Maybe you have received teaching called the purification of the six lokas. There are many different versions of this practice and it is a characteristic purification in the Dzogchen teaching.

Basically we have five emotions. When we apply each of them, then we produce one of the six lokas. For example, if we are continually angry and we do not purify [that emotion], we accumulate that cause of the vision of hell more and more. If, for example, we ask where hell is, today, in this moment, we cannot find it anywhere, but we cannot say that it doesn’t exist because we have its cause.

Day after day, year after year, we accumulate emotions. If we continue to accumulate emotions such as anger and do not purify [them], then we will have a very rich accumulation of the cause. In this moment we do not have a vision of hell because we are being and we live in the human condition, and our dimension is human karmic vision. However, when we finish our human vision, we die and are in the state of bardo, which is the intermediate state for all sentient beings. But after the bardo of existence, we go after the potentiality of our karma, that is, the kind of accumulation we have that is strongest. Not one of us is free.

When you do the Guruyoga practice with your teacher and old Dzogchen practitioners who have that knowledge, when you work together with them, it helps very much because when we are in that clarity and relaxed in that state, there are no distinctions between those people with knowledge and those without. Even if you do not have much knowledge, it will arise and develop. That is a possibility. This is also transmission. When you apply Guruyoga with the white A in a perfect way with your teacher, you are receiving direct transmission. Of course there are also many different ways for doing direct transmission, but sometimes it is also sufficient with that. And even if we don’t know or discover our real nature, when we apply that method after we have received transmission, then one day we will discover knowledge of our real nature.

In the tantras of Dzogchen teachings, it is explained that if you have received transmission from the teacher, for example, of how to do Guruyoga, with the visualization of the white A and tigle then relaxing, when you try to follow and apply it, you are in this clarity and with this you can discover your real nature. When you apply this many times maybe you can discover your real nature. If you do not realize it, then in the Dzogchen tantras it also says that you should sing the Song of the Vajra.

Natural sound

The Song of the Vajra is the most important essential mantra in the Dzogchen teaching. It is a kind of mantra, but not an ordinary one. It is called natural sound. When Samantabhadra Dharmakaya manifests Sambhogakaya manifestation - all manifestations arise from emptiness, Dharmakaya, with sound - what is the primordial sound for that manifestation? It is the Song of the Vajra, so it is very important for people who have no knowledge of their real nature in order to make it arise, and for those who have that knowledge in order to integrate body speech and mind in that real nature. The Song of the Vajra is always a very important practice. It is also a kind of mantra so you also need transmission of the lung. [Rinpoche gives the lung]

Language of Oddiyana

The Song of the Vajra has a meaning and is considered to be in the language of Oddiyana. There is a translation by Longchenpa and we also have a translation of that in English and you can read and understand what it means more or less. But it is not so easy to understand when you are reading this translation. Even in Tibetan you cannot understand it very clearly because the Song of the Vajra is the essence of the Dzogchen teaching and there are many ways to learn its real sense. One of these is how it is translated and having a bit of an idea of the meaning of the words.

Seed syllables

Another meaning is the seed syllables: each seed syllable represents our potentiality, the sounds of our physical body. In our physical body we have mainly five chakras each of which has many secondary chakras, which in turn are related to other minor chakras. Each chakra is governed by one of these seed syllables. For example, in the Song of the Vajra we have ‘ema kiri’ etc., all these seed syllables govern different kinds of chakras. It becomes very important when we have a little higher knowledge of Dzogchen teaching, then we integrate our physical body, speech and mind in our primordial state. Then these seed syllables become very important.

The Song of the Vajra not only has a connection with our physical body but also with our dimension. We are on our globe, our globe is in our solar system, our solar system is in our consideration of the universe. They all become like a mandala that represents our real condition. Then there is, for example, an inner and outer mandala. We need to integrate everything in its real nature.

