Dzog Chen and Zen (Namkhai Norbu)
A Brief Transcribed Lecture
[My 2-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Dzog Chen and Zen†by Namkhai Norbu.]
This “book†– if you can call a sixteen-page transcribed lecture a book – only briefly touches upon the differences between Dzogchen and Zen. Much more of the talk, given by Namkhai Norbi in 1981, focuses on the history of Dzogchen in Tibet, which isn’t all that surprising given that Norbu’s emphasis as a scholar was on the historical origins of Tibetan culture.
Regarding Dzogchen and Zen, Norbu writes, “When one speaks of Zen and Dzogchen, it is obvious that these two methods are very different and not to be confused with one another.†How are the two mehods different? Norbu doesn’t adequately elaborate this. He just briefly equates Zen with sutric Buddhism, meaning that it is, in his words, “a path of renunciation,â€in which the aim is sunyata or void,†whereas “the goal of the Dzogchen teaching is not to arrive at the point of sunyata or void.â€Norbu also differentiates Dzogchen from tantra, which he describes as “the path of transformation.â€To further emphasize the distinction between Dzogchen and Zen, Norbu makes it clear that Dzogchen is a tradition with roots independent of Buddhism, hence, though it can be taught in a Buddhist context, it doesn’t have to be.
Norbu informs us that in ancient Tibet, a Zen teacher in the Bodhidharma lineage had attempted to bring Zen to Tibet, but that the Tibetan Buddhists did not accept this theme, and became opposed to this teacher. The implication, of course, is that Tibetan Buddhism and Dzogchen are superior to Zen Budhism.
The themes in this pamphlet are further elaborated in later Dzogchen texts by Norbu. But if you don’t mind dishing out roughly a buck a page for a brief description of Dzogchen history and an even briefer description of Dzgchen and how it differs from Zen and sutric Buddhism, then you might appreciate this mini-book.
[My 2-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Dzog Chen and Zen†by Namkhai Norbu.]
This “book†– if you can call a sixteen-page transcribed lecture a book – only briefly touches upon the differences between Dzogchen and Zen. Much more of the talk, given by Namkhai Norbi in 1981, focuses on the history of Dzogchen in Tibet, which isn’t all that surprising given that Norbu’s emphasis as a scholar was on the historical origins of Tibetan culture.
Regarding Dzogchen and Zen, Norbu writes, “When one speaks of Zen and Dzogchen, it is obvious that these two methods are very different and not to be confused with one another.†How are the two mehods different? Norbu doesn’t adequately elaborate this. He just briefly equates Zen with sutric Buddhism, meaning that it is, in his words, “a path of renunciation,â€in which the aim is sunyata or void,†whereas “the goal of the Dzogchen teaching is not to arrive at the point of sunyata or void.â€Norbu also differentiates Dzogchen from tantra, which he describes as “the path of transformation.â€To further emphasize the distinction between Dzogchen and Zen, Norbu makes it clear that Dzogchen is a tradition with roots independent of Buddhism, hence, though it can be taught in a Buddhist context, it doesn’t have to be.
Norbu informs us that in ancient Tibet, a Zen teacher in the Bodhidharma lineage had attempted to bring Zen to Tibet, but that the Tibetan Buddhists did not accept this theme, and became opposed to this teacher. The implication, of course, is that Tibetan Buddhism and Dzogchen are superior to Zen Budhism.
The themes in this pamphlet are further elaborated in later Dzogchen texts by Norbu. But if you don’t mind dishing out roughly a buck a page for a brief description of Dzogchen history and an even briefer description of Dzgchen and how it differs from Zen and sutric Buddhism, then you might appreciate this mini-book.
