From a friend.

The Nature of the Buddha Mind and its Self-Recognition

This is the single most essential instruction in Dzogchen, where all other types of meditation are considered as being just further distractions.

Awareness is always aware, empty and knowing, but it’s also pervasively adorned with an extremely subtle and delicate patina of self-recognizing Wisdom.

In Dzogchen this most fundamental Base Consciousness is called “kedag”, a pure emptiness, much like empty space. But this primordial Emptiness is pervaded by its own radiant, cognitive energies called “lhundrub”, meaning uncreated and spontaneously co-existent and non-dual with its Empty Base Consciousness.

In other Eastern systems the Base Awareness is called Shiva and its radiant energy is called Shakti; they too are non-dual.

Think of it like this: there is the empty, pure nature of primordial Awareness and its radiant energies of “attentiveness” also known as our “Presence”. That “attentiveness” can be directed outward into external perceptions or towards the mental phenomena of thought and mental images.

However when that energy of “attentiveness” (lhundrub) instead of focusing upon perceptions or thoughts, but rather when that “attentiveness” releases from all focused engagements and falls back upon its own Basis of empty Awareness, it self-illuminates the Basis, and brings about an immediate flash of knowing oneself as being the pure and ever-perfect Buddha Mind.

Dzogchen master Longchenpa first describes the nature of the primordial Base:

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

Longchenpa next shares how to apply these teachings regarding this “energy of attentiveness”:

“The method is directing attention upon attention or Awareness. When any arising is experienced, especially thoughts, moods, emotions, or feelings of personal self-identity, one simply “notices” one’s present naked Awareness. By directing the attention “back” to Awareness, the arising dissolves back into its origin and its essential nature, Awareness.”

(The “arisings” are merely the mind’s mental constructions as thought-forms (prana), not the actual external world itself, which becomes represented in and as the forms of those mental constructions, like mental photographs of the external world)

“In doing this, the ‘arising’ releases its formative energy (prana) in its dissolution as a surge of further clarity of Clear Light, the power and potency of Awareness that energized the arising in the first place.”

“Hence one’s “Presence of Awareness” is enhanced in the col­lapse of the formative arising. Hence the Dzogchen comment that “the stronger the afflictive emotion upon dissolution, the stronger the enhancement to the clar­ity of Presence. (From Longchenpa’s “A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission”, Choying Dzod (Padma Publications)

One should consider this radiant energy of “attentiveness”, is also what’s called “prana or chi”.

Now, “equipoise”, where the attentive energy rests within its Basis as empty Awareness, called “ Presence of Awareness”, often occurs here during moments between cognitive events or between thoughts or mental engagements, where a kind of empty gap naturally occurs. But it’s always an unexpected and spontaneous flash of self-recognition.

These flashes of “rigpa” (gnosis) have never occurred either during meditation practice nor as a direct result of engaging in any kind of practice. They seem to be completely random, but always during these little gaps absent of all outwardly directed attentiveness.

Also here is where our cognitive Basis as pure, empty, naked Awareness is experienced as being non-dual with its own radiant “attentiveness” (prana, chi).

A metaphor could be like a pond in the forest, in early Spring, where the ice on the surface of the pond is reduced to a thin sheet, like a clear and transparent veneer of crystal glass. As the warmth of the day arises, this extremely thin sheet of transparent ice melts inseparably into the water. But there is a point where it’s neither purely formless water and nor is it really a solid formation of ice.

It’s that exact state of consciousness where the formative thought energies or potentials of mind haven’t yet taken form, nor is the mind empty of all energetic attentiveness; conscious awareness rests in its crystal clarity of natural stillness while its energetic aspect vivifies its own empty cognition with self-recognizing Wisdom. This is true “samadhi”, where knower and known are known to be non-dual.

Here samadhi means where shamatha and insight meditation as vipassana are non-dual.

The terms “equipoise” and

“samadhi” both point to the live experience of the non-dual nature of Reality.

This empty cognition is a wisdom moment of self-recognizing lucidity. It’s a self-sustaining up-welling of a deeply pleasurable clarity of awareness that knows itself as this; nothing more and nothing less.

It’s a perfect point of equipoise, between the transparent clarity of emptiness and its energetic thought forms not yet enformed; like very cold water where ice is about to form.

As this empty and crystal clear awareness (rigpa) lies in the balance between its intrinsic aspects of emptiness and form, the mind’s formulations dissolve before taking form; instead, mind’s energies arise as an insightful non-dual Wisdom, beyond emptiness and form called prajña or yeshe.

If our natural attentiveness reifies itself any further, beyond being simply the empty and clear “presence” of awareness, a secondary consciousness, a “self-consciousness” arises, a sense of identity can further develop as a personal “me” on the subjective side upon the pole of subject/object dualism. Then the daydream in which “I” appear, unfolds as samsara’s dualistic display.

Sitting quietly alert, as the “knowing awareness” that’s nakedly aware, un-engaged with thought and perceptions; be vividly alert, just “rest” right there in the non-dual state.

“Do not divide appearances as being there and awareness (rigpa) as being here. Let appearance and awareness be indivisible.”

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Tulku Urgyen points out how this is experienced directly:

This point of perfect equipoise or samadhi is demonstrated precisely at the time 2:10 on this video.