Introduction in the Dzogchen-Meditation

You know the preparatory exercises, you've probably already done them. Well, then do it again, but try to make the meditations so that you focus on the phases of dissolution. Linger in the idea of emptiness and clarity as long as this experience is somehow fresh, that is, as long as no thoughts arise and you do not fall asleep.

 

If only one thought comes up, just let it happen. Do not pick it up, do not work it out and do not reject it; just let him happen. With this approach, the thought will automatically resolve itself back into its base, where it came from. After that, the experience is fresh again and you can continue to meditate as long as the experience is fresh.

 

Dzogchen has a lot to do with visions. Just when you are falling asleep, there is a very strong phase in which visions appear. But these are not necessarily the visions that are to appear here, but these are simply the visions before they fall asleep and a smoother mind does not create good meditation. Break off the meditation better here and sleep a round. Then, when you are rested, you can open another meditation session.

 

The same is true when the great chatter of the mind starts, that is, when one thought follows the other, acoustic visions, voices in the head and other vocal turmoil take place, you break off your meditation. Do something different, like going for a walk, shopping, cooking and so on. You can also do a few breathing exercises to calm your mind and then try again. Speaking of cooking: full stomach makes you tired and empty stomach makes you excited. Buddha knew this, that's why he taught the golden way of the middle. Do everything with measure and goal; without clinging to anything or rejecting anything, whether this is the hottest dakini they've ever encountered, or the dance robot Lieschen Müller, who recently stepped on a personal mine.

 

From Dzogchen's highest point of view, everything can be used for Dzogchen meditation, be it Sutra, Hinajana or Vajrayana, Tantra or Mahayana. One should not reject it or consider it inferior. Speaking of Mahayana: In Mahayana, Dzogchen is also known as Essence Mahamudra.

 

But we are here in the preparatory exercises and therefore it is important for us to meditate in such a way that it is suitable. And fitting are short and more frequent sessions, instead of long and few sessions. Once you are in the phase of emptiness and clarity, you can try in the beginning, two minutes, then three minutes or five minutes, to stay in it, thus extending the times in which the experience stays fresh longer and longer until you succeed to stay in this freshness for a whole day. And then you practice keeping that freshness while doing a simple mantra recitation. If you manage to do so for a whole day, then you start to move, to go for a walk or other simple movements.

 

As? This is not possible? Buddha was never outside of this state of freshness, no matter what he did and that over many years. Also, the Bodhisattvas of the higher Bhumis (planes) are often in that state of voidness and clarity for a long time while doing everyday things. Do they actually sleep sometimes? How should it be possible to stay fresh? There are the lessons of sleep and dream yoga.

 

As it seems to me, all Tibetan yoga teachings, both Buddhist and Bönpos teachings, include something Dzogchen has to do away with, or Dzogchen includes all Tibetan teachings. This does not necessarily have to be that way, because with regard to Dzogchen, I am also just a total beginner, who has once made himself a little smart, what is actually to do for Dzogchen and what this could be.

 

So this is immersion in emptiness and clarity, this is the Rigpa, this is ... (I forgot that, but there are at least 20 more terms for it). This is what I recognized and lingered in for about 30 seconds over five years ago. Then, in this empty, boundless clear, luminous space, came the thought of the Bodhisattva vow. Oups, that's it: I was sitting in my room again. Since then, I have been working to get back there, to immerse myself in it, and every means is right for me to achieve this again. So you see, if you manage to stay in that state for even a minute, it's a huge success. So, in this part of the book, I will give some explanations of the sleep yoga, the work with the warrior germ syllables, and the Tsa Lung exercises that are actually more part of the tantric area.

 

With regard to Dzogchen, the four qualities of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity can also help, as well as the explanations of Trekchö and Tögal that will be found here.

 

Let us now turn to further explanations of my way of meditating.

 

 

Nap

After dinner or when I'm tired, I like to lie down for a quick nap, but often it turns out to be two hours. At this time I am not idle at first, but work with the warrior seed syllables:

 

«A», white and clear, vertex chakra.
«OM», yellow and clear, neck or throat chakra.
«HUNG», blue and clear, heart chakra.
«RAM», red, clear and hot, navel chakra and
«TSA», green and clear, secret chakra, deriving downward.

 

This color combination is nowhere in this form, and it is generally stated in this context that the «OM» is also red in color.

 

Starting with the «A» I focus on this white clear space with the «A» for 30 slow breaths. Then the syllables «OM» to «TSA» follow for the same duration. After that I either get up again or repeat the whole thing again, especially at night when I can not sleep. Mostly, however, I often fall asleep with the syllable «HUNG», very rarely with the first syllable «A».

