I said something about knowing and not knowing both being known. If you know you are knowing the knowing. If you don't know, you are knowing not knowing.

From a friend.

A Path beyond “cause and effect”

Dzogchen: The Path of the Instantaneous Result

The earliest practitioner of Dzogchen in the Nyingma school, was named Garab Dorje.

He was supposed to have realized a teaching that was beyond the need for practices, study, methods and effortful means.

His approach was considered to be beyond “cause and effect” methods because no means was required to realize it.

It was said that he debated the best minds and realized beings throughout ancient India, and was able to defeat all in debate, while still being a young boy.

He was teaching a way to observe one’s own, already existing enlightened Buddha Mind which brought a conclusion to the “search” instantaneously for anyone at any level or capacity.

My main Dzogchen teacher, Namkhai Norbu, shared and transmitted this exact same approach with me in 1986.

He said: “Garab Dorje pointed out, that the awareness that is present during ANY kind of thought, perceptual or emotional experience and the awareness that is also present when no thought or no perceptual or emotional experiences are occurring; is the same unchanging awareness in both cases and in any case, as being the unchanging awareness known as “rigpa”, the perfect awareness of a Buddha.”

Whatever reflections appear or even if no reflections appear in a mirror, the mirror remains unchanged, unconditioned and untouched. The same with ourselves as being Awareness.

No cause was required to bring about this already, always existing Buddha Mind Awareness, called “rigpa” in Tibetan.

A famous Dzogchen master from the 14 century, called Longchenpa validated and further elucidated upon this same teaching:

“Awareness abides as the aspect which is aware under any and all circumstances, and so occurs naturally, without transition or change."

Also:

"But in actuality, the intrinsic awareness of Dzogchen is not produced or initiated by causes and conditions, for the potential of pure being and primal awareness is intrinsically present and manifests spontaneously."

Tulku Pema Rigtsal

"Until we realize that intrinsic awareness is already present, we must understand that striving to generate that awareness is a wrong path." Rigtsal, Tulku Pema

Longchenpa:

“Because Awareness (Rigpa) has no finite essence, and because suchness and deliberate activity are mutually exclusive, and because Awareness is already timelessly and spontaneously present, nothing need be done concerning levels of realization on which to train, spiritual paths to traverse, mandalas to visualize, empowerments to be bestowed, paths to cultivate in meditation, samaya to uphold, enlightened activities to accomplish, and so forth.”

“This is because there is no need to accomplish anew what is already timelessly and spontaneously accomplished. If there were such need, it would be inappropriate to use the conventional designation "spontaneously present and uncompounded." And it would follow that dharmakaya was subject to destruction, because it would be compounded, and this because it would be created by causes and conditions." (practices etc.) Longchenpa, Choying Dzod, A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission, page 120, first paragraph. Padma Publications.

Page 190: first main paragraph:

Longchenpa writes: "Since all phenomena are timelessly free, nothing need be done to free them anew through realization."

Next paragraph: "

“Even the thought that freedom comes about through “direct introduction” is deluded. One strives to free this essence from whatever binds it, but nothing need be done to free it, for unobstructed Awareness, which has never existed as anything whatsoever, does not entail any duality of something to be realized and someone to realize it. There is equalness because nothing is improved by realization or worsened by it's absence, so there is no need for any adventitious realization. And because there never has existed anything to realize- for the ultimate nature of phenomena is beyond ordinary consciousness- to speak of realization on even the relative level is nothing but deluded. What can be shown at this point is the transcendence of view and meditation, in which nothing need be done regarding realization, nothing need be “directly introduced”, and no state of meditation need be cultivated. So there is the expression 'it is irrelevant whether or not one has realization'."

Longchenpa:

"Perfection in awakened mind” refers to the fact that all phenomena— all appearances and possibilities—regardless of how they manifest, whether perceived as pure or impure, are fundamentally subsumed within the scope of naturally occurring timeless awareness, arise within that scope, and abide within that scope. The situation is similar to the way in which a person’s state of sleep, and the various dream images that manifest therein, are subsumed with in the scope of that person’s awareness, arise within that scope, and are dependent on that scope. And so there is perfection in mind itself, awakened mind."

Longchenpa discusses whether some may need to do practices if they haven’t realized rigpa awareness:

"They may ask whether, even so, we still need to do these things (practices), because we have not yet reached that level?”

“This is our reply: Kye, unfortunate ones! Going from one place to another does not exist. Since there is no going, there is no reaching. What you are doing is ludicrous! It is like trying to go somewhere else than where you are in order to look for yourselves. According to our scriptures, people like you have only superficial understanding, and the way you live is a disgrace! "

Longchenpa wrote in his Choying Dzod:

"There is only awareness, pure in being free of adventitious distortions; there is no essence of buddhahood other than this Awareness itself; nothing to seek through causes or conditions, effort or achievement, because the term "buddhahood" is being used merely to describe pure awareness." P. 84

"So once you rest as awareness, to then make an effort or engage in view and meditation is beside the point and will lead to error and obscuration" P. 85

“Natural great perfection, the essence of utterly lucid basic space, is naturally occurring timeless awareness. Since it involves neither cause nor effect, neither something to develop nor an agent to develop it, nor any attendant conditions, it is timelessly present such that its nature is like that of space."

Longchenpa, “The Philosophical Systems” (p.305)

In The Heart-Essence of Vimalamitra, Longchenpa says,

"It is taught by the Lama Vimalamitra, that Buddha will never be attained on the paths of the nine graduated approaches by engaging in their view, meditation, and conduct. Why not? Because in the views of the nine approaches, there is only intellectual conjecture that is sometimes convincing and sometimes not, but which can never induce the naked essence."

Rigtsal, Tulku Pema (2013-02-19). The Great Secret of Mind: Special Instructions on the Nonduality of Dzogchen (p. 119). Snow Lion. Kindle Edition.

We probably should call Awareness “Presence” as it is always Present, never not present.

What is seeking Presence in this moment? When the mind looks inwardly towards Presence of Awareness, the seeker vanishes leaving only Primordial Presence, the Sought.

The mind initiates this “inward turn”, by contemplating:

What is aware and knowing?

Then when the mind next finds itself in a state of turbulence and seemingly being “out of touch” with primordial Awareness itself, simply contemplate:

What is “aware of” this current state being experienced?

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Search finally over?