Beyond Meditation

Grounded in our formal practice of meditation, we can relax into the vast, open awareness that is our ultimate nature. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche tells the story of his own introduction to the Great Perfection.
to the world of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen in Tibetan) occurred when I was just a small boy. The first years of my life were spent in my mothers village near the border of Tibet and Nepal. I havent been back there since I was young, but I vividly remember the massive snow-capped mountains that towered above us on all sides and the flower-filled meadows that stretched out along the valley floor surrounding our village. Looking from the outside, you would think that I was born with a charmed life. I lived in one of the most beautiful and serene places on Earth, surrounded by people who loved me dearly. The elders of both sides of my family, moreover, were renowned spiritual teachers, so from the time I can remember I was exposed to the practice of meditation and its power to transform the mind. Despite these idyllic surroundings and the deep bonds I shared with my family, my charmed life took a turn for the worse one year. When I was about seven
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years old, a deep, consuming sense of dread began to take over just helping me learn to read, but looking back I can see that he my being. I couldnt figure out what was happening to me or was actually introducing me to the ground, path, and fruition of why. All I knew was that even the simplest thingslike a thun- the Great Perfection. derstorm or the arrival of a strangercould throw my mind into a tailspin. Fear would well up from the pit of my stomach and T h e G r o u n d o f t h e G r e at P e r fe c t i o n terrifying thoughts would crowd my mind, leaving me paralyzed with the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. You might think that the hours I spent learning to sing the words This difficult period provided me with a powerful motivation of the Precious Treasury would eventually sink in, but I really had to explore my mind and feelings. Though I didnt know much no idea what they meant. To me, the book was just a bunch of about meditation at the time, I had a vague sense that it could weird terms that didnt mean a thing, but I liked it because of the help me deal with my anxiety. For a while I tried to meditate on soothing melody that my father used when he sang it to me. One my own, but aside from a few fleeting moments of inner peace, day, as we sat together in his room chanting and meditating, I the feeling of dread continued to follow me like a shadow. noticed a word that Id heard my father say many times when he Most winters my mother and I would travel from our vil- taught his students. What does this word mean, I asked, pointlage in the mountains to Kathmandu, where we would spend ing to the Tibetan word ka dak. six months with my father, the great meditation master Tulku Oh, thats a very important term, he replied, pleased to see Urgyen Rinpoche. Yap Rinpoche, as I affectionately called him, my interest. Do you remember what I told the students last lived in a small hermitage on the outskirts of the Kathmandu night about the minds true nature? The truth was that I didnt Valley, where he taught his unique style of effortless meditation understand much of what he said when he taught, so I looked to students from all over the world. In the mornings, the monks down and shook my head in embarrassment. and nuns from his hermitage would come to receive teachings Seeing my reaction, he patted me gently on the shoulder and about meditation or the rituals of Tibetan Buddhism, and in the said, Theres no need to feel embarrassed. When I was young evening he would teach his non-Tibetan students. I would often I had to learn the meaning of all these words just like you. He sit quietly to the side and listen as he taught. then paused for a moment and looked at me with such affection Though I didnt really understand much of what he said, I that all my fear and embarrassment dissolved. What I taught yearned for the calm serenity that he radiated. the students last night is that our true nature is At first I was so timid that I couldnt muster the completely pure and good. The word you asked courage to ask him to teach me about meditaabout, ka dak, means pure from the very begintion, but after a while my anxiety became so inning. It might not always seem like this is the tense that it overrode my shyness. I still couldnt case, but there isnt the slightest bit of difference ask my father directly, though, so I begged my between your true nature and the Buddhas. In mother to make the request on my behalf. I was fact, even an old dog has this original purity. overjoyed when she told me the news that he What does purity mean? I asked. had agreed to teach me. Purity means that our true nature is already At the same time as I was beginning to mediperfect and complete, he continued.None of our tate, I was learning how to read and write. In confusion and fear can change this inner purity. the afternoons I would sit with my father in his It doesnt get worse when we suffer or improve meditation room, which had a huge window that when we become enlightened like the Buddha. looked out over the entire valley. As part of his We dont need to add anything to it or take anydaily practice, he chanted a text called The Precious thing away, nor do we have to do something to get Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena, which it. Its here with us each and every moment, like a is considered one of the most elegant works on Y o n g e y M i n g y u r diamond in the palm of ones hand. R i n p o c h e is a master in the the Great Perfection, the most profound and If our true nature is so wonderful, I asked, treasured teachings of my fathers lineage. My Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan then why do we suffer? Buddhism. He teaches throughout father used this text to teach me how to read. As Thats a good question, he answered. The the world, bringing together tradiwe sat together in his small hermitage, he would problem isnt that we need to get something that tional Buddhist practice with consing the words of the book to me in a beautiful temporary culture and science. His we dont already have, or that we have to get rid melody and ask me to repeat after him. I would most recent book is Joyful Wisdom: of all the things we dont like. The Buddha cant then do my best to imitate him, and eagerly wait Embracing Change and Finding magically appear and take away all our sufferfor his approval. At the time, I thought he was Freedom. ing and confusion. The problem is that we dont
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recognize what weve had all along. We get so caught up in the drama of our lives that we dont see the radiant purity of our own minds. This nature is with us even when we feel scared, lonely, and angry. I looked up at my fathers kind face as he spoke these words and a feeling of tremendous love and respect welled up from deep within me. I still didnt fully grasp what he was trying to teach, but I started to open to the possibility that there was more to life than all the thoughts and feelings that crowded my young mind. What he had just introduced me to was the ground of the Great Perfection, the inner reality that we discover on the spiritual path. T h e Pat h o f t h e G r e at P e r fe c t i o n With this newfound confidence, I continued to meditate on my own. Though I still didnt have a direct experience of what my father was trying to teach me, I soon found that by focusing my mind on something, I could experience a glimpse of tranquility. Despite this development, I still thought of meditation as something that would help me get rid of the parts of myself that I didnt like. I sincerely hoped that meditation would lead me to happy, peaceful states of mind where panic and fear could not

