Sky Mind

One of the wonders of Dharma is that the entire path, as a macrocosm, can be expressed and understood through each microcosm of teaching within it. Any and every teaching is an exposition of the entire path. Lama Tharchin Rinpoche said when he came to visit Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen in Cardiff in 1996, that he had know yogis and yoginis in Tibet who had achieved realisation through the practice of the Seven Line Invocation of Guru Rinpoche alone. He was teaching on the subject of this practice – the Dorje Tsigdün (rDo rJe tshig bDun) – and wanted Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen’s students to understand the great wealth of teaching contained within the seven lines. “This,” he said “contains all levels of teaching within the three classes of Inner Tantra.”Every method or practice reflects the essence of the entire path. Any teaching can be understood on several different levels – or can be viewed from several differing perspectives. This may remain invisible to us even after years of study, and then suddenly, startlingly, reveal itself through the inspired teaching of one’s Lama. We may suddenly realise that our teacher has departed from a linear presentation and that the topic has mysteriously evolved into a three-dimensional exposition of another facet of Dharma that seemed previously unrelated. To experience a teaching in this way is to become aware of spontaneous lyricism – engaging with the teaching as a subtle musical composition. We may catch a glimpse of the logical yet magical matrix of subtlety which emerges from a single principle. We may discover the matrix emerging from this single principle is functional rather than mysterious, so that the complete path is revealed in its subtle simplicity.Many times I have sat in front of my own Tsawa’i Lamas, Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen, and experienced their capacity as teachers in this way. I remember once listening to them teaching on the subject of the six realms of being. Ngak’chang Rinpoche

was discussing the way in which we may experience the same situation or environment quite differently at particular times in our life. We may find a situation hellish, or like a paradise, dependent on our mood or circumstances. As an example they suggested the experience of a busy city street as exciting at one time, but frightening at another, comfortingly busy at one time, but overwhelmingly hectic at another. Khandro Déchen continued that we may find the busy street rich and interesting, glittering with the clarity of reflective surfaces, vividly fascinating, elaborately varied in the number of differing sights and sounds it offered, or spaciously open. This expression of five qualities of perception, refers to the qualities of the elements of earth, water, fire, air and space respectively. Hence the teaching had expanded to encompass the dance of the elements, within the context of the six realms of cyclic existence. In referring to perception changing our experience, Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen were also referring to karma as perception and response, and to bardo as the experience of the changing moment.This versatility could appear at first as complicated and overwhelming. There is magic and mystery in Dharma but only in the way in which language is a mystery to a newborn. A newborn baby has the potential to fully understand language. We can reasonably expect that in time infants will master the intricacies and subtleties of their native tongue. By one year of age, a child can understand many words spoken to them and speak a few themselves. Continual contact with language gradually enables the magic and mystery of language to unfold as a logical and straightforward system which can be learned. Similarly there is nothing in Dharma that is beyond human scope. The principles and methods of Dharma do not arise from another world with which we have no contact. I do not have to travel to some other place or develop superhuman powers in order to approach the methods of Dharma and experience their benefits. I already possess all I need to realise my capacity for happiness and freedom from confusion. The magic of Dharma is the sparkling openness that I can discover through engaging with

practice. The mystery of Dharma is the subtle adjustment of view through which I can find liberation. Complete release from the constraints of ordinary limited view is made possible through the reflectivity of the Lama.To give an example of how one’s Lama can offer an alternative, objective view, I recount this story. Opposite the venue for a day of teachings in 2003, was a derelict school with nearly all the windows smashed. As I verbalised my disapproval of the vandalism, Ngak’chang Rinpoche quietly observed that it was pretty skilful stone-throwing that succeeding in smashing the uppermost windows, and that it must have been a satisfying experience. I was jolted into an awareness of the two viewpoints. I allowed these two ‘opposing’ viewpoints to play in my mind, without indulging the need to decide which was the ‘correct’ view. A tantrika1 recognises the naked clarity of energy without limiting it through moralistic or conventional definitions: of ‘misdeed’ for destroying a building or of ‘skill’ for the accuracy of aim. Vajrayana2 dances with such ambiguity. I was well aware that Ngak’chang Rinpoche was not speaking from a laissez-fair attitude concerning vandalism – but simply offering me the opportunity to become aware of my knee-jerk response to this particular aspect of life circumstances.The teachings and practices of Dharma introduce us to the nature of reality, but this introduction is approached from several perspectives. Dharma is a pragmatic system which works with how we find ourselves to be, and the reality of what we actually are. We do not have to be a particular type of person to discover our potential to realise our innate enlightenment. We do not have to arrive at an extremely specific point to embrace Dharma, other than the reasonable-faith which arises having tested the methods of Dharma and found them to be efficacious. It may be necessary for some people to experience the despair of finding that even success in ordinary life does not bring eternal, everlasting pleasure – but despair can become a hindrance, especially if we come to associate everyday life with samsara3. All we require is the capacity to be inspired,

