Hey all, Dharma Overground has been on my radar for a while but I am just now finally getting around to creating a post.

I have done 3 different 10 day Vipassana retreats, one mostly around Samadhi/Jhanas, one Goenka, one Mahasi Sayadaw (Panditarama).

However after reading Sam Harris, I am interested to explore Dzogchen meditation as well. He thinks it is the most direct path to reaching pure awareness, "taking the path as the goal", and he views Vipassana has requiring the meditator to view the end goal of enlightenment as the goal and exploration of sensations to be the required steps to get there (if you understand my meaning).

This seems like an interesting idea, however whilst good Vipassana centres are easy to find I have no clue who the good Dzogchen meditation teachers are in the world, or where the retreat centres / places for serious practice are.

Does anyone have any advice on these topics? Thanks

In Harris's book, he writes, "Tulku Urgyen is no longer alive, but I’m told that his sons Tsoknyi Rinpoche and Mingyur Rinpoche generally teach in his style..."

Mingyur Rinpoche's organization Tergar is based in Minnesotta in the US. Don't know where you are, but perhaps you might start there.

Thanks for the reply, I'll check it out . In the meantime, for those coming searching, I also got pointed towards John Churchill as a teacher, and towards the book Clarifying the Natural State. But I was also told depending on what you're trying to do Dzogchen isn't in general suitable for people prior to Stream entry, it's better for people with more direct experience of awareness etc.

Try reading Clarifying the Natural State.  If it doesn't seem to make sense or be helpful, then maybe it isn't time and you should stick with Vipassana for some time.  Or if you read and think, "YES!", then it is time.

I give this advice based on my own personal experience with Dzogchen and Mahamudra.  At first it didn't resonate with me at all, so I cast it aside.  Then I came across it again when I had changed, and its simplicity made all the sense in the world.

Another option: Use vipassana to reach the 11th ñana, then shift to a dzogchen-like practice.

-T