As the Buddha said: "This exists" or "this does not exist''

As the Buddha said: "This exists" or "this does not exist" is merely a question, "pure" or "impure" is merely a question, suffering does not abate in discussion, the end of suffering is beyond questions.

Some consider that Dzogchen practitioners living in solitude, in isolation from the world, neglect the principle of acting for the benefit of others and are occupied only with their own interests. But a genuine Dzogchen practitioner cannot ignore the condition of rebirth and consequently cannot be without the great wish to help others with love and boundless compassion. All the more so because among all beings conditioned by duality there is not a single one with whom he has not had a positive or negative connection. Since he additionally possesses true knowledge of the Foundation, Path, and Fruit, he will of course be endowed with a special capacity that will allow him to distinguish between what merely appears to be a good deed and the genuine help that can be rendered.

Providing food to a hungry person, for example, is a virtuous act. But it would be even better to teach him how to earn a living. Thus, a genuine practitioner must above all be able to recognize the best way to help his neighbor. Otherwise, resembling a sick person who vainly tries to help another sick person, he will not achieve any concrete result, even if he believes he is performing an altruistic act. This simply means that a Dzogchen practitioner must not neglect the fundamental practice of liberation by spending all his time performing virtuous acts. But this also does not mean that he should attach no importance to them.

Others think that practice necessarily requires solitude in complete isolation, far from any everyday activity. This is yet another error of growth. If that were so, Dzogchen would present limitations, since it is impossible for everyone to be able to fulfill such a requirement. The fundamental point of the practices lies in something entirely different. For example, the constant presence throughout the day of the View, Meditation, and Conduct of Dzogchen is preferable to several hours of specific practice. In this way we can understand how we must integrate the essence of practice into our personal life. The most important thing is not to avoid society, but to be able to apply in any circumstances the true View, Meditation, and Conduct.

If a person does not inwardly possess genuine knowledge of practice, then he may even spend his entire life in solitude on a mountaintop, and in this there will be nothing extraordinary. But if he possesses this knowledge and spends his life in a city or a village, this will be quite satisfactory.

Only upon attaining the capacity to recognize the true state of existence will the individual be able to put an end to his own suffering. This recognition is something that is born involuntarily within the individual, and there is no guarantee that it will be able to be born in the course of a solitary and isolated life. Practitioners sometimes feel the need to withdraw to a solitary place, but there is no difference between this situation and the one that prompts an individual to go to a hospital. It would not occur to anyone that a person by his nature must necessarily go to a hospital.

Consequently, we must free ourselves from these narrow notions according to which it is impossible to practice, or to achieve results, outside of solitude, even if one does practice.

In particular, at the present time we need to pay attention to the fact that practice does not become a way or a means of demonstrating that we are special beings, extraordinarily spiritual. Overcoming suffering is the common wish of all beings, and consequently it must be accessible to all, and not be the exclusive prerogative of a small group of people who call themselves Dzogchen practitioners.

In our world, all the everyday activity in which we are involved is the result of our knowledge and our capacities. Our attachment to the material body prevents us from overcoming this condition. We must also take care of it, as one takes care of a boat that carries us across a river. A Dzogchen practitioner must not neglect the conditions of samsara and renounce them in order to satisfy his own ego. He must act never losing sight of the results (positive and negative) of any action whatsoever, on the basis of personal awareness. If he allows himself to be conditioned by samsaric actions, this means that he is not a genuine Dzogchen practitioner.

Some think: "If the goal lies in practice, then our own religion is sufficient for us. Why seek something else?" But the very fact of drawing boundaries between religions, of establishing distinctions between "one's own" religion and "someone else's," already means that something is wrong. The sole purpose of religions consists in bringing benefit to all beings, and not in creating limitations and divisions between individuals and between peoples. Sectarianism, which even in a worldly context is considered a sign of egoism and narrow thinking, discredits religions.

Others say: "If we do not believe in our own religion, how can we believe in another?" The investigation of the deep reasons that cause us to believe or not to believe in any religion proves that we are capable of reasoning freely and independently.

It is commonly said that to accept some religion means to act "on the basis of true recognition." But the decision not to believe in any other religion for the reason that one does not believe in one's own speaks only of extreme narrowness of mind. Why should our own religion be the "best"? Only ignorance and attachments can create such an attitude. The way of thinking of individuals of this type is obviously contradictory; it can change only when they free themselves from their sectarianism.

But in Dzogchen, theoretical knowledge is insufficient and differs significantly from the real experience of one's own state. This difference can be compared to the one that exists for a starving person between imagined food and actual food. Dzogchen practice is simply the discovery of the true state of existence of one's own nature, and not the joining of a religious sect, a philosophical system, a political party, and so on with a change of one's ideas and positions. Dzogchen is not a philosophy, not a sectarian religion; the sole purpose of this practice is the development of the consciousness of the individual. And one does not arrive at it either through the adoption of any conceptual view and the maintenance and reinforcement of it, or through conflict and struggle with anyone for the strengthening of the influence of one's own sect.

All of us who endeavor to uncover the profound meaning of existence know that we are not pushed by external factors and that no one compels us. But we have become convinced that Dzogchen practice is the supreme method that allows our consciousness to free itself from duality and to realize the true state.

An individual in whom the inner knowledge of the state of self-liberation has manifested will inevitably do everything possible so that it may manifest also in others. But this knowledge can be transmitted only by prompting a person to make better use of his intuition, so that through it he may discover the true state.

There is no point in trying to prove to anyone that if he practices he will attain liberation, and if not, he will be reborn in lower states. It is equally useless to dispute his ideas, to compel him by force, to condition him through propaganda, or to prove to him in one way or another that Dzogchen represents the best path and that therefore it must be practiced. A person who has entered the path of spiritual development under someone's influence will have done so, without doubt, from false motives; this speaks of an original absence of one's own conviction, of the fact that the decision was made under the influence of external factors.

When a person's ideological position is conditioned by someone's influence, then even using pompous terms such as Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Madhyamika, and so on, even having celebrated and titled teachers and boasting of having received the most profound teachings, he will only be moving further away from the true state.

And conversely, any person who has inwardly devoted himself to the search for the true state, whether he demonstrates anything special or not, whether he is educated or not, whether he is a student of a well-known teacher or not, whether he belongs to the Dzogchen Community or not, will genuinely advance along the path of the complete perfection of Dzogchen. He may encounter on his path obstacles that will make the attainment of the goal more difficult, or favorable circumstances that will facilitate his progress, but he will surely arrive at the realization of the knowledge that liberates a person from the limitations of the dualistic vision. When the state of spontaneous presence is born in such a person, it is easy for him to attain final realization.

Thus, for as long as a person has not himself become a dzogchenpa, Dzogchen will give him nothing, even though it represents such an advanced path. But when a person becomes a dzogchenpa, he clearly understands that Dzogchen is the ultimate goal of all spiritual paths, or the Great Path of the single universal transition.

The knowledge of this state concerns the true conditions of existence of all phenomena of being and is therefore necessary for all. In order to develop genuine knowledge, one must enter the path of concrete practice.