 

It's not so much about recognizing the clear open voidness of this, but more about enjoying a movie with great visions, both visually and acoustically, before falling asleep. Before I fall asleep there is a good awareness, but sometimes, especially if I do this exercise before falling asleep at night, it can be detrimental. I often feel like I'm lying awake for hours at night because I'm always aware of what's going on. Only, as I have learned by controlling the times, there was often a sudden jump in time. This means that I slept after all, but then immediately woke up again in complete awareness.

 

Through this exercise, clear dreams of a colorful reality can also appear, which I can clearly remember after waking up. However, I perceive the dream only as a dream, in which I act, but the dream is not converted into a meditation session, which would be theoretically possible here.

 

 

Tsa Lung-, Tummo-, syllable-meditation

On a nice day, especially in the summer, I go for a walk or cycle, constantly reciting a mantra. It often happens that I head to a suitable bench to do a Tsa Lung-, Tummo-, syllable-meditation on it. This is not found anywhere in the literature, but this is simply a combination of two meditations: the Tsa Lung meditation combined with the Tummo meditation, generating inner heat, substituting «A» to «HUNG», as in common to the Tummo meditation, I uses five warrior seed syllables for the corresponding chakra, from «RAM» to «A».

 

For this I visualize the refuge in front of me and all sentient beings beside and behind me. Then follow the Nine Purifying Breathings. Then I ask Sherab Chamma: «OM, you noble, that you have attained all perfections, please show me the power that removes the ignorance and obscurations of all beings and myself so that I can recognize and experience the pure clear light of the mind».

 

Sherab Chamma then winks at Tönpa Shenrab (actually Shenla Ökar, but I prefer the middle here), whereupon from the heart of Tönpa Shenrab a mighty firestorm bursts, which sweeps over the heads of all beings and burns their entire negativity and their darkening to ashes. This is followed by a huge storm, which absorbs all the ashes and carries away. Finally, there is a strong rainstorm that washes away the remaining particles and completely cleanses the beings. In this way, all beings are now completely purified.

 

EMAHO AH OM HUNG RAM TSA

 

Rainbow lights radiate from the refuge to all beings and give them the appropriate blessings. As a result, all beings dissolve in the light, which radiates into the whole gathered refuge. The refuge dissolves into rainbow light that shines on Tönpa Shenrab in Sherab Chamma and then it radiates into me from Sherab Chamma, whereby I welcoming everything and doing the Tsa Lung exercise from the all-encompassing Prana. Now, for 30 breaths, only the open, clear empty space of the mind exists (be sure to press the root of the ring fingers with your thumbs as this will prevent unwanted entities from entering your body).

 

After that, I am immediately in the form of my Yidam, the world around me is his pure land. The main visualization is in the central channel with the respective chakras. In my vertex chakra is the white syllable «A»; in the throat chakra the yellow syllable «OM»; in the heart chakra a blue «HUNG»; in the navel chakra a red «RAM». This syllable «RAM»" looks like an old faucet, with its spout on the left side, and on its upper middle there is a pointed spike, on whose sides the fire of the Tummo ignites. In the secret chakra there is the syllable "TSA", in which, in contrast to the other chakras, the Prana, the vital winds, are directed downwards.

 

I start the exercise with the crown chakra, that is, I do the Tsa Lung exercise for the crown chakra, the upward prana. After a pause of five breaths, the Tummo exercise follows. In doing so, I tense the muscle in the crotch and push the diaphragm downwards, after having deeply inhaled deeply. The visualization is mainly at the «A» and a bit down to the «RAM».

 

I hold the breath and this tension of the musculature about 10 counting units, counting slowly up to 10, possibly coupled with the pulse beat, whereby I imagine that the «RAM» gets hotter and hotter, until the flame ignites and licking up to the «A». Then I breathe suddenly upwards out, with the idea that the breath exits at the vertex. Immediately after the exhalation, I breathe again slowly and sustainably and repeat the whole thing four times. I do this exercise five times in succession. In the beginning it is very good when the hands clench as fists from above on the thighs.

 

This is followed by a break of ten breaths, in which I imagine the fire rising up and the syllable «A» heating up more and more. Then I strongly intone the syllable «A» once or three times and take another break of 20 breaths as before. After all, the «A» is so hot that it melts and drips down both to the «RAM»", which has the effect of pouring gasoline into a fire, which further ignites it, as well as flowing into the throat chakra, which causes that we feel joy in the throat chakra.

