Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen

Good evening to everybody.

I am sorry I donʼt speak enough Spanish. I understand very well, but Iʼm not able to speak. I would like to say thanks that you are all here and also thanks to all the people that are organizing all these activities. As you understand, I am Italian, but obviously I am half Tibetan. I grew up with double

education. As usual when you have a father or mother that comes from a different country, then of course you have a different situation in terms of education and experience. My father is a very famous teacher. But the first time he came to the west he was not famous obviously. Being famous or not being

famous is not really important. When he was teaching for the first time, he was teaching yoga to a few people. In a very small group, like five people for example. Now today for example in Moscow we had 2600 people. This is totally relative, it is important to understand the essence and try to get what is the

general feeling of Buddhism. When we introduce Tibetan Buddhism, which is a little different from the general idea of Buddhism, immediately we also introduce someone, a person who is teaching. Generally about Buddhism we have an idea, we know at least Buddha. So, who never heard about Buddhism, at least has an idea like compared to the Christian Religion and obviously there is kind of an idea of God. But you know Buddha was a man. And he had a certain kind of experience in his life and at the end manifested what is called enlightenment. Enlightenment means, that he went beyond the limit of time and space. Limitation of time and space means our condition. We know very well, we live in a time, we have birth, at a certain time we have our life and at the end we have death. What Buddha explained at the beginning is that in this process, while we are living, we discover that we have also suffering. Think

about little children. When a child is walking and reaches the border like for example here. Then he doesnʼt know what falling down means and the first time he will fall down. The second time maybe he notices that there is a border and that he could feel something that is not very nice. Then the third time probably he will understand, that if he will fall down, he will feel pain. Then since the beginning a child immediately learns what suffering means, and this level of suffering even animals can understand. But after a while we discover that we have fear. Because the second time he finds something like a border, he feels fear. And maybe he starts also to listen to his parents advice, not to go on the border, otherwise he will fall. Then slowly, slowly, we understand that listening to parentsʼ advice is better. But at the end, we start to build all our experience, all our knowledge, on fear for example. When we understand this, after a while we can notice that we do the same with other aspects of our life. So if it is something connected with physical pain, for example, itʼs quite clear. But then we notice, for example, when we have a relation, that also in relations we have fear. For example we can have fear of loving. Why? We have a relation and then something goes wrong, then the second time we have immediately fear. We understand also with our ideas, we can

have fear. Not only with physical events, with something that you can feel physically. At a certain point we can even get ill because of our feelings. And of course in our life, someone has to die for example. Then when someone is dying, we feel very sad. And this is a kind of experience, that all have at a certain point in their lives. So, the first thing that Buddha said is: There is suffering. And this explanation is clear for humans, itʼs clear for animals, for all kinds of beings. At the time Buddha was alive, he was talking, using words to explain. And this is very similar to religion, therefore there is books, there is a collection of his words. Therefore in the tradition of the Path of Renunciation, that means Sutra, there is collections of words. So words of Buddha become very important. And as we are talking about words, we are also talking about behavior. Behavior means that, for example in the

collection of Buddhaʼs words, we find what is better to do, what is better to avoid. The principle that is behind avoiding doing something that is not good, is very similar to the same principle of not harming others, but there is a slight difference in term of principles. When Buddha is explaining not to harm others, it means also one should not harm oneself. This means that our actions cause suffering. As our actions are not only physical actions but also

ideas, our perception, if it is wrong, it immediately creates suffering. For example, if you meet someone like a friend and with this friend you had certain nice relation, when you were at school, so you shared a lot of experiences together. Then when you meet again with this person, maybe this person changed from that time. Somehow we have the same idea of this person and we want to change this person. We have an idea, we had such a nice time together,

fun, something very joyful. And maybe today [that person] is a little sad, has problems or is doing something not really correct from a social point of view. Obviously we try to change [that person], because we think itʼs better for him or her, to be like our idea, our memories. Now who knows if it is better. Itʼs his or her life, itʼs very difficult to say itʼs better this or that. Then of course if we just start to think about this, then obviously we

create some action in the end. Just not being nice as it was in the past is an action. Perceiving different means judging and judging means creating something. I am judging this person. Instead of saying: “Ah, how nice to see each other, once again!” immediately Iʼm saying: “ Ah, but youʼre doing wrong!” which means, I am right, you are wrong. Immediately this creates in the other person suffering, but if you think well, also [for] yourself you are

