Yetri Tasel 2008

DRENPA NAMKHA
VETRI THASEL
dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs

COMMENTARY CHAPTERS REGARDING THE BASE OF THE TEACHINGS THAT
ELUCIDATE ONE'S WISHES (AND NEEDS)
CHAPTERS VIII & IX

TEACHINGS BY
YONGDZIN LOPON TENZIN NAMDAK RINPOCHE
PFAUENHOF, GERMANY, 6-12 SEPTEMBER, 2008
TRANSCRIBED AND EDITED BY CAROL AND DMITRY ERMAKOVI

This book is reserved for those students who are sincerely devoted to
Yongdzin Lopon Tendzin Namdak Rinpoche
and who are seriously practising Dzogchen Teachings taught by him.
This is our Masters' wish; please respect it.
All rights reserved

•..
Unauthorised copying prohibited
Copyright © Shenten Dargye Ling, 2008
Cover photo by Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche:

Drag Yerpa (brag yer pa) where the Teachings of Yetri Thasel
and Namkha Truldzo were given
Explanation of Thogal positions extracted from the Teachings of

Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung on the 10.08.2008
Explanation of Tibetan terms courtesy of Geshe Samten Tsugphti
Wylie transliteration by Dmitry Ermakov
Thogal positions by Dmitry Ermakov
Photos of Thogal positions by Carol Ermakova and Sodis Vita
Title page photo by Carol Ermakova
Book and cover design by Dmitry Ermakov '•
SPONSORED BY
YUNGDRUNG BON STIFTUNG, GERMANY
EMAIL: YUNGDRUNGBON-STIFTUNG@FREENET.DE
Yetri ThaseL P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dad gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................... 1
Preliminary Comments ................................................................................ 6
Guru Yoga ............................................................................................... 6
Three Holy Methods................................................................................. 8
Guru Yoga and Bardo ............................................................................ 10
Three Supports...................................................................................... 10
dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs: .............................................. 11
Chapter VIII .............................................................................................. 11
Summary of Chapter VIII ....................................................................... 11
Additional comments ............................................................................. 12
Relative Nature .................................................................................. 13
Searching for Absolute Nature............................................................ 14
Seventh Semdzin: fixation on gradual Emptiness ...................................... 15
a) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the body................................... 15
b) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the object................................. 1 7
Examples related to the Semdzins ......................................................... 18
;. 1 . ....................................................................................................... 18
2. ....................................................................................................... 19
3. ....................................................................................................... 19
4 . ....................................................................................................... 20
5. ....................................................................................................... 20
Yetri Thasel, P/i1uenhor, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Deviating meditation ..............................................................................21
Pith instruction [on the] ocean-like state of imperturbable rest ..................22
Example ................................................................................................ 22
Deviating Shamatha...............................................................................23
Nature and consciousness .....................................................................24
Setting all phenomenal existence in Nature ............................................25
The Base raises up ................................................................................. 25
Emotions appear as Wisdom .................................................................. 26
What is Nature? ..................................................................................... 27
Nature and space ...................................................................................27
Question of Origin ..................................................................................... 28
Beginning of individual Samsara ............................................................ 29
Visions ...................................................................................................... 30
Common and Private Vision ................................................................... 30
Normal Vision, Impure Vision and Pure Vision ....................................... 32

E
1. Normal Vision ................................................................................. 33
2. Impure Vision ................................................................................. 33

E:
3. Pure Vision..................................................................................... 35
The yoga of the regular practice_with the views .......................................... 36
General View.......................................................................................... 36
The Two Accumulations and the Dzogchen View .................................... 36
The Three Holy Methods......................................................................... 39
Bodhichitta ........................................................................................ 39
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Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Empty Form ....................................................................................... 39
Dedication.......................................................................................... 39
Mistaken Dzogchen views ...................................................................... 40
Correcting your view .............................................................................. 40
The Great Perfection View of no added activities..................................... 41
Lodewa .................................................................................................. 42
Purification ............................................................................................ 43
Nature and Space .................................................................................. 46
Types of practitioners and their realizations........................................... 47
Three Parables .......................................................................................... 49
1. The Parable of the Prince ................................................................... 49
2. The Parable of the King with Unruly Subjects .................................... 50
3. The Parable of the Clever Minister...................................................... 51
Rigpa Chozhag....................................................................................... 52
Rigpa Rangdrol Gomchen .......................................................................... 54
[ Special Dzogchen] Preliminary Practices ................................................... 55
First Rushen ......................................................................................... 56
What is samsara?............................................................................... 56
Paths leading out of Samsara ............................................................. 57
Second Rushen...................................................................................... 58
Third Rushen ........................................................................................ 58
Suffering ............................................................................................... 59
Namthar Sum ........................................................................................... 61

3
E
Body ...................................................................................................... 61
Speech ................................................................................................... 61
E
Mind ...................................................................................................... 61
E
Practising ..................................................................................................62
E
1. How to control body, speech and mind ............................................... 62
Body................................................................................................... 63
Key Point of the Body Posture [Extracted from the Teachings of Khenpo
Tenpa Yungdrung, 10.09.2008] .......................................................... 63
Breathing............................................................................................... 68
Mind .................................................................................................. 68
2. Gazes .................................................................................................... 68
3. The Four Lamps and Four Visions...................................................... 69
Four Lamps ........................................................................................ 69
The Four Visions ................................................................................70
4. Thatengyi Mengag ..............................................................................73
Three Points of Non-movement ...........................................................73 �
Dopa Sum: the Three Points to be stopped .......................................... 74 �

Thobpa Sum ....................................................................................... 74
Dzogchen as uncreated Nature ..................................................................74
Symbolic transmission ...........................................................................75
Nature and space ................................................................................... 79
Ignorance ........................................................................................... 80
Antidotes to Ignorance ........................................................................ 87
4
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Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Recognition of Ignorance in Dzogchen ................................................ 91
A method for correcting the view ............................................................ 95
Chapter IX: The Signs of Realization.......................................................... 97
Internal Signs ........................................................................................ 97
External Signs ....................................................................................... 98
Rangshar, Rannang and Rangdrol ......................................................... 99
Important points ..................................................................................... 102
Beyond concepts .................................................................................. 102
No subject or object ............................................................................. 102
Dangers of mixing Dzogchen with other views ...................................... 103
Searching for the mind ........................................................................ 103
Tantra and Dzogchen........................................................................... 104
Three Contemplations ...................................................................... 105
Questions and Answers: .......................................................................... 107
How to practise in daily life ..................................................................... 108
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Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
6th September, 2008
Preliminary Comments
Guru Yoga
Everyone here is [already] a practitioner, but still I wanted to remind ,
you about Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga is the base. According to our time
and our condition, we can only meet once a year for a short time, for
a few days, but according to the text and the original way, that is not
enough time. So therefore [we] condense all the preparations for
practice together in Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga is the best practice, so
first of all, all of you try to practise with Guru Yoga. If you are
already connected with any [other] kind of lineage, there is no ,
problem as they are all something to do with Buddha. Buddha
cannot be 'my Buddha' or 'his Buddha' or 'your Buddha'; Buddha is
not sectarian, so you can visualize your Guru. But by 'guru' I don't
mean a human. Don't visualize a human, because that won't last
very long - if something happens you might push them away. 1
Therefore you should visualize Tapihritsa or something; that is
better.
Visualize Tapihritsa clearly, a little higher than yourself,
facing you. Visualize him clearly. He represents all the [Lineage
Masters from] Dharmakaya right up until now, including your own
Master. You have met your Master directly, and he represents all
Masters. Don't just remember this once or twice but focus on him
and [visualize] everything in detail, as on a painting - the lotus seat,
his posture, his colour, eyes, nose, mouth, his face, everything. (i
Remember all this. Usually I think that Tapihritsa is naked, with no
ornaments, only a rainbow circle around him, and he is naked inside !'.
it. He was a historical person, he practised and realized Rainbow
!(.I
Body, and that means Buddhahood. Then once the whole picture
comes clearly to your mind, focus on Tapihritsa as clearly as you
, can. After some time, without any plan, a thought will come up and
I I.e. if problems arise between a master and disciple.
6
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
disturb your focussing on the Guru. When you realize that you have
been disturbed by a thought, again you have to come back and focus
on the Guru. Keep on [in that way] for as long as you can. That is the
real practice of Guru Yoga.
It is not enough just to do this a few times. If you do this
more and more, if you focus more and more, then [your Guru] will
become your friend; not a dictator or something higher or a king. It
is not that way. If you do this visualization more and more then you
will become closer and closer [to the Guru] and he will become your
friend.
This is important. Spend more time with this. First of all,
don't think in a sectarian way; Tapihritsa represents all the Three
Jewels, from Dharmakaya right until now, he is endowed with
everything exactly and clearly and all [the knowledge of] the Lineage
Masters is condensed in him, everything.
Then afterwards, when you want to stop - you can't focus on
Guru Yoga all day long! - before you stop, [visualize that] from his
heart level or chest he sends the three elements. I usually say these
are fire, water and wind, but although they look like these elements,
in fact they are his knowledge. So fire comes to you and burns away
811 your obscurations, defilements - everything. After this, he sends
waler; it looks like water, white water, like milk. It comes to you and
wc1shes everything after the burning. Then after this, a very strong
wind comes and blows away anything whatsoever which is left after
the washing and burning. So these are purified. These three
<'krnents are all the Guru's Knowledge, not only material things. This
clcstroys all your defilements, obscurations, all impure things -
<'vnylhing. Then after this you are ready to receive the view of
I )zogchen. This is preparation for receiving the initiation of Dzogchen
m or the Lineage Masters. After this, from Tapihritsa's forehead
<·01rn·::-. a white A, [from his neck comes a] red OM, [and from his
<'i l<'st comes a] blue HUNG. These three come from the parts of his
li<><iy to you, and integrate your body, speech and mind with this
wl11t<' A, red OM and blue HUNG. These three seed syllables all
1,·p11·s1'nl Tapihritsa's Body, Speech and Mind. Integrate them with
v1,11 withoul any doubt, without thinking anything else. They simply
1 1>111<· from him to you, integrate with you, and since you have
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Yetri Thasel, P/auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
received these three seed syllable and they have integrated with you,
you are already [integrated with the Knowledge o� the Master. After
this you don't need to have any doubts, you need to have devotion.
This is real initiation, empowerment or whatever you call it. This is
the connection. If you don't move your mind, if you don't think, then
le-
even if [some lama] shows you some [initiation] cards or something,
or you go for some initiation with a big name, a gathering or C
something then you have not received anything. Why? It is just like
watching or looking [like a spectator]; perhaps you can hear some I
Teachings and that is worthwhile, but as for the rest, it is rather
hard for you to receive something. Afterwards you can say: 'I have
received this or that initiation - the biggest initiations!', but if you
don't move your mind then in fact you haven't received anything.
So this is about receiving initiations and how to trust. This is !
the real initiation, and you can trust this, and integrate this
preparation of receiving blessing, and empowerment; you can receive I
everything from your own Master. When you visualize the Guru,
whatever you do, say or speak, whether you walk or whatever you
do, think that everything is a way of serving or making offerings to
him. If you do this, then everything can be for benefit.
Three Holy Methods

The text says that all sentient beings [have been circulating] since
unlimited beginnings, and sometimes they have been practising
Dharma, but they didn't know how to make virtues or merits,
sometimes they accumulated good things and at other times they f
destroyed them. So in this way, they were not able to reach the Fruit.
That means that whatever you do [you should integrate it with] the f
Three [Holy] Methods which we call Dampa Sum. 2 First of all, you
think that everything is a preparation for the Accumulation of
Virtues, for the achievement of Buddhahood. Think this about
anything, about whatever you do. Then the second thing is that
whatever you are doing, [remember] everything is as Empty Form. All
of us are as Dzogchenpas, so we think that the Natural State
encompasses everything, that everything is as Nature, the Natural
2
Tib. dam pa gsum.
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Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
State. The Natural State [takes on] the form as the phenomena of
existence, and that is called Empty Form. Then thirdly, after you
have done whatever you did, dedicate everything. What does
'dedication' mean? It means we give [the benefits of our actions] to
sentient beings for the achievement of Buddhahood, and also so that
the Buddha's Teaching may last a long time and lead sentient
beings, to purify them so that they might have less suffering and
misery. That is Dedication. Integrate these three things with
whatever you do. If you do that, [ then the benefit of] what you do will
never be destroyed afterwards, so you can be saving and saving all
1·
the time. If you save money in the bank, when you have a little
money, OK, you put it there, or if you have more money, OK, you put
it there, and so in that way everything is saved in the bank.
If Otherwise, if you just keep your money [in your purse] something
happens, you go here and there and soon your money will be
finished! This is similar. Everything looks as though it has a similar
structure. So this is what you can do meanwhile.
After visualizing the Guru, whenever you see, hear, eat or
II
drink something, first of all think. Just remember the Guru in front
of you, think, and offer it to him. For example, if you go to a flower
garden, you can see the flowers and smell them, so you can think
that you offer whatever exists there to the Guru, and that is a great
offering, a pure offering. Or if you go to a supermarket, you can see
many things, so you can think that they are all offerings to the Guru.
That is pure offering. You are not tied up with desire, by scales [or
weighing things mentally] or anything like that - it is a real offering,
you are thinking of the Guru. We call that a 'clean, pure offering'.
Just before I said that sentient beings don't know how to perform
virtuous acts and that is why they are always circulating in
Samsara; they don't know how to practise properly, they don't know
how to integrate [their life] with virtue or merit. But if you do this, if
you think of the Guru, then during the daytime he is always in front
of you, and at night-time he comes down - he becomes smaller,
otherwise he can't get into your body through your central channel -
and you keep him in your heart. During the day he goes up - there
is a prayer, too, which says that he goes up in front of you [in the
9
I�
Yetri Thasel, Pfiwenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
morning] and at night time he comes down into your heart.3 You
keep him there, you focus there and that can control you for ever. 4
So this is the best way. This is called Guru Yoga: thinking of the
Guru all the time. That is the main purpose of practising.
Guru Yoga and Bardo

If you are familiar with this practice then it becomes more familiar, a
habit, and it goes along after death. After death you are alone, only
your mind is with you, your mind, and so if you are integrated with
this habit, if you have learnt this practice, then you will never lose it.
Why? Because if you have learnt it very well, you will never forget it.
It is the same with everything else; you go to school and if you have
learnt something properly, perfectly well, then you will never forget it
until you die. So in the same way, [Guru Yoga] will lead you in the
Bardo time and when you take rebirth; this connection will be there
all the time, you will never lose it. So it is essential to practise this. It
is practical, and there is no mistake [if you practise this]. Otherwise 1�
there are many things [you can practise within the Teachings] and
everything is good, but if you don't know how to handle them
properly then sometimes you can make mistakes, it can sometimes
be good, sometimes bad, or sometimes mixed.
Three Supports
Furthermore, you should always keep images or pictures of the
Three Jewels as well as Holy Scriptures and so on [respectfully].
These are the Guru's work, you see, so you always have to keep
these things respectfully. Also you have to be careful not to harm
any sentient beings with your speech or with your body or with your
thoughts; don't do any bad things to any others. This is also Refuge -
Refuge is not very far from Guru Yoga.
1
A reference to a short prayer by Shardza Rinpoche.
4
I.e. you will constantly receive his blessings and protection.
Yetri ThaseL P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
All this is preparation, our Preliminary Practices. When you

have time you can recite this prayer; there is a short prayer, only
rou r sentences, s so recite this as much as you could.
dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs:

Chapter VIII 6
JTibcLan text p. 347, Triten Norbutse Edition]
Summary of Chapter VIII

01<, after this, everything has been done, so now we can come back
lo the text and continue. We opened this text before. It is dGos 'dod
ysal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs. It is a kind of commentary on the
Vetri Thasel, which is one of our Bonpo Dzogchen [cycles]. There are
rour main Dzogchen Teachings, and they are all Dzogchen, but they
have different lineages and different texts. This [text] follows the Yetri
Thasel. It is dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs which has
eleven chapters. This chapter is the eighth chapter. We have already
covered the first seven. Here, it explains how to begin to be a
Dzogchen practitioner, what things are to be done, how to prepare,
how to think, how to search for your mind, how to practise normally,
how to show and introduce the Dzogchen View clearly. Then
afterwards it explains how to practise and develop your meditation.
Then within [the section on]meditation, it teaches about what kind of
meditation you are doing, about Trekcho and Thogal, 7 about what
each of them means, in detail, and then, finally, it teaches what the
purpose is of practising in this way - the purpose is that your body
disappears, but what is good about that? If your body disappears
lhat means you have achieved Buddhahood. Maybe you can think
that if someone has achieved Buddhahood, and then they have no
body, they are just like Empty Form or something, but then you see
so many images and pictures of Buddha in many places - there is
one behind here, too - and you might wonder: what are these?
s I.e. Chitsug dewa...

"Conlinuing from the previous year.
I Tib. khregs chod, thod rgal.
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Yetri Thasel. P[auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Maybe doubts can come: if someone has reached Buddhahood then

they have no form, they are formless [so how come we make these
images of Buddha everywhere?]. But there are many qualities or
types of 'formless', you see. Sometimes 'formless' can mean that if a
very proud, powerful person dies, they will become a ghost
immediately, you see, without leaving any material body at all. That
can also happen sometimes. Or Tantra practitioners achieve a result
whereby no body is left behind, but that is still not the same as
Rainbow Body. Even when Dzogchen practitioners die and leave no
body, there is Phochen and Phochung,s two different types of
formlessness. This is all explained in this text. That is a brief outline
of what we will be talking and listening about here. I've also heard
that somewhere, a long time ago, in some countries the bodies of
I�
distant ancestors were buried underground and the bodies shrank
until finally they were very small and some of them disappeared.
,�
Maybe you think they were Dzogchen practitioners, but they say this
is the climate or the place which causes this difference so the bodies
shrink or disappear.
Additional comments I�
I still have a few little things to say before [we open the text]. I�
Quite often when a person dies, especially if their body
disappears or something, you might think that they are easily 1�
integrated with Rainbow Body, or something. But this is not very
easy! Don't think that if someone's material body disappears then
they have achieved Rainbow Body; it is not possible for everything to
be Rainbow Body, not at all. Why? Rainbow Body only follows
Nature. It doesn't depend on visualization which is made by thoughts
or consciousness; not at all. Rainbow Body is the realization of
Nature, real Nature, absolute Nature. Nature is realized without
integrating any kind of consciousness or anything material, no
perception, nothing. It is only realized purely, by Nature itself.
Rainbow Body means that you reach the final goal of Nature itself. It
is not created by anything material, nor by any thoughts, nor by any
visualization - nothing. So that is not comparable to anything else;
8 Tib. 'pho chen, 'pho chung.

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Yetri Thasel, P/auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dad gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
that can absolutely only be realized through the Dzogchen View. The
Dzogchen View only goes along with Nature itself. First of all, you
have to understand Nature purely without any attachment to
emotions, consciousness, perception or anything else. Secondly, in
this State, you have to go along and become familiar with it, stable.
Then finally, only practise in this way, without adding anything or
taking anything away - that [leads to] Rainbow Body. It is impossible
[to realize it] in any other way.
As for the Dzogchen which we are starting [to study] here, we
start by trying to search for real, pure Nature. That is Dzogchen.
Don't think that what I have already said about the visualization of
Guru Yoga [is Dzogchen]; Dzogchen doesn't need that at all, but we
need it - we are practitioners of Dzogchen, not Dzogchen. We have to
IJ prepare, we have to search and know this Nature, and for that
purpose we practise Guru Yoga and ask to receive the connection
with the Gurus, their blessing and guidance - everything. Otherwise,
everywhere, all knowledge is only known by consciousness, by
perception, but this is suddenly completely the opposite way; it is
beyond perception, it has nothing to do with perception. So it is not
easy as it is not comparable with any other ideas. That is how to
......
I search for real Nature - we can only search for or find it out through
consciousness, perception, not by means of any other phenomena
which exist; it is not possible to search for Nature anywhere [else].9
Yet all phenomena have Nature, and there are two types of
Nature: relative nature and absolute Nature.
Relative Nature
I
•--'
-
I
This means for instance that fire is hot, water is wet, wind is light,
space is empty, not attached to anything - things like this, the
I
-� elements and many things. This is relative nature.
All phenomena which exist - anything - are created by
perception, by consciousness. We have Nine Ways and each of them
is searching for Empty Nature from the side of the visions, from the
I.e. although Nature itself cannot be 'known' by our consciousness or perception, we

1
'
lll'.vcrthcless work with our mind to discover it when we do special Dzogchen Preliminaries;
otherwise it is cannot be found externally.
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Yetri Thasel, P/auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
side of the phenomena of existence. But in this case, 10 the mind is

the only place to search for the real Nature. Only the mind. An
example is given: all the elements have power but only water can
take reflections; that is water's energy or potential, the other
elements don't take reflections. So in a similar way, everything is
vision. Where do these visions come from? They only come from
,�
Nature. How do we know they are Nature? Quite often I say that it
cannot be known, that it is too easy or something like that, but for
,�
the moment, all sentient beings - even insects - think and can
choose where to go, how to live, what to eat and everything like
that.11 So everything is controlled by perception, by consciousness.
I�
Searching for Absolute Nature
Now we are looking back towards consciousness. It doesn't explain
in very much detail here how attachment [to thoughts works]. It
seems to be quite easy. If you sit in a comfortable way, it seems that
,�
,�
some thoughts come and you cannot stay sitting still any longer, you
see, you go off and do something here or there; you are controlled by
,�
something else. Where does this [thought] come from? Maybe if you
ask, someone will point to their brain, someone else will point to
,�
their heart or somewhere else, but it is difficult to see. You can say
anything, but you can see this directly: when you sit in a comfortable
,�
way, a thought appears spontaneously and you can't point out where
it is coming from - not from your mouth - there is nowhere you can
point to. Yet still we don't trust, you see, we think this thought
comes from somewhere. It certainly does not come from outside our I�
body - you can be sure of that. But it is difficult to point out which
part it is coming from within the body, whether it comes from some
organ or somewhere else. You can say something, but whatever you
say is not trustable, it is just what you are thinking, your idea.
If you really think seriously, then there is no place [thoughts
come from]. Thoughts appear continuously and you can see this; you
can see what you are thinking, but you cannot be sure where they
10 I.e. in Dzogchen Teachings as opposed to the teachings contained in the other Eight Ways.
11 I.e. they can go and look for food if they feel hungry, for water if they are thirsty, for
somewhere to rest if they are tired.
14
Vetri Thasel, P[auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
are coming from. Yet they are there! There is a source, otherwise
they couldn't be arising. If you look carefully at where thoughts come
from, it is not possible to point out such a place, and what is there
cannot be explained. That is Nature. You don't need to search so far,
neither externally nor inside. Just think about where they are
appearing from, and that is the place, that is the source, Nature.
After some time, movements or thoughts come, but then just
afterwards - one thought doesn't stay permanently, we are always
longing or thinking something new - it is liberated. Where does it go?
In the same way as we couldn't find where it arose from, it is not
possible to find any trace [when it disappears].
Seventh Semdzin: 12 fixation on gradual

Emptiness
I am always saying 'empty form', and here it explains how to think
about Emptiness: how can things be Empty Form? How can you look
for or understand this? There are seven points here to make sure
, that you can recognize or search for your mind. We call this
'searching for the mind'.
a) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the body

