DRU GYALWA YUNGDRUNG

GYALWA CHAGTRI
CHAPTER IV: GOMIRI
CHAPTER V: CHYODTRI

TEACHINGS BY

YONGDZIN LOPON TENZIN NAMDAK RINPOCHE

SHENTEN DARGYE LING, 23 - Z7 AUGUST, 2009

TRANSCRIBED AND EDITED BY CAROL AND DMITRY ERMAKOVI

 All rights reserved in all countries

Unauthorised copying and storage by any m eans prohi bited

Copyright © S hente n Dargye Li ng, 2009

Wyl ie transl i teration by Geshe Gelek Jinpa and Dmi try Ermakov

Book and cover design by D m i try Ermakov

Cover p icture of Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung reprinted with permission from

Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche

Title page photo by D mitry Ermakov

Proo freading by M ichael Canter

 Chagtri 2009

Contents
Prel i m i n ary Comments ................................... . ......... . .......................................... 5

The Truth of S u ffering .............................................................. _. .......................... 5

Four G reat S u fferings ....................................................................................... 6

Sufferings of rich and poor ............................................................... . ............... 6

The truth of the purification of suffering ............................................................. 7

The Tru th of the Path .......................................................................................... 8

Karmic traces ................................................................................................... 8

Three Paths ......... . .................... ...................................................................... 10

Sutra ........................................................................................................... 11

Dzogchen ................................................................................................... 12

Gomtri ............................................................................................................... 13

I . How to practice conti nuously and develop meditation ................................... 13

1 . 1 . Qualities of the student ............................................................................ 13

l . 2. Place .................................................................................................... . ... 14

1.3. Body .......................... . ............................................................................. 14

1.4. S p eech ...................................................................................................... 15

1.5. Facilities ................................................................................................... 15

1.6. !\1ethods ............................... . ................................................................... 15

I I . How t o purify t h e disturbances of meditation ........ ....................................... 16

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II. 1 . External Distu rbances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7

Il .2. I n ternal Disturbances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7

11 .3. Secret D isturbances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7

I I .3 .1 . Disturbances for the View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .... ..... . .. .... . ..

. ..... . . .
. . ... 18

I I .3 .3 Disturbances of the Activities . . . . ........................ . ..

.. ............. . ............. 19

Ill. The Development of Vis ions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

111 .1 . H ow visions come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

111 .1 .1 . H ow visions come externally . . .. ........... . .... . ...... . ...... . ... . ... . ...... . . . . . 21
. . ..

111 .1 .1 1 . Normal visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.. . .. . .. .. . . . . .. .... .. . . . . ..... . . .. ... . .
. .... . 23
.

111 .1 .1 .2 .Thogal ....................................................................................... 23

The p urpose of practising with Thogal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
I I1 .1 .1 .3 . Bonnyid Bardo .. .. . . ... . ... . ....... . ............ . . .....
. . ................. . ...
.. .... . . 26
. .

III. 1 . 1 .4 . Private and common visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

I Il . 1 .1 .5.Five Visions . . . .... ....... . ..... ..... ... .... ..
. . . .. . .. .... . ... ... ..... .. . ...
. . . . .. . .... . ... 29
lll.1 .1 .6 .The final vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
111 .1 .1 . 7.Types of visions .............................. .. .... . .. .
. . ... . ...... . ... . ..
.. ............ 29
111 .1 .2 . Internal experiences [First S tage] . . . ... .. ... . . . ... . . .
. . ........ . . .
.. .. ......... . 31
..

Ill.2. Five Visions . . .... . ...... . . . .. . ..

. .. .. . . .... . . .. .
.. . .. ....... . . . . . . . . . .
. .. .. .. .. ....... . ....... . . 31
..

Five Visions [list] . ................... . ...... . .

. ...... ... ..... .... .......... . . . ... . . . ...
. .. .. ...... . . . . 31
111 .2.1. How the visions come .... . ...
.. ..... . ..
. ... . ....
.. ......... . ................... . . . . 32
.. .

Ill.2.2 The practitioner's i nner experience ... . .......... . . . . .. .

.. .. .. .. .. ....... .. . . ... . 33
111 .3 . 1 . How the visions increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. .. . . .. .... . .. .. ..
.. . . .... . . . . 34
. ..

I Il .3 . 2 . Practitioners experience [Second S tage] . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .... . ...... . .... . ..... . 39

111 .4. The Third S tage ... . ..... . ........ . ... . ...... . . . . ..
.. .. .. .. ... . ..... . .. . . .
. . ..... .. . . ... . . . . 40
.. . ..

Ill .4.1. External visi ons ........................... . ... ........ . ............. . .

. ... .. . . ... . . . . . . . 40
. .

I Il.4.2 . The practitioner's experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Ill .5. The Fourth Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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 Chagtri 2009

I I I .5.1. External vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

I I I.5 . 2 . Inner experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
I I I .6. F i fth Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

III.6.1. How the visions wane ......... . . . ..

.. .. . ....... . . ..
.. .. .......... . .... . .. .
.. . ..... . ...... . 45

111 . 6 . 2 . Inne r exp e ri ence ... . . .

. . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7
. . .. . . .. . .. . .

Meeting of Ta pihritsa and Nangzher Lodpo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

IV. Concluding com ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
. . .. . . .. . . . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. . . .. . . ..

IV.1 . Three types of Buddha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

IV. 2 . Three categories of students ... . . .. .....

.. .. . .... . ...
.. .......... . .... ... ... . .
.. ... . . . . . 55
.. . . . .

IV. 2.1. Chigcharwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

IV. 2 . 2 . Thogalwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

IV.2.3. Rimgyipa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Chyodtri ............................................................................................................ 57

I. Developing d uring the l i fetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

1.1. Activities of body, speech and mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

I .1.1. Activ i ties of the body . . . .. . .. ..... . .. ...

. . ..................... . ... . ....
. .... .. . .
. .. ..... . . 57
.. .

1. 1 . 1 . 1 . The best practitioner or advanced practitioner . ........... .. .. ..... .. . . 58

..

1.1.1 . 2 . The middling practi tioner . . .. .. .... . ... . .

. ....... . ... . ... ... .. . . . ..... .. .. ..... . . . . 58
.

1.1.1.3 . Lower capacity p ractitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

1.1.2. Activities of the Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

1.1 . 2.1. Advanced p ractitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 59

I . 1 .2.2. The less advanced p ractitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
I . 1 . 2.3 . The lower capacity practitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
I. 1 .3 . Activities of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

I . 1 .3 . 1 .The advanced practitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1

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23 - 27 Augusl

I . 1 .3.2. The m i dd l ing practitioner .... .. . .. ................. .. ........... . .

. .... . . . . . . . 62
. .. . ..

l . 1 .3.3. The lower capacity practitioner . . .. . ......... . . . .. ..... .......... . . . . . . . . . . . 62

. . .. .

1. 1 .4. Lamkhyer .......................................................................................... 62

I. 2. How to i n tegrate Nature with the six senses .. . .. ... . .......... . .... .. . . ... . . . . . . . 65
.. . ..

1 .2.1. Eye consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . ... .

.. . ... . . ... . . . . . .....
.. . . .. . .. . .. ... . ... ... ..... . .. 65

1.2. 1 . 1 . The advanced practitioner .......... .............. . ........... . ...... . . . ...... . . . . 66

. .

1 .2.1.2. The m iddl i ng practitioner . . . . . . . ... . ... .. . . . . ..

. . . . . ........ . . . .... .. . .. ... .
.. . . . . .. 66
l.2. 1 .3. The lower capacity practitioner ................. . ........ . . . ..
. .. .. ... . .... . . . 66
. . .

1 . 2.1.4 . How to i n tegrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. .. . . .... .. . .

. . ... . .. . ... . . . . .
.. . . . .... . . . . . . . . . 66
. . .. . .

I. 2. 2 . Ear Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .. .. . .. . . . .. .. . ...... ... . .. .
. . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . 68
. . . . .

1 . 2 . 2.1 The advanced practitioner . . . . . . . . . . .. . . ... . . .. .. . .

.. . . ........ . ... . ...... .
. . .... . . . 68
.

l .2 .2.2. The m i ddli ng practitioner . ..... . . .

. .. ...... .. ...... .. ..... . ............ . ..
. ....... . 68
.

1 . 2 . 2 .3 . The lower capacity p ractitioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .

1 .2.3. Nose Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . .. .. . ......... .. . .. ... . . .

. . .... . ..... . ...... ... . . ... . 68
..

1 . 2.4. Taste Conscio usness . . . ... . .... ... .. . .

.. .. . ... . .... . . .. ....
. . . .... . .... ... ... .. ... . . .... . . . 68
.. . .

l .2.5. Body consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

1 .2.6. Menta l consciousness . . . . .... . . .

. .. ... . .
. ... .. .. . .
.. . .. ..... . ... . ... . . . . . . . . . . . 69
.. .. .. . .. . .. . .

l.2. 7. How to use the obj ects of senses . . . . . . .. . .. .. ......... . . .. .... .. . . ... . . ...
.. . ...... . . 69
. .
 Chagtri 2009

23'd August

Preliminary Comments
First of a l l , once aga i n I wou l d l i k e to welcome all the S angha members to the
Teachings. B e fore I open the text I wanted to tal k a l i ttle b i t about why we are
gathering here and what the purpose is.

The Truth of Suffering

We are h u m ans, and we m ust real ize that each i nd i vidual person is always bound
by sufferi ngs and miseries, because we are a l l i n Samsara. Wherever you are born
in Samsara there i s no peace or happiness. That is the fi rst thing I wanted to say.
I t is not a good thing!
It is very important for each i n d i v idual person to know what suffering is.
Most o f us - not only humans but all sentient bei ngs - don't realize that suffering
is su ffering. That is why we contin u ously practise in this state 1 and the resu l t is
that we are al ways suffering and that makes more su ffering and m ore su ffering; it
doesn't get better, ever. So the refore fi rst of all we m ust realize that su fferi ng is
su fferi ng. We have to th i n k that su ffering is like a sickness. Most people - and
oth er beings - think that suffering l ooks like nan1re, (a natural and i nevitable part
of life] ; but suffering can never be n atu ral. It is a kind of sickness. Everybody
knows that sickness comes sponta neously, but when it comes you su ffer.
Sometimes i t goes, someti mes i t comes, a n d it is s i m i l a r with su ffering, too . Don't
think it can ever be natu re . It is possible to purify suffering. That is the first step,
the first thing you should k n ow.
How can we p u rify sufferi n g ? You have to think carefu l l y about what
happens when you are sick. When you are sick you al ways long to see the
doctors, to get medic i n e and pu rify your sick ness, as soon as p ossi ble. Everybody
has experie nce of this. I f you have toothache, you always want to go to the
dentist as q u ickly as possible. Everybody has had this experience. That means that
you know that the dentist can cure your toothache; you know that already. That
is why you want to go to see h i m so quick l y . In a s i m i l ar way, we have to know
how painful sickness1 is. I t i s very di fficult for people to know th is, you see, they
th i n k that sufferi ng is nature and that it is not possible to puri fy it. That is the

1 Le. follow Ignorance and circulate i n Samsara.

2 I . e. suffering.
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23 - 27 August

worst thing to think. You should thi n k that suffering is a sickness, like toothache
or something.

Four Great Sufferings

Many types of suffering can come - sometim es bigger, sometimes it is very deep,
someti mes it is not so deep - but first of all you have to know what kinds o f
suffering there a r e . These a r e recorded i n t h e texts as: birth ; sickness; old age ;
death. B i rth is the first k i n d of difficulty. These are the root of suffering. Many
people say that bi rth is nature, it is not su fferi ng. But i f you thi n k these kinds of
th i ngs then this Teaching doesn't work at all. H ow is it suffering? Many women
who give birth die, you see, so that is not just someth i n g easy. We can't
remember; only the mother knows how deep that sufferi ng is.
As for the second one, sickness, eve rybody has more or less ex perience of
this, of how di fficult sickness is. It al ways makes you u nhappy and full of p a i n .
T h e third one is a g e . We forget about this i n the tim e of our youth. W e can see
old peop l e and watch th em, laugh i n g [at them] . But when those ci rcumstances
come to you, you will see for yoursel f. I myse l f, for instance, also have experience
of this. When I was younger I saw old people and thought they looked fun n y, ir
was l i ke a gam e to watch them, I used to laugh. But when those circu m stances
and si tuation come to you, at that ti me you know how deep these problems are,
how this su ffering is.
The fourth one, the ti me of death, is v e ry important. Death is not easy.
We pretend we don't k n ow much about it, that it looks like something easy, like
fal ling asleep. No, no. This is not easy ! The dead cannot tell you about this
suffering after they have died and before we die we have no experience of ir.
After you die you cannot tell the l i v i ng about it. There is no connection between
these two so we cannot know what these sufferings and miseries are like. This is
explained by the texts. We have to fol l ow and trust the Teach i ngs. These four are
the hardest sufferings a n d m iseries.

Sufferings of rich and poor

There are fou r grou p s of suffering in the second category, too. Wealthy people
experie nce another sort of su ffering. All the time they are watchi ng, wanting,
lo ngi ng, looking a fte r th e i r possessi ons, want i n g to develop more. They have
many things and this al ways bri ngs m ore su ffering rhan poor people hav e . They
 Chagtri 2009

have many enemies and they must watch them and they worry about losing their
property. So rich people have a lot of suffering and poor people have no
experience of how m any d i fficu lties and s u fferings the rich have; they think the
rich are the happiest people. That is what they thi n k but it is not true.
Neither do the rich people rea lize how much su fferi ng the poor have -
they have another sufferi ng, a d i fferent type of s u fferi ng. Poor people suffer
because they are only thinking of their living conditions - whether they will find
shel ter or not. They suffer heat and cold. Whatever happens brings them pai n fu l
suffering. They a r e always longing, they want t o h a v e so m a n y things but noth i n g
can h appen ; it is always l i k e this. They a r e c o l d a n d h u ngry, sickn ess comes, b u t
whatever happens, they always have t o k e e p going o n . That is the suffering of
poo r people.
Rich people are al ways wary of meeting with their enemies or robbers or
that their thi ngs will be destroyed ; there are many things they are always
watching about, and they have more suffering.
Another type of suffering is that all people worry about their loved ones
and their relationsh ips. They are al ways worried they will b e separated from
those they are connected with. They a re always longing, watc h i ng, suffering.

The truth of the purification of suffering

There are always sufferings and miseries. Everyone has experience of this. You
have to th i nk of this experience as being a sickn ess. Don't th i n k that sic k n ess is
nature - you have to go on. There is nothing you can do. D o n ' t thi n k that
suffering is natural. If you think l ike that you can't do anythi ng. You shou l d t h i n k
like y o u do w h e n you a r e sick a n d you w a n t t o fi nd s o m e medicines or doctors.
In a similar way, whatever p roblems and sufferings you have, try to think how to
puri fy them. You have to t h i n k about this. Is it possib l e to purify them ? It is
possible. Suffering is not [our inherent] natu re at all; suffering is like sickness, i t
c a n be purified a n d cured.
How is su ffering create d ? We created i t by ourselves. Not everyth ing is
the sam e, but there i s one parab l e : in the m o rn i ng ti me you have a very close
friend but someth i n g happens and by the a fternoon he i s you r worst enemy. You
have created that by yourself, but on the side o f the object nothing much has
changed. That is clear. You can look and th i n k in many ways, and many thi ngs
can easi l y be changed. That shows you that your enemy doesn't inh erentl y exist

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as your enemy for ever. S i m i larly, relatives are not always loving ones - they can
very easily turn back to enemies, you see ! That is very clear. Even your child can
grow up and become your enemy. Or you r enemy can easily become your fri end.
Many thi ngs can be easi l y changed and that is all created by the perso n,
perso nally, according to you r condition and perception.
This is all clear evidence, you see, i t i s not n ecessary to foll ow th e
Teachings or Schools3 or this or that or something - this is visible. Thi n k about
these kinds of things properly, and then [ask yourself] : how can these sufferings
and m iseries be purified ? Nobody, I think, likes to su ffer miserably for a long
time, they will th i n k at least a l i ttle bit abou t how to purify their su fferi ngs and
miseries. I f you want to purify them, how can you find such medicin e ? How ca n
you purify them ? The way to do this is to look back to the thought. The real
creator is our own consci ousness; it doesn't come from anywhere external at al l.
Neither does i t come from othe r people, [it is] i n d i vidual . If you yourself can
easi ly control your own consciousn ess and mind then you will always be peacefu l
a n d h a p p y . That is real happiness. I f y o u a r e always fol lowing y o u r own
thoughts, then human th oughts are too much thi nking, they cha nge too easily.
They are not trustable; we always thin k many different things. Look at the
situati on yourself - it is not necessary to follow this or that o r something, it is not
necessary to receive any Teachings on this from [di fferent] Schools, divi n i ties or
someth ing [ l i k e that] ; none of that is n ecessary - you can see this di rectly.

The Truth of the Path

If you real ize that it is really possible to purify your suffering and change this,
then it is not enough to j ust think abou t thi ngs i n the n ormal way as we ourselves
have no deep experience as to how to purify sufferings. The only [remedy] which
exists is to follow the Buddha's Teaching because h e himself had sufferings and
miseries, then h e was fed u p and wanted to p u r i fy them, and h e found a method.
He left a message - his Teaching.

