Review
In the Tibetan practice of Dzogchen it is taught that we are all Buddhas by nature - infinitely open, luminous, compassionate, wise and free. In Natural Radiance, Lama Surya Das offers a complete daily practice programme for the personal experience of the 'direct path' of Dzogchen. Use the accompanying CD to experience his teaching in the oral tradition as it was originally transmitted, through guided meditations and chants. Join him as your trusted guide to help you awaken to the sky-like nature of mind, known as rigpa, or total and pure presence. Learn to embody the three cornerstones of Dzogchen: view - the clear-sighted appreciation of things just as they are; meditation - the foundation for an ever-deepening, imperturbable openness to our unity with all things; and action - enlightened conduct that benefits all.
128pp, 152mm x 203mm, softback + 77 min CD, 2007

Extract
Natural Meditation
One instant of total awareness is one instant of
perfect freedom and enlightenment.
-The Wisom Deity, Manjushri

Some people think meditating is closing your eyes and trying not to think, or that meditation is simply a process to calm and clear the mind. That is known as concentrative meditation, or tranquility meditation - a process of creating a special focused state of mind like light or bliss, hearing a celestial sound, or saying a certain mantra. Buddhist meditation practices also include loving-kindness meditations, meditations on compassion, healing meditations, visualization meditations, and many other kinds of meditative disciplines, which you can learn elsewhere.

All forms of mindfulness meditation - the practice of observing things as they are - are 'natural' in the sense that they bring us back to our present experience: reality. In the context of this program, however, 'natural meditation' refers specifically to Dzogchen meditation. Practically speaking, the function of Dzogchen meditation is to awaken naked awareness - a state that exists beyond the realm of conceptual forms, culture, or belief systems.

The essence of Dzogchen meditation is called rangshar rangdrol in Tibetan ('by itself arising,' 'by itself liberating/releasing'). Thus one appreciates the empty yet luminous, vividly appearing form of all created things, outer and inner. Thus, natural meditation is not a process of suppressing thoughts or feelings, nor of being carried away by them, but of simply becoming aware of their spontaneous, unhindered display, their arising and passing on, moment to moment. Like a surfer riding ocean waves, the Dzogchen practitioner does not try to iron out the waves of thought and perception, to flatten out the mind, or to flatline the brain waves. As a skilled surfer knows, the bigger the waves, the better the surfing. For the meditator, it is a process of enjoying the blissful awareness of seeing through things as they arise, and, like the floats in an Easter parade going by, the more the merrier and the better the show. Through this awareness, we can enjoy the process and know that it is just a show by enjoying the display while simultaneously remaining unentangled by it. Tilopa said that it is not outer things but inner clinging and fixation that entangle us.

Dzogchen meditation is based on three vital points: first, natural body as Buddha's body; second, natural breath and energy as Buddha's breath and energy; and, finally, natural heart and mind as Buddha's heart-mind. The instructions are the same in each case; leave it as it is. This acceptance of what is as it is helps us to balance effort and noneffort in our practice of the natural Great Perfection.

Therefore in Dzogchen meditation we practice natural body, natural breath and energy, and natural heart-mind - the 'three naturals' - combined with leaving things as they are, letting be, letting things come and go, seeing things as they are and not as we would like them to be - and certainly not as they are not. With practice, we get used to trusting the ongoing flow and lawful karmic unfolding of things when we simply leave them as they are. We see that things may be empty of solid substantial reality, but they continue to manifest and affect other things, which are also empty of solid substantial reality but have their own effect, which also have to be considered.

In Dzogchen meditation, we witness the continual magical display, moment after moment - like poem after poem, or celestial song after celestial song, what Hindus call the divine dance, maya or lila - of the dance of illusion, arising and continuing and yet without any independent, lasting, substantial solidity or reality. We do not have to suppress or change this continual magical display, but we can recognize if for what it is - our own projections as the display of intrinsic awareness.

Thus, Dzogchen meditation is not really doing anything, which is why it is called nonmeditation or beyond meditation. A Tibetan text refers to it as 'Buddahood without meditating.' In other words, Dzogchen meditation is a process of recognizing our true nature in every moment, not just by crossing our legs and paying attention to our breath, but by deep, penetrating insight and discriminating awareness that discerns the true nature of things as they are.

From Natural Radiance, ?2007 by Lama Surya Das, published by Sounds True.