Bodhicitta777 on Nostr: Non-Duality in Bon Dzogchen Here are some quotes from a Dzogchen teaching by Lama ...
Non-Duality in Bon Dzogchen
Here are some quotes from a Dzogchen teaching by Lama Tenzin Namdak from his commentary on the “Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen”:
“The Natural State is always integrated with your consciousness. It has never been away from your consciousness, never, ever.”
“Just rest in Self-Nature, for a little while. Soon after, a thought will appear. It will come clearly. Everybody must have experience with this. When you look towards the thoughts which appear spontaneously without any planning, when you see a thought come up, look towards that thought.”
“Where is it coming from? Do this carefully. Don't create anything, don't think anything, don't follow what you have learnt or heard previously. Don't follow anything. Just at that present moment look how the thought appears. You can see the thought itself clearly, whatever comes, but don't create any ideas about where it is coming from - from the heart or the brain or something. It just comes spontaneously, you can't find a source at all.”
“Yet even though you don't find any source, you can still see the thought clearly. At that moment, think: 'Where is the source?' Check this. If you don't create any [ideas about the source], you will never find anything at all. If you create something, then you can say it comes from your brain or from your heart or many other things.”
“But shortly, directly, if you look towards the source, you won't find anything at all. It appears spontaneously, and you can only see the thought itself. When you see a thought come, just check where it is coming from and you will never find (the source]. So then the presence which remains is an unspeakable state. It is clear.”
“It is not possible to think it is like this or like that or something. It is neither 'empty' nor is it anything material. Don't think the brain is the source, nor the heart; nothing. There is just an unspeakable state.”
“If you check where the thought is coming from, it is not possible to find anything at all, neither externally nor internally. Nothing. The thought merely arises. Where is it? It is not possible to find where it comes from. What remains is an unspeakable state, clear and calm. That is Nature. There is no outside, no inside, nothing.”
“From this state, a thought appears and it is seen clearly. Who sees it? When you are looking at a thought, when you are thinking, who sees the thought? When you look: no-one. There is nothing special which exists as a watcher, nothing which sees the thought. There is nothing special, unless you create something.”
“If you just remain in that State, there is nothing special at all which can be explained. So at that time, when you see a thought, if you look to where it comes from, you can't see anything special. Afterwards, the presence which remains is an unspeakable state. That means you are not unconscious, nor are you in a deep sleep. Your presence is clear. You can see things, but you don't distinguish between things at all. You are like a mirror which takes reflections. You can see and hear everything…”
“This State looks like water in the ocean. When you look at the ocean, waves are coming and coming and shaking the water, but no matter what happens, if you look in the water, you can see reflections. Whatever you see - both reflections and waves, whatever movements there are - everything is water. Nothing is far removed from the water. That is the example.”
“In the same way, whatever arises from Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions, everything is like waves or reflections in water.”
“No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”
“It is very, very important to know this. Whatever appears from this Nature, whatever thoughts come - it doesn't matter whether they are good or bad, sad, but everything appears from this Nature.”
“Nature is 'taking the form' of happiness or suffering, all kinds of consciousnesses and perceptions, everything.”
“That is real, not just made or created by visualization; there is no need to change anything, no need to think anything. There is no excuse; that is real Nature. You can follow this and trust it, it is real Nature.”
“The thoughts and perceptions which appear from Nature are just like waves in water. They are Empty Forrns, there is no reality, nothing exists inherently at all. Therefore we always say that everything is just like an illusion. Nothing trustable exists anywhere, not at all. This is reality. This is the real Nature. It is essential to understand this.
First of all you need to know what Nature itself is, and how visions arise. Visions are not far from Nature itself. Whatever visions appear, they are all Empty Forms. That is called 'illusion.' We think that our life, that all the phenomena of existence are concrete and real, [we point to] this and that.”
“The thoughts which come from Nature are like reflections. If you look back towards who sees them, you yourself do not exist separately from the thought, not at all. The thought and yourself - everything - is liberated back to Nature at the same time. This State is called the Natural State.”
“Who sees the thought which comes up at that time? It sees itself. Like a mirror. Reflections come, they are reflected in the mirror, they shine there, but the glass doesn't catch them or recognize them or do anything. In the same way, this Nature doesn't recognize anything, it just sees all the thoughts. That is Nature.”
“Don't say you don't know Nature or you haven't seen it; it is always together with you - it is your Nature, the Nature of yourself, no separation.”