and the will to engage in the spiritual practices to which that inspiration directs us.Ngak’chang Rinpoche pointed out on one occasion that:“ . . . to be disgusted with samsara is not to be disgusted with life. Disgust for samsara is not predicated upon one’s failure to function in society and one’s craving to seek the sanctuary of a Dharma centre where one never need be troubled again by having to satisfy the requirements of one's employers. Disgust with samsara is simply the knowledge that no matter how wonderful we make our lives we can never reach a point at which we can rest in that pleasure. True disgust for samsara is the suspicion which arises from being competent and successful. We have to be able to repeatedly obtain what we desire in order to realise that fulfilment merely completes a cycle and leaves us needing to instigate another cycle. This realisation does not necessarily guide us toward renunciation in order to cut through the self-defeating cycles of samsara. We could, with the aid of a Lama, continue to follow desire – but with the knowledge that the fruit of desire is empty, and as glorious only as the path toward its attainment.”The Dharma of Tibet presents and categorises the teachings in different ways, which are known as vehicles (theg pa – yana). A vehicle is that which allows you to move from one place to another. It is a means of travelling. The Nyingma Tradition describes nine yanas of the teachings (theg pa dGu). From the point of view of Dzogchen4, each vehicle is a complete path because it has a base (a place to begin), a path (methods of practice which take you from the base to the result), and a fruit (the results of practice), but in reality the vehicles are rarely practised in isolation. Practitioners embrace aspects of all or many of the vehicles. The nine vehicles of the Nyingma Tradition are: the Shravakayana5 the Pratyékabuddhayana6, and the Bodhisattvayana7; plus the six Tantric vehicles, divided into Outer and Inner Tantra.Shravakayana, Pratyékabuddhayana and Bodhisattvayana can be classified as Sutrayana8. The

first five Tantras are classified as Secret Mantrayana,9

and the sixth, Atiyoga, is classified as Dzogchen. ‘Vajrayana’ is the term employed for all the six Tantras. Kriya Tantra, Upa or Carya Tantra, and Yoga Tantra are the three Outer Tantras. Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga are the three Inner Tantras. The experience of the nine vehicles relates directly to the personal process of emerging spiritual awareness from the earliest stage of interest, but this is often obscured by the sense in which they are misunderstood to be separately codified religious approaches.Let me give an example of the process of emerging awareness, in terms of my own experience. When I first became interested in Buddhism, I read a great deal. I was fascinated by the ideas and methods I studied, but I did little more than read for a couple of years. I read the words, but did not identify their relevance in terms of applying them to my own life circumstances. This was Shravakayana. I was hearing or reading about Dharma but only engaging with it in an intellectual or philosophical manner, rather than feeling it had relevance in my life. Then something prompted me to actually try out the methods and receive teachings directly from a Lama. Through experiences of unhappiness and dissatisfaction in my life, I was prompted to move my intellectual interest in Buddhism to another stage. I had developed some confidence that Dharma could provide methods by which I could travel the path to happiness. It was my experience of pain and suffering which prompted my actions. I wanted to end my pain and suffering, so I began the path of the solitary realiser – Pratyékabuddhayana. I started to practise for my own benefit, in the hope of improving my situation. However, once I started to practise with a greater degree of commitment, I began to see the benefits in my life, and the changes in my state of mind. Conscious of this, I become increasingly aware that there were many other beings around me who were also finding their experience of life painful and unsatisfying. At this point I understood that I could not disconnect myself from others, and that it was not actually possible to be truly happy when others around me were so obviously unhappy. In this way I naturally

began to move toward some experience of the mind of bodhicitta10, and to enter the path of Bodhisattvayana. This development in my view made me want to live my life in a manner that would do as little harm to others as possible and, hopefully, would benefit them in some way.The six levels of Tantra can also be viewed in terms of how they reflect human psychological development from infancy to adulthood. Dharma is a natural system. It is not fabricated. The spacious nature of the mind can be discovered through the methods of Dharma. The methods themselves have spontaneously arisen as a response to the expression of confusion and pain of beings. The practices of Dharma were not created through someone having had an idea about how to solve a problem. They arise as a natural, realised response. When we are thirsty we drink – we do not have to fabricate a reason for drinking when we are thirsty: drinking is simply a natural response. Dharma arises through the needs of beings. Dharma reflects every nuance of human experience. Ngak’chang Rinpoche said of this:“Dharma is limitless because dualistic confusion is limitless. Dharma is non-dual response to the confusion of beings. For every question there is a teaching response. For every style of incomprehension there exists a possibility for a new expression of Dharma. This is why there is no final comprehensive book of Dharma. Naturally everything can be succinctly expressed – but that which is succinctly expressed does not always allow the transmission of understanding to everyone. It is not the fault of Dharma that people do not understand – rather it is the richness of Dharma as an infinite well which allows explanation to become exponential via the exegesis of a realised Master.”Although Tantra is advanced view, method, and behaviour, we can make analogies with developmental psychology and also with the experience of approaching the spiritual path. Everything within Dharma speaks of everything else and when Dharma is understood, then everything else begins to speak about Dharma.

