Bodhicitta777 on Nostr: From a friend. On kunje gyalpo and the nature of mind and phenomena Longchenpa makes ...

From a friend.

On kunje gyalpo and the nature of mind and phenomena


Longchenpa makes an astonishing commentary on a portion from the Dzogchen Semde root tantra, the Kunje Gyalpo. I have included both Longchenpa's commentary and the relevant text from the Kunje Gyalpo. Quotes are from Longchenpa's The Precious Treasury of the Basic Space of Phenomena, published by Padma Publishing. My comments are beneath the KJG quotes below.

"Spontaneously present meditative stability, settled in its own place, is understood to be ongoing, like the flow of a river, without having to be deliberately cultivated. Within that context, everything arises as the true nature of phenomena, and so there is no error or obscuration, no dullness or agitation, no distraction or even the lack of it, **because any object of distraction arises as the display of that nature."**

From the Kunje Gyalpo:

To ignore what is inherent and seek afar for something else,
eagerly trying to arouse the bliss that requires no effort... there is no greater debility than this.
Undistracted meditative absorption is a stake that tethers one to reification.

With respect to what is and always has been , there is no distraction, nothing to be lost.

Undistracted meditative absorption seduces one with hope.

Such are the Mahayana approaches based on either causes or results,
which reveal what is provisional....
With respect to what is and always has been, there is no distraction, no loss.

The state in which nothing need be done transcends all effort and achievement."

Jackson: Notice above where Longchenpa says "any object of distraction arises as the display of that nature." In other words, whatever you are distracted by is itself the display of Rigpa and so you are actually still noticing Rigpa's display.

As an example, when you are simply present to the here and now observing the sky, while observing the sky, a strong distracting thought or image enters your mind. Suddenly you are no longer in the here and now noticing the sky, but rather you are observing this thought. This is in traditional Mahayana vehicles of meditation considered to be distraction and is taught to be avoided and corrected. One is taught to stay in here and now awareness. But Longchenpa is saying those distracting thoughts are themselves just as valid as the sky as 'objects of experience'. Those thoughts are also occurring in the here and now, so when you are observing thoughts or images you are also fully in here and now presence. Both the sky and thoughts are equally Rigpa's pure display.

So in this way it is understood that distraction is impossible. If this extremely subtle and vital point is understood, all effort at trying to maintain an undistracted state drops away. All experiences of every kind are equally the display of Rigpa. Then one may ask: Well, ok ... then what exactly do I do when practicing Dzogchen? Great question! But it must remain unanswered, or else the answer will be turned into a new something to do. In Dzogchen the notion that there is something to do or practice is considered an illness. You are already Rigpa Awareness, what would be the point of doing something in order to become what you already are?