Starting anew while standing in the stinking crap heap of one’s old mess is the only place anyone can ever start anew. There is no other place. That is essential to the dynamic of Vajrayana. You—just as you are—is the ideal and only starting point.
The scope of intellect is rather narrow. Although it can be used to point beyond itself, in terms of the teachings, it has more in common with a spanner or a monkey wrench than with our innate capacity of clarity. Once you get a handle on this idea, you’ll be able to recognise when intellect is out of it’s depth. At that point you’ll be able to make a springboard out of the stuff of intellect and dive off into the sky of experience.
The power of Tantra doesn’t go with wanting to be calm. It goes with being willing to ride the voltage of pure panic! In Tantra, we have some knowledge of the calm of ‘non-arising’ – the state without definitions; the state of emptiness. So; when we recognise this state of emptiness, as the basis of what we are, we can then turn round and face phenomena with fierce compassion! The spirit of heroism embraces the tumultuous flood of existence, in which: war and peace; calm and panic alternate – but, have the same intrinsic taste. Once you accept that there’s no way you can interpret Tantra according to intellectual criteria; you’re left with simple non-conceptuality. And that; is absolute directness and blunt immediacy. You’re simply left suspended; left high and dry. There is nowhere to run; nowhere to hide. You’re left sitting with that in the moment. There is nothing to do with it apart from experiencing it. You can accept it or attempt to reject it; but it will always be there grinning at you.
The nature of existence continually helps and hinders the search for definition in a completely impartial manner. The problem is the desire to be in charge of the defining process. This is a highly complicated procedure – but it is so customary, that it is hardly noticed. Rather than allowing continual re-definition (and occasionally lack of definition), the prevalent impetus is to attempt domination of the mutually defining and un-defining process which constitutes the flux of reality. The discovery of shi-nè confronts fear of non-existence as being both the driving force of duality – and the sparkling through of non-duality. So—in one sense—it is quite justifiable to mistrust the nature of personal identity. That mistrust however, is usually aimed in the wrong direction. The open dimension of being is mistrusted rather than the conceptual criteria by which existence is habitually validated. 
The liberated field of energy of the earth element displays the glorious warmth and wealth of earth. This energy is inexhaustible and free to whomever needs it. 
Tantric sexuality is a vast field of living knowledge in which coital union is infinitely modulated in terms of all the sense fields. Male and female qualities of existence are the play of reality itself. They continually interpenetrate and inter-engulf each other as non-dual dance. The tantric vision of reality is one in which sexuality is the meaning of every nuance of existence. To see the colour of a bird’s plumage is to be in sexual embrace. Listening to the bowed strings of a cello is to be in sexual embrace. Inhaling the saline scent of sea air; savouring the taste of a heavily tannic wine; caressing the intriguing surface texture of a weathered stone; contemplating the delicate elaborations of a cognitive pattern; all these sensory communications are sexual embrace. They are self-communicated communication – and they are continuously arising from and dissolving into emptiness. Dzogchen is a system of nondual catalysts which self-describe the fundamental nature of what we are through exploding the horizon of conventional reality. Dzogchen is the pinnacle of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is a cycle of teaching and of practices – but essentially Dzogchen is the primordial condition of the individual. It is thus both within and beyond the scope of conventional religion. As the primordial condition of the individual, Dzogchen is the state of referenceless relaxation in the vastness of each moment. The principle of mantra practice is transformation. Mantra is the form quality of emptiness, and the visualisation is the emptiness quality of form. Within Tantra the two are united as a means of transforming our dimension of being into that of the yidam. Chö-ku, long-ku and trül-ku, exist as a singular field – the fourth, or indivisible sphere of being. This is known as dorje-ku (indestructible sphere) or ngo-wo-ku (essence sphere). Chö-ku, long-ku and trül-ku manifest as three inherent modes of access to the unitary experience of reality. But the experience of realisation sees no boundaries or divisions between them. Enlightened intention arises out of the experience of the singular field of reality and because of this, it manifests methods of understanding itself which are reflections of our sense of dividedness. This enlightened intention employs the strategy of the apparently separate spheres of being, as a means of communicating the nature of reality to those who have become confused by dividedness. So; within the view of Tantra, this portrayal of division is an aspect of the skilful means that destroys divisiveness. Tantra uses the force of illusion itself, to destroy illusion. Tantra functions in this way, because the energy of delusion is none other than the play of our own enlightenment. Shi-nè provides face-to-face experience with: insecurity, fear, loneliness, vulnerability, and bewilderment. These underlying tensions are common to all – and create distortion whether or not shi-nè is practised. Avoiding shi-nè is therefore not an answer. Self-hidden vulnerabilities cause greater conflict in being hidden than in being exposed. Clarity spontaneously arises from the discovery of openness within the practice of shi-nè.When we speak of employing desire, we’re speaking of the functioning of energy. The intrinsic energy of desire is none other than the enlightened state. This is what is meant by transformation or transmutation in Tantra. To be a tantrika you have to be a good warrior; you have to be able to use whatever is at your disposal in terms of what you are – in terms of how you happen to be.
Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen consider craftwork to be an art form equal to any other form of art (it is notable that the Lineage Holders also view art itself as inseparably connected with essential Vajrayana). In fact, the Lineage Holders view Vajrayana craftwork as vital to the continuity of the lineage. Likewise, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, Dung-sé Thrin-lé Norbu Rinpoche, Kyabjé Künzang Dorje Rinpoche, and Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche all emphasized the benefits of undertaking craftwork.
The need to continually confirm personal identity seems hard-wired – because there is a continually observable engagement in the activity of seeking existential assurances. This is the dualistic penchant for unnecessarily clothing naked awareness in concepts. When it is said that ‘Meditation isn’t’ – it means that meditation is not a method of doing. It is a method of not-doing. There is no involvement in doing anything – there is simply the maintenance of presence in motiveless observation. When it is said that ‘Getting used to is’ – it means simply getting used to – being. This requires acclimatisation to the undefined dimension of existence – getting used to being referenceless. The ocean of Mind is referenceless – yet the play of Mind phenomena allows conceptual navigation. There is however, no intention or design beyond the energetic play of that which arises within Mind. Concepts arise in random-order; in arbitrary pattern – and as Mind-phenomena they are simply an aspect of the vivid displays of primordial compassion. Rigpa is naked perception – a naked flame, which burns with or without fuel. It is naked in the same sense that an unsheathed knife is naked. Rigpa is pure and total presence. Stripped of referential clinging to the illusion of duality, mind is self-divested through bare attention. The essential reality of what exposes itself, is simply as it is. Finding Mind to be a referenceless ocean of space allows the dualistic knot of panic to untie itself. In experiencing this space a brilliant discovery is made: being referenceless is not death. If immanent incidence can be maintained in natural uncontrived presence—without sinking into oblivious drowse—spontaneous clarity is disinhibited. Stars appear in the sky and their brilliance is reflected in the referenceless ocean of being. Meditation is our only our weapon against the repressive regime of karma and it constitutes civil disobedience in the form of passive resistance. By allowing the development of experiential space through the practice of shi-nè—according to the four naljors—we discover our own intrinsic awareness. The four naljors of Dzogchen sem-dé are the ultimate crimes against the ‘law of karma’ and are punishable by realisation – the final revolution and overthrow of the legal system. The word ‘Tantra’ (Gyüd in Tibetan) means ‘thread’ or ‘continuity’. The idea of thread here, is that whatever may manifest as our experience of being; the energy of our beginningless enlightenment is there. From this perspective we need to arrive at a sense in which we can simply flow with the multiplicity of definitions that reality manifests. There can be some sense of dance there, in which we swim with these currents and relax in these pools of stillness. Tantra introduces us to the one taste of emptiness and form. In order for this to be possible we need to develop an ability to actively savour dualistic tension; rather than experience it in some sort of victim role. We need to observe the way in which we do actually seek emptiness when form becomes too oppressive. We need to observe the way in which we solidify emptiness and crush our own freedom by attempting to make form come into being too quickly. We actively feel the environment – seeking out anything which will justify our perception as being accurate. This is karma – and this is the law we’re trying to break through meditation.Approaching Tantra is what you’re doing now! Tantra is not separate from the stream of reality that you are living all the time. Especially when you allow yourself to enter into confusion – when you regard that as workable ground. And when, the workable ground is one in which the ‘working’ itself is indeterminate. That is very much the ground of Tantra. This is what you could call living the view. No-one else is responsible for how we perceive the world. We accept and reject society’s influences and the influences of our parents and friends on our own terms. We fabricate our own perception, and unless we discontinue the process and de-structure our perception, we’ll merely continue to be repressed by our personal totalitarian regime. The responses we make to our environment will remain the same and we will attract the kind of circumstances which match our perception.When we embrace our emotions in Vajrayana practice, we begin to operate in a more magnanimous way. We embrace greater emotions: greater appetite, greater rage, greater passion, greater speed, and greater abandon. With this unwithheld approach we begin to lose track of our referential ground and our referential boundaries. Then we have nothing to gain or lose—we simply have the existential fact of what is—whatever it is. Awareness means relinquishing the police state of karmic-vision and assuming personal responsibility. Karma is the sum total of our perception in all it’s excruciating intricacy. The ‘Law of Karma’ is different from externally enforced societal law, because ‘karmic law’ is directly consequential and self-implementing. We perceive the world in a certain way, and react to it in accordance with that style of perception. This is what is meant by karma. There’s no injustice in this kind of ‘law’ apart from