This Wisdom Academy course from Lama Alan Wallace is one of his deepest, most succinct explanations of the Dzogchen view, meditation, and conduct to date. Delve into the liberative practice and theory of Dzogchen through Lama Alan Wallace’s precise commentary on pithy root texts by masters Jé Tsultrim Zangpo and Yangthang Rinpoche.
What You’ll Learn
- Pithy advice from Jé Tsultrim Zangpo and Yangthang Rinpoche on integrating the entirety of the Dzogchen path—view, meditation, and conduct—into your life
- The stages of development in the practice of releasing compulsive thoughts, depending on one’s personal faculties
- Meditation practices to guide you onto the Dzogchen path
- Insights into connecting Dzogchen with Madhyamaka philosophy
- And much more!
About this Course
In this stunning course with Lama Alan Wallace, delve into the theory and practice of Dzogchen through writings by some of the greatest Dzogchen masters of recent time. In his commentary on Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s (1884–1957) precise essay An Ornament of the Enlightened View of Samanthabhadra from the book Open Mind, augmented with the brief, experiential text Summary of the View, Meditation, and Conduct by the twentieth-century master Domang Yangthang Rinpoche, Lama Alan Wallace presents the liberative path of Dzogchen. These teachings synopsize the view, meditation, and conduct of Great Perfection, making it accessible to our lives and nesting it in the view of Prasangika-Madhyamaka philosophy. It is this essay by Jé Tsultrim Zangpo that His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself has recommended to students wishing to deepen their understanding of Dzogchen. Together these teachings have the wondrous potential to bless and transform your daily life and your personal practice.
Lessons
Lesson 1: An Introduction to the View, Meditation, and Conduct of Dzogchen
Lama Alan Wallace begins our journey into the Dzogchen view, meditation, and conduct with a discussion of the Dzogchen path and the preliminary practices needed before setting foot on it.
Lama Alan Wallace begins our journey into the Dzogchen view, meditation, and conduct with a discussion of the Dzogchen path and the preliminary practices needed before setting foot on it.
Lesson 2: Approaching the Dzogchen Path
Lama Alan Wallace takes us through the foundational elements for approaching the Dzogchen path, such as renunciation, relying on the guru, and reflecting on saṃsāra, in his commentary on essays by Yangthang Rinpoche and Jé Tsultrim Zangpo.
Lama Alan Wallace takes us through the foundational elements for approaching the Dzogchen path, such as renunciation, relying on the guru, and reflecting on saṃsāra, in his commentary on essays by Yangthang Rinpoche and Jé Tsultrim Zangpo.
Lesson 3: Bodhicitta and the Value of Admiration and Reverence
In this lesson, Lama Alan Wallace takes us through Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s understanding of the vitality of generating bodhicitta, and what it means to have admiration and reverence for the guru and personal deity.
In this lesson, Lama Alan Wallace takes us through Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s understanding of the vitality of generating bodhicitta, and what it means to have admiration and reverence for the guru and personal deity.
Lesson 4: Pure Vision, Reification, and Severing Our Attachment to Samsara
Lama Alan Wallace begins to introduce us to the Dzogchen view by means of Yangthang Rinpoche’s text, discussing the dangers of reification and reconciling this tradition with Madhyamaka philosophy. We also delve into Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s understanding of the need to sever our attachment to samsara in order to advance onto the Dzogchen path.
Lama Alan Wallace begins to introduce us to the Dzogchen view by means of Yangthang Rinpoche’s text, discussing the dangers of reification and reconciling this tradition with Madhyamaka philosophy. We also delve into Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s understanding of the need to sever our attachment to samsara in order to advance onto the Dzogchen path.
Lesson 5: The Uncommon Preliminaries for the Dzogchen Path
Lama Alan Wallace guides us through Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s uncommon preliminaries for entering the Dzogchen path, shows us the connection between Madhyamaka and Dzogchen, and gives us a taste of the practice of shamatha without a sign.
Lama Alan Wallace guides us through Jé Tsultrim Zangpo’s uncommon preliminaries for entering the Dzogchen path, shows us the connection between Madhyamaka and Dzogchen, and gives us a taste of the practice of shamatha without a sign.
Lesson 6: Approaching the Dzogchen View
In this lesson, we dive into the Dzogchen view through the words of Yangthang Rinpoche and Jé Tsultrim Zangpo, discovering the understanding of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in the Great Perfection, the roles of pure vision and compassion, and how beings of “sharp faculties” may be introduced to the view.
In this lesson, we dive into the Dzogchen view through the words of Yangthang Rinpoche and Jé Tsultrim Zangpo, discovering the understanding of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in the Great Perfection, the roles of pure vision and compassion, and how beings of “sharp faculties” may be introduced to the view.
Lesson 7: Introducing the View to Novices and Understanding the Nature of Primordial Consciousness
Jé Tsultrim Zangpo explains how novices like us can be introduced to the Dzogchen view, before guiding us through an understanding of the essential nature and manifest nature primordial consciousness, or dharmakāya and sambhogakāya.
Jé Tsultrim Zangpo explains how novices like us can be introduced to the Dzogchen view, before guiding us through an understanding of the essential nature and manifest nature primordial consciousness, or dharmakāya and sambhogakāya.
Lesson 8: Meditation, Post-Meditation, and the Nature of Pristine Awareness
In this lesson, Lama Alan Wallace discusses Yangthang Rinpoche’s instructions for meditation on the Dzogchen path and takes us into Jé Tsultrim Zangpo discussion on compassion and the nature of pristine awareness.
In this lesson, Lama Alan Wallace discusses Yangthang Rinpoche’s instructions for meditation on the Dzogchen path and takes us into Jé Tsultrim Zangpo discussion on compassion and the nature of pristine awareness.
Lesson 9: The Path of Cutting through to Original Purity
Lama Alan Wallace explains the way to follow the path of cutting through to original purity by taking the radiance of pristine awareness as the path, and further shares methods of releasing compulsive thoughts.
Lama Alan Wallace explains the way to follow the path of cutting through to original purity by taking the radiance of pristine awareness as the path, and further shares methods of releasing compulsive thoughts.
Lesson 10: Dzogchen Conduct and the Fruition of the Path
In our final lesson, we learn how knowing the way in which thoughts release themselves is essential to Dzogchen conduct, and what an authentic fruition of the path will look like in our lives.
In our final lesson, we learn how knowing the way in which thoughts release themselves is essential to Dzogchen conduct, and what an authentic fruition of the path will look like in our lives.
About the Teacher
Dynamic lecturer, progressive scholar, and one of the most prolific writers and translators of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, Lama Alan Wallace, PhD, continually seeks innovative ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices with Western science to advance the study of the mind.
Lama Alan, a scholar and practitioner of Buddhism since 1970, has taught Buddhist theory and meditation worldwide since 1976. Having devoted 14 years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H.H. the Dalai Lama, he went on to earn an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford. Lama Alan later studied Dzogchen with Gyatrul Rinpoche, a senior teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. With his unique background, Lama Alan brings deep experience and applied skills to the challenge of integrating traditional Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with the modern world.
Lama Alan is the author and translator of several books, including Düdjom Lingpa’s Visions of the Great Perfection, Stilling the Mind: Shamatha Teachings From Dudjom Linpa’s Vajra Essence, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up, Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos, and The Attention Revolution.