Karmic traces
I said that suffering is created by ourselves. This is without any cause. We
ourselves are not forced, we happily create suffering. H ow do we create it? Who
is the creator? This is all e x p lained in a logical way. We have reasons. H ere is an

3 I.e. religious views.

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 Chagtri 2009

example. If you are writing on a blackboard, whateve r you use - white or red o r
any colour - whatever you paint, the blackboard will k e e p the figure there. In a
similar way, whatever we th i n k is like the chalk, the pai n t, and the blackboard i s
l i k e our o w n Basic Consciousness which w e call Alaya or t h e Kunzh i Nampar
Shepa. 4 That i s similar to the blackboard, or l i ke th e software i n the computer -
the mother board or whatever you call it; I am not very sure. Anyhow, what you
keep there is the fi gures you have d rawn. You keep them there as long as
possible. H ow is this? Instead of painting on a blackboard, it is our own
consciousness. If we think something good then immed iately this trace is kept i n
Kunzhi, t h e Basic Consciousness. There a re two ways : firstly, y o u o n l y think, and
that is written on the blackboard. You don't act but your thou ghts are written on
the blackboard; it is similar. Secondly, someti mes you both th i n k and act, and
that is another way. Both modes leave traces on the blackboard: both thinking
and acti ng, and just thinking without acti ng. Whatev e r you do, everyth ing is kept
i n our Kunzhi Namshe i n a similar way as d rawi ngs are kept on a blackboard.
The Kunzhi Namshe i s very rich - from u n l imited begin n ings u p u ntil now a l l
individual bei ngs h a v e k e p t so much ! T h i s is cal led karmic cause, or cause. This is
a kind of seed, and i f it meets any kind o f [supporting] secondary cause i t will
ripen, the result or frui t will come u p . That will be suffering or ha ppiness -
whatever you get is accordi ng to the cause.
Th is is not j ust speaking and empty words. There is evidence. You can
see this from dreams. Your body is lying i n the bed, as com fortably as you can,
but meanwhile you wake u p from deep sleep al though you are not completely
awake and between these two, consciousness is very bright and wakes u p . Th is
consciousness can see the seeds and whatever is 'painted' on the Alaya or Ku nzhi,
Basic Consci ousness. At that time whatever i t sees, whatever dreams you have,
whatever situations you have i n dreams, they are changed by your own cause ;
that is evidence. You are seeing you r own cause; it is nothing to do with anyth ing
external neither with somebody else doing something. I n modern times th ere are
too many changing with the practice of dreams or something; 5 that is different. It
is not a question of this k i n d o f teac h ing. These d reams we are talking about are
natural so you can see the dream and what the d ream shows you is your own
karmic cause - that is evidence. T h is karmic cause i s with you - whatever bad

4 Ti b. kun gzhi mam par shes pa.

5 I.e. there i s too much interest in practices wh ich man ipulate dreams in one way or mother.
- 9 -
23 - 27 August

things you have done are completely i n tegrated with the Basic Kunzhi
consciousness and after you die, this consciousness goes with you. It cannot be
left out, i t doesn't go away as air. It never wi l l . You can see. Th i n k of a small dog,
a puppy. Just after i t is born then i t searches for the breast. Nobody needs to
teach it, nobody needs to show it, the puppy remembers. From l i fe to l i fe - too
many times - but whenever you are born, you are saved and fed by the mother's
milk. You remember this, and this is evidence as to how powerfu l [karmic traces
are] . Sometimes people remember som eth ing [from their past lives] but that is not
very common. Anyhow, this evidence is very clear, yet most people say they don't
believe this. You can say that while your conditions and everyth i ng else are
perfect. You can say : 'this is right' or 'this is wrong', 'I do believe' or 'I don't
believe' - you can choose. But when that certa i n time [of death] comes, you have
no power, it is not possible to choose at all. You have to fol l ow your own cause.
You can think or say that it is easy to change something; when your condition is
OK you can say many thi ngs, but when the certain time comes you have no
choice, you have to follow cause. Even the Buddha cannot change this, you see. If
he could change i t or do someth i n g by force, then [he woul d because] he
p romised a long tim e before saying: 'I will lead all sentient beings out o f
sufferings and m i series' . Y e t B u d d h a achieved Buddhahood a l o n g time ago a n d
we are sti ll outside, y o u see, b e h i n d . B u d d h a can not do this. We c a n o n l y follow
his advice and obey, and then slowly, slowly we can purify all the seeds. We need
to purify th e seeds . It is not enough j ust to purify whatever temporary suffe ring
and miseries you have visi b l y ; you may be able to purify these for a l i ttle while or
someth i ng, but i t is only for rel ative things. I t is n e i ther durable nor rrustable.

Three Paths
How to purify these karmic cause or the traces on the board which we call
Kunzhi Namsh e ? A lot of causes are kept there and there are two ways to puri fy
the m .
F i rst of a l l , fol low t h e Teac h i n gs a n d try t o confess i n t h e common way.
That is one way to purify these seeds. We should think that whatever has been
made by ourselves is the cause o f suffering, and w e feel sorry for this and promise
not to do i t aga i n i n the future. This is one method, confession. It can look as
though the blackboard has been briefly cleaned u p .

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 Chagtri 2009

The deeper way is to realize how [these su ffering] have been created by
ourselves. That is real thi n k ing. Self-grasping or Ignorance is the real source and
root, the creator o f the causes of su fferi ngs and m iseries. We have three methods
for doing this. I have a l ready tal ked about the ways of S utra, Tantra and
Dzogchen qu i te often for years and years. These three methods are all d i ffe rent
and go deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

Sutra
Accord ing to the popular way of Surra, how does Ignorance grasp and t h i n k ? It is
important to realize this ou rselves. How ca n we recogn i ze Ignorance i n d ividuall y ?
Whatever we s e e , th i n k or d o , we always thi nk t h a t the objects e x i s t eternally,
stably, and are trustable. I f that were true - i f for exa mple you see a flower i n
front o f you, the eye sense mere l y sees i t ; but the next, the mental consciousness,
decides, and so [we believe] it exists as we see it. That i s Ignorance, deciding and
th i n k i n g that this fl ower exists as you see i t permanently. Fi rst of all you need to
recogn ize Ignorance and then the second thing i t is to challenge i t. If th is
perception or Ign orance were tru e then this fl ower should always be there. You
wou ldn't be able to change i t, you wou ldn't be able to move it to any other p l ace.
Where you see it, what you see - i ts shape, colour, size, everyth ing - would
al ways have to be there i f this consciousn ess or perception were tru e. But that is
not true, i t doesn't exist [in that way] at a l l , it can even change from the morning
to the a fternoon time, yet our thinking sti l l doesn't change. We always thi n k and
just forcefully keep [our idea that] i t is eternal, that i t exists as we see it. W e don't
recognize that we are deluded by this perception. That perception is our own
consciousness - i t doesn't come from any other place. That is the real creator. I t
creates that everyth ing i s as we s e e i t , that everyth ing exists there. So t h e n that
makes desires, plans - we m ake long-term plans for years and years, we plan and
do thi ngs but never th i n k we w i l l go away and go to the churchyard ; we never
think about that. We are always planning and thinking, always. That is the
situation, but i t is not necessary to tal k about it; it is plain to see, but
unfortunately we don't trust what we see. Usua l l y I say it is like a monkey
stealing. 6

6When a mo nkey steal s, he covers h is eyes with one hand and steals with the other, thus he kids
himself about what he is do ing.
23 - 27 Augusl

Dzogchen
Now I will start to fo llow the text, but this is still connected with purification,
with how to purify the seeds of suffering and miseries which are i n the Alaya or
Kunzh i . I said there are three methods: Surra, Tan tra and Dzogchen, and we are
following the Dzogchen Way to purify all the seeds of suffering and m iseries. You
have to th i n k what we are doing. I will follow the text and explain, so then you
can hear and you can know, and then try to practise. Otherwise it is just like
going to a museum . You can see many things a nd look at them but when you
come out - you get nothing. Don't do this!
[From] Gyalwa Chagtri we already h ave covered the Preliminary
Practices, and the second chapter Ngozhi7 which is mainly about how to
i n troduce the Natural State, how to p ractise, everything. But then the third
chapter is Zhi Rangngo Tradpa Cherthong Tawai Tri. 8 That means ex plain i ng i n
detail and commenting o n t h e B a s e o f the Natural State ; I covered th at before,
last year. Now, afte r you h ave realized the Natural S tate and what it is, there
comes the next chapter on how to practise, how to develop, how to i n tegrate. We
have reached this chapter - i t will tell you how to do this, how to develop and
mainta i n your practice, meditation, everythi ng. I t also tells you what th e pu rpose
of meditation is - it is not only for relaxing and hav i n g a nice time, staying q u i et
somewhere! That is not what meditation means. It is necessary to thi n k that you
are p u ri fying [you r karmic traces] , that this is a kind o f antidote to the seeds of
suffering and misery; you always have to t h i n k about why we are doing this. That
is why i t is necessary to k n ow what th e Natu ral State is. Otherwise if you just
qui etly meditate i t takes ti me. Not all meditation is the antidote to Ignorance or
to the seeds of karmic causes. If you fo llow th is Teach i ng, i f you try to know the
Natural State cl early and try to practise p roperly, then to the same extent as you
become fam i l i a r and stable with th is you can p u ri fy and reduce the powe r of the
seeds of karmic cause. You are not able to purify them at once, but slowly, slowly.
It depends o n your own p rogress in the p ractice of meditation. Don't think that
any k i nd of meditation is something to do with Dzogche n ; it is not that way .

7 Tib. dngos gzhi.

8 T ib. gZhi rang ngo sprad pa gcer mthong !ta ba' i khrid.
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 Chagtri 2009

Gomtri
This is the Teaching of the cultivation of the Clear Light Meditation9

Prostrati ons to the di rectl y appearing S e l f-Awareness which leads sentient beings,
the All-Pervasive D harmakaya!

There are three subdivisions in this Teachi n g:

I. How to practise conti nuously and devel op meditati o n ;
I I . H o w t o purify t h e d isturbances of meditation ;
III. T h e clear visions and e x periences which can arise when one meditates.

I. How to practice continuously

and develop meditation

1.1. Qualities of the student

The person who fol l ows this Teaching m u st be a qualified student, a person who
seri ously fears the sufferings of death and bi rth, who wants to p u ri fy th i s
suffering, a n d w h o therefore practises with Jangchub 1 0 pure and perfect
motivatio n . That is the first qualificati on : the student shou l d fear sufferi ngs and
mtsenes.
Secondly, they should p racti se with clear, pure motivati o n .
Th irdly, t h e y should have v e r y d e e p devotion t o t h i s State. T h e y should
always keep this faith and consider the Master as a representati ve of Buddha.
They should be tireless.
They should be removed from worldly living conditions and be able to
11
practise Dzogchen i n a single way. We cal l th is Rigpa C hangde which means not
adding anything here or there but only p ractising Dzogchen i n a single way and
being devoted to Dzogchen.

9Tib. L a m nyams su J e n pa'i ' o d g s a l sgom pa'i khrid, also known as Tib. s G o m khrid. Page 200
of Tibetan text.
10
Tib. byang chub.
11
Tib. rig pa rkyang ded .
- 13 -
23 - 27 August

This person must have received and practised the Pre l i m i nary Practices,
been introduced to the Natural S tate and how to practise. All these must have
been done fi rst, before this chapter.

1.2. Place
Such a person has to search, find and choose a p l ace to practise and meditate. It
should be a quiet place where there are fewer distu rbances and they should
practise with the Accum ulation of Virtues and Merits. For this kind of place you
can choose :
an island i n a lake;
or the forest;
or a rocky mounta i n .
Whe rever you h ave fou n d a suitable place, i t s h o u l d be a l i tt l e h i g h e r t h a n the
normal places [around] as this can be helpful for sun gazing; it is convenient for
the practice of Thoga l . 12 The direction should be as already mentioned before,
but here [it says] j u st choose a convenient place.

That is as regards the place. Then you have to have an assista nt - one or two, not
more.

1.3. Body
Until your meditation is qu ite fam i l ia r to you and stable, you must have solitude
and try and practise by you rself. I f your meditation is perfect, familiar and stable
then you can i ntegrate with other activities, but until then you m ust try to keep
alone. You r food, clothing and so on shou l d be simple and l i m i ted. You should
not telephone too much or cal l or email too much. I t says h ere Dre/thag Chad, 13
'cut off all connections' - business. Meanwhile you have to stop busi n ess. You
yourse l f may be stay ing in solitude but still doing such thi ngs - don't do this!
Solitude is solitude and you have to p ractise properly. Tshamdam 14 - you have to
take strict sol i tude, keep in strict retreat.
That is as regards the body.

12
Tib. thod rgal
1.i
.

Tib. ' brel thag chod.

14 Ti b. mthsam dam.
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 Chagtri 2009

1.4. Speech
As regards the speech , don't tal k or say a lot; even i f you don't recite many
mantras etc, stop doing anything until your meditation is stable enough.

1.5. Facilities
All facilities l i ke food and clothes should be i n a s i m p l e way, and this should be
perfect, t ry to keep. 15 When you practise i n retreat, at that time you should not
carry out too many activ ities there; stop them.

1.6. Methods
There are so many different methods of Teachings for different pu rposes, fo r
developing th i s or that - many thi ngs are said in the text, but the importan t t h i n g
is to always try t o check your o w n Natural State and k e e p on, whether y o u are
standing, sitting, sleeping - any time, try to i n tegrate with th is. That is very, very
important. Then the u ncovered Awareness [of] Great Clear Light [can manifest] .
That is very, very i mportant. [Practise] with this i n tensively. Always try to be
fam i l i ar with th is and stab le. That is the i m portant thing to do.
Sometimes, for purification [of your meditation] exhale strongly o nce or
twice. 1 6 This can also be helpful, but don't disturb others too much, keep quiet,
just say : ' S h h h ' or someth i n g, [hiss] l i k e a cat fighti ng. Besides th ere you have to
practise in the night - try to practise with the dark, and also try to i n tegrate your
dreams with the meditation o f the Natural State. Don't use any other acti v i ties or
meth ods at a l l .
The w a y t o practise i n soli tude at that time is first of a l l you h ave t o have
a fu lly qualifi ed Master who has taught you and introduced you to this Natu re,
this Teachi ng. Then on your side, you m ust be li sten i n g and learn i ng and try to
in tegrate with this. Until you can be sure your own u nderstanding of Nature is
clear accordi n g to the text and what the Master says - these three should be i n
agreement - y o u a r e not ready t o practise by yourself.
When you go to a pl ace of soli tude and practise, don't pretend to be
tired or this or that or somethi ng; be determined to practise and don't waste
time, not even a few m i n utes. Don't stop for ti redn ess and laziness.

15 I.e. prepare what you will need in advance.

16 I.e. do certain Tib. rtsa rlungs and Tib. sems 'dzin exercises.
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23 27 August
-

Whether you go for years, months, days, don't [fix the length of your
retreat] by time, but only by your own experience, by when you [achieve] stabi l ity
[in the Natu ral State] . When you r practice is stable, pe rfect and fam iliar to you,
you will have experiences. Meanwhile, whatever circumstances change, even i f
t h i s takes a l o n g t i m e because it is n o t easy for y o u r practice t o develop, y o u sti ll
have to be determi ned to p ractise conti n uously. Don't stop between your practice
sessions or retreat times. Don't let yourself go under disturbances. At that time,
only p racti se this single practice of the Natural State without any disturbances.
Do this kind of thing first.
When you have perfected all these methods, th en p ractise regu larly and
by this practice externally you will have visions and i n ternally your own
experience will appear continuously according to your practice.

Whatever has been taught thus far is supported by a quotati on taken from the
Twenty-One Nails: 17

'In a happy place of solitude, the person who fears the sufferings of death
and birth and who has firstly recognized their own Basic Nature and
knows it clearly with their own validated knowledge, such a person is a
qualified practitioner.'

The next quotati on is taken from the Demig18 or Key :

'Whoever works according to his own wishes doesn't feel it as hard; he can
do everything successfully.'

Those are the qu otati ons.

II. How to purify the disturbances of meditation

The second secti on says: fo r whoever practises with Great Veh icle of the Natu ral
State, several distu rbances can com e :
1. External [Distu rbances] - h u m ans or spi rits can come and distu rb you ;
2. I nternal [Di sturbances] - sickness and m a n y other distu rbances c a n come;

17 Tib. gZer bu.

18 Tib. IDe mig.
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 Chagtri 2009

3. Secret [Disturbances] - the distu rbances of experiences can come.

These three can distu rb your practice.

II. 1. External Disturbances

What does it m ean by the external distu rbances? They are:
The worldly connecti ons i n genera l ;
In particu lar, loved ones and relatives;
Connection 1 9 to your country, m oney, property and so on. If you are too
connected or i ntegrate d with desire for these thi ngs then that can di stu rb
your practice.
You have to realize these are all 'demons' and distu rbers [and remove them] . First
of all, you have to go away from the community or gath eri ngs.
Secondly, as for the disturbance of the invisible on es - spirits and so on -
you need to use rituals, visual ize someth ing and say : ' Don't distu rb this practice',
and give them someth i n g l i k e a Torma.20 You should a lso practise Chod21 and
Sur.11 All these can be helpful to stop distu rba nces and keep th em away.

11.2. Internal Disturbances

If you have di sturbances coming from i l l -health, that means you should try to do
some purification with postures, breathi ngs, visual izati on and sounds; these are
all mentioned earl ier in the text13 - use and practise these according to which
distu rbances come. Don't care about small [ailments] ; you will be alright, they
won't be abl e to disturb you much. You have to j ust put up [with them] while you
are practisi ng.

11.3. Secret Disturbances

The third distu rbances are your meditative experiences. There are a lot of
d i fferent things here, but they are condensed into three [groups] :
1. Disturbances for the experience of meditation for the View,

19
I.e. attachment.
20
Tib. gtor ma .
21
Tib. gcod .
22
Tib gsur.
23
.

I.e. Tsalung. See Dru Gyalwa Yungdrung, Gya!wa Chaglri, Teaching hy Yongdzin fop011
Tenzin Namduk Rinpoche, Shente11 /Jargye Li11g 26
, - 31 August 2007, Transcribed and edited by
Carol and Dmitry Ermakovi .
23 - 27 August

2. [Disturbances for the experience of meditation for] Meditatio n ;

3 . a n d [disturbances for t h e experience of meditation for] Activities.

11.3. 1 . Disturbances for the View

i) You can hear many Teachings but you don't practise. You o n l y learn high
thi ngs for the sake o f tal king about them, not for p ractising them. This person has
no real, deep un derstanding but can repeat the words and say good thi ngs. This is
called : ' M e rely speaking while the meaning is slipping [away] '.
i i) A person has u nde rstood the meaning of what is being talked about but i t
doesn't c o m e seriously to his mind - he has no control over his m i n d or
experience.
i i i) You have understood what to do and how to do it, you know and understand
clearly, but you thi n k : 'I'll do i t next time, m y next practice session, not now'.
You keep putti ng it off. You always say : 'Next time, next time' - you have made
many next ti mes! You think you w i l l p racti se and do everyth i n g i n the fu tu re.
iv) Someone expects to know someth i ng a n d thinks they a re practising w i th
Dzogchen but they don't know clearly what Dzogchen is, what the Natural State
is accord i ng to the [View of the] Natural State. They don't know, but they th i n k :
' I t is supposed t o be this, or that, or someth i ng.' This is cal led Loje24 - 'created b y
se lf. 25
v) You thi n k that the Dzogchen View is l i ke n i h i l ism or energy or empti ness or
th is or that or something - you make many names and think of only some aspects
of the Vi ew. But it cannot be this - it is beyond thought, so i f there is someth i n g
t o do with thinking - i f you think the Dzogchen V i e w is this or that, it is s i mi l a r
t o t his, it is similar to th a t i f you th i n k that everyth i n g is similar t o t h e Dzogchen
Way - then that is not right.

