About Dzogchen and Direct Introduction

 

About Dzogchen and

Direct Introduction

Ugi: Topic suggestion:

• Pointing-Out Instructions / Giving direct introduction

I think it would be very helpful to discuss this essential topic with the group and also dicuss the practicality of it. Maybe discussing some of its traditional aspects (in Dzogchen/Mahamudra/Tantra) aswell as the way Rinpoche is doing it in Pemako.

Kim: Even those who have one bhumi open can say "something" about the natural state but we have to remember that in atiyoga, which is the speartip teaching of all yogas and tantras, "something" is not good enough.

Writing this I recalled one of the famous dzogchen masters of this time, who gave direct introductions/DI's on regular basis, say that his rigpa "lasts 3 seconds" at a time. The problem of this is instantly apparent because you can't really be a dzogchen master, a master of the natural state, unless you have stabilized it, i.e. live in the recognition at least half of the time. Few second recognitions is a sign of not having stabilized it. This also reveals the meaning of having mahasiddha bhumis open because if they are open, recognition takes place more than half of the time. Few seconds of recognition at a time happens when 9th or 10th bhumis are open. So, strictly from the point of view of dzogchen atiyoga, my stand is that anyone who hasn't stable recognition cannot give DI's... but there is another way, that of tantra.

In tantra, the teacher or instructor in question hands over the reigns to the lineage masters who then, through blessings and empowerments, has responsibility of the passing on of the nature of mind. This is excellent way to reveal the basic state and bring seekers to help but to be clear this is tantra and tantric guru yoga, not dzogchen.

There is always some sort of transmission taking place when anyone teaches. Anyone who posits her/himself in front of others is instantly in a position of influence verbally, physically and energetically. But, like I said, DI's are a very very specific thing in the whole world of yogic and tantric practices.

I've seen some zen people say that there is/was no difference when they were in the company of their zen masters and then with dzogchen masters. Well, in that case, I don't think they got the DI. Mahayana comes close to the results of vajrayana but close in these things means worlds away. Someone on bhumi 10 has actually dualistic samsaric vision while someone on 11 doesn't. Even having cleared up 99% of the karmas on 1-10 bhumis is subtle but vast difference to a 11th bhumi mahasiddha. A drop of poison in a large tank of fresh water spoils the whole body of water... The difference gets greater and greater the farther back we go in bhumi perfection.

Because Mahayana schools don't make use of the subtle energy charge of the lineage and refuge, it all is really dependent on the particular teacher and her/his degree of insight, whether or not their transmission is valid from the point of view of dzogchen. There is partial knowledge coming from partial amount of experience and absolute knowledge coming from full enlightenment. Having a vajrayana lineage assures that the empowerments and transmissions, in whatever form or way they are given, is complete, 100% legit and covers the whole range of bhumis, as well as the realisation bodies of enlightenment, known as trikaya. It is because of this aspect why a single vajrayana empowerment and instructions from a legit lineage holder can really change everything in one's life (for the better!). 

 

Even though sutra and tantra methods have the same result potentially, potential and the actual result are two entirely different things. All beings have buddhanature, right? Well, how many actually realise it in full? The statistics are dramatically different between sutra, tantra and dzogchen, and even between different methods within tantra or dzogchen. But to reach good connection in dharma that can fully tap all of that inner potential, one has to have excellent karmic connections and significant ripeness or readiness which is what merit means.

In the big picture, things ripen really really slowly... but that's just how it is for most people. Some who meet those requirements might jump out of the whole vast wheel of samsaric transmigration in few short years of practice and attain buddhahood by purifying the subtle body of 10 bhumis. That is something to consider, isn't it?

If you listen, I got you - Training Teachers and Instructors of Mahasiddha-style Yoga and Tantra

 

If you listen, I got you

Training Teachers and Instructors

of Mahasiddha-style Yoga and Tantra

"If you listen, I got you". -Eubie Blake, jazz pianist

What Eubie Blake means is that if he gets the listener's attention, he will catch the listener through his music. Catching the listener means to get the listener disappear in the direct nonconceptual experience of music. We've all experienced getting lost in music where the sense of small self disappears and authentic enjoyment comes forth. We begin to sing and dance, we begin to enjoy. I heard Carlos Santana say this about Miles Davis, and instantly thought about Pemako and our teachers in training.

