B. Alan Wallace, 17 Sep 2015

Alan returns to the topic of rangjung, or self-emerging realisation. This seems to be a universal phenomenon, with no ownership of a particular religion. Alan points out that Wolff had no context within which to understand his experiences until he came across Dzogchen. He cites also the experiences of Jakob Böhme who was a Lutheran living in 16th and 17th centuries. Böhme continued to maintain his religion following his experiences and framed his understanding of them in the context of this. Alan points out that Khandro-la had no training in her realisations, they spontaneously emerged. These self-emerging experiences occur due to priming from previous lifetimes and karma. Alan explains that the current teachings are a preparation in the same way. That is, they prime those who receive them for such spontaneous experiences. Discovering what the conditions were which gave rise to these self-emerging realisations is very difficult. However, the rich, instructive text we are working through takes us gently through the training. Starting with ethics, it moves to gaining emotional balance through shamatha and cultivating wisdom, or seeing things more clearly, through vipashyana. By following this path we build momentum until we are sufficiently gifted to realise primordial consciousness, which is only the tip of the iceberg. This momentum is carried through to subsequent lifetimes.

The meditation, balancing sky and space, follows.

Then Alan addresses the text (p. 137 - 143). The emphasis in this chapter and these verses is doing nothing and to continue this without distraction in a loose, relaxed manner. Alan particularly draws our attention to the verses by Siddha Orgyen, which are rich in instruction.

Meditation starts at 34:40.


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