These are the five points which can distu rb the View.

24 Tib. blo byas.

25 I . e . you don't have a precise understanding of the View but have concocted some view of your
own.
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 Chagtri 2009

24'11 August

Now I w i l l go on with the text conti nuously. The third one deals with the
disturbances for meditation. These disturbances are all condensed into three
points:
Disru rbances for th e View;
Disru rbances for the Medi tation ;
Distu rbances for Activ i ti es.
We have reached the section on Activities.16

11.3.3 Disturbances of the Activities

Th is m eans that wh i l e you are practising you can be disturbed by you rsel f, or by
somebody else.

i) Self-di stu rbances mean that when you meditate, you have not ach ieved the real,
seri ous perfect sign yet sti l l you pretend, you show clairvoyance or di ffe rent types
of magic.

ii) [Such behaviour] is m a i n l y because such a person i s e xpecti ng to get m o re

property. It depends; som eti mes he shows madness, someti mes he shows
clairvoyance - di fferent people are in terested in di fferent thi ngs, [so he sh ows
them accordi ng to that] and then he gets someth i n g from them. That is a
di stu rbance which the p racti tioners have created for th e m selves.

iii) Another disturbance is laziness. First of all you are i nterested and take things
seriously; you learn, study and practise, but then after a while you stop doing this
seriously although you are sti l l pretending to work at meditation or somethi ng,
but you are integrated with lazi ness.

iv) Another thi n g is when you want to practise seriously but are sometimes
lacking the right methods. Yet still you are determined to do this. I n th is way, you
can [get] distu rbances through [wrong] breathing or posture, you can fee l

26
The meditation section is missing. Rinpoche said: 'Th e meditation section is within Chyodpa
(Tib. spyod pa), i t is mainly Chyodpa . ' He also said that in th i s case he i s not going through all
the d ivi sions and points of the text but only teaches what he considers to be useful for those
present.
- 19 -
23 - 27 August

unhappy or something. If you carry on [ i n this wrong way] then it can cause
di stu rbances for the channels and breathi ng, which can go i n the wrong way. 2 7
Th is can either bring sickness or i t can cause disturbances like madness; it is q u i te
seri ous, you see. Som etimes the air goes the wrong way in the channels and you
hear di ffe re nt sounds, or words. Those are not a good way; it is the wrong way.
That means that you have been practising with too m uch stress, too intensively.
That is not a good way. We have a lready mentioned everything many times
before, so you must thi n k what is the best th i n g to practi se, to p ractise for a
longer time to make [your meditation] fami l iar and stable. That is the only way.
You don't need to stress [you rsel f] too much o r [do practice i n a] too i ntense
manner.

Don't let [yourse l f] follow those disturbances which are created by the
practitioner themselves.

There i s a quotation [from Sungrab]28 which gives a parab l e :

If a person sets off in search of a wish-fulfilling ;ewe/, there will be a lot of

disturbances along the way, so he must prepare himself with armour and
weapons to protect himself.

That is the parable, but the meaning is that p ract1t10n ers must always do
something to practise seriously, and besides there you have to learn what the best
ways are to develop m ethods and p rotecti on. Protection can mean several thi ngs:
protection for your body, protection from spirits [who may cause obstacles for]
developing [your] medi tati on. Fi rst of all you have to learn these thi ngs properly,
then secondly, when i t is necessary, you have to be able to handle [the situation]
and practi se. Those are the methods to protect your activities and to devel op.

We have three subdivisions:

I. H o w t o p ractise with med itati on and continuatio n ;
II. How to p u ri fy and remove disturbances;

27 Rinpoche refers to the practise of Tsalung here. I f one does i t without receiving prec ise
instructions i t will bring the described consequences.
28
Tib. gSungs rabs.
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 Chagtri 2009

III. Now we have reached the third o n e : how the visions develop and arise
through meditation.

III. The Development of Visions

Here it tells how Clear Lights appear, and what the internal meditative
expe riences are. I t explai n s :
1 . Firstly h o w t h e v i s i o n s come;
2. H ow the practitioners develop, the di fferent degrees and experi ences they have
to have ;
3. And then the thi rd section is n o t [according to] the D zogchen Way, it is
something l i ke the common Five Paths, but this is only the author's idea, i t is not
the Dzogchen Way. Anyhow, it is i n here.

III.1. How visions come

There are two subdivision s :
1 . How v isions come externally a n d how t h e practitioner sees the m ;
2. H o w t h e practiti oner feels - it is n o t a real feeling; these a r e th e experiences h e
h a s w i t h his meditation .

This secti on explains both h ow the visions come externally and i n ternally, what
the practitioner's experience is l i ke. These are explained, but they are not shown
- they cannot be show n !

1 1 1.1. 1 . H o w visions c ome externally

There is a quotati on taken from the Lamp29 chapter 111 the Zhang Zhung
Nyengyud: 30

To show how visions develop, it is like catching a golden fish; the way to
catcf1 it is in the darkness.
To show the clear mirror, you will see space, clear space.
Remembering-consciousness is like a spear which fixes on the
target of the View of Light. Then you will see the seeds of the Buddha
forms like stars shining in space.

29 Ti b sGron ma.
-10 Tib. Zhang zhung snyan rgyud .
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23 - 27 Augusl

That is the root text which is m e ntioned.

Here I have to explain something. W he n y o u are a p ractitioner of Dzogchen, fi rst

of all you have to practise everything, from the begi nning of the Prel i m i n a ry
Practices, searching for the mind, finding the m i n d and then keeping on, tra i n i n g
t o keep i n meditation, and w h e n you a re quite fam i l i a r w i t h t h i s meditation and
stable then several times you have to check and correct whether you have
understood the Dzogchen View correctly, whether your experiences so far are a l l
perfect. You [shou ld] h ave done these fi rst of a l l . T h e n you a re ready t o be
introduced by a qualified Master. What does the qualified Master i ntroduce ? One
th ing is the practitioner's own experience; you h ave to have experie nces when
you meditate. The seco nd one is accordi n g to what the logical texts say ; that is
the background. What the texts say has to agree with your own experience. The
th ird point is what you have heard and the Teachi ngs you have received from a
qualified Master. What he says about how to und erstand, how you yourself have
understood, and what the texts say all have to agree with each other; these three
have to be exactly the same thing. Then that is i ntroduction. That means that first
of all the practitioner has to have practised for quite a long ti me, otherwise he is
not ready to be introduced, it won 't mean anything. This person al ready has the
fou ndation of experience a n d meditati o n , al ready k nows everything - that is the
first step.
The second step is to p ractise with the secondary causes [or supports].
These are:
A dark room ;
Open space ;
Sunlight.
These three are only supports. Noth ing can come from them, but they can be
helpful fo r devel oping visions.
Fi rst of all, your own u n derstan d i n g o f the Natural S tate and your
meditati o n are q u i te stable, and then with this, visions a ppear. These visions don't
disturb your meditati on, neither does your meditation disturb the visions. The
visions come and go, but your meditation is qu ite stable enough . W hen these two
come together, that is what we call Thogal vision. Otherwise, there are many
di fferent visions - normal v i sions and Th ogal visions are d i fferent.

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 Chagtri 2009

llI.1.1 1.Normal visions

There are two qualities of n o rmal vision. O u r l i fe and a l l phenomena of existence
are as vision. This is one kind of normal vision. Secondly, i f anyone looks i n to
space they can see some movements, someth i ng like threads, white or black o r
someth ing. T h i s is n o t an eye defect, it is nature. Thirdly, i f someone goes i nto a
dark room they can see someth i ng sparkling. That is also a vision, but i t s normal
vision. Many things seem s i m i lar i n normal v ision [and Thogal vision] , but these
have noth ing at all to do with neither Dzogchen nor T h ogal .

111. 1.1.2. Thoyal

If you practise only Trekcho on i ts own without practising Thogal, you can do
this, and the fi nal goal is that all phenomena of e x i stence i ncl uding our own
material body can disappear. We call i t Dulu ; 3 1 the body disappears and is not left
behind [at the ti me of death ] . But y o u cannot achieve p u re lumin ous Light Body.
For that, Dzogchen practitioners have to practise with two things together; you
have to integrate phenomenal existence with your meditation. You can meditate
with the meditation alone - you can do this - but you w i l l not reach the fi nal,
perfect goal without Thogal practice. We are still alive, we have a body and all
the phenomena o f existence are all there, so we have to do something about this
with meditati o n . Meditati o n is not only something temporary, i t shows [that we]
are bou n d wi th our own phenomenal e xistence and the u n i verse externally, a n d
t h e sentient bei ngs i n te rn a l l y [withi n i t] - everything i s connected w i t h Nature,
and we have to realize how this is connected with our own practice of the
meditation or the Natural State. This is not j ust empty words; i t is logical . If you
practise, you can see and achieve. When you practise, first of all the clear
[ev idence comes from] the dark room . If you use a dark room and practise
Thogal there, that means that you have prevented and blocked out all normal
li ghts. You have blocked absolutely all lights from outside. You have to be clear
that you are i n a dark room. Then - not i m m ediately but soon afterwards - you
don't stop meditati ng. The Natural State i tse l f has the potential energy which we
call Lh undru b , 3 2 you use this with y ou r meditation and through your meditation
i n the Natural State from the begin n i ng you will have an e xperience like
moonlight. It looks like moonlight; your experience is q u ite clear i n the dark

·' 1 Ti b. rdul lus .

-' 2 Tib. lhun grub.
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23 - 27 August

room but this clarity doesn't come from anywhere externally or any normal
material thing - nothing. It only comes from your own practice. That is the first
step.
The second step is that i n the dark room you will have a n experience like
[seeing] fi re fl ies and m i rages. Someti m es i t will b e storming inside; i n your own
experience storms or wi nds w i l l com e. Someti m es everyth i ng will go com pl etely
as the sky. You won't see anything and that makes you frightened. Noth i n g exists
except a p u re, clean sky. [These are signs that you are beg i n n i n g to control th e
elements of your body.] Yo u r materi a l body is formed of the five elements and
you are able to try and i n tegrate each of them with Natu re. This is the sign that
form the begi n n i n g - everything is equally conn ected with Nature, but still, you
m ay [temporarily] be slightly more connected with earth, air, fi re, water, or wind
[element] , and from ti me to ti me, one after the other, you w i l l have signs. This is
only the begi n n ing. This is not only for a Dzogchen practitioner - i t comes as a
sign that you are control l i n g your own mind. Normal Tantra practitioners can
have these [experiences] when they practise with Tummo or Tsalung. 33 That is
the first step, the fi rst sign.
After this, meditate and practise continuously and you will have visions
like nets, and rays. There won't be much colour, only black and white. There w i l l
n o t be many forms, only li nes goi ng up or dow n . There may be many d i fferent
shapes. As you p ractise more a n d more, then the visions develop i n to the forms of
trees or flowers o r something l i k e th is. Then if you practise sti l l more then these
figures o r visions all change i n to one colour, the n two colours, three colours.
Many form s can appear, like fl owers or m o untai n s or many other thi ngs, but
there won't be any D i v i n ities or mandalas or any special shapes. You stil l have to
practise more and m o re. Then these visions are k i n d of condensed and make a
white Thigle. 34 It is a v e ry shi n i ng Thigle, a small one the size of a m ustard seed.
Then as you practise and develop m ore, i t becom es bigger and bigger. Then one
colour comes, two colours come. It i s someth i ng like th is. Everyth i ng depends on
the practiti oner's p ractice, o n how far you have practised. Depending on how far
you have p ractised, the visions wil l develop.

33 Tib. gtum mo, rtsa rlung.

34 Tib. thig le.
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 Chagtri 2009

The purpose ofpractising with Thogal

What i s the pu rpose of practising with those visions? As you practise more a n d
more, i f a p ractitioner is practising i n d a r k room, he will sti l l h a v e visi ons which
are com pletely l i ke our normal seeing·15 but he already k nows they are compl etely
Empty F orm - there is no substance, n o material at all. S o they come from his
own Nature. Natu re has potential and essence. These [visi ons] are developed by
his meditation. He meditates with the Natural State and this Natural State has
potential and essence. This makes more visions develop from there. Visions come
and this practitioner has absol ute trust that whateve r visions com e are not magic,
he is not using mantras or visual izati on, he is not doing anything except
practising with the Natural S tate i n a single[-po i nted] way. S o h e can trust
logically what he has practised, how h e has p ractised, what the visions are which
come. The visions all come from his own Nature and he has realized that these
visions come from Natu re.
The practi tioner who has p ractised i n a dark room will have visions
coming from his own Nature. He rea lizes that they are not anyth i n g materi al, yet
sti ll h e can see forms, colours and everyth ing. H e tru sts that these come from
Empty Nature and are formed as Empty Nature. No doubt. S o then what is the
purpose ? F i rst of all he absol utely k n ows and trusts properly that all phenomena
of existence - including h is p art of body, speech and m i n d - all connected with
these visions. Otherwise, i f this practitioner's p ractice were something else36
while his normal l i fe were something else, 17 as long as he practised with that idea,
even i f h e carried on a long time, his practice would n ot be successfu l , not real
accord i n g to the Dzogchen Way. The pu rpose, the real purpose, is that you must
in tegrate [yo u r normal l i fe] with practise; this experience [gai ned by practising
Thogal] gives you proof and evidence. You need to apply that to our normal l i fe
and phenomenal existence and real ize prope rl y in a logical way, in a
philosophical way, that they are i n one way. 38

·15 Le. the normal objects we see in our daily l i fe.

36 Le. somet h i ng apart
n Le. something separate .
.i s Le. coming from the same source.
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111.1.1 .3.Biinnyid Bardo 39

How can you understand t h i s ? Fi rst o f all, one pe rson has died. After their death,
just after their material body and mind h ave disconnected, for a shorter or longer
time, there is no fee l i n g w hatsoever, n e i ther is there any vision ; nothing. There
are d i fferent [understandi ngs of this] depending on the different ways of Sutra,
Tantra and Dzogchen; i t depends on their capacity and knowledge. For example,
Surra says that this moment is like u nconsciousness. As for Tantra, people q uite
often talk about the Bardo Thodro/40 or some translations - maybe you have
al ready read something - and it looks someth ing like this. The absol ute truth is
that just after death, i f a person is a n a dvanced p ractiti oner of Dzogchen then in
that state after the disconnecti o n o f his material body when his consciousness
disappears and is liberated to Nature, he continuously goes on i n his meditation;
that is the situation for a n advance practitioner. I n a logical way, [this state] is not
separated from the p racti tioner or any being who is dead - at that moment, i t is
only the p u re Natural State which appears. I t i s not sleepi ng, i t i s not
unconsciousness, n othing. There is noth ing material i nvolved and nothing is
th i n k i n g it doesn 't exist, 41 so meanwhi le you are plainly i n the Natural State but
you don't recognize i t because duri ng your l i fetime you have not tried to learn,
you have not tried to practise, you have not tried to get any experie nce at all, so
it doesn't help at a l l . That is the first stage [of Bardo] .
How long you remain i n this state depends on the person ; there is no
limitation. Some rem a i n i n this state for a very long time, some only stay for a
short time - there is no certa i n l i m i t at all. But all sentient beings are clearly in the
Natural State, only they don't realize this so i t doesn't help at all. Soon after, the
potentiality of this S tate ap pears as visions, as sounds, rays and li ghts together
with the subject which is perception, very subtle percepti o n ; these come together.
The perception is like a m i rror which takes refl ections. The visions - the sounds,
rays and l ights - appear spontaneously fro m this S tate together with the subject of
perception, very subtle perception, and this perception perceives that there is
someth i ng, just the same as when we see any k i n d of objects, any kind of material
thi ngs. Whatever object is there, we are the watcher. It starts from there, and this
leads us. We have learnt it conti nuously, we sti ll don't l eave it [alone] . Whatever

39 Tib_ hon nyid bar do_

40 Tib_ Bar do thos grol.
41 Le_ there is no consciousness_
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 Cbagtri 2009

we see is independent [from us, an object] , we are the watcher. We look in this
way . Object and subject come from there ; that is the start. Then this perception
fol lows th e vision-side as someth i ng separate without looking back to where the
source is, to how this started or something. It does n ' t look back to the sou rce, it
only foll ows th e vision-side more and more strongly, then i t is l i k e water tu n i n g
t o i c e . Th i s goes on and on, and the n t h a t m a k e s col ours and many oth er thi ngs
form - red, blue, yellow, white and so on. Then there is substance - pure and
i mpure - many di fferent ty pes are made. The pure part is the body, the i m p u re
part is the external phenomenal existe nce. These are all created. The real creator
is our own perception which m akes everyth i n g from there; it fol l ows the object,
the visions, and everything leads on from there. That goes on and creates the
whole thi ng, our l i fe up to n ow.
When did i t start? I f you do research work and try to go back to the
source you won't fi nd a n yth ing at all ; there i s no l i m i tation as to when it began or
someth ing. I f you find some skeletons or something [like doing archaeology], it
won 't help - it is much more than this. It i s not possible to find the beginning. S o
g o o n i n th is State, i n this way.
From the beginning the meaning is that you look back, you return to the
source, and th en i f you fi nd the absolute source, then all phenomena o f existence
are related [with it, they] return b ack to the sou rce. This sou rce is just the same as
what we are tal k i n g about when we talk about how Thogal visions start, how
delusion, visions and all phenomena of existence come. Both of these have the
same source. If you p ractise the source m ore and more wi thout following the
vision -side then you wi l l h ave found the rea l , abso l ute truth, the fi nal source.
That makes for developing [the visions and real izati o n that] everything is as
Empty Form. That means that nothing special is created externally. I f you find
the real source, that is the Natu ral State. Don't follow the v isions. Just keep o n
and on i n the source, t h e n you will achi eve Buddhahood.

