Introduction

THE MAIN content of this book is the meaning of Ati Dzogchen, the peak of all

Buddhist views and systems of belief. I have explained the view according to my
own understanding, using words that are easy to follow, and entwining them with
life stories. In this way, I have done my best to make Dzogchen as clear and
accessible as possible. Moreover, I have explained the view, meditation, and
conduct of Dzogchen in accord with the attitudes of the present age. I hope that
this presentation will help those who are studying and enquiring into the dharma
in a very broad and unbiased way to increase their understanding of Dzogchen in
a way unlike any before. On top of that, I have the great hope that it will teach
people how to easily integrate the daily activities of eating, lying down, moving
around, and sitting into the practice and how to bring temporary happiness and
suffering into the ambit of Dzogchen. This is also the special quality of the
meaning explained in this book.
Every single one of us wants happiness and abhors suffering. What use,
therefore, is fleeting and constantly changing, defiled happiness? When one has
the aspiration to obtain ultimate, permanent happiness, it is extremely important
to gain a foothold on the path to liberation in this life, particularly by practicing the
profound path of Dzogchen. Other than that, as explained above, those wishing to
enjoy a happy and pleasant life must cultivate the causes for that—loving-kindness
and compassion—and the genuine source of those two things is Dzogchen.
Furthermore, at present many millions of people are suffering from depression,
HIV, and other more severe diseases. Depression (or disturbed mind-energy), for
example, is having a highly injurious effect on the overall well-being,
development, and harmony of society as a whole. Depression, together with high
blood-pressure and liver complaints, and so on, are, in short, all illnesses
connected with mind. Mainly due to the affliction of mind by disturbing emotions,
we compete among ourselves; and, due to the increase in the population—not only
in cities but also in villages—people’s living spaces have become very restricted,
and the drinking water, air, and so on, have become polluted. As a result many
people’s mind-energy has become disturbed.
Actually, illnesses and suffering due to substances in the environment afflict us
only to a certain, limited extent, but because the minds of sentient beings can
scarcely bear even small external negative conditions, small initial irritations can
snowball into a huge amount of additional suffering and can sometimes become
so unbearable that suicide may result. If, therefore, one has the practice of
Dzogchen in all such situations, it will be of vast benefit.
For that reason, if one has the habit of understanding suffering to be self-
envisioned, one will thereby be able to make all occurrences of unwanted illnesses
and suffering naturally dissolve. If we remain detached from taking external
happiness and suffering to be real, even if some kind of calamity, such as an