First of all, sit in the five-pointed posture in the normal way, then
think about your body: you have hands, legs, a head, a trunk,
stomach, back, front - everything. Each of these has a name,
different names. Even if we take only the head, which is only one
form [one part of the body], as an example, if you look at it, it is
made up of eyes, ears, the skull, hair, skin, nose, and if you split up
each of these, where is the head per se? Can you find anything?
Maybe you can say that if something happens to your head and you
12 The Semdzins are not numbered in this text and there are in fact more than seven. Most
were taught the previous year (see transcript Yetri Thasel, 2007). On 8'h September 2008
Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung clarified the order in the following way:
I. Semdzin with white A and two auxiliary Semdzins to remove Gegsel: a) to purify
disturbance of fever, b) to purify disturbance of cold; 2. Semdzin with PHAT; 3. Semdzin of
the wrathful deity laughing; 4. Semdzin with a Yidam; 5. Keeping the mind through the
method of Asuras fighting; 6. Semdzin with HUNG; 7. Fixation on gradual Emptiness.
15
Yetri Thasel, P/auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mcho1rn.s
have surgery, the surgeon can find your head! But they can find the
skull, the skin, the hair or whatever and these are only pieces. We
say that the surgeon is working on the head, he doesn't say the
pieces. 'Head' is only a name. We think that the head is there - we
can see, we can talk, everything - yet if you look carefully at the head
itself, what is it that is 'the head'? Is it inside? Is it outside? Is it the
organs? What is there? It is hard to find out. If you ask science,
maybe they will say something, but you cannot be sure how they will
explain this. That is called Empty Form. Everything looks like a
hologram. Everything is formed, yet if you carefully check the object
itself, you cannot find the exact point which is the real object. So
that is how to check the head.
In the same way, you can look and check the body - external,
internal, limbs - each has a different name, each has a different
purpose. If you point out the hand, that is your hand, you cannot
say that it is your body. If you check each part of your body, you will
realize they are only pieces, they are not your whole body. But
generally, we think that our body exists, although if you check it,
you will not find any real, final body whatsoever.
These are all methods which show how things are Empty
Form. How can things be empty? They are only projected by
perception, mere names. If you look at the object-side, you cannot
find any particular object [which exists inherently] at all. This is
similar to a picture in the cinema - you can see and hear everything,
but if you look on the side of the object, you cannot find anything
special there at all. Yet you can still see and hear everything. Why?
Because everything is projected. This cinema picture is very similar
to the situation with all phenomena which exist, particularly with
ourselves. For example, if you have a problem with your stomach,
you go to see the doctor and he asks you:
What is the problem?'
'I am sick'. You can say this, you can say I am sick. But then
the doctor asks again:
What is your particular problem?'
'It's my stomach.'
So that means that in this case, you have made your stomach as
you. It is the same way with all parts of our body, we make them as
16
ourselves. That shows that you are made up of parts [and there is no
'body' which exists independently and inherently per se]. So
everything is projected, there is nothing real which you can find on
the object's side. That is called Empty Form.
If you search for a car, you can look outside at the colour or
form, or inside at the engine, but if you split everything up, you
cannot find a real car on the object's side. But that doesn't mean
that the car doesn't exist; the car does exist, but if you search for it
on the side of the object, you cannot find anything real, so you
cannot say: this is the car. If you point and put your finger on some
part of it, that is only a piece of the outside of the car, or a piece of
the engine - it is not the real car. If you follow what you are pointing
at and try to find the car, then that will clearly show you that the car
is in fact only a name, only a projection; you cannot find The Car at
all. So in a similar way, you can check all the phenomena which
exist - everything is created, projected. If you search on the side of
the object, you cannot find anything at all. That is called Empty
Form. If you realize and trust in this method, then you can see
everything, you can hear everything, but there is no point in making
a show, in anger, desire or fighting. There is no purpose because
everything is only projected. There is no reality. If you want to fight,
you want to gain, but what is the purpose if everything is only name?
You get sinful, negative things - great ones - and they will never be
lost, 13 but you can't find anything else or gain anything. Everything
is Empty Form, and nothing exists inherently on the side of the
object, nothing at all. Everybody has to trust in this method; don't
just follow the words 'empty form'.
b) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the object

This is true for all phenomena which exist, so you can check money,
especially. Money is very important, very valuable, but if you check
the actual money itself, it is only a piece of paper. There is no special
value. Yet we project and think that it is something very important
and all people are living on it all their lives. So this can show you
clearly how things are created by themselves. If you check on the
13 I.e. you accumulate negative kanna and store it in Kunzhi Namshe.

17
Yetri Thasel, P{auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
object's side, you can see that it is Empty Form. We can say things
are Empty Form, but what does it mean? It doesn't mean that
nothing exists. If you check on the side of the object, if you check
what we are thinking, then you can see that we are thinking that
bank notes - paper money - are very valuable and important, but if
you look at the object, in fact it is only paper, some printed paper -
there are different figures, there are many pictures on the paper, and l
in many cases there are the same things there! - but there is nothing
special which is money. Everything is created by ourselves, yet we
cannot refute everything and say nothing exists - everything exists,
as something created, as something projected. It is these projected
things which make good and bad, sin and virtue - many things can I�
be made.
I'm not introducing something new here. All our life [is like
this], and the Teaching is reminding us. Teaching doesn't mean
something new or exciting, it is something normal which reminds us
and [encourages us] to think. So if you do this you will realize all
phenomena which exist are in the same situation; everything is
Empty Form, and nothing can be found on the side of the object. If
you check each piece of the phenomena of existence, thinking more
and more, then your mind goes more and more to that side, and this
becomes more and more familiar, so it becomes clearer and clearer,
and finally you can understand clearly how things are illusion or 'I�
Empty Form.
I·
Examples related to the Semdzins I·
1. Steam on glass
If everything is as Empty Form and projected, it is like breathing out
1�
on glass. If you do that, you can see the glass is covered in steam, I�
but it will disappear soon afterwards. It is the same way with all
phenomena which exist:
i) You can see things clearly;
ii) If you look in this way you can't find anything [which exists
inherently] on the side of the object. That is the second point;
18
Yctri ThaseL P{auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
iii) Then the third point is that the mind is sort of tired, it doesn't
think about the object-side any more. In this way, you have
found Empty Form.
Firsl of all you can be excited [about some object] as you can see it
clearly; secondly, it soon disappears, and thirdly, there is nothing
there, Nature remains. That shows us clearly what Nature is like.
[Trnnslator asks for clarification and Rinpoche says:] yes, this is a way for
practising, for thinking. You can check and use this example of
breathing on glass. First of all you see [the steam], secondly it
disappears, thirdly, nothing remains. So that shows us that
everything is projected. First of all you can see something, but if you
check on the side of the object, in fact there is nothing to see,
everything disappears; and thirdly nothing remains, there is no trace
left behind. It is the same thing. That is the example.
2. Speech
Whatever you say, first of all you can say everything and anything,
people can hear, but in the second time 14 [the sound] doesn't remain
for ever; you can't hear it continuously. First of all you hear it,
secondly it disappears, and afterwards, there is no trace left, nothing
remains. Maybe people can keep what has been said - its meaning or
something - but that is all that remains. When you talk, the sound
goes on, and then is gone. There is no trace. Only what the sound
says remains, as a picture on perception or consciousness. But that
is not the sound. So if you check the sound, there is nothing which
remains. Everything is Empty Form, in the same way.
3. Movements
If you check all objects or sometimes if you think hard about the fact
that all objects are Empty Form, it is not easy to trust or realize this,
but even if it is not very easy to understand, leave your thoughts and
block them, stop them and have a rest. Then after a little while
without having thought anything keeping the posture properly, give a
little shake, or do an exercise like yoga. Then after a moment you
can think about what you have done, and if you look there, you
14 I.e. soon afterwards, or step two as in the example above.
19
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
cannot see anything which remains, no traces or anything.

Everything has gone, disappeared. After this, you can see that t
movements don't leave any trace or anything. Talking, moving,
thinking - nothing can remain. That shows Empty Form.
4. Focussing on Emptiness
OK. When you check on the object-side, you can't find anything, so
soon afterwards you realize that no matter what you have been
focussing on - a car, a flower, a body or anything -nothing exists
which you can find, you mind [is in a state which] looks like
Hedewa. 15 You don't focus on or grasp anything particular. At that
moment, remain [in that state] for as long as possible. The mind is
not grasping anything special, there is no special perception -
nothing. Stay like this for a little while. This means focussing, but
not finding [anything to] focus [on], and meanwhile, everything is
Empty Form, empty. You focus on Emptiness.
5. Thought as creator
This is a creator or projector - consciousness or perception.
Whatever you are focussing on [creating] with thought, if you look at •
the object itself, you won't find anything. If you look back at the
thought, then there are no traces nor anything special, yet your
thinking is still very clear. So look at this clear thought. If you do,
you won't find any traces, no source, nothing. Yet the thinking itself
is clear, you remember. But if you look back towards the thought
nothing remains. What is there is an unspeakable state. You are not
unconscious, your presence is clear. What is clear? You can neither
explain nor think about it - thoughts are all liberated. Afterwards, no
traces are seen, there is nothing special, yet meanwhile you are in
this Presence which is clear. How is it clear? You cannot explain it.
So, remain in this state for as long as you could. Leave [everything]
there. Don't search for any other things beyond this, don't add
anything onto this; simply leave everything for as long as possible.
While you do this, it is called being in the Natural State, or
meditation with Nature. Do this first of all. If you do this during the
15 Tib. had de ba.
20
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof. 2008: dGos ·ctod gsal hyed hshad gzhai'i mchongs
day, we call it 'meditation with the daytime'; if you do this in the

night-time, we call it 'night meditation'. Both together these are
called 'the couple of day and night meditation'. 16
Deviating meditation
This is called 'meditation', but usually meditation means focussing
on something with our perception or consciousness. But in this case,
meditation means thinking nothing, only leaving [everything as it is]
and not thinking. Don't go following [thoughts]. Then sometimes you
are very comfortable and relaxing [in your meditation], like resting
after hard work; you have finished one job, and not yet started the
next, and in between you can have a rest. During this time, you are
not thinking anything - you are not planning for the future or
remembering the past, not thinking anything special - and it is not
possible to explain what your condition or perception is like. You are
quite relaxed. Sometimes this is called Meditation with the Natural
State. And in fact, it looks like this, but it is very dangerous as you
can easily mistake these two. If you are resting in the normal way,
then Clarity is lost. The practitioner must realize this. You must
make sure that you have understood Nature - it has to be clear, with
no attachment to any perception; that is very important. After a
thought has been liberated, what remains is an unspeakable state.
Yet your Presence is still clear. Don't try to explain what is clear.
Just leave it. It is clear. You can see and check. If you keep on for
-
longer and longer then slowly your Clarity will lessen and decrease,
and finally you are in [a state] which looks very calm and relaxed,
- but there is no longer much Clarity there. At that time you are
deluded, you are not meditating with the Dzogchen View at all.
Clarity is lost, or Clarity is present - make sure of this [difference].
Practitioners have to have experience of this. It is not possible to
·-
I follow [and understand this] by listening or reading but only by your
own expenence.
What I am saying here is that once Clarity is lost, that state is
similar to the state you experience when you are_ resting after hard
16 I.e. the Union of Sun and Moon.

21
work; these two conditions are very similar. That is delusion, not
meditation, not the realization of Dzogchen.
7th September, 2008
Pith instruction [on the] ocean-like state of

imperturbable rest 17
From the root text, it says, from the essential Teaching which is set
up as an ocean. That is the root text. What does it mean? The eyeball
is naturally integrated with water, it has more of the water element.
That is called the ocean; here, ocean is a metaphor for eyeball.
Whatever kind of Dzogchen meditation you are doing, at that time
you just keep your eyes open. That is very important, it says. Why?
Because whatever meditation you do with Dzogchen, it is important
to gaze with your eyes open into space, without blinking. That is
important. Why should we do this?
Example
In the ocean you can see the sun, moon, stars - everything is
reflected in the water. The reflections don't disturb the water, the
water doesn't disturb the reflections. You can see everything, but the
water doesn't catch the reflection of the sun, stars or whatever, nor
do the reflections disturb the water. That is the example. This means
that it is similar to when you open your eyes and keep on in the
Natural State. At that time you can see that all the phenomena of
existence are just a reflection in the eyeball, in the eye. The eyeball
doesn't focus on anything, not on any object. The objects don't
disturb our eye, either. So this is just the same as reflections in
water. That is the meaning [of this example].
At that time, all phenomena can appear to the eyeball, but
the eye doesn't perceive anything, nor does the object disturb your
eye. The eyeball sees all the objects clearly but the eye
17 After Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung (st" September 2008). Tib. rgya mtsho chog bzhag.
22
Yetri Thascl, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
!consciousness] doesn't catch anything. Where do these visions come

from? They appear from themselves, and liberate back to the same
II
place. They are not like a torch which sends light out or like a
'
projector [which sends images onto a screen]; it is not like this. All
objects which can appear to the eyeball appear from themselves, to
Lhemselves and are liberated back to themselves. They don't come to
the eye from somewhere else, nor does the eye project anything; the
eyeball and the objects appear from the same Nature, just as there is
one water in an ocean. This is called: 'the visions appear from their
own Nature, from their own place.' This doesn't mean that the
11
consciousness, the perceiver, goes out and catches something - that
is not possible. Nor does the object somehow come to the eye sense
and shine there; there is nothing like this. Everything - the eyeball,
Lhe eye and the objects - appear from their own Nature, to their own
Nature and are liberated back into their own Nature. So if you
neither follow nor disturb 18 the objects but rather just leave them no
matter what appears, while you yourself concentrate in Nature, then
all these things will appear from Nature. A person who practises this
sees that everything is as a reflection or an illusion. That is what we
mean by 'illusion' here; we are talking about Empty Form. So this
means [if you practise in this way] you understand Empty Form. You
are not following perceptions or thinking at all. In that way, you keep
in meditation for more and more time, and slowly, slowly you will
become more familiar and stable with this.
Deviating Shamatha
Just after a thought has liberated, for a moment you have Clarity,
and the unspeakable state [you find yourself in at that moment] is
clear. If you keep on more and more, on and on, then if you are a
beginner, this Clarity may become less and less. Finally what
happens is that it looks as though you are relaxing and there is no
feeling in particular. If you go further, then your feeling is very
comfortable or like deep sleep. Maybe you think this is good
meditation, Shamatha or some very deep meditation, and so you go
on in this way until it looks almost like unconsciousness. That is
18 Try to interfere with them, or block them in some way.
23
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
called one-sided Shamatha. This is not a good way. It is a mistake

for Dzogchen meditation; it is no good at all. You must realize when
you are starting to lose this aspect of Clarity, and you must either
stop your meditation [session] or do some movements with your
body. But whatever you do, stop meditating in this way and try to
t
regain your Clarity and integrate with Nature, then practise with
meditation. This is real, pure meditation but the only way to know
this is for each individual practitioner to take care to purify [this -
disturbance to your meditation]. First of all you have to know which
is the right way and which is the wrong way. Nobody can tell you
when you are disturbed or when you are right; the practitioner must
make sure of this him- or herself. That is very important for
practitioners of Dzogchen meditation.
Nature and consciousness

In the text it says: the vision doesn't disturb consciousness, nor does
consciousness disturb or follow the objects. That is what it says, but
I have to make the meaning clear otherwise in the text there are
translations and they are all there, and they are all similar - should
be - but if you understand and follow this directly to the letter, then
this is a mistake, it cannot be [this way]. Why? Because it says that
visions don't disturb consciousness or perception, but in fact
perception is not there at all - these visions are all in Nature and you
yourself are concentrating in Nature; there is no perception there!
Without perception, these visions only appear to Nature, not to
perception or consciousness at all. Here it says Shepa 19 which in
Tibetan normally means consciousness. This word is used in many
Dzogchen texts as well as this one here, but you have to be careful in
how you understand it, as if you just follow the words directly, where
you go is not sure.
This doesn't mean that visions appear [from somewhere
externally]; they all appear from Nature, and all the visions are
themselves Nature itself. It is like waves in the water, in the ocean;
no matter how high they are, they are still water. Whatever
reflections appear in water, you cannot catch them, you cannot take
19 Tib. shes pa.

24
-
------
--
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhoL 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
anything from them, everything is only water. In a similar way, all

phenomena of existence appear from Nature, including even our life,
and the highest Dharmakaya down to the lowest hell; everything is
in Nature. But this doesn't mean that there is only one Nature, one
Nature for everyone. Each individual person has individual
perception and consciousness, and each consciousness has its own
Nature, not some common one. There is no common Nature which
appears; nothing like that. Don't think in that way; that is something
else, it is not in this context.20
Setting all phenomenal existence in Nature

If you understand and keep in meditation, with your eyes open, and
let objects appear - don't try to make them appear in any special
way, just let all possible visions appear to your eye - while on your
side you remain purely in the Natural State, then sounds and rays
can come to you, and if you neither follow nor reject anything, but
rather just let them come, let them stay and let them disappear no
matter what happens while you yourself are concentrating in Nature,
then this meditation path is called: 'setting all the phenomena of
existence in Nature'. This is a very famous saying. It is simple but
has great meaning. In Tibetan we say Nangsrid Zhizhing. 21 Nangsrid
means 'all phenomena which exist', and 'the universe'; Zhizhing
means 'to set into Nature'. So this means that you don't need to do
anything but just keep on in the same way.
The Base rises up

Earlier I said that no matter how high the waves in the ocean rise
up, everything is water, and here there are a few words: 'raise up the
base.' In the same way as waves in the ocean, whatever phenomena
appear all arise from Nature to Nature, and that is called: 'the base
rises up'. What does this mean? You have to understand that it is
like water, you see. These kinds of words have to be understood by
the practitioner.
20
I.e. not the Teachings of Dzogchen.
21
Tib. snang srid gzhi bzhings.
25
Yetri Thasel, P/auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Words, names, thinking - all these are liberated back to

Nature and they all appear from Nature. This is called: 'all
phenomena of existence in the universe - internal and external -
everything, names, forms, sounds, rays - everything comes from
Nature to Nature.' Practitioners must realize that and keep on in
Nature. In this way, all words, names and activities are understood
as formed from Nature into Nature and finally liberate into Nature.
That is why we say 'setting all the phenomena of existence into
Nature.' That is the meaning.
Emotions appear as Wisdom

If you do this, emotions such as anger, desire, pride will appear
spontaneously to all practitioners who are integrated with this
Nature, yet your Nature is not moved, not disturbed. We call this:
'emotions appear as Wisdom'. It is similar, for example, to putting
clay into a mould, as when you make Tsa-tsa. Whatever is there -
emotions, defilements, everything - appears from Nature into Nature.
If you don't follow or stop [these appearances or emotions] but
simply leave them, they don't disturb you but in fact they themselves
appear spontaneously as Wisdom-Nature. No problem. This is called:
'all the phenomena of existence come as Dharmakaya'. Why?
Because nothing can disturb Nature. Nature has no obscurations or
defilements, nothing whatsoever can change or disturb it at all;
everything is in Nature and no traces are left - nothing. That is called
Dharmakaya. Such a practitioner is called: 'one who abides with
Dharma'. As Samsara and Nirvana - everything - depend on IID
consciousness and perception, and perception is liberated to Nature,

then if a practitioner has realized this system whereby things come L
from Nature, into Nature and are liberated back into Nature, [they
�
should] continue to make this Nature familiar and stable. This kind
of meditation and Teaching system comes from a quotation from a
text called The Sun and Moon. 22 It has already been taught
L
,�
previously in this text. 23 This is a quotation to support or comment (_
[on the main text]:
22 Tib. nyi zla kha sbyor.

23 I.e. the quotations from this text have already appeared before in this text. ,.
26 •
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof', 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
"In this case, the whole of Nirvana and Samsara come from Nature,
into Nature and are liberated into Nature."
What is Nature?
That is very general, but it needs to be made clear - I think it is
better to make this clear. First of all, you can understand that
everything is related to Nature, but whose Nature? Where is Nature?
What kind of Nature is it? Sometimes we say that each individual
person has perception, and perception is not common. Each
individual being, each individual person, has their own perception,
not some common one. So [texts say that] Nature looks like space,
you see, that it encompasses everything. This is quite a common
understanding which is quite often talked about. If you follow this
[literally], then if one person understands Nature, practises and
achieves Buddhahood or Rainbow Body, then as [you believe that]
Nature cannot be broken [because you think it is only one, all
encompassing Nature], he cannot take his own share. So if this one
person achieves Buddhahood, then what would happen to the rest?
If there were only one Nature for all sentient beings, then [how come]
someone is happy and laughing while someone else is sad and
crying? [How can this be i� everything is the same Nature? You can't
have two natures - happiness and sadness - in one Nature, one
perception. You must make these kinds of things clear for yourself.
Nature and space

Or again in the text it says that your Nature is integrated with the
whole of space, so anywhere encompassed by space should be also
equally encompassed by your Nature. But how can that be? 'Your
Nature' means your own perception; your own perception has its
own Nature, and you can't make this more vast, longer or bigger.
There are many things like this. They are not really questions, they
are kind of doubts. The text says that when you open your eyes and
remain in the Natural State, then there is no separation between the
Natural State and space. That is what it says. But in fact, normal
space has no Clarity, it is only empty, whereas the Natural State has
27
Vetri Thasel, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Clarity, so you have to separate these two. Normal space has no

Clarity, whereas the Natural State does have clarity; if it had no
Clarity then as it is beyond perception, who would know it? Who
would explain it? Who would teach it? No one would know anything,
there would just be space. So it cannot be like this. If you follow this
text [literally] then you would have to understand it in that way.
External space is just space, it is empty, but Nature has Clarity, and
Clarity means that it is itself self-clear. I am always saying this. We
call it Rangrig or Rigpa.24 Without this [aspect], who would know
[Nature]? That is the special [point] about Dzogchen Teachings - we
say that Nature is beyond perception and consciousness but how is
it understood? How is it known? It has this special Clarity. Normal
space doesn't have this Clarity, it is just empty, so in fact these two
cannot be mixed together.
Question of origin
So how can you understand it? Generally, there is no limit, no
beginning for any beings at all. In particular, there is no beginning
for a particular individual. If you go back and study genetics, you
can go back millions and billions of years but still you cannot find
the starting point for that being, not at all. An individual person - we
will leave other sentient beings aside for now - has a couple of
parents, a father and a mother. And this father also had a father and
a mother, otherwise he couldn't exist! And his father, too, had a
father and a mother. So no matter how far you go back, no matter
how far you calculate, it is not possible to find the beginning. These
genes cannot be traced back to the beginning at all. But this globe
can be destroyed by fire, or by water, or by wind. Inside, the sentient
beings cannot be destroyed in this way - their spirit is always
circulating in Samsara. Samsara is not only connected to one group
or one globe - there are millions and billions of Samsaras and
Nirvanas. Then externally when a globe is ready to be formed, the
sentient beings inhabiting it will appear spontaneously. It may look
like a miracle in some places, but it is not a real miracle; it comes
24 Tib. rang rig, rig pa.