111.1.1.4.Private and common visions

I will continue to talk abo ut the visions. These visions come from the Natural
State and if the practitioner conti n uously foll ows th e m then they w i l l develop
more and more themselves. But originally, these visions all come fro m Nature
into Nature and are never far fro m Natu re. It is important to realize that. I t is like
water tu rning to ice. From the begi nning i t is water, wet, but it can go to ice . I ce
is n ot a liquid, it is som ething very hard. Our s i tuation is similar. I f you follow
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the objects, the vision-side, then more and more is created by ourselves. Nobody
created anything else. Individually the person created the i r i n d i v idual l i fe and
th e i r i n dividual phenomenal existe nce. There is no-one who created som eth ing
general on the object-side. 41 That is not possi b l e ; you can see clearly what the
objects are, that they are all personal . Sometimes we say they are good or bad.
For example, two people can see one pizza. O n e man th i n ks i t tastes good, very
good, but the other one thinks it's not good at all. It is hard for them both to
agree, b ut they can make themselves agree n ice and pol itely, although in real i ty it
is not easy for them to agree. That is why we have so many problems, generall y .
The bi ggest i s nations; nobody agrees w i t h e a c h other, t h a t i s why we create
things i ndividually accord ing to our i n d ividual wishes. We cannot agree. If
someone i s nice and pol ite th ey may agree, but that is just agreeing politely ; it
doesn't accord with that person's wishes, but he sti ll agrees nice and politely.
Thar way the republic can work, you see ! Otherwise, i n dividually i f you go along
with your own wish then everyth i ng is created by the i ndividual perso n . For
example, our father can make a house, an d that is his property, h e created i t. But
then he passes away, and h e doesn't take the house with him. S o then later on i t is
his son who owns this property , so at that time everyone says the house i s the
son's property ; no-one says it belongs to the dead man. They say i t belongs to the
person who is alive, they say it is his property. So eve ryth i n g is created by
ou rselves. The creator is consciousness. Consciou sness appears from Nature
spontaneously. I f you don't follow the visions but j ust remain i n Nature itself,
then the visions cannot do anything. It is like catching the heart; if you catch or
hold someone's h eart then they a re dead, you see. I f y o u control the heart then
that person is not alive any longer. Nowadays they can d o some transplants or
someth ing but nothi ng is mentioned about that i n the text. That is a d i fferent
situati on. Anyhow, this i s the real one. The personal [visions] coming from
consci ousness a n d Nature are all u n i ted, compl etely u nited, the same thing. So
the proof is the practice of Thogal visions. The visions develop m ore and more,
and so for the p ractitioner, his visions of normal phenomenal exi stence i ncluding
his body, everything is slowly, slowly integrated with his vision. This is because
they have the same root. The p ractitioner has rea l i zed that they have the same
root, so then he p ractises and i t comes i nto Nature.

41 I . e . there is not some creator god and, in terms of the absolute tmth, there i s no such thing as
the external universe; everything is created by the minds of sentient beings.
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 Chagtri 2009

111. 1.1.5.Five Visions

Here the text gives stages of practice. Normally in the Dzogchen Teaching we
have fou r lamps, fou r visions, Nangwa Zhi , '1 3 but in the Zhang Zhung Nyengyud
there are five visions, Nan gwa Nga. 11 [By comparing your experience with the
descri ption of the five stages] that shows you how far you have practised.
Accord ing to this, this practiti oner has realized that all phenomena of existence
are completely as Empty Form - for him. So finally, when he comes up to the
fi fth v i sions, everyth ing no longe r exists. Even his body, speech and m i nd are all
liberated i nto Nature. N ormally when we speak o f Natu re we say it is e m pty, but
you cannot say i t is e mpty, neither can you say it is clear or anything else because
it is beyond speech and thought.

111. 1.1. 6. The final vision

Whateve r is connected with the p racti ti oner's Nan1 re fi nally disappears or goes
into l u m i nous l ight, including his body, speech and m i n d and whatever else h e i s
con n ected with; everyth i n g that is his Nature, n o t what belongs t o his fath er or
moth e r ; 4 5 not what is con n ected with that, but whatever i s connected with h i s
Nature. Everything can be liberated i n to t h e F i n a l G o a l . That is w h y finally, more
than just his body - a l l his obscurations, d e fi l e m e nts and consciousness -
everyth i ng can go to Nature, can be liberated back to the source. The source is
Natu re. That is cal led Rain bow Body or another name is Buddh ahood. Th is only
comes through his own p ractice. No-one else can do this by force. They can help
a bit at the begin n i ng, giving h i m advice about what to do - i t is possible and
necessary to help, to give Teachi n gs or something - but then h e has to practise
contin uously by himself, otherwise nobody can do this for him in between,
midway . 46 That is not possible.
This is the purpose of practising with Thogal visi ons, with Thogal
practice; this is a l i ttle part.

111. 1.1. 7. Types of visions

Generally visions - not [only] Thogal visions, but generally - come from Nature,
and there are two qualities:

4·1 Ti b. snang ba bzh i .

44 Ti b. snang b a Inga.
45 Le. property inherited fi-om father and mother, this remains as a part of common vision.
46 Le. between receiving the instmctions and achieving Buddhahood, it is only his own practice.
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Pure, Nature-visions;
Relative or i m p u re v i sions.

1 1 1 . 1 . 1 . 7 . 1 . I m pure visions
I sai d that visions appear from Nature as soun ds, rays and lights. Originally these
are all pure visions, but i f you follow them, whatever you create together with
your perception and fol low crea tes good vi rtues, o r sins and m iseries, but
everyth i n g is i m p u re. Why ? Because i t i s created by consciousness together with
fol lowing the visions. Whateve r is created - good thi ngs like Refu ge, Bodhichitta,
compassion, or bad things - they are all impure vision because they are created by
perception and consciousness.

1 1 1 . 1 . 1. 7 . 2 . Pure visions
Pure vision means i t ts not created. The visions just appear n atural l y . For
example, when you practise with Thogal visions, from the begi n n ing you see
threads which are wh i te or black, and these appear spontaneously. Depe n d i ng on
how far you have p ractised with the Natural State, visions come, and they are all
pure, the real Nature visions. Why? Because they are not created by perception or
conscio usness at all. They develop more and more from the p ractice o f the
Natural State. These visions are pure visions. They develop more and more
according to how much you practise with the Natural S tate. As you become more
and more stable and familiar with the Natural State all the visions are converted
and develop. Then mandalas and Divin ities come [as vi sions) - peaceful, wrathful,
whatever - everythi n g comes spontan eously as visions from Natu re. But these
Divin ities appear spontaneously; otherwise, Ta ntra practitioners can also see
peaceful or wrathful Divinities - many thi ngs can appear - but these are not the
same at all. When you are practising Dzogchen and the visions develop and come
as Divini ties, they a re all connected with the Natural State without any p ractice of
visualization or using any mantras - nothing special, they only appear
sponta neously from practising the Natural State with Thogal. These forms all
look s i m i lar - peaceful ones, wrathful ones, they can all come - but when the
Tantra practi tioners p ractise, i t all comes from thei r own i m agination, wh atever
[activiti es] they need to do, the visions come by the power of [imagi n ati o n ] .
These two l o o k similar; i f you don ' t distinguish but thi n k t h a t they a r e always t h e
s a m e [ y o u are m istaken] as t h e y can not be t h e s a m e , t h e y a r e v e r y much d i fferent.
 Chagtri 2009

This kind of Dzogchen practitioner has proof and evidence himself

through his practice of Thogal, but before he takes Rainbow Body, everyone can
see him like a normal person. On his side everything is completely as Em pty
Form, as a reflecti on com i n g into a m irror. So h e looks s i m i l a r [to other peopl e
fro m the outside] but it is a com plete l y di fferent person. He has cha nged. We call
that 'a normal body but a Buddha inside'. He is a real Buddha but most people
don't realize who he is; they just thi n k their father is their father, their mother is
their mother. It looks l i ke [that for them], there is no (visible] change, but on the
practitioner's side he has completely pu rified everything. So i t is d i fficu lt to make
this distincti o n . However, there are not many peopl e like this so don't worry
about making a m istake ! We don't need to care.

[On the first stage], in his vision there are n o forms o f D i v i n i ti es but rather many
Thigles, rays and l i ghts - many thi ngs can come. This is the begi n n i n g of th e
Divin ities appeari ng in the v isions.
I nside, this p ractiti oner's experience is still not very deep. It is like the sun
shining between clouds - sometimes it i s clear, sometimes not very clear. His
p ractice is beginning. There are three stages :
We say Thungo m 4 7 making sessions;
Nganggom48 - being able to integrate with Nature spontaneously [without
sessions] ;
Longgom 4 9 - perfect, deep meditati o n which comes spontaneously.
There are these three stages i n meditation.

111. 1.2. Internal experiences [First Stage]

Th e fi rst one is like the moon shining on the fi rst or second day [of the l u n a r
month ] . T h e practi tioner h a s these v i s i o n s and he has reali zed t h a t everyth ing is
as Empty Form, and this i s the fi rst stage o f the vision.

1 1 1 . 2 . Five Visi ons

Five Visions [list]

Secondly it explains how the Five Visions come :

47 Tib. thun sgom.

48 Tib. n gang sgom.
49 Tib. klong sgom.
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23 - 27 August

1. Nangwa Phelwa '° - develop i n g visions;

2. Extending the visions;
3. Further developing visions, [so th ey are] pervasive, large ;
4. A l l t h e visions a re perfect;
5. Waning; there are n o longer any visions. Only Natu re itself remains.
These Five show how far the p ractiti oner has to develop and which experience he
has to have.

lll. 2. 1. How the visions come

If you continuously p ractise meditati o n integrated with Thogal practice then how
long will it take for the visions to appea r ? That is the question. When will the
visions com e ? How do the visions com e ? I t depends on your own practice, and
also on relying on or using the 'secondary cause' [or] supports of the darkness,
space or sunl ight. These methods help the visions to develop.
Generally, there is no limit to the visions; it is not possible to explain
them as many di fferent visions can come. But i nsi de, sometimes there is a very
special pure Thigle called Chiglug Rigpai Thigl e 5 1 which means like mercury,
col our and for m . At fi rst they are very small ones and then slowly, sl owl y they
develop and become b i gge r, [become] pea-sized. So meti mes they get much
b igger, sometimes they are s i ngle, sometimes they go together, sometimes two or
three togeth er or sometimes they go sepa rate - it is not easy to explain all this,
you see, i t depends on pe rsonal experience. Sometimes the l i nes go up or down,
someti m es they go straight. I t is like silk thread, a white one. Sometimes on the
white line there are spots of special colour, white ones, s h i n i ng, light ones, like
beads [on a th read] . There can be many togeth er or also single [ones] . Many
th i ngs are there. O h !
Until y o u a r e able t o control a l l t h e elements y o u r body i s formed from,
you will only see one or two colours. Then slowly you will be able to con trol the
elements of your body and then according to this, gradually the five colou rs will
appear. Sometimes there are many [Thigles] , many all together. Most of the them
have fewer than five colours, but once the fi gure or style has the five col ours
perfected, this means the visions have developed q u i te high l y ; until then, th e fi ve
col ours will not be complete. One or two col ou rs come, then quite often more

50 Tib. snang ba 'phel ba.

51 Tib. spyi blug rig pa'i thig le.
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 Chagtri 2009

and more. In this case you have [visions otl half of the D i v i nities' bodies or just
heads or hands - you can see many parts of the body but they are not perfectly
fo rmed as [com pl ete] Divin ities. I t is the same with the mandalas - you see a half,
a quarter or something. These are visions if you don't check anything, but if you
think of checking somethi ng, then they disappear because these are noth ing to do
with consciousness or perception. Sometimes if you are interested to look or try
to see something, they disappear, nothing. If on the other hand you j u st keep on
in Nature without th i n ki ng, you will have visions. Sometimes even i f you are not
concentrating with med itati on these visions are still there ; you can see them.
Also, at the ti me of the fi rst stage, the rays and lights fall l i ke water
fa l l i ng down a steep gorge, cascading down steep rocks; they fall down very fast.
That sh ows that you r meditation i s not stabl e.
Secondly, it is the same th i ng, the visions all go very quickly; you just see
them and they pass.

Then there is a quotation from the chapter called the Lamp :

When you are more familiar with this meditation and the visions, then
you will have five different stages of visions and signs which come. First of
all are the developing visions; at that time they are like mercury which
scatters and comes together.

Another quotation [from Twenty-One Nails]:

The rays of Awareness are called 'the line of silver silk '. This is like water
falling quickly in a steep gorge.

111.2.2 The practitioner's inner experience

Inside his experience is called 'one point of meditati o n ' . Sometimes his
meditation is q u i te stable and not m uch disturbed by disturbances, it is quite clear
and pure. It is not v ery deep. I t looks like shallow meditation ; maybe some
meditators have experience of this - shallow, deeper, many things can happen, it
is not always the same thing.
When you take a session of meditation you spontaneously [get] bliss and
happi ness and i t is hard to stop - these all come inside your own experi ence. But
at this ti me you sti ll have to be very careful otherwise there is a great danger of
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being disturbed by any disturbances such as drowsiness or hearing different

thi ngs, seei n g things or somethi n g. You have to look after your mediation
carefu l l y .
The development of your experience is l i k e t h e moon w h i c h is wax i n g
and which h a s reached the t h i rd or fou rth day.
OK. That is the F i rst Stage o f the vision.

2 5 ' " August

111.3. 1. How the visions increase

Th is section is about the Five Visions. We have reached the second one,
Chedpa, 52 i ncreasing. Visions come from Nature. They come spontaneously.
How do they come ? Everybody has experience of sitting quietly and calmly not
really thi nking o f anything, and then thoughts come u p spontaneously. At that
time, we don't care where they are coming from or how they do it. We don't
check a nything special o r study - i f you do, i t will become more and more
di fficult and fi nally you ca n't fin d anyth i ng. If you look, visions are di ffe rent, but
thoughts are very s i m i l ar ; these two come from the same source . You can see
visions there, you don 't need to visual ize anything deliberatel y, just as thoughts
arise spontaneously from Nature without you needing to deliberately t h i n k
anyth ing. So it is s i m i l a r - they both c o m e from Nature, but one is vision or
experie nce, the other is thought. The sou rce is the same and both of them are
i n tegrated with Nature. It is similar to when you look into water and you can see
your face i n the water but it is not independent from the water - it is completely
water. I f you touch the face with your finger you won't reach a face, you will
reach water. This is completely the same thing - all the visions and thoughts
come completely from N ature i nto Nature. This example shows you the
evidence, but we don 't trust, we don't fol l ow that way. We only search for the
vision-side, only; we don't search for th e cause, for how i t works; we a re
completely far from Nature's side, we don't care about it. Therefo re we follow
the vision-side. On the vision-side many things change - good, bad, h igher, l ower.
F i rst of all, the i m portant thing i s to check whether this i s true or not;
that is very i m portant. Here, i t explains about the d i fferent colou rs and forms the
visions can take, but the real structure i s si m i lar to thoughts. Whether this is true

sz
Tib. mched pa.
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 Chagtri 2009

or not doesn't depend on Teach ings, religion or anyth i ng; this is real and it can
be checked d i rectly i n a logical way. You have to check this before you check the
visions.
The whole of phenomenal existence - everything - i s as a vision. But as I
have al ready mentioned, there are two k i n ds of vision . One is Nature-vision a n d
another is relative v i s i o n .

1 1 1 . 3 . 1 . 1 Ve ry s u btle I g n o ra nce
Relative vision m eans that it is created. When one person has died - this is not
the abso lute begi n n i ng [but i t is the begi n ning of one l i fetime] - after the time of
death they are in Nature, only Nature without any visions. All the visions are
l iberated back to Nature for a while. Then, as I have al ready said, i t depends. We
have three di fferent [understan dings] : S utra, Tantra and Dzogchen . For S u rra
followers, accord ing to the Sutra Teachi ngs, it says that this state is only
unconsciousness, nothing else. Afte r the materi al body and consciousness a re
di sconnected, [there is a state] without any visions, noth i ng, no special
consciousness at all; everything is liberated back to Nature. I n Surra, they don't
recogn ize anyth i n g else, they see this as u nconsci ousness. As for Tantra and
Dzogchen, these are a l i ttle bit s i m i lar. Meanwhile, a v e ry advanced p ractiti oner
has a Presence similar to that of his meditation ti me, so he goes on, and that first
stage a fter the disconnection of the material body is called Bonnyid Bardo. He
doesn't feel anything else, he even does n ' t feel death o r something, h e j ust goes
on meditating conti n uously. That is the condition of a real , advanced
practitioner. As for someone who is not such a n advanced p racti tioner, soon -
how long this circumstance l ast depends on the person, there are no time l i m i ts -
sounds, rays and ligh ts appear spontaneously. These are the three obj ects. At the
same time, the subject appears - a very subtle consci ousness. Th ese two - the
subtle consciousness and the three objects - are like looking i nt o a m i rror. You
can see the visions and this consciousness p e rceives the three objects. H ow does it
perceive them ? I t percei ves them as though something were there. These visions
are not separate ; [this consciousness] j u st thi nks, and perceives some object. It i s
s i m i l a r t o the w a y w e s e e t h i ngs - w e contin uously s e e thi ngs because we always
fol low this state. The sy ste m is that there is this very subtle consciousness which
perceives objects and th i n k s : 'There is someth i n g ! ' -it can only th i n k 'there'. We
follow this conti nuously without stoppi ng, and that is called very subtl e
Ignorance. It is not the absolute begi n n i ng. This is not the compl ete begi n n i n g,
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but when we are m this 'unconscious' state [just after death] , we are kind of
inside Nature but nothing is visible, it looks as though we are conti n u i n g to exist
in NamreH but there is noth i n g visible. However, it has potential ; the potential ity
is kept there, and the refore i t is not the begi n n i ng. 54 When it appears, the system
is always the same - whatever we see, everything is separated i nto object and
subj ect, so that m eans we are fol l owing this state, Ign orance, from the begi n n i ng.
As long as we fol low this consciousness and perception, it becomes rougher and
rougher. We see more, we j udge more - good things, bad thi ngs, eve rything is
created from this seed. That is called Ignorance. That is how perception perceives
objects from the begi n n i n g. We conti nuously follow in that way. Whatever comes
i n that way, we fol low, and then everything which exists, the whole of
phenomenal exi stence - good, bad, everyth i n g - is relative vision .

1 1 1 .3 . 1 .2 . Empty Form
The pu rpose of talking about these relative th i ngs, is . . . in the case of S utra,
eve ryth i ng i s projected, there fore all phenomena of existence are as illusion. You
can use the examp l e o f wate r and reflections. Whatever refl ecti ons or movements
come in water, they are all wet. In a similar way, good thoughts, bad thoughts,
visions, they all come from Nature. Namre is u nspeakable, unthinkable. This is
the source. Everythi n g com es from there i nto there and is related to this. Noth ing
is separate, nothing i s far from th is Nature. Therefore, everything is what we call
Empty Form or illusion. How is everything as i l lusio n ? If you thi n k or check in a
clever way you can look back to your own condition of thinki ng, and realize that
nobody could do anything i ntentionally, and you yourself cannot do anything
special with this15 - everything/thought appears spontaneously. When you know
that clearly - don't pretend you don't know - don't pretend there is something
added, someth i n g solid which comes from somewhere. Everyth i n g comes from
yourse l f, to your own Nature and is liberated back to Nature. That is very clea r.
That is what we call Empty Form in this School, in the Dzogchen way ; that is
illusion - we don't need to p roject anything [as they do according to Sutra] .
Everything [is] as Em pty Form, as waves i n water or as reflections. The pu rpose

5·1 I.e. there i s no total extinction .