The Aro gTér11 speaks in terms of three vehicles: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen rather than the nine yanas classification system. This perspective is common to the Dzogchen teachings in which the Aro gTér is based. From the perspective of the nine yanas of the Nyingma tradition, Dzogchen can also be understood as the highest of the inner Tantras, Atiyoga Tantra. From the Dzogchen perspective, Sutrayana and Vajrayana roughly equate with Sutra and Tantra, with the most subtle of Vajrayana teachings forming a separate vehicle as Dzogchen.When approached as a separate vehicle, Dzogchen also has a base, a path, and a fruit. Its base, path, and fruit are spontaneity – the natural, unfabricated flow of the continuum of non-dual perception. The base is the experience of non-duality, the path is remaining in the experience of non-duality, and the fruit is the continuation of the experience of non-duality. In Dzogchen symbol is no longer employed, as it was in Tantra. The Lama introduces the student directly to the experience of the non-duality of emptiness and form and the practice is to remain there.Fundamental teachings normally associated with Sutrayana can open out in great depth and subtlety in terms of each of the nine yanas. An example of this can be found in the Ulukhamukha Dakini Upadesha Sutra (The Owl-faced Dakini’s Heart Essence Sutra)12 of the Aro gTér, which presents Sutra from the perspective of Dzogchen. The Owl-faced Dakini protects the subtlety of these teachings from misinterpretation, through the unfathomable simplicity of its expression. She guards the knowledge that Dharma is self-defined, inasmuch as each expression explains and interprets every other expression in such a way that the nine yanas are dissolved into Ekayana13, the solitary vehicle of Dzogchen.It is important to gain some understanding of the language of Dharma and a perspective of the differing paths. Once we understand that teachings can be approached from differing perspectives, and that these approaches are all valid within their own context, even if they appear to contradict one another, we can start to

grasp the idea of every teaching arising functionally from a single principle. We can begin to glimpse the possibility of engaging with the simple single principle of Buddhism, out of which arise all the various methods of practice. We can begin to approach the functional matrix of Buddhist method with confidence.So what is the simple single essential principle of Buddhism? The essence of Buddhism is expressed in the statement made in the Heart Sutra14: ‘Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form’. Every other topic in Buddhism is an expansion of this, or a method of approaching this realisation. The entire explanation of our experience of our lives as unsatisfactory, and of separation from our beginningless enlightened nature, can be expressed as our compulsion to split emptiness and form. Through refusing to relax into the reality of ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form’, we create all our misery of obduracy, fear, loneliness, anxiety, and despair.We attempt to split emptiness and form and try to exist only in form. We hang on to form compulsively, convinced that emptiness is our enemy. When we do experience emptiness, we attempt to change things or fill the empty space as quickly as possible to re-establish form. We believe our security lies in form, and only in form. We feel that emptiness undermines form and that this is the reason we experience unhappiness. If we could just get rid of emptiness, everything would be perfect. We associate emptiness with pain and unhappiness and we constantly cling to form references to try and avoid unhappy emptiness experiences. This process of separating emptiness and form is called dualism.But it is not possible to become truly happy without embracing emptiness as a friend. In reality, emptiness and form are indivisible, non-dual, but we only recognise form as desirable. We do not need to acquaint ourselves with form because this is our addiction. We know form as the manifestation of ourselves as tangible beings who can experience the perceptions of our sense fields and can think and perceive. We recognise the form of other beings. We

interact with the forms of the objects that make up our world. We define some of these things as desirable, while other things we decide we do not want around us. Then there are objects and experiences that we never bother to check out at all. It is no problem for us to understand the realm of form, so to begin with we must acquaint ourselves with emptiness. The first step to understanding the principle of ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form’ is to examine what is meant by emptiness.What exactly is meant by emptiness and how do I experience it? Let us look at three ways that I can explore the experience of emptiness in my life. I tag everything that I experience through my senses and cognition, as a reference point – in terms of its ability to sustain the sense of myself as a solid, permanent, separate, continuous and defined being. The first way I can look at emptiness, is through the simple understanding of loss: of things ending, of people and things ceasing to be part of my life. I become separated from people and things that I love. Possessions get lost or broken and I experience a sense of emptiness because that reference point no longer exists within my sphere of definition. Experiences I enjoy come to an end, and relationships change and end. These are all situations in which I experience the emptiness of changing definitions in my life. Emptiness arises when things cease to be important in my life. The car that was once my pride and joy is now old and rusty and I am enjoying looking for its replacement. The pleasure of appreciation has ended with regard to the old car – it has dissolved into emptiness. Sometimes I experience the emptiness of change as a painful loss; sometimes I am glad of the opportunity to refresh a situation or move on. Whatever my response, these situations are times when emptiness happens in my life.Emptiness is change. Emptiness is not always a negative thing, but we tend to associate it with the more painful times of our life and develop the misunderstanding that emptiness is undesirable. In fact none of the happy and desirable things in our life can occur without emptiness. The baby cannot be born