creating suffering, because you feel sad about something that is your own idea. And normally you call this misunderstanding. But misunderstanding is a general concept, itʼs not really misunderstanding, itʼs our action, weʼre judging. We have [the] tendency to judge, we have [the] tendency to define something, to create a concept. Every time we create a concept, automatically we create suffering. Imagine instead of judging this person, you just feel

joyful that you saw this person again, that you can stay together, something like this. Maybe this person is perfect, has no problem, is really nice in itʼs condition. And why do we have to do something? But of course for us itʼs very difficult to accept something different. This is the root of suffering. So we understand there is physical suffering, but there is also mental suffering. Mental, mind means that we are working with mind and mind can create

suffering. But itʼs not the only way, there is another level of suffering. Because weʼre not only made of mind and body. Our western culture is based on something mental and something physical. So when we are doing something or there is some physical action, like Iʼm driving for example. Or I do something mental, which is thinking, analyzing and so on, and there are certain moments when these two things donʼt fit very well. So for example we have a problem

with our parents, so at a certain point we decide to go to the psychologist. When we go to the psychologist, the psychologist starts to ask a lot of questions, trying to get which was the origin, the source, of the problem. Then if we are in Europe, it is more Freudian style, if we are more near to America, itʼs more the behaviorist style. Or there are many others letʼs say. But every time we have two big fields, one field is physical, one field is

mental. We also say Asians are more mental, Westerners are more physical for example. Now when we think about something from Asia, like meditation, immediately itʼs something with mind. When we think about something physical, itʼs more related to work, do activity, efficiency and so on. Then at a certain point we discover, there is not only this but also something that we can call energy. Traditionally in Tibetan Buddhism we call it energy, but in a

different culture, we can call it anima? How to say? [somebody suggests: alma] alma and so on. Or spirit, something like an energy, something that you feel, but you canʼt see, you canʼt touch. Something that is a little bit beyond the limits of time and space. So we sort of believe there exists something. Then you have a lot of strange practices you can do, you start to do things like yoga, you start to do things connected with singing. Or things that are in

the field of magic for example. So something which is on the border of physical level and mental level. In this area Tibetan Buddhism is very strong, developed a lot. In this area you heard many times the word mantra. The word mantra is connected with energy and sound. So even in modern psychology there is something halfway, but they say itʼs without mythological, metaphysical images.

Maybe they apply in hospital and they donʼt use any image. They use a kind of meditation connected with developing energy. Because at a certain point, when you ask yourself: “What is life?” Itʼs not easy to give an answer, no? So traditionally in Tibetan Buddhism, there is this aspect called voice. And for voice we mean sound, which is the origin of energy. So connected with these three aspects body, voice and mind, we have three paths. One, the first one

introduced, which is Sutra or the Path of Renunciation, is the more physical, so itʼs the child falling down the border. The first time you try to explain or the first time you try to enter, itʼs more easy [with] the physical level. The first time you try to enter in this understanding, the physical level is more simple.The first understanding of the child is falling down. Later he will understand that even behaviour can create suffering. At the end he will

understand that even fear itself creates suffering. Then one day he will say:” Donʼt turn off the light because Iʼm afraid in the dark!” Why is he afraid of the dark? If you fall down the border itʼs clear whatʼs happening, why are you afraid of the dark? Whatʼs in the dark so terrible, what kind of pain do you feel? Something you feel, so anyway you feel suffering, so you feel fear, no? This means that even ourselves we are able to create this suffering.

Often we define this kind of activity “creating” not only mental. We know very well that we have life and in life, we should do something, we have a kind of energy. For example when we are in love, everything is nicer and when this love is not going well, everything is very sad, very difficult. But we canʼt say weʼre not alive. We canʼt say we donʼt have thoughts, we are not thinking, weʼre not living. So for example, if we are afraid of the dark, we turn on the

light and everything is fine. But if weʼre sad for something connected with our relation, loverelation, itʼs very difficult to turn on the light. So itʼs not that simple to do an action and to have immediately a reward, a solution. Because [the] energy level doesnʼt work like this. So if you want to have just an idea what it means, think about love, think about the main emotions we have. Like for example jealousy, anger, fear. What we feel is sort of real for us.

