Dharma Wheel

How important is lineage in Dzogchen? As a Dzogchen practitioner, do you regard your lineage to be Nyingma, Dzogchen Community, something quite distinct, something completely irrelevant?

What about the so-called "blessings of (the) lineage"? Is lineage in Dzogchen important to you, or not?

of course it is the most important- for dzogchen one needs a guru. ideally, one's faith and devotion in their guru is vast. one's guru of course has their own guru, and their guru's guru', on and on. that is lineage. without that precious descent of realized blessings how can we receive transmission?

As a Dzogchen practioner I belong to several lineages. The lineage of the teachings of the Buddha, the lineage of the precious Vajrayana, the lineage of the Nyingma, the lineage of the Chokling Tersar. Each practice I do also has its own lineage. I am aslo a member of the Rangjung Yeshe Sangha.

/magnus

mindyourmind wrote:How important is lineage in Dzogchen? As a Dzogchen practitioner, do you regard your lineage to be Nyingma, Dzogchen Community, something quite distinct, something completely irrelevant?

What about the so-called "blessings of (the) lineage"? Is lineage in Dzogchen important to you, or not?

"Without the pure blessings of a realized one, it is like waiting for a warm beam while sitting on the north of the mountain and appaerances and mind remain two analytical separate things".

Out of words of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

heart wrote:As a Dzogchen practioner I belong to several lineages. The lineage of the teachings of the Buddha, the lineage of the precious Vajrayana, the lineage of the Nyingma, the lineage of the Chokling Tersar. Each practice I do also has its own lineage. I am aslo a member of the Rangjung Yeshe Sangha.

/magnus

That's my favourite answer, right there. Well put.

mindyourmind wrote:How important is lineage in Dzogchen? As a Dzogchen practitioner, do you regard your lineage to be Nyingma, Dzogchen Community, something quite distinct, something completely irrelevant?

What about the so-called "blessings of (the) lineage"? Is lineage in Dzogchen important to you, or not?

Lineage is indispensable.

Dzogchen is principally a Nyingmapa teaching, but I consider myself a Buddhist first and foremost. The four schools are a Tibetan thing. There was no "Sakya, Kagyu, Gelug, Nyingma" etc., in India.

IMHO, lineage in Dzogchen is absolutely indispensible. It is the pipeline which carries the blessings, and, without the blessings of the lineage, there is no realization. However, keeping pure samaya is the spigot to that pipeline, while deep, heart-felt faith and devotion to that lineage is what turns on the flow of those blessings.