11-29-2012, 02:34 PM
In Dzogchen, the Light which is Mind, is Everything and Everywhere, and the word they use for this is Rigpa, the pure primordial state of consciousness.
"Rigpa
Dzogchen practice emphasizes accessing rigpa (rig-pa, pure awareness), the subtlest level of mental activity. Rigpa is an unaffected phenomenon (‘ dus-ma-byed), not in the sense of being static, but in the sense of not being contrived or made up as something temporary and new. It is primordially present, continuous, and everlasting. It is unstained by fleeting ordinary mental activity – in other words, rigpa is devoid of them.
Rigpa is complete with all the good qualities (yon-tan) of a Buddha, such as understanding and compassion. They are innate (lhan-skyes) to rigpa, which means that they arise simultaneously with each moment of rigpa, and primordial (gnyugs-ma), in the sense of having no beginning.
We do not need to create good qualities anew from nothing or just from potentials. Like the innate quality of a mirror to reflect, which is there even when dust totally obscures the surface of the mirror, we do not need to add anything for rigpa’s good qualities to function. We need merely to remove the fleeting stains, the dust. Before enlightenment, however, even when rigpa is manifest, its good qualities are not all equally prominent simultaneously.
Among the innate qualities of rigpa is self-arising deep awareness (rang-byung ye-shes), also known as reflexive deep awareness (rang-rig ye-shes). This is awareness of rigpa’s own face (rang-ngo shes-pa) as the face of Samantabhadra (Kun-tu bzang-po, the Totally Excellent One endowed with all good qualities). When reflexive deep awareness is not manifest, due to the automatically arising factor of dumbfoundedness (rmongs-cha, stupidity, bedazzlement) that obscures rigpa’s knowing of its own nature, mental activity becomes sem (sems, limited awareness) and no longer rigpa.
The fleeting factor of dumbfoundedness is another name for automatically arising unawareness (lhan-skyes ma-rig-pa) regarding phenomena. It is not an actual disturbing attitude, but only a nominal one (nyon-mongs-kyi ming-btags-pa), since it falls in the category of obscurations regarding all knowables, and which prevent omniscience (shes-sgrib).
Moreover, unawareness (ignorance), here,
is not in the sense of inverted cognition and grasping of the cognitive appearance of things (phyin-ci-log-par ‘dzin-pa) – perceiving them to exist in a manner that does not correspond to their actuality and grasping for them to truly exist in that manner.
Nor is it unawareness in the sense of not knowing (mi-shes-pa) that dualistic appearances are false.
Rather, it is unawareness in the sense of not knowing its own nature. It does not “recognize its own face.”
"
They say there are four natural occurences of rigpa (meaning not attained through meditation/contemplation), which are - when you are falling asleep, when you orgasm, when you die, and when you sneeze.
Part of the whole practice of Dzogchen is to prepare oneself for the occurence of Rigpa at death and at that moment the aware practictioner unifies themselves with the light and transcends. There are numerous stories of Dzogchen masters who announce their own death, go in to retreat for 7 days, and then when they go in to look there is no body, but only hair and nails as all that was not impure transcended the physical.
"Rigpa
Dzogchen practice emphasizes accessing rigpa (rig-pa, pure awareness), the subtlest level of mental activity. Rigpa is an unaffected phenomenon (‘ dus-ma-byed), not in the sense of being static, but in the sense of not being contrived or made up as something temporary and new. It is primordially present, continuous, and everlasting. It is unstained by fleeting ordinary mental activity – in other words, rigpa is devoid of them.
Rigpa is complete with all the good qualities (yon-tan) of a Buddha, such as understanding and compassion. They are innate (lhan-skyes) to rigpa, which means that they arise simultaneously with each moment of rigpa, and primordial (gnyugs-ma), in the sense of having no beginning.
We do not need to create good qualities anew from nothing or just from potentials. Like the innate quality of a mirror to reflect, which is there even when dust totally obscures the surface of the mirror, we do not need to add anything for rigpa’s good qualities to function. We need merely to remove the fleeting stains, the dust. Before enlightenment, however, even when rigpa is manifest, its good qualities are not all equally prominent simultaneously.
Among the innate qualities of rigpa is self-arising deep awareness (rang-byung ye-shes), also known as reflexive deep awareness (rang-rig ye-shes). This is awareness of rigpa’s own face (rang-ngo shes-pa) as the face of Samantabhadra (Kun-tu bzang-po, the Totally Excellent One endowed with all good qualities). When reflexive deep awareness is not manifest, due to the automatically arising factor of dumbfoundedness (rmongs-cha, stupidity, bedazzlement) that obscures rigpa’s knowing of its own nature, mental activity becomes sem (sems, limited awareness) and no longer rigpa.
The fleeting factor of dumbfoundedness is another name for automatically arising unawareness (lhan-skyes ma-rig-pa) regarding phenomena. It is not an actual disturbing attitude, but only a nominal one (nyon-mongs-kyi ming-btags-pa), since it falls in the category of obscurations regarding all knowables, and which prevent omniscience (shes-sgrib).
Moreover, unawareness (ignorance), here,
is not in the sense of inverted cognition and grasping of the cognitive appearance of things (phyin-ci-log-par ‘dzin-pa) – perceiving them to exist in a manner that does not correspond to their actuality and grasping for them to truly exist in that manner.
Nor is it unawareness in the sense of not knowing (mi-shes-pa) that dualistic appearances are false.
Rather, it is unawareness in the sense of not knowing its own nature. It does not “recognize its own face.”
"
They say there are four natural occurences of rigpa (meaning not attained through meditation/contemplation), which are - when you are falling asleep, when you orgasm, when you die, and when you sneeze.
Part of the whole practice of Dzogchen is to prepare oneself for the occurence of Rigpa at death and at that moment the aware practictioner unifies themselves with the light and transcends. There are numerous stories of Dzogchen masters who announce their own death, go in to retreat for 7 days, and then when they go in to look there is no body, but only hair and nails as all that was not impure transcended the physical.