28
Yetri Thasel, P/iwenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
from the genetic pool, from these beings' own lineage; there is no
limitation, no beginning.
Beginning of individual Samsara

Generally, there is no limitation as regards when beings begin, but
more particularly, the texts talk about how an individual can begin
[one particular life]. An individual has death and birth and is always
circulating in this way, but when one life is exhausted and stops,
[that being is dead]. 'Dead' means the disconnection of the material
body and the mind. After this being has died, his consciousness is
not destroyed, not at all. But for the moment it looks as though he is
unconscious; there is no feeling, nothing. In fact, [the experience one
has at this time] depends on whether you are a practitioner or not,
11
but anyhow, for a while, all feelings stop. So after you have died one
time, that is called Kadag Bonku Bardo,2s the first Bardo, the Bardo
of [Primordially Pure] Space [or Nature]. Again, it depends on
whether the being who has died is a practitioner or not, but
generally, sounds, rays and lights appear spontaneously. At the
same time, perception - very subtle perception - [arises] and
becomes as the subject. Then when the sounds, rays and lights
appear, this very subtle perception comes at the same time as the
reflections,26 so 'subject' and 'object' begin. That is called the
'beginning'. It is not the overall beginning, it is the beginning of one
lifetime. After this, perception follows the object-side more and more,
c1nd sounds, rays and lights arise. 'Sounds' means something heard
by the ear - everybody knows that; 'lights' means colours; and 'rays'
means forms. If you follow these forms and colours more and more,
then these objects become more and more bright and clear and
many branches appear, extending more and more. At the same time,
perception is also following them. That is one way to go, one way our
life in Samsara starts. This is how it starts for one person. If you
follow the object-side more and more, then the objects become
clearer and clearer, and it is like water becoming ice. The objects
become clearer and clearer, harder and harder, more and more real
21 Tib. ka dag bon sku bar do.

2c· I.e. sounds. rays and lights.
29
and concrete. Then if we see some beautiful thing, desire appears on

the side of perception - many branches come. So perception follows
beautiful things and that is desire. If something is not very nice, then
[perception] shows the side of anger, and then another one.
Normally, on the side of the object, [you perceive] whatever you see
as existing as you see it, as though it were something inherently real
and concrete. But that is Ignorance. It is all Ignorance. From the
beginning, this perception perceives everything that appears, all the
objects that arise, and [thinks]: 'there is something!' We normally
think in the same way, we are not far from Ignorance at all. We are
always bound by Ignorance. So whatever we see or hear, we think in
two ways: we think that we are hearing sounds, and then afterwards
we judge that and think it is good, bad or neutral. If you follow this,
then it is influenced by Ignorance. It is the same with all sounds,
rays and lights - everything is created by our perception. As this
goes on for one person - [his experience] is not common for all beings F
- this person will go to one of the Six Realms. Then whichever of the
Six Realms you are in has Common Vision. Common Vision doesn't
mean that all the beings in that Realm have communal senses or
communal consciousness; that doesn't exist. But in general when we
speak about humans, for instance, 'human' is the general form, but
within 'human' we have man, woman, child, and there are many
divisions on the side of the object. That is different. So in a similar
way, we can talk about general perception or a general way of
thinking.
Visions
Common and Private Vision
There are General [Common] and Private Visions. I said that when
..
someone dies, after some time, visions initially appear as sounds,
rays and lights, and perception appears at the same time. As this
goes on, the deceased being's visions develop more and more, and
these are Private Visions, his own visions, his own phenomenal
existence, his own world. This is not common. But then it depends
,..
on which part of the Six Realms he belongs to: the Animal Realm has •
30
..
- - - - - �- -
g<'11cral form, common beings and common things, and the Human
l l�c:\lrn does, too. For humans, the common things are things like
l1ouscs, or if we see water we all recognize it as water, we recognize
lir(' ,1s fire; these things are all common, Common Vision.
How can you distinguish between Private Vision and
(.'ommon Vision? For example, when someone dies, his visions
<i<'vclop more and more and for him, red things become like fire; blue
l hi ngs become water; yellow things are earth; green things are air;
white things are space. These things develop, and everything about
how lhey evolve for one person is detailed in the text. Whatever this
person is connected to in his vision is his Private Vision, his own
011c. The Common Vision is, for example, that all humans have
t hi11gs in common.27 In modern times many things are common,
such as our food and drink [which have become largely international
as opposed to local], and this is not merely copying each other; it is
-
our Common [Vision]. The Private one depends on the individual's
own perception; it is created from their own perception even though
il is the same Nature, so visions appear as object, and the subject
and object appear together, from the same source. Whatever comes
[from this source, from the individual's own Nature] is related with
one person, with his Nature; it is connected with his Nature. This
morning we were talking about water, and this individual's Nature is
like water, so whatever reflections come are in his own way, nothing
else. So when he has realized Nature and practises and then finally
:1chieves Buddhahood, his own visions all go together and disappear
Lhey are not left [behind].
How do you know that this person has Private Vision? For
example, when this person was alive, he had his own house and he
lhinks: 'this is my house, this is my car, everything is mine'. Nobody
objects to that, it is his own property, he owns it - his own clothes,
his family - and nobody can object to that, nobody can say: 'that is
not yours'. But after he has passed away, what he has projected as
his part has completely disappeared. There is nobody left to say: 'this
is mine' - the owner is not there. So what remains is changed, and is
projected as 'mine' by someone else. It is the same with whatever you
�7 Such as two legs, two arms, one head, we breathe oxygen and drink water etc.
31
-
Yetri Thasel P{iwenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
have left, such as money in the bank. During your lifetime it was
yours, but after you have gone, you are no longer there to say: 'it is
mine', so somebody else owns it. That shows [the distinction
between] Private and General. Thus if one person stops, dies, then
[in a certain way], all his own things disappear at the same time. His
spirit doesn't disappear, but everything else - all his own projections
- disappear. They change; it was 'mine' but now it is 'his', someone
else comes along and puts another projection on it, it becomes
another projected thing. So that shows us clearly that there is
nothing inherent on the side of the object. 'Private' means how you
create things yourself, how far and how much you have created
things in your own way. This is shown after we die, you see, because
it is all cut up.
This morning I was talking about how Nature is like the
ocean and how the reflections are all as waves. You have to
understand that for an individual who has understood [their own
Nature] and how their own Nature has developed their own visions,
their own property, for such a person who is a practitioner and has
understood all this as illusion, that is his own way [or Private -
l
Vision]. It may be similar to all other people's visions, but as for the
practitioner, he realizes that whatever he sees as Private Vision is all
as illusion. But he doesn't distinguish and think that his own visions
are illusions but the Common Visions are not; it is not possible to
distinguish in this way. For a person who has realized Nature, his
own vision is all a reflection or like an illusion, and the practitioner
knows this himself. Then when he knows things are as illusion,
when he reaches the Final Goal, everything liberates or disappears to
Nature - to his Nature, not to anybody else's Nature.
Normal Vision, Impure Vision and Pure Vision

Whatever he has, whatever is connected to his own vision, can be of
three different qualities: Normal Vision, Impure Vision and Pure
Vision. I have said that sounds, rays and lights appear. Where do
they appear from? They appear from his own Nature. How do you
know this? If you remain in the Natural State - I have already said
this several times - thoughts will arise spontaneously. It is not
32
- .
• •
Yetri Thasel, Ptauenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
I .. possible to recognize where they are coming from nor where they are,
but. in fact this is Nature. Why do we say it is not easy to recognize?
We say this because it is beyond consciousness, beyond perception,
so if you think, then you cannot see it, you cannot think it; this is
beyond thinking. So thoughts come from there and stay there, and
Lhen disappear soon afterwards. What do we mean by 'disappear?'
We mean that they go back to where they came from. It is just the
same as a wave which comes up from water into the water so while it
is higher or lower it is still water. Water and waves can never be
separated. All the time, everything is like this. That is why we call
things Empty Form. 'Empty' means Nature, so these are Nature
forms. It is not enough just to know Nature; you have to go back to
the root and then you can understand, otherwise you will always
follow and check the wave or the reflections - usually we only follow
perception, consciousness. That is Impure [Visions].
We have three qualities of vision: Normal Vision, Impure
Vision and Pure Vision.
1. Normal Vision
First of all, Normal Vision means that Dzogchen cannot be created or
changed at all, it is completely Nature. If people gaze into the sky,
everyone can see some threads or lines, sometimes they are white,
!>ornctimes black, sometimes going up or down or moving - many
things can be seen. Or if you go into a dark room you can suddenly
sec some sparks. There are many things. If you gaze at sunlight you
can spontaneously see rainbows or something. These are all Nature,
and Nature has the power or potentiality to appear, so when it meets
with a support 28 these things appear. This is very natural, so we call
Lhese Natural Visions. All sentient beings have this; it is nothing
special at all.
2. Impure Vision
I said that after Bardo sounds, rays and lights appear, and
perception appears at the same time. This perception immediately
-'X Such as space, darkness or sunlight.

33
perceives what appears as an object and perceives it as something

there. Without checking for the root or source or anything like that,
this perception only perceives that there is something there. This
perception is there from the beginning. It is very subtle, the root of
Ignorance. How does it perceive? The object is not just merely seen,
but this perception perceives that there is something [inherent]
there. Perception thinks that whatever is seen there actually exists
as it is seen. This is the root of Ignorance; we call it Root Ignorance.
This goes on all the time, so all other visions, all other
consciousnesses, are influenced by this when they perceive things.
For example, if you see a flower or a bowl, first of all you simply see
the bowl, and this simple seeing is not Ignorance. But the second
step is that [you then judge it as] good or bad, or you think that this
bowl exists as an [external, inherent] object, as it is. You (
automatically perceive it with this perception. So that is part of
Ignorance, as Ignorance sees things as though they exist [out there] [
on the side of the object. That is Ignorance. So each of them 29 has
two ways of perceiving things: f
Simple perception;
Immediately perceiving that what you see exists [inherently] as t
you see it, on the side of the object. This part is Ignorance,
(
always.
So that is why all kinds of perception are influenced by Ignorance,
and so whatever you do that is connected with thinking - it doesn't
matter whether it is something good or something bad - any kind of
perception is influenced by Ignorance. That is natural.
Why are they influenced by Ignorance? From the beginning
there is very subtle perception or consciousness which appears at
the same time as the object - the sounds, rays and lights - does.
From this time onwards, [this perception] goes on and on following
towards the side of objects, so then this Ignorance influences all
kinds of perceptions and consciousnesses. Ignorance even influences f
Bodhichitta, Compassion, and Refuge because all kinds of perception
are bound by Ignorance. Whatever is integrated with Ignorance is
impure. Therefore according to the Dzogchen way, all kinds of
29 I.e. each of the five sensory consciousnesses.

34
Yetri Thasel. Ptauenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
perception and consciousnesses are impure. That is why the

example of clouds is given: a white cloud and a black cloud both
equally cover the sun. Or there is another example: if your hands are
tied with a golden chain or an iron chain, the pain will be the same,
no difference. So it is the same as these examples: pure
consciousness and impure consciousness both cover the Natural
State. Why? Because the Natural State is beyond all kinds of
perception. That is why Dzogchen doesn't require us to do anything
with thinking or developing anything [intellectually]; there is no
calculation of the Ten Bhumis or the Ten Paramitas or any
visualization or anything like that in the Dzogchen way. That is why
we say Dzogchen is only Nature itself; there is no need to support it
with perception or consciousness. If you do something [to develop]
Dzogchen, it doesn't get any better; if you don't do anything, it
doesn't get any worse. But don't be mistaken! Don't confuse the
practitioner, the Dzogchenpa, and Dzogchen. Dzogchen means
Nature, and Dzogchenpa means a practitioner. That is different! A
practitioner needs to prepare, [Nature] doesn't come to you easily.
Although in fact it is always with you, it never goes away, yet it is too
close, it has been with us too long as a friend, so you don't recognize.
That is what is said.
3. Pure Vision
Th is morning I said that all visions are like reflections of the stars,
moon, clouds and so on which are reflected in water. The water
doesn't catch them, nor do the reflections disturb the water. This is
the same way, and that is the example. Visions appear
spontaneously from Nature, into Nature and are liberated back into
Nature. These kinds of visions which are not influenced at all by
perception or consciousness are called Pure Vision. But still just
knowing this is not enough; we need to be practising more, you see.
35
Yetri Thasel, P/i1uenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai"i rnchongs
8th September, 2008
The yoga of the regular practice with the views

This section is called 'the yoga which regularly practises with the
views'. That is the title of this session and it deals with the view.
There are many different views, the General View, and then the
particular Self View.
General View
As for the General View, each of the Nine Ways has a view, and they
are all called 'views grasped by consciousness'. If anyone is
interested in knowing about the different views of the Nine Ways, I
have already taught them a while ago in some other place and these
Teachings have already been made into booklets. 30 Usually
practitioners may think: 'Oh, we are not studying comparative
religion', but it is a good thing for practitioners to know [all the views
of the Nine Ways] because we are always saying that Dzogchen is the
highest view, but how is it the highest? Why is it the highest?
The Two Accumulations and the Dzogchen View

In this context, we are talking about the view, and, generally, there
are the two types of Accumulation of Virtue: the Accumulation of
Wisdom and the Accumulation of Merit. These two accumulations
must be studied in preparation as they are the way to prepare the
cause for Buddhahood. Buddhahood means that all obscurations
and defilements are purified, and don't expect to achieve
Buddhahood without performing or practising these Two
Accumulations. Buddhahood is a kind of fruit or result, and it needs
a cause. These two causes are the same.
As for the Accumulation of Wisdom, first and foremost it
depends on the view of whichever of the Nine Ways [you are
following]. Practitioners of each of the Nine Ways expect to achieve
the Final Goal of Buddhahood, and for that purpose, first of all they
30 See transcript Namkha Truldzo, 2006, Week l, pp. 68-74; Week ll, pp. 2-49. I�
36
I
Yetri Thasel, Pt;1uenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
begin by studying and learning, then secondly they need to know the
view, and then thirdly it is not enough just to know - they have to
practise. If they practise more and more then that can bring forth a
result.
As for the Accumulation of Merit, there are various things to
perform, and this is the cause for the Rupakaya, the Form[-Buddha].
Wisdom is the cause for Dharmakaya. There are two aspects within
Buddha: Dharmakaya and Rupakaya. Rupakaya means Form
Buddha and Dharmakaya means Formless-Buddha, but these are
not separate, just as a human has both mind and body together.
Mind corresponds to Dharmakaya and body corresponds to
l�upakaya. Within Rupakaya, there are two types of form -
Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. These all come from a cause, from
the Accumulation of Wisdom and the Accumulation of Virtue.
Generally, we have three main Schools: Sutra, Tantra and
Dzogchen. Each of these expects to achieve Buddhahood as the Final
Goal. So each of these three equally needs to make these two causes
by performing the Accumulation of Wisdom and Merit. Those are the
two causes. How to practise these two causes is all summarized and
put together in the Ten Paramitas. Maybe I say this very often. The
two Paramitas of Wisdom and Contemplation are performed for the
Accumulation of Wisdom, while the others are for the Accumulation
of Virtue, and the Paramita of Determination is needed for both,
equally. So everything is included in the Ten Paramitas. First of all
you need to know what these are, then you need to know how to
practise with each of them, and then you need to understand that
how you gather the Ten Paramitas depends on which Vehicle you are
following, Sutra, Tantra or Dzogchen. For each of these three you
equally need to practise the Ten Paramitas, but there are different
methods to use. For the Sutra way, they practise the Ten Paramitas
alone. The Tantra Way is to integrate the Ten Paramitas with
visualization, with Kyerim and Dzogrim.31 As for Dzogchen, the Ten
Paramitas are practised, but they are not practised individually.
Everything is perfected - Dzogpa, which means that Nature has the
potentiality for everything. So here we practise along with the
11 Tib.bskyed rim, rdzogs rim.
37
Natural State and everything is perfected within that Natural State,

so that is Dzogchen. Therefore there is no need to practise the Ten
Paramitas individually. Obviously you still need to practise them, but
not in the same way, not individually. It is very important to know
this. [A] Dzogchen[pa] does need to prepare the cause of Buddha, but
the method is different.
The Ten Paramitas are explained in the book in detail, and it
is better to look there. Knowing the Ten Paramitas is very basic, you
see. 32
Then the second step is to practise them. In the detailed
explanation of the Ten Paramitas, it says that the main thing is to do
something with thinking, with consciousness, but how can we
integrate this with Dzogchen? 'Ozog' means perfect, or the
potentiality which Nature has for all this. For example, how can the
Natural State have the potential for Bodhichitta, or for compassion?
First of all, compassion means thinking: 'how can I release all
sentient beings, any being, from their sufferings and miseries?' The
opposite of this thinking is to think you want to have better things
for yourself but don't care about the rest of the sentient beings, you
just don't care about them no matter what sufferings they have. That
is the opposite of compassion. So in the Natural State, in keeping
with the extent to which you are familiar with the Natural State and
stable in it, no harm will come from there; you will never harm any
sentient being. If you have the possibility of helping them, you will go
and release them and do whatever you can to help. There is no
negation 33 at all. So that is what we mean by perfected or
potentiality. Each individual one of the Ten Paramitas is perfected in
the Natural State; that you can trust. Refuge and Bodhichitta -
everything - are perfected there, too. That is called Dzogchen. The
practise [of Dzogchen] is only to practise the single way of the
Natural State or Awareness.
32 See the transcripts: The Nine Ways 0/8011, Vol. I, Bon of Fruit, pp. 44-50, 72-79, 125-127,
134-142; The Four Wheels 0/8611, pp. 19-23; or the booklet Negative and Virluous Actions.
33 I.e. rejection of Ten Paramitas.
38
Yctri Thasel, P(auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
The Three Holy Methods

But not everything you practise can lead to the cause of
•• 8uddhahood. Even if you practise the Ten Paramitas, you have to
integrate this with the Three Holy Ones, with Dampa Sum.
Bodhichitta
Whatever you practise - the Ten Paramitas or the Accumulation of
Merits or whatever - first of all you have to think about Bodhichitta.
11
You have to think that the purpose of whatever you are doing is to
release sentient beings [from their sufferings and miseries]. That is
the first point.
Empty Form
The second point is that whatever you do, it is all Empty Form, it is
all integrated with the Natural State. That is the second Holy One.
Dedication
Dedication means 'gift'. We call it Ngowa,34 and that one word has
two meanings. One means to calculate, like counting sheep or goats,
and the other meaning is gift,35 or giving something. 36 So here,
wbatever you have practised, any kind of religion, you have to give it
or share it with all sentient beings to release them from sufferings
and miseries that they may achieve Buddhahood.
-
You must integrate these three with any kind of practice, and then
whatever you do can go towards the cause of Buddhahood.
Otherwise, if you do many practices - any kind, such as purification,
or long life, or sending away obscurations or defilements - there are
many things you can do, there are so many practices, but [if you
- don't integrate them with the Three Holy Ones] not everything can be
used as a cause for Buddhahood.
14 Tib. bsngo ba.

1' This is synonymous with Tib. grangs brtsi ba.
16 This is synonymous with Tib. sprod pa.
- 39
Mistaken Dzogchen views

OK, now it is better to go back [to the text], to the View.
Here it says that the Views of all Nine Ways are integrated
with perception, with grasping. One of these ways, the ninth, is
Dzogchen. It is the highest. But the name of the Dzogchen View is
still among the Nine, so if you integrate this with perception, if you
think 'the Dzogchen View is like this or that', then that leads to the
mistaken Dzogchen View. Dzogchen itself doesn't make any
mistakes, but practitioners' understanding can be mistaken, you
see. They expect to know the Dzogchen View, but there can be
mistakes, and these are divided into seven points - we explained
them before.37 It was very hard, and we tried to make some
commentary on them; this will come again later in the text. This can
help a little. These seven points are not only found in this text. They
are general and are even found in Nyingma as well as many Bonpo
texts. In Namkha Truldzo there are [clarifications on] ten mistaken
views.38 Initially all followers wanted to know the Dzogchen View but
then slowly they added their own views, their own ideas, and that
makes a mess of the [real] Dzogchen View. Dzogchen cannot be
messed up, but the individual's knowledge is mistaken. So therefore,
we need to make sure carefully that you [have understood] the
Dzogchen View properly and don't just easily talk about the name of
Dzogchen. You have to check properly and carefully. Otherwise you
think you are following Dzogchen, but whether it is really Dzogchen !
or not is not sure.
f
Correcting your view
It is very necessary to correct your view from time to time. How can
you correct it? First of all, you have to visualize and do Guru Yoga.
That is very essential. This [understanding] can only come via the
blessing of the Lineage Masters, from Dharmakaya. Secondly, you
must study the real, essential Dzogchen Teachings, not only the
37
I.e. in 2006 or 2005.
38
For a brief explanation see Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, Commentary by Lopon Tenzin
Namdak, Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, Snow Lion Publications. 1993, pp. 73-74; for a
detailed explanation see transcript: Namkha Truldzo, 2007, Week 111, pp. 151-168.
40
commentaries - there are so many that you cannot follow them all,
bu L you should read the essential texts. The third step is that you
must follow your own qualified Master. Listen to him. Then by going
according to the text, according to what you heard from your own
Master, and according to your own experience, you understand. You
must make sure that these three [are in agreement]. If not, then you
need to make corrections. If your understanding is clear and agrees
with these three points then your Dzogchen View is perfect.
The Great Perfection View of no added activities

This Teaching of Dzogchen is called: 'the Great Perfection View of no
added activities.' That means this Nature is not disturbed by any
activities of the body, speech or mind. This Nature is Great
Perfection, or Longchen.39 If you have understood this View, then
you can integrate with the external phenomena of existence. You can
check: you can see that all phenomena which exist are as Empty
Form. If you check the internal phenomena of existence - the
sentient beings in general and in particular your consciousness and
perception - then everything is as Empty Form. It is not possible to
describe Empty Form or think about it; it doesn't come to your
perception. Everything is formed as Emptiness. The name is 'empty'
but it is not possible to think of this Emptiness. It is beyond
consciousness or perception. But how can the person who is
practising know whether he has understood his own View of practice
without perception, without thinking, without knowing through his
perception? The answer is: when you come to Nature, after
perception and consciousness are liberated and have disappeared,
you are in a Presence which is clear. How is it clear? It is not
possible to explain, but if you leave it, it is itself clear. At that
- moment, you yourself can see it is clear - you are not dead, you are
not unconscious, your Presence is clear. This Clarity is Self
Awareness. If you think and remain in this, then that is called
'Nature or the Natural State or Self-Wisdom appears directly'.
The text says we should look at and check all external and
internal phenomena. But how can we do this? Take one piece of
39 Tib. klong chen.

41
Yetri Thasel, Pti1uenhoL 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
phenomenal existence, one object, such as a flower. If you look at it,

you can see a general flower. But if you check carefully what it really
looks like, even though you can see the flower as an object very
clearly, if you really look at it in detail you can see the colour, petals,
smell, stem, seeds and so on, but everything is only formed - there
are many material things there but you cannot find anything which
is really The Flower on the side of the object. So that is how to look
at all phenomena of existence; everything is formed as Emptiness.
When you understand, you can see everything but if you check the
object, you cannot find anything real or trustable. This is called:
'how to see and understand Empty Form'. If you check the visions or
whatever you see on the side of the object, you can see them, you
can use them but there is nothing which exists permanently. It looks
like last night's dream. It was clear, sometimes something beautiful
appeared, sometimes something ugly, sometimes you were happy,
sometimes you were suffering - many things happened during your
dream. At that time everything was very real - you were walking
around and feeling everything there in the dreamtime, but just after
you woke up, there was no trace of it; none of it happened. So all
phenomena of existence - including your own life and the Three
Jewels - are as a dream. You can see things, you can use them but
there is nothing which exists inherently at all, there is nothing
trustable. That is called: 'understanding all phenomena which exist
as delusion'. Check this. Finally what you have understood as the
unchangeable, unspeakable State is non-delusion.
Lodewa 40
If a practitioner understands all phenomena which exist as Empty
Form, then such a person is satisfied by the View he has understood
and he will never need to return back to Samsara. If you want to,
then that is different! That is Lode, to have a satisfied, peaceful,
joyful or carefree mind. That is called: 'there are no doubts
whatsoever that Samsara is liberated'. That is the meaning or
purpose here.
40 Tib. blo bde ba.

