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Guidance On Being at Ease With Illusion
Guidance On Being at Ease With Illusion
The following instruction on meditation practice was authored by the great 14th-
century Dzogchen scholar and adept Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer (1308–1364). It is
described as a guidance on the meaning (don khrid) of being at ease with the illusory
nature of reality and is taken from the third and final section of the famed Trilogy of
Rest (Ngal gso skor gsum).
The trilogy as a whole focuses on the means to cultivate deep relaxation and remain
at ease with all that manifests in one's experience. In each section, Longchenpa
provides specific guidance on contemplation—for being at ease in the nature of mind,
in meditation, and, here, in illusion. The text offers instructions on dream yoga and
the conjuring of apparitions as a means to become familiar with the illusoriness of
experience. Reference is also made to the eight similes of cognitive illusion, which
are cited throughout Buddhist literature: 1) dreams, 2) magic or illusions, 3)
hallucinations or trompe l'oeils, 4) mirages, 5) reflections, such as the moon's
reflection in water, 6) echoes, 7) castles in the clouds, or cities of gandharvas, and 8)
apparitions.
A Wish-Fulfilling Gem
Guidance on the Meaning of Being at Ease with Illusion, A Dzogchen
Teaching
by Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer
ིང་པོ་དངས་པ་ི།
མ་་དམ་མཁའ་འོ་དང་བཅས་པ་བིམས་པ་མཐར་སངས་ས་དང་ང་བ་མས་དཔས་བོར་བར་བསམས་། ད་ིས་མད་པ་དང་བོད་
ལ། ཐ་མལ་ི་ན་ོག་ད་ག་ང་ད་པ་ངང་་ད་དང་མ་ལ་བས།
1
First, go solely for refuge,
and generate the mind as enlightened. 1
As you imagine being fully absorbed in the illusory nature of all that appears and
exists,
remain inseparable from that very reality –
the ongoing experience that has no ordinary conceptual fixations,
not even for an instant.
ི་ང་བ་་དང་ཁང་བཟང་དང་ས་་་ང་ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་སོགས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། ནང་དགག་བ་ི་ག་པ་་ཚོགས་་འཆར་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་
་མ་རོལ་པར་ས་པས་ག་ད་རང་ོལ་ན་པོར་ལ་ང་ང་བོགས་དང་་། །
པ་་མ་ངང་ནས་འོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་འོ། །
2
Moreover, during the daytime,
it is crucial that you are not distracted for even an instant
while in the ongoing experience of becoming familiar with things as a dream and so
forth.
Exert yourself in meditation by staying loose in the ongoing experience that is like
space!
After your session, repeatedly become familiar with things from that ongoing
experience of illusion.
མཚན་མོ་གཡས་ཕབ་ེ་ག་ཧར་པོར་་འལ་བར་ང་དལ་བར་་ང་། མས་གནད་ིང་ནང་་ཨ་དཀར་པོ་འོད་འོ་བ་མ་བོང་ཙམ་ལས་འོད་
འོས་པས། ང་ིད་འར་འདས་ཐམས་ཅད་འོད་་་ར་འས་ཨ་ལ་མ་པ་ངང་་ད་་མ་ངས་པར་བོམས་ནས་ཉལ་བས་ི་ལམ་ལ་
་ལ་སོགས་པར་ལ་པ་དང་། ད་ག་ས་བན་ད་་ང་བ་དང་ེ་ད་འོད་གསལ་་བེ་བ་མས་མས་ིས་འོ། །
ག་པོ་་བ་་གནད་གལ་པོ་འོ། །
3
On all such occasions, make supplications to your teachers and
do not be distracted even for an instant.
During the day, be very diligent in conjuring apparitions.
This vital point is extremely important!
བང་ལ་་མར་ངས་པས་གས་རང་ོལ་་འར་བ་ན་ནོ། །
གཞན་ཡང་ང་་འན་ི་ཡོན་ཏན་བ་གསལ་་ོག་པ་ངང་ས་འཆར་ང་། ང་བ་འ་མ་ིས་ཟང་ཐལ་་སོང་ནས་ང་ས་་ད་སང་
མཁའ་ལ་འོ་བ་ལ་སོགས་པ་་འལ་དཔག་་ད་པ་འབ་པར་འར་རོ།
In the ongoing experience that is never separate from great vastness without
reference,
attraction or repulsion, affirmation or negation,
while laughing or losing control, whatever occurs –
these will dawn as ornaments of your mind.
4
and you’ll accomplish the immeasurable supernormal powers, such as the ability to
travel through space.
པ་མཐའ་ཡས་ཤོག །
་འ་མལ་་བད། །
I, the yogin of illusion, Stainless Radiance (Drimé Özer), arranged this instruction on the
coalescence of luminosity and illusion, the essential meaning of illusion, extremely vast
and profound in meaning, on the mountain slope that is like an illusion, White Skull
Snow Mountain (Gangri Tökar).
This concludes the text called, “A Wish-Fulfilling Gem: Guidance on the Meaning of
Being at Ease with Illusion, A Dzogchen Teaching,” that was arranged by the child of
the victors, Drimé Özer.
5
Bibliography
Work Translated
Klong chen rab 'byams. "Rdzogs pa chen po sgyu ma ngal gso’i don khrid yid bzhin
nor bu." In Kun mkhyen klong chen rab 'byams kyi gsung ‘bum, 127, 172–174. Dpal
brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib 'jug khang. Beijing: Krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun
khang, 2009.
Suggested Readings
Longchenpa. 1976. Kindly Bent to Ease Us, Part Three: Wonderment. Translated by
Herbert V. Guenther. Emeryville, CA: Dharma Publishing.
Westerhoff, Jan. 2010. Twelve Examples of Illusion. New York: Oxford University
Press.
2. Skt. samādhi. ↩
3. This set of poetic terms describes the nuances of appearance (snang ba) as
having spaces in-between that resemble cracks of light, as with a door that is
ajar, and implicitly their accompanying shadows (sang nge sang nge); being
blurry or fuzzy at times ('a le 'ol le); and evanescent due to seemingly having
holes or being porous (khral ma khrol ma). ↩
4. This set of poetic terms describes the nuances of awareness (rig pa) as
fluttering or flickering with light (ban ne bun ne); flashing hither and thither
with uncertain movement (phyad de phyod de); and being open without
anything to hold onto (phyal phyal ba, phal le ba). ↩
5. There appears to be an error in all available editions of the Tibetan text here.
The line sgyu ‘dra’i rgyal ba’i mdzad pa ma lus mtha’ yas shog/ has too many
syllables. We are grateful to Khenpo Yeshe Gyaltsen for suggesting that ma lus
should be omitted and have followed this reading in the translation. ↩
6
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