For example if we feel anger, because our friend is behaving strange, this anger doesnʼt go away very easily. So for example we are in the situation that we canʼt accept how this friend changed over time. Then of course, we have to relate somehow with this feeling. So what do we do with this anger? We fight with this person? Or we try to say to ourself: ”Itʼs not so important maybe I try to do something else...” Then I go home and I fight with my wife. When we

say: “ Donʼt behave like your mother or your father.” We are transferring our anger. But what are you transferring? You are transferring thought. Can you transfer fear of the dark? No. Itʼs different. Mind, Voice and Body are different levels. So, what is really different from your understanding of religion, that we have also an energy level, voice, that means sound? So the first thing you understand is, itʼs not really about worship of Buddha. In the Path of

Renunciation, meaning Sutra, we have praying. We have this action of asking to some higher beings than us for help. Like an entity. But then even in this path we discover that even intention is important. So itʼs not only about following some rules, but also we discover if we follow this rule with good intention, itʼs a better result. So itʼs not only like going Sunday to the church, like I have a catholic experience as an Italian. Then you listen to the

talk and then you actually discover that you forgot to think about good things and so on. Somehow you become aware that you have to love and so on, but you donʼt know how you will feel on Monday. Normally when we talk about Buddhism, we talk about some active, some different approach. Which means, at least, we try to have good intention. Thatʼs why we say for example, donʼt kill animals. Why we try not to kill animals? Because we understand what is suffering, we

feel compassion and we try not to make other beings suffer. But normally a child likes to kill animals. Why the child, before we say in the dark you have to have fear, doesnʼt have fear? Why is he killing animals? We are giving education, explaining that there is suffering, that there are different aspects. So you understand that

there are things that we can experience directly in life, like falling down from the border. Also we can understand other kinds of suffering, losing a parent. And when we are losing, we are losing something from the heart, we are not just losing something from the body. We define heart [as] something different. And immediately there manifest a lot of emotions. When we are dealing with praying, asking, immediately we are saying, we are totally limited

in time and space. I wait [and] I ask you for a miracle. Give me this liberation from suffering. Donʼt make me feel fear of the dark, donʼt make me feel for example creating some bad relation with other people. Make my anger go away, donʼt make me fight with my friend. In the second path, called the Path of Transformation, instead we have a different way, a different approach. So we donʼt wait for the miracle. We think, maybe we have some capacity, something

we can do. Then we say, maybe we can recognize, when we are acting with our mind. So the first recognition is about our emotion. But why emotions? Why do we start with the emotions? Because behind emotion there is something. So, I meet my friend and I have anger. I observe myself, immediately I recognize: “Why do I have anger instead of love, joy?” Then maybe if I can be relaxed a little bit and check the situation, I can discover that there is an idea. I donʼt

go immediately after the anger and start to fight. Then I observe, ah, something I donʼt like, he changed too much. He changed in a way, that I donʼt like. Of course itʼs easier to feel anger for something that you donʼt like, no? Because if itʼs something you like, that you want, you feel envy. You become jealous. At this point, you recognize that you have anger, because something changed that you donʼt like. What changed? Something not physical, not being

older. Maybe at that time we were doing a lot of things together, we were very idealistic people. Now our friend became totally mainstream. Before he was a hippie, now he became a worker. And you didnʼt change in these terms, you really canʼt accept [it]. So the question is, the problem is your friend or being [a] yuppie. Then at this moment, if you donʼt go into your ideas again, you can notice that you donʼt like mainstream. This means that you have a general

idea, that itʼs better to be [a] hippie. My idea of being [a] hippie is stronger that the love I have for the other person. So even maybe I spent ten years with that person, I have to fight because he became different from me. But at this point maybe you can recognize this, but letʼs go further. Who was mainstream in your story, in your memories? Who changed from hippie to mainstream? Your father, your brother, your mother, who knows? When did you fall

from the border? When someone told you, you have to have fear of this? If you go back, in the end you find something. So you understand, there are ideas, but these ideas in the end become emotions. And this creates suffering. So there is a cause for suffering. So there is cause and effect. Then Buddha said: “Yes there is cause and effect, but maybe there is a way to stop this.” To stop this, he taught a little bit some rules to do that. What is the main rule?