54 Since Nature is beyond everything it cannot be called a ' beginning ' ; since the mind of an
individual sentient being is not created anew, from this point of view it cannot be called a
' beginning' either.
55 To paraphrase: thoughts appear spontaneously from Nature whether you l ike it or not.
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of knowing this is that if you realize this, it is not necessary to specially [charge o r
create] hardship [for yourse l f] , t o s h o w anger, desire or any emotions. I t is n o t
necessary. All of t h e m natural ly c o m e i nto E m p ty Form a n d you don't n e e d t o
check w h ether t h i s is t r u e or not, whether you b e l i e v e it or not; everything i s
comi ng, going, comi ng, goi ng, everythi n g is like waves i n water. We see this, w e
know t h i s , but we p retend n o t t o k now, we don 't c h e c k t h i s k i n d of situation -
we check some other k i n ds of things.
OK. That is about relative visions. The purpose of knowing this is so that
we try not to grow emotions too much, we try to 'push them down' a little bit by
th i n king about things in a l ogical way, by thi n k i ng about the situation of visions,
of Empty Form. [When we know things are] E m p ty Form, then this stops o r
reduces emotions a l i ttl e ; we d o n ' t let them c o m e too strongl y .

1 1 1 . 3 . 1 . 3 . Chedpa - [conti n u i n g fr o m t h e text]

The Second Stage comes from this same Natural S tate. When these visions come
as sou nds, rays and l i ghts, perception appears, but the practiti oner who knows
and has already been introduced, who has e x perience as to how to control , how
to meditate, and who knows everyth i n g perfectl y wel l, then this person conti n ues
to practise and meditate . Meanwhile, thoughts o r v isions arise. H e can see
everythi ng, hear everyth i ng, taste everything and so on, but he doesn 't follow the
visions at all. He only stably remains i n the Natural State. As he remains in this
State more and more, so by this his [meditation] grows more and more stable,
clearer and clearer, more and more trustable and thereby his visions become
weaker and weaker. Thoughts grow less and less.
Whoever is m o re i ntegrated with Natu re and stable, here i t says that
whether [you p ractise in the] dark roo m , with the space or sunlight, more visions
come. These visions are pure visions because they are noth i n g to do with
perception o r consciousness. From the begi n n i ng, as fa r as the practitioner has
practised and meditated, as he becomes more familiar a nd stable with this, more
visions come and these visions are al l what we call Thogal visions. As I have
already sai d, at first these v isions are all black and w h i te and they are different
forms. Most of the t i m e th ey are l i ke n ets or l i n es, but as he develops this practice
more and m ore, then spots like Sheldog Rigpai Thigle,56 crystal coloured, appear.
F i rst of a l l they are smaller, then they grow more and more. Sometimes they are

5 6 Tib. shel mdog rig pa'i thig le

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single, sometimes they j o i n together, sometimes they are in groups - oh, there are
many thi ngs ! Then slowly, slowly as you become more and more familiar with
meditation, one or two col ours develop, more and more. The shapes become
rou n d . Then half mandalas or half or quarter statues or something appear - these
change.
How each piece develops, how you h ave controlled your eleme nts or
substances, how stable you are - you can see everythin g fro m your own practice
experience. The forms themselves are not v e ry i m portant; the most importan t
t h i n g is t h a t t h a t the visions show h o w far y o u r meditation i s developing. F i rst of
all the visions are l i k e water fal l i ng fro m a deep gorge . Secondly, they are like
water flowing i n a river. Thirdly they are like water in a n ocean, quite stable, but
not com pletely. The fourth ti m e is like deep water which is not shaken [by the
wind] . That shows you how far you r meditation has developed, how stable it is.
This Second Stage i s not [determi ned] according to the visions, but [by] how
stable and clear [your m e d i tation is] . That shows you how far you have
developed, and that is the S econd Stage of how your visions extend, Chedpa.
It is easi e r for the p racti tioner to control [his mi nd] and stay [in
meditation] . During the First S tage it is not easy to sta y very long; by the Second
Stage it i s easi er to stay in m edi tati o n .

There is a quotation taken from t h e chapter called the Lamp:

'During the Second Stage the visions increase. They appear as clearly as
the sun or moon shining. Awareness is formed as wheels and in different
styles, such as tents of lights and Thigles. All these appear. '

There is a nother q uotation taken from the Twenty-One Nails:

'The Second Stage of visions is that, inside, your own experience is like a
river flowing. '

That is the m easure of your own experience, of how far your stabil ity and
meditati o n have developed.
The First S tage is like riding a horse and Second Stage of vision is l i ke
walking. That means that the visions are faster or sl ower, like th is - the second

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time is much slower. Also, the practi tioner's feeli ng is that he is able to stay [in
the Natural S ta te] for longer than before. B efore his meditation was very easy to
break, very easi ly di sturbed, but at the time of th e Second Stage i t i s m o re stable.
When his visions have devel oped as far as the S econd Stage, his feeling is that h e
does not g o after t h e objects of phenome nal existence, i ncluding h i s l i festyle, v e ry
strongly or eagerl y. Before I said that a l l phenomena of existence are as i l l usion,
as Empty Form. How does this practitioner know this ? The only way h e knows i s
that w h i l e he is i n meditation with t h e Natural S tate, he c a n stil l see, hear, taste,
touch and so on, but he doesn't follow the objects . He j ust sees them and doesn't
j u dge them - good things or bad thi ngs, whatever comes, let them come without
any stopping or following. We call this person someone who knows i l l usion.
How does h e know? He h as real ized th at the Natural State is completely beyond
thoughts a n d percepti on, so he has only experience o f the Natu ral S tate. Usual ly
when w e speak about the Natural S tate we tal k of Empti ness, but th i s is
incomparab l e with any other kind of emptiness. This has potentiality , it i s Self­
Aware Self - that is very special. Only the D zogchen system and School can
explai n this. The rest of the Schools cannot explain this. Usual l y Emptiness is
empty , it is not aware. In this case, it i s Emptiness but still it i s aware. How i s it
aware ? I t is aware itsel f. It is not easy to u n derstand how Empti ness can be aware
except [if you fol l ow) the Dzogchen View. We give the exam ple of lighti ng up a
lamp. If you light up a lamp there is no need to add any other l ight or clarity to
the lamp, it is clear by i tself. So we speak about E mptiness but it is not
comparable to any other Empti ness, n ot at a l l . It is rather d i fficult to say : 'Th is i s
Dzogchen ' or 'That i s Dzogchen ' ; i t i s a v e r y special School, trad ition or View.

lll.3.2. Practitioners experience [Second Stage]

As for the practiti oner whose experience and m editation have developed [this
far] , h i s meditation is like the moon which has waxed to the fi fth or si xth day - i t
h a s grown a l i ttle bit m o r e . His V i e w and experience of phenomenal existence is
that spontaneously he is n ot very eager to fol l ow v i sions. He spontaneously
realizes everythi ng i s illusion and doesn't much think or follow objects. But sti l l
he has to keep his m e d i tation in sessi ons. Sometimes his m editation
spontaneously appears when he doesn't make a particu lar sessi on.
Those are all signs that come to the p racti tioner who has reached the
Second S tage, the extending of v i sions. This is the l i m i t of the Second Stage .

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1 1 1.4. The Third Stage

The th i rd stage is cal led Nangwa Gyets h u l . 57
The p ractitioner continues on in the same S tate. For all the Five Visions, we are
al ways deal i n g with pure visions - we are not tal k i ng about i m pu re v 1s10ns
anymore ; they are finished. There are two parts to this Third S tage :
I . The external visions;
2. and the practitioner's experience.

111. 4. 1 . External visions

Normally, the practi tioner can see the v1s1ons of phenomenal existence. The
objects are all th ere, he can see and hear th em, but he doesn 't fol low th em much.
H e can hear a n d see everyth i ng, everyth i n g is i n tegrated with his own vision. His
own vision has sounds, rays, lights - everyth ing - and i t looks very deeply
[integrated] with normal phenomenal existence . S o that is why he can see and
hear everyth i n g yet doesn ' t thi n k that thi n gs exist separately or i n herently. His
experie nce with the Natural S tate is quite powerful and that i ntegrates with
phenomenal ex istence, so h e sees and hears but not as we do, he doesn't think i t
exi sts i ndependently o r concretely. However, h e doesn 't reject anyth i n g -
everyth i ng is as his vision. He gain s more and more experience of this but it is
sti ll not complete. Som eti mes, yes, he can i n tegrate with visions and all the
phenomena o f existence are there, separate; someti m e s they are u n i ted.
The Fourth Stage comes after this, and i t is the same i n th at everythi n g
he s e e s or h ears is as illusion or as his v i s i o n ; there is no separation [between this
and] normal phenomenal ex istence. He can see his friends or eat food and so on,
but everything is as his own vision. I t is not that he meditates specially or does
some visualization o r thinks - noth i n g l i ke this - everything comes spontan eously
from the same root, the same source. S o metimes we give the example of gold.
You can make a fi nger ring, an i mage or anyth i ng else, but whateve r d i fferent
forms you make, everyth i n g i s gold - gold doesn 't change. S o in a similar way,
Nature never changes, everyth i n g i s absol utely in Natu re. Forms are d i fferent but
that doesn't make much di fference so long as he doesn 't fol low them. He can eat,
drink, everything but ev ery thing is i n his vision-side. That is how his experience
is, i nternally. It says that normal visi ons are stopped. That doesn't mean they
have been pushed down o r rej ected - nothing l ike that. It is only that his own

57 Tib. snang ba rgyas tshul.

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 Chagtri 2009

v1S1on is developing more and more strongly and that converts or i n tegrates
normal l i fe .
Th is practi tioner c a n s e e normal v i s i o n s and conditions but h e doesn 't
care. I n particular, he has special visi ons, more pure visions of lights and Thigles.
At fi rst they were small bur now they are developing, becoming bigge r and with
more colo urs. Sometimes all five colours come pe rfectly but most of the ti me
there are two or three colours. They form mandalas o r any different kind o f
visions. These shapes c a n be an u p p e r or l owe r [part of a Yidam or mandala] ; or
l i ke nets - many k inds of t h ings can come, i t i s not possible to explain every th i ng.
There may be mandalas or paradises, he can see many th i ngs i n h is visions but
they are not perfect - sometimes only half [the figure] or only a few colours, or a
seed syllable, or h a l f of a D iv i n i ty , th e top or the body - many thi ngs can come
but they are sti ll not pe rfect. That is why we say his ex peri ence has come u p to
the third [leve l ] .
He c a n h a v e all ki nds of visions, b u t n o n e of th em a r e comp letely stabl e ;
they shake and move - sometimes u p o r down or someth i ng. D i fferent forms
come, they shake, sometimes seed syllables come - many di fferent thi ngs can
change.
Here i s another qu otati on taken for the text The Lamp:

'After this, as for the extending of visions, mandalas and the five
Sambhogakaya forms can come, but these are not yet perfect. '

111.4.2. The practitioner's experience

That means that inside, h i s experience is q u i te deep, h i s meditati on and
i ntegration with Nature a re q u i te deep. Someti mes for q u ite a long time all other
visions are n ot devel oping much but i nside his experience is very stable. Whatever
visions he has - p u re or i m pure, whatever comes - h e integrates everyth ing with
his own experience of the Natural State. That means that everything comes as
Em pty Form. That i s called Dilma Rochig58 which means 'one taste of all kinds of
various forms'. That means that the whole o f ex istence - pure, i m pure,
everyth i n g - comes i n to the Natural State . That is his experience or knowl edge; i t
is l i ke the m oon waxing t o the eighth or n i nth d a y . T h a t means his knowledge

58 Tib. du ma ro gcig.
23 - 27 August

has reached halfway to Buddhahood. That is the l imit of the practitioner's

knowledge.
The name of his medi tati o n i s the start of Longgo m .

1 1 1.5. T h e Fourth Stage

This practitioner doesn't change anything; he conti nues to practise with the
Natural State using the methods o f Thogal practice, and then his visions
externally a n d his experience internally all develop continuously.

111.5. 1. External vision

Exte rn a l ly, h i s visions appear more as D i v i nities or mandalas, both peaceful and
wrathful. Many things appear, and they a l l exist potentially within Nature. He
didn't p ractise i n any particular way, he didn't th ink about showing anything or
wanting to k n ow or see anyth i n g ; these all come to h i m as visions by the power
o f his meditati o n . He j ust practises i n the same way w i th the Rigpa Changde
which means the single way of the Natural State and he uses the normal meth ods
fo r practising with Thoga l . He will have visions which appear spontaneously
fro m Nature. These all come from Natu re, th ey already exist with i n the
potentiality of the Natural State . The re is no hidi ng, no secret, noth ing;
eve rythi n g comes from Nature i nto Nature and appears to the practitioner
himself. Also his own body, speech and mind are a l l as vision i n his own practice.
All kinds of v isions come. At this stage , everything i s as pure visions and the
visions of the absol u te truth . Whatever visions he has - mandalas or whatever -
are all very deta i l e d . Some of them are as big as the u n i ve rse, sometimes they are
as small as a m u stard seed. As for their clarity, they are m uch brighter than the
sun and moon s h i n i ng. There are many di fferent forms which can appear;
sometimes they are very wrathful o r someone [el se] i s very peaceful, but we only
have very few Yidams or Daki n i s l isted. ' 9 The size is not limited, the number is
not l i m ited. Each cycle [of Yidam] has a chief, an entourage, everything is around
h i m and the practitioner can see them all. Sometimes even he h imself turns as a
vision, i nto D i v i n ities or someth i n g. Whatever visions come to h i m , now th ey are
very stable; they don't move or fl ow much . Oh, there are so many thi ngs l isted, it
is not necessary to translate them all - i f you reach that stage, you will see. I t is
not useful to read them, j u st n umbering them.

59I.e. Thogal visions of Yidam cycles are i n numerable compared to the number of Tantric
Yidam cycles.
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 Chagtri 2009

In this stage, we are talking about mand alas, Yidams, Dakinis, forms of
Divinities, and these all come spontaneously as visions from the Natural S tate.
The practi tioner n ever expected [to see anyth i n g] nor did he practise i n any
particular way - h e didn't wors h i p [the Yi dams] nor did he recite man tras; he
didn't do anyth ing special, he just practised with the Natural State i n a si ngle way
from the begi n n i ng together with the Thogal methods he added. These visions
come spontaneously from Nature i nto Nature and are liberated back to Nature.
This is pure vision and pure Yidam .

1 1 1 . 5 . 1 . l . Visions o f Yidams in Tantra a n d Dzogche n

I f y o u compare t h i s w i t h Tantra, an advanced Tantra pract1t1oner c a n have
visions of Yidams or Daki n i s or whateve r he practised. Or he can hear something
or h e can emanate as his Yidam ; he is very powerful. But although the Tantra
practitioner can sometimes see or hear Yidams, the Yidams h e sees and the
Yi dams which appear to a Dzogchen practitioner look the same i n te rms of
colour, form a n d so on, but in fact they are comp letely di fferent i n terms of th e i r
nature or quality . The kn owledge is d i fferent. The Tan tra practitioner has
expectati o n ; from the begin n i n g he recited mantras, rituals and fol lowed
i nstructions i n a particu lar way and created [the i m age of his Yidam] i n a
particular way. He has been thi nking for a long ti me a n d created th is [image] by
h i msel f w i th his i maginatio n . If he opens his eye a n d l ooks around him - [there
is] nothing. But he created i t i n his way of expectation and vision. He puts more
and more energy in his expectation or v isualization so that can come as a kind o f
reality. The p ractitioner created i t w i t h a l o t of effort, l ike a child, y o u s e e . H e
created this b e i n g - t h a t i s w h a t it looks l i ke. This is created w i t h t h e
consciousness a n d perception of t h e person who has d o n e it. H e m a d e i t i n a
particular way. This is the Tantra practitioner's vision and his Yidam . As for the
Dzogchen way, it is n oth i ng to do w i th expectati on, it i s not at all i n tegrated with
thought or emotions - nothing. Therefore these two Yidams are completely
d i fferent. That i s why when you ach ieve Buddha hood according to the Dzogchen
system , it is the real, final, ultimate Buddha. I f you look down at the Tantrists
[ from the p o i n t of view of Dzogchen], the Buddha they achieve is not the real
Buddha as compared with the Dzogchen Buddha. The name is the same - Buddha
- but the quality is different.

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23 - 27 August

1 1 1 . 5 . 1 .2. External visions - continuation

I n his v i sions, the mandalas and Divin ities are all pe rfect with the cycle of Yidams
inside the mandala - everything - but none of these can be shown to anyone else.
I nternally, the i ndividual p e rson has p ractised and these are not common visions.
Personally, the p ractitioner sees things, but whatever he experiences is only the
knowl edge of the practi tioner h i m se l f. Even i f anyone has s i m i l a r knowledge, he
cannot show other people his visions, you see. H e can teach others and they can
understa nd what knowl edge h e has and so on, but i t is n ot possible to see his
kn owl edge di rectly at a l l . It is o n l y his own private [kn owledge and vision ] . H e
c a n speak about i t , but visibly his body and phenomenal existence a r e able to
completely i nt egrate with his vision. In h is vision there is no material, no
substance, nothing m ate rial exists whatsoever; everything is formed as E mpty
Form . That is not created by h i m , it is natural. He practised Nature and these
come i nto Nature, then he can show visible things like going through mountains,
fi re, water, rocks; noth i n g can stop this kind o f advanced practi ti oner. It is not
j ust [a result of] using ma ntras o r magic or something; he has real i zed that
eve ryth i n g is as an Empty Form of Nature so h e can go through th ings. F o r
exa m ple, we h a v e a story : There w a s a man who was ready t o take Rainbow
Body or E m p ty Form and he felt as though his belt was too slack so he tried to
tighten it up, but i n fact it ended up with just a knot in his bel t ! B u t his feeling
was that i t sti ll n eeded tightening more. It is like this, you see. People can see him
as a h u m a n but i n his realization h e has come into Empty Form ; this is because he
h as really practised, i t is natural. It is not just visual ization or magic or anyth i n g
like t h a t . He has achieved the r e a l t h i n g . T h i s shows real ity.
I f we follow the v i s i on-side, as scientists do, goi ng as far as they can in as
much details as they can, they can never fi nd the fi nal goal, never, because
consciousness has no l i m i ts . You can go as far as you like, but you can't fi n d
anyth i n g i n t h e end. Except t h e end of m o n e y . T h a t is fi nished ! W h e n t h e money
is finished, it's finished .

