Atiyoga

See also: Dzogchen

Atiyoga (Skt.; T. shin tu rnal 'byor ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་) — the highest yana within the classification of nine yanas of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Atiyoga is synonymous with Dzogchen.

Cortland Dahl states:

This system is intended for those whose dominant emotional pattern is ignorance and who are inclined to an extremely simple form of meditation practice, in which the sole focal point is the pure, luminous essence of mind. Known as the Supreme Vehicle, it involves a level of directness and profundity that far surpasses the other eight vehicles, transcending cause and effect.

The Great Perfection is divided into three classes: the Mind Class, Space Class, and Key Instruction Class. All three focus on the essence of mind, yet each has its own unique orientation. The Mind Class points out that all appearances are manifestations of the mind. The Space Class, by contrast, focuses more on emptiness, emphasizing purity and innate liberation. The Key Instruction Class shows that these two are, in fact, inseparable. In other words, this approach does not overemphasize either appearance or emptiness, and instead teaches that the swiftest path to buddhahood entails working with both.

The vehicle of Atiyoga

Alak Zenkar Rinpoche explains the vehicle of Atiyoga according to the system of nine yanas as follows:

The vehicle of Atiyoga, or ‘utmost yoga,’ is so-called because it is the highest of all vehicles. It involves the realization that all phenomena are nothing other than the appearances of the naturally arising primordial wisdom which has always been beyond arising and ceasing.

The following is a brief explanation of the entry point, view, meditation, conduct and results of this vehicle.

i. Entry Point

One’s mind is matured through the four ‘expressive power of awareness’ empowerments (rigpé tsal wang), and one keeps the samayas as explained in the texts.

ii. View

The view is definitively established by looking directly into the naturally arising wisdom in which the three kāyas are inseparable: the empty essence of naked awareness beyond the ordinary mind is the dharmakāya, its cognizant nature is the sambhogakāya, and its all-pervasive compassionate energy is the nirmāṇakāya.

iii. Meditation

The meditation consists of the approach of cutting through resistance to primordial purity (kadak trekchö), through which the lazy can reach liberation without effort, and the approach of the direct realization of spontaneous presence (lhundrup tögal), through which the diligent can reach liberation with exertion.

iv. Conduct

The conduct is free from hope and fear and adopting and abandoning, because all that appears manifests as the display of reality itself.

v. Results

Perfecting the four visions of the path, one gains the supreme kāya, the rainbow body of great transference, and attains the level of glorious Samantabhadra, the thirteenth bhūmi known as ‘Unexcelled Wisdom’ (yeshe lama).

See also

• Inner Tantras
• Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism

Sources

• Dahl, Cortland (2009), Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices, Shambhala 

Further reading

• Jamgön Kongtrul, The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra, translated by Elio Guarisco and Ingrid McLeod (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2005), pages 337-346.