In a dream conversation, Dudjom Lingpa is offered instructions by his Guru on the true nature of consciousness. I like this passage and return to it often, mainly for its absolutist clarity.
In a way, the Guru is "giving the game away". Much of what is being said here is on the ultimate nature of consciousness itself, and many cherished dogmas are spoken about as what they are. There is also a strain of anti-intellectualism, at least in the ultimate realisation or attainment. I'm not against intellectualism per se, and this is another discussion for another time. But I've made my perspective clear on why it is insufficient.
What follows are so-called pointing instructions in the Dzogchen tradition. Something I've relatively recently commenced studying very closely. Many of these paragraphs may shed some light on why this is so. Being an autist with no time for the pretentious accoutrements of those involved in what is, rather cringingly, termed "spirituality".
Surely, there must be a better word...In fact, very little here is traditionally spiritual; quite the opposite. Lingpa's Guru seems to be talking smack about almost everything like that, including our very perceptions of life itself. What follows is instead a very sophisticated, exquisite description of the ultimate nature of emptiness and conscious processes. Without the dogma daze...
The dialogue commences with an acknowledgement of the acceleration and proliferation of the so-called "5 degenerations". This doesn't refer to the profound discussions regarding sinfulness in the "Great Masturbation vs Prostitution Twitter Wars of July 22'. Rather, the "5 Degenerations in the Age of Strife" - a Tibetan Buddhist version of the Three Ages of Buddhism, the last of which, or, "Latter Day of Dharma" will last 10,000 years. These five degenerations become more prolific as we go into this age. It becomes more challenging to seek realisation in this part of the cycle. They are:
Degeneration of life-span (ཚེའི་སྙིགས་མ་) the shortening of the length of life;
Degeneration of time (དུས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་) the decline in the quality of things, grain is less savoury and nutritious, fails to ripen and so on;
Degeneration of (ཉོན་མོངས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་) the decline in the virtues of householders, negative emotions strive;
Degeneration of views (ལྟ་བའི་སྙིགས་མ་) the decline in the virtues of the ordained sangha, wrong-view proliferates;
Degeneration of experience (ཉམས་ཀྱི་སྙིགས་མ་) the decline in physical form, intellect, good health and so on.
I think it's not too important if you buy the idea of a cycle or a degenerate 10,000 years in which these qualities exponentially increase. My readership is undoubtedly aware that this is a succinct summary of what ails the world right now, as we, unfortunately, spin our wheels in the muck as a matter of necessity.
As a result, the type who wishes to pursue freedom from such delusions is seen as rare in this account. The texts assert, pertinently, that even of the people who are interested to see, most of them relegate themselves to the limitations of virtuous acts of physical and verbal types. Which is ok, but not that good. It's not really the point.
The tradition of Dzogchen itself, one of the so-called direct paths, comprises three elements: mind, space and instruction. What is offered in this text forms part of the instruction category of the tradition. The instructions category is further divided into meditation, view and conduct. As distinct from meditation and conduct, which are separate subjects, what follows in this dialogue aims to establish the student's view. The way this is done is very interesting.There are 4 parts to setting right view itself, and it is the first part that concerns us. These are:
Non-existence
Oneness
All pervasiveness
Non-existence
Finally, to establish non-existence, the student is encouraged to contemplate the reality of consciousness through:
Establishing the non-existence of an individual self
Establishing the non-existence of a self in things
Generally speaking, the experience of selflessness is encouraged by the contemplation of specific exercises that are also experiential. For example, you may try to find the self.
Where is it?
The adherent may try to find the self in your shoulder or arm. Unable to find it anywhere, the student gradually comes around to experiencing the reality of selflessness. At the same time, when meditating on the true nature of physical phenomena, the experience of emptiness arises, in which we realise that despite having labels and categories for things, we still don't truly know what the thing actually is.