There is a quotation taken from the chapter of The Lamp :

'In tf1is stage the visions are perfect. All the mandalas and cycles of
Divinities are perfected. Whatever visions come, everything is very stable,
not moving or falling. '

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 Chagtri 2009

There is another quotation from Zerbu, the Twenty-One Nails:

This stability is like a turtle placed on a plate. '

111. 5.2. Inner experience

That means that all visions come i n to Nature. The p racti tioner has not i ntegrated
any i ntention with his practice. He h as n o special feeling as to which is meditating
and which is not meditating; there is n o break. That is called Gommed
Yengmed 60 which means not concentrating o n any special meditation. 6 1 He
doesn't need to make sessi ons. All the time his own experience of meditation or
the realization o f Nature is as his manner. Then that means that he doesn't need
to meditate i n a particular way and make sessions at all. S pontaneously, h e is in
the realization of Nature. H i s knowledge has nearly reached Buddhahood . That is
the final m editation of Longgo m .

26'11 August

When the p ract1t1oner has practised conti nually with Thogal and Trekcho
together, the visions show h ow far h e has developed. When you reach the Fourth
Stage, the visions and everything are perfect. Not a l l the practitioners have the
same visions; i t depends on each person . Some people have more v i sions, some
people have fewer, but whatever v i sions come, everythi n g is pe rfect i n terms of
colours, styles - everyth ing is perfect. This is the Fourth S tage .

111.6. Fifth Visi on

111. 6.1. How the visions wane

Once the visions a re perfect, then at the F i fth Stage the visions a l l begin to wane.
They grow less and less and finally there are no visions. Everythi n g wanes and
finally there is only clear N ature i tsel f. All the sounds, rays and l ights wane a n d
t h e practitioner only rema i n s in the D harmakaya w a y . That is called Dharmakaya.
There are no visions any more. According to h i s vision, he h imself and all

60 Tib. sgom med yengs med.

6 1 I.e. at this stage there is no formal meditation.
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23 - 27 August

defilements, obsc u rations and emotions, everything has been pu rified from the
seed so then i t comes to real, final Nature.
Why do all the visions wan e ? I t shows how they are created. From the
begi n n i ng they come from Empty Natu re i nto Natu re. Whatever visions com e,
they a re all Nature-form . That is why at th is fi nal stage everyth ing retu rns back to
Nature. It doesn 't mean that eve ryth i ng is exhausted [like in H inayana
real i zation] o r n i h ilism or something. I t says: everything appeared from Nature
into Nature and fi nally everyth ing reve rts back to Nature. This is the fi nal proof
which shows this.
All the sounds, rays and l i ghts come from Natu re i n to Nature and now
they come back to Nature . Everything is self-sounds, self-rays, self- v isions.

The qu otation [from Lungdrug] 62 says :

'All kinds of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Teachings are like a dream. If you
taste honey in a dream then in the dream you have this taste, but when
you wake up, there is no taste, it was only a dream. Everything was
perfect in your dream, but when you wake up, there is no taste, everything
has disappeared. '

That is the exam p l e .

An o t h e r example [from the s a m e text} :

'It is like a dumb man who has a dream. Whatever comes in his dream, he
cannot explain it. '

In a si m i l ar way, we see these visions and so on but it is not possible to

explain them th rough words or thought because a normal being has no
experience of this. You can say someth ing, but whether it is true or n ot, we
cannot be su re. I t is like talking about a drama, like a S hakespeare play - nobody
can be sure whether i t is true o r not. Everything is j ust l i ke a story, you see.
People have no experience of h ow this is, of what the condition is, of how i t is to
be Buddha. That means that we can say someth i ng about Buddhas' activities and

62
Tib. Lung drug.
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 Chagtri 2009

k nowledge but no normal bei ngs have any experience. That is the example and
the meani ng.
All kinds o f visions - including w hatever the p ractitioner's own
consciousness was deeply connected with - wane at the same ti me. It is like waves
arising in water; they come from the water, surge up i n the water and fi nally
subside back into water [which remai ns] without ridges or waves. I n a similar
way, these [visions] come from Nature i n to Natu re and then this i s shown by
everythi ng, i n cluding whatever is connected with the p ractiti oner's body, speech
and m i n d . Everything wanes back to Nature. There are many parables, such as
clouds disappearing i n space, or waves fi nally disappearing back into water - this
is similar.

111. 6.2. Inner experience

At that time, this person's i n n e r experience is that it doesn't make any di fference
at all whether he i s m editating [in a sessi on] or not m editating, i t becomes his
man ner. Then whe never he wants to keep in Nature or not, 63 it doesn't make
much d i fference at all. His feeli ngs towards his relatives or enemies are not
di fferent because his consciousness and percepti on have waned - [di sti ncti ons]
don't exist.
His knowledge is like the full moon; h e has reached the final goal of
Buddhahood. That sh ows as Rainbow body. His body transforms i nto l u minous
light, and this is because i t is completely i ntegrated with vision. I t isn't melted, it
hasn't been destroyed, it hasn't come through Tsalung practice, i t isn't shrunk or
someth ing - no methods are used. I t comes natural l y . I t comes from [Nature] i nto
there and is liberated back to there. That is cal led Rainbow Body .
Here it gives an example. Any pe rson who has come to this D h a rmakaya
[did not arrive th rough] j ust speaking but one after the other they p ractised i n a
similar way and progressed through the F ive Visi ons we h ave been tal king about.
The Twenty-fou r Masters went through this system , as did the Twenty-Fi fth,
Tapihritsa, and the Twenty-Sixth, Nangzher Lod po. After this, sometimes yes, [a
Master achieved Rainbow Body], sometimes no [he didn't] , but even i n our time
someone has already m a n i fested Rainbow Body. H i s name is Rase Dawa
Dragpa. 64 He was a man, a pupil o f S hardza 65 a n d took Rainbow Body,

6' He i s n o longer bound by meditation sessions.

64 Tib. dbRa sras Zia ba Grags pa.
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23 - 27 August

com plete l y disappeared, m 1930 something, maybe 1933, in D erge. 06 Severa l

people [manifest t h e real ization such that] after death their body became smal ler,
but Dawa D ragpa completely disappeared. He was fi rst of all a pupil of S hardza.
S hardza himself left a l i ttl e bit [of a body] . They say he left a small body, about
one cubit high. Peopl e kept it during the time of the Cu ltural Revolution and put
it i nside a stupa. The stupa is not very big but they say his body is i nside there.
Don't thi n k this kind of thing is j ust a story ; i t is rea l . Our condition is
not trustab le, not permanent, n ot eternal at al l . We have proof of these things,
and we need to trust. Therefore it is not necessary to always think about things
and make plans and thi nk that everything is permanent, or to get too aggressive i f
things go wrong, or g e t too emotional a n d fight; this is n o t n ecessary. Everything
is l i ke dream-fighting, you see, it is not necessary. So you h ave to th ink. But i t is
di fficult to cut off o u r worldly living conditions until our l i fe is fi n i shed. We have
to take care and be responsible for two thi ngs. Whatever good thi ngs we have,
our l i fe is more or l ess passing now and a lways during this time, si nce you
rea l i zed and trust that the Teachings are truth - Dharmakaya never th i nks
anyth i n g to delude beings - you can trust this and try and p ractise. Don't think
this is j ust stories or like a dream . D reams can show what ou r rea l situatio n is, but
in fact this is the truth.
Here i t says it is l i ke a person who has been tel l i ng very great l ies, and
then someone else p roves that what he said was not true, so then afte rwards the
l i ar has to be ash amed. In a similar way, we a l l follow the vision-side, the wrong
way. When we rev erse that and go back to the source, then everything is proven
to be i l l usion, not tru e ; whatever we think or do is absolutely not true, so this is
p roof.
The practitioner who has achieved this final stage has finally p ur i fied a l l
obscurations and defilements, and this is fin a l . His circu mstances a r e called
Buddhahood. Don't expect any other Buddhahood. Th is person has practised and
achi eved this State, and this is Buddhahood. There is no expectation to see or
receive anything else; there is no other Buddha. Thi s is called Buddhahood and
Dharmakaya. This is fi nal b l iss, peace, happiness; everythi n g is fi n a l . There is no
ex pectation of seeing Yidams, Dakinis or someth i ng. Whatever is i n his Natu re­
side is Dharmakaya. That doesn't mean there is someth ing vi sible, it is only

6� T i b . S h a r rdza.
66
Tib. sDe dge.
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 Chagtri 2009

Nature i tself. We quite often talk about Empti n ess, but don't th i n k this is the
same [as ordinary emptiness] . We can explain n o rmal emptiness, we can
comprehend it by thoughts, but we are not able to think o f Nature. I t is not
empty, i t is neither this nor th at; it is not possible to explain i t clearly. But this
Nature is the fi nal goal. I n his side, th is State is the Dharmakaya. There is noth ing
visible but i t has not fallen i nto nihilism. It comes back to Nature, and Nature h as
potential; pure things are not wan i ng. 6 7 Usually when we talk about Nature we
explain that it is Emptiness, Clarity, U n i ficati on, Perfection, and everythi n g
comes t o t h e final [goal] but it is still there. I f the high Bodhisattvas or som eone
are ready to see the Yidams or whatever, then they are ready to appear from
there. The person has achieved the fi nal goal, but still, if someone wants to see
someth i n g or be connected i n some way then i t is ready to be seen and Teach ings
can come from h i m . Whatever comes from there is pure Sambhogakaya; he easily
shows and comes. Ni rmanakaya is also ready to be shown. It depends on th e
followers and what the circumstances are; if they are ready then everything can
manifest there for them . I t says that the qualifi ed fol l owers have devoti on and are
connected with this kind of person who has achieved Buddhahood and they can
see either Sambhogakaya or Nirmanakaya o r peaceful or wrathfu l or any kind of
Divinities; th ese are all ready to be shown. But the person who has achi eved
Buddhahood doesn 't show anything and noth ing can come without any reason .
On his side, Nan1 re, there is just D h armakaya. But i f it is necessary to show
someth ing for the fol l owers, then everyth i n g is ready and they can see or hear or
receive Teachi ngs. This comes spontaneously.

Meeting of Tapihritsa and Nangzher Lodpo

Nirmanakaya and Sambh ogakaya are very fa mous"8 - this person who has
achieved the fi nal goal is ready to manifest back, l i ke Tapih ritsa. 69 H e achi eved
Rainbow Body, but during his p ractising ti m e he didn't fi nd anyone who was
ready to be taught the S ingle Lineage D zogchen and become his successor, so
after he had achieved Rai nbow Body he returned back. He mani fested as a small
boy and served a rich man for qu ite a long time. H e worked l i ke a shepherd, o r
did whatever the fam ily t o l d h i m t o . H e did t h i s for q u i te a l o n g ti m e . After some
ti m e when the time was ready, h e m a n i fested i n a rainbow circle. Fi rst of a l l ,

67 I . e . Three Bodies of Buddha potential ly exist within the Natural State.

68
They are very often tal ked about.
69 Tib. Ta pi hri tsa.
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23 - 27 August

Tap i h ri tsa was out grazing the sheep on the mountain side near D a rog, 70 but then
he let them roam free and went carrying a load of firewood . H e saw Nangzher
Lod po,71 who was very famous i n those ti mes. He came up to him but didn't
prostrate to h i m , and this offended N angzher Lodpo and m ade him q u i te jealous,
you see, becau se he thought he was very famous and knowl edgeable i n that
country, so he asked this boy : 'Why don't you show respect to me? Why didn't
you prostrate or show some sal utati on ? ' The boy said : 'Well, the sun doesn't obey
or follow the sta rs. The emperor doesn't follow and obey small kings . ' So then
Nangzher Lodpo's pride was offended even more, you see, and he thought: 'This
small boy is teasing m e ! ' They discussed more and more, and a fte r some ti m e
Nangzher Lodpo started t o wonder: 'This doesn't seem t o be a normal person, h e
m u s t be someone speci a l . ' Meanwhile, as t h e y w e r e ta lki ng, the boy's boss h ad
noticed the sheep were scattered all over the hillsi de and the boy was not looking
after them properly. S o h e came u p and said: ' What are you doing here while all
th e ani mals are scattered all over the mountai n ? ! Why a ren't you looking afte r
the sheep ? ! ' Then Nangzher Lodpo had understood that this boy was not normal,
so he asked h i m :
'Who is your Teacher ? '
' Dharmakaya h a s no Teacher,' repl ied t h e boy.
'Why are you carrying firewood ? '
'Well, i t doesn 't m atter whatever I carry . '
So then t h e rich man also real ized t h i s boy w a s n o t ordinary, and Tapih ritsa
showed his real form and sai d :
' I am Tap i h r i tsa. I have come back t o teach you both . '
The rich m a n was already qualified t o b e a student and follow the Teach ings b u t
he w a s n o t a b l e to follow absolutely and be a Lineage Holder; he c o u l d not b e ,
but he could receive the Teachings, so Tapihritsa taught t h e m both at t h a t time. It
is si m i l ar, you see. They can show themselves any time, they have n ' t gone to
n i h i l i s m . First of all they took Rainbow Body and disappeared, became invisible,
but th at doesn 't mean they totally disappeared i n the normal way.
This person who has achi eved the fi nal goal is called Dharmakaya. He
sti l l has Wisdom and h i s Awareness does not stop, either - that is Dharmakaya.
This Awareness i s al ready perfected with the F i ve Wisdoms. Each Wisdom is the

70 Tib. Da rog.
71 Tib. sNang bzher Lod po.
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 Chagtri 2009

unification of Clarity and Emptiness; it has these two aspects. When it is

necessary to manifest, first of a l l there is Dharmakaya and then from there, this
Wi sdom emanates. The C l arity aspect mani fests as male Yidams or Deities and
the female side is the consort, the Empti ness aspect. There are these aspects -
Empti n ess, Clarity and U n i fication. Acco rding to Nature, that is Dharmakaya, the
chief Yidam. Usually m ost Yidams have a cycle o f five Deities : one in each of the
cardinal d irections - East, North, West and South - and those correspond to four
Wisdoms, the chief [or central Yi dam] is the fi fth Wisdom. They can be peaceful
or wrathful but everyth i n g comes back to D harmakaya. D harmakaya has
emanated all these. We can give the fol l owing i l l ustrati o n : if you fil l u p hundre ds
of bowls with water and put them out i n the sun, each bowl of water w i l l reflect
the same sun. I n a s i m ilar way, the Dharmakaya can emanate h u ndreds o f
thousands of Yidams a n d Dakinis. W h o sees them a n d where they appear
depends on the fo ll owers, on the circumstances and on what i s needed.

1 1 1 . 6 .2 . 1 . I n ner experi ence - continuation

Otherwise, if there is no need or purpose, nothi ng appears, it will simply a lways
remain as D h armakaya. Therefore i n our trad ition all Yidams - real Yi dams - are
connected with D harmakaya and Buddha. That is called S ambhogakaya
[emanation] . Some of them are Ni rmanakaya . We say that Dharmakaya is the
root of all Divi nities, we don't have any othe r thi ngs except for some worldly
Guardians, but that is different. Sometimes it is necessary to subdue evil ones and
train them as Guardians. There are a few of them ; we don't have v ery m a n y .
Yidam m e a n s related w i t h B u d d h a himself. T h e r e are B u d d h a s of the past,
Buddhas of th e prese nt and Buddhas of the future. There are h undreds a n d
thousands o f Buddhas. Each of t h e Buddhas was p rev iously a b e i n g who p ractised
and achi eved Buddhahood. There are so many Buddhas because there are so
many bei ngs, you see, and not all of them are the same - some of them took the
opportunity to practise, you see, and then they achieved Buddhahood. Therefore
there are hundreds and thousands o f Buddhas, and of Yidams, too . Some of them
need to be shown to fol l owers; d i fferent fo rms of Yidam are shown for d ifferent
reaso ns. But in our tradi tion all the Yidams come back to D harmakaya although
each School has different ideas. This is the Bonpo trad ition and here, all the
Yidams, male and female, go back to Buddha, to Dharmakaya. Don't think they
are l i ke normal humans.