42
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Then after this, if you look with the Eye of Wisdom at any
part of the phenomena of existence in the same way, then you will
see them or think of them as illusion, Gyuma. 41 What does 'illusion'
mean? First of all you have to understand Basic Nature. From there,
all phenomena appear as visions. It is similar to our example of
water taking reflections; whatever reflections you see in water, they
are all water. So in the same way, all phenomena which exist are all
Empty Form, which means Nature-Form. Don't think that these
forms have come from anywhere else. Yesterday I explained to you
about Private Vision, and everything which is Private Vision is
formed from your own Nature. This is not just empty words. From
the beginning, when one lifetime starts, sounds, rays and lights
appear. They don't come from anywhere [external], they are your own
Nature - they appear from Nature. So this goes on and objects arise.
In the same way, if you [rest] just a moment you can see that
-
without planning anything in a particular way, thoughts appear
spontaneously. Where are they coming from? They are coming from
your own Nature, not from any other place. If you check and think
they are coming from your brain or your heart, then that is
something you have created yourself; it is not necessary. Nature
comes itself into Nature, it appears to Nature and is liberated back to
ils own Nature, nowhere else. This is shown clearly, yet still we
search for something else.
Purification
Ir you understand that everything is formed as Empty Form, then the
Natural State has nowhere where it is possible to keep karmic traces
or Bagchag. 42 There is no support for these, no place to keep them,
so everything is liberated and goes into the Natural State. That is
called: 'to cut off the continuation of the Three Existences 43 and the
Three Realms'. 44
'11 Tib. sgyu ma.

·1� Tib. bag chags.
·11 Tib. srid gsum -Tib. gnam, bar, 'og. Sky World, Middle World, Underworld.
•1•1 Tib. khams gsum - Tib. 'dod khams; gzugs khams; gzugs med khams - Desire World,
Form World and Formless World. For more on the Bonpo cosmological model see Dmitry
43
Yetri Thasel, P/auenhoL 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
When we talk about Confession we usually mean that you try

to purify whatever you have committed with your body, speech and
mind since the beginning through Confession. You are trying to
wash away your obscurations and defilements. But if you have fully
understood that all phenomena which exist - including yourself,
your life and everything - go to the unspeakable state, then as
Nature, the unspeakable state, has no possibility to keep karmic
traces or Bagchag - virtues and sins are all Bagchag - then there is
no support for this Bagchag. For example, if you paint with chalk on
space then space doesn't take any trace at all. In the same way, no
matter what you do with your body, speech or mind, afterwards
there is no place to keep any traces. Why? Because you have
understood that everything is Empty Form. That is called 'looking
with Internal Wisdom'. You can see that there is no separation, no
distinction between [whether your] purpose [is good or bad];
everything goes equally into Nature. That is great and powerful
Confession. There is no need to count up how many mantras you
recite or how many prostrations you have done. If you do
prostrations or recite mantras and think that you are purifying all
your karmic traces, how can it work? How can it purify traces? How
can you do something? You can think about this. Sometimes if you
go to church you can tell things in secret. There's a small room in
the chapel and you tell the priest what you have done. But what can
he do? When you have finished, do you think you have purified
something or not? All Schools and religions are thinking and wanting
to purify [these negative things], but the methods are completely
different, you see. In this way, in this logical way [of Dzogchen], there
is no base at all where traces can be kept - it doesn't make much
difference whether the [karmic traces] are good or bad. If there is no
base, then what can you do? You can't do anything. It is just like
painting in space: you can move your hand with some white or black
chalk, but no traces are left in space. So this is the same thing.
Nature is Nature. Nature is not created; Nature is Nature. This is
comes to the final exhaustion; all things are exhausted in the Final
Ermakov, Be and Bon: Ancient Shamanic Traditions ofSiberia and Tibet in their relation to
the Teachings ofa Central Asian Buddha, Vajra Publications, Kathmandu, 2008, pp. 188-192.
44
Yetri ThaseL Pfauenhof 2008 dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Goal of Nature, so you have to be Lode, you don't need to worry any
more, you can remain safe with no doubts, carefree.
First of all, you check how all the phenomena of existence go
into Nature, then after this you check internally, for consciousness
and perception. You look there and understand everything as Empty
Form. Then this Emptiness is called 'the non-separation equanimity'.
You can see this. That means that it appears itself as equal, non
separation. What does 'non-separation' mean? An individual person
has eight main consciousnesses and fifty-one minor
consciousnesses. When you concentrate on them and look at them,
they all liberate into Nature together, not individually. Then if you
look back a second time, at who is looking back, then this 'looker',
Loo, is also liberated into Nature in the same way. So finally who is
looking and what they are looking at both go to Nature equally, to
Emptiness with no separation [or distinction]. This Emptiness means
the Inseparable State. So in this way you can see the whole of
phenomenal existence including the highest Dharmakaya,
Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya - body, speech and mind becomes
like a dream; you can see everything but there is no substance, no
concrete existence whatsoever. Higher, lower, impure, pure -
everything [is like this]. That is called Lode, carefree.
Self-awareness is called 'the eye of Self-Awareness continues
itself as it is'. At that time, how do you see, how do things appear?
When we say 'look' or 'see' we are using words; we use words like
'watch' and 'see' in order to understand, but internally, your [way to]
understand is to look back towards a thought. It is liberated into
Nature, and after this, don't add anything, don't change anything
but just leave everything as it is. In that state there is no 'watcher',
there is no 'where' which they are watching, there is no separation,
but it is not possible to explain how this State is. Nevertheless, you
yourself have tasted this, you have experience. It is like, for example,
a dumb man chewing molasses; he can taste it but he cannot speak
[about his experience]. At that moment [when thoughts liberate], the
State is the unspeakable state, and what you are doing is nothing,
but your State is still clear and calm. That is real, pure Nature. You
are seeing or you are in Nature, clearly. That is called 'seeing the
Natural State'.
45
Yetri Thasel, P/auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
If you sit and understand Nature, your Presence is this

unspeakable state; once you are clear in the State, that is called 'you
understand that no matter which perceptions you use, they cannot
lead to Buddhahood.' If you understand this State, you are all
carefree.
As for a practitioner who doesn't trust that perception or
performing practices leads to Buddhahood, who doesn't believe in
this method, what is important is why he doesn't attend or follow
[the idea that] perceptions or consciousness lead to Buddhahood. He
has realized that everything is integrated with Nature, that Nature is
not created by any perception, that it is not attached to perception at
all; he knows this. If you name this View, it is called 'cut off from
town', and that means that you are no longer circulating in Samsara
or in big towns. You are not taking rebirth in New York! But there is
no objection if you wanted to come back to New York or Washington!
That is called: 'not returning back to the Three Realms'.
Nature and Space

Yesterday I said - this is not in order here - that when you remain in
the Natural State with your eyes open and gaze into space, you
cannot separate [or distinguish] your Nature and space. There is no
possibility to distinguish which is normal space and which is your
Nature. In fact, there is no need to make this distinction, nor is it
possible. The text says your Nature is completely integrated with
space but the meaning of this is very often mistaken. While you are
remaining in Nature with your eyes open, you cannot distinguish
and say: 'This part is my Nature, that part is normal space'; that is
not possible, neither is it necessary to make this distinction but the
text says they are integrated, the same thing. What does it mean? It
means that while you are remaining like this, in your Nature, your
Nature is like space in that it cannot be touched and is not concrete,
but it doesn't mean that your Nature is completely integrated with
the vastness of space, that your Nature reaches up to the sky or
something; don't think in that way. Normal space has no Clarity, it is
just empty but the Natural State is self-aware. That is very different.
While you are remaining in Nature, it is not possible to distinguish
46
these two. It doesn't matter, you can just keep on in Nature. But the
-
text says everything is integrated. I wanted to clarify this. While you
:ire remaining in your Nature, there is no separation [between that
<rnd] Emptiness - it looks very similar, it is not possible to
distinguish them at that time. But this doesn't mean that everything
is integrated for ever.
-
•]
Types of practitioners and their realizations
As for the person who practises this View, for the best practitioner
-
• who is an advanced one, all his material body, his mind and
everything else soon goes to Buddhahood, which means to an
invisible State. In other words, he takes Rainbow Body. There is no
need to add anything else, he just goes along practising with the
Natural State, with Self-Awareness. I have already said that this
State is perfected with the Ten Paramitas, with the Accumulation of
Wisdom and Virtue, so [when he practises with the Natural State]
-
• everything is practised.
As for a practitioner who is not so strong in their practice or
who is not such a hard-worker, who sometimes practises and
- sometimes engages in normal activities such as going to work or
-
something, in the next stage he will take rebirth either in the Deva
-
Loka or somewhere in the Human Loka, and he will meet with this
Teaching again. So in the later part of his [next] life it will be possible
-
for him to take Buddhahood.
If anyone has decided to practise with the State but doesn't
have time or is engaged in something else, if they have understood
- and practised some part [of this Teaching] then by the truth and
- blessing of this Nature they will take rebirth in Rangzhin Trulpai

Zhingkham, 45 the Paradise of the Miraculous Birth. You are born
-
there without depending on father or mother. You have to practise
there continuously and then there is no doubt that you will never
return to Samsara or the township; you are carefree.
• As for the practitioner who practises continuously, his View is
called 'set up on the great mountain'. That is the name. The meaning
is that if you go up to the top of the highest mountain, Mount Meru,
45 Tib. rang bzhin sprul pa'i zhing khams.

47
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
and look down, you can see all the islands and globes 46 at once. In
the same way, if you are in the View of Dzogchen, if you are familiar
with and stable in the Nature of Dzogchen, then even without
studying or practising all the individual views of all the individual
Nine Ways, you can see all their views and Final Goal or Result, and
you can achieve them all without doing anything one by one. It is
similar to looking down from a high mountain into the valleys - you f
can see everything even if you don't go into each individual valley.
This is called: 'set up unchangeably and safely upon a great �
mountain'.
According to the view of a practitioner who has advanced
thus far, all internal and external phenomena of existence -
internally, the sentient beings, consciousness, perception, pure
things, impure things, everything - are liberated into Nature. There
is nothing at all left behind. Even all emotions, whatever he had
before, are all liberated into Nature. It looks like clouds disappearing
into space; once clouds have dissolved in space, there is no trace or
sign left. Or if you leave dirty water without stirring it, even if you
don't strain it but just leave it as it is, then it will become clear and
clean by itself. So in the same way, if you don't add anything with
perception or consciousness but just leave [this State] as it is, then
that is pure practice, pure Nature, Pure Vision, pure View. The
reason for this is that from the beginning the Dzogchen Nature was
not created by anyone; it is Nature, its own Nature, Self-Nature, and
right from its 'origin' it has no delusion at all. It is pure by itself. So
when you practise, you return back to the source itself. Why should
it follow delusion? That is turning back to Nature's side, that is the
reason. There is no integration with consciousness; this View is not
integrated with perception at all, from the beginning. Such a
practitioner is called: '[one who] practises the basic result regularly'.
Once such a person has achieved the Final Goal, they can never
return back to Samsara or any places of misery because there is no
seed, no cause for this. For example, there is a tree called Thogpa
Nase which has a fruit, but if you throw this fruit on the ground, it
won't grow. I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, if anybody knows,
46 A reference to the Bonpo cosmological model. See. Ermakov, Be and Bon, pp. 188-190.
48
Vetri Thasel, P{auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
they can explain. That means that if you have achieved [this View],
you can never return back to Samsara. But that doesn't mean
Tulkus 47 [reincarnate lamas]; don't think it refers to them. If they
want to [return they can]; they are like Buddha, you see. So here it
means that they don't return to Samsara because of karmic cause.
Karmic cause pushes beings to be born in Samsara, and [for such
realized practitioners], this is not possible. But if they wish to, if
there is a need or a purpose, then they can return. Like Tapihritsa.
After he achieved [Buddhahood] he returned and served one rich
person for years, as a shepherd. It is like this, you see. But this type
of reincarnation should remember their knowledge, not only some
Lhings they had used. 4s
9th September, 2009
Three Parables
;--- l. The Parable of the Prince
2. The Parable of the King with Unruly Subjects
3. The Parable of the Clever Minister
1. The Parable of the Prince

There was once a Prince who was not yet enthroned, so he was just
like any other normal man, just like a normal person. But when the
t irne came to crown him and enthrone him with great ceremony, he
immediately became very powerful, and from that time on his was
able to control all his subjects. That is the Parable of the Prince.
In the same way, all normal sentient beings are deeply
encompassed by the Natural State, it is very close to them, never far
from them at all; they are always together. Even if a person goes
right down to the very bottom of hell, the Natural State is still there.
_,, If the person goes right up to the very top or Dharmakaya, to the
very highest, the Natural State is still there. This Nature is not the
•17 Tib. srrul sku.

1
• K /\ rcl"crencc to the practice of checking reincarnate lamas by seeing if they can recognize
ritual objects they had used in their previous incarnation. Here Rinpoche says a real Tulku
must remember much more thanjust that.
49
Yetri ThaseL PfiluenhoL 2008: dGos ·ctod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
same in Dharmakaya or hell, it is the quality of Nature which is the

same. Don't mix this up and think that when we say that the Natural
State encompasses everything from Dharmakaya down to hell that
we mean there is only one single Nature which encompasses
everything; this is not possible. But the quality is the same. If Nature
is together with Dharmakaya, it is not better; it is the unchangeable
State, it is clear, self-aware - everything is there. As for a person who
is suffering down in hell, their Nature is there, too; Nature is
unchangeable, it is clear and clean, and self-aware. That is what we
mean when we say 'Nature encompasses everything'.
The Prince [his princehood] represents Self-Awareness or the
Natural State. His enthronement and coronation represent the lama
or qualified Master introducing you to your own Natural State. From
that time on, you realize your own Nature by yourself - in other
words, your own Nature is aware of itself, that is what is meant by
'by yourself here; it is not simply known by your consciousness.
2. The Parable of the King with Unruly Subjects

Once there was a normal ruler but his subjects did not really obey
him. They were quite rough, you see, not easily controlled by their
dictator, by their King. So then he sent his military to subdue them.
First of all he thought this would be an easy way to bring them
under control, that it wouldn't take too long. But in fact the more the
army fought, the more the people fought back, and finally they
became like guerrillas and took to the mountains! Then they were
always making trouble. So then the King had the idea of wiping out
all the families of the guerrillas, thinking they would no longer come
back and cause trouble. So that is what he did. After that, it was
indeed peaceful in his realm, but he had destroyed all his subjects!
That is the Parable of the King with Unruly Subjects.
The subjects represent our senses - the sense of smell, taste,
touch, hearing and sight - while the King is Awareness. It is not easy
to control [the senses] until you are completely familiar with and
stable [in the Natural State] because all the time you are always
following your senses, whatever you see, hear, taste, touch or smell.
And these are like the unruly subjects. Once you are familiar with
50
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal hyed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
the Natural State, the senses are all completely under the control of
the Natural State, You are no longer following them so they don't
,. disturb your Natural State at all. This is what this parable means,
It is quite helpful to understand this because usually, how do
you control all the senses when you are contemplating in the Natural
·-
State? If you follow your nose, your ear, your eye and so on then that
disturbs your contemplation of Nature, But if you control them - i,e,
,. if you don't follow them - then they no longer disturb you, That is
the meaning here. By 'destroy' we mean that all the senses are
liberated back into their own Nature, so they are no longer there,
just as when there are no longer any subjects they don't cause any
disturbances; everything is calm.
l wanted to say something about how you can control your
senses. When you are concentrating in the Natural State, the way to
deal with your senses is not to follow them and not to stop them.
You cannot stop seeing or hearing. But just leave them. No matter
what you see or hear, neither follow it, nor try to stop it - just leave
everything. That is what we mean by 'control'. Then you yourself are
concentrating with Nature, and everything is under control. If you
follow something or try to stop it, then everything becomes more and
more rough, you see. It is better not to do that. Just leave things,
and that is 'under control'.
3. The Parable of the Clever Minister

Once there was a very delicate, cunning Minister who mediated
between the public and the King. He was very clever and did so
- many things, plotting here and there. Sometimes he did good things,
sometimes he did bad things. He was very close to the King but he
- was also close to the people. He looked as though he was very clever
-
and created many things, but in fact what he was doing was quite
-
dangerous for the people. So one day the people realized that he was
very dangerous and not letting either the people or the King live in
peace, he was always stirring up trouble. But the King was very fond
of this Minister, very close to him, and whatever advice he gave, the
-
King would follow it, and this caused too much trouble between the
people and the King. So one day the people captured the Minister,
51
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
and a revolution came. They put him in prison. The King was very
sad, but the people had captured the Minister and imprisoned him.
After this, there was no messenger going up and down between the
King and the people. The people stayed quiet and the King didn't do
anything special, so after this there was calm for the people and the
King - not many problems.
That is the Parable of the Clever Minister.
Our mental consciousness is like the Minister, it is always
very important and very powerful. If you follow mental
consciousness, it creates so much and that disturbs you as you try
to remain in the Natural State; it doesn't leave you in peace. If you
try to stop [the movements of your mental consciousness], then this
'stopper' is another consciousness. You can't stop it. If you try to
stop it, the stopper is like another Minister which pops up. So what
can you do? Just leave your mental consciousness; don't follow it,
don't try to do anything. That is what the parable means when it
says the Minister was captured and put into prison. So if you leave
your mental consciousness, it liberates into Nature. That is the
parable and its meaning.
Rigpa Chozhag49
If you practise in this way [following the example of the three
parables], the result is called 'the Pure Result'. That means that after
practising in this way, perception, consciousness and senses are
liberated back into Nature, and what remains is the pure result,
which is the Natural State. This Natural State is not fabricated,
made or created, it is nothing to do with visualization; it is Nature,
since beginningless beginning. Nature is Nature, it is not possible to
change it or fabricate it. It is not possible to make it good or bad, you
cannot change it. That is just called Result, but in fact it doesn't
have much to do with any other result or fruit.
This part of the Teachings is called Rigpa Chozhag which
means 'leave everything as Awareness'.
This is 'set with Awareness'. How does it come? How can you
understand it? Many things have been explained previously. If you
49 Tib. rig pa chog bzhag.

52
Yctri Thasel, P[auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
keep on in this Awareness, when various visions come or various

thoughts come, no matter what comes, you yourself simply continue
in this Awareness. That is called 'setting all the phenomena of
existence - external, internal, anywhere - in Awareness'. Finally you
-
will realize that all the phenomena of existence are liberated into the
pure Nature. That is called 'three self-pure existences'. The three
existences have been calculateds0 but in here it means that your
body, speech and mind are all understood as liberated into the
Natural State. Once your body, speech and mind have been liberated
into Nature, there is no place where Bagchag, karmic traces, sins or
• negative things can be kept. Whatever you say or think [or do]
cannot be kept afterwards. That is called the Three Self-Pure
8xistences.
When a practitioner has reached this stage and is familiar
with this View, when it is clear to him, this person sometimes has
emotions, the Five Poison Consciousness, or any thoughts arising
spontaneously. Although these may appear spontaneously, just after
a thought arises, it is like a snake making knots in itself; just after a
snake has tied itself into a knot, it opens and unties the knot. So in
a similar way, for a person in this State, when emotions come up
spontaneously, they are soon liberated back into Nature by
themselves. So that is called 'all emotions, Five Poison
Consciousnesses, senses, thoughts and so on are self-liberated to
Lhe Nature of Emptiness'.
When this knowledge comes to a practitioner, the practitioner
is called 'one who has passed from the existence of all'; that is kind
of a new title for him. It means that this kind of practitioner who has
no kind of perception or consciousness does not grasp at any kind of
objects, neither Samsara nor Nirvana. That is his View, his
understanding, or his Nature.
Then there is a quotation from Chyigyu Zhi'i Bampo.s1 In

Yetri Thasel there is one chapter called the Chapter of the Base, that
is Zhi'i Bampo, and there is a quotation taken from there:
10 I.e.
they were spoken of above.
51 Tib. spyi rgyud gzhi'i barn po.
53
Yetri Thasel, P[auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dad gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
'All kinds of senses are not far from the Nature of Mind;
All kinds of the Five Paths and the Ten Bhumis are not
rejected.
When a practitioner has already achieved the View of
Dzogchen all the knowledge and result is there; he receives all
of the Five Paths and the Ten Bhumis, all of this, without
fabricating anything and with nothing lacking.
He has met with Unchangeable Awareness, and his View is
called "all kinds of existence - external, internal, everything -
becomes as the View of Buddha".'
Many and various things have been taught in this section,

and they are all for scholars who are interested in learning many
various things, and also those who have to know the Natural State.
In general, this Teaching is the View of Buddha, but more for
scholars than for practitioners.
Rigpa Rangdrol Gomchen s2

Now Rigpa Rangdrol Gomchen, the next section, does not explain
many more things in detail; instead, it concentrates on the Natural
State, for those who are following this kind of Teaching. Two kinds of
Teachings are explained for them here: Trekcho and Thogal. But
don't think that the previous Teachings were useless; they help very
much as they give details as to how to understand the phenomena of
existence; how to integrate with the Natural State; how, when you
are integrating with the Natural State, you can understand Empty
Form. This is all explained in detail here, and it can be very helpful.
Trekcho means that all phenomena of existence - including
all kinds of consciousness, everything - are liberated back into the
Natural State. You must realize the Natural State clearly, even
though it is beyond thought, thinking, or creating and cannot be
changed. Whatever we have been teaching about the Natural State
up to now is called Trekcho. But in fact, Trekcho is nothing special,
it is not some separate Teachings or anything like that; it is only the
Natural State, which you have to understand clearly. As for Thogal
52 Tib. rig pa rang grol sgom chen.
54
Vetri Thasel, Pf;1uenhot� 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
practice or Teaching, here it says that first of all you have to receive
• the empowerment properly. Generally, if anyone intends to follow the
• Dzogchen Teachings, they have to have empowerment for any kind of
Yidam.sJ But what we are doing here is real, practical empowerment,
:= rnd that is Guru Yoga. I very often say that the first step is to receive
empowerment from the Lineage Masters. First of all you are purified
-
by all three elements. These are not normal elements; they are the
Gurn's Knowledge and Wisdom. They come to you from him and
purify you, so then you become qualified as a follower or
practitioner.
Then there are several points which I have already taught -
how to concentrate, what the body posture is, the breathing, the
gazes - this has already been taught before, but according to the
l [text], they come up in this section about how to practise Thogal
after you have received the empowerment.
- [Special Dzogchen] Preliminary Practices

