Dzogchen. Perfect foundation for

[Occult Forum Archive]

Original post: BigJonMud

There seems to be a few queries floating around concerning the Tibettan Buddhist 'mind training' known as Dzogchen. Im gonna share a few thoughts about it from a little experience..

I attended a 1 day Dzohchen workshop instructed by Lama Choedak Rinpoche. The title was enough to initate a feeling of respect for this man, a feeling which i'd sadly learnt in many cases with Buddhist practioners was rather uncalled for altogether.
He had what I call 'the goods'. One of only several individuals who I have ever met, that in my mind, honestly deserve to regard themselves as a teacher. A lot Buddhists talk of 'skillful means', but few have sought to utilise them. I cant recall exactly how long he spent in isolated retreat in the jungle but I cetainly remember feeling that he was a fine example for tibbetan Buddhism, and the technique of mind training that he taught.

We recieved a fair deal of notes despite the day being heavily involved in meditation and various chantings. Because i've lost my notes and chose to not part with any more of my hard earnt cash for the 'truth', I decided to pursure only charitable and universal techings. So, il prolly remember more as I go.

All the Tibettan practice that I can find in Australia involves quite a lot of money, which makes me spugh. Anyways..

As I remember there were 9 stages of training.. blank memory after that:)
The chantings were simple prayers to align with the intentions of the training. What really struck me was the 'structure' of the training and its approach. Nice and simple with clear and defined purpose. No extraneous need to familiarise oneself with libraries of scriptures and narratives on narratives. Once you've got the structure, the content is often arbitrary.

Purification, cultivation of good karma.. A prominent and pervading concept was their use of breath meditation. Such a simple and proufound and lovely tool. We were guided to 'mount' certain ideas upon the ingoing and outgoin breath, where i'v noticed other disciplines seek only to observe it, or use it with mantra.

On the in breath we would feel the 'merits' of our practice multiply, and on the out breath basically release and dissolve all karmic debt.
It seemed basically like breathing in the good and breathing out the bad.

But then there are the Gods and Godesses of their system peering at you from the floor, the ceiling, the wall hangings, the cabinets. While the subtle, and Magickal correspondences ignite some dormant sleeping memory of the archetypal forces percieved by the ancient Tibetans, it is obvious to one that this approach is far from the Theravadin - 'sit and watch your breath till you shrivel and die'.

I never quite worked out their rules concerning the fact that the Lama was the only male there. Or why there was a dozen nuns, and no other monks. Though a quick comparison I found was that these 'live-ins' appeared very healthy, social and vibrant. It was probably the greatest and most open sense of community that I have experienced. Although I have only attended 7 or so monasteries, stayed in 2 of these for extended periods (Theravadin Forest tradition) and the usual Vipassana retreats, it was probably the greatest and most open sense of community that I have experienced.

I was looking for somewhere that people are sincere to train and 'go hard' free from all the dogmatic crap. This was one of the closest set-ups tho that ideal that I have found. No need to get into lengthy discussions about things that you dont believe in, becuase the practice is the important thing, and in my opinion a perfect foundation for any occult training.

p.s I will contact the centre and attempt to post a quick guide all about Dzogchen

[Occult Forum Archive]

Original post: Anathema_Oracle

Very interesting, look forward to further explanaitions as to the theory and concepts behind Dzogchen as well as the practises.

[Occult Forum Archive]

Original post: Higher_Consciousness

I have a number of Dzogchen books - if anyone is interested, I will upload them and provide a link?

Higher Consciousness.

[Tiger]

Dzogchen means "The Great Perfection". Dzogchen teaches a method/s of realizing one's inherent enlightened nature; rigpa or non-dual awareness. This "state" is accessed and realized through the method/s, the method/s is not a paradigm and the state itself is not a paradigm.

[manonthepath]

Original post: Higher_Consciousness

I have a number of Dzogchen books - if anyone is interested, I will upload them and provide a link?

Higher Consciousness.

Thanks for your generosity. I would be interested.