The Role of Mindfulness in Dzogchen

JON NORRIS·SVĒTDIENA, 2016. GADA 22. MAY

As we all know, there are countless styles of mindfulness meditation: mindfulness with an object,
without an object, using the breath, using visualizations, etc. Here, we are not going to discuss the
pros and cons of these various techniques; rather we are going to discuss the rationale for developing
mindfulness on the Buddhist path, its morphology within the buddhadharma if you will.

According to the Dzogchen teachings, taking the mind as the path involves four stages of mindfulness:
(1) single-pointed mindfulness, (2) manifest mindfulness, (3) the absence of mindfulness, and (4) self-
illuminating mindfulness.

1. Single-pointed Mindfulness entails distinguishing between still mind and moving mind, and by the
power of familiarizing yourself with their characteristics, there arises single-pointed mindfulness that
still mind and moving mind are in reality aspects of an inseparable unity.

2. In Manifest Mindfulness, awareness of the unification of still mind and moving mind persists by its
own natural power without any strenuous effort to observe or analyze them.

3. The Absence of Mindfulness refers to abiding loosely (without effortful mindfulness) in the spacious
vacuity of still mind alone, which is the substrate or ground of still mind (Tib. kun gzhi; Skt. ālaya).

4. Self-illuminating Mindfulness is a further refinement of resting in the luminous substrate after

coarse mindfulness has subsided. Although it is empty of creative displays such as appearances and
mindsets, the substrate can be directly perceived by the substrate consciousness (Tib. kun gzhi rnam
shes; Skt. ālayavijñāna). So it is not merely vacuous, but also awake and aware.

In the first two stages, mindfulness functions amid the creative displays of mind, but in the second
two, the radiant appearances and creative displays of thought have ceased. The consciousness abides
solely in a subtle mode of naked awareness and non-conceptuality. These stages of mindfulness are
the gateway to entering the path, and since they descend through two types of substrate, they are
called the ‘substrates of descent’. These two types of substrate are referred to as the ‘actual substrate’
and the ‘temporarily luminous substrate’. The former is pure empty awareness while the latter has the
power to enable appearances in the way a polished mirror can reflect a face that isn’t actually in the
mirror and doesn’t really change the mirror. When we let the temporarily luminous substrate
consciousness rest in the pristine nature of emptiness, the assemblies of roving thoughts come to rest,
leaving a clear radiance often referred to as ‘luminosity’.

In our normal samsaric state we are bound by coarse and subtle grasping and immersed in ignorance
and suffering. Conversely, deepening states of mindfulness nearly always produce enjoyable
experiences such as bliss (like the warmth of a fire), luminosity (like the breaking of the dawn), and
non-conceptuality (like an ocean unmoved by waves). These experiences are the natural outcome of
settling the mind in its innate state. However, doing it is not as easy as it sounds. If you fixate on these
experiences as desirable virtues such that they become objects of craving and attachment, then they
too will become karmic causes of rebirth in the three realms of mundane existence. Even if you
cultivate such experiences for long periods, they will only lead you deeper into samsara. The
Buddha’s solution was to augment shamatha mindfulness with vipashyana insight until they become
an inseparable and spontaneous unity. And this union of mindfulness with insight forms the basis of
all other Buddhist practices. Without mindfulness, no insight will remain stable, and without insight,
the dhyana concentration cannot transcend samsara.

Although the above model of mindfulness comes from the Dzogchen tradition, it has parallels in the
Four Yogas of Mahamudra. [There is a detailed explanation of this correlation in Karma Chagme’s,
‘Union of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen’.] Briefly, the Four Yogas model of Mahamudra follows
mindfulness through (1) single-pointedness, (2) freedom from conceptual elaboration, (3) one-taste,
and (4) non-meditation. The first yoga tames the attention until it can be held in single-pointed
quiescence (samadhi) for as long as desired. The dissolution of the coarse mind into the substrate
consciousness signifies the achievement of shamatha, or the threshold (Tib. nyer bsdogs; Skt.
sāmantaka) of the first dhyāna (jhāna). This is an essential step, but it is not an end in itself for it still
lacks insight into the nature of mind. The second yoga is the realization that appearances are mind,
and that still mind is a union of emptiness and luminous awareness free of conceptual elaboration. The
practice of vipashyana enhances quiescence with penetrating insight and vice versa. The third yoga is
the realization that saṃsāra and nirvana are of the same nature (one-taste). Combined shamatha and
vipashyana reveals still mind and moving mind to be an inseparable unity referred to in Mahamudra
terms as the co-emergent unity of emptiness and luminous awareness. The fourth yoga of Mahamudra,
‘non-meditation’ shares many aspects with the Breakthrough (trekchö) phase of Dzogchen, but it uses
a different framework and terminology. Dzogchen also employs the Leap-over (tögal) practices,
which are not a part of traditional Mahamudra. Nonetheless, the Leap-over teachings speak of Four
Visions: (1) the direct perception of reality, (2) progress in meditative experience, (3) consummate
awareness, and (4) the extinction into reality-itself. This has to do with the merging of the ‘child clear
light’ into the ‘mother clear light’ and some would argue that it accomplishes the same end as ‘non-
meditation’ in Mahamudra. The important point is not to get confused by the curious word ‘non-
meditation’. Non-meditation does not mean ‘no meditation’; it means that mindfulness has been
practiced until it has become continuous and automatic as a ‘spontaneous’ presence.

In both Dzogchen and Mahamudra the goal is to stabilize a state in which there is no distinction
between meditative equipoise and the post-meditative state. It is said that certain ‘simultaneous
individuals’ can achieve this ‘non-meditation’ upon simply hearing the teaching, but such individuals
are extremely rare. The vast majority of us fall into the ‘gradualist’ category as superior, middling, and
inferior practitioners. For us, the paths of Dzogchen and Mahamudra provide a system of quiescence
and insight leading up to Breakthrough and Leap-over. In any case, the problem we have as lay
practitioners, householders, and other hostages of materialism, is that grasping is still present; not just
grasping for external objects, but grasping at mental concepts. Eighty percent of the time you are
caught up in a train of thought that has nothing to do with your present reality. In other words, you are
rarely present in your own life! That wandering, ruminating mind does nothing but dissipate your
energy and squander your chances for awakening.

The real challenge for us is not to glimpse the nature of mind, but to stabilize our consciousness in a
pristine awareness of the present reality. A pointing-out instruction may interrupt your grasping mind
briefly, but it won’t change your overall karmic momentum for long. You may practice diligently for
an hour, or for days at a time, but as soon as the meditation session ends, you succumb to our old habit
of grasping at tangible phenomena as if they were substantial. This is what is meant by the term
‘reification’ – to ‘reify’ is to grasp onto mental events and sensual phenomena as if they inherently
exist. Overcoming this habitual grasping requires repeated sessions of vipashyana, and vipashyana
cannot be successful until the attention has been trained with shamatha mindfulness. This is the great
paradox of mindfulness – that while it can be transcended by spontaneous naked awareness, it remains
the all-important first step on the path to buddhahood.

***

[Adapted from talks by Alan Wallace and from Pema Tashi’s ‘Essence of Clear Meaning’, a
commentary on Dudjom Lingpa’s root text, ‘Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra’. These
texts are found in ‘Dudjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection’, Vol. I, Trans. by B. Alan
Wallace, Wisdom Publications, 2015. Also see Karma Chagmé, ‘Naked Awareness: Practical
Teachings on the Union of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen’, Snow Lion Publications, 2000.]