touch me. As I would soon find out, however, what my father was leading me to was much more radical than that. For the next few months I continued to visit my father every day, and he taught me more about the Great Perfection. Oftentimes we wouldnt talk at all as we sat together. My father would simply sit in front of the large window and gaze off into the sky as I sat quietly by his side and tried to meditate. I desperately wanted his approval, so I always did my best imitation of what I thought a good meditator should do. I sat bolt upright and tried to make it look like I was absorbed in some deep experience, while in actuality I was just repeating a mantra in my mind and trying not to get lost in thought. Occasionally, I would open my eyes and peek up at my father, hoping that he had noticed my good meditation posture and ability to sit still for so long. One day, as we sat together in silence, I glanced up at him in the middle of my meditation and was surprised to find him gazing down at me. Are you meditating, son? he asked. Yes, sir, I said proudly, filled with joy that he had finally noticed. My answer seemed to amuse him greatly. He paused for a few moments and then said gently, Dont meditate. page 90
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My pride vanished. For months, Id been doing my best to copy all the other meditators who came to be with my father. I learned some short prayers, sat in the right posture, and tried hard to still my turbulent mind. I thought I was supposed to meditate, I said with a shaky voice. Meditation is a lie, he said. When we try to control the mind or hold on to an experience, we dont see the innate perfection of the present moment. Pointing out through the window, he continued, Look out into the blue sky. Pure awareness is like space, boundless and open. Its always here. You dont have to make it up. All you have to do is rest in that. For a moment, all of my hopes and expectations about meditation dropped away and I experienced a glimpse of timeless awareness. A few minutes later he continued, Once youve recognized awareness, theres nothing to do. You dont have to meditate or try to change your mind in any way. If theres nothing to do, I asked, Does that mean that we dont have to practice? Although theres nothing to do, you do need to familiarize yourself with this recognition. You also need to cultivate bodhichitta and devotion, and always seal your practice by dedicating the merit so that all beings may recognize their own true nature too. The reason we still need to practice is that at first we only have an understanding of the minds true nature. By familiarizing ourselves with this understanding again and again, however, it eventually transforms into direct experience. Yet even then we still need to practice. Experience is unstable, so if we dont continue to familiarize ourselves with pure awareness we can lose sight of it and get caught up in our thoughts and emotions again. On the other hand, if we are diligent in practice, this experience will transform into a realization that can never be lost. This is the path of the Great Perfection. With these words, he stopped talking and we both continued to rest in pure awareness, gazing off into the deep blue sky above the Kathmandu Valley.
T h e F r u i t i o n o f t h e G r e at P e r fe c t i o n

