve traveled through countless

realms, waltzing through

quantum multiverses, recited

eighty four thousand poems,

following Shakyamuni’s Way

no one at all understands

the sutras and doctrines,

as the Tathāgata does,

since his first Discourse

at Deer Park in Benares,

inspiring the ascetic ones,

to become future bhikkhus

on that illuminating day

The best we can do is walk

the path in the stillness

of the Silence, Consciously

Awake, in every moment

of every moment of Now

If you Realize that the silent

teaching of no words is Zen,

then Know without a doubt,

that it’s also the eternal Tao

epc 1956-♾

Artist: Harsha Kasun

Image quote: Thich Nhat Hanh

Zen Taoism Buddhism Tick Nhat Hanh Dalai Lama

[mountain-sage]

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!

~ Tulku Urgyen- "As It Is", volume 2

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Rainbow :: [Shoot 'n Share Chautauqua]

* * * *

"(Objectless awareness) is a tensile field of vibratory awareness, within which you can be conscious of the whole without having to split the field into the usual subject/object polarity. . . The Tibetan Buddhists call it rigpa: ‘pure awareness.’ And I have come to suspect that the contemplative masters of our own Christian lineage were also well aware of this state and that this is actually what is intended by the word ‘vigilance’ in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and ‘recollection’ in the West. It doesn’t mean thinking deeply about something, recalling it. Rather, it means that you yourself are gathered – ‘re-collected’ – within that deeper inner attentiveness whose much more powerful energetic vibrancy allows a different mode of perception to unfold.”

~ Cynthia Bourgeault

[dimensional-tourist]

The Dzogchen View

The crucial significance here lies in knowing the pure presence ([rigpa) inherent in the ground of being as the view of the unelaborated primal purity inherent in the con-tinuum of the natural state of mind. When we recognize the view as ‘presence’ (rigpa), we abandon all attempts to cultivate the mind through meditation practice, the practice that locks us into a contrived view and a meditation structured by the intellect. Natural perfection, Dzogchen itself, is thus consummate, and the ineluctable circle of clear light that we see in nonmeditation is coincident with it. It is imperative, therefore, at the outset, that “we recognize undivided pure being as presence!”

The substance of the foregoing is the first of the three incisive precepts. If we lack an introductory experience of the view, where is the presence (rigpa) to be sustained in meditation? Initiatory experience is of crucial importance. Initiatory experience is revelation of our indwelling awareness. Nothing is to be sought elsewhere. Nothing new is to be generated in consciousness. “Direct introduction into the nature of mind is the first precept."

Keith Dowman

[talonabraxas]

Dzogchen - The Garuda Talon Abraxas

Dzogchen is 'The Great Perfection', the apogee of Tibetan Tantric Buddhist meditation accomplishment. It is the Buddha's enlightenment in rainbow light.

Dzogchen is also a path of existential praxis which is the quintessence of all Tantra. But it cannot be taught or learned. Either you get it or you don't. It is the school of Buddhism with greatest affinity to the sanity of twenty-first century mystical aspiration.

A sign of Dzogchen is the Garuda, a mythical bird, Khyung or Kading in Tibetan, an ancient sun-god, the celestial bird sometimes with human face.

The Dzogchen Vision

'The first thing is vision. Dzogchen vision which sees what really is -- the nature of mind itself. This is the natural state of being, where the mind makes no distinctions and judgments. This state of awareness is called rigpa. Rigpa is naked awareness of the wholistic here and now. We cannot actually express this awareness and there is nothing to compare it to in order to describe it. It is certainly not the ordinary state of emotional confusion and conflicting thoughts, but neither is it nirvanic cessation. This state cannot be produced or developed, and on the other hand it cannot be stopped or extinguished. We can never be free of it and nor can we fall into error in it. It is impossible to say that we actually exist at that moment but we cannot say that we do not exist. This experience is neither of infinity, nor of anything specific.'

'So, to be brief, because the nature of mind, the Great Perfection, rigpa, cannot be established as any specific thing, state, or action, it has the original face of emptiness which makes it pure from the beginning, all pervasive and all-penetrating. Because the unobstructed lustre of Emptiness and the entire gamut of experience whether confused or transcendant are like the sun and its rays, Emptiness is experienced positively as everything and anything whatsoever and it has the intrinsic nature of non-dual awareness of the spontaneously arisen universe of pure quality. For this reason the recognition of the presence of what is, as the primordial natural state of being, the Real Self of the Three Buddha Bodies, intrinsic awareness as the union of light and emptiness, is called the vision of the inconceivable Great Perfection.' --The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Traditions of Tibetan Buddhism

Sarva Mangalam! May all beings be happy!

[mahayanapilgrim]

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!

~ Tulku Urgyen