Timeless Luminosity

2024, April, Issue 94

The very first teaching

was

Dzogchen,

long before we had

physical presence,

long before there were stars,

or the formation of planets,

long before the explosive beginning

of this universe, or the one before it,

or before that, or even before that

through timeless beginnings and endings;

Dzogchen is timeless, originating

from primordial nature of mind,

luminous, with greater intensity than

all of the universe combined,

or even a million universes all at once,

or even every universe there has ever been;

It is luminous beyond all fabricated thoughts,

well beyond ordinary human perception;

Dzogchen is beyond all constraints,

beyond any potentiality

we think we may have,

beyond concept and reason,

or any idea;

AH

Dzogchen is

spacious conscious awareness,

empty cognizance,

Dharmakaya itself;

The primordial Buddha,

the first teacher,

Samantabhadra,

who came from beginningless beginnings,

who was not a being as we know beings to be,

is pure wisdom consciousness, empty awareness,

ultimate luminous compassion, bright light

all-good now perfection, perfect luminosity,

the primordial Buddha of Dharmakaya,

teaching that most perfect teaching

luminous beyond all luminosity,

the root of all Buddhas,

resting in that natural state, resting now

in that pure empty cognizance, beyond time,

that all-good awareness of this moment;

Dzogchen was always there, present

in the ever-luminous unborn wonder

of timeless Dharmakaya, beyond thought,

beyond all extremes and limitations;

With each Buddha, appearing as pure energy, lightness,

energetic sound, rays of color streaming in a realm

beyond our physical manifestation as we know it,

Dzogchen appeared in teaching form, at some point,

relating to the dimension of Sambhogakaya;

Beings of pure energy and light, would become

amazed at this display of pure wisdom

emanating from timeless luminosity,

vibrations so much brighter than light;

AH

As it is;

When a Buddha would

 appear in a physical dimension,

as Nirmanakaya Buddha,

observable by ordinary beings,

so, too, would Dzogchen appear in some way,

at some point,

revealing itself perfectly

when beings would be ready to hear it,

when they had evolved sufficiently enough

to remember the ever-present

original primordial teachings

that have been a part of all beings,

since beginningless time,

which continue to be a part of us all

in this instant of nowness, even though

we may be distracted and obsess about this or that,

the magical display of mind, ignorantly finding ourselves

trapped in a cycle of our own making, suffering,

not knowing that we are simply, perplexingly,

an emanation of the Dharmakaya as well,

not knowing what this Nirmanakaya is,

this physical illusory dimension of dream-like magic,

emanating timelessly from pure wisdom,

ultimate love and compassion, bodhicitta;

Ordinary beings fret about this teaching and

that teaching, not knowing what to believe,

saying, “Oh, Dzogchen is only a few centuries old,

so, it is just another teaching,” or “Wait, it was also

there a few thousand years before that with

another Buddha,” or “What about before that?

Is it not said that there are infinite Buddhas,

beginning with the primordial Buddha?  Is it

also not said that time is possibly just

beginningless, or an illusion?

What about all these other teachings?”

or, “I have heard these teachings are found

on other planets as well, maybe thirteen

world systems, or more, or many more,

maybe all world systems have teachings,

trillions upon trillions of them,

all across multi-universes, too many

 to fathom, some people believe that;”

Believe nothing!

It will only lead to ruin;

The primordial teachings are not belief, they

are direct experience of primordial wisdom!

They are not teachings of useless beliefs!

These teachings are ever-present and have always

been ever-present in this eternal now;

Timeless luminosity is not outside yourself,

and it is not constrained by our limitations,

and notions of life, death, space and time!

Such knowledge cannot have a beginning,

it cannot have a place;

Stop your fretting!

Primordial wisdom,

which is timeless luminosity, seen at death,

is beyond concept, has no beginning and no end,

it is as it is, beyond all; 

Do not trust your limited view!

If you must believe something,

then only temporarily believe,

due to simply not being ready

for that knowledge;

Use your own ignorance as a tool

for awakening,

use compassionate wisdom

as a guide,

forming only useful beliefs, due to your own oblivion,

compassionate towards your own ignorant state,

with the notion that any belief must be

cast aside as something completely useless,

at some point, as you change,

as your capacity increases;

The Buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni taught this!

At some point, as your heart opens up, and

your capacity increases in that way,

you will know when you are ready to

seek teachings that will help, and

seek teachings everywhere, gathering them up

for the useful purpose of awakening;

Begin by simply knowing that this all

is just an illusion, a dream from which you

have not been able to awaken, and are not able

to remain at ease, as you would like;

So, simply seek teachings of Buddha, a being

of awareness, a being who can be seen only

with your heart, not your created ideas,

someone closer to you than you can imagine;

When you see Buddha, you see luminosity,

you see great compassion, you see unlimited

love and wisdom, timelessly manifesting

in our limited physical reality;

Buddha Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our time,

began teaching in the physical dimension,

then he taught in the energetic dimension,

then he manifested in the primordial dimension;

Practice those teachings inwardly,

emanate those teachings outwardly,

increase your capacity secretly;

If you persist, remaining diligent,

compassionate towards yourself

in all ways possible, persevering

in your practice of mind, you

will awaken, the Dharmakaya

will, once again, manifest

within your entire presence of life,

your empty cognizance will become all-pervasive

in every moment of this magical display,

through awareness of your physical condition,

through awareness of your energy aspects,

through awareness of your primordial wisdom;

AH

Here at last that one taste of our real nature, beyond suffering,

that spacious consciousness of wisdom awareness

has arisen in every moment;

See it all as it is, just let it be,

rest in that primordial wisdom, be present

in that luminous state of our real nature

that we all know so well, but have forgotten;

You are Buddha.

OM

AH

HUM

A poem from, Timeless Luminosity, pp. 27-31, © 2020.

I felt that I should share the first poem in my collection that I read in Podcast 16, for those who do not have access to my books.  This poem is rather raw, in my opinion, not fully articulating what I have been developing as a way to adequately communicate the essence of this teaching.  It was spontaneously created after my own death. 

It is the essence of what I had to say, upon my return, for the benefit of all beings.

Blessings in Light,               

Robert Aho