Dzogchen Meditation

Dzogchen meditation has always been written about in overly complex ways that alienate newcomers. I want to make it possible for the average person in the West to practice this wonderful technique. And so, I am simplifying it from its original teachings. However, I will discuss many of the classical Buddhist dzogchen teachings as well. I hope this pleases both newcomers and traditionalists.

Transcript

Welcome to the daily meditation with me meditation teacher Paul Harrison.

Today a challenge for me and a treat for you.

I am going to be teaching you Dzogchen meditation.

Now I know what you're thinking why is that a challenge for me and a treat for you?

Well it's a treat for you because Dzogchen is an incredibly powerful technique that many people have said leads to spontaneous enlightenment.

Why is it a challenge for me?

Because Dzogchen is actually one of the most complex meditation techniques that there is and it's not just a meditation it's also a very complex philosophy and if you look if you look like in books online wherever it's kind of anywhere you will find that there is no simple guide to Dzogchen.

It doesn't exist.

Everywhere that you find that you read about Dzogchen it's ridiculously complicated.

Until now because I'm about to make it really easy for you.

I'm going to simplify this incredibly complex technique because I believe that it is so variable that we need a guide that anybody can use even absolute newcomers can use to try Dzogchen and that is what I am attempting to do in this episode.

So let us get into it.

What the blinkity blinkers is Dzogchen meditation you might ask.

Okay so Dzogchen meditation is basically a Buddhist meditation and also it's not just a meditation it is a kind of philosophical sort of doctrine.

The purpose of Dzogchen meditation is to experience and to maintain what is called Rigpa.

Rigpa is the purest form of mind.

It is pure awareness.

It is your mind kind of beyond thoughts,

Beyond feelings,

Beyond beliefs and beyond other things that sort of obscure and sort of muddy the true nature of reality.

When we achieve Dzogchen we see the mind precisely as it is and we see reality precisely as it is and that is a really big part of enlightenment.

Now so far that sounds really spiritual and that's great if you're a spiritual person but I know that not everybody who who follows me is spiritual.

So for them I am gonna say not only will Dzogchen help you to achieve enlightenment which you might not even be interested in,

It's gonna do wonders for your mental health as well because a lot of the problems of the mind,

Things like stress,

Anxiety,

Depression,

They're caused by what Buddhists call ignorance.

They're caused by our inability to see and to accept the reality precisely as it is.

Now when you do Dzogchen you do precisely that.

You see the true nature of your reality,

You accept reality precisely as it is and that's just gonna make you feel so much more relaxed and calm and it's gonna make everything in your life seem so much easier.

Sounds pretty good right?

And that is what Dzogchen is all about.

How do you do Dzogchen?

Okay so listen I have to put caviar on this and the caviar that I have to put is that it is not possible for anyone in the whole world to really give a complete overview of true Dzogchen in one episode of a podcast or even in a book or anything like that.

Dzogchen is so deep.

There's various many different vehicles for Dzogchen.

Sorry when I say vehicle what I mean is kind of Buddhist vehicle of the mind which means basically a tool through which we achieve things with the mind.

Dzogchen spans Tantra,

It spans yoga,

It spans all these different things and is incredibly complex so you know I'm just gonna give up.

I'm just giving up.

No!

So I'm gonna give you my best tutorial on Dzogchen however it is a modern simplified version so I know if you're one of my kind of ultra hardcore spiritual followers please don't tell me off because I know I'm skipping important parts but you know let's just get into it let's just get right into it let's get into it.

Okay so how do you do Dzogchen?

So to begin with the number one step for doing Dzogchen is this you must vow to yourself that you will strive to see the true nature of reality at all times.

It begins like that.

It begins with a vow and all forms of Dzogchen begin with that vow whether it's the kind of whether it's the karmic yoga version or or tantric or Buddhist or whatever they all begin with the vow that you will strive in all your endeavors to see the true nature of reality.

So say that to yourself now say to yourself from now on you will attempt you don't you don't have to always achieve it you know nobody's perfect but you will attempt to live your life in true reality to see the true nature of things and that is step one.

