...a reader asks what school of Buddhism I follow. Okay: I'm a Dzogchen practitioner who is studying in the Vajrayana tradition, specifically about half way through the Ngöndro or preliminary practices.
Vajrayana is about persuading your unconscious to be a Buddhist. A guy walks out of a mental hospital cured of his paranoia about being persecuted by a giant chicken. Two weeks later he's back, sweating with fear.
“But I thought you no longer thought the giant chicken was real,” says the head psychiatrist.
“I know that!” says the guy. “But try telling it to the chicken!”
Vajrayana is about persuading the chicken that it doesn't exist.
Dzogchen is considered to be the highest yana of Buddhism according to the Tibetans. Everyone gets what they need, yana-wise. Somehow Dzogchen clicks with me.
Yes, that's a damn smart chicken...
ReplyDeletePerhaps another way to put it is that Vajrayana is about enjoying the chicken's company while he's around... ;-)
dharmically, A
Hi--i think that might work quite well!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that in the states there isn't much emphasis on Mahayoga and Anuyoga. In places like Bhutan and Sikkim, Nyingmapa and Bon practitioners have to at least go through Mahayoga and Anuyoga before entering the void (highly recommend Enter the Void if you haven't already watched it) of Atiyoga.
ReplyDeletecheers!
t
yes; although i do trust the teachers, they seem to not want westerners to freak out with too much visualization, so they go straight to Dzogchen
ReplyDelete