The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding (Longchen Rabjam)
A Spiritual Treasury
[My 5-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding” by Longchen Rabjam, translated by Richar Barron.]
Longchen Rabjam’s The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding is what its title implies: a spiritual treasury. In this marvelous volume, Rabjam, one of the greatest Vajrayana Buddhist masters, provides expert and artful commentary on the greatest Dzogchen teachings (such as The All- Creating Monarch and Gorab Dorje’s The Direct Encounter with the Three Kayas) and also his own brilliant writings on Vajrayana Dharma.
What Rabjam is to Dzogchen is what Meister Eckhart is to Christian mysticism, what Huang Po is to Zen, what Abhinavagupta is to Kashmir Shaivism, and what Ramana Maharshi is to Advaita Vedanta: its greatest exemplar communicator. But Rabjam is not for beginners still trying to figure out what Dzogchen (essentially a nondual version of the esoteric Eucharist) is about; he’s for “Stream-winners,” those who have been “initiated” (or “baptized”) by the Sambhogakaya (the Holy Spirit) and can practice effortless abiding while remaining fully present. Rabjam’s teachings are from the View, the nondual en-Light-ened perspective, and once you understand that there is only the spontaneously arising Absolute ( the Dharmakaya appearing as the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya) and you are able, at times, be in accord with this changeless yet ceaseless and dynamic Reality, then Rabjam’s “prose” will appear like wonderful Dharma poetry to you.
In his volume, Rabjam discourses on what he identifies as the four cardinal themes of Dzogchen practice: presence, oneness, openness, ineffability. Presence + oneness, or “plugged-in presence,” = relationship or communion. In other words, the practitioner must consciously connect to the Now. Openness, or surrender, means that he must receive or channel the power of Now, the Sambhogakaya. From a dialectical perspective, presence + oneness is the synthesis, openness is the antithesis, and receiving the power of the Dharmakaya, the Sambhogakaya, is the synthesis. Ineffability refers to the ungraspable Nature of the Dharmakaya. One can be in accord with the Truly So, but It remains forever unknowable to the mind.
I’ve had this particular volume, translated by Richard Barron, for a number of years. Just a few weeks ago, I noticed the availability of a new translation of, and commentary on, this Rabjam treatise—Natural Perfection: Longchenpa’s Radical Dzogchen, by Keith Dowman. I figured the book had to great. Not only did it feature a foreward by Namkhai Norbu, a contemporary Dzogchen master and scholar whom I greatly respect, it also received rave reviews at Amazon.com. Well, to make a long story short, Dowman’s book disappoints and doesn’t do Rabjam’s poetic prose justice. His writing is second-rate and stilted, and he seems to lack a deep understanding of Dzogchen. This Richard Barron version, however, is exquisite, and I salute him for a job well done.
[My 5-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding” by Longchen Rabjam, translated by Richar Barron.]
Longchen Rabjam’s The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding is what its title implies: a spiritual treasury. In this marvelous volume, Rabjam, one of the greatest Vajrayana Buddhist masters, provides expert and artful commentary on the greatest Dzogchen teachings (such as The All- Creating Monarch and Gorab Dorje’s The Direct Encounter with the Three Kayas) and also his own brilliant writings on Vajrayana Dharma.
What Rabjam is to Dzogchen is what Meister Eckhart is to Christian mysticism, what Huang Po is to Zen, what Abhinavagupta is to Kashmir Shaivism, and what Ramana Maharshi is to Advaita Vedanta: its greatest exemplar communicator. But Rabjam is not for beginners still trying to figure out what Dzogchen (essentially a nondual version of the esoteric Eucharist) is about; he’s for “Stream-winners,” those who have been “initiated” (or “baptized”) by the Sambhogakaya (the Holy Spirit) and can practice effortless abiding while remaining fully present. Rabjam’s teachings are from the View, the nondual en-Light-ened perspective, and once you understand that there is only the spontaneously arising Absolute ( the Dharmakaya appearing as the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya) and you are able, at times, be in accord with this changeless yet ceaseless and dynamic Reality, then Rabjam’s “prose” will appear like wonderful Dharma poetry to you.
In his volume, Rabjam discourses on what he identifies as the four cardinal themes of Dzogchen practice: presence, oneness, openness, ineffability. Presence + oneness, or “plugged-in presence,” = relationship or communion. In other words, the practitioner must consciously connect to the Now. Openness, or surrender, means that he must receive or channel the power of Now, the Sambhogakaya. From a dialectical perspective, presence + oneness is the synthesis, openness is the antithesis, and receiving the power of the Dharmakaya, the Sambhogakaya, is the synthesis. Ineffability refers to the ungraspable Nature of the Dharmakaya. One can be in accord with the Truly So, but It remains forever unknowable to the mind.
I’ve had this particular volume, translated by Richard Barron, for a number of years. Just a few weeks ago, I noticed the availability of a new translation of, and commentary on, this Rabjam treatise—Natural Perfection: Longchenpa’s Radical Dzogchen, by Keith Dowman. I figured the book had to great. Not only did it feature a foreward by Namkhai Norbu, a contemporary Dzogchen master and scholar whom I greatly respect, it also received rave reviews at Amazon.com. Well, to make a long story short, Dowman’s book disappoints and doesn’t do Rabjam’s poetic prose justice. His writing is second-rate and stilted, and he seems to lack a deep understanding of Dzogchen. This Richard Barron version, however, is exquisite, and I salute him for a job well done.
