Quintessential Dzogchen (Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche)
Inessential Dzogchen
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Quintessential Dzogchen: Confusion Dawns as Wisdom†by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.]
This is my second review of a Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche book. I gave the late Rinpoche’s “Rainbow Painting†two stars, but this book is somewhat better because it provides more and better information on Dzogchen practice, and not all of it comes from Rinpoche. In addition to Rinpoche’s talks on Dzogchen, articles and excerpts from numerous Dzogchen masters -- including Padmasambhava, Longchen Rabjam, Paltrul Rinpoche, Choki Nyima Rinpoche, and Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, et al. – are included. Although the teachings from the various Dzogchen masters will be appreciated by those unfamiliar with them, I didn’t find the ones presented to be particularly deep and illuminating or very well translated. Rather, I found them to be superfluous because they didn’t move beyond the ambit of the exoteric Dzogchen of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, but instead mirrored his teachings, which are flat, or two-dimensional.
Rinpoche’s teachings are two-dimensional because he doesn’t incorporate the Energetic Dimension of the Absolute, the Sambhogakaya, into them. Moreover, he doesn’t really understand the other two Dimensions of the Trikaya, either. He writes: “There is knowing. The mind of the sentient being is both empty and cognizant, and it is this cognizance that can recognize its own nature. In the very moment of recognizing, you see the empty essence. The empty essence is called the dharmakaya of the buddhas. The cognizance is called the Sambhogakaya of the Buddhas. The two are actually indivisible, and this indivisibility is the nirmanakaya.â€
Unbeknownst to Rinpoche, the Sambhogakaya is Clear-Light Energy (tantamount to Hindu Shakti and the Christian Holy Spirit), and not “cognizance.†The Dharmakaya is timeless, universal Awareness, not an “empty essence.†And the Nirmanakaya is the immanent Dharmakaya, encased within a human form body, not “indivisibility,†a non-existent devoid of ontological status.
The fact that Rinpoche is clueless regarding the Trikaya infects his Dharma like a virus. For example, he writes, “Your immediate natural wakefulness is itself the true Samantabhadra. According to Wikipedia, “Samantabhadra is also the name of Adi Buddha in indivisible Yab-Yum with his consort, Samantabbhadri. To the cognoscenti, Samantabhadra is a synonym for Hindu Siva, and Samantabhadri equates with Shakti. “Natural wakefulness†is a poor synonym for the En-Light-ened Condition, which is Bodhicitta (En-light-ened Consciousness, or Conscious Light). But because Rinpoche does not incorporate Light-Energy, the Sambhogakaya, into his Enlightenment formula, he can only, reductively and inaccurately, describe the Buddha-nature, Bodhicitta, as “natural wakefulness.â€
Rinpoche’s descriptions of Treckho and Togal are poor. He writes, “Trekcho simply means acknowledging that your basic essence is empty, and Togal is the natural displays that are present.â€
Unbeknownst to Rinpoche, Treckho really means the application of Rigpa to cut through spiritual materialism to get to Spirit, the Sambhogakaya. And Togal is directly, immediately “leaping over†to Spirit, or the Sambhogakaya, and then conducting its Clear-Light-Energy as a Radiant Continuum.
Because this is just a review and not a book, I’ll cut short my deconstruction of Rinpoche’s teachings with a final criticism of his Nagajuna/Vijnaptimatra-perverted metaphysical idealism. Rinpoche writes, “All sense objects are mere perception and therefore do not exist. Whatever appears due to causes and conditions is ultimately nothing but a moment of mere perception.â€
Rinpoche’s book is a sense object, so it must not exist. Why would anyone write a book that doesn’t exist? And how could anyone read a non-existent book?
Despite Rinpoche’s defective and deficient teachings, there is enough “Dharma meat†in this book, thanks to the auxillary articles, to merit three stars from me. Without the auxillary articles, however, this would be a two-star text, just like his “Rainbow Painting.â€
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Quintessential Dzogchen: Confusion Dawns as Wisdom†by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.]