To avoid to create suffering. So work with positive causes, not with negative causes. Generally this is called the four noble truths. And itʼs the base of most buddhist traditions. Then there are traditions that work basically on analyzing this. Which is this Path of Renunciation and they do meditation. What means meditation? To stop completely creating negative causes. So I renounce these causes. And how I renounce? I try to have emptiness. This means, to try

to stop these causes, you do meditation in a calm state and you try to be void, empty. Which is the traditional idea of meditation. So, how you do this [in] the best way? You go in a very isolated place, like no one is there, very silent and so on. Like the idea of people meditating in the cave. Then of course, you are choosing a path means youʼre taking some rules. So itʼs possible you have to choose something, change your life, leave your life. which

means you have a different name, you have a different life, you basically renounce to your actual life. This is a way. The other way is more connected to working with emotions, which means working with energy. How do we express emotion? A little bit with the physical body, no? But most of all with our voice. How

we love someone, we talk, we express. When Iʼm talking strong is different from when Iʼm talking very low, no? So at this point you discover, there is another path. This path is very similar, but works more at this level. And this path works with the idea of vision. Visions means, we understand that this is our reality. But our reality is not the only one. We understand, we have fear of the dark, but itʼs just our fear, our idea. Itʼs just a concept. Then

at this point, we can understand that there are certain kinds of concepts, that are not perfect. If I ask you what is [in the] dark, why do you have fear? You donʼt have an answer about this. So at this point, we use a symbolic way. And we say there is impure vision and pure vision. In the impure vision, we have our reality. At this point you heard many times this word “Karma”. Karma means, whatever we are doing, we are causing something. What we are causing

is our condition. Basically we are creating suffering. Instead if we are into the method of transformation, we are working with the idea of purifying our vision. This works with this symbolic representation that you saw, itʼs typical of Tibetan art. Then you have all these thangkas, these Tibetan paintings with a lot of strange beings, with a lot of arms, legs, male, female and so on. So in the first path, we are praying. What we are praying to? Buddha,

something very quiet, relaxed, sitting like this. We should have the idea of something holy. In the other path, we are working with our emotions. Because if we are saying impure, we are working with emotion, no? When we understand that we are doing something? When we feel something. When we have this anger for our friend, we can say we have anger. If we have only the idea of anger, itʼs different. But when we are feeling, then we feel that we are alive in

that moment. So transforming means working with this emotion, changing this emotion from something that creates suffering to something that creates wisdom. How you apply this, there are a lot of methods. maybe at this point you are interested to follow Tibetan Buddhism. So of course you have different traditions, different schools and so on. You have four main schools. And more or less all talk about the same thing of course. But why we donʼt have only

one approach or one school, because we have our concepts. Itʼs like the famous story, you ask some blind people to describe an elephant. Then from one side they say: ”Itʼs very big.” Then heʼs touching the teeth: ”Itʼs very hard.” Of course, youʼre only seeing one little part and you think this is all the reality. But our mind is able to invent all the rest. Then if you ask all these blind people, how is an elephant, observe well, everyone will have a

precise idea of how is an elephant. Then you tell them: “ Listen, you only touched a little part.” Some will believe, others will remain with their idea. So they talk to each other and in the end they fight because each one has different idea. So they have some feeling about the same thing. “No, but the elephant is like this.” So even if we have someone so wise like Buddha, who talks to everybody, everybody is different, they are all individuals. And also

we are in human condition, means we are limited in time. So maybe we can explain, how not to fall from the border. But you understand also explaining this part about explaining feelings and emotions takes time. When you understand emotions? When you have really strong emotions, not when you have weak emotions. And also when they repeat in your life, it becomes something that you call experience. When you call something experience? When something is repeating and you recognize that itʼs repeating the same thing. So, you get married once, you get married a second time, the third time you accept everything is fine. Itʼs very difficult that you really believe itʼs the right one. Maybe itʼs more that you are changed, youʼre more relaxed, you donʼt care about a lot of ideas. And at this point when you are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, you find a different school. But each school anyway different from the