Becoming and serving as a Pemako teacher has few important requirements. First, one has to know the method through first hand experience. Two, one has to have stable recognition of one's buddhanature, i.e. at least all bhumis open. Three, one has to be suitable to be a teacher in terms of social and organisational skills. All three make one fit to begin one's service as a teacher. At the moment we have nearly ten people doing their training.

Over the years I've discussed other traditions, their teachers and teaching styles, their pros and cons. There is the path of scholars and there is the path of yogis. Ours is the latter type. I recall Dr Nida calling this the "mahasiddha style".

I want our teachers to be able to "get you", like Eubie Blake. I train teachers who know what people look for and know how to give it to them, so that they don't leave our training sessions "belly empty", without real experience, or head spinning with fancy, scary or uninteresting concepts. I've always emphasised direct experience and tantric or atiyoga transmissions which is the mahasiddha style. I confess (gladly!) that I haven't even opened the suttas, recordings of Shakyamuni's teachings except maybe twice in my life, for a brief moment. I haven't read books, sutras and tantras, because that way didn't speak to me but nevertheless, looking at my students, I feel confident to say that I've been able to "get them" as so many of them grow into the recognition of themselves as buddhas so fast and effectively. During my days of traditional training I couldn't even dream of the pace of progress my students have. I yearned, dreamed and busted my ass for 8½ years for the first bhumi opening! I'm actually glad it all didn't work for me either because it lead to even greater dissatisfaction and disillusionment about the establishment. When that happened, time was ripe for me to begin receiving teachings from past masters.

I have used this methodology of direct transmission and introduction because that is how my masters have taught me. I remember Guru Rinpoche telling me few times to read some of the teachings he'd given to some past tertons but I just never got around to it. I bought the books but chose to use the time of reading to hanging out with my guru, him, instead. I will always choose to spend time with my guru (through tantric guru yoga), instead of reading. Seekers seek to find the truth of existence or to know themselves because they feel they are lost in life. Seekers are entangled in the net of their self-delusion. Someone who has stable recognition of buddhanature (all bhumis open) lives most of the time freely and happily because 13 major breakthroughs through the bhumi chakras enables that. When such a person knows what introduction into the nature of mind is and how it happens, there is no way avoiding directly helping or pointing out the nature of mind to others, and that is "getting them". This is an instant relief and discovery for seekers.

What is transmitted and pointed out is our effortlessly satisfied nature, so fresh, spontaneous and free of fixations, where there is no existential confusion and neither solutions to remove it. What is pointed out and transmitted is the vision of reality. That is how I'm training our teachers.

I am also training 15 people as Pemako acharyas (pron. uh-chuh-ryuh) or instructors, who once they finish their training in the Spring of 2021, can give extensive introductions, short courses and retreats to newcomers, hopefully mostly at live locations rather than the internet. These people are from Scandinavian countries, central Europe, UK, Russia and United States. Out of these 15 trainees most have stable recognition and some of them lead sessions at our main Facebook page which all are welcome to join, https://www.facebook.com/groups/pemakobuddhism/

May all beings be free and happy,

-Kim, 27.2.2021

An Illiterate Attains Rainbow Body

An Illiterate Attains Rainbow Body

When I went to my master Changchub Dorje, I was educated up to the hilt in the intellectual sense. My mind was filled with everything I'd learned in the monastic colleges. I thought that to receive transmission of the teachings, elaborate ritual initiations were essential and I asked Changchub Dorje to give me a certain initiation. I asked him every day for days and days, but he always refused.

'What's the use?' he'd say. 'You've already received so many of those initiations from your other masters; initiations like that are not the principle of the Dzogchen teachings. Transmission isn't only received in formal initiations.' But no matter what he said, I remained fixed on the kind of perfectly performed ritual initiations other masters had always given me. I wasn't satisfied with his replies, and I wanted him to put on a special hat, prepare a mandala, and pour a little water on my head, or something like that. That was what I really, sincerely wanted; but he always continued to refuse.

