perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may as well burst out laughing.
Rest, at ease, in the vast expanse
where nothing needs to be added,
and nothing removed.
Do not follow the past.
Do not invite the future.
Do not shape present awareness with concepts.
Rest in wide-open, natural mind.
This is the practice.
There is nothing else to do.
Ā laa laa hoh!"
བཟང་ངན་བླང་དོར་གང་ལ་ཡང་མ་གྲུབ། །
དེ་ཕྱིར་གད་མོ་ཤོར་ཙམ་བྱས་ན་ཆོག
ཀློང་ཡངས་ཆོས་ཉིད་དབྱིངས་སུ་གློད་ལ་ཞོག
ཅི་ཡང་བཟོ་བཅོས་སྤང་བླང་མི་དགོས་སོ། །
འདས་པའི་རྗེས་མི་བཅད།
མ་འོངས་པའི་སྔུན་མི་བསུ།
ད་ལྟའི་ཤེས་པ་རང་སོ་གནས་སུ་ཆུག
ཨ་ལ་ལ་ཧོཿ
A traditional Tibetan preliminary that clears the stale winds from the subtle channels. Three inhales through the right nostril, three through the left, three through both — nine breaths in all.
Right nostril inhale × 3, then left × 3, then both × 3. On each exhale, release all disturbance and stale energy as smoke leaving the body.
Sit comfortably. Seven-point posture if you know it, or simply a soft upright spine. Eyes half-open, gaze resting in the space in front of you. Do not follow thoughts. Do not push them away. Rest, at ease, as awareness knowing itself.
Dedicate the merit.
Whatever quiet strength arose in these ten minutes — offer it away. Not to yourself. To everyone.
བསོད་ནམས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཚོགས་རྫོགས་ཤིང་། །
བསོད་ནམས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལས་བྱུང་བའི། །
དམ་པ་སྐུ་གཉིས་ཐོབ་པར་ཤོག
By this virtue, may all beings
perfect the accumulation of merit and wisdom,
and, from that merit and wisdom,
attain the two supreme kāyas.
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A Word on These Verses
Longchenpa (1308–1364) is the great synthesiser of the Dzogchen tradition — the Nyingma master whose Seven Treasuries map the Great Perfection from top to bottom. These few lines, drawn from his Trilogy of Finding Comfort and Ease, are what Tibetans call a pointing-out: not description, but a direct finger pressed to the door of your own mind.
The instruction is disarmingly simple. Do not chase the last thought. Do not lean into the next one. Do not decorate this instant with concepts. Then — rest. What remains, when you stop adding and removing, is what has always been here: rig pa, awareness, already awake.
Today's practice is a small rehearsal: clear the winds, sound one syllable, and rest a few minutes in what Longchenpa called the wide-open, natural mind.