Path of Renunciation, works with a teacher. So there is someone trying to explain. Why do you need to explain? Because there is experience. If I say the word “mother”, we have an idea of mother. More or less “mother” is one of the most simple words. More or less, Iʼm Italian, you are Mexican, more or less we understand, whatʼs the feeling of mother. Some idea of something nice, soft, warm you have, no? You have feelings of your mother, not idea of your

mother. When we say, itʼs universal, the idea of mother, itʼs because feelings are universal. Not the idea of mother, one time mother is a certain way, the other time itʼs different considering culture. So this means, mother has a certain kind of nature. We are not talking about mother as each oneʼs idea of mother, but the general feeling of mother. So we

are talking about the nature of mother. In the Path of Transformation, we are going to the pure vision, means we are going to the nature of this vision. Then we discover at the end, that from one side, we have this reality. So there exists mother as our memories, our life. But also exists nature of mother, which is common for everybody. Something universal. When we talk about love, itʼs something universal. If we talk about love between two persons, if we

make it the most simple possible, we talk about jealousy, attachment, relation one to one. This is [a] kind of feeling. But when you are really loving someone, you love all. You feel like very happy and this love is universal, goes everywhere. Itʼs not only connected with one person. And this immediately you understand, because your idea of the person you love is not the same as the person itself. For example you love someone and everybody says: “But this

is really horrible!” Ugly. You can love someone, who looks terrible, no? I ask, why do you love this person, how can you find it nice? Maybe all your friends say: “Ah but how can you love this guy or this girl, itʼs so unpleasant to see?” Probably in your feeling, in your mind, you have a different idea. You donʼt see it the way it is. So what do you see? Something more luminous, something that is not really physical. Then when you love, you say: “But I

love this person and I accept whatever heʼs doing.” Unfortunately when love ends, this person is terrible. Itʼs horrible to see, has terrible behaviour. Then you have a lot of feelings about this and you canʼt even remember how you felt in the past. But the point is, why during the moment of love, even other things were more nice? Why the relation to your parents improved, for example? Everything seems more easy, more joyful, more light in your life, no?

Then everybody sees you and says: “Ah, itʼs clear, you are in love, you look better.” So, what are you seeing? You look better? I donʼt think so, physically you are the same. So, this is about vision. Vision means: we have one vision of not being in love. Then we have a different situation, which is being in love. Being in love is more joyful, not being in love is more sad. All this you can understand in this way, a little bit more simple and direct.

But of course in the Tibetan tradition, you have a full explanation which is totally symbolic. Thatʼs why you have all these representations with all these beings, terrible beings with weapons, there is blood and so on. But we have the idea, if there are weapons and blood, itʼs about death, itʼs about fear and so on. And itʼs so strong, that even this famous teaching about rebirth is called “Tibetan Book Of Death”. Which is not about death. Itʼs not like the

Egyptian one. This is just the way, our professors at university, they immediately create a category and put also the Tibetan. It doesnʼt mean that Tibetans believe when they die, all these series of beings are coming. It doesnʼt mean that first arrive the Five Dhyani Buddhas, five kinds of Buddha, each one for each color, then if Iʼm not good instead arrive all the very bad ones, with blood and weapons and knives. Itʼs more about how we use symbols to

represent our emotions. Itʼs a method that is based on vision, and vision if it is love, non-love or these beings, itʼs the same at the end. So you are working with the understanding that there is no reality. At the end, generally in this Path of Transformation, there is this understanding that all visions are the same. Which means the same as saying: “ I have fear of the dark.” But probably itʼs just fear itself, I understand the nature of fear. But there

are things that are not so simple like the dark. Because fear of dying is a little bit more complicated. The third path is called Path of Self-Liberation. And itʼs connected with mind. To understand what means Self-Liberation means you need to understand perfectly what means vision. Itʼs like you understand that everything is a vision and you start to work with this. So you donʼt just limit yourself with understanding, but you work to integrate yourself with this vision. So you discover, that if you have feelings, you have also thoughts, but there is someone observing all this. Itʼs your presence observing all this. And this is explained usually connecting body, voice and mind. When we express, what is life, we express that life is vision itself. So if I can have anger or not for my friend, imagine what happens. I feel anger, I donʼt feel anger.

If I do this action something happens. I can even think about doing this action, understanding what is the feeling I may have. For example, I have a girlfriend. She has to go out with her friends. Then immediately I start to think: “But if she meets some nice boy, I donʼt know what happens.” Then I feel jealousy, I start to build all this reality, this reality can go on, you can create thousands of different scenes. We have an incredible potentiality

inventing situations of this type. But we are very limited in the feeling itself. Because we only see our vision, our reality, our ideas, our thoughts. Everything is connected with what we see, what we feel. So if we say there is this reality, there is this other reality, there are many realities. Why we have to think only about human reality? No, why do we have to only think in this case, that she will meet someone that looks like me, is similar to me. Or