“At that time, it looks as though you are watching Nature or the thought, but if you look carefully, where is 'you'? Where is the watcher?”
That is a mistake [if you think there is some duality]; you are integrated with Nature, together with your thought. There is no separation between you and the thought.”
“At the same time as the thought itself is liberated back to the unspeakable state, you are completely in that State; there is no separation.”
“You think and feel as though you are separate, as though the thought is like an object, but that is a mistake. Don't follow this. At the same time, the thought and the 'watcher' are liberated back to Nature together; there is no separation into 'you' or 'thought' or 'Nature.' All together, they go back to the unspeakable state.”
“After this, there is no consciousness, no person, nothing exists separately, so who sees this State, this Nature? It sees itself.”
“That is special. It cannot be compared with any other Schools at all. People often try to compare this with the Madhyamaka view, but it is not possible to do so. This is special. Itself sees itself.”
“That is called Awareness, Self-Awareness. When we speak about Nature we say it is empty, but that is only in order to give it some name; this Emptiness cannot be compared with any other understanding of emptiness, not at all. This is very special.”
“Actually, it is not possible to give it a name or explain it - it is utterly beyond thought, beyond words. We only use these names temporarily in texts or Teachings, to try to lead students and make them understand, but the main thing is that when you look there, the unspeakable state is the Unspeakable State. It can see
itself.”
“It can be seen, but who sees it? It sees itself. What does it see? It sees itself. We call this Nature and Awareness.”
“Awareness (rigpa) is Nature, Nature is Awareness; there is no separation. Not at all. Therefore Clarity is Awareness, Awareness is Clarity and Empty Nature, together. Purity, Clarity, Unity - everything is in there. The whole thing is in there.”
“In order to speak about this State, we say [it has the qualities of] Emptiness, Clarity, Unification and Perfection.”
“We explain several aspects. But Nature itself is an indescribable State. Sometimes we say it is empty, pure and clear.”
“The Purity aspect is called kadag. The Clarity aspect is called rigpa. The aspect of Unification is called nyime, non-dual, inseparable.”
“This Nature is special in that it is perfected. What does this mean? It means that good things, bad things, everything appears spontaneously from this Nature.”
“Nature doesn't do anything special, it doesn't create anything. But this Nature has power, and so pure, impure, good, bad - anything can appear from it.”
“So that is what we call lhundrub or spontaneously perfected. What arises from Nature depends on the person, [whether they are] following after the visions or remaining in the State.”
“So we explain that this real Nature has Clarity, Unification and Perfection. We mainly explain [these aspects]. So here we can say that the Nature aspect is dharmakaya.”
“The Clarity aspect is sambhogakaya (rigpa) and the vision aspect of Perfection is nirmanakaya.”
“Buddha has Body, Speech and Mind, and also the visible miraculous manifestations of tulku. Many names can be given, but the main thing is for everybody to try to have their own experience. That is worthwhile. Don't say: 'Oh, I don't believe this' or something. This is Nature! You can't choose whether you believe it or not, you see, it is Nature, your Nature. You can't deny that!”
“At that time, people quite often have the thought or feeling; 'I am looking at the thought.' When you have this kind of sensation, immediately look back towards who is watching the thought. Just as you look at the thought, it disappears and there is an unspeakable state, so in the same way, look back to the 'owner' [of the thought] or the subject which is the watcher. “
“This will equally disappear into the Natural State at the same time. Both subject and object are equally liberated back to Nature. This is Nature.”
“Afterwards, there is no subject, no object, no separation, no differences at all, they are both equally the Unspeakable State. That is the Basic Nature.”
“Keep in this State for as long as you can. After a while a thought will arise spontaneously; you can see it clearly. This thought has come. At that time, you must neither reject it, nor follow it. Just leave it as a shining reflection in the mirror. You don't need to do anything, just leave it, and it will be liberated and disappear soon afterwards. It liberates into the Nature which is also the Base (Zhi) from which the thought appeared.”
“This State looks like water in the ocean. When you look at the ocean, waves are coming and coming and shaking the water, but no matter what happens, if you look in the water, you can see reflections. Whatever you see - both reflections and waves, whatever movements there are - everything is water. Nothing is far removed from the water.”