without the end of the pregnancy. The marriage cannot take place without the engagement ending. The sculpture cannot be created without the form of the clay changing. The picture cannot be painted without the tubes of paint being used up. The stars cannot be appreciated without the daylight dissolving into night.The second approach to emptiness is analytical examination. The purpose of an analytical approach is to discover that objects and situations are empty of inherent existence. If you are sitting in a chair to read this book, you may be resting the book on your lap. Imagine you now stand up to go and get a cup of tea. Your lap has disappeared. You have not maintained your lap as you walk to the kitchen. The lap was a conceptual imputation placed upon a particular position of your body, but it does not exist from its own side. It is empty of inherent existence. You do not somehow have to extract the lap-ness from your legs, and lay it aside for next time you sit down. What happens if you cannot remember where you left your lap and you sit down? Things can start to become a little incongruous when we look at things this way, and we can glimpse an understanding of how nonsensical it is in reality to view form without the possibility of emptiness.Another example commonly given to indicate the emptiness of inherent existence, is to take an object like a table. Generally a table has a top and four legs. If I remove the legs from the top and place them in a heap on the floor, does the table still exist? If I remove two legs so that the top slants down to the floor, could we still define it as a table? What is required in order for the definition ‘table’ to be placed upon the sum of its parts? This can be a fascinating intellectual exercise to arrive at an understanding of emptiness. The examples that can be used and analysed in this way are endless. Inevitably, analytical analysis can make the imputation of an inherent, unchanging form definition on any object or situation look illogical. Yet this is the way we relate to form. Our relationship with form is far from logical. It does not hold up to even the most superficial logical examination.

We approach form as though it exists solidly, permanently, separately in its own right, continuously and with definition. We also take this approach to what we are as beings. I feel that there is something about me that is solid, that is always with me throughout my life, and I fear its loss at death. I feel that I am permanent, that there is something about me which never changes. I believe I exist as a separate, inherent personality, independent of others. I feel that memory confirms my continuity, as I can remember feeling like myself throughout my lifetime. I have a feeling of definition: that I am a certain type of person, with opinions and preferences, and a definite physical form. I get upset when a person or situation challenges these feelings of definition. I feel decidedly uncomfortable if I am ignored, because this creates a moment of awareness that for that person in that moment I do not exist. This can be frightening.When I look at photograph albums I can see that I have changed radically over the years. I can remember reactions to events in my life and may feel that I would not react like that now. The distress I felt at accidentally dropping my favourite teddy out of the window of a moving bus when I was two years old would not be the same if the loss occurred in adulthood. Yet still I have this notion that somewhere, possibly in my head, there is a something that has always been there and will always be there, unchanging and unchangeable. Even if I know from science that the tissue of my body has changed completely by every seventh year, and that the functions of my brain are chemical and electrical, I still have the feeling of a self-existent self.We cling to this idea of an inherent self because we feel it is the only way we can be safe. Form is our security blanket. Form is the territory I can accumulate or the possessions I can consume that will finally make me happy and secure. Form is the aggression I can manifest to protect me from my enemies, or the state of nervous tension that keeps me alert to all dangers. Form is the ignorance in which I can choose to dwell to numb myself to the pain I see around me.

The third way that we can discover emptiness is through spiritual practice. There are many meditation techniques that teach us how to allow the content of mind to settle, so that we can experience the nature of mind without thought. I feel that I am the chatter that goes on in my mind. I ideate continually. I think about what just happened; I think about what I wish I had said; I think about what you just said; I plan what I am going to do in the future; I analyse and judge what I have done in the past; I evaluate the present on past experience, attempting to categorise it into something familiar. My conceptual mind is always full of the buzz and chatter of thought, emotion, sensation, memory, and I feel that this is the nature of what I am. I think about who I am and what I want. I make plans and practise conversations. I develop an image of the type of person I think I am and collate my opinions and ideas. I think that I am the chatter of mind.The definition of who I am might become quite substantial. I might feel I cannot leave the house without wearing makeup, or a particular type of clothing. I may feel I have to drive a certain type of car and have a particular type of job. When life throws all our definitions into the air and ruthlessly re-shuffles the cards of our circumstances, it can plunge us into despair. This can happen through an unpleasant occurrence such as the loss of one’s job, or it can happen through a desired event such as winning the lottery. Sudden and radical change can produce disorientating and disconcerting experiences of emptiness.Meditation techniques allow the chatter of the mind to subside. Ultimately this is the only way that we can embrace the experience of emptiness and make emptiness our friend in anything like a controlled manner. Life circumstances bring us face to face with emptiness, but are unlikely to offer a method for us to learn to savour the experience. Analytical thinking may provide us with an intellectual understanding of emptiness, but it lacks the timbre of real connection at the level of feeling. Meditation enables us to make contact with emptiness in our innermost being.