the opposite, I feel Iʼm missing something, like Iʼm not thin enough or young enough, I donʼt know. Then immediately my vision is, she will meet someone that is thinner or younger, no? Same, I see my old friend, immediately I judge the change of this person. I close everything to my idea. There is nothing else besides my idea in the end. It canʼt be something, that I have no idea of, that is going to happen. I project something that I think. There cannot

exist something alternative. We never think for example, there comes a certain other being or something magic happens. Because that means we are crazy, no? So immediately at the end, what is in our mind, our thought is only about our mind. So itʼs very difficult that we have feelings about something external to us. At the end we understand that itʼs basically our mind that is working, itʼs not something external that really exists. Something from outside

probably we refuse. We donʼt understand what it is and immediately we reject [it]. Like our friend, we donʼt accept his or her change. In the Path of Self-Liberation, we go beyond even our vision. So we work with what we call a relaxed state, relaxation. This means we try to understand what is nature of mind. For example if I go to a museum, a modern art museum. Then I see some painting for example. This painting is white, totally white, like this. Then in the

border is written: “Now itʼs totally white, but before there was a very nice landscape. But I put it totally white, because itʼs conceptual art.” Where is the concept? There was a landscape, I covered it with white, now this is art. Now I go, itʼs a very nice day, there is sun, outside of this city and there is a beautiful landscape. Now I ask you: You see this white, you donʼt know about this story and you go also to see the landscape on the beautiful day. All

of you in the landscape feel joy, no? When you see this, you donʼt know what you feel. What we do? We start to judge, we say: “Ah, I like conceptual art.” Even I donʼt understand what it is, but I say itʼs nice. Anyway itʼs totally relative, no? Itʼs a concept. But in whose mind is this concept. The one who painted this, for him itʼs fantastic. For me, I donʼt know. Relative. Absolute. Landscape is clear, beautiful landscape is clear. Mountains, sunny day,

itʼs clear. So, from one side you have concept. And here if it is a landscape, what is itʼs nature? How you find the nature of this landscape? Landscape means you see something, you feel something. Then of course it can be a white painting, your memory of your childhood, whatʼs outside of your balcony at home, but somehow like “mother” we have an idea. Itʼs different, concept from nature. As a matter of fact, we say often, we try to go “back to nature”, no?

What means going back to nature? Not being modern anymore? It means a lot of things, but it is clear that you have a feeling connected. So at this point, what is the base to understand this Path of SelfLiberation is understanding nature of mind. Why we paint something and then we put white on? If we do all these things, there are concepts, if there are concepts there is something also observing these concepts. Then at a certain point we discover, we can do

this. But we can also paint any other style. Not only conceptual art, we can also do classical painting. (Someone suggests: Carravagio!) Carravagio, I donʼt know, any kind. Which means anyway itʼs a concept. Itʼs our idea, no? Then someone sees it and can understand the same idea or feel something different, but itʼs an idea. But anyway there is

nature of landscape. The landscape itself has its own nature. So in the same way, we have mind, that works in this way and its own nature. Discovering the nature of mind means, liberating ourself from suffering. Because we understand that we have full potentiality, itʼs not like void, emptiness. As we can paint in thousand different ways, this landscape. From the other side, we know very well what is landscape. So this is the main aspect about traditional Tibetan Buddhism. All this usually, this last path, the Path of Self-Liberation, can be called in Tibetan Ati Yoga or can be called Dzogchen. Itʼs important that you understand that any way has itʼs own tradition. We go to the essence to the understanding. But of course we respect the tradition. So itʼs important that you understand anyway, to enter this understanding you need a teacher. You need a teacher, because you need experience. Nature of mind

is like discovering the taste of sweet. Itʼs not a concept. So itʼs not enough that I explain like this, you need to have experience of nature of mind. Until you donʼt feel sweet, how can you explain sweet taste? For example a child wants to eat very spicy. You say: “Look, this food is very spicy.” And the child says: “No, I want to eat, I want to eat!” But maybe he never tried spicy. Until he does try, he doesnʼt understand what means spicy. So, what you find

in this teaching? You find explanation, like introduction. Like for example this general information or you find some symbolic explanation. So if I have to explain very simply, what means nature: you have my image, you see me now, I can see myself in a mirror. But I put the mirror here, I go in front and I see myself. Then I move and there is no me anymore. Then someone else comes. And you see someone else in the mirror. So what is the nature of mirror?