the injustice to the non-dual state perpetrated by karmic patterning. Padmasambhava is the Buddha of our time; for anyone interested in these teachings – this is something that needs to be taken to heart. Padmasambhava is both a personal relationship and a vast sphere of meaning and luminous experience. Padmasambhava is the Buddha whose teachings and practices become more powerful as our condition of confusion as sentient beings becomes more intense. To really practice in the Tantric tradition, Padmasambhava has to be understood. He has to be understood as embodying the depth of meaning and influence that goes completely beyond the reach and range of the rational mind. Without a sense of the vastness of what is in encompassed by his name, it’s impossible to have a useful relationship with Tantra.There is space for historical academic research, and there is space for the reverential attribution of teachings to various personages. There is space for people who want to get as close as they can to the words of Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel—and there is space for people who want to go for the essence irrespective of the nearness or distance of its historical origin. Buddhism is a vast field of wonder for its sincere practitioners, and so many, many, many different methods are encompassed within its parameters. We feel that it is preferable to come from a position of inclusivity rather than exclusivity.The Vajrayana texts—both Tibetan and Sanskrit—portray Vajrayana as a magnificent banquet of the senses. Naturally then, as teachers of Vajrayana, we encourage desire. Desire is the sensory scenario in which lust and liberation are indivisible. Desire is inseparable from chang-chub sem. This is both subtle and easy to misinterpret – which is why we place such emphasis on silent sitting. Without recognition of emptiness, desire is merely self orientation. We see desire as an important aspect of the path. Without desire there is no compassion, as desire is the energy of appreciative communication. This is not spoken of in Sutrayana or the outer tantras. From Mahayoga onward – desire is fuel for the fire of discriminating insight. Desire is the passion beyond passion: compassion. It was Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche who first described compassion as ‘the passion beyond passion’. From an inner tantra point of view, lust is simply the dualized form of the appreciative communication of bodhicitta. To avoid misunderstandings turning into awful misunderstandings, the crucial factor is to believe that the friends you cherish are basically well intentioned towards you and that they are plagued with at least as many misunderstandings as you. It is not the misunderstandings that are the problem – but the reaction to them. Misunderstanding without: being hurt, taking offence, anger, peevish resentment, indignation, self-righteous rage, or temper tantrum … could actually be a cause of humour.In life situations there is always malleability as long as we have a spacious view. There are unending possibilities for creativity in our circumstances – but we need an open view to see them. There are continual challenges which allow us to improvise – but we need an open view to meet them. This open view, however, is not based on fantasy or fear – it is simply based on being here, without great expectations.
If practice is a strong priority we should avoid weakening it by letting our other priorities contend with it. So we should just sit. When we get home, we should just sit. We should sit again tomorrow morning and continue sitting in that way. Every time we sit should be the first time, and every moment we live should be the last moment. Remember to make friends with death, and let present sensations flow like sand through your fingers. No one enjoys confusion, but as long as we cling to our dualistic vision, we will always translate not knowing as ‘confusion’. We don’t like confusion because within the space of confusion definitions become vague and intangible. That makes us feel insecure. Accepting or relaxing in that insecurity is in itself a practice. Once silent sitting practice becomes part of your life, clarity will begin to develop. When you start to gain a little clarity, there will be a much stronger motivation to practice. Once you see the value of practice in your life, you’ll be motivated to make further discoveries—and then maintaining motivation will no longer be a problem. Motivation has to propel you into practice—but there it must stop. If you fill your sitting space with the desire for progress, you’ll stifle your developing awareness. So letting go of motivation is critically valuable. When we sit, we should sit without purpose—without hope or fear.Only make promises to yourself that you know you can keep, otherwise you’ll never have confidence in yourself and you’ll find that you won’t be able to make promises to yourself at all. Being able to make promises to yourself is keenly meaningful. It’s a way of giving your life real direction and enabling something positive to happen – especially if you link your promises to the wish for the liberation of everyone everywhere. Anger does not help.It is a delicate balance: to acknowledge emotional needs, on the one hand, and to have a sense of these needs being conceptually generated on the other. This balancing act requires the experience of emptiness, because without it, we either indulge ourselves or brutalise ourselves. The experience of emptiness, in this sense, helps us to view our emotions with a degree of humour – with more sanity and true perspective.Being a warrior means that we can accept the reality of what we are – including our fear and apprehension. We see our fear and we step beyond it.