How to Practice the Dzogchen Path

How to Practice the Path of the Great Perfection

by Yukhok Chatralwa Chöying Rangdrol

Generally, there are three parts to practicing the path of the clear light Great Perfection: preliminaries, main part, and conclusion.

The preliminary, which is the instruction on demolishing the house of the ordinary mind, itself includes three sections: (1) probing to the root, (2) searching for hidden flaws, and (3) an investigation of coming, staying, and going.

Probing to the Root

In this instruction, which is likened to identifying a thief, we must recognize the source of our circling in saṃsāra. This is the point at which most teachers these days tell their students, “Analyze your body, speech, and mind. Determine which is most important.” The students then contemplate all manner of chatter and hearsay before concluding that mind is most important because it is the one that originally became deluded, and so on. Then the teacher will say such things as “Investigate whether your mind has features like color or shape. Analyze its coming, staying, and going.” Then when the students say, “There is nothing to it at all,” the teacher will say they have understood. Then the teacher will continue: “Now settle the mind without altering. . . . Now direct your awareness . . . and so on.” Yet for such explanations, it would hardly be necessary to shut the outer door from the outside, lock the inner door from the inside, or apply the seal of strictest secrecy! For this does not correspond to any tradition of Mahāmudrā, Great Perfection, or the Middle Way. And as it is perfectly intelligible even to an old nun, there would have been no need for Vajradhara to appear in order to reveal it. We must bring an end to such terrible traditions from now on.

In our own tradition, we assert that it is clinging to the self of the individual that is at the root of saṃsāra. By this, we mean a mistaken mind that perceives a self or an “I” in the five psychophysical aggregates, or the body, speech, and mind. This is what brings clinging to an “I” or a self, and therefore we say that it is certainly how the object of refutation appears. Clinging to an individual self, then, is the root of saṃsāra, whereas clinging to a phenomenal self (or identity) is considered a cognitive obscuration. For, as the regent Maitreya states,

Any thought involving the three spheres
Is a cognitive obscuration, it is claimed.[1]

This assertion applies both in the sūtras and in mantra. And there is no need to transform it into something else, to patch it up with something else, or to mix it with something else. Syncretism, in other words, is inappropriate. Why so? Adherents of the later tradition apply the term truly existent to the object of negation and claim that this is certainly what is to be negated. They believe that clinging to things as truly existent is an emotional obscuration, and they therefore contend that it is clinging to phenomenal identity that lies at the root of saṃsāra. And since it is rather uncomfortable for a single person to hold in the mind two contradictory beliefs concerning the root of saṃsāra at the same time, such syncretism is out of place.

Moreover, in our own tradition we make further assertions, such as that the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas do not realize the selflessness of phenomena completely, while others claim that they do. It would not be right, therefore, to combine these two systems. Of course, it is fine to mix two things that complement each other and go together well, like wild sweet potato and melted butter, but there is no need to mix things that do not. In our tradition, for example, it is important to develop a deep certainty from within and to resolve things decisively. In other traditions, it is important to maintain faith and pure perception until reaching the essence of enlightenment, so they are known as systems for honorable beings.

Generally, there are said to be more than six[2] major philosophical systems here in Tibet, each with its own complete path to liberation and enlightenment, and therefore there is no need to combine them.

Searching for Hidden Flaws

You might wonder how self-clinging functions. It involves clinging to the self as something whole, singular, and real. When it comes to overturning such clinging, the antidote to singularity is multiplicity. Breaking down the self into five aggregates and then (to take form alone) to the level of the partless particle thus counteracts the notion of the self as singular. As the antidote to the idea that the self is real, we can consider how it is false and impermanent, meaning that it has the character of changing with each passing moment. This corresponds to the subtle impermanence of its nature. The self is also impermanent at the coarser level of its continuum. It is therefore merely the interdependent connection of causes and conditions, and there is nothing more to it than this—no true existence. When we realize this, it naturally dispels any clinging to self, so this is the realization of individual selflessness.

At the stage of analyzing whether body, speech, or mind is most important, the assertion is that mind is the most important factor.[3] Still, when you examine the matter closely, you find that the body is also of great significance. For instance, when entering the door of the Buddhist teachings, there can be no entrance other than by means of the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva, and mantra precepts. And for the prātimokṣa vows to arise initially in your continuum you must be either a man or a woman and not just from any of the three continents, but specifically someone with the special physical support that is unique to this continent of Jambudvīpa. The vows will not arise in anyone else, not in devas, nāgas, garuḍas, or any other such being. And even if the Buddha were to appear in person before these other beings, even he could not help to change this. And even though the bodhisattva vows can arise in such beings as devas, nāgas, and the like, they do not come about through mind alone; they require the combination of body, speech, and mind. In entering the door of Unsurpassed Mantra, only the physical support of a human form complete with its six elements is suitable as a vessel for the four empowerments, because without it there is no associated cause. Similarly, even if all eighteen freedoms and advantages are complete, the body is most important. For example, a newborn baby without sight or hearing will be incapable of learning even the slightest dharmic or worldly action. The body is therefore of great importance.