Reflecting. Not me or the other person. This kind of explanation is a symbolic explanation. So in this teaching you find this kind of information. So you understand better. Then in the end you find something that is called introduction. Which is a work you do with the teacher. Like tasting sweet. Or spicy. At this point you have something that, if you want, you can call meditation. But itʼs not only an idea like going to the cave, because you work with all

aspects. It means you work with body, you work with voice and you work with mind. Most of all in Dzogchen, in the Path of SelfLiberation you work with mind. So you try to understand immediately, passing directly to the understanding of the nature of mind. Through this understanding, you can have experience. When you have experience, so you collect experience, at a certain point it becomes knowledge, wisdom. At this point you work to integrate this

knowledge into your life. Thatʼs why normally we donʼt talk about choosing something, renouncing something, changing your life. So if you are interested, who never heard about this, you can ask who organized this event, in this moment there is also teaching via webcast. So my teacher which is my father is teaching in this moment in Barcelona. For example and we are using this webcast technology, because we are a quite big community. Itʼs impossible to stay

in all places together. And not all can go to Spain. So if youʼre interested, you can ask of course. So, I just say thank you, I hope it was not too boring. If you have questions, I can answer.

Q: Can you give an explanation of the three series of Dzogchen, Semde, Longde and Mennagde?

A: Very complicated. (laughs) In the Path of Self-Liberation we have three series of teaching. They are as usual connected with three aspects. The first aspect is about having introduction. This means having an experience and understanding. The second series of teaching is connected with not having anymore doubts. And the third one is like training before enlightenment. Which means specific training. So in

the first series we go from intellectual understanding to experience. Because we have the tendency to be intellectual. We are intellectual because we have words, we talk. For example what means intellectual, means the way for example we learn. In science we have a closed environment. Like for example in physics, we need to check all the phenomena, so the environment is very closed. What is called method of physics is closing an environment and observing phenomena. This means that we already closed, so we know whatʼs happening, more or less we are explaining whatʼs going on. So maybe we discover how a

certain substance works, then from this we create a general law. And practically all our existence is similar to this environment. And what we donʼt know, more or less, with logic, we invent. This is the way we learn. But when we are approaching to understand for example the feeling of sweet, we need to try this. So before we try, we need to be convinced. Which means more in a real sense, we need to be confident. Like when we walk through the dark room, first we

have to be confident that there is nothing to be afraid of. So the first series of teaching is connected with going from our concept, from the way our mind works to the nature of mind. When we discover what is our real condition, then we should not have anymore doubts. Because we can understand for a few seconds, sometimes we have this experience in life, no? There are moments in life when we have a special feeling, it feels like we understand all. Then

after two minutes we forget, then eventually after a few minutes we forget, we get totally distracted again. For example we say, one should discover the Love of God. After you discovered then you have to apply. This is what Christian Religion says. Itʼs not enough that you discover the Love of God, then you

have to stay in this love. But we say, until I donʼt discover, itʼs very difficult that I believe. Itʼs the same thing, first I have to discover, then I donʼt have doubts. And when I donʼt have anymore doubts, I donʼt need to do action. So this understanding becomes my natural state. In the third series, instead we have specific training, for example connected with our real condition, which is for example made of light, rays and sound. Because we say in our

real condition, our real nature, there is no form. So in the third series, we go beyond the idea of form. So you discover even in the Sutra-Tradition, like this famous Heart-Sutra, that you heard, you saw in movies, it says at the end, there is no eyes, there is no nose and so on. At the end there is no

Dharma, there is no thought, there is nothing. You go beyond the concept itself of Dharma. Of teaching. So there is no Buddha. Third series is to understand there is no Buddha. So there is not someone we call Buddha. There is not even a state, that we call Buddha. Because there is no separation

between Buddha and us. This third series is about how to go beyond this vision. At the end there is no vision, which means enlightenment. Itʼs very simple. But of course in the traditional collection of words of Buddha, you will find something which looks more like a religion. Because it was in a certain time

in a certain place. And obviously, if there is a nice landscape, someone painted and put white on, why when there is a very nice landscape, why donʼt we leave it as it is and we enjoy? Because there is our idea, our ego, so we have to make it ours, something that we do. So at the end itʼs our landscape, my landscape. It can be a xerox copy or something very strange with white “Om”. Thatʼs why we say absolute and relative. Thatʼs it. What we do now