Spaciousness: The Radical Dzogchen of the Vajra-Heart (Longchenpa's Treasury of the Dharmadhatu)

Spaciousness: The Radical Dzogchen of the Vajra-Heart (Longchenpa's Treasury of the Dharmadhatu) by Keith Dowman. paperback edition. ISBN: 9789937506977.

This famous seminal text of radical Dzogchen provides a profound yet simple poetic statement of how it is to immerse oneself in the matrix of the now, to allow pure presence and recognize buddha. It is a personal statement of a yogin-adept who, evidently, has passed through the throes of transfiguration. Certainly the magic of his poetry impresses us that way and surely this Treasury of the Dharmadhatu, the Choyingdzo, is a personal revelation of the consummation of Dzogchen. In it we are assured that over and above all the yogas and dhyanas of Hindustan, all the ritual and magic of Tibet and all the commercialized quasi-religious new-age therapies of the West there exists a simple, timeless manner of being, of easy access, requiring no onerous technique or renunciate lifestyle, that can give us a constant modicum of satisfaction in this vale of tears between birth and dying. This magnum opus of Longchen Rabjampa is a textbook of what has become known as radical Dzogchen, so called in distinction to latter-day elaborated Dzogchen. It is a root text of those who have come up through the ranks of Buddhist practice, and that includes most Tibetans who are familiar with it and most westerners who have prior meditation experience on the graduated path. Even more so it is a textbook for those who have encountered Buddhism at this its apex point through the instruction of those few lamas who promote Dzogchen distinct from its Buddhist context or who have had personal, initiatory experience outside any institutional frame. Its clarity in pointing out the natural great perfection is unsurpassed. Its absence of pedantry and didacticism and its fullness of poetic diction make it a pacan of personal revelation, a naked revelation of a buddha-yogin cum-poet.