Now next I'm gonna get into the meditation part in just in a minute but next I just want to talk on general actions.

So Dzogchen is not it's not just a sort of one-off meditation it's not something that you do for 20 minutes it's kind of a lifestyle.

So the next part is we must make the conscious choice that we are going to attempt that's that word again attempt to live a noble life a life of compassion you know we're not perfect we don't need to be perfect no one is perfect in fact I would kind of I would wager that if Buddha were here he would put his hand up and say you know what people say that I'm a god but I'm not perfect I you know don't don't shoot me for saying that but I just kind of think that Buddha himself will put his hands up and say we're we're human we're not perfect okay so with that in mind we have to decide that we're just gonna make the effort to to live a life that is noble to to do noble deeds that are founded on compassion.

Now this is again a huge part of Dzogchen in in all its guises.

In Dzogchen you attempt in all ways to live mindfully so to be aware to make your every deed a compassionate one and to see the true nature of things.

So just decide that you're going to make the effort from now on to be mindful and to make every action that you do founded on compassion.

Okay now let's get into the meditation finally the bit I'm really comfortable talking about because of course as you guys know I am a meditation teacher.

So how do you do Dzogchen meditation?

Well you know what this part is actually it's actually not even that hard to be honest with you I don't know whether it's because you know I've got 20 years of experience in meditation and or not but it's pretty it's pretty easy.

Dzogchen meditation the actual meditative part is not too different to other forms of meditation.

I'm not gonna lead you through it in this episode but rather I am just gonna explain how to do it and then invite you to do it in your own time.

So essentially what we're gonna do for our Dzogchen meditation is this.

I would like you to go somewhere quiet and peaceful and then to sit and just breathe mindfully.

We're gonna start by breathing mindfully as we often do and you're gonna want to continue to breathe mindfully for sort of five to ten minutes.

Now the next part of the meditation involves getting in touch with the three bodies.

So the three bodies they are the Dharma body.

Now the Dharma body is the empty essence of your mind.

There's also the enjoyment body which is the radiant and creative nature of the mind and then there's the transformation body which is the compassionate mind.

So how do you do that?

So again to now what you will have been doing is just sitting and meditating until you experience that kind of you know that real kind of peacefulness that you get from meditation.

Then when you experience that feeling of peacefulness first of all get in touch with as I said the Dharma body.

Now to do that you will notice during your meditation that your mind feels empty and spacious.

Tune yourself in to that empty space in your mind.

Observe the nature of that emptiness of that silence.

What is that emptiness?

What is that silence?

Explore it.

You know acquaint yourself with that silent emptiness.

Now when you do that for a few minutes you're going to notice that that silent emptiness has inside of it this pure energy and it's a radiant energy.

It's this energy that like the Sun shines eternally in all directions and that is the enjoyment body.

So explore the enjoyment body.

Explore that radiant creative energy of your mind.

Once you have done that simply note to yourself that you have the ability to use this infinite creative energy for compassionate deeds for good to help people to help animals to help the world and that is it.

So again meditate like normal on the breath.

Firstly explore the Dharma body the empty the empty spacious mind.

Then explore the enjoyment body that creative energy inside of you and then explore the transformation body the compassionate body and that is how you do Dzogchen meditation.

Now I am actually going to do a guided version of that on my YouTube channel.

My YouTube is just the daily meditation and I also I will probably be sharing that in my newsletter hopefully this week.

So in summary Dzogchen is one of the most powerful tools for enlightenment and a very important technique in Buddhism and in other spiritual practices.

It is entirely about seeing the pure nature of mind and of reality.

You can do that by making the decision to live truth and to see truth by doing the meditation that I have described to you in this video and by living mindfully with continual awareness.

So that is my simplified guide to Dzogchen.

If you want to know more about the kind of the traditional classical form of Dzogchen then I am writing a guide to it on the daily meditation.

Com as well if you would like to book an online meditation lesson with me you may do so on the daily meditation calm thank you for listening until next time stay sensational

Reviews

Thank you very much 🙏🤍☯️

Very interesting! Makes me want to go deeper and explore.