2. Clarifying the Practice of Non-Doing
3. The Role of Ritual in Dzogchen
4. The “Doing Nothing” Meditation
5. Dissolving Artificiality in Meditation
6. The Hūṃ Practice and Projection
7. The Hūṃ as Symbol of Rigpa
8. Dualistic Appearance as Creative Display
9. Radical Dzogchen vs. Graduated Path Dzogchen
10. Dzogchen as All-Encompassing Awareness
11. The Illusion of Phenomena and the Danger of Conceptualizing It
12. Familiarization with Rigpa Transforms Experience
13. The Power of Fearlessness
14. Openness as Infinite Potential
15. Fear as the Doorway to Fearlessness
16. The Nature of Mind Destroys All Barriers
17. Anonymity and the Absence of Spiritual Hierarchy
18. Reinterpreting Padmasambhava’s Famous Statement
19. Rejecting Karmic Caution in Favor of Total Trust
20. Conclusion: Spontaneity Resolves All
1. Breathing and Open Inquiry
Let’s start this session with a few minutes of breathing.
Now, at this juncture, is there anything that everybody wants to raise? Any issues or questions?
2. Clarifying the Practice of Non-Doing
I have a question about the fire—the red one. Do you maintain the whole visualization all the time? You mean simultaneously with your ordinary sense of body?
Yes. As you're doing it, you are constantly in flames—from the moment you visualize the large Hūṃ burning in the body.
Spinal touch?
Any other issues arising from these two days of retreat?
Yes. I'm still trying to search through the texts. In one of them—I think it's in The Flight of the Garuda—it says: “Don’t even try to imagine or perceive phenomena as an illusion. Don’t even try to perceive phenomena as a magical display. That will take you nowhere.”
Of course, that points to non-action—to not doing anything at all. But what exactly does the text say there? I don’t have The Flight of the Garuda with me. Does anyone have it?
It’s in The Flight of the Garuda, somewhere. The line is something like: “Don’t even try to visualize phenomena as illusion—it’s artificial. Just try not to do anything.”
We need to see the context, because on the surface it sounds strange. But I think the deeper point is this: how do we distinguish real non-doing from just falling into a dull, ordinary egoic state? How do we avoid being artificial in “just being,” and instead rest in genuine, luminous awareness without slipping into sleep or apathy?
That’s my question.
3. The Role of Ritual in Dzogchen
I want to go to a new topic. I'm not going to do anything artificial here. I'm going to fall into normal apathy—the state of bewilderment with identification.
How do we really walk that razor’s edge—not just “not doing” by default, but by recognition?
I’m not sure I see the problem. The meditation structure is a binding into the nature of mind—a binding within awareness. It is relaxing into the nature of awareness without any discrimination whatsoever.
You can do Semdziw or the Iwwer Rushew practices before that. We don’t have much, but we have the Red and Blue hūṃs, the Rainbow Body Semdziw, and Vajrasattva. We have the Nine Breaths. In fact, we have a little session that starts with the Nine Breaths, followed by the refuge prayer, the generation of bodhicitta, then the Red and Blue hūṃs—and then we fall into the “doing nothing” meditation.
This is a ritual. And over these couple of days, we’ve said certain things about ritual. It’s important, but you can’t expect rituals to work mechanically or immediately. That doesn’t happen.
4. The “Doing Nothing” Meditation
What this ritual does is set you up for the synchronicities of grace—at any point in the twenty-four hours—in which the intimation of the nature of mind emerges.
Don’t necessarily expect immediate results from this meditation. Now, if you’ve been doing strong, contrived meditation of any kind, you may be surprised at the immediate effect of doiwg wothiwg.
But if you’ve done no meditation—if you’re not in the habit of any meditation—then you shouldn’t expect some amazing insight.
Do that sitting practice for five or ten minutes. Simply sit. At the end, you can do the Semdziw of the Rainbow Body and sit again. Then finish with the dedication of merit.
A good Dzogchen practice—if you do any other practice, you can slot it in—adds a little bit of dye. If you don’t do any regular practice, then just do five minutes of simply sitting.
5. Dissolving Artificiality in Meditation
So, in Dzogchen practice we have several tools: Dzogchen water, Vajra Sowgapra, the refuge liturgy, the Dzogtig liturgy, the practice of the Red and Blue hūṃs, and then the meditation of non-action.
It’s a ritual that is important—but it doesn’t work immediately on a mechanical level. Rather, it prepares us for the event of synchronicity—to be able to recognize the spontaneous emergence of the nature of mind.
