The Subtle Art of Non-Doing
Resting as Awareness in Dzogchen
To “rest as Awareness” is perhaps the most direct instruction in Dzogchen—and simultaneously the most frequently misunderstood. The phrase suggests simplicity, effortlessness, a return to what is already and always present. Yet it is precisely this simplicity that confounds the seeker’s mind, which has been trained to strive, analyze, and attain. The question, “How to rest as Awareness?” already carries within it the echo of misdirection. The deeper question is not how, but what prevents resting from being recognized as already the case?
In Dzogchen, the instruction to rest as rigpa—the pristine, self-knowing Awareness—is not a command to do something, but a gesture toward undoing. Garab Dorje’s first essential point was:
“Direct introduction to the nature of mind.”
One does not achieve rigpa, one recognizes it. Resting is not entering a state, but ceasing to seek a state. It is not merging with Awareness, but realizing that one has never been apart from it.
To rest as Awareness is not the same as resting in Awareness. The latter implies a duality—someone who rests, and something in which to rest. But Dzogchen does not permit this subtle division. Longchenpa reminds us:
“Since everything arises as the display of awareness, there is nothing to renounce or attain.”
— Longchen Rabjam, Treasury of the Dharmadhatu
How Not To:
To “try” to rest as Awareness is to grasp at a non-conceptual state with conceptual intention. The very act of reaching becomes a contraction, reinforcing the illusion of a doer. Awareness cannot be found as an object of attention because it is what allows attention. Looking for Awareness as something to see, feel, or experience will always place one in the realm of mind’s fabrication. This is the subtle trap: the search for “rest” becomes restless.
How To:
Paradoxically, the true “how” is a non-how. As the great master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche said:
“There is no need to try to rest—just do not follow the next thought.”
This negation reveals the pathless path. Awareness is not cultivated—it is uncovered by ceasing to identify with what arises within it. Let thoughts arise, let sensations move, but make no effort to become involved. When there is no involvement, Awareness stands revealed as the unchanging ground.
Insight:
Awareness is not an experience—it is what knows experience. It is not affected by rest or unrest, success or failure. As the basis (gzhi), it is spontaneously present and empty of self-nature. Thus, “resting” is not a doing but a recognition. The one who thought it could rest is itself a movement in the field. The moment that movement is seen through, what remains is effortless being.
Clarity:
To rest as Awareness is not to know about Awareness—it is to be what knows. This “knowing” is not cognitive but luminous: self-knowing, self-certifying, self-abiding. No external verification is needed. There is no teacher, no text, no technique that can give you Awareness—it is what allows for the appearance of teachers, texts, and techniques.
Honesty:
This path asks nothing of you except your illusions. It does not improve you, refine you, or awaken you. It shows you that what you sought has always been untouched, and what you took yourself to be has never truly existed. “You” cannot rest as Awareness. Only the absence of the seeker reveals what was never absent.
IN Summary
The essence of Dzogchen is neither found nor fabricated. Resting as Awareness is not a goal to be reached but a veil to be lifted. To rest as That which is aware is to stop pretending to be anything else. The “how” is undone in the seeing, and the “not how” is simply this: remain uninvolved, unmoved, uncontrived. Let the play arise; let the knowing be silent and bare. Here, rest is no longer a practice—it is what you are.
