The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy)

As a bee seeks nectar from all kinds of flowers, seek teachings everywhere.Like a deer that finds a quiet place to graze, seek seclusion to digest all you have gathered.Like a lion, live completely free of all fear. And, finally, like a madman, beyond all limits, go wherever you please.

My uncle, the yogi, came to see me at my father's house just after he had witnessed this event, and his eyes were full of tears as he told me about it. He said it was a terrible tragedy that none of us had known enough to recognize that this seemingly ordinary person, living so close to us, had actually been a verygreat practitioner, from whom we c

I was deeply moved to hear of my uncle's realization. Knowing how serious a problem he had had with various mental disturbances in his early life, I did not expect him to achieve so much in one lifetime. His example shows what is possible for every individual.

Total Realization means the definitive end of illusion, the end of suffering, the cessation of the vicious cycle of conditioned rebirths; it is the dawning of complete freedom, perfect wisdom, supreme unending bliss. In Total Realization death is overthrown, all duality transcended, and the capacity to spontaneously benefit all beings is perfectly

Dzogchen is not mere license; when the practitioner does not find him or herself in the non-dual state of contemplation, he or she has the commitment to uninterruptedly maintain the presence of awareness-awareness in this case meaning the type of attention that is aware of the effects and consequences of one's actions. As has already been noted, th

Total realization means that one has realized one's identity with the Dharmakaya, the Body of Truth', or Dimension of Reality as it is'. It is the omnipresent void matrix, the Zhi, or Base of every individual that manifests in the infinitely interpenetrating dance of the energies of the universe as the Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya forms of a realiz

The higher tantras and Dzogchen, on the other hand, both enable one to reach total realization in a single lifetime. The Visions of Longde and of the practice of Thodgal-the final and most secret teaching of Dzogchen-allow the practitioner to rapidly undo the knots of conditioned existence and attain the most absolute and total type of realization,

All that arises is essentially no more real than a reflection, transparently pure and clear, beyond all definition or logical explanation.Yet the seeds of past action, karma, continue to cause further arising.Even so, know that all that exists is ultimately void of self-nature, utterly non-dual!These words of the Buddha are a perfect explanation of