Key Points of Dzogchen Practice by Yanpa Lodey

(Note from Transcriber: When Lama Lena is quoting text, it’s marked both bold & italic)

Lama Lena:  Good morning.

Dzogchen again today, a text that I don’t think I have taught for a very long time. 

“Key points in Dzogchen practice” by one of Longchenpa’s students; not well known known as happy vagrant or carefree vagrant, he wandered about didn’t get famous. It’s an old text. I kind of like it, because it gives some real simplicity towards objects. And everybody over complicates things.

It really isn’t that complex. Your thoughts are complex. That’s why you can’t think it. 

Let go, give up. Stop trying to understand Dzogchen. The only thing to understand are the instructions; in following them there is nothing you’re going to find that is understandable.

The key is guru yoga. The door is your own mind. Find the key. Find the door. Without the key the door to your own mind will not open. With the key, guru yoga, but not knowing where the door is, you’ll wander about with a key in your pocket. Big deal. 02:26 

Good[?] two together. Uhm, that was an analogy.

[lineage prayers]

Chuku kundu zong bo gompa yi

Dorje Sempa Garab Dorje dang

Shere Singhi bardu shinlap de

De dang mab zong tata tu sum chi

Dzogchen ju pe lama la solwa deb

Urgen pema juney la solwa deb

Dorje Chang, Che, Tilo, Naro dang

Marpa Mila Gompo tsa tsa pa

Na ha Pu pa dang palden drugpa so

Kagyu lama nam la sol wa deb

O chen lama nam la sol wa deb

Drub chen lama nam la sol wa deb

Chak chen lama nam la sol wa deb

Yong drun dang nyen lo lam la sol wa deb

Pal kon du zong dang yer me pa

Gon garab dorje zhin trag pa

Je ti dang nyi su me pa’i

Pa, lama nom che ten ter chong

When feelings of impermanence and weariness arise in my mind, the business of appearing to practice this life will never provide a chance to genuinely accomplish the sacred Dharma. May the real renunciation dawn for me. Unless I train in compassion and the excellent Bodhicitta, in the darkness of clinging to selfish aims, there will never be a chance to illuminate the excellent path of Mahayana. May I train in the true and eminent Bodhicitta.  

You all understand that word Bodhicitta. Bodhi: thus gone, gone beyond. 

Citta: consciousness, awareness, mind. Gone beyond mind, gone beyond consciousness, gone beyond awareness. And beyond is the within and the within within is beyond.

I committed acts which seem to benefit others, although I have not reached the state of a noble being. These acts in fact don’t help others and cause me to fetter myself, being invested in the outcome. Without fooling myself with distractions and bustle, may I practice diligently in secluded places. Means and knowledge separated are like a man with a broken leg, who lacks the power to journey the paths and bhumis to omniscience. While uniting emptiness and compassion, development and completion, method and wisdom, the two accumulations, may I embark on the unmistaken path. Without receiving the blessings of a master endowed with the lineage, I won’t realize the natural state by pushing my practice. Though an auspicious coincidence of perfect devotion, may I obtain the supreme empowerment transmitting the lineage of realization. The great perfection beyond all concepts, luminous with awareness, awake alive. Through the instruction of freely resting in the innate mode, may I attain stability in the level of exhaustion. When once time arrives to bring benefit to beings, may I dawn the armor of never tiring of helping others? May I alone liberate my infinite mother’s from the river of samsaric existence.

09:50 

No, that’s not all of it. But it’s pretty, it’s the summary.

Basically here, in brief, he explains the key points of practice in the context of Dzogchen. All your practices. If you are practicing Dzogchen, as well as other things, such as perhaps ngöndro, don’t separate and think of them as different. Practice ngöndro in the context of Dzogchen. Practice sadhana, in the context of Dzogchen.

First of all, align your channels; it makes everything else so much easier. That is, on a comfortable seat, assume the seven-fold posture of Vairochana in a relaxed and comfortable way. So what you do is, you align your channels, whether you’re doing the seven pointed posture of Vairochana if you are young and can, or the Maitreya position if you are unable to do the lotus position. Then you relax into it. It’s okay to have a backrest, a lumbar support, a knee strap, even a chin rest, it’s fine. Use useful stuff so that you can really relax like this, without losing alignment.

Look with wide open eyes.

That does not mean bug-eyed. That means relaxed but open; not the half-mast of common trek-chö. In this, they’re gonna teach you some new methods in here. They’re just methods. In this method, you’re facing straight ahead, not a little bit down; your eyes are not following the line of your nose, they’re looking straight ahead, and they are open like this. 

[Lama Lena showing how to do this]

Do not forbid them to blink, otherwise your eyeballs will dry out.

13:10 

Look into the sky straight before you. 

Do you remember, sixth grade science, earth science, where you learned about the names of clouds and weather. And you learned that the sky is not up above you as a dome, but begins at the ground and extends forever into space where the stars are. Do you remember learning that.

So settle your eyes wide open and facing it head into the sky. 

This is sky. In other text it will say: “if you must find a focus, you may find a focus two meters in front of you in the empty space.” So don’t sit with your nose on the wall for this way.

Let your breathing flow naturally, not through your nose. but very gently [prominent] predominantly through your mouth. 

Now there’s reason for each of these points in this exercise. So do not disregard them. Or think: “Well I don’t wanna do it that way, I wanna do it with my eyes closed. Because that’s my habit”. Well, you can, but then it’s not this. It’s something else that you’re making up. Do let me know eventually, if it works; eventually means in a few years

15:22

Following this cultivates renunciation, weariness, compassion and Bodhicitta. 

Renunciation. Stop trying to make it perfect for your personal values of perfect, which may have something to do with finer or cleaner or more organized or, or or. Leave it alone. That’s renunciation. Stop trying to get it right. You’re all chasing. I see this in the email constantly: “I just wanted to check in and see if I’m doing it right”. You’re all chasing this mythical beast called “the right”. It’s a snark, snipe actually what we call them; you’re on a snipe hunt. You’re never gonna get it all right!. You’re never going to get to where you think “perfect” is. You’re like, when you want a cart horse, a particularly stupid cart horse, this doesn’t work on mules, to go forward. You have a carrot on a string on a long stick. And you sit in the carriage and you hold the stick out, so that it’s in front of the horse, the carrot is like two three, feet in front of the horse. And the horse walks forward to get the carrot. Well, he’s pulling the cart. Some carts even have a little stick-rest there. He’s pulling the cart, this only works on the really stupid ones, he’s pulling the cart, he’s seeing the carrot, he’s walking after the carrot; your “perfect”, your “getting it right” is hanging off the end of a metaphorical stick in front of your nose and as you walk towards it, it moves. You ever get your stove clean enough? I’m talking to myself here. You will notice that your sink is now dirty in comparison. “I think I’ll leave it the way it is, it’s good enough to cook on. Maybe eventually someone will clean it for me. Or maybe not”. It’s easier in a cave, they’re naturally dirty. So you don’t clean them, they have dirt floors. So yeah, you can sweep the debris out, the dropped vegetable peels and things, but that’s about it. Here, with so many toys that there isn’t time to play with them all, so they accumulate dust, so you feel bad if you don’t dust them, this is this whole cycle of trying to get to perfect, trying to get it right. Stop. Let go. This is what I’m talking about renunciation: “Renounce perfect. renounce right. Relax and leave it be the funky way it is”.

