James Low
Todtmoos-Au, 12-14 June 2009
Dzogchen Retreat “Garab Dorje’s Three Statements, hitting the main point” by Patrul Rinpoche. Part 1.
James continued with Part 2 of this teaching in October 2010 at Todtmoos.
Transcribed by Sarah Allen and Matthias Steingass, who also lightly edited it.
Read the transcript here.
Watch the video of the retreat here.
Excerpts
…From the point of view of dzogchen, there is no demand that we or others act in any particular way. You don’t have to bow to the Buddha, you don’t have to burn butter lamps nor do you have to do any kind of ritual. This ancient tradition is simply concerned to awaken people to who and how they actually are and through that, to experience a feeling of ease, of being at home in their own skin, and in the world as it is…
…By relaxing into the natural state the busy turbulence of life is revealed as the energy of that natural state. The turbulence does not stop; there is still energy going on, there is power, there are all sorts of things moving but now we understand where it all comes from and we see that we are always – always and already – participants in it.
This is a river we can’t step out of but by relaxing in the natural condition we find a better way to swim and by swimming with ease and grace we can encourage other people to stop doing doggy paddle and learn something a little bit more elegant…
Contents
Day one. Friday. General Introduction
The Many buddhist views or: the path and the forest
The Inner map, the territory and mindfulness
Thought and the ungraspable flow of experience
The Mood to be alive and the root of self
Shiné with fixation
Shiné without fixation
Day Two, Saturday. The Text
We are active constructors of our experience
About the author: Patrul Rinpoche
The Root Text
The Teacher
View, meditation, conduct
Gaining enlightenment in one lifetime
The First Essential Point: experience
Explanation of the practice
Meditational experiences
The Difference to tantric practice
The Second Essential Point: making a decision
The Third Essential Point: simply being
Whatever arises nourishes the naked, empty awareness
To be realistic
The Three transmissions
Patrul Rinpoche’s Commentary on his own text
Original knowing (Yeshe)
The Essential part of the transmission: only you can show this to yourself
Getting nothing by getting the joke
Day Three. Sunday. The Text
Direct naked awareness
Co-emergent ignorance
A Narrow door
The Mind as it is
The Truth of the origin of suffering
One antidote is enough
Giving everything, gaining all: compassion
Hospitality
Clarity
