Urgyen to me was the most effective Tibetan teacher
he was expert in multiple lineages
he understands this subject so he can describe it quickly and thoroughly using less words
some of these snippets are me paraphrasing his teachings so go buy his books like I did lol
normally I advise finding information online for free but these are worth having physical copies, and richard gere commissioned them which is cool
do not add to it (there is no meditator)
when thoughts occur, turn awareness onto the thinker and observe the thinker & thoughts return to the emptiness they came from
do not cling to existence or non existence, rest between, life is naturally dream like
dependant origination - examine causes not symptoms
The Tibetan variety of Buddhism is full of jargon.
Urgyen was skilled at condensing it.
There are links in this slideshow where you can research more.
Dzogchen, the ultimate view is to relax into nondual awareness
you need to be able to dissolve dualistic mind in nondual awareness
the training in recognizing mind essence is this: short moments repeated many times
Direct Introduction to Rigpa
everything in the video is also in Urgyen's books which have more context
these are my notes combining both which I try to make more readable for my own comprehension
Namtok
Twofold Ignorance
We have learned to live in this life through training, how to move about…We have to train while involved in the activities of this life, to move about… For example while eating, you taste the food, then we start to think about the food and then notice, “Oh, I got carried away!” Again, recognize while eating. That moment, you arrive back vividly in the state of the essence.
Then you forget again, get lost, you know while walking about, moving around…you can still recognize Buddha Nature…when you lie down to sleep, if you are diligent also recognize again…when you sit, recognize…actually, there is no time when you are not allowed to recognize nature of mind, even when you sit on the toilet.
It is said like this, in the naked state of dharmadatu, which is unimaginable, relax in incredible state of awareness, a thought occurs, it arises from yourself and dissolves back into yourself.
Any thought that occurs is your own expression, comes out of your own essence. It is only when forgetting the essence that the “expression” takes the form of a thought.
But the moment you recognize your own expression, it arises out of yourself, dissolves back into yourself, meaning dissolves into the expanse of the essence. This is what we need to train in, to become used to.
There is no other meditation or object or act apart from that as much as dust mote, even. But, if you forget and get distracted, you are involved in thoughts.
So please train in this. That is the practice. This is what rinpoche (Padmasambhava) taught in the past and today he has nothing to say besides this.”
Twofold Ignorance
development and completion stage are to be practiced as a unity the two are indivisible
Development stage is spontaneous presence completion stage is primordial purity
this is a book on the development stage of vajrayana
When recognizing mind essence, don't do anything to it. Allow it to be as it is; the moment you get distracted, remind yourself again to recognize. When recognizing, leave it in naturalness.
When forgetting, remind yourself. That is the training in essence. By training thoroughly in this way, discursive thinking will gradually grow less and less, and moments of thoughtfree wakefulness will grow longer and longer.
When this nonconceptual wakefulness lasts one hour, you have attained the level of an arhat. When it lasts throughout the day, you have attained the level of a bodhisattva.
When it is uninterrupted day and night, you have become a fully enlightened buddha. There is nothing more precious than this.
If you train in this, you could be a cow herder and still be liberated. If you don't train in this, you might be a great scholar and still remain in delusion.
this book is about the completion stage of vajrayana
great perfection
ati yoga
final steps in vajrayana
ground
Trekcho is to simply acknowledge that one's innate essence is empty. Togal is to recognize that the natural display is spontaneously present. They are not our creation; they are not produced by practice. There is no imagining of anything in either trekcho or togal.
Togal
Togal is to recognize that the natural display is spontaneously present. They are not our creation; they are not produced by practice. Without cutting through with treckcho, you can't directly cross with togal.
Throughout all these stages, keep renunciation, bodhicitta, the purification of obscurations, the gathering of the accumulations, and devotion to the guru as the foundation of the path. Remain in mountain solitude, limit your speech, pay attention to cause and effect, acceptance and rejection, and act towards everyone impartially and with a pure heart. This is crucial.
vajra - qualities