19:27 

Arise nying-je in your heart. 

My favorite way of doing that is visualizing a purring kitten on my heart chakra. It makes my heart go “oooh”. And then I left that reading kitten reincarnate as all beings everywhere, reincarnate.

Very simple. Open your heart.

There’s other methods use the one you like. 

After this, resting and renunciation, weariness of chasing your damn carrot, Bodhicitta. Visualize your root guru above the crown of your head in their ordinary form. 

Just like you see them. Do they wear jeans, and a plaid shirt? In jeans and a plaid shirt or a sweatshirt. Do they wear ceremonial robes and like to? Great, in ceremonial robes. Visualize your teacher. And with your heart with tear filled devotion, with all the love in your heart, love, desire and that yearning that wants something, aim that at your teacher. You know that dissatisfaction that pervades everything? You always want something, and you don’t even know what it is. Maybe you want to get laid. Maybe you think it’s that and then you get laid, and you have your orgasm. Now you want a cigarette, and then you think it’s that. Then you have your cigarette. Now you want to eat something because you’re hungry. Or you want to go to sleep because you’re tired. 

It was a carrot dangling in front of you, running in front of you, this “want-thing”. And yeah, you change its name as you grab each thing, but it never satisfies. I want something. 

Put you your teacher there. “I want the blessing of my teacher”.

Pray, supplicate, ask, so that the realization of the profound path may quickly dawn within you. Not just in mere words or platitudes, pretty though they are, where the real Dzogchen to occur.

In your mind, you must receive the transmission of the blessings of the mind of the master who possesses the lineage. 

This transmission is the key. And it depends upon the devotion of the disciple. If you’re not, if you don’t open your mouth, the food won’t go in. You ever tried to feed a baby something that didn’t want to eat? Or stick a pill in a cat? It’s really hard to do. If you don’t open your mouth, the food won’t go in. The devotion opens your heart to allow that communication. 

Most communication is ” Hé, see me, see me, here’s my history, here’s what I look like, here’s what I do, here’s my story”. That’s not the communication we’re looking for. Your story and your teachers’ story are just decorations around the point; curlicues, don’t be distracted by all the curlicues. The point is the transmission, and the transmission won’t happen until you open your mouth. No matter how many peanuts I throw towards your mouth, even if my aim is perfect, if your mouth is closed, they won’t go in. And frankly my aim is not always perfect.

24:40 

Your devotion to your root-teacher, which is not blind obedience to the thoughts you would thought that you thought they said: don’t do that. We’re tricksy little critters, we really like to trick ourselves. We make up stories, these tricksy little stories.

You so want the teacher to love you Who cares if they even like you! You just want what they’ve got: the transmission. 

All the tricksy stories about this, and my relationship and that, and… do you realize it’s all in your mind? Everything you think is in your mind! That’s where you be thinking shit.

Open your mind and trust. Not the story. The transmission. Not what you think the transmission was or will be, those are thoughts. The transmission is not a thought

Without getting involved in too much chanting and forced practice, nonetheless invoke use your speech chakra to supplicate your teacher one pointedly. 

This is necessary, you actually have to use your “out-loud”. You can recite a small prayer, you can say “Karmapa chen-no”, if that’s the archetype you’re using. You can say “Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava chen-no; hear me, please give me your blessing”. But you got to say it and you got to mean it, for it to work. I mean, really mean it. Be willing and open to what comes even if it’s not what you think should come.

[Note Trancriber chen-no is presumably khyen-no; Wylie: mkhyen, no is a completing particle. 

Lama Lena speaks Kham-dialect , some words are pronounced differently there. So I am not sure about the Wylie]

27:49 

This is part of the key points of visualization for receiving the four empowerments. When we give the four wangs, traditionally, the first wang is… got lots of words and intellectual explanations to get your intellect nice and busy with some concepts, so it leaves you alone for a minute. Second wang is more likely poetry to invoke certain feelings, to get your feelings going around with your intellect there, so they leave you alone for a minute and stop interfering. Third wang is a physical symbol. Usually done, the reason why you shouldn’t understand how this all happens, by silently holding up a crystal. 

In old Tibet, this was one … clear quartz crystal was one of the few objects which was transparent. Didn’t have glass much, especially among the nomads, to breakable. But somebody might, a Lama who was teaching, might have one of these. There were quartz mines. So the example they’re showing you is transparent. Säl-wa [gsal ba;Wylie] clear. You can see through it. I can actually see, when I put it to my eye and look through it, you all quite clearly

The fourth wang is the one that’s really important. And it’s not what you think it is. The fourth wang is always available. It is not based in time, or located in space. Once you have received it, it’s always there. Until such time, as that is obvious to you, work on your devotion.

31:33 

Here meditation does not mean the cultivation of an absent minded vacant in different state of the old ground. 

That is shyi-né. 

Also, it doesn’t mean the cultivation of the conscious- and tranquil-state of the old ground consciousness.

It’s not just exclusive focus on dharmakaya, great mother ocean, all ground. It’s not just a focus on Dharmakaya, and the awareness which is aware of dharmakaya. You’re still leaning to the side a little bit.

It does not mean to cultivate a blank state of non-conceptual experience, or the variegated thoughts that appear as objects. 

It’s not watching the thoughts happen.

It’s the triad as one of the infinite openness, the vast ground of mine, the all-ground, the awareness which sees the all ground; the thoughts, feelings and perceptions which dance arising in the all ground and dissolve in the all ground, without affecting the all ground. It is not limited to one more than the other. 

It is balance, without investment in what arises, renunciation. With other openness to the experiencer, bodhicitta. With complete awareness of the emptiness of all phenomena, shunyata. 

Where do bodhicitta and shunyata come come together in awareness as awareness. Look at your own mind.