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23 - 27 Augusl

Quite often we think of Yidams or something but here you must thi n k of
the context. I am say ing that this kind of Yidam only comes to a Dzogchen
practitioner who has practised. What they have practised is Trekcho and Thogal .
Thogal means the practice we have al ready been mentioning for days and days,
using a dark room, space or sun light, body postures and b reath ing techni ques,
and concentrati ng with Nature; all the instructions are here in th is book. [If you
practise] according to this, visions appear. These visions are not only D i v i n ities -
sometim es animals like b i rds can appear, or trees - many things can appear, not
only mandalas or D i v i nities. Sometimes very ugly things can appear but they are
pure - th e form doesn 't matter. Everyth i ng comes from th e sam e Nature. Don't
always expect to see mandalas, D ivinities and so on. They are not always,
peacefu l , not always wrath fu l - many thi ngs can come. They appear because
Nature has potenti al so anyth i n g can come, but whatever comes fro m there can
be o f two qualities; you have to u nderstand that clearly. Fi rst of all there a re
Nature-visions and these are rea l , pure visions, the other is created. As I said, i n
the begin n i ng [in Bardo] i f y o u are n o t [rema i n i ng] i n Nature, visions come and
you fol l ow them. When you fol l ow the v i sions, they develop more and more,
more colours and forms arise, and following these leads you to another thing.
You are foll owing the vision-side so thi ngs are changi ng - good thi ngs, bad things
- everythi n g is created by consciousn ess, by perception, so these ki nds of thi ngs
are all i m pure vision. Th at is what I am tal king about. We are all fol lowi ng
i m p ure vision, all the time. Now you have to retu rn to the pure vision side, th e n
you c a n g o on t o Buddha hood.
Here the fi ve stages of visions I am talking about only refe rs to p u re
vision, not any vision. If we follow the visions then they are impure; they have
been leading us for m i llions and m i l lions of years since begi n n i n gl ess time, and it
is still not sure how long [we will continue to follow visions] . There are these two
aspects com ing from the same sou rce. So i f you go back to the sou rce and
practise, it converts all the i m pu re th i ngs so they are liberated back to Nature.
There is noth i ng else. Th erefore it says that i f you do this practice and follow
these i n structi ons properl y then during this l i feti m e you can ach i eve
Buddhahood; this Rainbow Body which we are tal king about h e re, that means
being able to achieve Buddhahood i n this l i fetime. B u t it is not enough j ust to
read and u nderstand what to do and what Nature is like; that is not enough. Just
reading and being able to understand through reading is not enough. Just

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 Chagtri 2009

understanding by yourself with your perception thinking: 'I suppose it must be

this' or 'I su ppose it must be that' is not enough . You have to k now real Nature
precisely and p ractise. Until then, [there is) no hope.
Maybe you think of some other Teachings which say for example that
you have to p ractise with the Ten Paramitas, Bod h i c h i tta, compassion and so on
fo r u n l i mited ti me, and then that is expected to purify sufferings, m iseries,
Ignorance and so on. That i s one way. I n here it looks very easy, i t says you can
ach ieve Buddha hood i n one l i fetime. Heari ng this is very i nteresti ng, but doing i t
is very hard ! F i rst of all y o u h a v e t o understa nd, t h e B ase, Nature. D o n ' t think
this is someth i n g easy - you j ust look back towards the thought, it d isappears,
now i t i s empty ... people q u i te often say this is Dzogchen. No, no. This is not
easy, not that way. F i rst of all, it is completely beyond thought or perception, so
how can you un derstand without percepti o n ? You must know these kinds of
thi ngs; i t is not enough just to l ook at your thought, your thought disappears and
then you think you have rea l i zed the Natural State or Dzogch en or something. I t
is n o t a simple w a y . There are so m a n y things t o do. Y o u must purify . Therefo re
it is very rare to find a person who is ready to achieve the Final Goa l . That is the
reason - i t i s not easy.
I mentioned peacefu l and wrathfu l Yidams. Quite often people might
have heard of some famous Yidams, some w rath fu l Yi dam practi ce - many thi ngs
are said about Yidams, Daki nis and Guardians, but what I am conti nuously
talking about in this Teaching is that these Yidams are not at all made as those o f
the Tantric p ractices of t h e Mahamudra syste m . Those a re created by
i magination. Y o u a r e always visualizi ng and try i n g very h a r d t o i ntegrate
compassion and the Natural State, then from there you thi n k and make the
i m ages. That i s how they come, and maybe you will achieve the fin a l goal of
Yidam or D a k i n i . But this i s created by p ractisi ng with consciousn ess. It looks
similar, but here we are only practisi ng with the single way of the Natu ral State,
noth ing else. Then visions appear naturally. You only need to use the Thogal
methods but the Vi ew i tself doesn't change; you are always [in] the si ngle way of
the Natural State and practising and p ractising. The only methods you use are
thi ngs like gazes or body posture or purification breath i n gs which help to p u rify
di stu rbances. Otherwise, the View itsel f is never changing. This goes on, and you
practise, and then i n your v i sions Yidams or Dakinis or whatever else appears.
Th is is only pure v i sio n ; it is not created by perception or reciting mantras or

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using rituals - not at all. If you compare this Yidam with the ones of Tantra
which are made throu gh visualization, they look sim ilar - the face or hands or
nine heads or many arms and so on - but the quality is com pletely di fferent. You
cannot compare them with each other. One is created by perception, the other
has noth ing to do with perception, it j ust appears purely. So don't th ink these are
s i m i l ar. Anyhow, when you see some Yidam corn i n g - I don't th i n k someth ing
will come spontaneously - there are different qualities. You have to know that.

I I l . 6 . 2 . 1 . How long does it take to reach Budd hahood ?

If you practise this way, how long does it take to reach Buddhahood or Rainbow
Body ? Here it says O selgyi Thu ntse 72 which m eans 'a session o f Clear Light' .
How long a session of Clear Light l ast depends on the person, I think. It cannot
be measured generally. If you could m easure it, it is as long as 1 80,000 average
pulse beats of a healthy person . It depends on each person, but for a practitioner
who is able to p u r i fy and to go and practise cl early and regularly, there is this
cal culati on or m easurement. But what it means i s a Clear Light session which is
1 00 pul ses [repeated] 18000 times so it comes to 180,000 pulse beats. That takes
time, you see, and then you achieve Rainbow Body. It is mainly understood as a
Clear Light sessi on, but it is qu ite hard to measu re that generally; it depends on
the person . I f this person is able to practi se conti nuously without any
distu rbances, then after this much time s/h e can achieve Rainbow Body. I t is nice
to hear this, but i t i s hard to p ractise i t, not easy ! What visions come i n that time,
it depends. We have F i v e [Stages of] visions and each of them has been
depicted, 7 ·1 and even th ough i t is not the same for everyone, this can give you a
rough idea.

IV. Concluding comments

After this, here the author compares the five stages of visions this practi tioner
develops with the Five Paths [of Sutra], but this is not very usefu l . Earlier it
al ready stated that this [practice] is not comparable to the Five Paths and Ten
B h u m i s and now the author puts some s i m i larities; I shall not translate this now,
it is not so usefu l .

72 T i b . ' od gsal gyi thun tshad.

73 See Samten G. Karmay, The Lillie Luminous Boy, White Orchid Books, Bangkok, 1 998, p.86.
54- -
 Chagtri 2009

IV.1. Three types of Buddha

After th is, while the p ractitioner practises, h e will have the knowledge usual for
Surra p ractitioners, for high Bodhisattvas and also for Tantra practitioners, such
as clairvoyance or any kind of purification or knowledge - whatever they have
received through their p ractice. Even though this Dzogchen p racti tioner is not
particul a rly p ractising i n the Sutra way or the Tantra way, he is able to receive
whatever knowledge or good qualities [come from practising Sutra and Tantra] .
Th e text says that th is is because the root of Nature is very powerfu l a n d
everyth i n g comes from it, therefore a Dzogchen p ractiti oner c a n receive and
ach ieve a l l the knowledge [of a l l the Ways] . Finally, the D zogchen practi tioner
has ach ieved his Buddha. The S utra p ractiti oner grows along with the Five Paths
and the Ten B h u m i s and their final goal i s Buddha. The Tantric practitioners
[follow] the two paths of Kyerim and Dzogrim 74 and achieve Budd hahood. All of
them achieve Buddhahood ; the name is the same, but if you look at the Buddha
wh ich the Dzogchen p ractitioner has achieved and the Tantra and S utra Buddhas,
they are all of completely di fferent qual ity, you see. I th i n k i t is similar to c h i ldren
who have fin i shed school. When they fi nish, they receive some degrees or
someth i ng, but they themsel ves have d i fferent qualities, not everybody is the
same. I t l ooks s i m i l ar. Anyhow, these Buddhas are not the same.
Wh i l e the practitioner is practisi ng, externally h e is sti l l doing thi ngs as
religious people do - like p rostrations, c i rcumambulations - and is always holding
beads, but we can not be s u re wh ether he i s reciting or not! I n ternal l y , h e has
knowledge and clai rvoyance. Quite often h e has visions. Sometimes all h i s visions
are compl etely i n tegrated with normal l i fe, so at thi s stage someti mes h e goes
through rocks or fire or down i n to the wate r without any equipment. That
happens sometimes. Or he fl ies in space without a n aeroplane or a parachute.
These are not some magic he shows; i t comes from his own practi ce. We call this
'pure magic', 'p ure activities'. So then at the same time everything - i nternal l y his
knowledge and externally - comes together.

IV.2. Three categories of students

From the begin n i ng, how this type of person has received Teachings and
practised depends. Generally, there are three categories of qualified pupil :

74 Tib. skyed rim, rdzogs rim.

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23 - 27 August

1. Chigcharwa ; 75
2. Thogalwa; 76
3. Rimgyipa. 77

IV.2 . 1 . Chigcharwa
As for this person , suddenly when he hears Teachi ngs on searc h i ng for the mind,
Semstshol, 78 right from the begi n ning he sponta n eously realizes without much
di fficulty. He just hears or sees som ething or hears someone tal king [about this]
and h e spontaneously real izes Nature. This means that h e has al ready been
practising previously, this fa r. Chigcharwa means sudden understandi ng. It is
rare, but i t i s possi ble. I t means that i n previous l ives he h ad advanced i n practi ce.

IV. 2 . 2 . Th ogalwa
Sometimes the p ractitioner develops very i nteresti ng things l i ke visions or the
inner and outer p ractices but then someti mes this wanes or stops and nothing can
come, o r it is very hard for h i m to concentrate with meditati on or somethi ng. It
goes very high or v e ry low, like the weather, l i ke spring weather. This is what we
call Thogalwa. It doesn ' t mean Thogal visions; i t is a type of p ractiti oner, it refers
to h i s knowledge or experience ; it i s nothing to do with Trekcho and Thogal.

IV. 2 . 3 . Rimgyipa
The thi rd one, Rimgyipa is very popular. This pe rson is always learning fro m
ti m e to ti me, 79 learning to practise, readi ng and so o n . This is the normal way.

It is necessary for the Dzogchen Masters to recognize these types because there
are th ese three types of fol lowers and he m ust distinguish and teach according to
the followers. That is the only thi ng.

Then this chapter, the Teaching of the Meditation of Clear Light, is fin ished.

75 Tib. gcig char ba.

76 Tib. thod rgal ba.
77 Tib. rim gyis pa
78 Tib. sems tshol.
79 I . e . gradually.
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 Chagtri 2009

2711t August

Chyodtri
Developing the secondary causes which help to develop meditation and
the realization of the Natural State80

Now we have come to the Fourth Chapter of Gyalwa Chagtri.

It is called Developing the Secondary Causes which help to develop meditation and
the Realization of the Natural State.
There are three categories:
I . Developi ng, learning and practising during the l i feti m e ;
I I . H ow to practise and deve lop before dying;
I I I . How to prepare and l earn i n the Bardo time.

I. Develo ping during the lifetime

There are four subdi vision s :
1 . H ow t o integrate meditation or t h e Namral State w i t h [the activities of] body,
speech and m i n d ;
2 . H o w to i n tegrate t h e Natural State w i t h t h e six senses ;
3. H ow to i ntegrate various thoughts with the Natural State ;
4. How to i n tegrate various visi ons, phenomenal existence and all activities with
the Natural State.

1.1. Activities of body, speech and mind

Try to i n tegrate a l l acti vities of body, speech and m i n d , whether pure or i m pure,
negative or v i rtuous, with the p ractice of the Natural S tate.

1 . 1 . 1 . Activities of the body

As for the body, all kinds o f activities should be i ntegrated with Nature.
Ci rcu mambulations, prostrations, mudras and so on are what we call pure or
religious activities. Impure actions are things l i ke fighting, beating, anger, running
and danci ng. Then there a re acti ons which are neither v irtuous nor n egati ve, j ust

80
Tib . sPyod khrid. The full title i s : T i b . rKyen l a m d u slong b a rtsal sbyong spyod p a ' i khrid
bzhugs so.
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23 27 August
-

normal things such as eating, walking, dancing, many handicrafts etc. All of these
shou ld be integrated with the Natural S tate.

There are three meth ods as to how to in tegrate these with Nature.

1. 1.1.1. The best practitioner or advanced practitioner

[Th i s is i l l u strated by] the example of a mother with a child. Whatever the
mother does, whatever work she does, whatever she is th inking about, she will
never fo rget the c h i l d . She i s mainly working and thinking with the basic idea of
doing something to help her child, but when she is doing something else she
doesn't forget, she doesn't stop thi nking of her child. She can do someth i n g else,
not for her child such as cooking or something, but sti l l she never stops thi nking,
helping and loving her c h i l d . That i s one thing. Or anoth er example i s [like] a
man who is driving. He never forgets he is drivi ng, you see. He doesn't always
th i n k : 'I am driving', but spontaneously, natu rally, h e does what h e has to do
each moment. H e doesn ' t have to think about how to turn right or left ; h e has
al ready learnt all that. When he changes his activities, [for example, i f h e talks to
his passengers o r l istens to m usic] , h e doesn't stop driving and doing what he
needs to. This is an example. [Th e meaning is that] i f you know this perfectly
well, i t becomes as your manner. You do not have to do anything i n p a rticular,
this way or that. I n this case, it is similar as your activities don't disturb each
othe r; you r activities don't d isturb your realizati o n of Nature, a n d Nature doesn't
disturb your activities. You have to think about this. Otherwise i f you j ust thi n k
about i t briefly, it is n o t possible, n o t easy - y o u stop y o u r activities during your
meditati on time and when you work o r someth i n g you are not able to remain in
meditation or remember [the Natu ral State] . I f that is the case, you have not
advanced [far enough] in you r p ractice. Meanwhile, i t doesn't look easy, one
always contrad icts the other. That is the sign that you are not a perfect
practi tioner, you see. If you know [the State] perfectly well then you stil l have to
do thi ngs but they don't stop you, they don't di sturb you; that is the example.
You can take this as an example for how to integrate acti v ities with Nature but
th is is not easy to understand as we don 't have [enough] experience yet.

1. 1 . 1 .2. The middling practitioner

The way for a less advanced practitioner to i ntegrate activities with Nature is as
fol lows. The Natural State is a l i ttle bit fam i l iar to them and they are quite stable,

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so during this time they don't stop but k i n d of concentrate i n Nature and do
prostrations or whatever v irtuous or negati ve actions they do - anything - they
try to do that. These [remaining in Nature and acti ng] don't distu rb each other
very easi ly, but sti l l you need to concentrate to keep i n the Natural State. That is
the second practitioner's method as to how to i ntegrate [activities with]
meditation or Nature.

1. 1.1.3. Lower capacity practitioner

This p ractitioner is not so [able to] i ntegrate activiti es with meditation. W hatever
you do - the same actions as I mentioned before - besides there you always
remember the Natural State . That is cal led D rendzi n 8 1 which means
remembering. You remember the Natural State but your meditatio n is not so deep
or clear. With this, you carry out activ i ties without stopping; you remember the
Natural S tate as you do things, and that can still be helpfu l . This is the third
practitioner's method to i ntegrate with activities.

1 . 1 . 2 . Activities of the Speech

Secondly, the way to i ntegrate activities of the speech is s i m i l ar. There a re three
categories.

1. 1.2. 1 . Advanced practitioner

The advanced p ractitioner is able to i ntegrate speaking, reading reciti ng mantras,
talki ng, teaching, chanting - whatever - with no nstop deep med itation. I m pure
speech such as wrathful words, arguing, tel l i n g lies, slandering, crying, shouting,
gossiping, singing, te l l i n g stories, any meani ngless chatter, ta l k i ng without
intention - whatever - i t neither disturbs his real ization o f Nature, nor does
Nature h i nder anythi ng. This is the best way, the advanced practitioner's syste m .

1. 1.2.2. The less advanced practitioner

This is also similar [to the method for activities of the body] . You keep clearly i n
the Natu ral State a n d meanwhile you are talking all these kinds of thi ngs ; that i s
called i ntegrating with talki ng.

81
Ti b. dran ' dzin.
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23 - 27 August

1. 1.2.3. The lower capacity practitioner

Wh i l e you are talking and saying something [you keep] Drendzi n , you are
remembering. On one side you are remembering the Natural State a n d on the
oth er you are talking - whatever you are saying, fighting, crying or anyth i n g else.
These are the three m ethods how to i ntegrate speech.

1. 1 . 3 . Activities of the Mind

Thi rdly, how to i n tegrate [activities of] the mind with Natu re. What are the kinds
of thoughts or activities with the m i n d ? As for virtues - devotion, Bodhichitta,
Refuge, com passion, confessi on - try to i n tegrate everyth i n g with Nature. There
is the meditation or visuali zation o f Tantra, con fession etc. Here, i t doesn't only
mean Dzogchen - any k i n ds of thoughts can come. What kind o f thoughts can be
i n tegrated i nto the Natu ra l State ? Pure ones are th i n gs l i ke meditation [on]
Divi n i ties, visual i zation, confessi on, Refuge etc. I m pure ones are the Five
Poisonous Consciousnesses and also impure wrong views or th i n k i n g of your
country, your l oved ones, your prope rty, how to develop and save - like business.
O r l i ke fam ers, th i n k i n g about the seasonal work, how to grow things. Business
people are thinking about where it is best to develop [th e i r affaires] , where they
can find cheaper supplies, where they can sell for a higher price, thoughts abou t
before and afte r, m a k i n g p l a n s for the futu re, for y e a r s and years - a h u n d red
years, a th ousa n d years. They make plans but they mean nothi ng. Whatever y o u
are thinki ng, t h a t i s what you a r e trying to in tegrate w i t h Nature.
Here we are talking about the Dzogchen way, not only about i n tegrating
compassion etc; here, one side is the Natural S tate while the other is activities. I
have mentioned visions. The best t h i ng is when visions and the Natural State
don't di sturb each other. The Basic Natu ral S tate i s v ery, very deeply [integrated]
with your meditation and so with this, the visions are all coming and going, but
n o matter what comes, you don't fol low them, you don 't stop them, you j ust
keep in that [State] ; that is the best one. The second one, you h ave to carefully
t h i n k about meditation with the Natu ra l State and meanwhile, [you try to
integrate] whateve r appears, both visions and activities. Nonstop visions and
nonstop meditation, you try to keep both these clearly. The third m ethod i s to
remember the Natural S tate on one side, without stopping your activities, and
actin g without forgetting the Natural State. Those are the three categories, the
three ways to i ntegrate with Nature.

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 Chagtri 2009

1. 1.3. 1 . The advanced practitioner

Th e advanced practi tioner has no problem with i n tegrating these kinds of thi ngs.
Sometimes I am saying it is like a mother who has lost her only child. The mother
has great su ffering so whatever she i s doi ng, anyti me, even i f she i s nor
particularly thinking about this situation, this condition i s completely deeply
in tegrated with her feeli ngs. Thus while she is talki ng, walki ng, eati ng or
whatever she is doing, nonstop, she is always remembering [her lost child ] . This is
the example about how the best, advanced p racti tioner i n tegrates with all
activ i ti es. The best thing is when all kinds of thoughts are spontaneously i n the
Natural State without any separation or any problem. That is called Tathog82
w hich means integrating with the View. That is the best one.

