Primordial Experience: An Introduction to rDzogs-chen Meditation
Mañjuśrīmitra, Namkhaj Norbu, Kennard LipmanThe Tibetan teaching of Dzog-chen (pronounced ZOAK-chen), also known as Ati yoga, is considered by its adherents to be the definitive and most secret teaching of the Buddha.
Primordial Experience is a translation of a key text articulating the Dzog-chen teachings, "Gold Refined from Ore," by Mañjusrimitra, an Indian disciple of the first teacher of Ati yoga. According to the Dzog-chen teachings, purity of mind is always present and only needs to be recognized.
Legend has it that the teacher, in a debate about the Buddhist doctrine of cause and effect, opened his student's eyes to the reality of Ati yoga, the state of pure and total presence.
This book is the result of that encounter. What is presented is a learned discourse on the relation of the Ati teachings to other systems of Indian thought - Buddhist and Hindu - through an examination of the key concept of 'bodhicitta', or enlightened mind.
Included is a preface by Namkhai Norbu that places this text in the Ati tradition, as well as a substantial introduction about the theory of translation, the history of the text and its author, philosophical questions about the relation of Ati yoga to "Buddhist Idealism," and the meditation practice linked with this text.