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348Pacific Worldnothing to accept or reject. In addition, the practice of “doing nothing” asa resting in the immediacy of the moment is diametrically opposed to themind’s habitual tendencies of grasping and distraction. It requires constant,non-wavering mindfulness, and therefore involves a very active andeffortful “holding” to the immediacy of present awareness. 166 “Doingnothing” turns out to be an extremely difficult psychological feat. 167Given the difficulty of the practice, Dzogchen texts emphasize that it isa path only suitable for advanced practitioners. Telling a beginner tosimply “let the mind be,” with no prior training in mental quiescence andno acquaintance with a sense of presence, does nothing but encourage thehabitual, non-present processes of the mind. According to Longchenpa,without the preliminary use of at least some “meditative references (dmigspa) or specific icons such as visualization (mtshan bcas) … one will not havethe slightest meditative experience and thus will not be able to stabilizeone’s mind.” 168 He therefore emphasizes “the importance of beginningwith meditative objects, and only subsequently releasing them into nonreferential(dmigs med) meditation.” 169 Longchenpa, in fact, characterizesthose “who [attempt] … to directly meditate on the [Dzogchen] pathwithout … [certain] preliminaries … as deviant or mistaken.” 170 In ageneral sense, preliminary practices are considered necessary for the“energization of … [Dzogchen’s] contemplative techniques.” 171 More specifically,they serve to refine and pacify consciousness to the point where“letting be” functions as a means of settling even deeper into the here andnow, rather than as a sanction for ordinary, egocentric mentation. In allphases of Tibetan Buddhist history, these preliminaries 172 are subsumed bypractices and attitudes associated with mainstream Mahåyåna and tantrictraditions—practices that a student would have already mastered beforeever being initiated into Dzogchen by his or her lama. By Longchenpa’stime at least (fourteenth century), some of these preliminaries (especiallytantric practices) were also incorporated within Dzogchen itself.Either way, these preliminaries and Dzogchen proper are functionallyinseparable.Dzogchen Preliminary PracticesLongchenpa specifies three types of practices that need to be performedbefore one should engage in Dzogchen practice. 173 These three are“correlated to the three vehicles: the general preliminaries on impermanenceand renunciation of cyclic existence (the Lesser Vehicle); the specialpreliminaries on compassion and … engendering a compassionate motivation(the Great Vehicle); and the supreme preliminaries, which are identifiedas the generation phase, perfection phase and guru yoga [associatedwith tantra, or Vajrayåna].” 174