This is my second review of a Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche book. I gave the late Rinpoche’s “Rainbow Painting†two stars, but this book is somewhat better because it provides more and better information on Dzogchen practice, and not all of it comes from Rinpoche. In addition to Rinpoche’s talks on Dzogchen, articles and excerpts from numerous Dzogchen masters -- including Padmasambhava, Longchen Rabjam, Paltrul Rinpoche, Choki Nyima Rinpoche, and Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, et al. – are included. Although the teachings from the various Dzogchen masters will be appreciated by those unfamiliar with them, I didn’t find the ones presented to be particularly deep and illuminating or very well translated. Rather, I found them to be superfluous because they didn’t move beyond the ambit of the exoteric Dzogchen of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, but instead mirrored his teachings, which are flat, or two-dimensional.
Rinpoche’s teachings are two-dimensional because he doesn’t incorporate the Energetic Dimension of the Absolute, the Sambhogakaya, into them. Moreover, he doesn’t really understand the other two Dimensions of the Trikaya, either. He writes: “There is knowing. The mind of the sentient being is both empty and cognizant, and it is this cognizance that can recognize its own nature. In the very moment of recognizing, you see the empty essence. The empty essence is called the dharmakaya of the buddhas. The cognizance is called the Sambhogakaya of the Buddhas. The two are actually indivisible, and this indivisibility is the nirmanakaya.â€
Unbeknownst to Rinpoche, the Sambhogakaya is Clear-Light Energy (tantamount to Hindu Shakti and the Christian Holy Spirit), and not “cognizance.†The Dharmakaya is timeless, universal Awareness, not an “empty essence.†And the Nirmanakaya is the immanent Dharmakaya, encased within a human form body, not “indivisibility,†a non-existent devoid of ontological status.
The fact that Rinpoche is clueless regarding the Trikaya infects his Dharma like a virus. For example, he writes, “Your immediate natural wakefulness is itself the true Samantabhadra. According to Wikipedia, “Samantabhadra is also the name of Adi Buddha in indivisible Yab-Yum with his consort, Samantabbhadri. To the cognoscenti, Samantabhadra is a synonym for Hindu Siva, and Samantabhadri equates with Shakti. “Natural wakefulness†is a poor synonym for the En-Light-ened Condition, which is Bodhicitta (En-light-ened Consciousness, or Conscious Light). But because Rinpoche does not incorporate Light-Energy, the Sambhogakaya, into his Enlightenment formula, he can only, reductively and inaccurately, describe the Buddha-nature, Bodhicitta, as “natural wakefulness.â€
Rinpoche’s descriptions of Treckho and Togal are poor. He writes, “Trekcho simply means acknowledging that your basic essence is empty, and Togal is the natural displays that are present.â€
Unbeknownst to Rinpoche, Treckho really means the application of Rigpa to cut through spiritual materialism to get to Spirit, the Sambhogakaya. And Togal is directly, immediately “leaping over†to Spirit, or the Sambhogakaya, and then conducting its Clear-Light-Energy as a Radiant Continuum.
Because this is just a review and not a book, I’ll cut short my deconstruction of Rinpoche’s teachings with a final criticism of his Nagajuna/Vijnaptimatra-perverted metaphysical idealism. Rinpoche writes, “All sense objects are mere perception and therefore do not exist. Whatever appears due to causes and conditions is ultimately nothing but a moment of mere perception.â€
Rinpoche’s book is a sense object, so it must not exist. Why would anyone write a book that doesn’t exist? And how could anyone read a non-existent book?
Despite Rinpoche’s defective and deficient teachings, there is enough “Dharma meat†in this book, thanks to the auxillary articles, to merit three stars from me. Without the auxillary articles, however, this would be a two-star text, just like his “Rainbow Painting.â€