All the seed syllables of the Song of the Vajra govern everything so it becomes very important for integration.

by the great Kagyudpa Master

Araga Karma Chagme 

Excerpt from the third day of the retreat given by 

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

26th June 2011, Merigar West, Italy

Purification

If we don’t purify when we have done something wrong, even if we only did a slightly negative action that has a very small potentiality of negative karma it nevertheless becomes heavy because, not having been purified, it associates with other thoughts and increasing more and more it becomes very serious. This is just like the example I told you about the monks and nuns, when they have taken complete vows. Even if they have only done one of the ninety different kinds of least serious negative actions, if they do something wrong every day of course they can accumulate many of them. This doesn’t mean that when you become a monk or nun you never do anything wrong. It is normal and it can also create many problems. But they then do purification twice a month. They not only purify their bad actions, they also repair any damage they have done. Doing that twice a month, they are purified. Of course monks and nuns need to do that with the Sangha. Maybe you have seen this in a film. His Holiness the Dalai Lama does this ceremony every fifteen days. There are two small groups of monks: one group is the elder group and the other is the younger group. They pay respect to each other and then they do purification of each other. Even if you have accumulated only one small bad deed and you don’t purify it, after one month, or two months or a little longer time, that one of the ninety least bad deeds becomes just like one of the thirteen heavier ones. Now it is more difficult to purify. That is an example showing that we need to purify everything frequently and immediately. This is not only for monks and nuns in the Vinaya. This is an example for everybody. 

Also in Vajrayana teaching, as well as in the Dzogchen teaching, we know very well we have Samaya commitments, particularly commitments of paying respect between sisters and brothers of Vajra. This is one of the heavier problems we have in the Dzogchen community. Many people ignore this and when they are angry they no longer remember that this is their Vajra brother or sister. For example, when husband and wife or engaged couples fall in love they are very happy and they come together to a retreat. Even when receiving teachings they sit very close together, in Italian it is called ‘appiccicato’, clinging to each other. As soon as they feel tired of each other or if they are jealous of each other, these husbands and wives say, “Now we have so many problems”. Then they begin to fight each other. Even though what they are fighting about is not so important, they don’t remember they are Vajra brothers and sisters. This is very, very bad. Our relationships in the normal human condition are maybe relatively a little important if we are paying respect to each other, but they are still in a very worldly situation. For example, some husbands and wives remain very faithful. If for instance the wife has died and the husband is still alive, he takes flowers to the cemetery every Sunday and talks to her somewhere. This is all we can do in the worldly situation; we couldn’t go beyond that. He believes he is talking to his wife there in the cemetery. Her body was put there and then he is talking to her: “Oh! I am very sorry and I still have these feelings …” but no-one is listening there. 

But the relationship of Vajra lasts until we have total realisation; nobody can ever break that. If we create problems they become obstacles for our realization. So we must have the presence of that; we must keep it in mind. 

I am not saying that husbands and wives should never separate. If you can’t get on well together, of course you can also separate paying respect to each other. But it is not necessary to fight and create so many tensions and problems. Your relationship of Vajra is much more important than money, house and everything. You know very well that when you die you won’t be able to take even one euro or dollar with you. What could you do then, if you are too attached to those things? They are relative; they are not so very important. What is very important is your relationship of the Vajra.  We really must be careful of that. I have always found that is the most difficult thing. 

Some people say, “I have a good intention and a good relationship and I keep my Samaya between my teacher and me.” There is no difference between your relationship with your teacher and your relationship with your brothers and sisters of Vajra. Try to remember to read the Marmei Monlam (mar mei smon lam), Invocation of the Butter Lamp. It says how important this relationship of Vajra is. For that reason, if we did something wrong we should purify it. For example, we do Ganapuja regularly. Each time we do the One Hundred Syllable mantra in the Ganapuja we purify our samaya. 

However some people did something wrong and they think, “I did something wrong but now I did a Ganapuja and it is purified.” But if you had some tensions with someone and you are still keeping those tensions in you and you believe you have purified them, what does that mean really? What you should purify is your tensions. If you observe well you will see that your different kinds of tensions have no importance whatever. They are only a kind of invention of your mind. You are following your mind and your mind is developing more and more tensions. Observe everything very well and you will see there does not exist anything. 

When you have any of these kinds of tensions you never feel good in any moment; you never enjoy your life.

If you have some tensions, if you don’t like someone, eliminate your tensions! When you have freed your tensions there is no longer any problem and you become friends. Now you can enjoy your life. So it is very important to do purification and after we have done it, to be present in that way, keeping that in mind.     

If we have not purified, even if only one day passes, it continues to develop. Why does it develop? Because we are always thinking and judging. Mind is always associated with those kinds of problems and they develop continually. 