We don’t have to have expectations or wait for results. If you’ve practiced any kind of effortful meditation, you might be surprised by the effect of simply letting go. The recommendation is to practice for five minutes, then do the Semdziw of the Rainbow Body, and finish with the dedication of merit.
After the Semdziw, I’m not sending you off to do anything in particular—just sit and see what arises.
6. The Hūṃ Practice and Projection
It’s a magical display.
What I wanted to say is this: after you sit down, the meditation is nothing. You need to have the same feeling—relaxed, open, present. If you can sit, sit. If you don’t have time to sit formally, still maintain that same quality of awareness.
You can’t do the full series of practices every time—but do whatever you can, every time, with the same attitude. Make simply sitting a regular practice.
But remember: meditation is an exploration. It’s actually the place of questing. And you can do anything you like in that period—as long as there’s an orientation toward non-action.
7. The Hūṃ as Symbol of Rigpa
The visualization of the mind-holder—the Rainbow Body—goes together with any breath. Just imagine it.
Good. Any other questions?
Perhaps a word about the relationship between this Radical Dzogchew and the Dzogchen that most Tibetan teachers will offer you.
8. Dualistic Appearance as Creative Display
I’ve said that you won’t find many teachers offering this Radical Dzogchen. Don’t expect it. That’s not part of their training. But there is no conflict.
What we do here is bring into focus what is already inherent in the graduated- path Dzogchen—after the long journey of preliminary practices, or in any terma- based Dzogchen. Don’t make the distinction an issue. Don’t say, “Why don’t you teach us Atiyoga?” You are being taught Atiyoga—if there’s any Atiyoga in the graduated path, it’s right here.
There’s no conflict. It’s more a matter of seeing the two approaches as two sides of the same coin.
9. Radical Dzogchen vs. Graduated Path Dzogchen
And take this understanding beyond just “Radical Dzogchen” versus “elaborate Dzogchen.” The same Atiyoga applies in any kind of self-improvement practice— yoga, calisthenics, Hindu disciplines, Bhakti Yoga, whatever. That’s our culture.
That’s what we do in our lives.
10. Dzogchen as All-Encompassing Awareness
And Dzogchen—the essential Dzogchen awareness—infuses whatever we do. It takes on another dimension when we’re watching television, eating, socializing— whatever we’re doing. Dzogchen permeates it all.
Whether it’s elaborate Dzogchen, New Age practice, or secular activity—it’s all Dzogchen. All secular activities too, religious or secular. In fact, nothing is excluded. Absolutely nothing.
11. The Illusion of Phenomena and the Danger of Conceptualizing It
If there’s nothing else… well, I have an issue with this idea of “perceiving reality as an illusion.” I understand it intellectually, but it always strikes me as forced.
Related to this: I was thinking about the practice of the hūṃs—where we visualize ourselves as Hūṃ, project it outward, draw it back in, and recognize we are the Hūṃ. Doesn’t this practice help us see that all phenomena are projections of our own mind?
Yes—it’s capable of very profound interpretations, and this is certainly one of them.
12. Familiarization with Rigpa Transforms Experience
You mentioned how we crystallize phenomena—how we see a color, for instance, and immediately solidify it by referencing the past, losing the fluidity of its ever- changing nature. We concretize things into identities. Is there any way this practice helps us see through that?
The answer is: reinforcement of the recognition of rigpa. It’s rigpa that lights everything up. It’s rigpa that dissolves all substance. It’s rigpa that brings us back into the here and now. That is the key.
It all flows from that first recognition—the recognition of reality as it is. What we need is not “more effort,” but familiarization with that revelation. And that is what turns phenomena into magical illusion, turns suffering into joyful display.
Can we do anything to increase that experience?
You’re a very lucky person—you already have it. So no need to worry.
13. The Power of Fearlessness
The question I constantly return to is: how do we truly accept that all phenomena are pure illusion? In reality, it’s difficult to feel that directly.
But the Hūṃ practice—projecting outward, drawing inward—does help us understand that our entire perceived world is a reflection of our own awareness. And yes, it helps profoundly.
The Hūṃ represents the nature of mind. It embodies the clarity, bliss, and awareness of rigpa. It also contains the creativity of rigpa—which appears in dualistic form. But wherever it appears, whatever appears, it has the nature of Hūṃ. The Hūṃ is rigpa.
We don’t deny dualistic perception. But dualistic perception ceases to have any binding effect when we understand it as the spontaneous creativity of the nature of mind.