 

Then follows the Tsa Lung exercise for the Throat Chakra, the pause is as before, and the Tummo practice is the same as before, except that this time the concentration is not on the Vertex Chakra, but on the «OM» in the Throat Chakra. The pauses afterwards, in which we are aware of the joy, are also as above, but this time we strongly intone the syllable «OM». The «OM» gets so hot that it melts and drips down to the «RAM», which has the effect of pouring gasoline into a fire, which further ignites it, as well as causing to flow in the heart chakra, which causing that we feel great joy in the heart chakra.

 

Then follows the Tsa Lung exercise for the heart chakra, the break is as before and the tummo exercise is as before, except that this time the concentration is not on the throat chakra, but by the «HUNG» in the heart chakra. The pauses afterwards, in which we are aware of the great joy, are also as above, but we strongly intone the syllable «HUNG». The «HUNG» gets so hot that it melts and drips down to the «RAM», which has the effect of pouring gasoline into a fire, which further ignites it, causing us to enjoy the navel chakra with huge joy.

 

This is followed by the Tsa Lung exercise for the navel chakra. The break is as before and the Tummo exercise is as before, except that this time the concentration is not in the heart chakra but by the «RAM» in the navel chakra. The pauses afterwards, in which we are aware of the huge joy, are also as above, but this time we strongly intone the syllable «RAM». The «RAM» gets so hot that it melts and drips down both to the «TSA», which has the effect that the winds become even stronger, which further ignites the fire; which causes us to experience incomparable all-encompassing joy in the Secret Chakra.

 

Finally, the Tsa Lung exercise follows for the Secret Chakra. The break is as before and the Tummo exercise is as before; except that this time the concentration is not on the navel chakra, but on the «TSA» in the Secret Chakra. The pauses thereafter, in which we are aware of the incomparable all-encompassing joy, are also as above, but this time we strongly intone the syllable «TSA». The «TSA» gets so hot that it releases many extra winds that spread the incomparable all-encompassing joy everywhere.

 

If the Prana is also down on this chakra, it does not mean that the winds only move down, but rather they penetrate the entire body and go down to penetrate the environment. The other winds of the other chakras are not only tied to the specific chakra, but also penetrate the whole body and go where they are needed.

 

Now we have fully realized the state of joy, and in this state of joy we continue in the opposite direction. In other words, you're doing the exercises again in reverse order, starting with the «TSA», while you continue to be aware of the joy. However, here you omit the Tummo meditation, so do only the Tsa Lung exercise and the syllables with the pauses associated with them.

 

Second, climb up to the «RAM», where you will experience the joy of great joy. Continue to the heart, «HUNG», there you will experience the great joy of great joy. Next to the neck, «OM», to experience the huge joy of great joy. Finally back to the top, where you will experience the incomparable all-encompassing joy of great joy. Here, after about 90 minutes, I usually finish the session, but you can start again in the reverse order, in the same order as in the beginning, again down and up again, so do the whole thing four times.

 

What follows is the joy of huge joy; the great joy of huge joy; the huge joy of huge joy and the incomparable all-encompassing joy of huge joy, and finally the joy of incomparable all-encompassing joy; the great joy of incomparable all-encompassing joy; the huge joy of incomparable all-encompassing joy and the incomparable all-encompassing joy of incomparable all-encompassing joy.

 

 

Wow, pretty spacy, you could burst with happiness. Try to take that feeling with you, as you, as in the beginning, do the Tsa Lung exercise again from the all-embracing Prana, where you welcome everything. Linger for at least 30 breaths in this open blissful unlimited clarity. Then you emerge again in a pure world and make the dedication.

 

 

I'm writing here a bit intuitively, meaning that sometimes I use the first-person, sometimes the we-form and sometimes the-you-form. This form usually comes into play when the whole thing has an explanatory or challenging feature. In the official part of the tutorials I will almost only use this form.

 

But before we get to this, there is still the meditation that I do in the evening. What I do at night, you know since the afternoon nap. Unfortunately, this daily routine does not take place daily. I seldom manage to actually do all these meditations. In fact, I should meditate a bit more, but I do not find it terrible if I do not meditate for one day, because I'm still busy with the Dharma around the clock because of my translation work on the PC.

 

In general, as soon as I am no longer engaged in tasks that require thinking or focusing on something, I recite a mantra that has gone into flesh and blood as I have come to know the merits of this. So you see, I'm still a bit away from Dzogchen, because if I acted like Dzogchen, I would not recite a mantra, but try to focus my awareness on the notion of emptiness and clarity.

 

Okay. So in the evening I do either a dzogchen session or a tantric session.