Here it says there are two parts: the Preliminary Practices and the
Essential Practices or teachings. As for the Preliminary Practices,
here it talks of Khorde Rushen,s 4 distinguishing between Nirvana
and Samsara. There are three kinds of activities for practising or
realization. ss
Rushen is very famous for Trekcho or Thogal, but here it says
I hat the initiation and Rushen must be done before you try to receive
51 Rinpoche later explained: 'Generally, you must receive the initiation of a Yidam before you
begin any D::ogchen, it does not only apply to this Teaching here. For example, in the Zhang
I.hung Nyen Gyud it does not talk about Trekcho or Thogal. it talks a/the Clear Light. but
you still need to have some kind of initiation. By 'initiation' here we mean that your
circurnstances are blessed before you receive Dzogchen Teachings. For example, when Pon
'/\w1po met Shengyal Lhatse he said: 'Tomorrow you will bring the necessary things/or
initiation' and so it has been practised successively according to the tradition. The initiation
can be longer or shorter - Pon Tsenpo gave some longer initiation but later Shengya/ Lhatse
just pul his hand on Lhagom Karpo's head, his head grew warm and Shengya/ Lhatse said
that was a sufficient initiation. 'The Masters mentioned in these examples are from the line of
the Experiential Transmission (Tib. zhang zhung nyams rgyud).
54 Tib. 'khor 'das ru shan.
"See below.
55
Yetri Thasel, P/auenhoL 2008: dGos 'dod gsal hyed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
any Teachings on either Trekch6 or Th6gal. So why are the

Teachings about Rushen emphasized here? It is a kind of reminder;
there are no new things here.
First Rushen
Rushen means to distinguish between the situation in Samsara and
the situation in Nirvana, how to distinguish between Samsara and
Nirvana. So you have to know two things: [you have to know
Samsara and you have to know Nirvana]. Usually we use the name
'nirvana' but in fact it is quite strange. In Pali texts it says that
Nirvana is only the view of self-less-ness. If you practise self-less
ness you will achieve Nirvana. So there, Nirvana means that you
practise this view and you finally reach the goal of Drachompa,s6 or
Arhat in Sanskrit. If you practise in this way, you can achieve the
state of Drachompa or Arhat, and once you have achieved this, you
disappear completely. There are three types of disappearance:
Invisible; No return/no reincarnation; Pure. 57 So [that is how]
Nirvana is explained in Sanskrit or Pali. It doesn't look suitable for
what we are talking about here, but we have to use this word; it is
quite popular - other teachers use it and I am following.
What is Samsara?
What is Samsara? When we teach the Preliminary Practices we
always say that Samsara is the Six Realms. In each of the Six
Realms the beings have so many sufferings and miseries. Don't think
this is just a story. Their suffering and misery all comes from their
own cause, and the cause is their own karmic traces. Each being has
everything perfect, ss they are not lacking anything needed to go
down to hell or to be reborn in the realms of Pretas, animals,
humans, Asuras or Devas. They are ready to go anywhere! It all
depends on which of the secondary causes they meet first, and they
only meet with this temporarily, so they take rebirth in one place,
one time. But in general, each individual being has all the seeds, all
56
Tib. dgra bchoms pa.
57
These are the three degrees of Arhat.
58 Le. all causes.
56
the causes complete, all richness [to be born in any realm]. First of
all, each individual person has to understand this.
Secondly, no matter where you take rebirth there are never
..
any good places in any of the Six Realms which can last for ever.
-
Don't think: 'I am not going to be reborn!' There is no choice. If you
don't practise with the antidotes which can purify [your causes for
-
rebirth in Samsara], there is nobody taking you up or down; you only
have to follow your own karmic cause. We have evidence of this and
can know it clearly if we look at seeds which are sown in the field -
.. the harvest or fruit has to follow the quality of the seed. Otherwise, if
you expect good crops in the autumn but in the spring or when you
should have been working in the fields you just did everything in an
easy or lazy way, nothing can come at all. In a similar way, each
individual already has all the seeds there, and you have to
understand that each seed takes its result, and each one is the
suffering in the Six Realms, wherever you take rebirth. Sometimes
we think we can find riches or luxury or happiness, but in fact this
kind of happiness is only like children playing; it is only temporary,
you see, it doesn't last for ever. This kind of happiness is not
trustable. In the text it says that sentient beings can never
experience ultimate, final happiness at all. So Rushen means that we
are beginning to understand the [causes] which are integrated within
us, and then secondly we need to understand that this [suffering] is
not Nature. It can be purified. You have to know that.
Paths leading out of Samsara
- Then thirdly you have to know how to purify them. The only way to
do this is to follow the Buddha's Teaching. Why? Because he was an
ordinary man, similar to us, full of the richness of karmic cause, but
-
finalJy he was fed up of always circulating in sufferings and miseries,
and so then he tried to think, and he found a method [to liberate
su fferings]. This method is in three paths only: Sutra, Tantra and
Dzogchen. Each individual person should choose which of these is
suitable or convenient for them, and practise it. That is the antidote
which purifies obscurations, defilements, and dirty causes. That is
the first Rushen; that is the meaning.
57
Second Rushen
We still haven't finished Rushen. In the text it talks about three
Rushen, the Rushen of body, of speech and of mind. But the main [
thing we have to understand is that any being has all seeds and
causes and then these ripen into the result or karmic cause, and [
everything is suffering and misery. This is not only a story; it is the
absolute truth and we have to trust and believe this. t
The second Rushen is to believe that this [ state of suffering
[
and misery] is not Nature, and that it can be purified. We have to be
kind of fed up with circulating all the time and always having [
sufferings and miseries - sometimes they are deeper, sometimes they
are lighter, but anyhow, we are never away from sufferings and
miseries. You have to think seriously about this. Don't think about
[the situation of] any other beings; think carefully about how you are
in suffering and misery.
Then the second thing is to be fed up of this suffering and
f
misery. You don't only have suffering in this one lifetime, but from f
time to time you have been suffering. It is not easy to remember the
past or to see the future, but you have to trust. This is not merely l
blind trust - you have to think, and look at the evidence which
comes through dreams, you see. In dreams you can see things you [
have never experienced. Strange dreams will come, and in the
dreamtime you will have the same feelings as you do when you are
alive, as you do when you are awake during the daytime. This shows
you that even without a body you can feel sufferings and miseries.
f
You need to know this deeply. After you have thought about how you
yourself are always integrated with sufferings and miseries, now you
are fed up of this. This is the very beginning of Rushen.
Then the next step is to try and search for [ the cause of
sufferings and miseries] and purify them. How can you purify them?
The only way is to follow the Teachings of Buddha.
Third Rushen
Thirdly, just knowing which practise can purify [sufferings and
miseries] is not enough; you have to actually practise.
58
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
I l
So there are these three:
,.
Realizing
Knowing
Practising
You practise these three with your body, speech and mind. So then
you must think and practise together, otherwise if you just read the
•, text there are many different instructions and you can talk, talk and
talk many times, but if you don't practise, then just knowing is not
• much use.
Suffering
This is general, but first of all I wanted to explain a little bit about
suffering. The general, visible suffering is birth, death, age and
sickness; these are very common. But several people say that these
are nature, they are not suffering but merely part of human nature
not any special suffering. People say and think that. Also, if you are
rich and have a lot of property, you have more suffering than a poor
person. You have so many things to worry about that there is no
l peace inside your mind. If you don't have any property and are poor,
then you have another kind of suffering: you want things. You are
cold or hungry or have no shelter, so you are always wanting many
things and that causes you suffering. Other people are always
searching for something good, for goodness; they always see
disturbances right and left, here and there - so many things can
come and that again causes too much worry. If you have enough
wealth, you are always worried a thief or a robber might come, or an
enemy might come, or someone who is jealous. So these worries are
always coming and they don't give you any peace, you see. Anyhow,
these are all practical ways we make suffering. You have to think
about this; don't think these things are Nature. They are completely
created by the person themself who is suffering; he made his
suffering himself. You can see that clearly yourself. So when we talk
about sufferings and miseries, at first it seems to be just like reading
some stories, but you have to think practically: suffering is not just
something natural. Or think about taking birth. The ladies know,
you see. People say: 'Birth is not suffering, it is natural'. No, it is not
59
Yetri Thasel P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
easy. Just think how much suffering there is when one person is
born. Then after this, as the children grow up, whether you are very
close parents or not, your mind will always go to the children. And
that is not peaceful, you see. Suffering means always worrying,
thinking; that is suffering. So think about all these things yourself in
a practical way. Otherwise, merely reading or talking about this is
just like a story, you see. Wherever you go to listen to Teachings they
are talking about this; all the public people are talking about this.
But it doesn't make much sense, you see. You have to think about
how to purify these sufferings. They are not Nature. The Nature of
something is like coal - you can't make coal white, it is naturally
black, so whatever you do you cannot make it white or clean the
blackness away. That is its nature. But sufferings and miseries are
not like this. When clean clothes get dirty you can easily wash them.
In a similar way, [ suffering can be washed out]. How [ does your
consciousness] get temporarily dirty? I have already said this. There
is no source, no beginning, so no matter how far back you go you
cannot find the origin at all, but temporarily, when one lifetime
starts, visions appear as sounds, rays and lights and at that time,
you follow the side of the object, and that is the start of one lifetime.
Impure things and sufferings and miseries are created from there.
This [kind of delusion] is called temporary, it is not Nature. And so
these things can be purified. How can we purify them? We follow the
Teachings, either of Sutra, Tantra or Dzogchen. In Sutra you recite
and learn things, you do some things with your body or recite some
mantras - there are so many methods which show you how to purify
sufferings. Purification means confession. There are many ways of
confession in the way of Tantra, too, and as I have already said here,
for the Dzogchen way, if you concentrate and practise with the
Natural State then there is no base where impure things or emotions
or defilements or obscurations can be kept. Everything is rootless;
there is no foundation, no place where these things can be kept.
That is the method to use to purify [sufferings].
So try to think about these two things: firstly, what suffering
is, and secondly, how to purify it. Then think about what the result
is once you have purified everything. Thinking about these things is
called the practise of Rushen.
60
Yetri Thasel, P[iiuenho( 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Namthar Sum s9
After you have done Rushen, you do the Namthar Sum. This means
setting yourself in Nature with your body, speech and mind.
- Body
- Stop your work for a while. Stop moving your body. If you do this,
-
then the way your body normally feels will become calmer, and so
will your thinking. Your channels and the structure of your body will
settle and become calm, without much pain or anything.
Speech
Stop talking or reciting for a while and don't say anything; just stay
in silence. Don't just do this once, but slowly, slowly talk less and
less. If you don't chant too much, don't do it loudly or roughly, just
recite softly and quietly; there is no objection to that. But if you talk
too much it is a waste of time and creates agitation. So stop these
things.
_I Mind
If you stop these things then you can stop thinking with your mind.
You can't stop thinking by force, but slowly, slowly. The usual
method to use is to fix your gaze on the letter A, and that helps you
to train. You focus on one point and gradually you have less and less
agitation; you don't follow agitation so much. This is a method to
use, and then your mind can be controlled more and more easily and
you won't follow agitation or drowsiness so much. Then you won't
always need to gaze at A or some object. Instead, you will be able to
control [your mind] yourself and keep it peaceful.
These are all called Namthar which means settling in Nature,
or calm.
59
Tib. rnam thar gsum.
61
Yetri Thasel, P/iwenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
Practising
Once you have completed these preparations, then how do you
practise? You practise according to the pure Nature of the Base.
There are four methods, four subdivisions.
1. Controlling body, speech and mind;
2. How Bonyi, the Natural State, appears directly;
3. How the Four Visions, Nangwa Zhi,60 appear and how you
recognize them
4. Thatengyi Mengag,61 [supportive] methods, how to help while
you are practising.
1. How to control body, speech and mind

Body- keep the posture. Your eyes gaze at the object.62
[Speech- keep silent.]
Mind - your mind doesn't follow agitation, thoughts or objects.
You use these three methods. 63 I have already spoken many times
about gazing at the letter A, but that is not the essential practise,
you see. It is for beginners who are trying to train their minds to
settle; they focus on one point instead of just following agitation.
That is the main thing. Then as I said before, you should stop
talking. Those are the three points of this method.
10th September, 2008
So now we are already ready for Thogal practice. Yesterday I spoke of

the four methods. These are: first of all there are three methods [of
Body, Breathing and Mind]; then Bonyi Ng6nsum;64 Nangwa Zhi -
Four Visions; and fourthly, three groups of three Supporting
Methods, nine altogether.
60 Tib. snang ba bzhi.

61 Tib. mtha' brtan gyi man ngag.
62
Rinpoche said 'object' but in this case it means 'support' i.e. sky, darkness, sun- or
moonlight.
63
I.e. methods for the body, breathing and mind. See below.
64 Tib. bon nyid mngon gsum.
62
Vetri Thasel, Pf;1uenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Here it says that if you squeeze a snake, then legs come out.
..
You need to squeeze it otherwise nobody can see that it has legs. But
don't expect two long legs or hands or something! That is the
-
example [which shows that if we practise with these methods of
Thogal, the visions will appear even though they are not normally
visible].
-
- Body
We have three main postures which we use to practise Thogal and
there are also an additional two, making five postures altogether. 65
Khenpo will explain each of them in detail this afternoon. We don't
normally use these very often as they can cause discomfort which in
turn leads to disturbances in your concentration with meditation.
But initially it is necessary for beginners to use these postures for a
little while when they start practising with Thogal. How long you can
keep on [in each position] depends on how comfortable you are. But
here it is not just a question of feeling comfortable and having
luxury; it is a rule, you have to use these postures.
One of these postures, the Rishi Posture, is quite comfortable
and easy. But it is necessary to learn these postures and use them
sometimes, especially if you are a beginner. It is important.
Key Point of the Body Posture [extracted from the

Teachings of Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung, 10.09.2008]
In the text it says: as for the key point of the Body Posture, one
shouldn't go beyond the three manners of the body posture.
r,, These are: Posture of the Dignified Lion, Posture of the Sleeping Elephant, Rishi Posture,
Walking Duck Posture and Crystal Antelope climbing a Rock Posture. The last posture is
extremely difficult and requires enormous flexibility so it is rarely used nowadays.
63
I •
Yetri Thasel. P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai"i rnchongs
Obviously, there are many other different postures, but these are the
three most common or basic ones. �
Why is body posture important? The position of the body is
very important because even Rigpa, the Wisdom of Intrinsic
Awareness, is within us, within our body. As long as we have our
physical body, then this [Rigpa] is very much involved with our
physical body. Therefore, if we don't assert our physical body posture
properly we cannot have the direct manifestation of the visions of
Self-Awareness. The metaphor which is given here is the snake;
when you squeeze a snake, the legs come out. This theory has been
around at least since Drenpa Namkha's time - he said this. Even
though a snake has legs, if we don't twist or squeeze it, the legs
won't show. This example is found in many Dzogchen Teachings and
it shows the importance of keeping the body posture properly.
I think that most of you are already familiar with the Three Body
Postures mentioned here. They are: F
i) The Posture of Dharmakaya, or the Posture of the Dignified
Lion Stance.
First, stand up.
Then crouch down with the balls of your feet on the ground but your
heels up.
Put your palms flat on the ground between your legs.
Try to keep your spine straight.
Put your head back and look up.
Hold your lower chakra slightly. 66
Eye gaze: up one cubit from the crown of the head.
Bene.fit: this suppresses or pacifies your [subtle] energy 67 which
causes discursive thoughts to arise and move around. It also opens
the central channel so that it is easy to be in the Natural State.
66
I.e. slightly pull up or close the anal sphincter.
67
Tib. yid.
64
- l
Dignified Lion Posture, front Dignified Lion Posture, side

_l
ii) The Posture of the Elephant Lying Down, or Position of
Ozogku. 68
There are two different
ways of doing this.
_I a) Try to touch both
knees against your
_j chest. Put your
elbows on the
ground, [cup your
chin in your
hands].. Put most
of your weight on
your elbows and
toes.
Elephant Posture, first variation
b) Another way to do this is to fully stretch your legs out
behind, resting your elbows on the ground as before. Your
whole body should be lifted off the ground, only your toes
resting on the ground.
68 Tib. rdzogs sku, Sambhogakaya.

65
Yetri Thasel, P{auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal hyed hshad gzhai'i mchongs
Elephant Posture, second variation
Eye gaze: 16 fingers up from the third eye.

Benefit: this helps to appease the movement of thoughts by
controlling the energy [of Yid]. It also pacifies attachments. This
means that one gets fewer disturbing or agitating thoughts.
iii) The Upright Rishi Posture

[Stand with your feet flat on the ground, then crouch down keeping
your bottom off the floor. Put the thumb of each hand at the base of
the ring finger and make a fist. Wrap your arms around your knees,
holding your elbows. Alternatively, rest your elbows on your knees
and cup your chin in your hands.] 'Crouch down with your feet flat
on the ground. Wrap your arms round your knees and hold your
elbows. Keep your head up and do a kumbhaka. '69
Try to keep your lower chakra closed. 70
69 There was a problem with the recoding at this point so this description is reconstructed on
the basis of the extract from Kusum Rangshar transcript ofYongdzin Lopiin Tenzin Namdak,
riO.26. Original quote follows.
I.e. anal sphincter pulled up as before.
66
�, Vetri Thasel, P(auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
_I
I J
_I
_I
--' Rishi Posture, first variation Rishi Posture, second variation
:-1 This second one is more common - [if you can't do the second
variation], in that case you can put your bottom on the ground.
Eye gaze: level of the third eye.
Benefit: this posture increases your heat, and equalizes all your
elements, the whole of your elemental system, so that it becomes
more stable. The clear light of inner expressive energy manifests
more strongly. Inside, you obtain a clearer realization of Emptiness
or the Natural State.
This refers to the Key Points of the Body Posture, so when I said
earlier that the texts says not to go beyond the three points of the
Body Posture, this is what it is referring to.
67
Yetri Thasel, Pl<1uenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Breathing
Don't close your mouth, but just let your breathing come and go in
the normal way. Don't open your mouth too much, don't close it.
Just breathe in a very, very normal way.
Mind
The important thing is that your mind is completely controlled by the
Natural State. This Natural State is the Base. It is Trekcho, but when
we practise Thogal there are Four Lamps and Four Visions and one
of them, Sherab Rangjunggi Dronma, 11 is the Lamp of Wisdom,
which is the Base. Even if you are not very familiar with this and not
very stable, you still have to keep on with this as far as you could.
2.Gazes
Then with this, there are three methods [supports] which we use for
gazing:
1. Space
2. Sunlight
3. Darkness.
Whichever of these three methods you use, visions will come. Just let
all these visions come without expecting anything. No matter what
comes, don't check anything, don't count anything, don't follow
anything - nothing. That is very important. Then if you remain very
stably in the Natural State, meanwhile visions and movements will
appear. You can see something but you don't recognize things
individually. If you do this, 72 the visions don't disturb you, you don't
disturb your concentration in Nature. So when these two conditions
come together - the visions appear and you remain stable in your
Nature - those visions are called Thogal Visions. Otherwise, if you
71
Tib. shes rab rang byung gi sgron ma.
72 I.e. if you don't follow or actively recognize the visions.
68
Vetri Thasel, P/auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
follow the visions or movements and start thinking this or that, then
you are disturbed so this doesn't count as Thogal Vision at all.
•• 3. The Four Lamps and Four Visions

••
Four Lamps
You have to learn this first of all. Check the order
- I 1. Gyangzhag Chuyi Dronma 73 [the Lamp of the Water Lasso]
this is a metaphor.
•• 2. Thigle Tongpai Dronma, 74 The Lamp of the Empty Thigle, or
sphere, although in fact these can be any shape. The vision
•• itself is called thigle.
3. Sherab Rangjunggi Dronma, The Lamp of Wisdom. This is the
Base of the Natural State.
4. Yingnam Daggi Dronma, 75 The Lamp of Pure Space. Here,
·- this means where we gaze to, space.

As for the fourth one, The Lamp of Pure Space, there are two points.
When we gaze to space, staring without blinking, then space
becomes dark. In some corner somewhere we can see something like
the tops of big trees or mountains or houses, and between them
there is a white part which stretches horizontally. 76 Inside, in the
middle distance there is a kind of dark space. This is called the
Lamp of Pure Space. It is the ground where the visions appear, like a
screen when you show slides. We see it in the distance but in fact it
is not somewhere outside, it has no place anywhere; it is Nature
itself. When we explain according to the texts we sometimes say that
it is integrated with space, or sometimes we ta°Ik about 'inner' or
'outer'. In fact, you can see that this is nothing to do with anything
else, it is part of Nature itself. It is Basic Nature; it is the Base from
which visions appear.
71 Tib. rgyang bzhag chu yi sgron ma.

1·1 Tib. thig le stong pa'i sgron ma.
7' Tib. dbyings rnam dag gi sgron ma.
76 I.e. within the lower limit of open space there are either houses, trees or mountains,
depending on the location where we do our practice. These objects have a kind of whitish
silhouette or a line which separates them from the dark space above.
69
Yetri Thasel, Ptauenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
The Four Visions

Nangwa Zhi. 77 When you gaze into space with your eye open, staring
into space without blinking, try to keep the Natural State as stable
as possible but don't think anything. Meanwhile, as you gaze into
space, there will be some sort of movements, like white threads. At
first they will only be black or white, not any other colour. If
beginners see some different colours then it is nothing to do with
Thogal; this doesn't come in the beginning, not until you are quite
advanced, until you have reached the second stage. But that takes
quite a long time. Then slowly more visions will develop and come,
then slowly one or two colours develop, then more and more. But at
first there are no colours - the visions are only black and white, like
a film, you see. In the beginning, white is rare, too, although you
may see some white lights or spots. But most of the time you see
black lines or spots, some different shapes or movements. They move
very quickly.
You can see how far your practice or meditation has developed [by
seeing how fast the visions move].
1. If a beginner gazes into space, then all the movements and
visions are very fast, like water falling from very high caves;
the visions fall very quickly and this means that you are not
ready to be stable. All the movements are very fast.
2. As you practise more and more, the second stage is that the
visions move like flowing water [like a big river].
3. Thirdly, the visions are like an ocean or sea - there is still
movement.
4. The fourth stage is like a deep lake or an ocean which is very
deep - there is not much movement.
These are the signs. They show how far you have developed. This is
quite general - even practitioners of normal Shamatha can have
these experiences.
77 Tib. snang ba bzhi.
70
_I
1. Bonyi Ngonsum Nangwa78

/\s for Gyangzhag Chuyi Dronma, the visions don't have very much
�· I shape. Sometimes they are like nets. There are not many beautiful
things to see, but the movements are always there. Sometimes in
"- I between there are very special spots, luminous light ones which are
very small, tiny. They are scattered. When these appear, that shows
you are a little more familiar with practising. Then some very, very
shiny white lines can come; they are temporary and don't stay long,
but they also show that you are becoming more familiar [with your
Nature]. These signs are all called Bonyi Ngosumgyi Nangwa, the
-
'Vision of the Empty Nature which appears directly'. That means that
you have started.
In between there are so many details, so many shapes and
movements which cannot really be described; it is not necessary to
check everything as there are so many thoughts and disturbances -
many things can happen. When you start to practise in this way,
•• I perhaps more thoughts, more disturbances, or more visions come
which are not so useful or successful: too many disturbances may
come. You shouldn't care about these, just ignore them and always
try to concentrate on the Natural State. That is the only way to do
something.
The very bright spots which may appear for a while are called
Thigle Tongpa'i Dronma, the Lamp of the Empty Thigle.
2. Nyam Gomphel79
As you practise more and become more familiar [with your Natural
State], the visions will start to have colours. At first they won't be
very bright and there will just be one colour. Then as you practise
more, two colours appear, then three, then four and finally all five
colours are there. As for the forms, you can see all kinds of shapes
and styles - houses, trees, flowers - anything can appear. But
whatever visions come are not compete - only a half or a quarter of
whatever you see. The colours are not perfect either, so there are
just a few colours, and there is only half or quarter of something.
78 Tib. bon nyid mngon gsum gyi snang ba.

n Tib. nyams gong 'phel.
71
Yetri Thasel, P/;1uenho( 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
You are just able to recognize forms. This is the second stage, Nyam
Gomphel - the Developing of Experience.
3. Rigpa Tsedpa so
These then develop more and more, your meditation is more and
more stable, and the visions are clearer and clearer. The forms are
perfect - mandalas or Divinities, 81 although the visions are not
always something beautiful like this - humans, houses, trees, all
kinds of beings - anything can come, but it doesn't matter. It is not
something good if Divinities appear in a vision nor is it bad if
demons and ugly things come. They are all just the same Nature, so
it doesn't matter. The forms make no difference at all. So in this
third stage, whatever visions appear are in full colour and all the
shapes are perfect [and complete]. That is the third stage of the
visions. It is called: reaching the limit. The visions cannot develop
any further than this; this is full and final.
4. Tharthug Zedpa sz
The fourth stage of the visions ·is that all kinds of visions start to
wane, so finally it will be like the dark moon. No visions appear,
everything wanes slowly, slowly and finally you don't see anything.
That means that this practitioner has purified everything and his
material body, his speech and mind are all completely integrated
with his own Nature. Only Nature is there, the other movements and
visions are all waning, like a dark moon. At that time, he doesn't
disappear but this is called Rainbow Body. If he does disappear, he
doesn't disappear completely; soon after, if anyone is connected with
him and needs help, he immediately appears in any kind [of form].
This person no longer has any kind of consciousness as he has
achieved the Final Goal; all consciousness and senses are completely
purified. After we die, we go to Bonyi Bardo, the first Bardo, and
some people say this looks like unconsciousness, but in fact we have
80 Tib. rig pa tshed pa.

