I have two purposes for this thread. First is to try and help clarify some confusion around the Tibetan term "rigpa," and the second is to ask for input on others' experiences.
I've been practicing Mahamudra & Dzogchen under various masters for some years. In TB (and Buddhism in general) it's frowned upon to talk too much about experiences, so I'm glad I have a place like this to post.
Okay, first: in Mahamudra there's something called the Four Yogas, and they roughly correspond to the Dzogchen semde four naljors. They use different terminology, but here I want to provide a rough mapping.
First, some Mahamudra:
Now, to what degree must vipashyana have arisen to be considered true vipashyana? The unmistaken vipashyana that has directly realized the truth of dharmata comes only at the time of the greater level of the yoga of simplicity. In our case, however, we are only concerned with the vipashyana that arises in the beginner’s mind. For instance, the first moon of the month does not have the same function as the full moon, yet it is still conventionally considered to be the moon. Therefore here we are concerned with the vipashyana that includes one’s mind and the thoughts and phenomena arising from its radiance, as discussed earlier. All phenomena of subject and object are unoriginated, nonabiding, and unceasing. To know this crucial point and to have the experience and conviction born from deep within that they are devoid of true essence or nature is what, at this point, should be defined as vipashyana. It may happen that, for some time, vipashyana does not arise to such a degree. However, as followers of the practice lineage, we acknowledge the following beginner’s vipashyana. The essence of one’s mind is an unidentifiable void; it is the primordial cognizance that has not been fabricated. In the mind that is aware of itself and lucid by itself, these two, void and cognizance, are inseparable. To gain the experience that the mind has ascertained that it is so is a beginner’s vipashyana. By sustaining just that much at the beginning, we are confident that unmistaken vipashyana will gradually arise.
And now the rough equivalent in Dzogchen (Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche):
The moment we recognize undivided empty cognizance, that is rigpa itself. But it is not fully grown -- it is not an adult state of rigpa -- it's baby rigpa. The level of recognition we are at now is called baby rigpa.
In many Dzogchen texts,
rigpa is described as a profound realization that includes the recognition of complete nonduality. If one's first glimpse isn't that deep, one might be afraid that one hasn't recognized at all. What's not made clear* is that this
rangjung rigpa might only come after much practice of baby rigpa (or that "baby rigpa" qualifies at all). Tsoknyi Rinpoche:
It might be a little too early to call it the rigpa of the Great Perfection. But as this state gets more clarified -- you could say more refined -- and becomes the authentic state of rigpa according to Dzogchen teachings, then at that point it will deserve its name. On the other hand, it is also possible that someone might recognize the state of rigpa from the very beginning.
...
In the beginning, just let it be whatever it is, however it is; just let whatever is known be that, without hope and fear. We call this continuity, however brief it might be, Baby Rigpa. … In the same way, whatever is initially seen as being the view is exactly what you allow to continue.
...
Dzogchen meditation is to sustain the continuity. It is to give Baby Rigpa breathing space. Up till now, he has been suffocating.
In this way, we can draw a rough parallel between beginner / full vipashyana, and baby / rangjung rigpa. You practice the first (with nonmeditation) to eventually realize the second (unless you're one of the ones who recognizes from the very beginning).
In either case, we might say that the beginning of practice starts with the clear recognition of the inseparable emptiness and primordial cognizance of mind.
Part 2 in next post.
* It has occurred to me that this might be skillful means, like Kenneth's "fake it til you make it."
