In a battle, warriors have to act in reaction to everything that presents itself. Warriors do not run away in fear. They do what must be done—without hesitation—because that is the nature of the life they have chosen. The Samurai of Japan compared the nature of their lives to cherry blossom. A pretty image isn’t it? Actually it’s quite blunt. Cherry blossom falls at the slightest gust of wind. It drops from the twig at the slightest touch – so the life of the samurai is as precarious as cherry blossom. It takes a heroic sense of humour—a fearless whimsicality—to feel yourself balancing on that existential razor’s edge. It is however, the most solid unshakeable foundation for nondual action.
p79-80, Rays of the Sun, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, ISBN 978-1-898185-06-2
When we start to find some event in life painful or when we have experienced a series of calamities, it is helpful to avoid involvement in the ‘unfairness game’. If you say: “This is unfair! I don’t deserve this!” you only succeed in increasing your pain. It would be better to side-step this frustration and confusion, simply by saying: “This is what is happening”. There is no consumer-protection society in the sky to whom you can appeal. There is no life-dissatisfaction appeals tribunal where you can demand: “Life isn’t what I expected, I want my money back!” This is it. This is what we have. Fair or unfair, our situation is what it is, right here and now: in any context you can imagine… It is the texture of your experience, and you cannot disown it. You can only ‘try’ to disown it, by creating a more complex level of confusion around it.’
p92-93, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9653948-0-8
The word nyam means meditational experience or meditational manifestation. When we practice meditative methods of any kind, experiences occur due to the fact that we are not engaged with duality as intensely. These experiences are valid in as much as they reflect the fact of our engagement in practise. Nyams are not realisation per se, but they partake of a natural movement toward nonduality.
Nyams—being unstable—have no enduring characteristics. They are therefore unreliable as indicators of anything beyond the fact that the pattern of dualism has been disrupted.
Those who attempt to practise Dzogchen out of context with the religious tradition that gave rise to it, often find themselves lacking the impetus to maintain regular practice.
Lacking the background of a religious context, people often find that the basic enthusiasm for the discipline of meditation dissipates. Certainly, without the richness and support of a religious tradition, it proves difficult to persevere through times when practice seems ‘unrewarding’. From our experience, one has to belong somewhere. One has to be part of something which is sufficiently larger than oneself. To find support in a higher, deeper, broader context, one requires a context which goes beyond the isolated island of ‘me and my process’.
p6, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
Many people—but only honest people—find spaciousness irritating, and would prefer the claustrophobia and snugness of deranged density. The simplicity of acknowledging spaciousness requires precision. Precision does not allow the seeming safety of woolly-edged spin-doctoring.
We enjoy a soupçon of confusion, in which to establish the experiential ground rules from which non-duality can be seen as the unobtainable godhead. Non-duality is irritatingly possible – because it is our authentic nature and somehow, being reminded of that, is irritating. So … you can either be irritated or you can be irritated. It is entirely up to you.
p69-70, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-5-7
In a battle, warriors have to act in reaction to everything that presents itself. Warriors do not run away in fear. They do what must be done—without hesitation—because that is the nature of the life they have chosen. The Samurai of Japan compared the nature of their lives to cherry blossom. A pretty image isn’t it? Actually it’s quite blunt. Cherry blossom falls at the slightest gust of wind. It drops from the twig at the slightest touch – so the life of the samurai is as precarious as cherry blossom. It takes a heroic sense of humour—a fearless whimsicality—to feel yourself balancing on that existential razor’s edge. It is however, the most solid unshakeable foundation for nondual action.