To engage with the experience of emptiness through the practice of meditation is simple and direct. I begin to recognise the chatter of the mind as superficial. I discover a deep well of stillness that exists behind the chatter. I begin to recognise the ebb and flow of conceptual mind and the still potential of the nature-of-mind.We could call these two aspects cloud mind and Sky Mind. Cloud mind is the ebb and flow of conceptual mind, and Sky Mind is the still potential of the nature-of-mind. Clouds arise in the sky, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of sky. Sky always has the potential for cloud to arise. Cloud is a natural aspect of sky, but sky is not limited by cloud. Sky exists irrespective of cloud, but cloud cannot exist irrespective of sky.We could call this wave mind and Ocean Mind. Waves arise on the ocean, flit across it and decorate it, but do not limit or define the vast empty blueness of ocean. Ocean always has the potential for waves to arise. Waves are a natural aspect of ocean, but ocean is not limited by waves. Ocean exists irrespective of waves, but waves cannot exist irrespective of ocean.Sky Mind exists without the disturbance of the clouds of chatter. Sky Mind is the empty ground of what we are. We can discover Sky Mind through letting go of the chatter of cloud mind and dwelling in the space of sky-without-clouds, mind-without-chatter. We can discover Ocean Mind through letting go of the chatter of wave mind and dwelling in the space of ocean-without-waves, mind-without-chatter. Then we can begin to feel comfortable with emptiness. Emptiness can become less threatening and we can start to welcome it into our lives and our being. We can begin to enjoy the freedom emptiness offers us. We can begin to enjoy freedom from the dominion of cloud formations. We can let go of the need to surf through every moment of every day.Through ordinary experience, intellectual analysis, and meditational discovery, we can learn to recognise emptiness and to become more comfortable with it. We can learn to feel less panicky when emptiness occurs in

our lives, and to open ourselves to dwelling in that space-without-reference. Once we have discovered something of the nature of emptiness and have recognised that we habitually interpret all experience through its form content, we can begin to look at the relationship of emptiness and form. We can realise that craving form and fearing emptiness is only one particular viewpoint. Through discovering tranquillity in meditational emptiness, we can begin to wonder at the status of form and emptiness as opposing factors in our experience of happiness or dissatisfaction. We can begin to wonder about the phrase: ‘Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.’ We can stare at the statement Chenrézigs added when making his declaration to Shariputra in the Heart Sutra: “Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form. That which seems like emptiness is form, and that which seems like form is emptiness. You will not find emptiness apart from form; or form apart from emptiness.”We are addicted to establishing our existence through form because form maintains the illusion of inherent selfness. It is as if we feel that if we do not continually check our existence against form-based reference points, we might wink out of existence. The idea of inherent selfness makes us feel secure. We feel safe with the notion that there is something unchanging and real within us. Yet the basis of this idea of safety in form is completely illogical. We know from experience that everything eventually is lost to us. Things disappear out of my life, they break, or they cease to exist. If they do not die – then I will. We actually know that form is inherently unreliable. Ultimately form ceases to be solid. It is impermanent. Nothing exists in complete isolation but only dependently upon other forms. No form is continuous and unchanging. Definition is only relative to that which defines. We cling to form as if we believe the form that we are relying upon is bound to be an exception to these rules.If pressed we can actually work out for ourselves that life-without-change would be both undesirable and impossible. If I were suddenly able to snap my fingers

and make form totally independent of emptiness I should find myself in quite a pickle. The food in my gut would not break down, but remain solid and permanent. Breathing and circulation would cease because the breath in my lungs could not change, but would have to be permanent and continuous in the state it existed at the snap of my fingers. I would suddenly discover that no-one could see me or communicate with me, because I had become entirely separate and defined, and no longer connected to others’ definitions and the functioning of their senses. I would find that I could not move, because the space in which every phenomenon manifests had become fixed and unable to flex with the movement and change of the matter within it. To provide some horribly pretty analogies: life-without-emptiness would mean that it was always winter but never Christmas - the flowers in our vase would never die – new life in the soil could not grow and blossom – children would never grow up and become independent.I would be fixed in the mood in which I found myself at the snap of my fingers. Those experiencing illness would never have the chance to recover. The tune in your mind would be there forever. You would be doomed to run that ditty over and over for eternity. I could never let go of that moment of anger. Such images are effete, fanciful, and grotesque by turns but perhaps they afford a glimpse of the ubiquitous presence of emptiness in our lives.Perhaps we can start to get a feel for what could be meant by non-duality. The essence of Buddhism is the statement made in the Heart Sutra: ‘Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form’, and every other topic is an expansion and method of approaching this realisation. From my perspective, as a practitioner, the only way to realise the principle of ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form’ is to engage in Dharma. Although the circumstances of our lives offer many opportunities to realise form as emptiness and emptiness as form, we are not able to take advantage of these without the methods of Dharma. Although our lives offer many glimpses of the sparkling-through of our beginningless

