Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Robert Wolfe - Dzochen: (the) “Great Perfection”


Dzochen has a particular emphasis: perfection. Natural perfection.
That is, that all things are already perfectly okay just as they are.
(Think about it: they have to be, or the universe—and its workings—
would be imperfect; and if there is any such thing as an Intelligence in
operation, it would then be a flawed Intelligence. Dzochen masters
do not allege that they are in touch with a flawed Buddha-mind, rather
a &awless nature.)
Therefore, everything that everyone does—from this point of view—
is inevitably “an expression of a state of complete fulfillment” (as Peter Fenner puts it.)
When one understands, as the Dzochen masters profess to do, that all
is already perfect as it is (“there is nothing but Buddha-mind”), one
must—by extension—apply this to one’s self. (And, by further
extension, to all “other” selves.)
Therefore, one realizes that a person’s every activity is “just as it
should be”.
Recognizing that one’s every activity (physical, mental or otherwise)
is already just as it should be—in reality, must be—why would (an
enlightened) one make any concerted effort to try to change anything
whatsoever? Hence, Fenner’s phrase, “one (consciously reflecting
Buddha-nature) doesn’t intervene in or meddle with one’s [momentto-
moment] experience…”
As a consequence of this surrender of volition (doer-ship), one’s
behavior “is natural, unaffected, unmanipulated and free from
contrivance”. We could suppose that someone who met Buddha
might describe his demeanor with just such a phrase.
When your viewpoint is that everything is perfectly okay just as it is,
and you decline to interfere and meddle in the way things are
developing, would we describe this absence of involvement as a
“discipline”? To someone who is essentially “doing nothing”, it could
hardly be considered a discipline (apart from the root of the word:
disciple; in which case, yes, he’s a disciple of Buddha). To someone
who has no comprehension as to how the Dzochen master has
assumed such equanimity, she would probably suppose that awesome
discipline was involved!
Fenner points out that “the only discipline in Dzochen” is to remain in
your original condition: that is, the state of your mind before you ever
had any conceptual ideas such as “imperfection” as opposed to
“perfection”. He refers to this as the “natural and This is all that any of the Dzochen teachers are asking anyone to do:
drop all the ideas about everything. Witness the perfection of
Buddha-nature in all that occurs—inwardly or outwardly.
Buddha claims this condition is bliss, peace, perfection.


you can download a free pdf of Robert Wolfe's book: "Living nonduality" on his website: Here

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