This idea came up in listening to David Germano’s presentation on Dzogchen at Tergar Institute.1
He described a Dzogchen view of the “end of times” (when all beings attain buddhahood, all buddhas, no more sentient beings):
- All emanation bodies swirl into enjoyment body, then swirl into dharmakaya → dharmadhatu → yeshe.
- Then, eventually… the swirling winds pick up and we are back to the “start”—the vase, swirling winds, to duality.
- This reminds me of the cycle of creation in the I Ching (Yi Jing): “ending” with completeness → incompleteness → creation again.
So the question arises, why practice? Why do anything at all?
In Daoism, there is the notion of the creative cycle. So our movements should be in harmony with the creative cycle, the Way, the path of less suffering, true path of least resistance??
What happens if we move in the direction of the destructive cycle? Presumably, an increase in pain, suffering, friction-full existence.
In this way, Dzogchen, Dao can answer Buddha’s original question: how to live free from suffering?
By living in harmony with the natural direction of the universe, the creative cycle. Going with the grain of the nature of reality.
Related Chatter on the Dao Bums Forum
”DZOGCHEN was a secret tradition in Tibet. […] Its popularity may be attributed to a single basic tenet, which is contained in the notion “nonaction.” The buddha-nature is immanent in every moment of experience and simply by recognizing the moment and relaxing into it that realization is achieved. Relaxation is the imperative need of our stressed-out culture and relaxation is the key to buddhahood here-and-now. The materialism, rationalism, and goal-oriented ambition that mark our contemporary societies is undermined by Dzogchen with its promise of optimal awareness and recognition of a natural state of perfection. Tangentially, the message of Dzogchen provides a functional approach to the medical ills of the age, a redemptive approach to sexuality, and a positive, joyful vision of death and dying. These popular effects of Dzogchen, however, should not obscure its fundamental purpose - to recognize the unity of all things in a nondual universe of full awareness, harmony, and compassion. ~Keith Dowman’s Natural Perfection: Longchenpa’s Radical Dzogchen 2
Taoism has a way of action and a way of non-action. The way of action is the way of alchemy (transformation). The way of non-action emphasizes relaxation and naturalness above all. Sound familiar? Like Tantra and Dzogchen in Buddhsim perhaps? Now, Lao Tzu was presumably was influenced by the Chinese shamanic tradition, which in turn may have come from a larger Asian root shamanism, also including Tibetan, Mongolian, and Siberian shamanism. And Taoist teachings are said to come from the Kunlun mountains in the West, Lao Tzu was said to dissapear into the West, etc. Now, Bonpos hold that they have a transmission of Dzogchen separate from Nyingma, that came from Zhang Zhung in northwest Tibet, which in turn came from even further West. Nyinmapas hold Dzogchen to come from Oddiyana, in Pakistan or Afganistan, but historical evidence strongly points to a Tibetan origin for most of Dzogchen. Also, the early transmission of Buddhism in Tibet mixed with Chan. Some of the original Dzogchen masters were also said to be Chan masters.3
Further similarities between Dzogchen and Dao -
Five elements - lots of obvious (and more subtle) overlap and common ground.
Training methods - the qualities and skills we master in Daoist methods are very similar to those developed in Shamatha, Vipasanna, etc… Compare Song, Jing, and Ziran to Clarity, Stability, Vividness. Compare working with intent and the development and refinement of the energy body with the deity, body, breathing, color methodologies. 4