non-dual state, we are not able to recognise them without the perspective of the view of Dharma. The specific approach of this book will be an examination of the teaching on ‘the four thoughts that turn the mind to practice’. I shall explore how these thoughts offer us a way to engage with Dharma and begin to discover the realisation of ‘form is emptiness and emptiness is form.’Questioner: If reality is non-dual surely there must be times when we experience this?Ngakma Nor'dzin: Well yes . . . that would seem to be likely. Sadly however, we are more intent on proving we exist. This is a big distraction from that possibilty. When such moments of clarity sparkle through we usually run.Q: Proving we exist?NN: Yes. This is samsara – the process of attaching to form as if it were ultimately solid, permanent, inherently separate and self existent, continuous and totally defined. And this is how we define ourselves as well. Samsara is the social context of dualism – the process I engage in to avoid experiences of emptiness. I do not want to lose the good things in my life; I wish to avoid the things I view as bad; and I ignore things that seem to have nothing to do with my happiness or pain. In other words, I try to keep the good things happening, try to stop the bad things happening and ignore the rest.Q: But what about non-dual experiences?NN: Well, since the reality of our existence is that emptiness and form are undivided, inevitably we do experience non-duality in our lives, but we tend to interpret it as emptiness and run away from it.Q: Why would we interpret it as emptiness?NN: Because we have no experience of non-duality. We are so oriented toward form that we mistake non-duality for emptiness because it isn’t total form. We filter all experience through our dualistic perspective. Within the flicker of a moment of non-duality, we recognise the form quality as familiar, but view the emptiness quality as unfamiliar and frightening. So we

tend to interpret the colour of the experience as the scary, unfamiliar aspect of emptiness. This makes us grasp for the apparently more solid, defined form aspect with which we feel comfortable. We destroy the non-duality of the experience by running away from the emptiness and grasping at the form.Q: But really all experience is non-dual?NN: Yes. Emptiness and form undivided are chö*, Dharma, ‘as it is’. This is the fundamental reality we can discover through practice. However, because we are so unfamiliar with and afraid of emptiness, we actually experience moments of non-duality as emptiness and avoid them by retracting into form. We are all aware of moments of potential non-duality – we may surprise ourselves with a moment of spontaneous generosity, or an extraordinary feeling of clarity and awareness about a situation, or feeling one’s heart open with a wish to be kind to another being for no apparent reason, or finding we just know what is needed in a situation and being able to act. These are moments which, if analysed, do not seem to substantiate our form-ness, and in fact encompass a sense of our emptiness.*Chö/Chod (gcod). 1) Literally 'cutting.' A system of practices based on Prajnaparamita and set down by the Indian siddha Phadampa Sangye and the Tibetan female teacher Machig Labdrön for the purpose of cutting through the four Maras and ego-clinging. One of the Eight Practice Lineages of Buddhism in Tibet. 2) a tantric system based on Prajnaparamita and introduced to Tibet by dam pa sangs rgyas in which all attachment to one's self is relinquished. ma gcig lab sgron, an incarnation of ye shes mtsho rgyal, was a central figure in the propagation of this teaching. [Rangjung Yeshe]Q: Yes I’ve had moments like that and they do feel good.NN: Well this is not so surprising, really, as the true nature of reality is non-duality. There may be other times when we allow ourselves to be empty in order to be inspired by something or someone outside of ourselves. Often we have to let go of the rigidity of our concepts about the world in order to get a joke. Much humour involves the juxtaposition of two ideas, or the

recognition of the strange games we play and identities we adopt. And there are experiences like sneezing and orgasm.Q: Sneezing and orgasm!NN: [Laughs] These are experiences where one has to allow the moment to be what it is – you have to relax and let go. Such moments offer the potential of a non-dual experience. If we let go of the process of checking, judging, categorising or defining... you can’t be worrying whether you are looking okay or crumpling the sheets in the build-up to orgasm – you have to enter into it in a naked and direct manner... no pun intended [laughter]. And there is also laughter – Khandro Déchen once said that if you were laughing during orgasm and happened to sneeze, you might well surprise yourself into a fleeting moment of non-duality.Q: I’m still a little confused about Sutrayana and Vajrayana and how this fits in with Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen.NN: This is a complex subject and can take a long time to fully understand. Often people’s first experience of Dharma is Sutrayana. Dharma is presented by all four schools of Tibet through the Sutrayana approach. The base of these teachings is an understanding of the lack of lasting satisfaction in our lives and suspicion about the processes of samsara that we repeat over and over again. The path is to understand the emptiness of those processes.Q: So the path of Sutrayana is about emptiness?NN: Yes. We aim to cut the activities that compound dissatisfaction and grasping at form, and encourage practices that open us to emptiness. The methods we are likely to encounter are practices to calm the mind, to develop equanimity in our view of ourselves and others, and to open our hearts to the blossoming of an attitude of loving kindness. These practices all place us in a more open and empty position with regard to our usual relationship with our own thought process and with other beings.Q: And then there is Vajrayana?

