Directly Seeing the Natural State

The Great Perfection: Directly Seeing the Natural State

Vital Instructions for Beginners

by Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa

I bow to the self-liberated ground of Great Perfection,
Yet without any concept of paying homage.
Bless me to see, in this very moment, the ultimate
Self-knowing awareness beyond conceptual mind—the very face of the Great Perfection!

The essential point of the Great Perfection is this clear, naked awareness—our mind, right now, unaltered, relaxed and without even the slightest change. And that’s it.

To maintain this clear awareness continuously by being mindful and without forgetting, whether we are eating, sleeping, moving around or sitting down, is what is called ‘meditation’. However, until you are rid of the cognitive obscurations, it's not possible to avoid your meditation getting mixed with the experiences of bliss, clarity, and non-thought. Yet by being mindful, not with a tight, deliberate mindfulness but simply not forgetting to keep recognizing your own nature, eventually at some point the ultimate truth beyond conceptual elaboration will dawn, transcending all analogies or definitions.

Beginners may sometimes find that a habitual proliferation of unwholesome thoughts can cause their mindfulness to wander off. A sudden gathering of discursive thoughts will turn, unnoticed, into an undercurrent, until at a certain point a bright mindfulness returns, and you regretfully think, "I’ve been distracted". At that moment, don't tail previous thoughts or feel remorse at having been distracted—simply continue naturally from that very point of fresh mindfulness.

There’s a common saying "Do not abandon the view of thoughts and emotions as dharmakāya”. But if you try to apply this before perfecting the clarity of vipaśyanā, inevitably you’ll find yourself in some vague confused state where you cannot fathom what is what. Therefore, when thoughts initially arise, just look at them directly without analyzing, investigating or ruminating. Simply observe the one who notices the thoughts and concepts, and with all the carefree indifference of an elderly person watching children play, disregard thoughts as unimportant and insubstantial. After practising this for a long time, thoughts will eventually arise as meditation, and stillness and movement of mind will be simultaneously freed.

At this point in the practice, there come three stages: by recognizing thoughts or emotions they are liberated as dharmakāya, thoughts liberate as dharmakāya by themselves, and thoughts naturally liberate as dharmakāya, beyond benefit or harm. These three need to be distinguished by an authentic teacher who holds the Great Perfection’s wisdom-mind transmission. For here lies its most crucial difference from the other vehicles and their manner of arriving at the view of thoughts as dharmakāya, which is through mental analysis. And so, by following those bodhisattvas on the bhūmis who have realized the distinctive view of the Pith Instruction Class, you will reach their level of realization.

When you realize this sky-like simplicity, which transcends renunciation or attainment, then meditator and mindful awareness as a remedy dissolve; your mind becomes pure like space, naturally freed from the shackles of doubts and dithering. You have passed beyond, to mind-transcending awareness—vast, open, unbound, not contrived by anyone—which you are certain is the truth that Buddha directly perceives, far surpassing mere assumptions and beliefs. You have cut through any potential errors in your pursuit of freedom from the three realms.

But although you may have realized the primordially pure natural state just as it is, if you haven't developed stability, and you have not reached the ‘three pure grounds’, there is always a danger of falling back. This is why, in order to purify the cognitive obscurations, you need to rely on solitude. And you need to devote every effort, unremittingly, to your practice.

The tantras and pith instructions of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen do not explicitly discuss the stages of the path beyond this natural liberation through the single decisive recognition of awareness. Yet the great accomplished siddhas and bodhisattvas of the past, based on the post-meditation states and depending on how far someone has exercised the great power of awareness, established a classification of superior, middling, and lesser levels of one-pointedness, simplicity, one-taste and non-meditation, and showed how these correspond to the stages and paths.

Then again, practitioners in subsequent generations may have mistaken ‘simplicity’ for something with characteristics, or while meditating on a habitual imprint of great ‘one-pointedness’, they proudly imagine they're uniting day and night. Individuals such as these unfortunately are just lacking in the three types of wisdom.

Regarding this, what you need to have is a confident understanding of the ultimate ground of liberation and the state of liberation characterized by the six special qualities of Samantabhadra's realization, as these are distinctive features of Dzogchen’s Secret Heart-Essence. To understand such essential points, you will have to unlock the Omniscient Longchenpa's secret treasury. And by so doing, in future generations there will come a succession of true yogis and yoginīs who have received the transmission of this wisdom-mind lineage.

It is for them that I, Longchen Namkhé Naljor, have written this as my parting words, notes written by someone with a mind like all-pervasive space, who possesses a special pure perception of the view.

Appearances are unborn; awareness, primordially free.
Consciousness is unimpeded; union, mere imputation.
Mindfulness, all-pervasive, is uncontrived at every turn.
Appearances that chase us, nakedly freed, no longer obstruct us.
There are no preferences in the view of the Great Perfection.
"Empty appearances" and "union" are just words and terminology.

Ahoyé! In simplicity beyond concepts, there is nothing to meditate on.
This hard stone seat represents great, unchanging confidence.
This little white tent protects from all fear of saṃsāra.
Brothers and sisters, honest and true, become companions for self-liberation.

Ahoyé! Appearances and mind are more blissful than anything;
Beyond view or meditation is the Dzogchen yogi,
Our carefree conduct the radiance of awareness at its fullest.
Contented, laid-back, completely at ease, now appearances and mind become fluid and flimsy.
Realization and liberation are the ultimate goal of all practice.

Stepping forward with my two feet, method and wisdom,
Seeking seclusion for my diligent practice in a mountain retreat,
I lived sheltered in a rocky cave, a place free from concepts.
It was there that this sky yogi met Longchenpa, whereupon
Experience and realization burst out naturally as this song of yearning.

In primordial radiance, there is no happiness, suffering, acceptance or rejection.
The falsity of appearances, in the depth of empty awareness,
All dissolved into perfect equality—Samantabhadra's expanse of wisdom,
And I encountered the dharmakāya kingdom, in all its vastness.

Fortunate brothers and sisters gathered here,
Don't cling to saṃsāra—sustain empty awareness free of grasping,
Nurture your vast expansive nature, utterly relaxed,
And together let’s set out for liberation, in the primordial space of the ground.

Even performing this vajra dance and song is just like a hallucination.

| Translated by Sean Price, edited by Rigpa Translations, with clarifications kindly supplied by Khenpo Sonam Tsewang, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

kun mkhyen ʼjigs med gling pa. “rdzogs pa chen po gnas lugs cer mthong (yo).” In gsung ʼbum ʼjigs med gling paGangtok, Sikkim: Sonam T. Kazi, 1970–1975. Vol. 8: 1237–1243.

______. “rdzogs pa chen po gnas lugs cer mthong (re).” In gsung ʼbum ʼjigs med gling pa (a ʼdzom par ma ʼbrug spa gror bskyar par btab pa). sPa gro: [S.n.], 1990–1999. Vol. 12: 503–509.

Secondary Sources

Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje. The Fearless Lion's Roar: Profound Instructions on Dzogchen, the Great Perfection. Trans. David Christensen. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 2015

van Schaik, Sam. Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2004

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