Introduction to Dzogchen Atiyoga

Introduction to Dzogchen Atiyoga

This article presents a brief introduction to the principles and history of the ancient and profound spiritual tradition of Mahasandhi or Atiyoga.

The spiritual tradition known as Great-Perfection (Sanskrit. Mahasandhi, tibetan Dzogchen), also known as Atiyoga (yoga of primordial knowledge), is a an ancient Buddhist non-duality tradition originating from the Indian Yogic Saint and Mahasiddha Prahevajra (tib. Garab Dorje) in the ancient kingdom of Oddiyana.

The teachings of the Great Perfection explain that the apparent, and illusory, world arises within the fundamental Basis, the original pristine state that 'Is-as-it-is', suchness, the primordial ground. All that manifests, both the normal living beings or fully awakened beings, manifest in a non-dual mode within this fundamentally pure Basis, as the liveliness, or energy, of the basis or primordial state. By not knowing the nature of self and all appearances as inseparable, and of the same nature as the Basis or fundamental ground, living beings are confused and experience a dualistic condition where the entire field of experience seems to be made of truly existing entities and 'things' that exist by their own right.

The conceptual thinking mind is itself both the manifestation of the basis, and the delusion that prevents the recognition of the true state. The essence of the Atiyoga teachings is the recognition of the aspect of mind's nature referred to as 'Vidya' (tib. rigpa), an awareness, or special mode of knowing, that is self-knowing, uncreated, not-a-thing, independent of any object, non-dual, all pervasive and unobstructed. This 'Vidya' as primordial wisdom can fully and directly know the nature of the Basis and all manifestation. This Vidya itself is inseparable from the basis, and as manifestation is spontaneous great love and compassion; as the root of all manifestation is spontaneous appearance. In other words it is the pure-knowing aspect of the ultimate nature that can know itself as-it-is and all the diversity of appearance as inseparable from the pure Basis.

Now all phenomenal existence,
All the things of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,
Are from the outset without self
And are beyond conceptual construction.
Through ignorantly clinging to them,Beings wander in existence.
Saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, various joys and sorrows, Do indeed occur.
Yet in the very moment of arising,
They are empty in their nature.
Know that they are like illusions.
Know they are like dreams.

Non-duality

The principle of non-duality is present in different spiritual traditions and views, however the meaning is not always the same. We can easily feel tempted to think of the principle of non-duality in terms of its opposite, making the non-dual ideal synonym with 'oneness' - a oneness of existence. This is not however the meaning of non-duality in this case. It can also happen that the term 'non-duality' when applied to the ultimate mode of reality can be considered as some type of 'fundamental mode of being or existence' that is non-duality, that is also not the way this is taught in atiyoga.

The non-duality principle in Atiyoga is not the view of a truly existent 'oneness-thing' where all things are the same in that 'oneness-thing'. Here non-duality means, in very simple terms, that in the Basis which is the source and ground of all manifestation, which in itself is primordial purity, or groundless emptiness and luminosity, all phenomena are inseparable - it is a great inconceivable inseparability where we cannot say that it is One, or Two - Not one, Not two.

Though all the things appearing outwardly
Occur within the mind, they are not the mind itself,
But neither are they something other than the mind.
Although by force of habit there may seem to be
Duality of apprehender-apprehended,
In the moment it occurs,
This duality has no reality.
It is like a face and its reflection in a mirror.
Although a face appears upon the surface of the mirror,
It is not there. And yet no other thing
Has cast its form upon the glass.
While not being there, its likeness there appears
And is perceived as different from the mirror.
Know that manifold phenomena are all like this.

The single point in Atiyoga is the full recognition of our own true nature, the ultimate condition of reality, which is the supreme source of all, the Pure Basis itself, the primordial state. The Basis, or primordial state, is not an object, is not a 'thing' or an entity. It is inconceivable and beyond words or thoughts and can only be known directly by the direct wisdom of Vidya.

Primordially unborn and uncontrived,
It does not dwell, it does not cease.
The mind itself, throughout the triple time,
Has neither ground nor root: it is a state of emptiness.
But being the foundation for unobstructed manifold arising,
It appears unceasingly.
Yet it is not a thing endowed with features;
Thus it has no permanent existence,
Yet to its arising there’s no end.
Therefore it is not a nihilistic emptiness.
Neither is it both of these nor is it neither:
There is no describing it.
It does not exist as this or that;
In no way therefore can it be identified.
Its nature should be understood

In the Basis everything is self-perfected, all the qualities of awakening, such as Pure Love, Pure Compassion, Pure Wisdom and so on are fully and self-perfected within the Basis. In the view of Atiyoga there are no pure qualities that need to be developed by the personal limited mind, it is only our own nature that needs to be recognized and fully actualized and everything is self-perfected - that is why it is named the Great-Perfection.

When means and wisdom are perfected,
Kāyas, primal wisdoms, and enlightened deeds,
All present of themselves, now stand revealed.

