taken from Dzogchen Sadhana PracticeMalcolm wrote:...It may be the case that in modern Tibetan Buddhism Dzogchen has become mixed with anuyoga teachings, especially at the level of empowerments. For example, the Longchen Nyinthig is mostly deity practices. The Dzogchen section of it is very short, only a few very short texts (Yeshe Lama is not part of the Longchen Nyinthig, though it is included in the supporting text material)...
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...We are talking about Dzogchen as it is presented within the Dzogchen tantras themselves and their related instructions such as the Vima Nyinthig, which have zero deity yoga practices as part of the path...
taken from "highest practices" and anti-intellectualismMalcolm wrote:...Finally, just because some sadhana has really pretty Dzogchen words like "ka dag," "lhun grub," etc., does not mean that sadhana actually belongs to Dzogchen teachings. A case in point is the Chetsun Nyingthig. The Chetsun Nyingthig's actual Dzogchen instructions are included only in a very short section at the very end of the root text. The rest of it is devoted to discussing the empowerment, the ngondro practice, the sadhana of Chetsun, and so on. It is a wonderful practice, excellent in every way. But when you are practicing some sadhana reciting mantras, you are practicing the two stages, not Dzogchen. This does not mean the Chetsun Nyinthig sucks, does not have blessings (whatever that means) and so on. It means that in that system, when you have finished the two stages connected with the practice of Chetsun, then you move on to actual Dzogchen preliminaries and the main practice of Dzogchen. The main emphasis of the Chetsun Nyingthig is the Guru Yoga of Vimalamitra. It is very profound. But the main practice of Dzogchen is more profound, as Vimalamitra would agree...
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...Some people like to follow the modern Nyingma system. I prefer to follow Garab Dorje. We are all free to do as we like...
what i am curious about is are there any Dzogchen lineages/cycles which reflect Malcolm's POV? honestly i thought there are no cycles nowadays which has little to no deity yoga. i mean even if one would like to follow such an approach it's not possible to practice say Vima Nyingthig?