In a similar way, speech too is said to be very important. Revealing what must be avoided or adopted, for example, requires all the qualities of speech, as you must be able to speak and understand. Merely making sounds like an animal is of no benefit. Communication involves the body, speech, and mind. It is by means of the chest, throat, tongue, teeth, palate, and so on, as well as through mental motivation, that all words and their corresponding meanings are produced, in dependence on the garlands of syllables, the speech that rides on the horse of wind energy. Speech too is therefore of great importance.

Without the mind, which includes the eight collections of consciousness and fifty accompanying mental states, we would be no more than a corpse. It is mind that first arises in saṃsāra. Body and speech are continually acquired and left behind.

Self-clinging appears through the force of ignorance and delusion. It is through attachment to how things appear, and through solidifying that attachment and clinging to it as real, that we cling to a self and what belongs to that self—in other words, “I” and “mine.” This is how, like a herdsman with his herd, we cling to what we take to be ours, or what we imagine belongs to the self.

Generally, there is no beginning to saṃsāra, no beginning to birth, and no beginning to delusion. We wander in saṃsāric existence, therefore, until we put an end to it. And throughout this time spent in the impure realms of saṃsāra, the individual wanderer does not have a mind in isolation but the three factors of body, speech, and mind together. The realms we wander through are of six types—the abodes of the six classes of beings in saṃsāra. Correspondingly, therefore, there are various types of body. The body of the desire realms is material and made of flesh and blood. In the form realms, there is a subtle body of light. And in the formless realms, beings have a mental “meditation” body. From the Mahāyāna viewpoint, we accumulate karma based on body, speech, and mind. And it is only through accumulating karma that we are reborn in the three realms of saṃsāra. It would be impossible for the mind alone, without accumulating karma, to be reborn in saṃsāra. There is no such thing as a solitary mind, with no accumulated karma, being pulled along like a fish caught on a hook, or pursued like deer chased by dogs. It is through karma alone that rebirth takes place. As it is said, “The world is created through karma; it is through karma that it appears. Karma is what creates it all, like an artist.” Tainted karma is of three kinds: virtuous, unvirtuous, and unalterable. Yet whichever of these is accumulated, it is based on body, speech, and mind together. The mind cannot function in isolation.

It is also impossible for there to be only enlightened mind—rather than enlightened body, speech, and mind together—in a pure buddha realm. Body, speech, and mind work in combination, therefore, like the legs of a tripod. And it is difficult to identify which of them is most important. Nevertheless, from sūtra to mantra, it is said that mind is the most important. So, having been introduced to this analysis, you must investigate and analyze the matter for yourself. But anything other than deep certainty, based on an understanding that does not contradict scripture, reasoning, or the pith instructions, is not entirely pure.

Coming, Staying, and Going

There are many traditions of explanation from the lineage of past vidyādhara masters, such as The Essential Instruction on Trekchö, Revitalization in the Primordial State and its supplements.[4] Nevertheless, on this occasion, I shall follow Dodrupchen Rinpoche’s explanation to Nyala Rinpoche (Tertön Sogyal).

All phenomena are included within the two categories of object and subject. Just as all knowable phenomena are said to be included within the two truths, all objects are included within the three categories of origin, location, and destination, and all subjects within the three categories of that which arises, that which remains, and that which departs.

First, when examining the origin, you should relate the analysis to a particular basis, by focusing, for example, on a pillar in front of you. When, in the first instant of perceiving the pillar by means of the visual consciousness, you have the thought “It is a pillar,” ask yourself, Does this consciousness arise from the pillar or not? At that time, without analyzing the subjective mind, consider only the object pillar and how, while empty in its own essence, it still appears—its aspect of appearance being unobstructed. While appearing, the pillar is primordially empty in essence, with the character of being free from complexity. Without losing its apparent basis, it is empty, and without losing its empty basis, it appears. We must be certain, therefore, that its identity is the union of appearance and emptiness.