If we purify concretely with our intention, there does not exist anything we couldn’t purify. For example, if there are very dirty things on our clothes or something, if we wash them with water we can clean them. In the same way, we can eliminate and purify all our thoughts and these kinds of tensions. If we did something wrong, we know it is very bad, it is not good. Now we want to liberate it immediately. For example, maybe you ate some kind of poison by mistake; you thought it was some kind of food but later on you discovered it was poison. If you were to discover you had eaten poison you couldn’t remain indifferent. You would try to do something straight away to purify it otherwise you would die. In the same way, if we did something wrong, then we need to purify it immediately. If you notice you did something wrong and you are very sorry and want to purify, if you purify in it that way you will a find it easier to do.

But sometimes we have pride. We think, “Oh! I can do this easily.”  When we are conditioned by pride it is not so easy to purify, even if you are doing purification. 

Or if you are thinking that even if you do purification you won’t be able purify, if you don’t have confidence in your purification, also in this case it is not so easy to purify. 

In particular, if you think, “I have done something wrong so I want to purify and from today I don’t want to apply and commit this kind of thing anymore,” and you take a commitment by yourself, even if you do this kind of purification thinking, “There is no problem, I can just purify it”, that means you are not considering your negative action is very serious. Also in this case, even though you are doing purification it is very difficult to purify. Also Buddha said that.

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu closes the Thirtieth Anniversary Celebrations

At the end of the Thirtieth Anniversary Celebrations for Merigar, the festivities concluded at the Temple of Great Liberation at Merigar West in Tuscany, Italy. During the closing ceremony on July 19, 2011, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu gave the following message.

I want to say thank you to everybody, all Dzogchen Community people, everywhere, and also to local people in the area. I am very happy about everybody’s participation and I also want to say thank you to everybody because it is very important that we collaborate so that everything manifests in a positive way.

The aim of the Dzogchen Community is, you know very well, that everybody in this world becomes a little more aware and responsible in that way. We know how our human condition is - we have so many kinds of limitations, the limitations of the individual that we call ego and that develop in our country, in our family, in everything, in aspects of politics, of economics, even in the spiritual path. In the real sense that is the source of all problems.

For example, we say the Dzogchen Community. The Community doesn’t mean a group of people in general. Community means people who have awareness and collaborate together, knowing what the main point is. We say Dzogchen Community. What is Dzogchen? It means our real nature. Everybody has their real nature and we are trying to understand that and trying to do our best. This is what is called Dzogchen Teaching and is what I have tried to teach for thirty years. Many people already have that kind of knowledge. When we have this knowledge it means that we go a little beyond our limitations.

Everybody always says we need peace and if there is no peace we cannot find happiness. But how can we have peace? There will only be peace when there is the evolution of the individual. What does evolution mean? Evolution means that we know how our condition is and how many different kinds of limitations we have relatively. If we are not conditioned by them, it means finally we are getting into our real nature. This is the principle of the Dzogchen teaching.

Dzogchen means our real nature and teaching is for discovering that and being in it. Anyone who is in this knowledge is in evolution. It is not like revolution, which means we are thinking and judging and making a programme. We think that there is something wrong, something negative that we have to change and think that revolution is the solution. In the real sense that is not the solution because 2500 years ago Buddha explained the teaching of the four noble truths. The root of the noble truths is cause and effect. When we have a problem it is an effect, not a cause. If we fight against it, we will never win. But if we are aware, we can learn that its cause exists and that there is a possibility to modify and change that. This knowledge is already the base of evolution. Even if only one person has that knowledge, gradually it will develop.

For example, when I arrived in Italy the first time, there was not a single person, not even a university professor, who knew what Dzogchen was. But if you observe today you can see how many people know about Dzogchen teaching in the Western world. This means that evolution has started and is going ahead. When I arrived I was alone, but today I am not.

We are in time and time is going ahead. After 100 years probably not one of us will still be in this world. But if there is evolution it will go ahead until the end of our globe.  This is something very important for generations and generations. We cannot only think of ourselves. We must also think about our families and about future generations. For this reason it is very important that we know and are in this knowledge.

This is the reason I am very happy that you are collaborating and many people have made sacrifices and come here from far away. So I want to say thank you to everybody. And I am also very happy that people from the area around Arcidosso have been participating in our festival. They know that this is something useful and positive. This is very important for us. So I want to say thank you to everybody. And there is not much more to say.