Well then, what is meditation? When your past thought is finished, before the next one yet comes; so let them slow down, it takes a while of sitting there before they slow down enough you to spot this. 

When you are free from conceptual reckoning in the present moment between the thoughts. Being empty and cognizant dawns as the state of mind which is like space. It doesn’t go away when the thoughts come up, because the fricking things are transparent!

So, it is not obscured by thinking, feeling and perceiving.

36:13 

This itself is the great perfection transcending concepts, the cutting through of primordial purity, innate unfuckupableness. The open and naked exhaustion of phenomena. 

Look for yourself; later on your own time, because it takes a while for this to work.

Align your channels and just sit there. Don’t try to force anything. Don’t try to do anything. Breathe gently through your mouth mostly, without occluding your nose.

Your thoughts will slow down after a while. How long depends on how agitated you were when you started. A while. When they have slowed down, look between them. When the next one arises, look through it at what was…not a what. Look through it at “the between”. When it dissipates continue to look between. When the next one arises, look right through it it’s transparent at the between. Keep sitting like this, again and again, until you notice that the looker is simply the lucidity or the ability to think and feel of the looked at. That’s a noticing, not a creating. The looker has never been anything other than that. But you don’t know that. Oh, you’ve heard it, you can say the words. Yeah, that and…anybody can say the words, read them in a book. What we have here is a matter of noticing it yourself. Capisce?

This is exactly what you should recognize. To sustain the practice means simply to rest in natural-ness after recognizing in any context, whether it be view, meditation or conduct; ta-wa, gom-pa, so-pa. 

Conduct[?], that’s a freaking word for so-pa; but yeah, you could. 

This is exactly what should be revealed in its naked state. Unless you actually experience this, which transcends your understanding. 

39:49 

One [?] will tell you to be free from arising, dwelling and see seen[?]. Another one will say it is such and such. 

And you’ll hear all these Dharma-rumors, out of context. And you won’t know what to believe. Don’t believe any of them! Look for yourself. 

At some point practitioners do notice that all the texts disagree with each other.

See the crystal? I’m pointing at it with both my fingers. They’re pointing in opposite directions. They’re pointing at the same thing.

Dharmakaya is naked and empty awareness, which transcends concepts and cannot be established as having concrete existence. 

It’s not like there is a dharmakaya out there someplace, or in there someplace, or over there or back there. It’s not like that. It’s what when I talk to you guys about another direction altogether.

I think I need new glasses. It’s still fuzzy. 

Having concrete exists…where am I? 

Apart from a mere image, by means of descriptive words, by analysts, by intellect, that’s really not going to lead you to it. 

But when the blessings of your teacher coincide with your power from your own meditation practice, you will cut through all the dancing thoughts of misconception. 

Just like a small child awakening to the faculty of intelligent thought. When that has happened, it is essential not to abandon that discovery. But to cultivate it continuously with diligence. 

This is where you’re getting somewhere, but it’s gonna wear off if you don’t keep going. Remember, I’ve said “don’t stop”. Don’t stop because you get to a plateau; you can rest a little bit, but don’t stop here. Several times in your practice, it will feel as if it’s okay to just stop. If you do it too soon, it wears off and you have to start over again. 

You may ask how I know this. Yep, more than once. I’m not a very good student, or a very bright practitioner. And I have great compassion for my dear teacher, who actually put up with me. Amazing. 

Well, a beginner, if you’re too slack, there is the risk of slipping back into non-stop delusion. So you have to remain mindful pretty constantly. Whether there is stillness, thought occurrence, or the noticing of them. It is essential to practice while looking directly into the fresh awareness of the observer. 

In between the thoughts between the feelings and the perceptions, what you see is only you. The observer and the observed are obviously inseparable. 

But don’t take my word for this, go practice! 

While meditating in this way, the signs of manifest awareness is when it seems to you that you have even more thoughts, activity and agitation, and even more disturbing emotions than before. 

Rinpoche used to say about this, his analogy was: “You know, in the monsoon time when the rains come, and all that weird green stuff grows up in the jungle, like that, you’re watering it by practicing and paying attention to it”. That was his analogy. All that weird green stuff in the jungle that grows up during monsoon. And yeah, there’s a lot of weird plants growing up in the jungle there; tall, where they were hardly anything before.

An endless number of variations on the experiences of the nyams will occur. Variations on bliss, clarity, non-thought, grouch, all of this, it will occur.

A little bit like this, but a little bit like that, because we’re creative, so we’ll make them be very somehow personal to us. “The lights came in from the left and they were purple, and then later they became blue”. Yeah, that stuff. “Well, I get all blissed out, when I do that”. Hmm mm. “It’s all empty, there’s nothing left to do”. Hmm mm…those are nyams.

Don’t try to accept or reject them or fixate on them in any way. Rather practice while looking directly into the awareness, which experiences them.

When you’re having a nyam, find the haver of the nyam.

In this way they become your friends. If you begin to fixate on those experiences, you will get tied up in that fixations, so don’t do that. Leave them be! If your mind gets drowsy or dull, not clear and lucid, and that happens when you sit for long and long, you can clear it in this way: Visualize the letter A or a sphere of light in your heart and send it out through the crown of your head, while leaving your breath exhaled. Imagine that it (I cannot read this well), imagine that it lingers in the air about the length of an arrow above you.

Arrows length, everybody knows how long an arrow is.

With your breath held on the out breath, but without closing your glottis, visualize the A as you breathe out. [Lama Lena breathing out and demonstrating how to breath in this exercise.] Goes up. And you rest on the out breath, until you need to breathe again. 

If you get too agitated, anxious, twitchy, don’t wanna… da da da da, you’re throwing up all sorts of things; thinking too fast. Here’s another method: 

Deeply relax your body, lower your gaze and imagine a tiny tig-le at the tip of your nose.

Or when there is a clear and cloudless sky…Listen to me: with- your-back-to-the-sun! Safety issue. 

In a clear and cloudless sky, when that opportunity arises, with your back to the sun, direct your eyes to the center of space and breathe very gently, keeping your breath exhaled slightly.

Remember, we’re through the mouth here. We’re breathing shallowly, just a little bit, but we’re breathing into the abdomen.

If you find you’re beginning to yawn, when you do this, it means you’re doing it too strong; you need to relax it more, a little bit more breath, more air. Okay?

As you do this, in an instant the open naked Dharmakaya of awareness in this emptiness will appear from within yourself. This realization of the threefold sky is a most profound instruction. 

So this is a method of practice that might help you. Do you have questions on it right now? I’m gonna just stop here to check, do you have questions on this particular practice “facing away from the sun into the empty sky”. Anything coming?