81 I.e. Yidams.
82 Tib. mthar thug zad pa. Geshe Samten gave also another name: Tib. bon nyid zad pa'i
snang ba.
72
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
returned back to Nature. That is Dharmakaya. If it is necessary to

show something peaceful or wrathful, some Nirmanakaya or any
kind of form, this can appear immediately to the other being, like
Tapihritsa. He came back as a young boy and served a family. Or
then sometimes he came back in a Rainbow Body, white in colour,
;-I and appeared in space, you see, and then he taught Nangzher
Lodpo.s3 It is like this. So afterwards, it depends on what is
necessary. That is final Buddhahood. These [realized ones] have all
practised along with the Natural State or Awareness, Rigpa. The
simple way of practising with Awareness is when nothing is added,
nothing is taken away, you only practise along with the meditation of
the Natural State. There is no need to add anything, there is nothing
missing, everything is perfected. So if you practise this then you will
achieve this Final Goal. OK, now we will go back a bit.
4. Thatengyi Mengag
... Three Points of Non-movement
When you are practising or meditating, at that time there are the
Three Points of Non-movement, Migulwa Sum.84
-] Body
Stay in the posture. Don't move your eyes, just keep them open and
gaze into space. Don't focus on anything, just keep your eyes open
and gaze into space most of the time. It doesn't matter, outside or
inside.
Breath
Don't talk or change your breathing.
Mind
Don't move your mind. Remain in the Natural State.
81 Tib. Gyer spungs sNang bzher Lod po.

84 Tib. mi 'gul ba gsum.
73
Yetri Thasel, P(auenho( 2008: dGos 'dod gsal hyed hshad gzhai'i mchongs
These are the Three Points of Non-movement to observe while you

are practising.
Dopa Sum: 85 The Three Points to be Stopped
Body
Stop all movements.
Speech
[
Stop all talking, and if you are a beginner, don't even recite any
mantras until you are able to integrate concentrating in meditation
with doing things without disturbing your practice. Stop everything.
You have to check this for yourself.
Mind
Stop thinking anything.
Thobpa Sum 86 f
When any vision comes, you must stay in the Base. In other
words, try to remain in the Natural State. Don't follow any t
visions at all.
Don't stop the visions, don't follow anything. It is like [being]
f
fixed with a nail. f
Always try to concentrate your speech and mind on the Natural
State.
These are the nine points. There is a lot more in there, and
the details will come this afternoon. I wanted to say something else.
Dzogchen as uncreated Nature

How do these visions appear? How are all the phenomena of
existence formed or created? It is interesting to talk about all this, to
85 Tib. sdod pa gsum.

86 Tib. thob pa gsum.
74
Yetri Thasel, PfauenhoL 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
talk about Rainbow Body and visions and things, but basically I have
to explain and go back to the root.
I wanted to show you an example, and then people must
trust · that Dzogchen is not created by anything; it is Nature,
completely Nature. There are two types of Nature, as I have already
said, and I wanted to emphasize this. There is Relative Nature and
Absolute Nature. As for Relative Nature, we already know that fire is
hot, water is wet, air is light and so on. This is Relative Nature. As
for Absolute or Final [Ultimate] Nature, no-one can do anything to
change it, nor to make it develop. So you always have to think that
the Dzogchen View is the Absolute, Final Nature. It is not possible to
change it. But as for the Dzogchen Teaching and what we are trying
I I
to do [wheh we practise], we are trying to get back to the source, to
Nature. Why? If you come back to Nature, then Nature itself is not
integrated with any impure things such as emotions, no good things,
no bad things - nothing. It is the source. No matter what appears as
visions, as the external phenomena of existence or as the internal
sentient beings, 87 we are all circulating and everything appears from
there. Why is that? It is because we have been following the wrong
way, not the right way. So that means we cause our own suffering.
How do we follow the wrong way? We go back to the root and then
we follow the wrong way.
Symbolic transmission
l•irst of all I wanted to show you this [Rinpoche holds up a crystal].
Everyone should have a glass [a crystal or mirror]. You have heard
about this many times, but it doesn't work - you have to look. When
you look into a mirror you can see that reflections appear in the
mirror. The best thing is to look in a mirror - you have heard this
many times, you are always thinking about this, but it is better to do
something directly. Anyhow, you can do it afterwards. So when you
look at a crystal, it is itself pure and clear, but it has the potential to
take reflections. If you put it in the sun, rays will spontaneously
appear, right? Look there carefully. No matter what rays or forms or
colours appear if you put this crystal in the sun, the crystal never
87 Le. the Container and Contents.

75
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
changes at all. The colours don't disturb the crystal at all, the crystal
doesn't disturb the colours, forms or rays - nothing. The crystal itself
never changes, it is always pure, clear and transparent. Look at this
carefully.
Then as you are looking, there are two things you can think
about: do you follow the reflections in the crystal or do you keep
gazing at the crystal itself? There are these two things. If you are not
following the visions or checking the forms, colours and so on but
instead - no matter what is moving there, no matter what is coming
and going - you are just focussing on the crystal itself.
The crystal is like the Natural State, the Base. Carefully
compare this example with Nature. Nature is like the crystal. Any
rays and lights [and] visions come from there, but these visions don't
disturb Nature at all. Neither does Nature stop any [visions from
coming], nor does it help the visions; nothing like this. They are both
undisturbed by one another yet they are nicely integrated there, you
see. So there are these two things. If you remain continuously
[looking at] the crystal without following the rays or visions at all,
then that means you are in the Natural State. As you go along with
this, as you practise more without beings disturbed or distracted,
just carrying along with Nature, that is the Base. Then as you go on,
you will realize the Natural State and go on to become an advanced
practitioner, as I have already explained earlier.
If, on the other hand, you check the visions, then that is
following the side of Ignorance. That leads to Samsara and
everything up to now, so we are still in that way. 88
If you put this crystal on this silk brocade, it has all kinds of
reflections - red or blue or yellow. They all come to the crystal, but
no matter what is reflected, the crystal never changes. It doesn't stop
anything neither does it follow anything. In the same way, a person
who practises and is safely in the Natural State can see whatever
visions come, but they don't disturb anything, just as the reflections
in the crystal don't disturb anything. No matter what colour is
reflected - if you put the crystal here it becomes blue, if you put it
there it becomes red - the crystal is not changed, it is not disturbed.
88 I.e. still following visions.

76
Yetri Thasel, P(i1uenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
So in the same way, an advanced practitioner who is deeply

integrated with the Natural State can see all the visions, and that
means he knows everything is Empty Form. How does he know? He
can see everything but he doesn't follow anything, he is not
innuenced by consciousness or perception; these are not needed. It
is just the same as when pictures are reflected and shine in a
crystal. It is really similar - there is no influence from consciousness
or perception. This is called 'knowing the Empty Form', without
following at all.
Usually it is hard for people to believe this because we always
have to learn things via our perception and consciousness, but here
it suddenly says that this is known just like a reflection coming into
a mirror. It is not easy to understand this, nor is it easy to follow
this; but it is Nature, the knowledge of Empty Form. We always say
that all phenomena are Empty Form, but how do we know? It is like
-' this, you see [like a reflection in a crystal]. You have to trust this,
otherwise there is no method to know this.
This is not an easy one! There seems to be a contradiction. If
you look into a mirror, you see things because the reflections come
to the mirror. OK. But then does the mirror know they are Empty
Form? We said it is similar, you see - reflections come to the mirror,
and also to the Natural State, so then if you say the Natural State
=_ 1 knows Empty Form, how about the mirror? It also takes reflections,
but it doesn't know. So what is the difference? The mirror has
rcnections coming, the Natural State has reflections coming, they are
both equally without any influence of perception or consciousness,
so then what is the difference? You have to think, you see. It is easy
-1 to say 'empty form' and 'dzogchen', but if you don't realize those
things, although you can say some things, this or that, you are only
thinking in that way, you don't really know clearly. So you think
about this.
• Can anybody say something? No?
Check the example of the mirror or crystal carefully. Reflections are

coming into the mirror but they don't disturb it, just as the visions
don't disturb the Natural State. But the example of the mirror
77
doesn't extend further than this. For a reflection to appear m the

mirror you have to show the mirror something. So for example if you
look at the mirror your face will appear there. The only relevant part
of the metaphor of the mirror is that reflections shine in it; don't
think that you have to show something to the Natural State and then
the reflections [or visions] will come. That is not part of the example.
It is only the fact that the reflections appear in the mirror without
disturbing or changing it at all, nor does the mirror disturb the
reflections [which is relevant to our example]. Don't worry about how
[the reflections] start, who is looking at them and so on. The Natural
State is like a mirror, but the reflections all appear from themselves,
not from anywhere external or because something else is shown
there. No, it is not like that at all.
The Natural State has power, or potential, and this appears
as visions. The text explains this using the example of a crystal. If
you put a crystal in the sun then rainbows or colours come from
there. But again, in this example something external is needed, you
need sunlight. So that part is not relevant for our metaphor. In a
similar way to lights appearing from a crystal, the Natural State has
the power or potential for visions to appear, but those visions don't
disturb Nature, neither does Nature disturb the visions in any way.
We call a practitioner who is having visions in the Natural State
someone who knows that all visions are as reflections or as Empty
Form. He knows they are Empty Form because his Natural State has
the quality of Self-Awareness. A mirror has no Self-Awareness and
that is why the mirror doesn't realize anything. That is why it is only
a partial example. So, the Natural State has Self-Awareness. No
matter what appears, it doesn't follow or perceive anything, but we
say that a person who has these visions knows Empty Form. The
practitioner knows that whatever reflections or visions [he sees] are
Empty Form. How he realizes this is because the Natural State has
Self-Awareness, and Self-Awareness means Rigpa. Rigpa is not
separate from the Natural State, the Natural State is Rigpa,
Awareness, and Awareness is the Natural State. There is no
separation, although we explain in two ways [using two words]:
Clarity and Emptiness, unification.
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Yetri Thasel, P{auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Nature and space

iiJ
Another thing I wanted to clarify again is that, as I have already said,
when you are remaining in the Natural State with your eyes open,
your Natural State is an unspeakable state, what you see [while you
are practising] is only space; you are not gazing at any objects at all.
The text says that at this time your Nature is integrated with
external space, that these are integrated with each other. The texts
sometimes explain this, Namkha Sumjyor, 89 which means the three
spaces united. But if you follow what these texts are saying [literally]
it looks as though space and the Natural State are able to integrate
with each other or as though they are the same. The texts also
sometimes say that if someone dies, afterwards their consciousness
is liberated for a while in the Bardo time, and at that moment the
I I texts say it is like a bumpa or vessel which has been broken such
that the space it contained inside is integrated with the space
outside, that there is no separation. They say this is similar, that
:j Nature goes to space after death. In the text it also explains that
internal and external space or emptiness are integrated. If you follow
this example, it is only the empty part which is relevant - it cannot
be completely the same. The Natural State is an unspeakable State
and it cannot be explained as being [directly] like space. Space
means there is nothing which can be touched. Wherever there is
nothing touchable, that is space. But space is not self-aware,
whereas the Natural State is. So although it says that space and the
Natural State cannot be distinguished, they cannot be the same
thing. It is only the empty aspect which is similar, but they cannot
be completely integrated with each other; normal space ahd Nature
cannot go in one. Many texts explain things like this, but you have to
understand these things very carefully, otherwise if you just follow
whatever you have heard, or whatever you read, whatever
translations you read, you can easily make a mistake.
_11
_r , 89 Tib. nam mkha' gsum sbyor.

79
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Ignorance
Earlier I said that if you look in a glass or a crystal, first of all we are
talking about looking only at the crystal itself; that is Nature. That is
one thing. But if you check the side of the reflections, what happens
is that you are not thinking about the crystal, you are only thinking
about the reflections. There are these two things, you see. You have
that experience. Here, too, [Rinpoche puts his crystal on the red part of the
silk] you can look at the red colour which appears in the crystal;
don't think about the crystal, but just about the colours or shapes -
red or yellow or whatever. Whenever you see the reflections, at the
same time, perception or consciousness appears, and this is the
source of delusion. This perception perceives just at the same time
as the visions appear, and it perceives them as objects. This very
subtle consciousness knows or spontaneously perceives. There are
two things. It spontaneously perceives that there is something there,
that whatever is seen is spontaneously there [inherently] - without
any question, without any speaking, this vision is perceived. At that
time, this perceiver - consciousness - sees whatever appears as
vision as though it were really the object, as though it existed out
there; it perceives the vision as it is seen on the side of the object. Is
that clear? This is called Ignorance. This perceiver grasps the object
which you see - whatever visions you see there - as existing as it is
seen, on the side of the object. It is perceived spontaneously. So this
perceiver is called Ignorance. Why do we call it Ignorance? Because it
doesn't look back at the mirror or crystal but only at the reflection,
as though it existed as it is seen. That is the wrong way, that is not
right. The Base is the crystal, not the reflection. But the perceiver,
the consciousness, doesn't think about the crystal at all; it only
follows the object-side. That is the wrong way, it is not right. And
that means Ignorance. But don't think that a crystal is ignorant.
So that is how we start to have Ignorance. In the same way,
whatever we see or think, everything is in the same way. Whatever
we do we think it is concrete, something trustable, and we follow.
From the beginning Ignorance began to perceive that the object
exists as it is, and we follow this all the time. We always think that
whatever we are doing exists as it is. Always. We think our own
80
Yetri Thasel, P/irnenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
I j
talking, thinking and living all exists as it is. That part is 'blessed by
Ignorance'. Then whatever we think or do or say is impure. That
means that we are not staying and keeping on the crystal but we are
following the visions, so as soon as we do this, from then on
everything is impure in the wrong way, we are going the other way.
;_ j
We are all following in that way; we are not stable on the side of the
crystal. That is Impure Vision. Whatever we do, it has the same
·-11 source - pure and impure all only come from the crystal, from the
Natural State. The Natural State is the Base and from there, both the
reflections and the Nature itself - both sides - arise. The side of
I j Nature itself is pure and if you go along with this then whatever you
do, whatever visions you have, everything is clear. If you follow the
other side, the side of visions, then everything is impure. It doesn't
matter whether you have good thoughts or bad thoughts, whatever
you do is impure. Here, 'impure' means not following real Nature but
facing the other side, the wrong way. We are all following in that way.
From the root, from very subtle Ignorance, as visions arise, some
•• places are very beautiful and so we follow desire. Some visions are
not very nice and so we follow anger, angry desire. Normally this
i� J
goes on; we think things exist as we see them, so that is continuous
Ignorance. So whatever we do is blessed by Ignorance. We have to
think that the Base is the same, the crystal.
But don't think that all consciousnesses are ignorant - not at
all. It is a particular part of consciousness or mental consciousness
i_ J which perceives objects in a particular way, as though they existed
inherently, and that part is ignorant. The other consciousnesses are
influenced by this, but they are not Ignorance .
•• 11th September, 2008
I think that if I follow the text everybody will be tired, maybe
sleeping. It seems very boring, so it is better if I carry on explaining
what I began yesterday. Yesterday I talked about looking at a crystal
or a mirror. Every being has eight main consciousnesses, and then
many sub-consciousnesses, so that makes fifty-one altogether. When
you are concentrating in the Natural State, it is like people building a
bridge; when they want to build a bridge, they check and look for a
place where the water is all condensed [ so the river is narrow], and
81
I
then they build their bridge. It is the same way when we look for our
consciousness. It doesn't matter whether we are looking at our
mental consciousness, ignorance or Kunzhi Namshe; 90 you just need
to look at one point, one thought. It does not stay there permanently
- everyone can see that. It disappears soon after. Then once it has
disappeared, if you leave it, then [the state which is left] shows you
the Natural State. If you keep on in this way then no other
consciousnesses are allowed to appear. But mental consciousness is
quite strong so it can appear spontaneously, freely. That disturbs the
state you were in before. So first of all I wanted to explain Ignorance.
First of all, all practitioners have to know what Ignorance is
and how it creates emotions. If we don't know this then although we
can practise with prayers or reciting mantras or doing prostrations -
there are many things which we can practise and everything is good
- but how far can they [vanquish the real enemy] who is always
watching, looking behind while we are doing something over the
other side. But these things can have some effect - if we say bad
things or gossip about the enemy, it won't harm him much. It is
better to go closer if you can, and even to push him! Then you can
make him annoyed or angry; you are that much closer.
Everybody has the five senses - the ear, eye, nose, tongue
and body. How do they work? You can look at a mirror - you can
look at this crystal here but it is not so clear, and everybody knows
what happens if you look in a mirror. So if you look in a mirror, you
can see a face there. First of all you just see a face, but that is only
seeing, like a mirror; the mirror itself sees, that is the sense
consciousness. There are two things [steps]: first of all you see the
face, and then secondly you see the face as a real face and you don't
doubt that. The senses [eye, ear, tongue etc.] don't have any
particular perception, you see, they are not the same as mental
consciousness at all. They are only like the mirror, like glass. So the
reflection comes there and at the same time first you see the face
and then secondly you see the face as real, your face is there. It is
not grasping, but you see spontaneously the face, your face. You see
two things but you are not [yet] thinking about whether it is your
90 Tib. kun gzhi rnam shes.

82
Yetri ThaseL P/irnenhof, 2008: dGos "dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
I J
face or another face, nothing like that; you simply see two things:
face, and your face.
Example of the reflection of one's face

When you see your face in the mirror, first of all you see the picture
of your face, and then secondly you see it as your face - first Liust]
face, then your face. This is only seeing; the eye-sense doesn't
perceive [or judge] anything, it only sees a reflection; it sees. In this
case, the object which is seen naturally is the face, your face;
without thinking anything, your face is seen there. First you see a
face, and that is normal, but your face is not there. Yet you see your
I f fr1ce there. That is the wrong way - your face is not in the glass. Yet
your eye-sense sees your face even though if you look round the
r_ J back of the mirror it is not there. So if you see or think that your face
is there, then you act from there - you know that, that is different.
The eye-sense can only see that your face is on the glass,
spontaneously. This part is the wrong way - in fact, your face is not
in the glass at all. Everybody knows [logically] that your face cannot
be in the glass, [yet still you see it as though it were]; that is the
wrong way. That is blessed by Ignorance - as I said several times
yesterday, Ignorance has blessed the other consciousnesses. So that
refers to this part. The first stage - seeing a face - is OK, but the
second stage - seeing your face there - is wrong. That is blessed by
Ignorance. The eye-sense itself doesn't perceive 'my face' or 'his face',
it doesn't do anything, yet the visions appear spontaneously on the
mirror. Your face is not there yet you see it spontaneously, and that
part is blessed by Ignorance. It is the same for all the other senses.
For example, the sense of smell: you smell something, and then
together with this [you think] that the smell is there on the object
side, naturally. It is the same with everything. That is why we say
that all consciousnesses and all the senses are blessed by Ignorance.
Always check these two things carefully and see what the real
situation is. This is one example.
....- . 83
Yetri Thasel. P{auenhof 2008: dGos ·ctod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
Example of a flower
Then you move on to looking at a flower. You can see the flower, you
can see the colour, the petals, the forms, everything, and first of all
you just see them. Then together with that, [you think that] there is
an independent or inherent flower there on the table or wherever.
You see it first, that is the work of the eye-sense. So you think that
the flower exists somewhere independently where it is growing or
placed; you see it, and together with seeing it, you believe that it
exists there independently. These [two perceptions] come together, in
the same way as you see your face in the reflection in the mirror.
With this, immediately afterwards you grasp very strongly that the
flower exists spontaneously on the object-side. This [grasping stage]
comes after; first of all you LJust] see it, and [then there] is one part of
mental consciousness which perceives the flower as though it existed
completely independently where you see it. That is not the eye-sense,
it is mental consciousness. But this is the perception which thinks
that the flower exists independently on the side of the object. These
two come together spontaneously. That is Ignorance, real Ignorance;
l
that is not the eye-sense. This is one part.
Example of a mobile phone