I . 1 . 3 . 1 . 1 .The way this method a p p l i ed i n Tan tra

It is not only here; it is an advanced system, but this kind of method is very
necessary i n our tradition for Tantra practi tioners, too . First of all they have to
have basic com passi on [and] the Natural S tate. They have to know these very
wel l, be very fam i l i ar with these and stable. Then the second th ing is com passion.
They learn these separately. When they are i n flu enced by them both and have
learnt them, then they try to i ntegrate one i nto the other; they remember only
one thi ng, not two separate ones - that i s the u n i fication of compassion and th e
Natu ral State. Then this can be transformed i n to the visuali zation of the seed
syllables and so on. This [way o f i n tegrati on) is not only here [in Dzogchen] but
also i n Tantra. But i t doesn 't come from the begi n n i ng - the Tantra practi tioners
have to learn individually. Here it talks about three categori es: the best is when
these two [compassion and the Natural State) are integrated without disturbing
each oth er at all; the second thing is when you think or focus, you don't stop,
you clearly remember them both , and then integrating with this, y o u tra nsform.
For the begi n n e rs, they don't stop one side, s_1 they remember i t and by this they
practise meditation, [then] the seed syllables and so on i n this way. 8 4 S o even
Tantra practi tioners need these three categories.

82
Tib. lta thog.
81
I . e. they try to remain in the Natural State.
84 On Three Contemplation of Tantra see, for example, Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin N amdak
Rinpoche, Namkha Tni/dzo: the Commentary 011 1he /'recious Oral transmission of the Great
perfection which is called the Treamry of Space, Shente11 Dargye Ling, 2 - 21A ugust 2005,
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23 - 27 August

1. 1.3.2. The middling practitioner

The second one is Gomthog 85 which means meditati ng, i ntegrating with
meditation. In this case, you have to concentrate carefu l l y in meditation, and then
with this, you try to i n tegrate all activities [of the m i nd] .

1. 1.3.3. The lower capacity practitioner

Whatever you are doing, you only remember the Natu ral S tate non-stop, and you
don't stop your activities, either, but you just remember and think. That is the
third one; you just think of the Natural S tate a nd with this you do [or think] or
someth ing. This is the begi n n i n g but it can sti l l be hel pfu l .

1 . 1 .4. Lamkhyer
In this way, everything is Lamkhyer86 which means taking the path of p ractice. It
means that everythi ng is [integrated] into the Natural S tate without stopp ing,
[without disturbing] each other: no nstop meditation, nonstop activities. This
applies to a l l thoughts, a l l activiti es, everythi ng.

There is a qu otation taken from the Twenty-One Nails :

'External, internal - everything is equally encompassed by Nature,

naturally. In this case, when the best, advanced practitioner has visions,
mandalas and pure visions come. All sounds are as Teachings or /the voice
of} Divinities or as mantras or the best /sounds]. All his thoughts become
as wisdom. Whatever visions appear they are all Quality /of the Buddha/
and benefit. Whatever he does is for sentient beings, by means of the five
different activities. '

To concl ude, all the activities of body, speech and m i n d do not i nherently fo llow
visions. Try to [make sure that] everyth ing is i n fl uenced by the Natural State.
That is cal led i n fl u e nced by Sherab Tongpanyi d , 87 Empty Wisdom. Try to

Tmscr. & ed. Carol Ermakova and Dmitry Ermakov (B lou, Shenten Dargye Ling, 2006), Week fl,
1 0- 1 1
rtTib. sgom thog.
86
·

Tib. lam khyer.

s; Tib. shes rab stong pa nyid.
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 Chagtri 2009

i ntegrate this with any kind of activities by whichever of the three methods you
are able to m aster.

Then there is a quotati on from Salgyed, 88 Clarification. I t 1s o n e chapter,

somewhere. I t says :

'Going, walking, sitting, eating, drinking, lying - whatever you are doing,
we normally talk about Equipoise89 and ]ethob, 90 activities, dreams,
Bardo.

We can talk of many things but the i mportant thing is for you yoursel f to check
and try to i n tegrate all k i n ds of acti v i ties with awareness.

If you don 't practise or know how to integrate with Nature or Awareness,
then you are like a small creek or stream; when hot weather comes, the
water easily dries up. In a similar way, when you have perfect conditions,
at that time you can talk about views, meditation, virtues, this or that or
something; you can talk about wonderful things! But when certain things
arise, it is not easy to control activities by your meditation or view; it is
very hard. ·

So therefo re fi rst of all, you shoul d certa i n l y trust in Nature, Nature will never be
deluded. I t doesn't matte r which Teachi ngs you are fol lowi ng, th is Nature cannot
cha nge at all. First of all try to know this Nature p roperly, clearly and purely.
The n once you know it, try to practise. But practisi n g is not enough. You m ust try
to i n tegrate th i s practising w i th normal l i fe ; you m u st try to integrate these with
each other without any disturbances - doing, chanting, and meditati o n ; try to
integrate these. S o y o u r meditati o n doesn 't di stu rb your activities and your
activ i ties don't disturb your rea l i zati o n of Natu re. That is the second [level or
practitioner] . The best one is that whatever you do, everyth i n g comes from
Nature into Nature. You compl etely realize everything is as Empty Form . You
m ust do this. Otherwise you are say i n g or thinking you are able to con trol

8' Ti b. gsal byed .

89 Ti b mnyam bzhag.
.

90 Tib. rj es thob.
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23 - 27 Augusl

activities, but when certa i n things come, it is not easy to control [them] or
i ntegrate.
These are the three methods of i ntegrati on or Lam khyer. Try to i n tegrate
these three - the activities o f body, speech and m i nd - with Nature. The purpose
of doing this is that wh atever we are doing with our body, speech and m i nd, they
are all i n fl uenced by thought or percepti o n . Perception is like chalk, and the
Kunzhi or Kunzhi Namshe, the Basic Consciousness - every being has this Basic
Consciousness and i t keeps whatever we do with our body speech o r mind as a
trace - it is like a blackboard. Then a l l activities of consciou sness, perception,
body, speech a n d mind are l i ke painting on the blackboard. Once they h ave been
done, they are kept l ike traces on a b lackboard . The trace or figure is l i ke what
we call karm ic cause. The Natural State means the Nature of a l l perception,
consciousness, activities - everyth ing - but i n particular we can see this through
our consciousnesses; if we look back at our consciousness i t disappears. This
d i sappearance is not created by anything - it d i sappears spontaneously.
Everybody knows this; some thought crops up, you think of i t for a little while
and then after a l i ttle while it d isappears by itself - we don 't always remember or
think of that thought, i t is not eternal, it doesn't a lways exist there. O nce i t has
disappeared, what happens i s an unspeakable state ; that is Natu re. If you rea lize
this Nature then the Basic Kunzhi itse l f also goes i nto that State. The Kunzhi or
Basic Consciousness is n ot eternal. Thus i f you real ize that all consciousness goes
to Nature, to the unspeakable State, then there is no base where karmic causes
can be kept. Thus karmic causes have to disappear. Why do they d isappear?
Because i t i s Nature, genera l l y i t is Nature and i n particular i t has n o background
where traces can be kept. Thus everything - the painter and the painting, the
Base, everything - is in E m p ty Form, so there is nothing at all to be kept. This is
the real p ractical [thing] I a m trying to explain, this is the Teach i ng. Otherwise
we can do someth i n g like p rayers or reading, reciting mantras - we can do many
thi ngs and they are all facing [towards] and atte mpting to purify [karmic traces] ,
but eve n though these a re good thi ngs you can see how directly they are ab l e to
do somethi ng. That means you m ustn ' t j ust know through read ing or speaking;
that i s not enough. Nor i s i t enough to just to think how it m i ght be, how i t could
wor k ; this is sti l l not en ough. So then you have to practise. But it is not enough
j ust to practise, because when some certain things come directly, you ca n ' t
control [ y o u r m i nd] . W h e n y o u a r e learn i n g t h i s , you n eed t o k e e p i t, y o u n e e d to

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learn it by heart; that means you train your m i n d . If your mind is i n tegrated with
this system, then after death when you are disconnected from your material body
and h ave to leave it beh i n d you, your mind never disappears at all. So at that
ti me, you keep what you have learnt with this · Nature and what you have
understood through this meditation. That is the purpose of what I am tal king
about repeatedly day after day. That is the p u rpose. [I am tal king] more and more
talking - maybe you are fed up of hearing this every day, but perhaps it can be
helpful . That is my idea.

I. 2. How to integrate Nature with the six senses

The six sen ses are :
1 . Eye consciousness ;
2. Ear consciousness;
3 . Nose consci ousness ;
4. Tongue consciousness;
5 . (Body consciousness] ;
6. and Mental consciousness, Yidkyi Nampar Shepa. 9 1

1 . 2 . 1 . Eye consciousness
When you look at something, you see colours and forms but the eye
consciousness i tself only sees, it doesn't ju dge at all. Good things o r bad things,
beautifu l or ugly - it doesn't make much di fference, it merely sees everythi ng.
That is what the eye sense does. I f i t is i n fluenced by the mental consciousness
'behind' it, then that j udges good or bad, beautiful or ugly and m any other things.
It is very powerfu l ; we say that mental consciousn ess is like a householder, the
owner of the house, and the five senses are all like servants. They don't have
much powe r ; when the order comes, they have to obey and work. This i s the
same for all of the senses. The j u dgement of good or bad is done by the mental
consciousness. So usually we try to look back at our m e ntal consciousness - that
is the m a i n thing. Maybe now everybody has some experience of searching for
the m i n d . That doesn 't mean control ling the five senses, there is not much to be
done with them. The five senses a re very n ice, v e ry obedient, but the m e ntal
consciousness is very wrathful and powerfu l . Th erefore the text always mentions
how to control ou r mental consciousness which we call Yidkyi Nampar S hepa. It

91 Ti b. y i d kyi mam par shes pa.

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may be better to l earn and follow - this Teaching is in Tibetan, only. OK, this is
the syste m . Once the eye sense has seen something, behind there i t is i n fl u enced
by the mental consciousn ess which ju dges as beautiful or ugly, big or smal l, good
or bad, longer or sh orter - everything is decided.

1.2. 1 . 1 . The advanced practitioner

For the advanced p racti ti oner, whatever they see is spontaneously allowed to
li berate by itself. Everyth i n g is i n fl u enced by m e n tal consciousness but mental
consciousness is ready to be integrated with Nature. This is the system of the best
advanced practitioner.
As for the medium practitioner who has advanced and practised
somewhat, h e sees how the State controls and checks. He looks at the forms and
colours, and they al l dissolve, [are recogn ized] as i m permanent and void of
inherent ex istence. H e j u dges these kinds of things. However, the eye sense itself
never changes: seeing is seei ng, that is all. Good or bad, it doesn 't m atter. B e h i n d
there, mental consciousness j udges good or b a d . But i f mental consciousn ess is
converted by the Natu ral State, i t is libe rated back to Nature, then the eye sense
or any o f the five senses are not very powerful - th ey are j ust working but there is
no owner, no order. So that is very nice then .

1.2. 1.2. The middling practitioner

As for this m e d i u m p ractiti oner, he just has to think how all forms and colours
are formed as Empty Form ; that is what the medium practi tioner has to do, he
has to work on i t a little bit. He has to have e xperience and power.

1.2. 1.3. The lower capacity practitioner

As for the third practitioner, he j u st remembers, Drendzi n, as we sai d before. H e
has t o rem ember that everythi n g is i n tegrated with t h e Natu ral State and
everythi ng becomes as Empty Form . He has to remember; this is the experience
of the lowest practitioner.

1.2. 1.4. How to integrate

There are these three categories - advanced, medium or starte r - but anyhow,
whatever you see i s not followed, not stopped. Don't c heck anything. Just keep
on as Nature . You don 't need to reject anyth i n g - whatever comes i n to your
vision and view, whatever phenomena you see, don't th i n k that they exist
i n h e rently, neither should you think they don't exist - nothi ng. You yourself
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control your m i n d . 'Mind' means m e n tal consciousness, so if you are able to

control your mental consciousness then spontaneously there is no grasping at all,
noth ing to check or follow firm l y . That is the i m portant point. I am always
ta lking about the Natural State. Generally everyth ing is fo rmed as the Natura l
State, particularly i f y o u control menta l consciousness a n d b r i n g it i n to the
Natural State then you real ize everything i s Empty Form, and that is the main
thing. Yo u don't need to follow [and check] everything individually. I n the
Yangtse Longchen 92 we have already sai d :

If you c u t down one bamboo stick y o u will see i t is hollow inside, s o you
don 't need to cut down all other bamboo sticks. Or if you cut down a
trunk [of a tree], you see it is solid so you don 't need to cut down all other
trunks to check.

In a similar way, if you realize someth ing visible - your body or a car or anyth i n g
e l s e - doesn't exist i n herently on the object s i d e , a n d i f y o u compl etely trust a n d
k n o w this, t h e n y o u ca n apply t h i s t o a l l othe r objects a n d k n o w that noth i n g
exists i n herently on t h e object s i d e ; t h e w h o l e of phenomenal existence is just the
same condition.
This i s how to check using forms and colours. I f, on the oth er hand, you
don't th i n k that these are E mpty Form but just real ize that mental consciousn ess
goes to Nature, then you don't need to wrestle with thi ngs, it is not necessary to
check all the five senses. Once you have realized Nature, Nature is called 'G reat
Clarity Emptiness'. W i th this all kinds of fo rms, colours and everyth i ng else is
seen but you n either follow nor j udge, and that means that everything is as
i l lusion. This practi tioner practi ses further and fu rth e r in that way without
changing anythi ng. I f he understands that all phenomena of existence are as
illusion then it is not necessary for the five emotions or the Five Poisonous
Consciousnesses to grow at a l l .
There is a quotation from t h e Prajnaparamita text w h i c h supports t h i s . I t
tells h o w t h e e y e sense is l iberated t o Nature :

'All forms are all as illusion. There is nothing which can be recognized
inherently, there is nothing much to do with them inherently. All colours

92 Ti b. Y ongs rtse klong chen.

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are clear and they are the objects of the senses. Whatever colours come
clearly, {they/ go back to Nature, to the Nature of Mind. '

I. 2 . 2. Ear Consciousness
It is similar for the ear consciousness. The objects are sounds, and when any k i n d
of sou nds c o m e t o t h e ear s e n s e - good melodies or not good sounds or any kinds
of instruments or the sounds of bei ngs, good th i ngs or bad th ings including the
sou nds of th e el ements such as fire, water, wi n d - [we should l iberate them using
one o f the three methods] .

1.2.2.1 The advanced practitioner

The best p ractitioner is able to integrate them. They self-appear, self-l iberate
without him notici ng, nonstop.

1.2.2.2. The middling practitioner

As for the second practitioner, he i ntegrates all these objects with his own
meditation directly.

1.2.2.3. The lower capacity practitioner

As for the th i rd one, whatever sounds appear, everything 1s i ntegrated with
rememberi ng Nature, remembering Empty Form .

1 . 2 . 3 . Nose Consciousness
This is si m i lar. The objects a re all smells - good ones, bad ones, whatever.
I n the same way :
for the fi rst practitioner they self-appear and sel f-liberate ;
for the second practitioner he d i rectly checks them and integrates them
i n to Nature ; -
and the last practi tioner rem e mbers Nature.
These are th e methods.

1 . 2 .4.Taste Consciousness
The objects are tastes, good ones or bad ones, and these are integrated by the
same th ree methods i n a s i m i lar way.

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1.2 . 5 . Body consciousness

S mooth or rough, warm or cold, light or heavy, pleasant o r unpleasant, all
[sensatio ns] are i ntegrated in the same three ways according to the practitioner's
atti tude.

There is a q uotati on from the Dronma Chapter as to how to in tegrate all the
objects of the senses :

'Self-Awareness Wisdom is the Base from which all tl1e six objects appear.
Whatever appears as visions, if you realize they are all as Empty Form
then that is called the appearance of visions of Nirmanakaya. '

Drenpa Namkha taught saying:

'Don 't follow the five objects of the senses. If you follow the objects, don 't
distinguish between them - don 't follow mental consciousness, just leave
the senses alone. If you follow the senses with your mental consciousness,
don 't grasp at them, don 't follow then with selfishness. 93 If you grasp the
objects as inherently existing, don 't keep any Bagchag'. 94

1.2.6. Mental consciousness

That is the same as what I sa i d about painting on the blackboard . O nce you have
al ready checked and fol lowed everythi n g with your mental consciousness, traces
are al ready kept, you can't control that. S o here by not fol lowing or keeping
traces it means that i f you have realized the Basic Ku nzh i consciousness is
liberated back to the Natural State then there is no questi on - everything is
liberated and purified spontaneously.

1.2 . 7. How to use the objects of senses

Then comes the question : i f a practi ti oner has advanced th is fa r, what should s/he
do? If a practitioner has not advanced this far in their knowledge or experience,
what should they do? How can they use obj ects ?
When you l ook [at] or use the objects of the five senses, check for who is
watchi ng, where the watcher is watchi ng, where the obj ects are coming from,

91 I.e. as though everything existed with a ' se l f , inherently.

94 Tib. bag chags.
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-

what their situation is like. These objects are not coming from anywhere external
at all. Just look and think. They themselves don't exist inherently or
i n dependently at a l l . S o then what happens is that you just think back to the
sou rce ; there are no traces, noth ing to see and that is called Clear Naked Wisdom
Awareness. You h ave to keep in that State and trust it. Afte r you have rea l i zed
this Clear Naked Wisdom Awareness then don't add anyth i ng don't change
anythi ng, don't push anything [away] or reject anything - just leave them. Keep
on [in that S tate] . That is meditati o n .
T h e concl usion is that [ o n e should remain] in t h i s State, without
[perceiving anythi ng] as inh erently existi ng and without follow i n g the though ts,
Thamal 91 - that means ' [i n the] n o rmal way' . I f you are u n able to i n tegrate
everyth i ng accordi ng to the advanced p racti tioner's system, then sti l l try to
remember either the second or th i rd method. Try to do this, even if you are n ot
able to integrate activ i ti e s as advanced practi tion ers do. I f you are j ust able to
in tegrate Nature with activities and phenomenal existence then don't stop; don't
th i n k that is enough . Don't think that is enough ; you have to practise still more
with those activities and visions, they have to help. When they come, they rem i nd
you, they make you remember Nature. That is still not enough ; you have to be
able to integrate Nature and the visions which come as Empty Form . When some
objects appear they should sponta n eously remi n d you of th e Natural State [and]
you should not th i n k that the obj ects come [as] i n h erently [existi ng] . This is what
begi n n e rs should normal ly try to do.

All mistakes and omissions are the sole responsibility of the transcribers and editors

95 Tib. tha mal .

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