[Nyondo] Not yet. There’s other questions but not on the sky gazing

52:23 

52:23 

[Lama Lena] Are anything on direct instructions, how to’s, not why’s.

[Nyondo]

Um, there was a question about the gaze. And is it spread like panoramic? Or is it focused? As you do this? 

[Lama Lena] It is relaxed. In the sky gazing one? 

[Nyondo] General practice. 

[Lama Lena] In these practices here, because this is teaching a slightly different way; I’ve had a number of different ways of doing that. This is another one. They’re all slight differences that will do the same thing but work better for some people and less for other people. This gaze is open, but not fixated. It’s somewhat panoramic. It usually starts with a point and then you let go of the point. Anything else?

[Nyondo] On sky or just generally?

[Lama Lena]  I’m taking general, but I’m taking “practical how to’s”, not “why for’s”.

[Nyondo] Okay. Um. “You spoke earlier about the carrot going forward and constantly eating the carrot”. Actually, no, that’s not related to this question. The question is: “How to overcome resistance to blessings”. If you’re receiving the teachings, but there’s a….

[Lama Lena] …but you’re blocking it. More guru yoga.

Traditionally, at this point, we would recommend more prostrations to the lineage tree. But you may have great resistance to doing that also. If so, then more time spent with lam rim. Literally, go study lam rim, sutrayana. There are many teachers who’ll be happy to teach to you. Next.

[Nyondo]   When visualizing the A as it travels from the heart, are you visualizing it traveling through the central channel?

[Lama Lena] Yes. That was easy.

[Nyondo]  And the sky viewing: What if one sees a yidam-deity come from the sky, during gazing?

[Lama Lena] Treat it the same way as any other thought, feeling or perception. Don’t pay it no never mind. Let it happen. Don’t block it. Don’t grab it. Leave it be. 

There are certain practices in which that really quite commonly does happen, not this one, but some of the others. And I will not teach you those practices until you are truly capable of leaving it be! Because otherwise, you’ll just waste my time and yours. And possibly do yourself a mischief. Next.

[Nyondo] Can you clarify about the yawning and is that the same for all practices?

[Lama Lena] I do not know if it is the same for all practices. I know in this practice, with a very shallow breathing and resting on the out breath through the mouth, and it’s not super shallow; if you start yawning, you’re making it too shallow. It’s one of the side effects that happens from that mistake. If you make it too deep, you will become agitated. If you make it too shallow, you will yawn or feel the need to yawn, whether you actually do it or not. [Lama Lena is yawning]… like that. Anything else?

[Nyondo] Yes, a couple of people asked questions about breathing through the mouth. 

I have a problem finding breathing through the mouth comfortable and relaxing. How do I fix this?

[Lama Lena] Practice it.

[Nyondo] And questions about the mouth becoming dry as you mouth breathe.

[Lama Lena] Keep a glass of water beside you, take a sip as you need to.

[Nyondo] And question about the guru visualization. When we visualize the guru above our head is the guru facing us or in the same direction is we’re facing? 

[Lama Lena] Facing you. That’s not obvious? You’re talking to him, of course they’re looking at you.

[Nyondo] Sometimes when I sit to practice, my head starts moving in circles; is that also a nyam? Do I let it be?

[Lama Lena] That’s a distraction. Get a taller backrest, with something that extends so that your head just touches it, that might help. Don’t move your head in circles. Find a way that you cannot move your head in circles. Cheat. Put something behind your head that you can feel, that starts to move, hold it still, relax into the stillness. All sorts of little things will happen to keep you from actually doing this. Don’t co it. Follow the instructions, do the practice, see what happens. 

Anymore?

59:55

[Nyondo] Are we there yet? What are the signs that the practice is progressing well?

[Lama Lena] Nothing happens. You’ll see.

[Nyondo] To supplicate the root guru, is it okay to use the text in ngödro? Or can we come up with something original?

[Lama Lena] Sure, yes to both of those. All that matters is that you supplicate from the heart. And that you use words, use your speech-chakra; whether you read a text or make something up, entirely up to you. As long as you feel it, as well as say it.

Any more details that I seem to have left out.

[Nyondo] Which guru does one visualize as the main guru?

[Lama Lena] The one you feel devotion to, whether that’s a symbol or a person.

Anything more

[Nyondo] Yes: Can you do this practice at night before bed, lying down?

[Lama Lena] No, those are not the instructions. This practice is done sitting up. There are other practices that you do before bed, lying down, but this is not that category. This is different.

[Nyondo] Is the fourth wang given passively by interacting with or contemplating the guru, or is it only given actively by ritual or ceremony? 

[Lama Lena] The fourth wang does not require any ceremony. It can be given with a ceremony, if someone happens to be fond of doing things in a ceremonial way. But it is not a requirement of it. Fourth wang has other simplicity, it’s just the showing, in which no thing is shown. 

Anything more or shall I go on.

[Nyondo] You can go on from here.

1:03:18 

[Lama Lena] Whatever takes place at this point while you’re doing this, whether it be the six types of cognition, <that means the sense organs plus thoughts and feelings, or the sense sensory cognitions counting the yi as the sixth>, thoughts relating to the five poisons of the emotions, fluctuations in temporary experiences, it manifests as a display of the expression of awareness, Bodhicitta.

So, yeah, stuff happens; you get nyams, and you have thoughts, and there are feelings and sensations. So what. There is no separation here between the moving and the stillness, between the dance of phenomena, thoughts, feelings and perceptions, and the awareness which do dance, and the infinite openness of that awareness. They are not separate. So don’t grab and don’t shove.

They are equal in appearing. They are equally empty. They are equally real and equally false. All of them are nothing but the magical display of awareness. So don’t get involved in negating or approving, accepting or rejecting, clinging or fixating on them as something to be discarded, or as a remedy.

Don’t grab but don’t shove. This isn’t where we use “phet”. Phet shoves, or pops. It’s a different practice. In this practice, in this way of doing it, you don’t do anything to it. Don’t grab, don’t shove. This is important.

Relax openly and free from fixation into a fresh state of awareness, of that which experiences rig-pa, experiencer, awareness. In this way, it is essential to train the strength of your realization through naturally liberating whatever arises.

Naturally liberating means let go! Don’t grab and don’t shove. So-pa, the third word of Garab Dorje occurs perfectly spontaneously. You don’t have to make it happen. You can’t make it not happen! Notice this.