NN: That’s right. Here the emphasis is placed differently. It is a more dynamic approach. Our experience of dissatisfaction is not used as the focus for practice. Rather the quality of the way we engage with the processes of samsara is examined. We harness the energy of our emotions as the path to transform distorted being into enlightened manifestation. Sutrayana is the path of renouncing attachment to form, whereas Vajrayana actively engages in working with form.Q: And Dzogchen?NN: When talking about Sutrayana and Vajrayana, Dzogchen is included in Vajrayana as the highest of the Inner Tantras, Atiyoga Tantra. However when Dzogchen is viewed as a separate yana, then we talk about Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen: the paths of renunciation, transformation and spontaneous realisation.Q: Previously we talked about Buddhism being a religion. It seems more obvious that Vajrayana is religious practice, because yidam15-practice seems to require a lot of faithNN: Yes I can see how you could think that. It is perhaps not so much faith as confidence that develops – confidence in the person who is offering you the symbolic method. After this initial leap based on confidence, once we embrace symbolic method, we can discover for ourselves that it is efficaciously practical. Sutrayana could be said to be more immediately approachable in that its base is the experience of dissatisfaction – and yet many people do not find renunciation a path that can be easily reconciled with ordinary daily life. The ultimate expression of the path of Sutrayana is celibate monasticism, so its practice within ordinary life can feel like a compromise. Vajrayana requires the experiential base of emptiness, which could be said to be less immediately accessible. However, emptiness can simply be an openness or devotion to the teacher that enables us to receive transmission and engage with symbolic method. As Vajrayana works with how we find ourselves – the pattern of our emotions and personality, and our life

circumstances – the path of transformation is extremely applicable to ordinary life.Q: So these two paths have quite different qualities?NN: They do, and this is what can be so confusing. People can tend to assume that one of them must be the ‘right’ path, and that their apparent contradictions mean that they negate each other. However, if you can understand the principle and function of the different yanas of Dharma, then there is no need to feel confusion or doubt. Sutrayana views enlightenment as a seed that needs to be discovered, nurtured and allowed to develop. Whereas Vajrayana holds the view that all beings are beginninglessly enlightened. It has to be understood that from the perspective of practice as method – rather than truth – it doesn’t matter that these paths appear to contradict each other.Q: Ngala ’ö-Dzin once used the example of people’s glasses as an explanation of method rather than truth.NN: Ah yes. That is a good example. The fact that I could not see clearly through your glasses and you could not see through mine, does not nullify spectacles as a method for the correction of sight. Your glasses are a method, not a truth, so it is fine for your prescription to be different to mine. It is the same in Dharma. One does not have to view Sutrayana as ‘wrong’ in order to practise Vajrayana, and vice versa. From the perspective of Sutrayana, enlightenment involves a long journey of removing the obstacles to realisation. From the perspective of Vajrayana, our distortion and negativity are seen as reflections of our enlightened nature that naturally sparkles. The ordinary way in which we manifest in our lives is seen as a distortion of our enlightened nature, and the focus is on transforming the distorted energy into its enlightened form.Q: So enlightened me will not be so obviously different from unenlightened me?NN: Yes. That is it exactly. The symbolic methods of the highest Inner Tantra offered by the Lama act as a pure mirror to allow us to see ourselves as we really are. We

then continue to be ordinary in an extraordinary manner. Through cooperating with the raw material of our distortion, reflected in the symbolic mirror of the practices of Vajrayana, and through interaction with the Lama, we are transformed into realised beings.Q: But this transformation may not be apparent to most people?NN: Quite so. It is said that Buddhas see ordinary people as Buddhas, while ordinary people see Buddhas as ordinary people.The object of Dharma is to point the practitioner in the direction of realising the non-duality of emptiness and form. Sutrayana says you have to become comfortable with emptiness first. Vajrayana says you can approach it through devotion and the empty form of symbol as transmitted by your Lama. Dzogchen says you can simply enter it directly through the skilful means of your Lama. These methods may appear to contradict one another at times – like yours and my spectacles – but they are simply differing methods. Each is as valid and valuable as the other.Q: Sometimes it seems that Sutric method says that things are bad, that our bodies are ugly and impure...NN: This is a common misunderstanding of Sutrayana view. Sutrayana is renouncing form in order to realise emptiness and uses the language of renunciation. This can appear to be presented as body-negative, but it is simply pointing to the empty nature of body and attempting to undermine our grasping at that particular form. You see, it is the practitioner who has the problem, not the method. The practitioner distorts the path of the yana through their lack of understanding. Also language itself can distort the path – language conveys Dharma but does not limit Dharma.Q: Does Vajrayana have its own language as well?NN: Yes it does. Vajrayana uses the language of transformation. It is much more florid and colourful than the language of Sutrayana, because form is embraced and utilised as the path. Vajrayana language is also paradoxical and ambiguous because Vajrayana plays

