January/February 2006 Spirituality
Introducing Dogzen

by Edrid

The purpose of Dogzen is to bring the enlightened state into our daily lives. The core activity of Dogzen is to become directly aware of awareness. Dogzen is inspired by Dzogchen, reputed to be the deepest enlightenment tradition within Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. However, the Dogzen practice has an extra element of experimentation and grassroots discovery. It doesn’t necessarily look like traditional Dzogchen, or any school of Buddhism for that matter, so we call it Dogzen. The Dogzen approach doesn’t require any commitment and it isn’t about beliefs. It is such a basic process that it can improve the effectiveness of any other spiritual practice.

With Dogzen, there isn’t any particular state that we need to be in before we begin. You simply become directly aware of your awareness as it is right now and increase that direct experience.

We make a distinction between what we are aware of at this moment and the nature of awareness itself. The common denominator of all experience is awareness itself. Traditional Dzogchen literature sometimes calls this "intrinsic awareness" because awareness is intrinsic to all experience.

One of our practices is "detaching awareness from what it is aware of and becoming directly aware of awareness itself." People generally need a little support to get this started, so meditation techniques, including solitary meditation, guided group meditation, and a powerful two-person contemplative art called the Dyad are used.

Dogzen practices all have a single focus: to continually deepen awareness of awareness. Viewing the world from the base of naked awareness strikes directly at the tendency to become sucked into illusions and lose yourself in reactivity. As we become more and more familiar with the way objects and meanings arise within the field of awareness, many sufferings and upsets are revealed to be unnecessary, and they dissolve without you having to do anything about them. You don't have to believe in anything or use force for this to take place. It is simply the consequence of being grounded in the base. In addition, insights into the nature of illusion and reactivity help you to understand how and why others are acting the way they do and you become more open, tolerant, and helpful. It uncovers your natural compassion.

Edrid has been leading Enlightenment Intensives since 1970. In 1998, after a series of spiritual experiences transmitted by Garab Dorje and other Dzogchen masters, he began to develop Dogzen to help people bring enlightenment states into daily life. In Portland, he is teaming up with Stephen Beck, a Portland psychotherapist and writer, to offer Dogzen and Enlightenment Intensives to the community. 503-737-5209 Ed Riddle [edrid@sandoth.com]. Website: www.sandoth.com/Dogzen.htm.