Hi Lol,

 

sorry I'm so damn slow to reply. I'm intrigued by Dzogchen - did I say that so often what I read of Dzogchen resonates powerfully with me. I see in one of the threads that theurj calls one writer (Caprille) 'a Dzogchen apologist'. What does he refer to, do you know? And I'm also  intrigued by what your practice is if you don't consider Dzogchen a school or a belief. How do you approach Dzogchen?

 

As for that avatar. It's a photo I took of myself I had on the computer. Choosing it wasn't the result of much deliberation - I joined this site 2/3 years ago and pretty much chose the nearest available image I liked. I keep intending to change it when I find an image I like better. Tell me what your impressions are. 

Hi Lol

and thanks for the invite! In answer to your question my connection to Dzogchen is glancing in terms of formal practice, yet strong in terms of the resonance I feel when I read about many of its claims and practices. The closest I come to Dzogchen is Mahamudra related practice recommended by Kenneth Folk. 

 

Are you a Dzogchen practioner?

Thanks Lol! Wonderful to see you too!

My own preference is to describe such an attitude, Dzogchen or otherwise, as "infinite potentiality manifesting out of openess." No argument there.

I guess I have to ask: Why does it matter being one way or the other? Is there perhaps at attachment to being "enlightened" or something like that?

Lol,
Thanks for the invite and the note. I've been deleted before and it looks like I'm still on my feet.

Hi, Lol, nice to "friend" again! Concerning the Vulnerability thread, I believe Tom deleted it right before he left the group. Tom and Mascha both have left IPS.

If you'd like to talk about this, or about the thread itself, yes, I'd be open to that.

Best wishes,

B.

I found it at this link. It's taken from Elias Capriles in “Beyond Mind II,” The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2006, Volume 25, pp. 1 - 44. He said:

"It is true that the ego emerges from an original dynamic, creative, spontaneous source—which here I am calling Dzogchen qua Base—from which it then becomes estranged. However, it is also important to emphasize the following facts: (1) that the source in question is the trikaya qua Base; (2) that in spite of the fact that, as underlined in the Chuang Tzu, the condition of the child is in many ways similar to Awakening, it is radically different from Awakening in that it does not at all involve the reGnition (of ) the trikaya qua Base and does not even involve the capacity to deal with reality effectively; (3) that though the ego emerges from this source, the latter is not and cannot be reGnized in infancy before the arising of the ego, but on the contrary, can only be reGnized after the ego has been fully developed and, having become ripe, it is ready to fall from the tree of the internalized family and dissolve (and, in fact, among the few who obtain this reGnition, the great bulk do so as adults); (4) that despite the fact that realization involves going back to the source, this “going back,” rather than consisting in a going back to the unreGnized manifestation of Dzogchen qua Base, corresponds to the reGnition of this condition, which in samsaric beings is an unprecedented, wholly new occurrence" (19).