Then we move onto [examining] yourself. If someone calls on the
phone or your mobile, then suddenly, without thinking anything,
they are calling you and you are already there. So first of all you
perceive that they are calling 'me'. Then secondly you think or
perceive that 'me' exists independently without giving it a second
thought. It is the same as with the flower; first of all you think 'me',
then secondly you assume that 'me' exists independently of any
other place or anything else, completely free. You simply think 'me',
'he called me.' You can check this consciousness [which thinks me],
it is the same as with the flower; there are two things: me and me as
independent. First of all, if you just think 'me', we call that Relative
Truth or projection. But then right beside there we think [that] me
exists independently. We grasp or think that spontaneously. There
seems to be no separation [between these two stages], it looks as
84
1-
-1
.I
though [these are perceived] by the same consciousness, but it is not
th same, although these two are very closely integrated.
The independent thinker of me is called Dagdzin,9 1 self
grnsping. That is real Ignorance, root Ignorance. It goes back to the
s;cime point as I was talking about yesterday when I said that in the
Bardo time sounds, rays and lights appear and we spontaneously
perceive them as existing [inherently] on the object-side. This is the
same thing; this grasping is the same thing. And that goes on
everywhere all the time. That is real Ignorance; it is the grasping
part. The first side which just apprehends or perceives 'me' is not
Ignorance. You can call it illusion or secondary truth or many things.
It exists, you see, on that side, and so then we can move and do
C'vcrything, and everything is as an illusion, as a projection. But then
1_ I on side is always grasping that these things exist, the grasper at
independence. When you are just sitting somewhere calmly and
=I carefully, peacefully without worrying much about anything,
suddenly spontaneously a thought appears: 'Oh, I have to do ... this
or that or something'. So these two together - 'me' and grasping at
an independent 'me' - are part of Ignorance.
Self-grasping
Why do we say this is Ignorance? Why isn't it the same as the other
[consciousnesses]? When you are thinking of the self, when you are
Lhinking 'me', then at that time you think that 'me' is independent,
but why is that Ignorance? What are you ignoring? 'Ignore' means
'not knowing'. Here, if 'me' existed independently, then you would
have to be able to find something on the object-side. What you have
[as a human being] are the five aggregates, body, speech and mind -
but none of these are 'me'. So this idea of 'me' is a completely free 92
•I idea. If you follow this line of reasoning and search for something
inherent on the object-side, you will never find anything; you are just
forcefully grasping at [the idea that there is a] 'me' on the object-side,
there. There is no basis for this, no reason, you are just forcefully
-'' 91
Tib. bdag 'dzin.
•• 92 I.e. baseless .
85
Yetri Thasel, Pf!1uenhof 2008: dGos 'dod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
grasping at 'me', at the idea that there is something there. That is

called Ignorance. And this is a mistake, the wrong way. If you follow
this then it will lead to more and more [grasping] so if you come
across good objects then desire will come, if unpleasant things arise
then anger will come. Then there are many branches93 - many
things can come.
So first of all you should check very carefully. Suddenly you
think that 'me' exists independently. You grasp this very strongly.
We think this is very natural. Everybody always has this. Even
mosquitoes have this. If you thrust something at a mosquito it will
immediately show anger or chase or something. A mosquito doesn't
know the name 'anger', there are different languages; different beings
communicate in different ways, but the feeling is exactly the same. I
Bigger or smaller, all beings have the same 'grasper' which grasps at
an independent 'me'. And that is Ignorance. You have to check this.
ll
Don't leave it out [or forget it] once you have heard it once - you need If
to keep on checking this. We trust this kind of consciousness, we
think it is something very real and we have trusted and followed it t
from beginningless beginning up to now.
Yet you can check and see that this is the wrong way. How? [
Without any reason, we think that 'me' exists independently, and
that is the wrong way because you cannot find anything independent IE
on the side of the object. That is how and why to check. ll
Example of the snow-capped mountain [
There is an example which shows how you are thinking or grasping
in a wrong way: a snow-capped mountain is white, and if you think
it is blue or black or something, then that is wrong. In the same way, t
even though there is nothing which exists as 'myself, if we forcefully
grasp at it, then that is certainly the wrong way, the wrong t
perception. You always have to think about this.
That is the first step by which all sentient beings can t
recognize Ignorance. 94 We have Nine Ways and each of them has two
aspects: the aspect of Wisdom and the aspect of Virtue or Merit. As t
93 I.e. many more emotions which can develop from the main Five Poisonous Emotions.
94
I.e. this is the most basic level. t
86
t
_ J
_,
Yetri Thasel, Pf;1uenhof, 2008: dGos ·ctod gsal bved bshad gzhai'i mchongs
• for the Wisdom aspect, it is the antidote which purifies all ignorance,
it corrects. As for the aspect of Virtue, it supports the aspect of
Wisdom, making it powerful. So we always have to practise these two
things. Each of the Nine Ways equally focuses on purifying Ignorance
and emotions, but the methods are different. What I have explained
now is the lowest way of recognizing [Ignorance], then the
understanding goes deeper and deeper, higher and higher. Each of
the Ways has a different View and a different recognition of
Ignorance. What I have explained here is a very popular, normal
understanding of Ignorance; it is the system of the lowest vehicle.
Antidotes to Ignorance
.
What is the antidote? We have to check back ourselves and see. We
-I have this human form which is formed of the Five Aggregates, but if
: you take out each one, for example the body, you will discover it is
your body, not you. Do this for each of the individual aggregates,
'
then for each part of the body - your head, your limbs and so on. If
you take everything out 9 s you will see that everything - body, speech
and mind - is 'mine', not 'me'. Maybe you think that your mind is
'me', but it is 'my mind', not 'me'. So if you take each piece away, you
_4 cannot find anything outside or inside which corresponds to what
you had previously thought of as the independent 'me'. If you don't
find what you have perceived, then why you are saying Ignorance or
not knowing? [What] you don't know [is] the real source, yet still you
grasp forcefully [at the names]. That is the understanding of
Ignorance according to the lowest Vehicle.
If you check what you perceive through Ignorance as existing
independently as 'me', you can't find anything on the side of the
object, so then this perceiver, consciousness, is perceiving in
completely the wrong way. Yet 'me' is not lost; don't think that 'me' is
lost [or does not exist at all]; we have only been talking about one
side, one aspect. We have been checking whether things exist
independently or not, and we have not found any independent 'me',
or Dag, 96 self. There are two things, you see - as soon as someone
-..! I
95 I.e. if you examine each part in turn.
96 Tib. bdag.
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Yetri Thasel, P/iluenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
calls your name, you think: 'they are calling me'. There are two
things here: first of all there is 'me' which is just projected, which
doesn't exist here or there [inherently], and that part does 'exist'. It is
called Relative Truth. This is the name 'me' which exists, and this
applies to everything else - all the phenomena of existence exist in
this way, only as a name. If you check for something independent on
f
the side of the object, you cannot find anything. [Yet if you still
believe there is something inherently there, then] that part is
Ignorance, as consciousness perceives and grasps firmly at an
independent 'me'. That is Ignorance. But one part just simply
perceives 'me' or anything else without checking [grasping], and that
is Relative Truth. On that side there is good and bad, everything is
there. If you check, you cannot find any 'me', but [in this Relative
Truth] you don't need to find anything on the side of the object. If
you think: "where is this 'me' or something else?", you don't need to
find anything on the side of the object. [You think:]
"I am just called by my name, and only names exist, so that
is enough!"
But then if someone asks: "Where is your 'you'?"
"Well you can't find anything!"
"So why do you think ['you' exist]?"
"This is just a name, something projected."
All our life, all the phenomena of existence exist in this way
and with this we can distinguish between what is on the side of real
Ignorance and what is on the side of Relative Truth. For Relative
Truth, there is no need to have desire, anger or any other emotions;
these are not necessary. There is no point, you see. You can change
everything, you can see everything, everything is very soft, light and
easy. So therefore you cannot say that 'me' or all phenomena don't
exist - everything exists as something projected. There is no need to
check or grasp things tightly or fight or think 'me' or 'them'; you can
easily lose then find and find then lose. Everything is easy. There are
many examples.
Antidotes used in Hinayana

So then how do we practise religion or meditation in this case?
Check the self: where is the real 'me' according to the perception of
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Ignorance? Check all parts of your body, your speech and your mind
precisely and in detail. Look there. You can't find anything at all on
the side of the object. You cannot find anything which is your 'self,
so then you think there is nothing and you focus on this 'nothing'. If
you think of this point and carry on for as long as you could
[focussing on nothingness] then that is the meditation of Wisdom,
according to the lowest way and according to the Theravada system.
Then with this, you have to do Shamatha practise and integrate this
nothingness, [the realization that] 'me' doesn't exist inherently at all.
There is nothingness. Focus on that with Shamatha or
contemplation. As your meditation on this develops more and more,
then the Four Noble Truths are also added, and the Twelve
Independent Cycles97 are reversed. You look in a regular [methodical]
way at how Samsara is created and then you reverse the procedure,
to see how the whole of Samsara goes [or can be traced] back to
Ignorance. Then Ignorance doesn't exist, there is only nothingness,
so you focus on that and are not able to lose it. You integrate this
with Shamatha. That is the practice. The result is that this leads to
the release of your own sufferings and miseries. This result is called
Arhat or Drachompa which means that all the emotions, all the 'self
sufferings' and miseries can be purified.
In this case, if a practitioner expects to achieve the goal of
becoming an Arhat, they must be a Bhikshu, a monk, otherwise they
cannot attain the state of Arhat in that life at all. This is all
according to the system of Theravada, but we are Dzogchen
practitioners, you see, so there is not much for us to say here.
Nevertheless, it is better for us to know these things. Ignorance has
many qualities, you see, and there are also many different types and
qualities of meditation.
Compassion in Mahayana
Mahayana is the second. Chittamatra is the first [view of Mahayana].
'Maha' means biggest, and 'hina' is smaller. But 'small' or 'big' is all
just according to our way of thinking, you see. The main point here
is compassion. What makes it 'bigger' is that we are thinking of the
-
_Ii
. 97 I.e. the Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination.
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sufferings and miseries [of all beings]. There are many different
qualities of compassion. The Theravadins have compassion. First of
all they have compassion for themselves as they want to release
themselves from all suffering and misery. That is the main thing.
Then secondly, sometimes they see or hear that other beings have
too much suffering and so they help them - there is no method for
them to do this directly, but sometimes they can help, although this
is not influenced by compassion very much.
Generally, when someone comes up to Mahayana, they start from
compassion. There are three different types of compassion:
1. Natural compassion
All animals have this natural compassion. They always want good
things for their own child, and if something happens to the child, it
is very painful for the mother. They want to save their child, to
release it from suffering. That is natural compassion and all sentient
beings have this.
2. Great compassion
This means that we want to release the suffering of uncountable
sentient beings. For example one person might think: 'I want my
nation to be peaceful', or 'I want my family to live in peace and
happiness'. This is partial compassion [even though it extends to
many, many beings].
3. Immeasurable compassion
The biggest compassion is when you want to release the sufferings
and miseries of all sentient beings. That is the biggest compassion; it
includes all sentient beings.
But maybe the Theravada way is quite a popular way, too.
First of all you yourself are released from sufferings and miseries,
you don't have the suffering of sickness or old age, and then you can
think of others. You can't even count how many sentient beings
there are or imagine their suffering even if you may have heard
something. Therefore it is all just like stories, so you have some
romantic idea [about saving them all], but this is not the way of a
real practitioner. Therefore the Theravadins think it is better to think
90
- J
t
-, of themselves; it is more practical. That is why Theravadins think of
themselves very strongly and think: 'first of all we must do this for
• ourselves and purify all our sufferings, and then we can think of the
-.
others.' May be, may not be.
Recognition of Ignorance in Dzogchen

We don't have sufficient time to go on through all the Nine Ways, so
now we will jump to the Dzogchen way - we are all as Dzogchen
practitioners.
How do we recognize Ignorance according to the Dzogchen
Way? As I said yesterday, thoughts arise from Nature. Don't think
.
too much, here or there. Just sit down quietly and thoughts will
appear spontaneously. It doesn't matter whether they are good
I thoughts or bad thoughts, something will come up. At that moment,
don't think that the thought comes up and then goes off somewhere
-
outside; there is neither outside nor inside, there is no border. The
thought comes up from Nature, and when you look back to where it
spontaneously appeared from, normal visions and thoughts come
from the same source in the same way. They appear from Nature,
-• they appear to Nature and they are liberated to Nature, too. So just
keep that moment as it is; don't do anything, just leave it there, and
that is the Natural State. If you follow the side of the objects, or the
Lhoughts - usually we follow thoughts, agitation and then do
something and that controls our body and speech, and we become
like a very obedient servant, you see, always following thoughts. But
in fact the thoughts themselves appear spontaneously. Don't think
any more about how visions arise and so on; good visions, bad
visions, normal visions - they all come from the same source. If you
search for where that source is you will never find anything. Jw,;t
leave this as it is. Usually people don't have much rest, you see, you
are always thinking, thinking. But where are all those thoughts
coming from? From Nature. They don't go anywhere else, not to the
t object-side, not outside, nothing. They appear from Nature into
Nature and are liberated to Nature; they never go away from Nature.
So in the same way as any other vision, we are in the vision and
continuously appear from this State into this State. It is just the
- 1
- I
91
same, for example, as when you look in water. Whatever you see
reflected in the water is still water; the reflections are nothing other
than water, and they appear in the water. In the same way, all
visions - we are all vision - come from the same source, from Nature.
I have already said that there is Common Vision and Private Vision.
Not all visions are Common, there are Private ones, too, and they are
your own Nature which [appears] into your Nature and liberates
back to your Nature. Don't think that the Natural State is far away.
Just leave it as it is and that is the Natural State.
Madhyamaka and Dzogchen

When you remain in the Natural State without following visions in
general or thoughts in particular and without trying to stop them -
you can't stop them anyway, but it is not necessary to try to - leave
whatever appears from Nature. At this time you are stable in Nature,
so when thoughts or visions come, they are all called Empty Form.
They don't do anything, they are all part of the Natural State and
soon after, they themselves liberate back to Nature. So if you follow
them, there are two [aspects], as I have already said. One part
perceives that the visions all exist independently. This part is
Ignorance, according to Dzogchen. The way we talk about it is very
similar to the way Ignorance is recognized in the Madhyamaka View,
but in fact the background is completely different, you see. They say
that it is perceived as it is, so the same words are used in
Madhyamaka and the Dzogchen way, but the background is very
different; it is not possible to compare these two views.
As for the Madhyamaka View, there is only thinking and
negation, nothing exists inherently - nothing, all the phenomena of
existence externally and all the sentient beings internally; nothing;
nothingness. That is their view of Emptiness. But in Dzogchen there
is no rejection, no negation; simply leave things as they are.
So that is the background behind each view, but the words
which are used are the same. If you ask how to recognize Ignorance,
they will both use similar words, saying that Ignorance perceives
that what you see exists [inherently] as an object, as you see it. Both
of them sound similar, but the meaning is not the same at all. That
is as regards how to recognize Ignorance.
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Antidote according to Madhyamaka

As for the antidotes, they are really very different. In the
Madhyamaka View, they purify Ignorance in the following way: if for
example they are focussing on this crystal here, for them, Ignorance
thinks that the crystal exists independently as it is seen. There is no
doubt about that. But if they focus on this crystal here, the antidote
is Wisdom, the Wisdom of Emptiness, and that focuses on the
crystal here and [realizes] it does not exist as it is seen, that it is not
independently there. These two [Ignorance and Wisdom] are
focussing on one object but they are completely opposite. Wisdom
focuses and grasps that it is not seen as it seems to be, as an object,
whereas Ignorance focuses on the crystal and grasps that it does
.
exist as it is seen, as an object. So these two are focussing on one
I point but are completely antidotes. That is why as you practise with
: Wisdom more and more, the opposite, Ignorance becomes less and
less so finally it is like fighting, you see, who will win? That is the
way to purify everything according to the Madhyamaka View.
Everything, everything. For the Madhyamaka View, you must focus
with perception and this perception is called Emptiness-Wisdom. We
call it Dagme Togpa'i Sherab. 98
Non-antidote of Dzogchen
As for the Dzogchen Way, whatever visions appear, you don't care
where they are coming from. They are coming from Nature itself and
so you just leave them as there is no influence [of Ignorance], no
focussing, no grasping, nothing. That means that Ignorance doesn't
perceive anything, but rather it is rootless. Ignorance appears from
Nature so it is completely void, no root. It is like space you see. If you
try to paint space with chalk, no trace will be left. In the same way,
for the Dzogchen Way there is no need to focus on specific antidotes
one after the other; not at all. Generally, if you keep in the Nature
which is like space, the Natural State, then there is no root. The
whole thing is purified, so only pure Nature is left behind. So these
are completely different methods of purifying [Ignorance]. [If you go
the] Madhyamaka way it takes many, many millions of lives, you see,
98 Tib. bdag med rtog pa'i shes rab.
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because each of them99 is fighting one against the other. But in the
Dzogchen way there are no individual, single [antidotes]; you have
realized where impure things appear from, you go back to the root
and keep on, trying to be more and more familiar and stable [in this
State] so finally you are absolutely stable and no more disturbances
appear; everything is liberated back to Nature. That is final, and
nothing else appears any longer. That is the Dzogchen method.
These are different methods.
Maybe people have heard that the View of Madhyamaka, the
View of Mahamudra and the View of Dzogchen are all the same.
Nowadays it is quite popular to teach this, you see, so maybe you
have heard this. But if so, that is not comparable to what we are
teaching here; it is a different School. [If you like to] you can follow
what you are reading or whatever; it depends on each individual.
In this case [according to what we are teaching here], the
Dzogchen way is rootless, the antidote is rootlessness. No matter
what appears and what visions come, everything is rootless; there is
no root - everything is just visions, movements. They are like clouds
in space - clouds soon disappear and there is no trace left behind.
This is similar. As you go on and practise meditation without adding
anything and without missing [or removing] anything, just keeping
on purely in the Natural State, Nature visions will appear
spontaneously. As long as you are practising meditation, becoming
more and more familiar with this State and stable in it, these visions
are all called Thogal visions. They appear spontaneously; there is no
need to add anything, no need to visualize anything, no need to
recite mantras - there are no mantras or postures which are needed.
The postures we taught are needed by beginners, you don't need
them for ever - whether you are sleeping or lying down, your Nature
is not moving, you see. No matter what you do you cannot make
your Nature change at all. Nature is Nature, whatever you do.
All the other visions are always influenced by Nature. That
you have to understand. Nature influences everything, but pure
visions develop in accordance with how far your practice has
developed. They develop more and more, and that is called Thogal
99 Ignorance and its antidote, the Wisdom of Emptiness.

94
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Yetri Thasel, PfauenhoC 2008: dGos "dad gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
-. vision. As for the other visions, as I have said, some of them are
Impure Visions and that means that we are following our own
visions. And so we are circulating all the time. Those are Impure
Visions, and by this we mean that they are influenced by perception,
by consciousness. Whatever is influenced by consciousness is
impure - even Bodhichitta and meditation with Yidams. According to
Dzogchen, whatever you do using consciousness is impure. And
obviously, all the emotions are impure, too. For example, if you look
into the sky a white cloud and a black cloud will both equally cover
the sun's light. Another example is that if you are tied up with a gold
chain or an iron chain they will both be equally painful, it won't
make any difference whether the chain is gold or iron. So in the
•
same way, good thoughts and bad thoughts are equally impure as
.
they all cover your Nature. That is only according to the Dzogchen
way. This very much contradicts the views of the Sutra system.
- What is the purpose of recognizing Ignorance according to the
•-
Dzogchen Way? It is necessary to realize [where] all the emotions and
Ignorance [are coming from], but after that, the purification is
nothing special; it is not the same as in the [other] Schools where
they all have something special to do, some antidote to focus on,
which makes it is like fighting. This is not necessary in the Dzogchen
way. Those are different methods. Here, you are just satisfied with
!It your realization of the Natural State, you trust that and don't make
any mistakes in the Natural State. 100 That is very important, it is
basic.
A method for correcting the view

So from time to time, try to check and correct. Otherwise you might
be mistaken, and no-one except you can check whether your view is
right or wrong. If you ask someone, they may tell you something, but
that is not true; nobody can say anything. You yourself should
always try to check by yourself. How can you check? You can follow
good, trustable books, real books. Try to read and study what is
written there. Also, try to listen carefully to what you have heard
•I qualified Masters teaching. Those are two points. Then you yourself
�I 100
I.e. in your recognition and practise of it.
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Yetri Thasel, Ptauenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
know very clearly what your own experience is, and then check that
these three points agree. Especially now, everyone is supposed to
know [the Natural State] but sometimes you will still not be sure
whether you have realized Nature purely or not. So then individually,
not in a group, when you are trying to concentrate with Nature,
suddenly shout 'Phat!' very loudly. Then just afterwards, don't
change anything, don't do anything, just leave [the state you are in]
as it is. That Presence, for that moment, is to show pure Nature. You
can do this quite often, and when your experience - when the state
you are familiar with in your practice - is the same as the state after
you shout 'Phat!', then you are OK. Then your realization is
completely pure. Then don't do this often, otherwise it might not be
very good. I heard that in Canada long ago there was a Nyingmapa
Ngagpa 101 from Amdo who was teaching a group in Toronto or
somewhere in Canada. He took the group out into some quiet place
in the forest or somewhere and showed them the Khorde Rushen.
They did such things - screaming and many things 102 - and finally
the local police came and then the next day in the papers they wrote:
'Buddhist practitioners are stupid and mad!' They were doing so
many strange things there. So you have to be careful. These are not
really necessary. The main thing which you have to understand is
that Samsara is a place of suffering and misery, so you want to
purify it. You have to think this yourself.
As for this method to correct your view, only do it when you
have doubts, otherwise it is not very necessary to always do things in
this way. Then keep on [in Nature] for as long as possible. That is
worthwhile for as long as your life exists, I think.
101
Tib. sngags pa.
102
This is a reference to external Khorde Rushen where one lets body, speech and mind go
loose and act in different ways, imitating the beings of the Six Realms or generally releasing
any repressed feelings, emotions and so on. So from outside it would look like a group of
madmen but this practice, in fact, has a specific function.
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I
12th September, 2008

I
• Chapter IX: The Signs of Realization

• We have been talking about Trekcho and Thogal, and here in the
ninth chapter it briefly explains what result will come if you practise
I these methods. Trekcho and Thogal were explained earlier in this
text but they were rather scholarly explanations about the Natural
State and the phenomena of existence.
• Internal Signs
�·
•
.
As for a practitioner who already has knowledge of this and has
r1lready practised the Natural State, their experience will become
- more familiar to them and more stable. At that time, [if] in his view
or visions he will have the sufferings and miseries or hell it will not
change his feeling. Why? Because he has no doubts about being
there 10 :i - he doesn't integrate with hell, he doesn't refuse hell, he
-•
doesn't feel hell. Why? Because he already knows perfectly well that
everything comes from Nature into Nature, and he has achieved this.
An advanced practitioner who has heard and read the texts
has understood for how long he has been suffering in hell - so many
years. He sees this, he hears about it, but he himself is not afraid
because he has understood that everything comes from Nature into
Nature and there is nothing at all which exists independently. As for
all the other beings who are suffering, he knows that they have not
understood what is happening, how causes are coming, and so
although he himself is not afraid of hell, he realizes that everything
comes from the Natural State, and there are no hells or suffering or
misery or anything else which exist in the Natural State. He knows
that Nature is completely pure, called Kadag. 104 That is the reason.
Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that he doesn't think with
compassion of sentient beings who are suffering; he has
spontaneous compassion, but he himself is not worried about
sufferings or miseries at all.
103 I.e. for such a practitioner there is no hell.