As a Path

The main understanding of Atiyana as a path is best described by the last words and testament of Garab Dorje:

Direct introducing to one's own nature
Removing any doubts about the unique ultimate condition
Integrating all into that state

As a path, Atiyana relies on the crucial aspect of transmission, without the transmission of the state of our own mind from a spiritual friend that has direct knowledge and abides in that state, it is very difficult to come to that discovery - that is the first point as taught by Garab Dorje. The approach is simple, and yet very complete. It always starts with 'transmission'. In Atiyoga we find a complete set of teachings, methods and forms of applications and integration in order to come to the discovery of this state and total awakening. However those methods, or the path aspect, is not the cause of the primordial state, Dzogchen, in itself is the primordial state, the methods are an illusory play to allow the mind to come to that discovery.

The first human teacher to present the teachings of Mahasandhi was Anandavajra, or sometimes also referred as Prahevajra (tib. Garab Dorje). This original set of teachings is called today the 'Mind Teachings' class. Even though we have the texts, a clear line of students and a clear historical tradition, due the highly dynamic spiritual landscape of that period, the exact dates in which Garab Dorje was born and taught are unclear. The time period where Garab Dorje was born varies in different accounts, there is a wide range of time based on different sources. I do not present here a detailed account of all the many stories about the life of Anandavajra, but just a brief account of the main point.

A brief historical overview

Based on current historical information, the most likely period for his life would be somewhere between the early 6th century and mid 7th century; even though some accounts place him as early as 50 BC. In traditional accounts, in the Kingdom of Udiyana, there was an island where an order of nuns lived. One of the nuns was the daughter of the king, king Uparaja. She was named Sudharma.

One night while sleeping she had a dream that a luminous white man came to her and placed a crystal vase at the crown of her head and light emanated from the vase three times. Soon she became pregnant, and gave birth to a boy. By the time he was seven years old he was already defeating the great scholars of the temple in debate with a clear and visionary knowledge of all topics of reality. There are also many accounts of miracles and other incredible feats since an early age. Very early on he renounced his heritage and palace and left to the mountains where he spent 32 years in meditation. Later on eventually he traveled to Bodhgaya where he taught and remained the rest of his life.

Even though the exact historical details of Garab Dorje's life are shrouded in the mists of time, there is a clear line of students, teachings and root texts. Whether we take the traditional accounts of his life has factual or hagiographical, we know a lot more about his students and the lineage that followed him, a lineage that remains unbroken to this day. But most importantly, the clear power of this tradition and teachings which have produced countless awakened and realized beings.

His main student and heir was Manjushrimitra, who trained under Anandavajra for 75 years. Manjushirmitra was indian born, somewhere close to Bodhgaya, and was already a great scholar of the cittamatra and yogacara schools before he met Garab Dorje. Manjushrimitra in turn transmited the Mahasandhi teachings to Sri Simha. According to one scholar (A.W. Barber) Sri Simha took the Mahasandhi lineage to south India, transmitted to others who later took it to Tibet and China. This transmission from Sri Simha is then passed on, among many others surely, and also to Jnanasutra and Vimalamitra. This is a very brief account of the old transmission lineage, and the names of many masters are not here mentioned but can be found in more complete sources.

In this brief account its important to point to the unbroken oral transmission of Sri Simha. The great importance is that the tradition of Dzogchen that remains alive, and unbroken today stems directly from him, because it was Sri Simha who gave the transmission of these teachings to the Tibetan Vairotsana. In the 8th century Vairotsana was chosen by the King of the time to be trained in Sanskrit language and in the art of translation, already with the intention that he would then travel to Udiyana in order to obtain the transmission of the Atiyoga teachings. It was Vairotsana who received the complete transmission directly from Sri Simha.

Vairotsana was born in Tibet, and was extremely intelligent and from a very young age showed signs of great spiritual capacity. He traveled to India and remained with Sri Simha for a long time, receiving all the transmissions and instructions, and at the end he realized the state of self-liberation, his conceptual mind dissolved and he realized the ultimate condition of his mind, the Great-Perfection. Upon his return to Tibet he started to translate the root texts of the Mind-Teachings section, which are the root, the original teachings of Garab Dorje, which are today known as the 5 original translations : The Cuckoo of Awareness, The Great Potency, The Flight of the Garuda, Pure Golden Ore, The Victory Banner that does not wane. Later on thirteen other texts were translated, culminating with the appearance of the great reference work of the Dzogchen original Mind-Teachings, known as the Kulayaraja Tantra - the All-Creating King Tantra.

This profound, inconceivable, formless lineage of transmission of Dzogchen seems to have disappeared in India at a later date, at least in that original form, but it was kept alive in Tibet, and is alive today, with an unbroken oral transmission since its origins.

The Dzogchen tradition took root and developed further within the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, where it was eventually organized into three classes of teachings: The Mind class, the Space class and the pith instruction class. The Tibetan tradition has seen incredible masters who have greatly contributed to the development and continuation of this lineage, such as the early period yogis Nubchen Sangye Yeshe and Rongzompa for example, but the great pillar of the Dzogchen teachings is without a doubt Longchen Rabjam who lived in the 14th century and is responsible for collecting, organizing and systematizing much of the fragmented Dzogchen lineages and teachings, and is still today the main reference for any student and practitioner of this path.

Introduction to Dzogchen Atiyoga

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