“That is the example. In the same way, whatever arises from one’s Self-Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions - everything is like waves or reflections in water. No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Self-Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”
Here are some quotes from a Dzogchen teaching by Lama Tenzin Namdak from his commentary on the “Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen”:
“The Natural State is always integrated with your consciousness. It has never been away from your consciousness, never, ever.”
“Just rest in Self-Nature, for a little while. Soon after, a thought will appear. It will come clearly. Everybody must have experience with this. When you look towards the thoughts which appear spontaneously without any planning, when you see a thought come up, look towards that thought.”
“Where is it coming from? Do this carefully. Don't create anything, don't think anything, don't follow what you have learnt or heard previously. Don't follow anything. Just at that present moment look how the thought appears. You can see the thought itself clearly, whatever comes, but don't create any ideas about where it is coming from - from the heart or the brain or something. It just comes spontaneously, you can't find a source at all.”
“Yet even though you don't find any source, you can still see the thought clearly. At that moment, think: 'Where is the source?' Check this. If you don't create any [ideas about the source], you will never find anything at all. If you create something, then you can say it comes from your brain or from your heart or many other things.”
“But shortly, directly, if you look towards the source, you won't find anything at all. It appears spontaneously, and you can only see the thought itself. When you see a thought come, just check where it is coming from and you will never find (the source]. So then the presence which remains is an unspeakable state. It is clear.”
“It is not possible to think it is like this or like that or something. It is neither 'empty' nor is it anything material. Don't think the brain is the source, nor the heart; nothing. There is just an unspeakable state.”
“If you check where the thought is coming from, it is not possible to find anything at all, neither externally nor internally. Nothing. The thought merely arises. Where is it? It is not possible to find where it comes from. What remains is an unspeakable state, clear and calm. That is Nature. There is no outside, no inside, nothing.”
“From this state, a thought appears and it is seen clearly. Who sees it? When you are looking at a thought, when you are thinking, who sees the thought? When you look: no-one. There is nothing special which exists as a watcher, nothing which sees the thought. There is nothing special, unless you create something.”
“If you just remain in that State, there is nothing special at all which can be explained. So at that time, when you see a thought, if you look to where it comes from, you can't see anything special. Afterwards, the presence which remains is an unspeakable state. That means you are not unconscious, nor are you in a deep sleep. Your presence is clear. You can see things, but you don't distinguish between things at all. You are like a mirror which takes reflections. You can see and hear everything…”
“This State looks like water in the ocean. When you look at the ocean, waves are coming and coming and shaking the water, but no matter what happens, if you look in the water, you can see reflections. Whatever you see - both reflections and waves, whatever movements there are - everything is water. Nothing is far removed from the water. That is the example.”
“In the same way, whatever arises from Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions, everything is like waves or reflections in water.”
“No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”
“It is very, very important to know this. Whatever appears from this Nature, whatever thoughts come - it doesn't matter whether they are good or bad, sad, but everything appears from this Nature.”
“Nature is 'taking the form' of happiness or suffering, all kinds of consciousnesses and perceptions, everything.”
“That is real, not just made or created by visualization; there is no need to change anything, no need to think anything. There is no excuse; that is real Nature. You can follow this and trust it, it is real Nature.”
“The thoughts and perceptions which appear from Nature are just like waves in water. They are Empty Forrns, there is no reality, nothing exists inherently at all. Therefore we always say that everything is just like an illusion. Nothing trustable exists anywhere, not at all. This is reality. This is the real Nature. It is essential to understand this.
First of all you need to know what Nature itself is, and how visions arise. Visions are not far from Nature itself. Whatever visions appear, they are all Empty Forms. That is called 'illusion.' We think that our life, that all the phenomena of existence are concrete and real, [we point to] this and that.”
“The thoughts which come from Nature are like reflections. If you look back towards who sees them, you yourself do not exist separately from the thought, not at all. The thought and yourself - everything - is liberated back to Nature at the same time. This State is called the Natural State.”
“Who sees the thought which comes up at that time? It sees itself. Like a mirror. Reflections come, they are reflected in the mirror, they shine there, but the glass doesn't catch them or recognize them or do anything. In the same way, this Nature doesn't recognize anything, it just sees all the thoughts. That is Nature.”
“Don't say you don't know Nature or you haven't seen it; it is always together with you - it is your Nature, the Nature of yourself, no separation.”
“At that time, it looks as though you are watching Nature or the thought, but if you look carefully, where is 'you'? Where is the watcher?”
That is a mistake [if you think there is some duality]; you are integrated with Nature, together with your thought. There is no separation between you and the thought.”