Others assert that the pillar is not empty of its own essence but is empty of true existence. Therefore, as true existence does not exist in knowable phenomena, and phenomena themselves, such as vases, are not empty from the perspective of ultimate analysis, appearance and emptiness are not a unity, and there is no relationship of method and outcome, or of the nature of things and things themselves. As true existence does not exist in knowable phenomena, the emptiness that is its absence is also impossible: it is like saying a horse is empty of a cow. Even if such emptiness did exist, there could be no union of appearance and emptiness—they would differ in essence, and it would be like twisting together white and black thread. Of the seven kinds of emptiness, including the trivial, mentioned in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra,[5] one thing being empty of another—as in the absence of the child of a barren woman, or of a rabbit’s horn, or when a pauper is devoid of wealth—is the trivial kind of emptiness. It is not the kind of emptiness that someone desirous of liberation should cultivate or meditate upon.

There are those who claim that while a pillar itself is not empty from the perspective of ultimate analysis, it is empty of true existence. Even if there were an impression of true existence and the like, unless the pillar itself was empty, it would have the character of being truly existent, permanent, stable, and unchanging. Lama Gyade said, “Even if you assert that a pillar is empty of its own essence, you accept that emptiness is freedom from conceptual elaboration. And it is meaningless to suggest that the emptiness resulting from the negation of a thing’s apparent aspect is freedom from conceptual elaboration.” The followers of this tradition might say to Mipham, If it is necessary for the union of appearance and emptiness to be present all the time, the features of a pale wooden pillar must also be present even during the noble ones’ wisdom of meditative equipoise. Even if Mipham did not address such an objection directly, it is refuted by this system’s assertions.

When investigating the subject, if we take visual consciousness as an example, the quality of cognizing and being aware of an object is itself an outward sign of the genuine wisdom of clear light. The definition of consciousness is, after all, “that which cognizes and is aware.” Consciousness is what makes the unknown known, what cognizes the uncognized, what realizes the unrealized. Of course, this does not mean it literally illuminates in the way a lamp does.[6] As an outward sign of great empty basic space, free from conceptual elaboration, consciousness is, in essence, originally empty and free from conceptual elaboration. And as the outward sign of the union of space and wisdom, these two—consciousness and its emptiness—have the character of being inseparably united. Thus, like the cubs of a white snow lioness, we possess signs of a pure heritage.

Dodrup Rinpoche used to say that this inseparable union of space and wisdom lies at the heart of all phenomena: it is, in a sense, their vital force, or hallmark. And all that can be perceived right now, therefore, is included within this buddha nature or genuine clear light. Nothing whatsoever is excluded. Pointing his finger,[7] he would say, “All this—the peaks and the hollows—is just the same.”

Dodrup Rinpoche would also say that the three parts of preparation, main part, and conclusion must be complete. And when they are complete, anyone who meditates on this view of coming, staying, and going for three years will be able to gain liberation during the intermediate state, even if they were to die before ever meditating upon Trekchö itself. This is excellent and is not how it is usually understood. Such a practitioner would indeed have gained the certainty that all that appears in the intermediate state is the union of appearance and emptiness. For the duration of meditative equipoise, there would be no clinging, not even to the four extremes, to permanence and nonexistence, or to the self-identity of an individual or phenomena, and so on. This is to have set out on the path; it is also the Great Perfection.

In short, all phenomena without exception, whether they belong to saṃsāra, nirvāṇa, or the path, are the union of absolute space and wisdom, or the union of appearance and emptiness. On the impure, saṃsāric plane, all that appears, without even the slightest exception, is the union of appearance and emptiness. At the time of the ultimate fruition too, appearances that arise out of the space of great, primordial emptiness—the pure realms and buddha forms—appear as the limitless, self-manifesting array of wisdom. And at the stage when yogis are on the path, there is direct realization of the natural state of all phenomena, which is the union of absolute space and wisdom. Then, during the post-meditation phase, perceptions arise as the union of appearance and emptiness, illusory and insubstantial.

Lama Nyala once asked Dodrup Rinpoche whether there was any qualitative distinction between the view of coming, staying, and going in this context and the Middle Way view. Rinpoche replied that there is a difference. “The Middle Way,” he said, “corresponds to the sūtras, above which are the three tantra classes of the Mantra Vehicle, and beyond those, the three inner tantra classes of mantra. It is among these final three classes that we find the very pinnacle of all nine vehicles, the Great Perfection or Atiyoga. So there is a difference.”

Tertön Tsang (Tertön Sogyal) would say, “Aside from this distinction in terms of the basis, there is also a great difference in the features themselves.” When he was asked, “Well then, must there be a philosophical standpoint[8] or not?” he replied, “If there were, this would not be breaking down the house of the mind so much as constructing it.” When told that Lama Lungtok says there must be a philosophical standpoint, he said, “Oh yes, he does say that.” So, while Lama Nyala says there should be no standpoint, Lama Lungtok said there must be. When Lama Tsang (Yukhok Chatralwa) was asked, “How do you believe it is?” he said he too didn’t think there should be a standpoint.[9]

Then, when asked what are the distinctive features over and above the difference in the basis itself, the lama said that here, when settling with ease in meditative equipoise, based on a lamp-like certainty as to the union of appearance and emptiness, there is no philosophical standpoint whatsoever related to the four extremes. The sign of this is that whatever arises within the basic space of the essence of mind can do so without obstruction—and this is a special feature not found in the Middle Way.

