PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

Studstill: Cybernetic Approach to Dzogchen 335processes of mind, on the other hand, constitute an increasing realizationof one’s human potential and an enrichment of emotional andsemantic appreciation.AN OVERVIEW OF DZOGCHEN DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE 55An investigation of Dzogchen’s cognitive effects requires the interpretationof its doctrines and practices based on a model or theory of mind—in this article, the cybernetic model of mind described above. It alsorequires a familiarity with the data to be interpreted, i.e., the doctrines andpractices themselves. The section below addresses this second topic throughan overview of Dzogchen view (doctrines) and path (practices). Due to thecomplexity of the tradition, my comments here are necessarily selective. 56Dzogchen has been practiced in Tibet for at least eleven hundred years. Itsviews and practices evolved over time, while at any particular time thevarious groups and lineages that identified themselves with Dzogchen didnot necessarily present or interpret its doctrines in identical ways. Thiscomplexity is exacerbated by the fact that in actual practice Tibetan traditionsare never insulated entities. In a traditional Tibetan context Dzogchenis never practiced in isolation. All forms of Tibetan Buddhism are thoroughlyintegrated with what Tibetans refer to as the S¥trayåna (stressingrenunciation, compassion, and emptiness) and the intricately ritualizedcomplexities of tantric practice. Still, alongside this variation and complexitycertain key themes have remained more or less constant throughoutDzogchen’s history, and it is these that are focused on here.Introductory Remarks on DzogchenThe historical origins of Dzogchen are obscure. According to thetradition’s own sources, Dzogchen originated as a fully articulated Buddhistteaching in Uddiyana (in some sources, Oddiyåna) or India and wastransmitted directly from India to Tibet late in the eighth century primarilyby Padmasambhava and, to a lesser degree, by Vairocana and Vimalamitra.Scholars tend to reject the traditional account, viewing Dzogchen as anindigenous Tibetan movement that emerged sometime between the eighthand tenth centuries through the combined influences of Indian Mahåyogatantric traditions and Ch’an, with secondary contributions from Bön,Indian Mahasiddha traditions, 57 Yogåcåra and tathågatagarba theory, 58and perhaps even Hindu Ûaivism and Gnosticism. 59Among Tibetan Buddhists, Dzogchen is primarily associated with theNyingma school, where it is considered the most advanced of the “NinePaths” or Yånas (Tib. theg-pa) of Buddhism. 60 The Nine Paths are a