Gom, the method, and this is a method of gom, meditation, will assist you in noticing this, it will bring it to your attention. You don’t accomplish so-pa. Just why I have a war with the translation “conduct”. You don’t accomplish so-pa. You notice so-pa. Gom brings so-pa to your attention. That’s all there is to it. These are just other ways, this sitting looking at the sky. Sky gazing is useful, because you want to be doing something, don’t you. And going up on top of a mountain where the sky is straight ahead is a nice adventure. You can pretend you’re actually accomplishing something, can’t you. Sky is right here in this room.

By destroying the fixation of remedy, no defilement will remain in your nature. 

Do you understand that, by stopping trying to fix everything. That’s where you’re getting stuck. You’re trying to fix it. This is all part of “But it’s not perfect and I need to make it perfect. I’m not perfect. I need to get better”. 

What was that old thing back in the 70s, 80s: “Every day in every way I am getting better and better”.

[Nyondo] That was, yeah….

[Lama Lena] Some kind of…

[Nyondo] ….early neurolinguistic programming, I think he was older, like the 50s even?

[Lama Lena] May have been. I remember it from early on. Like before cave.

[Nyondo] I remember it as well.

1:09:33 

[Lama Lena] You really got to let go of all these ambitions. Don’t expect to attain enlightenment in the future, within the mire of manmade assumptions. Take your path as the three kayas that are naturally present in yourself at this very moment. That naturally is itself the very special quality of Dzogchen. 

The practitioner actually gets this. The sun of happiness will shine from within, no matter where they stay. Obstacles inside tracks all result from hope and fear, from clinging to and fixating on things as real. 

Therefore, it is essential to avoid fixating on things in general, anything whatsoever. Whatever you experience, sickness in your body, pain in your mind, depression, a real disturbing emotion, clinging and fixation, accepting and rejecting, notice it, identify it. 

“Uh huh. I’m stuck in that”. 

Supplicate your teacher, receive their blessings. Minutely examine and track down, not just as a rough understanding, the mind that accepts or rejects. Where does it come from? 

Where is it happening? Where does it go? Basic key, inner mind ru-shen. 

When you have a disturbance in your practice, maybe your head is going in circles, maybe you twitch every time you start to settle into it, maybe you just don’t want to, “I don’t wanna’, a resistance; whatever it is, find the haver of that. Supplicate your teacher to show you the nature of the experiencer of the experience that is bothering you and look for it.

Completely simple. Not a lot of instructions here. 

I’m not even taking questions. I can’t imagine anything in that, you can get creative with.

By doing this, you will find that the experiencer itself doesn’t exist as anything whatsoever. Doesn’t remain anywhere either. You cannot possibly avoid experiencing wakefulness which transcends the notion of perceiver and perceived.

And which is not describable in words, and which I cannot tell you about. You will have to see it for yourself. 

When you are agitated, look and see what is agitated. When you are peaceful, look and see what is peaceful. When you are angry at yourself, look and see what is angry. This is the experiencer of the experiences. Yeah, me, I, that one. The one who feels feelings, thinks thoughts and perceives perceptions. That one.

Beseech, pray to your root guru to show you that as it really is and then go looking for it.

Devotion to the master is the king of all enhancement practices. So give up regarding them as an ordinary human being.

Give up believing that they are the way you think they are. You got thoughts about your teacher, you think they’re motherly. I know people think that I’m motherly, I’m not! Might be fatherly at times. I’ve never been pregnant, I don’t want to have kids. I’ve always used two forms of contraception, whatever I got up to because I was really determined not to have kids. And yet you all think I’m motherly, just because I look like an old lady. Some of you think I’m fierce. Some of you think I’m really sweet and peaceful. Do please realize that you think that, those are your thoughts.

If I were to place six people who think they’re my student in a room together to discuss me, and who they think I really am inside, the personality, it would be utter disagreement.

Because everyone has a sensory perception with the ears or the eyes, interprets it as such and such, thinks about it, and then feels about it. By that time, you’ve distorted it considerably. So instead of projecting on to the teacher, they are like this or like that, Oh, they are fully enlightened, they should walk through walls, not spill their coffee on their zen, whatever. 

You perceived that they spilled their coffee on their zen earlier today. That was all in your mind that there’s a coffee stain right here. I did not experience that, you did. Or not. Maybe you experience something else.

I’m a little curious: how many of you saw me spill coffee down my front and how many of you didn’t. Just a little poll on the chats, if you don’t mind.

[Nyondo] Okay, did Lama Lena spill coffee on her zen. 

[Lama Lena]  I am making a point with this experiment.

1:17:56 

By practicing in this way, you will find that the observer, the practicer, doesn’t remain anywhere or exist in any way separate from the practicing, and the practiced, the observing and the observed; you cannot differentiate this. If you alternate between meditation on impermanence, compassion, development stage, that refers to the tantras, and completion stage, that refers to this practice, both with and without attributes.

Completion stage with attributes is doing any of the practices I’ve taught you. Completion stage without attributes is just sitting there. As Dzogchen. Without separating.

This will be more effective even. So don’t…at most times, especially in the beginning, do the auxiliary doing-practices that support the not-doing of Dzogchen. Because you need support until you don’t. And don’t forget to dedicate the merits! 

In between sessions, at least walk around regarding all perceptions as a magical display, a dream. Even better, don’t ever end your sessions. Walk around or sit there. Whatever you do while you’re doing it, recognize the nature of the do-er.

At night, dream yoga and yoga of sleep. If, as you’re about to sleep, and this is another method, different from the dream yoga I’ve taught you. Please don’t be confused by being taught a number of different methods. Norbu Rinpoche did this, and I saw some most unfortunate side effects occur with some of his students, being unable to pick and choose and trying to do all of them. It doesn’t work that way. 

Yes, when you get a new method, you have a shiny new toy; give it a try, see what it does. See how it feels to you. Does it feel like properly stroking your energy channels, or does it feel like petting the cat backwards. Minus the teeth and claws which will usually come out if you do that. You will find a few that you like, do those.

I recommend that you have one main practice, whatever that is at the moment. And no more than two auxiliary practices. With the exception of date-oriented practices, such as hanging prayer flags on specific days; that’s not considered another main, another practice you’re doing, that something you do that day. Or gana puja. tsok, on certain days; yeah, that doesn’t count for the three you can have. One main one and two auxiliary ones. That usually works best. 

So let’s say, you’re doing Dzogchen, trek-chö, but you’re also doing dream yoga. Okay, that’s one, they synergize, they will synergize. But you’re also doing a couple of tantric sadhanas, such as Chenrezig, because it helps your bodhicitta. 

Do we have sound? 

[Nyondo] Yes, we do. 

