awareness
The book „Dzogchen“, by Duro Despot M.D; is his fifth book, and describes the ancient Tibetan way of meditating. Padmasambhava, one of the greatest teachers of spirituality of them all, brought these awareness exercises from Tibet.
The book teaches the reader, by way of practical guidance, how to enter the natural state of consciousness which is innate to every human being. Every human being can experience the ecstasy of self-existence if he/she were to attain the optimum state of relaxation in body and mind. An ordinary person will spend the entire day identifying with his/her thoughts and emotions, and so is very far from understanding what is it like to exist without such thoughts and emotions. For that reason, the people of western civilisations have a very powerful need for expedients to help them relax, expedients such as alcohol, cigarettes and non-prescription drugs.
At first, these unhealthy chemicals may have a relaxing effect on body and mind. However, soon they come to have a negative effect on both the consciousness of a person and on his/her character. However, one can enter the natural state of consciousness, a true state of peace and ecstasy, very easily using Dzogchen exercises, provided that the person has a strong desire to do so, that he/she is correctly acquainted with the technique, and that he/she is guided by an experienced Dzogchen master. The exercises described in the book are therefore also called awareness exercises, because by practising them we can experience a complete awareness of the present moment. When any being experiences the complete present, he/she no longer has thoughts or oscillating emotions, and becomes happy and joyful because he/she exists in the natural state of consciousness.
consciousness
For a person to come to the natural state of consciousness, it is necessary that he/she becomes acquainted with how his/her consciousness functions, how thoughts and emotions appear, how to liberate himself/herself from them, and ultimately how to exist continuously and without much effort in the natural state of consciousness.
The first part of the book describes these phenomena exactly. The book is primarily intended to treat the subject in a practical way, and consequently one entire intensive exercise is presented in detail, the way Duro Despot conducted it with his pupils.
The key notion in the evolution of man’s spirituality is wakefulness; in other words, awareness. After a review of the intensive exercise, the author makes the effort to explain how the individual can experience awareness, and how awareness can be developed in the consciousness of every person. If someone succeeds in becoming aware of his/her wakefulness during the day, he/she will succeed much more easily in remaining 'awake' (i.e. aware) even when sleeping. And, of course, if the practitioner succeeds in being awake while sleeping, he/she will be awake much more easily even when he/she leaves the physical body.
Dzogchen teacher
People who practice Dzogchen regularly can perform their normal daily activities but still exist in the state of self-ecstasy. Duro Despot is a Dzogchen teacher who was initiated in Dzoghen with the help of destiny, or, more correctly, of divine energies. Most of the knowledge which he shares in this book is the consequence of his own personal research, and does not come from hearsay or from second-hand sources.
It is not his intention to proclaim his way of Dzogchen 'the best', but he wants it to form one of the branches of Padmasambhava's teaching. The spirit of the scientific way of observation, which he acquired in his medical training, together with a powerful attachment to Dzogchen, were both useful to him when he came to research the processes at work in the consciousness of every being.
Despite the fact that he has had to live the life of a western man and to perform everything that the modern family and society require of him, when he finished with such obligations, Duro Despot belonged to Dzogchen with all of his being. He regularly retreated for weeks and even months from the beginning of his spiritual work and research.
He later included Dzogchen in his everyday life, and he has been practicing it in all circumstances. He has taught the practical knowledge he has acquired to his pupils for years, and he has written this book for today's man and woman.
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