Adam Pearcey - Beyond the Ordinary Mind: Dzogchen, Rimé, and the Path of Perfect Wisdom

Snow Lion

An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

www.shambhala.com

2018 by Adam Pearcey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: O-rgyan-jigs-med-chos-kyi-dbang-po, Dpal-sprul, 18081887. |

Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho, Jam-mgon Ju, 18461912. | Pearcey, Adam, translator.

Title: Beyond the ordinary mind: Dzogchen, Rim, and the Path of Perfect Wisdom: selected works / by Patrul Rinpoche, Jamgn Mipham, and other masters; translated and introduced by Adam Pearcey.

Description: First edition. | Boulder: Snow Lion, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Includes translations from Tibetan.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017019422 | ISBN 9781559394703 (pbk.: alk. paper)

eISBN9780834841307

Subjects: LCSH: Rdzogs-chen.

Classification: LCC BQ 7662.4 .B 48 2018 | DDC 294.3/444dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017019422

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The pure awareness beyond the ordinary mind

Is the special feature of the Great Perfection.

Jigme Lingpa

Not so long ago I saw this anthology of writings compiled by the noted translator Adam Pearcey for his book Beyond the Ordinary Mind. As I read through it, I found it contained many authentic original texts, composed by authors who not only were all universally acknowledged as learned and realized masters, but who also did an enormous amount to enhance and enrich the teachings of both the New and the Ancient traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Dzogchen Khenpo Pema Vajra, Dza Patrul Jigme Chkyi Wangpo, Jamgn Mipham Namgyal Gyatso, the Third Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima, and Yukhok Chatralwa Chying Rangdrol were all holders of the lineage of the Great Perfection tradition of Secret Mantra, and yet they also recognized its ultimate compatibility and harmony with other traditions. At the same time, Amdo Geshe (also widely known as Drakkar Geshe) Jampal Rolwe Lodr, and Tulku Sungrab Dongak Chkyi Gyatso, who were both great geshes within the Geluk Yellow Hat tradition, equally established the ultimate convergence of New and Ancient Schools.

Using scriptural citation, logical reasoning, and pith instructions, these masters showed how their own traditions transcended sectarian prejudice. Likewise, they undermined false views, overcame opponents, realized all teachings to be without contradiction, and clearly perceived all the scriptures as actual, practical advice. They cared for their fortunate followers through instructions on how to integrate every aspect of the Dharma, and they ensured the continuity of the teachings through their writings. That this anthology contains so many texts by such masters makes it, to my mind, seem like an exquisite vase filled with a great treasure of wondrous and marvelous explanations.

Reading through these texts, which convey secret, crucial points of instruction on the Profound Viewfrom the Great Perfection, the Great Seal (Mahmudr), and the Great Middle Waythey feel like an elixir for the eyes. Consider, for example, how these writings demonstrate so clearly the critical importance of the three essential qualifications in the Dzogchen tradition. For pure awarenessor rigpato be introduced, an authentic teacher must possess the qualities of knowing wisdom, caring love, and spiritual power. The authentic student must have faith and pure samaya commitments, be free from the stain of wrong view, and uncorrupted by doubt. In addition, the students mind must be trained through authentic instructions, such as the uncommon preliminary of destroying the house of the ordinary mind, thereby uncovering mental flaws through contemplations such as the investigation of minds coming, staying, and going.

These various texts refer to the Great Middle Way beyond the conceptual elaborations of refutation and proof, which is a theme Mipham Rinpoche emphasizes in his stra-level instructions on the view of the Middle Way. This, in turn, corresponds to the Great Seal (Mahmudr) of the Path of Liberation in the instructions on the view bringing together stra and mantra from the Kagy tradition, and to the view of the Inseparability of Sasra and Nirva among the Sakya, and so on. Works that cite such themes bring together points from hundreds of stras, all summarized in a single instruction. I therefore am left with the impression that this collection is just like a treasury of precious jewels, or a powerful wish-granting tree capable of fulfilling every need. There is really nothing more to say than that.

Let us conclude, then, with some words from the Fourth Pachen Lama, Lobzang Chkyi Gyaltsen:

Pacification (Zhij), Severance (Chd), the Great Perfection,

Instructions on the View of the Middle Way, and the like,

Are known by many different names,

But when an experienced yogi, who is learned in scripture and reasoning,

Investigates their definitive meaning, they are found to be of a single intention.

And from the Precious Guru Padmasambhava:

Some call it the Middle Way,

Some call it the Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom,

Some call it Essence of the sugatas,

Some call it the Great Seal,

Some call it Single All-Encompassing Sphere,

Some call it Space of Phenomenal Reality (dharmadhtu),

Some call it All-Ground (laya),

Some call it Ordinary Awareness

It may be pointed out directly as follows:

Once a past thought has dissolved without trace,

In the freshness of mind before a future thought rises.

While remaining naturally without fabrication in the present,

If that ordinary state of consciousness

Should turn and look directly into itself,

There is clarity, in which nothing is seen through looking,

A direct form of awareness, naked and alert.

Unmade in any way, it is open and clear.

Its clarity and emptiness indivisible, it is lucid and awake.

It is not everlasting, for it is entirely uncreated.

Nor is it a void, for it is penetrating clarity.

It is not one, because it is aware of and cognizes the manifold.

Nor is it multiple, for it embraces all in indivisible experience.

And it is not found elsewhere, for it is ones very own awareness.

In response to a request from the Buddhist scholar, the talented translator Adam Pearcey, I, the one named Thubten Nyima, wrote this in Brooklyn, New York, on April 14, 2017. May virtue and goodness abound.

Alak Zenkar Rinpoche