[Lama Lena] So, under these circumstances, do not pick too many. A good three, plus the occasional that you do with friends, like Tsok, or getting together and going out and hanging prayer flags, or that sort of thing. Keep it to what’s manageable. Otherwise, you’re just gonna dilute yourself so far, that you’re like mostly water rather than mostly milk. Like you occasionally get in India. When you buy from the wrong farmer.

Unless you resolve ta-wa, you won’t be able to destroy the bonds that cling to the perceiver and the perceive-ed and think them real. 

You think you’re real. And you think what you see and feel and hear and think and all of that’s real and that’s why it hurts.

It is essential while meditating, to come to the conclusion to notice unequivocally, to resolve that all phenomena are not inherently existent from their own side, are pervasive everywhere, are spontaneously present.

From that you can see that what you see is you.

To sustain continuity in meditation is also necessary, but it’s a little bit buggy. The trick of sustaining continuity is to relax into a natural continuity, rather than to make one up and try to impose it on yourself.

Thinking it’s this way or that way, is a trap. Don’t fall in.

Your view should be as wide as the sky itself. But your behavior in regard to karma, should be as narrow as a hair. Just because it’s not real doesn’t mean you can fuck with it. Please take this to heart. Lots of people fall off that one too. They tried to fake crazy wisdom, to get the status of being a crazy Yogi. Really, this is quite unnecessary.

[wrong page]. I’m going to pause here.

1:28:10  

Do you get the point. Sky gazing is very helpful for many people. One new practice at a time. I haven’t taught you this particular method of breathing with sky gazing and its purpose before. Let’s go with questions again.

[Nyondo] Well, first, let’s talk about that poll. The majority of people said “no”. But there were a few other responses where people weren’t sure, because they were distracted, or were second guessing themselves. And one student said: “it was a sign, I shouldn’t get any more coffee”. [Nyondo laughing] But three people said “yes”, and said you did. And everybody else said “no”. And everybody from the Spanish channel said “no”. Interesting.

[Lama Lena] Okay. But I was just curious. 

[Nyondo] For me, it was the people who weren’t sure one way or the other, that I found interesting. 

[Lama Lena] Yes, you should get me more coffee.

[Nyondo] I should. 

So, a question that came up on these practices, while I get you more coffee, had to do with discomforts while practicing. People who say they are not comfortable with having the mouth open and breathing that way, and should, when it comes discomfort, you’re supposed to ignore them. What should you do?

[Lama Lena] Okay, there’s two kinds of discomforts: dangerous ones, and not dangerous ones. This is where your common sense comes in. If you are cold, not just a little bit but feeling really very cold, that could be dangerous and lead to hypothermia. Take a break, go get a sweater. If your mouth dries out a little bit, take a sip of water. Minor discomforts which are not dangerous, use them as an experience. Ooh, what has a dry mouth, an itchy on their nose; go find the feeler of the sensation, experience of the discomfort. After determining that it is not a dangerous discomfort.

Please do differentiate between dangerous discomforts, which will just get you laughed at by a Tibetan, and not dangerous discomforts. I will say, I’d say there’s, I know of any number of people who have ignored dangerous discomforts and done themselves a severe mischief. And some of them are Tibetan lamas, I am not gonna mention names. Some of them rather well known Tibetan lamas.

Both Tibetans and Westerners also fall off the crazy wisdom thing. So if it’s just a little discomfort, let it be. It’s a sensation, you will be having them. Notice them. Notice the haver or the sensation? How does it change when it has this sensation or that sensation? What changes. What does not. See it for yourself. 

Other questions here?

[Nyondo]  Yeah, one more in depth question on the breathing, that we missed earlier. 

To clarify does one take a full breath, then breathe out slightly, then breathe in slightly so there’s always breath in the belly? Or is this breathing out fully, then breathing shallowly there into the mechanics.

[Lama Lena] The way I was shown this, was to take a full breath in through my nose.

Blow at all the way out through my mouth. Rest on the out breath without closing the glottis. Breathe in, but not super deep, about halfway. Softly gently, slowly and slowly out. Rest a little bit on the out breath, but not to the point of disturbing air hunger. 

Rest on the outbreath with the air out of your lungs, not trying to force it all out, but comfortably out.

That is a point where…The thoughts ride the breath; at the point where the breath has been exhausted, before the next breath. It is easier to find the point, after the previous thought has been exhausted, before the next thought, to look there. 

To relax in there, as that. Not just to look at it from outside. But to be that. Then when the breath comes in again and another thought arises, because thoughts ride the breath, that thought in itself is transparent and so does not interfere with what was perceived between the thoughts, it does not obscure it. You can still see the sky through the crystal.

Imagine that that window shade were open and sky was visible out there. You can see it through the crystal; see how the crystal color changes when I move it. 

So, the crystal is a thought; analogy, guys analogy. The crystal is a thought, you can see through it, it is transparent, thoughts are. You don’t make them transparent. They’re all transparent. You just minutely focus on them, so they don’t look transparent to you because of the way you’re focused. 

On the outbreath resting there, there’s a bit of a gap; it’s easier to see it through the gap. What you’re seeing is the see-er through the gap. Does that help with the breathing.

1:36:39 

[Nyondo]  

Is this a practice that you can do in a windowless room, where there’s no view on the outside, on the sky?

[Lama Lena] Perhaps, I’ve never tried.

I mean, the sky is everywhere, right? Theoretically, you’d think so. However many people find it easier to actually go and look at the wide open sky, when it’s without clouds. The instructions for this practice, for best effect, are on a cloudless day with the sun behind you. Don’t forget to put the sun behind you, do not do this with the sun falling on your face! Have I made that clear enough?  Somebody is going to do it with the sun on their face and hurt themselves. I tried…. 

Next

[Nyondo] Is it helpful to use inquiry questions like “who or what is having this experience?” Or is that too much mixing approaches with this practice? 

[Lama Lena] Those inquiry questions may be helpful for some people in the very beginning. However, they do not necessarily need to be thought in words.

[Nyondo] Is it possible to bypass the arising of these nyams with what the guru yoga does? 

[Lama Lena] I have not heard of anyone doing that. But that does not say it is impossible.

[Nyondo] What constitutes actual crazy wisdom?

[Lama Lena] When you see what you are, beyond doubt, then there is no need to maintain the illusion of being someone or other. That’s crazy wisdom.

You, the person, who want me to see you, to know you as a person, who want to know me, maybe even hang out with me somewhere, as a person; the relationship, the samaya transcends this, because the practice transcends this. And when a practitioner is no longer invested in how they are perceived in any way, or in the results of such perceptions in any way, that’s crazy wisdom. 