Thus, a kind of intellectual discovery or dialectic ensues with the Guru, with the sole aim to establish the experience of these two prior stated aims. Naturally, this is not necessarily an easy process. Many in the readership may still be sceptical of Buddhist claims surrounding selflessness. Many of these students likely feel the same way. And this is where our dialogue comes in. The Guru Longchenpa appears in a dream:
"Listen, Noble son!" he said. "We fall asleep when the externally appearing universal vessel, the animate sentient beings contained within it, and the five kinds of sense objects appearing in between have all dissolved into the empty oblivion of the void of the all-ground, just like magical illusions melt into space. Then, due to the movement of the karma prana, the magical display of the dream state unfolds, including the vessel and its contents, sense objects, a self, a body, and related activity. If you cling to these as being real, you are deluded. Finally, the phenomena of this dream existence dissolve back into the empty blank space of the all ground like a rainbow vanishing into the sky, and once again waking phenomena unfold as before."
To this, I replied, "though it is certain that my body is merely an appearance, doesn't it still arise from the causal and conditioning factors of my mother and father?"
"If you think that your body came from a mother and father," he asked, "Then what do you think of the original origin, dwelling place, and final destination of the first father and mother?"
"I don't know, but they must exist," I said, "as I don't think it is possible to have a body without a mother and a father."
"Then observe who the parents of the body are in dreams, in the Bardo, and in the hell realms!" He said. Thereby I concluded that this body merely appears to exist.
"Listen, kind llama," I continued, "having laid down in the bed and pulled up the covers, it seems to me that the dream phenomena arise while other people, the landscape, and so on, remain unchanged."
"The dream phenomena of the external appearance of the universal vessel is extremely vast," said the Guru, "and the animate objects of sentient beings within it are beyond number, as are the beautifully displayed five kinds of sense objects appearing in between. Where, then, do all these dream phenomena on fold-inside the head, the limbs, or the upper or lower part of your body?"
Hence I concluded that this was not possible, so I said, "I believe the dream phenomena occur when the consciousness goes elsewhere; then when it re-enters the body, waking phenomena arise again."
The Guru replied, "if that is the case, then, since the body is apparently like a house, identify and describe to me the door of this house through which the consciousness comes and goes. Not only that, but you must also identify where the mind resides. If the mind resides in the upper part of the body, then why does one feel pain when pricked by a thorn in the lower part?
Likewise, if the mind resides in the lower part, then there is no reason for feeling pain in the upper part. It is logical to think that this subtle consciousness changes size, entering through a small opening, then expanding to provide the body only to shrink again in order to exit through a tiny hole. If that were the case, then, when the body and the mind separate at the time of death, why can this consciousness not re-enter the body again?
Also, where is this place you must go to see these dream phenomena? Above? Below? Or in any other direction?" He queried. "Do you believe that it is the same as the vessel of the universe and its contents during the waking state, or is it somewhere else? If you think it's the same, does sleep create a dividing line between them or not? If it does, then dream phenomena are not the same as waking phenomena; and if it doesn't, then there can be no such thing as dreams. Furthermore, there is no real benefit to believing that these phenomena are created and exist above or below, inside or outside."
To this, I replied, "Guru, please, if this is so, then what conclusion should I draw? Sublime Guru, please show me how I might find the answer."
To this request, he said, "throughout the beginning-less succession of lives, no one has actually taken birth, but merely appear to. Nor has anyone actually died; it was merely the transformation of phenomena like the shift from the dream state to the waking state. All experiences-seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt in forms, sounds, odours, tastes, and tactile sensations through the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin— are merely self-arising phenomena appearing in and of themselves. Beyond that, they don't even have as much as a tip of a hair's worth of existence."
"You may think that things are actually seen by the eye, grasped by the hand, or experience through the sense stores and hence have a self-nature. However, through the forms, sounds, tastes, smells, and tactile sensations in dreams appear to be real at the time, when waking up, it becomes clear that they never had any objective existence."
"Throughout a beginningless succession of samsaric lives, no one has actually shifted or moved from one place to another, nor has anyone ever stayed in some other place-this is merely like the occurrences in a dream."
"If you think that the authenticity of dream phenomena are not equal to those in the waking state, then ponder whether all the striving, efforts, and accumulations of riches in dreams and during the day, from the time you were born until now, are equal or not. When you minutely scrutinise the length of their duration and the size of their numbers, you'll decide them to be equal.
"That is not all. If you believe dream phenomena to be unreal and waking phenomena to be real, then sense dream phenomena are illusory and waking phenomena are not, you must then believe the dream phenomena a sentient beings and they phenomena enlightenment. And if both phenomena result from delusion, any distinction between true and false or real and unreal is meaningless, because deluded phenomena imply believing that something exists when it doesn't.