104 Tib. ka da .
g
97
An advanced practitioner who has realized what he has

experienced with the Natural State and achieved the Final Goal has
no expectation of any high knowledge which might still come, or
some new knowledge which could come; he doesn't expect anything
like this because he has already achieved the Final Goal of the
Natural State. He knows that the Natural State is pure, Kadag, and
that all visions of phenomenal existence have reached the last [of the
Four Stages] of visions, Tharthug Zedpa. The reason for this is that
he has already understood everything very well and his knowledge
has come to the final [stage]; he has already achieved Buddhahood
and so he is not expecting anything more to come, he is not
expecting anything special to come. That is how it is for an advanced
practitioner.
These are the signs that this advanced practitioner's /�
knowledge has reached the Ultimate Zenith.
External Signs
As for the external or visible signs which appear from his body, as he
is still kind of a living person, his body and manner are like those of
a stupid person. He is very calm, he doesn't take any responsibility.
Sometimes he talks coherently, relevant to the context, but
sometimes he just talks stupidly. But no matter what comes up, he
doesn't care, he doesn't judge. Sometimes he tells stories and plays
with children, sometimes he doesn't say anything. Whatever he says
- good things or bad things - nothing changes how he feels.
Sometime he talks and talks so much without much reason! So
these are all the visible signs.
For him, all kinds of visions appear spontaneously, and that
is called real, final Thogal Vision because they are not integrated
either with Ignorance or perception - nothing. So everything appears
spontaneously from Nature into Nature, and he has realized this
perfectly so on his side he doesn't make any choices. Thus
everything is Pure Vision, pure, Kadag, and integrated with the
Natural State. That is the reason.
This advanced practitioner has special visions: external,
internal and secret. These are Rigpai Tsed, which means 'the Limit of
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Awareness'.1os All his visions, whatever they are, appear from Nature
• into Nature and are liberated into Nature; he has understood this
very well, and this is the sign.
Rangshar, Rannang and Rangdro1106

All these things are taught in the ninth chapter, then comes the
• tenth chapter. But first there are a few final words:
'The visions come from self, appear to self and liberate to self -
Rangshar, Rannang, Rangdrol.'
This is not only here; I have been talking about looking into a
mirror. When you do that, you can see the reflections in the mirror,
and you quite often see the reflection as though it were far from the
mirror. That is the example, and maybe people have experience of
this. If you look in a mirror, the reflection is not there with the glass,
it is further away than the glass. In a similar way, whatever visions
-•
we have seem far away from us; when the visions appear naturally,
even if you are in a dark room the visions seem to be further away,
not inside. That is your feeling.
But here it says Rangshar, which means that the vision
comes to itself. It comes from there 107 into there and is liberated
there, not somewhere further away; it never goes away from
onywhere, it is not distant from this Nature. The vision arises [and is
'seen'] in Nature, the vision itself is Nature, and liberates back to
Nature. It never goes far away. Yet we have a feeling, a kind of feeling
or we see that they are distant, separate, you see. But we have been
following this idea that they are distant for a long time; we have been
following Ignorance and Ignorance always follows the object-side, so
that is a kind of habit. In reality, [visions/objects] never go away
from Nature at all. All the visions appear from Nature into Nature,
nowhere else. They are liberated there, too, not anywhere else; it
naturally doesn't go to any other place.
10' I.e. the Third Vision.

106
Tib. rang shar, rang snang, rang grol.
107 I.e. from Nature.
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Yetri Thasel, P(auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dnd gsal byed bshad gzhai"i mchongs
So this last word is not only here. We often talk about this
but our interpretation is that we are always following our habit. And
that is not the right way.
The example is that when a reflection comes into the mirror I
you can see it as though it were far away. Whenever you practise
Thogal and these kinds of visions come, they are not somehow on
I[
some other side of Nature; they don't have any place, there is no 1�:
separation. They always appear to Nature; it is aware of itself. That is
the reason why no matter what visions come to a Thogal practitioner, I[
the vision itself is appearing to Nature - such practitioners don't use
consciousness at all. Yet still it is seen clearly. Who sees it? It is only lt
Nature itself which is seeing itself, its reflection. The reflection or
vision is seen by Nature itself, there is no subject or object. Why?
Because from the beginning the Natural State - the whole thing - is
beyond consciousness. We always say that, it is basis [the Base].
Then from there, there is no change, and then a vision comes from t
there into there, and is seen by itself. So there is no other subject
which sees or does anything. You have to follow the context, t
understand and trust. That is why we say that all phenomena which
exist are in the same situation. They have form but are Empty Form.
There is no doubt that everything is Empty Form, and then
everything is liberated back into Nature or Empty Form. It is Empty
It
Form, it goes back to Empty Form, so there is no change at all. I�
Yet we think that things are not Empty Form - look, it is like
this, you see, [Rinpoche knocks on his table] hard and concrete. fr
Sometimes people say: 'Things are not Empty Form! Look, they are
like this [and they bang on a table].' Most people think this way. tt
Why? Because they have no idea of Empty Form. For example, empty
,�
space has light; in the daytime we can see light in space - space is
It
empty yet still it is light. Therefore things can be Empty Form, they
can be empty yet still have something [some properties]. This is not
from Nature's side, but from the beginning we always say that there It
is the same root. Yesterday I gave the example of this crystal here,
and said that if you just look at the crystal, that is one way. The It
other way of looking is to look at the colours or figures and so on
which change. There are these two ways, and you have to follow [one
of] two ways: you either just gaze at the crystal [itself], or you check
100
the colours, forms and various things. If you make the second
choice, you see the crystal but you are not focussing on it. If you
take the first way and focus on the crystal then although you see the
colours, forms and so on, you don't calculate them or follow them.
There are certainly two things, you see, and everything is like this.
So that shows you that if you are on Nature's side you will never be
deluded, never go to Samsara. But if you are the side of the visions,
then immediately you will have to follow them [and continue
• circulating in Samsara]. There are two ways, but the root is the
same. You always have to remember this. That is the point when we
• talk about practice, about Trekcho or Thogal or something.
• Nature has potential, and so visions are able to appear from
there. That is one thing. Then when the visions appear from Nature,
they are seen by themselves, by Nature itself. That is the special
quality of this Nature. A looking glass can take reflections but it
doesn't know them. As for Nature, on the other hand, it has the
potential for visions to appear, and these visions are actually seen by
Nature itself; there is neither object nor subject. There is no
.. separation and it sees itself by itself. This is very particular and
..
distinguishes [the View of Dzogchen] from any other views. It is very
special. Only Dzogchen explains in this way.
This is not just empty words; you can check. When you
practise Thogal in the dark room you will see visions there and you
will know for certain that you are not using your senses or your
consciousness at all there in the dark room. That is clear. There are
many things which are evidence, but we have to follow this real
Nature. This cannot be compared with any other views. Otherwise,
maybe people will hear something about Emptiness and think it is
Dzogchen; people say this is Dzogchen or that is Dzogchen - so
many Dzogchen Views have been introduced, but these are not
comparable [so you shouldn't lightly say they are similar]. You must
know all this properly, and this is particular, unusual knowledge.
This is all about the Natural Sate, how to practise, how to
develop and how to achieve the Final Goal, but as for us,
practitioners, we are not yet ready for those explanations as we don't
have the experience. So what we can do is to try [to remain in the
Natural State]. It is not so far, not so difficult. Concentrate and think
101
Yetri Thasel, P{auenhof, 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
that Nature is always with you. The text says: 'It is too close,
therefore you don't see it; it is too friendly therefore you don't trust F.
it.' That is what the text says. And it is true. From unlimited
beginnings until now, it never goes far from you. We are always
circulating with our consciousness, without stopping. We are always
If
circulating in Samsara, but up to now our [attitude or view] has
never changed. 10s I�
,�
Important points IF
Beyond Concepts
In Dzogchen - according to the explanations of Dzogchen we are
giving here - the Natural State is completely beyond conception. You
always have to keep [and remember] that.
No subject and object

A second important point is that there is no object or subject in
Nature, but Nature has potential, so visions all appear from this
Nature into this Nature and are liberated into this Nature. It doesn't
matter whether you have a hard condition or a happy condition -
whatever happens, everything is included in the Natural State.
Whether you have experience of this or not, you have to trust. It can
be helpful. Even if you don't have much experience in meditating or
with this kind of knowledge, still on one side you know, you have
heard, that everything is Empty Form, not reality, not existing
independently or concretely. If you heard this, then it is not so
necessary to be too aggressive, no need for desire or fighting or anger
or emotions; these are not really necessary as everything is like a
bubble. You can see. If you are very angry and show fighting or
smash your enemies or something, then the only result you get is
Ir
sin. But anyhow, there is nothing special, only names. And the name
108 At this point Rinpoche has stopped going through the text. So the following chapters ,�
,�
remain uncovered. Chapter X deals with Bardo and Chapter XI explains what the Great
Liberation, or Final Realization, is. These topics, however, were covered extensively
elsewhere and can be found in particular in the transcript of the Teachings on Shardza Tashi
Gyaltsen 's Kus um Rangshar, Paris, 1999.
102
I�
Vetri Thasel, Pfauenhof. 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai' i mchongs
1s like an echo. So what is the use? That is the purpose [of

practising]. Don't wait for some deeper experience with the Natural
State.
Don't mix Dzogchen with any other views

Another point is that you shouldn't lightly compare [or mix] the
Dzogchen View with any other [understanding on Nature. You can
I
hear many ways. For example, for Tibetan Buddhists they explain in
great detail about how high and deep it is, they say many glorious
things and write many commentaries about how the Final Goal of
Self-Awareness is Nyugsem, 109 Very Subtle Consciousness. They
introduce this but keep it very secretly they say it is very important.
They call it Dharmakaya. There are many vast and deep
explanations about this. But in fact according to Dzogchen, even
though it says in that text that if someone is Dharmakaya they have
the view of Dzogchen, if you follow this, it is only called 'the highest
• and deepest', it is only a name. But if you follow this, in fact it is
completely opposite to this kind of Dzogchen [we are teaching here].
So you always have to compare the Dzogchen View very carefully, it
is not very easy.
Searching for the mind

Another point is Semtsol 1 10 or searching for the mind. At that time, it
is common to look back towards the thought. The thought itself has
no colour, no form, no trace and [when it disappears], what is left
behind cannot be explained at all; there is nothing visible at all. This
method is quite common in Tantra and Dzogchen; they both use this
at the beginning. So if you look back towards a thought you can
understand that there is no trace, no colour, no form, no source, and
you cannot explain where it is coming from. That is a very common
•
109
Tib. gnyug sems. This way of explaining Dzogchen was developed by certain Buddhist
lamas in order to ward off criticism and to make it acceptable to the followers of Sarma
Schools who follow the Madhyamaka interpretation of Emptiness not only on the level of
Sutra but also on the Mahamudra level of Tantra (excluding Mahamudra ofGampopa which
•j is upheld within the Kargyud Schools) and it is this interpretation of Dzogchen which is
•- adhered to and taught by 1--1.1--1. XIV'h Dalai Lama, for example.

110
Tib. sems 'tshol.
103
It.
I
Yetri Thasel, P(auenhoL 2008: dGos 'dad gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
r
way of searching for the mind, it is used in both Tantra and
Dzogchen. After this, once consciousness liberates back into Nature,
what you have found is an unspeakable state. You cannot explain
who is watching or who is searching. If you look back again at the
object, it is the same situation and so it disappears in the same way.
If you look forward to the subject, it disappears. If you look back to
the object, it disappears. Neither of them leave a trace, neither of
them has colour or form and afterwards, there is nothing which can
be explained. This is the common way of searching for the Nature of
the Mind in both Tantra and Dzogchen. But at that time you cannot
say you have found the Dzogchen View, nor can you say it is the
Tantra View; it is a kind of Preliminary Practice, you see; searching is
common. But after this, you have to have some experience with this
and then you can go either the Dzogchen way or the Tantra way. If
you go the Tantra way then you have to have something stable, and
quite clear, and then after this you can practise with compassion.
There is normal compassion and additional compassion, but the
main thing for practising in the Tantra way is the Three
Contemplations.111
Tantra and Dzogchen

I wanted to explain a little bit about Tantra. When I said Semtsol or
searching for the mind, in fact there is no need to search for the
mind - we are searching for the Nature of the Mind, not the mind.
When you understand the Natural State or when you look towards
your consciousness, your consciousness is not visible - everybody I
knows that - but it is very strong. For our whole life - and not only
for one life - we have been following consciousness and controlled by I.
it. But if you carefully look back towards a thought, it is the same
condition from unlimited beginnings up until now; it is not different,
It
not that it is sometimes good quality or sometimes bad quality; no,
there is no separation [or distinction]. It is the same all the time, the
only thing which changes is how you act when you perceive.
I
111 Tib. ting 'dzin rnam gsum.
104
11
Yetri Thasel, Pfauenho( 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
11
Sometimes you have good things like happiness, compassion or
1 ·•
Bodhichitta; these are good ways. But bad ones are anger, suffering,
misery, desire. In fact, these both come from the same source, from
Nature, and are the same quality. If you look at them, they both
disappear. This disappearing is similar if you look back towards
Nature - Nature cannot be described, it is beyond thoughts and
Ii conceptions; these all disappear, and once they have disappeared,
there is a state which cannot be explained.
I {
I J
Three Contemplations
As I have already said, this state is common for both Tantra and
Dzogchen. Then - as I have already said - in Tantra they have the
Three Contemplations.
ll
1. Dezhinnyikyi Tingngedzin 112 - Contemplation of the Cause
or contemplation with the Natural State. This first
_l contemplation is common to both Tantra and Dzogchen;
Dzogchen practitioners need this, too. There are no
�� differences in this first stage.
2. Kuntu Nangwai Tingngedzin.113 But Tantric practitioners

are not satisfied with this first contemplation because there is
�� nothing visible, there is nothing else in addition, it is only
integrated with Nature itself. So Tantra followers think that
�,
�( this first contemplation can be the cause for Dharmakaya,
�,
but the Buddha has Three Kayas - Dharmakaya and
Rupakaya. Rupakaya means body of form, and within this
there are two things, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
Dharmakaya has no form, and as everything depends on
�
..
cause, the First Contemplation, Dezhinnyikyi Tingngedzin,
can be the cause for Dharmakaya, not Rupakaya. So then the
Tantra followers added the visualization of Yidams and so on.
• They thought that first of all they needed to add compassion;
that is very, very important for basic practising. Beginners
ll need to practise the Natural State and compassion
• separately; first of all contemplation with Nature and then as
112 Tib. de bzhin nyid kyi ting nge 'dzin.

II{_,. 113 Tib. kun tu snang ba' i ting nge 'dzin.
105
F
Yetri Thasel P/auenhof 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
F
they establish Nature more, they turn to the practice of
compassion.
3. Gyui Tingngedzin. 114 Then they unite these two - the
Natural State and compassion - and bring them together.
And this is the cause for making the images or visualizations
of Tantra.
f
The main difference here between Tantra and Dzogchen is that

Tantra does not realize that Nature has Dzogpa, the Perfection
[aspect]. So it is [already] perfected with the Ten Paramitas. For
Dzogchen, this Nature of the First Contemplation is perfected with
the Ten Paramitas, so nothing else is needed in addition. That is the
key point here. For the Dzogchen practitioner, nothing else is
needed, they only practise with the first contemplation, the
contemplation with the Natural State. They go along with this
without adding anything. They know that perfectly, but the point is
to know the quality of this Nature of the Base. Tantra doesn't realize
that this Nature is perfected with the Ten Paramitas. So although
Nature is common, the qualities they recognize in it are different;
Tantra doesn't recognize or realize these qualities, but Dzogchen
does, and that is the difference.
Early Dzogchen Masters practised Yidams, made offerings to
the Guardians and did many things, all of which are recorded in the
biographies of the Masters. So you might be wondering why. This is
not dependent on Dzogchen, it depends on the practitioner; whatever
he sees or does or thinks is intergraded with Nature, and so no
matter what he does it doesn't disturbs his Nature. Then instead of
working or doing business, he can practise with Yidams. Perhaps
that is why. Or perhaps it was necessary to do that for his sponsors
or to help his friends if they needed something - could be many
things. But none of this is needed for Dzogchen, it just depends on
the practitioner, so don't put these together. Dzogchen doesn't need
anything. If you practise in a good way it doesn't develop at all - it is
empty. If you don't do any good things or do bad things instead, it
won't get any worse at all - you can't damage Nature or
114 Tib. rgyu'i ting nge 'dzin -Contemplation of the Cause.

106
•
•- Yetri Thasel, P(auenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
•- Emptiness. us So don't confuse the practitioner of Dzogchen with

Dzogchen itself.
Questions and Answers:

If you have any questions, we have time now.
Q: You mentioned that some enlightened or advanced practitioners

-
I seem to be like fools, but this doesn't correspond with the picture we
have of Buddha.
IL A: But we don't have any experience of Buddha, of how he behaves!
- Buddha looks as though he is always sitting like this [in the lotus]
I
but he doesn't do that his whole lifetime, you see. He only showed
• that temporarily. Also, I said that these practitioners seem to be
stupid or foolish, but he is not a normal person, you see, he has
• completely changed his mind, you see. His body has not changed,
but his mind has completely changed and is no longer like that of a
normal person. That is why. He is controlled by his mind, so
• whatever actions he shows are not just like those of gypsies or

hippies or something; he is not like this, he is not pretending. He is
completely controlled by his knowledge, which has changed from
ll
that of a normal mind. That is true. He is not showing things for fun,
• but it happens. He can go through rock or mountains and he can't
be put in jail, you see, because he can go outside easily. It is like
• that, you see. He's feeling or his understanding is that everything is
as Empty Form. And this is not just words; he has experiences 116
• [coming] and he cannot stop his knowledge or his body, you see.
That is the knowledge of someone who has practised and achieved
the Result.
Q: Is the Kati11 7 channel and how it is linked to the heart written

about in the Bonpo Medical Tantras?
115 That is known as View from the Base.

116 Tib. nyams.
117 Tib. ka ti rtsa. Thiigal visions are said to travel through this channel which connects the
heart with the eyes but this should not be taken literally as Thiigal visions do not actually
'travel' anywhere.
107
Yetri Thasel, P(auenho[ 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs
A: Maybe. I do not have very much experience with the Medical

Tantras. The names by which it is recognized are not the same but
some things should be similar.
Q: I have read that the starting point of Dzogchen practice is Rigpai

Tsalwang, 11s but you didn't mention it. We started with searching for
IF.
the mind. So what is the role of Rigpai Tsalwang in the Teachings of I
Yetri Thasel or the Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings in general?
A: Oh, Rigpai Tsalwang is the name of an initiation, the Dzogchen I
initiation. Rigpa means Awareness, or Nature. Nature has Emptiness
and Clarity and the Clarity aspect is called Rigpa. It is not If
consciousness or anything like that. Rigpa is Nature, Nature is
Rigpa, there is no separation. But I have already said that this [word] �
'rigpa' is a very confused one, you see. On our side we know it as
consciousness - Rigpa, Shepa, Lo or Lo Rig She Sum.119 Lo, Rigpa
and Shepa are all synonyms [and mean 'mind' or 'consciousness'].
But in the Dzogchen texts when they say Rigpa this is not referring
to consciousness at all. It is the Natural State, no separation. But
Rigpai Tsalwang is one part of the name of the initiation for
Dzogchen, the empowerment.
Q: When can we receive this empowerment and what do we have to

do to prepare for it?
A: It is up to you! When you are ready, then that is the time when it
will be ready to give the Rigpai Tsalwang. Nobody can judge. E
How to practise in daily life E
Now, normally, all of our group - particularly those who have t
attended these Teachings - don't wait until next year or for
something to happen - immediately try to integrate your life with t
practising. How can you practise? Don't wait for any certain place or
certain time; everyday in the morning or the afternoon or when you
t
have spare time, try to integrate with the Natural State. Even if you t
118 Tib. rig pa'i rtsal dbang.
119 Tib. rig pa, shes pa, blo, blo rig shes gsum.
108
• Yetri Thasel, Ptauenhot: 2008: dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i rnchongs
• don't have much time, Guru Yoga is very essential in this knowledge.
The blessing can only come through these Masters; from
Dharmakaya up to now the blessings have come from one Master to
the other, and it is by this that we can realize Nature. Otherwise this
is not common nature or common knowledge; it doesn't come from
studying hard or anything else you do. Those other things can be
• helpful but they are not essential.
• So what to do? We are always teaching Guru Yoga here. You

receive the three seed syllables which represent the Masters' Body,
Speech and Mind. They integrate with your body, speech and mind.
It is very important to always have devotion to the Lineage Masters,
and to keep on with this faith. Then with this, try to realize that your
-
visualization of Guru Yoga has been created by your own
• imagination - if you open your eyes you can't see anything, you have
just created all this by yourself. So look there. It is not necessary to
do anything else. Look at the creator, at the thoughts you have
visualized, and as I am always saying, these thoughts leave no trace,
they have no colour or form, nothing; they just disappear. Then after
- they have disappeared, just leave everything as it is, for as long as
you have time. Don't pretend, don't say: 'I don't know this Natural
•
..
State' or something. Trust, and keep on for as long as you have time.
--
That is the Natural State. You have time to sleep at night, so before
you go to sleep, once more try to visualize [and do] Guru Yoga. Try to
look towards the thought [of Guru Yoga] and try to keep in Nature,
try to integrate it with sleeping. That is hard, but try. Also in the
..
dreamtime, try at least to remember the Natural State. If you try to
remember the Natural State during dreamtime then that is the best
..
thing; it can be helpful because then in the Bardo you will be
familiar with this practice and it will be helpful. That is the purpose:
..
to go on to the next stage, preparation. Normally we go to school and
study and that is preparing for living conditions. But this part is to
try to prepare for the next stage. All people have to take
responsibility for both these, equally. That is very important. Don't
.. think that you don't believe in it or something. There is no question -
..
we don't have power, you see, so whether we believe or not it doesn't
make much difference; everything comes naturally.
OK.
109
110

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DRENPA NAMKHA

dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs

CHAPTERS VIII & IX

TRANSCRIBED AND EDITED BY CAROL AND DMITRY ERMAKOVI

All rights reserved

Copyright © Shenten Dargye Ling, 2008

Cover photo by Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche:

Explanation of Thogal positions extracted from the Teachings of

Explanation of Tibetan terms courtesy of Geshe Samten Tsugphti

Wylie transliteration by Dmitry Ermakov

Thogal positions by Dmitry Ermakov

Photos of Thogal positions by Carol Ermakova and Sodis Vita

Title page photo by Carol Ermakova

Book and cover design by Dmitry Ermakov '•

Preliminary Comments ................................................................................ 6

Guru Yoga ............................................................................................... 6

Three Holy Methods................................................................................. 8

Guru Yoga and Bardo ............................................................................ 10

dGos 'dod gsal byed bshad gzhai'i mchongs: .............................................. 11

Chapter VIII .............................................................................................. 11

Summary of Chapter VIII ....................................................................... 11

Additional comments ............................................................................. 12

Relative Nature .................................................................................. 13

Searching for Absolute Nature............................................................ 14

Seventh Semdzin: fixation on gradual Emptiness ...................................... 15

a) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the body................................... 15

b) Fixation on the gradual Emptiness of the object................................. 1 7

Examples related to the Semdzins ......................................................... 18

Deviating meditation ..............................................................................21

Pith instruction [on the] ocean-like state of imperturbable rest ..................22

Nature and consciousness .....................................................................24

Setting all phenomenal existence in Nature ............................................25

The Base raises up ................................................................................. 25

Emotions appear as Wisdom .................................................................. 26

What is Nature? ..................................................................................... 27

Nature and space ...................................................................................27

Question of Origin ..................................................................................... 28

Beginning of individual Samsara ............................................................ 29

Common and Private Vision ................................................................... 30

Normal Vision, Impure Vision and Pure Vision ....................................... 32

2. Impure Vision ................................................................................. 33

The yoga of the regular practice_with the views .......................................... 36

The Two Accumulations and the Dzogchen View .................................... 36

The Three Holy Methods......................................................................... 39

Empty Form ....................................................................................... 39

Mistaken Dzogchen views ...................................................................... 40

Correcting your view .............................................................................. 40

The Great Perfection View of no added activities..................................... 41

Nature and Space .................................................................................. 46

Types of practitioners and their realizations........................................... 47

Three Parables .......................................................................................... 49

1. The Parable of the Prince ................................................................... 49

2. The Parable of the King with Unruly Subjects .................................... 50

3. The Parable of the Clever Minister...................................................... 51

Rigpa Rangdrol Gomchen .......................................................................... 54

[ Special Dzogchen] Preliminary Practices ................................................... 55

First Rushen ......................................................................................... 56

Paths leading out of Samsara ............................................................. 57

Third Rushen ........................................................................................ 58

Namthar Sum ........................................................................................... 61

3. The Four Lamps and Four Visions...................................................... 69

Four Lamps ........................................................................................ 69

The Four Visions ................................................................................70