Spontaneous Presence.

Within the expanse of spontaneous presence is the ground for all that arises.
Empty in essence, continuous by nature,
it has never existed as anything whatsoever, yet arises as anything at all.
Within the expanse of the three kayas, although samsara and nirvana arise naturally,
they do not stray from basic space- such is the blissful realm that is the true nature of phenomena.

Longchen Rabjam, from the Choying Dzod

When we enter into the state of spontaneous presence in our meditation, we have arrived at naked awareness beyond mind. This is the actual introduction to rigpa. Our teacher introduces rigpa through language and signs, but the actual introduction is based on our own experience. That is the real introduction. 

The expanse of spontaneous presence is baseless. We say that it is baseless because there is no ground, there are no concepts about emptiness or the way things exist. The spontaneously present luminosity of the mind is not divided into subject or object, there is no distinction between meditation and post-meditation, no distraction by thoughts, appearances or emotions. Everything dawns as the ornament of awareness, which is itself nothing at all. Longchenpa's quote captures how this single expanse of awareness, which is timelessly pure and spontaneously present, manifests as all that appears and exists whether it is of samsara or nirvana. 

Once we have been directly introduced to this unique state of the natural Great Perfection, our own awareness, we need to gain certainty and perfect its potentiality. To stop here, having been introduced, is not enough. We need to resolve all doubts and uncertainty in order to be decisive about this unique state, not to mention the uncertainty with how to work with this within the world. Once we can carry on this conviction regardless of what is coming up in our experience, whether on the cushion or off, then we can continue with confidence in liberation. 

The great master Longchen Rabjam in his Choying Dzod, the Basic Space of Phenomena, skillfully lays out this path of resolution. He takes a look at questions like:

How do we account for ordinary and pure appearances?

How are we to understand different types of beings? 

How do we approach confusion and suffering?

How are we to understand this unique state of the awakened mind?

How do we understand karma and dependent origination from this unique perspective?

Where are the potential errors and pitfalls in this approach?

What brings accomplishment, what is accomplishment?

How is this different than buddhahood? How is it the same?

Once we have come to a decisive experience that everything is subsumed by the expanse of awareness, we continue with confidence in liberation. The way in which we come to that decisive experience is through the practice of trekchod and thogal, which are the two paths of training in the practice of Dzogchen.