We follow certain patterns in life. To project who we are, wear certain clothes, adopt certain hairstyles. follow certain norms.

Crazy wisdom does not require that, nor does it require not doing that. It requires not being invested in the outcome of that, whether you choose to play with wearing this outfit or that outfit. Whether you choose to play with your hair or clothes, does not say whether it’s crazy wisdom. Whether you care how it appears to others, who can’t see you anyway, because they’re so busy seeing what they’re thinking about, that’s crazy wisdom.

You will see it on your teachers, when you can. And no one can force you to see anything. You can’t. I remember trying to show the Westerners the dragons. All Tibetans were standing in front of the caves, because it was some really cool dragons playing in the sky. And we were all going: “look at that one, there’s a green one”. And all the Westerners were going: “what, where, who, which”. They couldn’t see it.

Dragons are pretty. I’ve been around long enough, I was thinking Tibetan that time. 

Next question,

[Nyondo] Can anyone do this practice?

[Lama Lena] Yes, I would think so.

[Nyondo] They go on to ask: I took my refuge vows with you. How do I start my practice?

[Lama Lena] Join the next pointing out retreat. If you haven’t had one yet. However, I do it all the time. So if you’ve been attending most of my open teachings, the pointing out has been included, as it was today. In one way or another. 

I would recommend you begin with either mahamudra or Maha-ati, by listening to one of the taped teachings. Since you’ve had the pointing out, if you were here today. And then following the instructions on the one you like better of those two. 

If, on trying it, you don’t like either one of those, then I suggest to practice Chenrezig, and maybe a little Vajrasattva, and other tantras, as they become available.

Like that. And if none of those floats your boat, I’m going to eventually get one of the students to lead a lam-rim group, or four turning minds group, of just the basic ordinary ngöndro practice-group for discussion. And there’ll be books and things. But we haven’t quite started that yet. We’ve still Tara coming, there’ll be a Tara-practice coming online. Again, lead by a student; it’ll be a practice group, rather than a set of teachings, where you practice together. So you might check out some of those; first, get the teaching. They’re all up there.

I do repeat some teachings from time to time, but I also added new ones, as today’s was a new one added in, that we’ll probably continue to work with overtime, sky gazing.

Next question.

1:45:43 

[Nyondo]  If a teacher or temple is not available, can someone pursue the Dzogchen based on the videos, only?

[Lama Lena] Yes, but you should get the transmission in real time. As in, like now when we’re in real time together. The reason for this is that not everyone can catch it, when it’s transmitted in a recording; only some people catch it. It is easiest to catch in person. It is sec.. but we can’t do that because of COVID right now, it is second easiest to catch in the same time, but different place, using online. It is third easiest to catch from a full video recording. It does not transmit by printed word, to the best of our knowledge. Printed word is old. If it had done so, somebody would have noticed by now. Videos are new. So we’re not that sure yet how it works. Person to person is old, we know that works.

Theoretically, as will become obvious to you, time and space are not what you think they are. Nothing is.

Next.

[Nyondo]  A couple of questions on combining practices. The first question is:

Do exercises like guru yoga, the nine breaths and channel visualizations to unify clarity and emptiness, count as three practices?

[Lama Lena] Nine breaths goes with anything; it is like dedicating the merits and arising bodhicitta. Your channel practices would…so that one would not count. Depending on how involved your channel practices is/are, tu-mo counts. It’s pretty involved and pretty intensive and you have to spend a lot of time on it to make it work well. If you’re working the six yogas of Naropa or the equivalent in any of the lineages, that would count as a full practice. Probably your main practice, if you’re doing them, because they are intense. And they are suitable as a main practice. That would combine nicely with maha-ati or mahamudra, and maybe a little bit of sadhana. 

So to some extent certain practices are so minor, and so goes with everything and is part of it, that they don’t separate out and count as a practice. The nine breaths is one of those, dedicating the merits is one of those, arising bodhicitta is one of those, and guru yoga is one of those; these go with all, all practices are in the context of these three. 

Because sitting up straight with your channels and alignment is the nine breaths. It is the same category is the nine breaths. Nine breaths just adds to it. Guru yoga is necessary for any kind of mahamudra or Dzogchen maturation. You always dedicate the merits and you always take refuge, which is guru yoga and arise bodhicitta at the beginning of every session. So these are not separate practices. A separate practice would be a full sadhana: Chenrezig, Manjushri, Vajravarahi, Dorje Pagmo, a yidam sadhana, Tara. A whole practice would be the focus of Dzogchen, dream yoga, if done properly takes up enough time that it’s a full practice. I hope this clarifies.

[Nyondo] I think it did. Related to that someone is asking: Is it okay to combine trek-chö, Chenrezig, Vajrasattva, Tara and sky gazing together?

[Lama Lena] Yes, but you’re full. That’s a lot of sadhanas. You may not wish to do each and every one of those sadhanas each and every day, that’s entirely up to you, depends on your timing.

[Nyondo] How to dovetail deity-practice with Dzogchen; is there a best deity for this purpose?

[Lama Lena] No, they’re all the same thing anyway. However, if you’re going to do deity practice, and they’re not deities, they’re archetypes; please, somebody mistranslated that back in the times of Christian missionaries doing the translations. Same as the word wrathful. None of them are angry. They’re beyond hope and fear and anger and all of the five poisons. They’re fierce.

There is a point in a full sadhana, where everything absorbs back into the seed syllable and that absorbs into itself. That is the time to do trek-chö. If you are combining sadhana, practice and trek-chö, then eventually that time of trek-chö in your sadhana will extend as long and even longer to the time you spend chanting and ringing bells.

Anything more.

[Nyondo] If one is had the, going back to the “getting pointing out” via video, if one has had the pointing out in real time, then we’ll working with the various practices help one recognize what was pointed out?

[Lama Lena] Yes. That was a one-word answer.

[Nyondo] Okay. So a number of these are how to’s, and trying to figure out which practices are separate practices, in terms of counting up three practices, focused on.

[Lama Lena] Look, you’re going from minutiae. If you don’t have time to do it all, you’re doing too many, okay? If you don’t have time and focus to do all the practices you want to do, then there’s too many. If you do have time and focus to do them all, go ahead. 

You have, is there anything in particular about which ones go together that needs to be clarified?

[Nyondo] Um, a question about: Is tsa-lung a separate practice?

