the view and cannot meditate properly, no benefit is gained. Rather than reading
many books on Dzogchen, it is better to do a single session of meditation.
Meditation must thus be emphasized. Just like a great musician who, though able
to mesmerize a large audience, gets no joy from it, if those who read or hear the
teaching do not realize it, they will get no benefit in this or the next life. Just as a
great cruise liner may take many people across the ocean but itself can never land
on the other shore, so those who teach Dzogchen to others but have no experience
of meditation will remain as ordinary people. Just as the sight and sound of water
does not quench our thirst, so teaching without meditation is unfulfilling. Just
because we have heard and understood innumerable expositions of the profound
teaching does not mean we have yet reached the place of reflexive liberation.
“Meditation practice” means, primarily, familiarizing oneself with the view.
Whatever we do, whether good or bad, if we have practiced it diligently, we can do
it without difficulty. At the Olympic Games, for example, we can see amazing
things done by athletes in the high jump and in gymnastics. These great feats are
due to constant practice. Likewise, if we can train the mind, we can master it in
rest and in movement. This mind training is called “meditation.” All beauty and
ugliness and all happiness and sadness are just products of mind. It is vital to train
the mind!
2.4. WITHOUT MEDITATION, EVEN TRIVIAL EVENTS CREATE SEVERE SUFFERING
Whatever our misfortune, serious or trivial, we should include all personal misery
in the process of our meditation. We tend to fall under the influence of pain and
suffering—we let them push us around. Consider the pain derived from losing our
business, the sadness of divorce, the pain of lost opportunities or that of lost status.
Think of the anxiety when we live in fear of violence from enemies, of our worry
about disobedient children, or simply whenever things fail to happen in accord
with our desire. If we encounter suffering, we may seek relief in the use of alcohol
or drugs, or we may engage in gambling to forget it. Such escapism is like pouring
cold water into boiling water while it is still on the stove—though it immediately
cools the pot down, unless we turn down the heat, the entire thing will return to
the boil. An antidote may give us some small relief, but more suffering is always
around the corner. What we think of as a solution can often become the cause of a
greater problem. A hare trapped inside a net struggles to free herself, but the more
she struggles, the tighter she draws the net, until finally she is sufficiently
desperate to gnaw off her own limbs. The more we think about a solution, often
the worse the problem becomes.
Once when a flock of geese was flying through the sky, at one particular place
the leader warned them all to be quiet because of the danger of hunters. One
goose told another goose and that goose told a third goose and soon the entire flock
was repeating the warning. The noise was heard all over the area where the
hunters waited, and they were able to shoot down many of the geese. So, childlike
people bring suffering upon themselves by trying to eliminate it. Yet however
much we try to forget it, suffering rears its head again. When we cannot sleep at