After training with my father at his hermitage for a few more years, I traveled to India to live at Sherab Ling, the monastery of Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche. I was very fortunate to participate in a traditional three-year retreat while I was there, during which I had the chance to learn from a great master named Saljey Rinpoche, who reinforced the early lessons I received from my father and gave me the chance to integrate them under his guidance. After a number of years in retreat, my teachers advised me to attend a shedra, or monastic college, to study the classical philosophies of the Buddhist tradition. The teachings I received in the monastic college were extremely helpful, but I often struggled to reconcile the complicated philosophies of the Sutra vehicle with the immediacy of

the Great Perfection. As luck would have it, once I completed my studies I found myself in the presence of yet another great master, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, a consummate scholar and true yogi of the Great Perfection who passed on to me a set of teachings that are only transmitted in secret to one pupil at a time. It wasnt easy to study with him, though, since I had to travel to Bhutan, which wasnt a simple matter back in those days. One of the main questions I had at the time concerned the results of the Great Perfection, so one day I approached Khen Rinpoche to ask for clarification. To attain buddhahood, I began, the sutras say that we have to purify obscurations, perfect the accumulations of merit and wisdom, and slowly refine our practice of generosity, discipline, and the rest of the six perfections for an incredibly long period of time, but my father and Saljey Rinpoche taught me that buddhahood is actually right here in the present moment. They said that if we strain and strive for some enlightenment in the future, we actually move farther away from this pure awareness. Dont these two presentations contradict each other? Not at all, Rinpoche replied. In fact, all those things that we uncover slowly on the sutra path are actually inherent qualities of pure awareness. The Great Perfection is an effortless path in which you accomplish everything without doing anything. Recognizing the empty essence of awareness perfects the accumulation of wisdom, while recognizing its spontaneously present clarity perfects the accumulation of merit. The union of this emptiness and clarity is the union of the two accumulations. Moreover, this approach is also the union of the development and completion stages that we practice in deity yoga, and of skillful means and knowledge. Once you realize the nature of mind, compassion spontaneously manifests. Seeing the potential that all beings possess, you will naturally feel respect for them and want to help them to realize this true nature for themselves. You will also experience genuine devotion for the teachers who introduced you to pure awareness and fully appreciate their accomplishment. So you see, all the qualities of enlightenment are right here with us. We dont need to look anywhere outside of the present moment. Actualizing these innate qualities, he continued, is the best result we could hope for. Flying in the sky, reading minds, and other magical powers are no big deal. These days, we can do most of these things anyway through modern technology. Ive flown all around the world with hundreds of people in a giant metal tube, so whats the big deal if you can levitate a few feet? The precious fruition of the Great Perfection manifests when weve familiarized ourselves with pure awareness to such a degree that we never waver from that state. Theres nothing more to hope for than that. Khen Rinpoches words trailed off as he finished his explanation, and he stopped talking. Together, we sat in silence, resting effortlessly in the beauty and simplicity of the present moment. The words of these great masters stay with me to this day. When people ask me about the Great Perfection, I have nothing more to say than to repeat these simple teachings, which were entrusted to me like a great treasure by my kind teachers.

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