On the path of Trekchö, the arising and liberation of thoughts occur simultaneously. So, at that stage, as a sign that the view of coming, staying, and going has pervaded the mind stream, there is self-liberation without the need for any other antidote. And this is another special feature not to be found in the Middle Way.

Although the path of Trekchö generally involves the simultaneous arising and liberation of thoughts, this practice (of coming, staying, and going) does not feature the genuine form of liberation upon arising, as that belongs only to the main practice. Still, it does mark the point at which such liberation upon arising begins, and that is why it is considered a trekchö preliminary.

There is a further point here concerning the investigation of coming, staying, and going. As adventitious, delusory appearances are absent at the time of the original ground, they are empty in terms of their origin. Nor is there anywhere that such appearances remain in the interim—they are all just as transient as an unexpected guest. They are like the falling hairs that appear in the sky for someone with an eye disorder, or the sight of a yellow conch to someone with jaundice, or water in its frozen state. As such analogies indicate, appearances are by nature adventitious; they constantly arise afresh and are therefore without any abiding essence. Finally, as such phenomena are absent at the time of the ultimate fruition, they are also empty in terms of their destination.

As Rongzom, Longchenpa, Mipham, and others have asserted, when establishing appearances as divine and the subjective mind as wisdom, conventional valid cognition has two aspects: that based on narrow, limited vision and that based on vision that is pure. If we consider only the first of these, it is impossible, from the perspective of either valid direct perception or valid inference, for pure appearances to derive from impure appearances. Considering the second, however, from the perspective of the wisdom that is present in the meditative equipoise of noble beings, the fading of all dualistic perception means that the dualism of clinging to subject and object is definitively averted. And, even during the postmeditation phase, appearances arise without being taken as real. Then, on the eighth bodhisattva level, during the postmeditation phase, appearance and existence dawn as infinite purity. In the pure perception of the buddhas, the vision, within even a single atom, of inconceivable pure realms, each containing teachers together with their retinues, as numerous as atoms, is the valid cognition of the ultimate vision of how things are. As this is the valid cognition of ultimate vision, we can realize how all the delusory appearances that we currently have as ordinary beings are not truly valid but are in fact false and deceptive.

A sign of pure awareness (or rigpa) is that no ordinary thought will arise. Neither potential deviations nor the slightest stains of ordinary mind should be present. All thoughts should arise with the quality of pure awareness. Just as when the sun rises there is no possibility for darkness or gloom to remain, when pure awareness dawns, all thoughts should arise with rigpa’s features. As for maintaining mindfulness and awareness, when you have mindfulness, you have meditation, and when you let mindfulness slip away, meditation also slips away. Being “mindful and aware” here means being continually cognizant, continually present.

Meditative equipoise should be relaxed. Within such a state, any mental expressions that arise will be freed before they have the chance to create habitual impressions—and this is what we call postmeditation. During ordinary daily activity, pure awareness must be more concentrated. As Mipham says,

Pith instructions are like children’s games.
Meditation is like the king of mountains or the ocean.

In the primordial ground, beyond transition or change, the original experience
Is the guru of primordial purity, beyond the mind and free of complexity;
To this guru, while experiencing my own undeluded awareness, I pray:
Grant your blessings so I may attain enlightenment in this very life!

Revealer of pure awareness, which has never known delusion,
Original lord, primordially awakened,
Recalling your kindness, I pray to you:
Grant your blessings so the world and its inhabitants may be liberated as dharmakāya!

The dharmakāya guru of awareness and emptiness
Wrote this to fulfill the wishes of the child of awareness.
May the mantra protectress guard over it
And prevent it from falling into samaya breakers’ hands!

Samaya. Sealed. Sealed. Sealed.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2018. First published on Lotsawa House, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

Chos dbyings rang grol. “rDzogs pa chen po’i lam nyams su len tshul.” In Chos dbyings rang grol gsung ’bum. Vol. 2, 403–14.

Secondary Sources

Pearcey, Adam. A Greater Perfection? Scholasticism, Comparativism and Issues of Sectarian Identity in Early 20th Century Writings on rDzogs-chen. Unpublished PhD thesis. SOAS, University of London. 2018.

______. Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rimé, and the Path of Perfect Wisdom. Boulder: Snow Lion, 2018.

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