Difference between mind and rigpa.

Mind experiences appearances and has a quality of inner fixation.
Rigpa is free from external objects and internal fixation.

Mind as a perceiver gives rise to secondary mental factors which give birth to a chain of karmic actions.
Rigpa has no causes or conditions to give rise to karma because there are no secondary mental factors.

Mind is obscured by cognitive, emotional and habitual patterns and imprints.
Rigpa is primordially free of obscurations and imprints.  Its nature is originally pure kadag.

In meditation, we can recognize the characteristics of mind.
Rigpa has no characteristics.

How do we recognize rigpa?

Leave the mind in its uncontrived, natural state.  Without chasing after thoughts or appearances you arrive at a calm, clear and pristine state.  Dissolve all thoughts and appearances into the ground of the nature of mind like waves dissolving into water or clouds dissolving into space.

Sustain that through unique Dzogchen mindfulness and vigilance.

The clarity aspect of the nature of mind will intensify.
The ultimate aspect of that luminosity is rigpa.

This meditation instruction was received from Younge Khachab Rinpoche, September 2011. 

The 3 Nails.

Namo Samantabhadra.

1. The nail of perfect determination.
2. The nail of great confidence.
3. The nail of remaining with the result.

Persevere in your meditation, through it will come a pure and perfect experience free from all doubt.  Recognize the view, meditation and realization all have the same nature.  When you are free of all doubt, you will realize there is no nail to drive and nothing to drive into.  Awareness is groundless, completely transparent.

If you meditate, everything becomes a reflection of awareness.  If not, your experience will be bound by concepts and elaboration.

Remaining with the result is the union of transparent awareness and unobstructed wisdom.

This upadesha of the Three Nails was given by Younge Khachab Rinpoche in February 2010. 

Four foundations of Dzogchen meditation.

The Dzogchen kama, or oral lineage, taught four foundations prior to the practice of trekchod and thogal.

1. Immovable.
2. Unification.
3. Equanimity.
4. Spontaneous presence.

By mastering these four foundations one arrives at naked awareness beyond mind.  As your experience of the nature of mind becomes more and more subtle, you elicit the unobstructed, transparent nature of rigpa.  That subtle experience of baseless clarity transitions one to the practice of the four methods of resting which are the main practice of trekchod.  

Immovable meditation.

Outwardly, body is unwavering like a mountain.
Internally, not following thoughts, not altering the mind.
Secretly, the profound stage of original purity.
From this immovable state, all that appears is naturally arising,
without emotion or reaction everything dissolves into the expanse,
arising from and dissolving into original purity. 

A garland of lives.

The continuum of lives is neither one nor many.
Manifold expressions arise in all their diversity
from the single sphere of original purity.

The experience of emptiness.

Appearance is emptiness.
Emptiness is appearance.
Appearance is not other than emptiness.
Emptiness is not other than appearance. 

A sign of progress.

Not grasping to appearances,
not chasing after thoughts or feelings,
free from attachment and aversion.
Those are the signs of progress for a Dzogchen practitioner. 

Simple Dzogchen introduction.

Clear away the concepts of mind,
recognize the nature of mind,
introduce rigpa,
recognize and abide in this unique state.

Meditation Workshop.

MEDITATION WORKSHOP

Join us for a practice intensive.  Receive meditation instruction,

ask questions, engage in discussion with other practitioners. 

Clarify your practice.  Let your practice clarify you.

 

Sunday January 31, 2016

10am - 12pm 

Embrace the Moon

1716 NW Market St 

Seattle, WA 98107

Suggested donation $10

For more information contact Greg at siddhearta@gmail.com.

Liberation upon arising.

Our coarse experience of the world is the variety of appearances and experiences we encounter with the mind as the subject.

The subtle experience of appearances is recognizing them as the expression of awareness.

Realizing the nature of rigpa you eliminate all grasping without having to apply any antidotes.  Fixation is immediately cut through and you directly perceive the true nature of reality.
Realizing this self-arising wisdom from your own experience, all objects and mind are cut through at the root.  All that appears from this state is the expression of awareness, liberated upon arising.

Contemplation of the second nail of Shri Singha's Seven Nails.

You need to dissolve grasping.

The nature of mind and the nature of awareness are the same.
The nature of mind is subtle-
it is clear and calm, free from thoughts and feelings.
It is completely unobstructed, transparent emptiness.
Appearances arise from this transparent state as the expression of awareness.

The difference is that appearances of the nature of mind obscure the true nature of reality,
the appearances of awareness do not.
You need to dissolve grasping to ordinary appearances in order to see rigpa.

Single sphere of rigpa.

Awareness and basic space are inseparable.
This single sphere is the basis for samsara and nirvana.
If we don't understand confused appearances as the potency of awareness,
we get stuck in the experience of samsara.

Awareness is transparent.  Basic space is transparent.
To the Dzogchen yogi, all phenomena are clear appearances.
All that appears and exists within samsara and nirvana is the originally pure single sphere.
Driving the nail of one's own experience of this transparent wisdom into the ultimate sphere of samsara and nirvana, one gains certainty free from all doubts.

Contemplation on the first nail of Shri Singha's Seven Nails

Essence of the Madhyamaka.

Everything that appears and exists is dependently arisen.
Not realizing this true nature, we grasp at phenomena as real.
This confusion ties us to the churning of samsara.

Confused mind and appearances have not an atom of true existence,
they are but relative phenomena.
Mind is the creator of all appearances, the basis for all things arising.
All that appears and exists is merely mentally established!

Without realizing the primordial emptiness of whatever arises,
we remain trapped in a web of confusion.
Realizing the true nature of phenomena,
all phenomena are naturally liberated in their own place!

Form is not other than emptiness-
confused appearances are not other than the emptiness of our own mind.
Emptiness is not other than form-
The emptiness of our own mind is not other than the nature of confused appearances.
Our confused mind is naturally liberated in its own place!

This is the essence of the Madhyamaka.
This is the stepping stone to the Dzogchen view.

First, settle into the nature of the mind.

First, introduce the nature of the mind,
then you will be able to be introduced to rigpa.

Initially, you introduce the nature and fixation of ordinary mind.  If you recognize the nature of ordinary appearances and grasping, you can recognize the basis which is the nature of the mind.  Once you have a glimpse, you need to get rid of agitation and dullness in order to stabilize the experience of the nature of mind. 

After settling into the nature of mind, you enter into unwavering meditation to realize rigpa.  By dissolving all appearances into basic space, attachment and aversion dissolve and you enjoy the one taste that is the natural radiance of rigpa. 

Upadesha from Younge Khachab Rinpoche June 2007