with the idea of form as emptiness and emptiness as form. The useful thing about learning to recognise the language of Sutrayana and Vajrayana, and understand the approaches of these paths, is that we are then able to read any book about Dharma, and attend any teaching without becoming confused. Once we can understand and recognise the different views and methods available, we can let go of wishing them to be ‘truth’ and enjoy their differing qualities as method. We can approach the methods of Sutrayana and Vajrayana as a tool box.Q: [laughs] A tool box?NN: Yes – you employ the method that is suitable for the situation. If you are caught up in a strong emotion such as anger, that you lack the capacity to transform, then it is better to engage the Sutrayana method of renouncing involvement with the emotion than to punch someone on the nose [laughs]. This would be so even if you regard yourself as primarily a Vajrayana practitioner. We can only ever begin where we find ourselves. The Dzogchen practitioner spontaneously responds in an appropriate manner that is congruent with a movement towards realisation. The subjective definition of the method employed may be that it is Sutric, Tantric, or Dzogchen. However if it spontaneous and appropriate, then it is congruent with a Dzogchen approach.Q: Could you please say some more about using the terms ‘Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen’ rather than ‘Sutrayana and Vajrayana’?NN: This is another layer that can seem complicated. The nine vehicles of the Nyingma School can roughly be described as the three vehicles of Sutrayana, and the six vehicles of Vajrayana – the three Outer and three Inner Tantras. The highest Inner Tantric vehicle, Ati yoga, can also be called Dzogchen. When Dzogchen is viewed as a path in its own right, we talk about the three vehicles of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, rather than about Sutrayana and Vajrayana. Sutra incorporates all teachings and practices of the path of renunciation with the experience of emptiness as their

fruit. Tantra embraces all the teachings and practices that use symbolic method as the path of transformation. Dzogchen includes all teachings and practices that provide an opportunity for direct introduction into the experience of non-duality.Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana are historical. They are based on the historical evolution of Buddhism. Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen are not the same as this. They are the spontaneous perspective of Dzogchen.Dzogchen view also has its own ‘flavour’ and language. It is direct and simple. The opportunity for realisation is either spontaneously realised or it is not.Now... [pauses and smiles] I hardly dare tell you this [laughs] but... each of the vehicles can talk about each of the other vehicles in its own language. This can become extremely elaborate – and hearing a teaching on a subject with which you thought you were familiar presented in a totally new way could be challenging. This is where there is the danger of falling into judging teachers and teachings – “My teacher explains it is like this, so what you are saying must be wrong.” This is the perspective of someone who has not had the opportunity to understand the various perspectives and language of view and method.Q: This is why sometimes Dzogchen teachings appear to be very different from ways I’ve heard them presented elsewhere?NN: Yes, that is it exactly. Other presentations you heard were not ‘wrong’, they were simply arising out of a different view and method.Q: So teachings and practice are presented from the perspective of Dzogchen in the Aro gTér Lineage?NN: Mostly, yes. In this lineage teachings normally associated with the Sutric path are found in the Ulukhamukha Sutra. Viewing them from the perspective of Dzogchen can provide great insight into these teachings. For example the Sutric teaching of the ‘four thoughts which turn the mind to practice’ can be presented from the perspective of Dzogchen and is found in the Ulukhamukha Sutra. The semantic

expression of the teachings in the Ulukhamukha Sutra is fantastically subtle, but we can continually refer to the Dzogchen view.Q: You said that any Dharma teaching or practice is actually an exposition of the whole path. Does this mean that it would be possible to engage with just one practice for our whole life and still gain realisation?NN: Yes indeed – but we might experience boredom. We may find we need the enlivening effect of song to counterbalance our tendency to dullness and distraction in silent sitting. There are multifarious methods because of the multifarious nature of our distortion. Dharma is amazingly skilful. It works with ‘as we are’ so that we can discover ‘as it is’.

Footnotes:1 Tantrika – a person who practices tantra.2 Vajrayana: the diamond path, practice based on the Tantric teachings of Padmasambhava. The Nyingma School describes three Outer Tantras and three Inner Tantras. The path of transformation.3 Samsara, Tib: khorwa (‘khor ba); literally ‘going round in circles.’4 rDzogs pa chen po – Mahasandhi.5 Hearers – those who listen but don’t engage in practice. Tib: nyan-thos-pa’i theg-pa6 Solitary realisers – those who practice for their own benefit. Tib: rang rgyal-ba’i theg-pa7 Those who vow to work for the realisation of all beings through developing active-compassion. Tib: byang-chub sems-dpa’i theg-pa8 Sutrayana: practice based on the Sutras of Shakyamuni Buddha; known in the New Translation Schools as the Hinayana and Mahayana. The path of renunciation.9 Sangwa Gyüd-kyi Thegpa (gSang ba rGyud kyi theg pa)10 Bodhicitta (Tib: byang chub sems) – loving kindness, active compassion; the wish for all beings to be happy.11 The Aro gTér is a cycle of teachings revealed by Khyungchen Aro Lingma (1886 - 1923).12 The Ulukhamukha Dakini Upadesha Sutra or Heart Essence Sky-dancer Sutra of the Owl-faced Protector, is henceforth referred to as the Ulukhamukha Sutra. In Tibetan this text is

entitled ’ug-dong Khandro Nying-thig Do (’ug gDong mKha’ ’gro sNying thig mDo)13 Ekayana, the singular vehicle.14 Sanskrit: Prajnaparamita Sutra; teaching on the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom.15 Yidam: Sanskrit ishtadeva; often referred to as ‘deity’. The yidam is an awareness-image that acts as a symbolic form of enlightened-nature for Tantric practice. Literally means ‘firm mind’. Derived from ‘yid’ and ‘dam-tsig’: intellect and commitment.