Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [21]
WHAT HAS THE POWER TO
TRULY TRANSFORM US?
That seems to be the question for our time. Often raising the right questions—your own real, deep-down, burning questions—may actually be more important than having the right answer, should there even be one. I’m a firm believer in authentic tradition and the wisdom of the ancient experience. Many have walked this sacred path. However it’s not the only way. The haiku poet, Basho, said, “I do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; I seek what they sought.” Each of us must find our own way, at our own speed, and in our own place.
The joy of the Dharma is that it can accommodate an infinite number of forms and styles. In fact, in Asia this has always been recognized; thus there are numerous schools of Buddhism, each of which in turn allows for different levels of personal involvement and commitment, depending on whether you are a monk, nun, teacher, or lay person. The three different schools with which we are most familiar in the West today are Zen Buddhism, Theravadin Buddhism (sometimes called Vipassana), and Tibetan Buddhism. Today we call these the Three Great Traditions.
My own training is as a Tibetan lama. My lineage is called the Rimé, or nonsectarian practicing lineage of Tibet. Most of the teachers we see in the West come from that lineage. My personal teachers came from all four of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug) so a nonsectarian approach resonates with my life experience as well as my understanding of contemporary Dharma. My root gurus were mainly Nyingma-Kagyu; that’s where my greatest devotion lies. My particular spiritual heritage is Dzogchen, often called the consummate practice or secret teachings of Tibet. Some masters have called Dzogchen self-secret, meaning that the truth may be hidden, but it is always there for those ready to perceive it. About the truth of Dzogchen it has been said:
It’s too close so we overlook it.
It seems too good to be true so we can’t believe it.
It’s too profound so we can’t fathom it.
It’s not outside ourselves so we can’t obtain it anew.
DZOGCHEN,
THE NATURAL GREAT PERFECTION
One instant of total awareness is one instant
of perfect freedom and enlightenment.
—THE WISDOM DEITY, MANJUSRI
One ongoing controversy in Buddhism revolves around how long it takes to become enlightened. Some schools feel that enlightenment is a gradual process that takes place over many lifetimes. Dzogchen is a tradition that believes one can become enlightened within one lifetime—even within a decade. The direct path of Dzogchen was first practiced and taught in Tibet by Padma Sambhava 1,300 years ago although it is actually much older than that.
The earliest Indian Dzogchen master, Garab Dorje, who lived two centuries before Jesus Christ, wrote about Dzogchen, saying, “Don’t follow past thoughts, don’t anticipate the future, and don’t follow illusory thoughts that arise in the present; but turning within, observe your own true nature and maintain awareness of your natural mind, just as it is, beyond the conceptual limitations of past, present, and future.”
Dzogchen is a naked awareness practice; it doesn’t depend on cultural forms or unfamiliar deities. In fact, nowness—awareness—is the true Buddha, as my own lamas said. Dzogchen’s unique message is that, by nature, we are all Buddhas for whom enlightenment is possible within this lifetime. In the light of our speeded-up world, many believe that Dzogchen is the teaching for our time.
Contemporary Tibetan teacher Sogyal Rinpoche points out that Dzogchen is particularly