DZOGCHEN
In the ancient Tibetan schools, Dzogchen is regarded as the supreme teaching of the Buddha, the highest and most direct of all spiritual paths to realization, the summit and the heart of all teachings.
The Tibetan term "Dzogchen" - usually translated as "Great (and/or) Natural Perfection" - essentially signifies the authentic Natural State of Total Perfection or Completion of all beings. Sequentially, the Dzogchen Teachings are the authentic teachings that enable us to discover this primordial state, which is the true condition of our existence.
In Dzogchen, the practitioner is introduced directly to the Natural State, the Nature of Mind, the innate Buddha-Nature, which is the true nature of one's own mind. This nature is ceaselessly present from the very beginning, even before the cycle of deaths and rebirths that we call Samsara. Beyond time and casuality, our Buddha-Nature transcends all mental fabrications, illusions and conditionings; it is ever unchanging pure and clear - just like the mirror, which is never modified, polluted or corrupted by any whatever objects it may reflect.
Dzogchen is neither a religion nor a school of philosophy or a system of psychotherapy. Rather, it can be defined as a profound non-intellectual Knowledge that great masters have been transmitting beyond all limitations of schools and sects.
The practice of Dzogchen gives great importance to the development of self-awareness and the relaxation of all tensions of body, speach (or energy) and mind throughout all the various experiences of daily life. Personal freedom is an essential aspect so there is no obligation to follow certain rules or take monastic vows, etc. Thus, it is a spiritual path which is practcally open to everyone. For this reason, it is said that Dzogchen is particularly well suited to the needs of living in modern society.
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche is an influential figure of undisputed prestige as one of the present day exponents of this ancient tradition.
THE DZOGCHEN TEACHINGSIn Tibet, Dzogchen teachings have existed since the ancient years and still live in both the Buddhist Tradition and in that of the Bon, the indigenous pre-Buddhist spiritual tradition of this country. However, they were never before as easily available as today, neither had they ever been very widely spread.
In the Buddhist tradition, the origins of Dzogchen teachings are attributed to twelve primordial masters who lived in archaic times. The Dzogchen teaching that has passed down to our day within Tibetan Buddhism, was first expounded more than two thousand years ago by master Garab Dorje, who was born in the land of Oddiyana, an ancient kingdom usually identified with Swat valley in Pakistan. In the 8th century of our era, the teaching transmitted by Garab Dorje was brought to Tibet by great masters such as Vairotsana, Vimalamitra, and Padmasambhava. In that early period, along with the first diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, a large-scale translation of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan took place, too. It was then when the texts of Dzogchen were also translated, in great measure from the language of Oddiyana.
Garab Dorje (Thangka by Glen Eddy)
According to the Bon tradition, on the other hand, Dzogchen has passed down to our day through a different lineage of masters. Here, the original introduction of Dzogchen is ascribed to the great master Shenrab Miwoche, who lived some 18.000 years ago, and who transmitted this Knowledge as part of a spiritual tradition widespread in the ancient kingdom of Shang-Shung, located in what is now western Tibet.
Both traditions, however, assert and agree that the ultimate source of Dzogchen teachings is the Primordial Ati-Buddha, the Dharmakaya Samantabhadra.
Today, Dzogchen - as taught above all in the Nyingmapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon tradition (but also known and practiced in other schools as well) - has begun to spread in the West, thanks to the great contemporary Tibetan masters who, after leaving their country, now teach tirelessly in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.
YANTRA YOGA: The Yoga of Movement is an ancient system of Tibetan yoga based on the text "The Union of the Sun and the Moon", written in the 8th century by the master and translator Vairochana. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu wrote a detailed commentary on the root text and started to transmit this teaching in the West at the beginning of the seventies. Yantra Yoga is a fundamental method to integrate the profound essence of the Dzogchen Teaching in the three gates (body, voice & mind) of the practitioner. Through positions and movements combined with breathing, one's energy is coordinated and harmonized, so as to let the mind find the authentic balance and relaxation which is the basis for getting into contemplation.
Info especially on Yantra Yoga: http://www.yantrayoga.org/
Also, see this video from SSI: http://www.dzogchen.gr/gr/forum.php
THE VAJRA DANCE: In the Dzogchen Teaching, sound & movement are very important because they are the means to integrate oneself into the state of contemplation. The Vajra Dance is principally a practice to harmonize the energy of the individual. If one has a more profound knowledge of the meaning of the Dance, it becomes a method for integrating the three existences of body, voice and mind into the knowledge of the state of contemplation. This integration is one of the most important aims of a Dzogchen practitioner. The Vajra Dance is practiced on a Mandala which represents the correspondence between the internal dimension of the individual and the outer dimension of the world.