Finally, I insisted so much that he at last agreed. He promised that about two months later, on the day of Padmasambhava, the tenth day of the Tibetan lunar month1, he would give me the initiation I wanted, the empowerment of Samantabhadra and the peaceful and wrathful divinities of the Bardo. This initiation is actually not very complicated, and a master skilled in such things

could have completed it very quickly. But Changchub Dorje had never received a formal education, and he was not used to giving initiations. When the long-awaited day finally came, the initiation took him from about nine in the morning till midnight. To begin with, he had to prepare himself by performing a rite of self-initiation. This took him until mid-day to complete. Then he began the initiation for me. But, not being formally educated, not only couldn't he read the text himself, but on top of that I could see that he didn't know how to do all the ritual things he was supposed to do. He wasn't that kind of a master.

So Changchub Dorje had a disciple present as an assistant who was himself an expert teacher, and it was he who prepared all the mandalas and ritual objects. Then this disciple began to read the text to tell the master what he had to do next. But when he read out that a certain mudra, or gesture, should be done by the master giving the initiation, Changchub Dorje didn't know how to do it, so they had to stop while he learned it. Then there was a whole long invocation that was supposed to be chanted, invoking all the masters of the lineage, and while chanting it, the master is supposed to sound a bell and a damaru, or small drum. Someone who is used to rituals can perform all this very quickly, but Changchub Dorje wasn't used to such things, and the whole situation became outrageous, a complete farce.

First of all he worked out with his assistant what was written in the notes to the text. 'Ah!' he said. 'It says here that you have to sound the bell!' So he took the bell, and for about five minutes all he did was sound it over and over again. Then it was read out to him that you have to sound the damaru. So he sounded the little drum over and over for about another five minutes. Then he suddenly said: 'Oh, now I see! You have to sound the bell and damaru together!' So he did that. But by then he had forgotten what it was that he was supposed to chant, so he had to go through it all again with the help of the disciple who could read.

Changchub Dorje himself hadn't had the kind of education that involves study, but was a practitioner who had manifested wisdom and clarity through the development of his practice, and it was because of this wisdom and clarity that he was considered to be a master. So he hadn't received the kind of monastic training that would have prepared him to give all the various kinds of formal empowerment, and he stumbled through the initiation he gave me taking all day and a good deal of the evening to do it. By the time he had finished, I was almost in a state of shock, as, given my own background, I knew very well how an initiation should be done, and it was nothing like this.

But by then it was nearly midnight, and we were all very hungry. We sang the Song of the Vajra together many times. This is a short, slow, anthemic chant, characteristic of the way Dzogchen works with ritual, that leads the practitioner into contemplation through integration with its actual sound, the structure of its syllables and melody ensuring deep, relaxed breathing. Then we recited a short Gana Puja offering, and we ate. After the meal the master gave me a real explanation of the true meaning of initiation and transmission, and I realized that despite all the formal initiations I had received at my college, I had never understood or entered into the true meaning of them.

Then, without interruption, for about three or four hours, Changchub Dorje gave me a real explanation of Dzogchen, not teaching me in an intellectual style, but talking to me in a very straightforward and relaxed, friendly, conversational way. Despite all my education, this was the first time a master had really made such a direct attempt to get me to understand something. What he said, and the way that he said it, was exactly like a tantra of Dzogchen, spoken spontaneously, continuously aloud, and I knew that even a very learned scholar would not be able to speak like that. Changchub Dorje was speaking from clarity and not just from an intellectual understanding.

Copied from Crystal and the Way of Light by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche.

Nyala Changchub Dorje was Dzogchen master renowned as the teacher of Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. He was born in the Nyarong region of Kham and studied with Adzom Drukpa, Nyala Pema Dündul, his student Nyala Rangrik Dorje and the Bön master Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859-1935).
Nyala Rinpoche led a community of Dzogchen practitioners in Nyalagar in the Dedrol area of Kham. He attained the rainbow body. Copied from here.