LITMIR.BIZ

      All the great teachers of the past have taught this same, identical message: Gather the accumulations, purify the obscurations, and receive the blessings of a qualified master. In the tradition I represent, the preliminary practices and the accomplishment of the yidam deity are considered very, very important. I do not think that the buddhas and all the past masters have created them just to lead us astray.

      Vajrayana contains many methods for reaching enlightenment, while presenting relatively few hardships. Some of the easiest and most accessible of these methods are devotion and compassion, along with the recognition of mind nature. Combine these with the preliminary practices and you will progress quickly. While Dzogchen is the pinnacle, the epitome, of the vehicle that is Vajrayana, it does not make sense to grab at the highest teachings and reject the rest. Similarly, it is pointless to invent your own private, personal idea of Dzogchen to train in. To do that makes your “Dzogchen” something fabricated, something you have made up. Calling your own theories Dzogchen is a foolish pretense that has nothing to do with the genuine, authentic teachings.

      You see, Dzogchen is not made up of bits of information that you can collect and take home. Dzogchen is about how to be free. It is not sufficient merely to receive the Dzogchen teachings: you must apply them, live them. Right now we are still enveloped in deluded experience. We have created a cage for ourselves out of our own emotions and our sense of duality, and here we sit, day in and day out. Once we clearly understand our situation, we have a choice: either we can remain in this cage or we can use the Dzogchen instructions to break it open and become free.

      With the openness of devotion, the blessings can enter our stream of being. When we fully let go with a sense of deep trust, it is possible to recognize the state of original wakefulness. This practice is not some new philosophical position, not a new concept that we acquire, but a way of completely and fully letting go of all conceptual attitudes.

      To arrive at thought-free wakefulness is not impossible, nor is it necessarily very difficult. However, it does require us to accumulate merit, purify obscurations, and make a connection with a qualified master. These three extremely important conditions are repeatedly emphasized in the teachings.

      Sure, we can be told, “Sit down and let go completely; just be natural.” But can we really do this? We try to let go, but actually we do not. We are still holding on—keeping hold of the letting go. We grip something else; then again we try to let go. We are always holding on to something, putting up resistance. Actually, we do not really want to let go. It is against our nature, so to speak. We prefer to retain ego control, which is a very strong habit. It does not matter how many times we are told to drop everything and be 100 percent uncontrived and natural; we still hold on to the letting go. We keep hold of what we are recognizing: “Now, now I recognize the nature of mind.” We cling to the natural state, holding on to the concept “This is it.”

      In other words, although we try to let go, a part of us is still holding on. Therefore, it is never the genuine natural state. Something is needed to completely shatter this conceptual attitude, to smash it to pieces. The atmosphere of devotion provides one essential way. When we thoroughly open up in the moment of devotion, it’s as if all the coverings of our philosophical ideas, all of the wrapping, all of the concepts that we use to compartmentalize reality are totally stripped away. To be full of genuine devotion is one of the purest conceptual states. Then, if we have received the essential instruction in recognizing mind essence, we can recognize self-aware original wakefulness.

      Being full of genuine compassion offers a similar possibility. When you feel sincere empathy toward all sentient beings, the purity of this emotion disperses conceptual mind. Simultaneously, your mind becomes wide open. And again in that moment, there is the opportunity, if you have received the essential instructions, to apply them. You can recognize self-knowing original wakefulness and genuinely and authentically arrive in the natural state.

      Otherwise, it appears that we just refuse to be in the natural state. Certainly it is our habit not to be, and that is a very hard habit to break. This is why there are many practices to facilitate the recognition of mind nature—to break the normal habits of conceptual mind and ego. Heartfelt devotion and compassion are the foremost facilitators for arriving in the original state.

      The preliminary practices facilitate recognizing and training in the nonconceptual meditation of Dzogchen. If we feel that it is difficult to simply let be, the preliminary practices are a method to make it easier for us. They are a conduit for purification, accumulation and blessings. Ultimately, we must rely on our basic intelligence. The preliminary practices strengthen and sharpen this intelligence.

      Accumulating merit or using conceptual methods is like making a candle, while the Dzogchen pointing-out instruction is like lighting the candle. You must have both—the candle and a match—to illuminate the darkness. With inadequate merit, you can perhaps recognize mind essence, but the recognition quickly disappears. You cannot concentrate; you lack the candle. Like a match in the darkness, the recognition flickers and dies. You need a stable basis to carry and nourish the flame, and accumulating merit forms that basis.

      Many positive conditions must come together in order for us to practice a spiritual path. Some people really aspire to practice, but their life circumstances make it very difficult for them to do so. Others wish to spend three years in retreat, but they do not have any money. Still others have plenty of money but cannot get any teachings. Sometimes people have a very good teacher and teachings, but their situation is complicated: they are always fighting with their spouse and don’t have a moment of peace at home, or their job takes up all their time. You may need to change your circumstances, but to do so you must have merit. For that, there is no better method than the preliminary practices.

      It is the kindness of the buddhas to provide us with a complete path, and the preliminary practices are part of that complete path. Often students refrain from doing them because they do not understand their purpose. Some students even think the preliminary practices are a kind of punishment! Actually, the preliminaries are not a punishment meted out to torture people—not at all. Your own laziness might say, “Oh, no, the preliminary practices are so difficult. They are probably meaningless. I don’t want to do them.” But you have to smash that lazy tendency. Indeed, the main obstacle to practice is laziness. Crush it from the very beginning, and your laziness gets scared and runs away, whimpering, “Oooh, I can’t go near this person; it’s too much for me.” Prostrations make mincemeat out of your physical laziness, just as mandala offerings chop up your attachment.

      To truly progress in spiritual practice, you also have to

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