The Hūṃ is the essence of the internal Dzogchen practice—the most important tool in the Dzogchen yogi’s arsenal.
14. Openness as Infinite Potential
It also helps distinguish peaceful and wrathful forms—though wrath is not “anger.” It’s dynamic clarity.
I want to finish with some commentary on Dilgo Khyentse's advice on “taking Dzogchen onto the path”—that is, bringing Dzogchen into everyday life.
The key here is fearlesswess—the fearlessness of the nature of mind. In Portuguese, it’s translated as “destemor”—the courage to meet all circumstances without barrier.
Fearlessness manifests in everyday relationships—with the environment, with others, with your partner, with yourself—as openness.
15. Fear as the Doorway to Fearlessness
Openness doesn’t just mean absence of social barriers—it means absence of any parameters whatsoever. We can’t go anywhere, say anything, or do anything without it being a transmission. And that gives us vast spaciousness in which to move.
Even the minutest intention can arise and activate in that space—free from social prohibition, personal morality, or internal inhibitors.
So openness here means potential for infinite activity—specifically, altruistic activity. It’s like trembling at the frontier of that possibility.
Everything is possible with understanding of the nature of mind. And this must manifest in the social forum—not remain confined to meditation cushions.
16. The Nature of Mind Destroys All Barriers
Until we’re certain of the ubiquity of rigpa—until we’re sure that everything we do is informed by the nature of mind—we may feel a little nervous. But that very intimation gives us the impulse to continue.
With that understanding, there’s nowhere we cannot walk. And not only that: the openness doesn’t just allow us to function—it gives us joy and playfulness in every situation. If heaviness remains, we’re just collapsing the temple on ourselves.
This is the view that allows infinite engagement.
And if fear arises at the beginning—look into the fear itself. Because in the fear is rigpa. Fear is the doorway into fearlessness. And each time you do this, your confidence increases.
Remember Garab Dorje: by assuming the nature of mind is everywhere—and acting from that assumption—you gain conviction in your practice.
17. Anonymity and the Absence of Spiritual Hierarchy
What we fear is often what we feel guilty about. These are the self-made, socially- conditioned barriers that bind us. With knowledge of rigpa, we walk through them—they’re illusion.
The Buddha is naked—because there’s nothing to hide. There’s nothing to defend. What others think is their own neurosis—you can’t fix that.
We build defenses like the emperor’s new clothes—but there’s actually nothing there. So nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
The nature of mind has no feature, no identity—it’s anonymous. Yet paradoxically, your entire personality is the nature of mind. It assumes innumerable masks, infinite forms—so it can never be pinned down.
This is a significant precept—it opens relationships and dissolves the burden of “spiritual superiority.”
The Dzogchen doctrine stresses equality, sameness, equanimity. Any notion of spiritual hierarchy is like black magic—a subtle trap.
Yes, relatively, some people recognize rigpa more easily than others. But saṃsāra is saṃsāra. Don’t get stuck in relative distinctions. The nature of mind is sameness itself.
18. Reinterpreting Padmasambhava’s Famous Statement
But then—how do we understand Padmasambhava’s famous line: “Though my view is as vast as the sky, my cowduct must be as fiwe as fiour”?
I think that’s another way of saying: ascend with conduct, descend with view. But honestly—I don’t like that quotation.
It sounds like someone is trying to pull us down from the heights of non-dual vision back into karmic caution. We won’t accept that.
Karma resolves itself—instantly—if awareness is sufficiently subtle, strong, and penetrating. You don’t need to “be careful” if rigpa is recognized.
Don’t let the vision run away with you? No—let it run! Trust totally in the vision. Because the vision is non-meditation—and that takes care of everything.
19. Rejecting Karmic Caution in Favor of Total Trust
The fear of karma is like Catholic damnation. Throw that fear away. This is a radical vision.
But what about consequences to others? For example, if I walk naked through the village—won’t old ladies have heart attacks?
If you start calculating the effects of your actions, you’ll never move. You’ll be paralyzed.
Spontaneity takes care of relational dynamics perfectly. There’s nothing spontaneity cannot navigate.
This precept—fearless openness—gives us the basis to do whatever is necessary. Obsession with karmic minutiae leads only to immobility.
20. Conclusion: Spontaneity Resolves All
Spontaneity resolves all. The nature of mind provides food, shelter, clothing—automatically, perfectly, without effort. The Guru provides. You need not worry.
So go forth with total trust—naked, fearless, playful—knowing that rigpa is already accomplishing everything.