"In the past, we have eaten a quantity of food equal to the size of Mount Meru, and have drunk oceans to quench your thirst, but still, we have not been filled. Though we have worn as much cloth as there is in the 3000-fold universe, we are still not warm. Understand that these examples are indications that none of these possesses any existence but are mere appearances.
"It is a major flaw not to understand that this corporeal appearance is empty and instead to believe it to be real. Because the great efforts we go to for the sake of this body consume the fruit of omniscience, clinging to the body as being real is known as the "Devouring Demon". Sense of chains together and endless succession of samsara existences and causes birth and death to appear. It is the funeral parade. It forces you to strive for happiness through good clothing and the like, thus severing the aorta of liberation with the hope and fear perpetuated by clinging to attachment and aversion, it is known as "The Executioner".
"Sense robs one of the breath of lasting happiness, it is also called the vital breath stealer"
"Therefore, all those who cling to apparent objects of the six gatherings are like a deer mistaking of a mirage to be water and running after it, for beyond the appearance, such phenomena don't possess the slightest iota of existence."
"Though you might understand the things are empty in this way, they remain seemingly real as before and do not disappear, leading you to wonder what use there is in acquiring such knowledge. If you do not realise that emptiness is the essence of meditation, then all your attempts to meditate will surely fall into indifference or apathy."
He continued, "you might also wonder that sense mere intellectual understanding obtained through all the other conceptual forms of meditation won't liberate you, why would merely realising emptiness necessarily lead to revealing the basic non-existence of things as well, leading you to think that if everything is already empty, then it makes no difference whether one knows it or not. However, Samsara and Nirvana, freedom and delusion, originate from the difference between awareness and unawareness, knowing and not knowing. So to know and to be aware of it should be understood to be a crucial point.
"Furthermore, some people say that if you can't figure this out on your own, study and contemplation are useless. Yet, since the beginning of time, you have not realised this on your own, so you have been wandering in samsara. So take heed. By practice and study, one will realise the view of emptiness in accordance with all the tantras, scriptures, and instructions!"
"Moreover, the result is the same whether you realise emptiness after having undergone great hardships, such as practice and study, or if you do so without engaging in the slightest effort, just as, for example, there is no difference in the quality of gold whether it is found after great hardship or under your bed without any effort at all."
"This analysing knowledge that establishes all phenomena to be emptiness is called discerning intelligence. The continuing knowledge, which uninterruptedly definitively decides samsara and nirvana to be the great emptiness, is called the intelligence realising egolessness. When these two kinds of intelligence have taken birth in one's nature, it is a crucial point, first to understand, then to experience, and to finally attain conviction.
"Still you may persist, saying that It is unreasonable to believe that the body and so forth do not exist beyond mere appearances because an individual who is realised the empty nature of his or her body still feels pain when the body is touched by water or fire, or struck by an arrow, spear, or stick. However, until one has arrived at the basic space of exhaustion in dharmata, dualistic phenomena will not disappear. And as long as they have not disappeared, beneficial and harmful appearances will occur uninterruptedly. This is shown when the body remains unburned even in the midst of the flames of hell."
Upon saying this, he disappeared
Time for me to disappear, but before I do.
Emptiness in meditation is a inarguably fundamnetal pillar. For many many years I did not grasp this, experientially - opting for theories and words as so many do.
The vital breath is another pillar. Upon reflecting on the above, I always remember to ask, where is the self? Often, as a reminder, I try to look for it.
What is the fundamental nature of our mental processes, and what is arising within consciousness? Where is this homunculus that I think is behind my eyes? Is there a behind-the-eye cabin in which a self-essence is experiencing the thing in itself. Or is there simply experience in consciousness.
Dropping in a few days, I have revamped my morning exercise instructions for substack release. The infamous gag reflex exercise is in that one, I like to do this in the morning just to remind me that I’m human.
Finally, this week's weekly Sunday newsletter will discuss breathing and heart rate variability (HRV). And how breath, not the heart, manages blood flow. And why this is important for life in general, and why reinstating a vital breath habit - not just hyperventilating - but actually neurologically imprinting a different breathing tempo - is, in fact, essential for vitality. As unreal as the body is, according to this venerable lama.
Any case, until next time...cheerio.