“At the same time as the thought itself is liberated back to the unspeakable state, you are completely in that State; there is no separation.”
“You think and feel as though you are separate, as though the thought is like an object, but that is a mistake. Don't follow this. At the same time, the thought and the 'watcher' are liberated back to Nature together; there is no separation into 'you' or 'thought' or 'Nature.' All together, they go back to the unspeakable state.”
“After this, there is no consciousness, no person, nothing exists separately, so who sees this State, this Nature? It sees itself.”
“That is special. It cannot be compared with any other Schools at all. People often try to compare this with the Madhyamaka view, but it is not possible to do so. This is special. Itself sees itself.”
“That is called Awareness, Self-Awareness. When we speak about Nature we say it is empty, but that is only in order to give it some name; this Emptiness cannot be compared with any other understanding of emptiness, not at all. This is very special.”
“Actually, it is not possible to give it a name or explain it - it is utterly beyond thought, beyond words. We only use these names temporarily in texts or Teachings, to try to lead students and make them understand, but the main thing is that when you look there, the unspeakable state is the Unspeakable State. It can see
itself.”
“It can be seen, but who sees it? It sees itself. What does it see? It sees itself. We call this Nature and Awareness.”
“Awareness (rigpa) is Nature, Nature is Awareness; there is no separation. Not at all. Therefore Clarity is Awareness, Awareness is Clarity and Empty Nature, together. Purity, Clarity, Unity - everything is in there. The whole thing is in there.”
“In order to speak about this State, we say [it has the qualities of] Emptiness, Clarity, Unification and Perfection.”
“We explain several aspects. But Nature itself is an indescribable State. Sometimes we say it is empty, pure and clear.”
“The Purity aspect is called kadag. The Clarity aspect is called rigpa. The aspect of Unification is called nyime, non-dual, inseparable.”
“This Nature is special in that it is perfected. What does this mean? It means that good things, bad things, everything appears spontaneously from this Nature.”
“Nature doesn't do anything special, it doesn't create anything. But this Nature has power, and so pure, impure, good, bad - anything can appear from it.”
“So that is what we call lhundrub or spontaneously perfected. What arises from Nature depends on the person, [whether they are] following after the visions or remaining in the State.”
“So we explain that this real Nature has Clarity, Unification and Perfection. We mainly explain [these aspects]. So here we can say that the Nature aspect is dharmakaya.”
“The Clarity aspect is sambhogakaya (rigpa) and the vision aspect of Perfection is nirmanakaya.”
“Buddha has Body, Speech and Mind, and also the visible miraculous manifestations of tulku. Many names can be given, but the main thing is for everybody to try to have their own experience. That is worthwhile. Don't say: 'Oh, I don't believe this' or something. This is Nature! You can't choose whether you believe it or not, you see, it is Nature, your Nature. You can't deny that!”
“At that time, people quite often have the thought or feeling; 'I am looking at the thought.' When you have this kind of sensation, immediately look back towards who is watching the thought. Just as you look at the thought, it disappears and there is an unspeakable state, so in the same way, look back to the 'owner' [of the thought] or the subject which is the watcher. “
“This will equally disappear into the Natural State at the same time. Both subject and object are equally liberated back to Nature. This is Nature.”
“Afterwards, there is no subject, no object, no separation, no differences at all, they are both equally the Unspeakable State. That is the Basic Nature.”
“Keep in this State for as long as you can. After a while a thought will arise spontaneously; you can see it clearly. This thought has come. At that time, you must neither reject it, nor follow it. Just leave it as a shining reflection in the mirror. You don't need to do anything, just leave it, and it will be liberated and disappear soon afterwards. It liberates into the Nature which is also the Base (Zhi) from which the thought appeared.”
“This State looks like water in the ocean. When you look at the ocean, waves are coming and coming and shaking the water, but no matter what happens, if you look in the water, you can see reflections. Whatever you see - both reflections and waves, whatever movements there are - everything is water. Nothing is far removed from the water.”
“That is the example. In the same way, whatever arises from one’s Self-Nature and appears as spontaneous visions or thoughts - thoughts are also visions; any kind of emotion or thoughts, good or bad, are called visions - everything is like waves or reflections in water. No matter what appears in the water, it is all wet, and in the same way, whatever visions or thoughts, good or bad [arise from Self-Nature], they are all forms of the Unspeakable State.”