Buddhahood is a testable proposition.

You are a Buddha.

All the scriptures of the Vajrayana and particularly Dzogchen assert this to be true. As it says in the Hevajra tantra:

All beings are buddhas, 

but this is concealed by adventitious stains.

When these stains are purified, their buddhahood is revealed.  

As we find in the Dzogchen semde tantra, the All-Creating King:

The three kayas are subsumed within me, the all-creating one. 

All phenomena, however they manifest, 

have three uncontrived aspects- nature, essence and responsiveness.

 I reveal these three kayas to be my suchness. 

If we accept the proposition that this is our authentic state, our natural condition and birthright, then in order to test whether that is the case we need to go out and find all the evidence and criticism that shows that this is not the case. We need to go out and find all the situations in which things go wrong. We need to prove to ourselves all the ways in which we are not actually Buddhas.

 

The philosopher of science Karl Popper claimed that if a theory was falsifiable, then it is scientific. In his theory of science as falsification, he asserted that the true scientific method was to develop a testable proposition and then to find the ways in which that is false.

If we approach our practice in this methodical and systematic way, we can directly encounter what is preventing us from actualizing our natural condition, our innate buddha heart. When we know the obscuring factors, we can seek out innovative and creative ways to eliminate those obscurations. 

Our practice becomes a laboratory for a new and better approach to living.

When you combine a testable proposition with a practical method of inquiry, you create a self-sustaining system of improvement. If you encourage sharing knowledge and creating meaningful connections to others who are on a similar journey of exploration, you create a supportive culture in which dramatic change can flourish.

I am a Buddha. And of course, so are you. Our practice is to work with all of the ways in which this is simply not the case.