[Lama Lena] Yes. Tsa-lung is six yogas of Naropa, its energy channel work, it’s quite involved and if you’re doing it well, it’s going to take quite a lot of time, several hours a day. You really wouldn’t have time to mix that with a long sadhana, which takes an hour or so, plus mantra, and a lot of sitting trek-chö, plus the necessary bits for dream yoga; you’d even have time to pee in that situation. So have a look. I’m trying to encourage you here not to set rules but trying to encourage you to really put your heart into what you are doing, rather than spread yourself way too thin over too much bread. So that you will actually get the results you’re trying to get from the different practices or accept the non-results that you’re trying to accept in Dzogchen.

Anything more.

[Nyondo] Quick medical question, or two related. Can the sky gazing practice aggravate my lung problems. Is there a danger or should I try it, and see what happens?

[Lama Lena] Try it and see what happens. If you have asthma, please do not pick a high pollen count day or place to be outside. If you have COPD, or other respiratory problems, I would recommend the nine breaths before you do it. Just to clear that out a bit. I do not recommend doing the nine breaths in a high pollen count environment. Go in the room with your air filter to do them. So some of this depends on your breathing problems.

If you have only one lung, you may find that you need to breathe deeper than half. And you can adjust this for your own circumstances. The idea and the important bit is not how deep you breathe, although this is not a deep breathing exercise, you’d hyperventilate, but that resting on the outbreath is the key. You breathe as deep as you need to, rest on the outbreath. 

When I breathe out… I’m gonna raise my hand when it’s all the way out. [Lama Lena demonstrating the breathing exercise] Do you see how long I’m resting on the out breath? That’s breathing in again at the very beginning of of air hunger, of air need; not waiting until I’m very hungry for air. Did you catch that pattern? 

Anything else?

[Nyondo] Yeah: Do you, is it necessary to practice some type of body work to help the other practice, like Qigong yoga?

[Lama Lena] Qigong, yoga, physical therapy or hitting the gym, yeah, or bicycle riding, or playing basketball; it is a good idea to get enough exercise. It’s good for the body. Stretching and yoga is probably one of the best things you can do, Qigong is a form of that. But if you’d rather play basketball, play basketball, just stretch first. 

Next.

[Nyondo] One moment, I need to go back to a previous question.

[Lama Lena] We’re getting towards the end, so..

[Nyondo] We are. Some of them are very detailed. It turns out the question on the lung problem was not lung as in the organ, but lung as in transmission. 

[Lama Lena] Oh, they have a problem with rising lung.

[Nyondo] Yes

[Lama Lena] Thank you. This should settle it nicely. Do the deep breath in and all the way out through the mouth first before you begin, and then see what else happens.

[Nyondo] And what is a good schedule for this practice?

[Lama Lena] That would depend on your life? Do you have little kids? Do you have to get them off to school and first find their shoes? Well, late morning, you know, early morning, you’d have to get up pretty damn early to do this before you have to deal with little kids. Conversely, are you retired and on your own, living alone: all day, whenever you want. I can’t give you a schedule, feel it out. Figure out what works for you. Because you’re all different in where you’re coming from. It’s all the same where we’re all going. But the difference is where we’re coming from. So the map is a little different until you get towards the end, in which case it’s always the same: just fricking sit there and don’t grab.

Next.

2:01:17 

[Nyondo]  I still do not understand about the six yoga’s. They include tu-mo and dream Yoga. Is this two practices one practice. What are the six yoga’s?

[Lama Lena] They’re usually done in order.Tu-mo is one of them, dream Yoga is one of them, po-wa is considered one of them. God, it’s been a long time since I’ve read on that system, or looked at that system. There’s more. Consort practice is one of them. They all merge into each other, they all must be done under the proper supervision of a skilled teacher! Do not try them on your own, you will do yourself a serious mischief.

No, I’m not gonna point at some of you by name who did try them on your own and or now obviously having a difficulty with it. Just don’t. Get the instructions from a teacher. I don’t want to play with those and try to tell you what they are give you any encouragement to go out there and try to do them on your own. First of all, you can’t even touch them. They’re considered secret practices. And you don’t even touch them until you’ve done ngöndro. And then they make you do another one. So unless you’re willing to put that kind of effort in, forget about it. 

Next,

[Nyondo] If I have the Heruka and Vajrayogini empowerments, from the new kadampa tradition, can I still practice these practices instead?

[Lama Lena] I do not wish to be involved with that tradition or discuss it.

My answer there is: I don’t know, I don’t know enough about it.

Next.

[Nyondo] What can I practice to increase devotion?

[Lama Lena] Guru yoga and lam-rim. 

Anymore or are we getting there?

[Nyondo] I think we’re at the end here. A lot of, like I say, a lot of the different specific ones. You may want to suggest for people wanting specific help with their experiences about emailing you.

[Lama Lena] Oh god, they’re gonna tell me all about their nyams. [Lame Lena talking with a semi teasing worrisome tone]

[Nyondo] Oh, but only in one paragraph, please. Otherwise she’s gonna answer. Hahaha

[Lama Lena] [Being serious now] You can email me. You..there’s a lot of stuff on here about specific experiences, you can email me, but get it into one short paragraph, if it’s about your nyams. Because I really don’t need to know that the light was blue and came from the left, and then it turned into seven spheres, each one of which was a different color, and it then went up and back there. It was nyam! 

So if you need to, you can email me, but right now I’m not really….just be brief, be really clear. End it with a question mark, so I know what you’re asking me about it. I get long emails without a single question mark in them. What should I say? 

And to be succinct, If it needs more, I’ll ask you, okay. 

Because I am way behind on my emails. I slog away at them every day. I enjoy many of them. But I need new glasses, I think. My eyes are not really cooperating. And so when they’re really long, sometimes I can’t remember the beginning at the end; so I have to reread it again, is it like what? So please be succinct and clear. Pretty please?

Are we complete? 

[Nyondo] I think we are.

[Lama Lena] Then we are complete. Thank you for joining me today. 

The key point of the whole thing: just sit there. As Rinpoche used to say: “mind mind looking, mind mind being”.

Let go of what you think should happen, what you think will happen, what you think might happen. Relax, and leave it be exactly as it is. Without constantly scrabbling to fix it. Mind mind looking.

ge wa di yi nyur du dag

de yi sa la göd par shog

[wylie:

dge ba ‘di yis myur du bdag

de yi sa la ‘god par shog]

I think you all know where the website is. There are many teachings there. If any of you wish to adopt a yogi and merge your practice with theirs, by supporting them, because only like 25 bucks a month, that’s enough to give them food, then send me an email to that effect, but make it a separate email from what else you’re saying. Again, I try to keep things a little bit simple for by poor old eyes. Thank you. And I will see you next time. I don’t even remember what’s on next week, but I’m sure something.

Bye bye. 

[Nyondo] Okay, you are off.