Atiyoga
Atiyoga (Skt.; Tib. ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་, Wyl. shin tu rnal 'byor) — the highest yana within the classification of nine yanas of the Nyingma school. Atiyoga is synonymous with Dzogchen.
Also known as Non-Dual Tantras (Skt., advitiatantra) outside the Nyingma tradition; Ati Yoga belongs to the Inner Tantras and constitutes level 9 of the Nine Vehicles. These teachings are also known as Dzogchen (Tib., rDzogs-pa ch'en-po) and as Primordial Yoga (Tib., gdod-ma'i rnal-'byor).
This is the level of all the Dzogchen, Lamdre, and Mahamudra teachings, and represents the highest possible achievement, the unification of path and goal that leads one to true Buddhahood. On this level, one learns about the equality and union of the two earlier stages (7 and 8) and in practice, emphasis is put on entering the state of absolutely non-discriminating contemplation (Tib., ting-nge-'dzin; Skt., samadhi).
Initiations:
In addition to the initiations of the previous stages, the practitioner now receives the fourth or Word Initiation (Tib., tshig-dbang, Skt., caturthabhiseka), which empowers her or him to receive and understand this "Highest Yoga Tantra".
Texts and Teachings:
The Dzogchen/Atiyoga teachings, introduced into Tibet by Vairochana, Vimalamitra and Padmasambhava, consist of three classes or series of texts:
9.1 Semde (sems-sde) Mind Series
9.2 Longde (klong-sde) Space Series
9.3 Mannagde (man-ngag gi sde) Secret Instruction Serie
Overview Given by Alak Zenkar Rinpoche[1]
The vehicle of Atiyoga, or ‘Utmost Yoga,’ is so-called because it is the highest of all vehicles. It involves the realization that all Phenomena are nothing other than the Appearances of the naturally arising primordial Wisdom which has always been beyond arising and ceasing.
Entry Point
One’s Mind is matured through the four ‘expressive Power of awareness’ empowerments (Tib. རིག་པའི་རྩལ་དབང་, rigpé tsal wang), and one keeps the samayas as explained in the texts.
View
The Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra
The view is definitively established by looking directly into the naturally arising Wisdom in which The Three Kayas are inseparable: the empty essence of naked awareness beyond the ordinary Mind is the Dharmakaya, its cognizant nature is the sambhogakaya, and its all-pervasive compassionate energy is the nirmanakaya.
Meditation
The Meditation consists of the approach of cutting through resistance to primordial purity (Tib. kadak trekchö), through which the lazy can reach Liberation without effort, and the approach of the direct realization of spontaneous presence (Tib. lhundrup tögal), through which the diligent can reach Liberation with exertion.
Conduct
The conduct is free from hope and fear and adopting and abandoning, because all that appears manifests as the display of reality itself.
Results
Perfecting the four visions of the path, one gains the supreme kaya, the Rainbow body of great transference (see Rainbow body), and attains the level of glorious Samantabhadra, the thirteenth Bhumi known as ‘Unexcelled Wisdom’ (yeshe Lama).
