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In this article, “The Path that leads nowhere”, Gr\u00e9goire explains in a condensed form the path of Dzogchen: literally a “no-path”.<\/p>\n
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Sometimes we lose our smartphone. We shake our heads, move heaven and earth to find it. But nothing can be done, it seems to be definitely lost. We make greater efforts to get our hands on it. But it is lost. Weary, almost desperate, after a while, we give up. We give up all hope – and there it is! Of course, it had always been there, right in front of us, right in the middle, right in front of our eyes. Relaxing and finding space to see better would have been enough – instead of running anxiously towards a goal. Has this ever happened to you? Edgar Allan Poe and his stolen letter offer a classic example of this process; the adventures of Tintin and Captain Haddock in The Secret of the Unicorn<\/em> and Red Rackham’s Treasure<\/em>, a more popular one. So much effort, to recognize what was already there – this is a possible illustration of the “path” in the Dzogchen tradition.<\/p>\n Other stories, ancient or contemporary, also illustrate this same idea. In his initiatory quest, Ulysses goes to find Helen and then returns to Ithaca from his Odyssey. In his films, Christopher Nolan embarks us in his speculations, to make us come back to the beginning, as in Tenet<\/em>, for a reflection on the cyclicality of time. We leave in order to come back better, but basically, everything was already there. Wouldn’t our life be like such odysseys? A sort of initiatory quest towards our own nature \u201calways\u201d already there. A motionless journey – towards a non-goal.<\/p>\n What Dzogchen proposes, like any authentic tradition, is therefore a path<\/em> to the realization of our fundamental nature – an initiatory journey towards what we really are. This path, however, Dzogchen asserts that it is illusory. There is no path and yet<\/em> we must walk it if we are to reach the goal. To walk an illusory path for an illusory result – because it is always-already present and perfect: this is what the Great Perfection says. This would not be the only example of the paradoxical or non-dual character of this tradition.<\/p>\n We moderns have largely lost the meaning of this notion of “path” or “way”, and that it can lead to an ultimate aspect of reality – absolute or transcendent: the primordial ground (ye gzhi<\/em>). That our life, tending towards death, can open up to something other than the sole end of existence has largely become foreign to us. And yet, this is what the path of the Dzogchen tradition proposes: to walk towards the heart of reality, to free ourselves from the cycle of conditioned existences (see this article of Paul<\/a>).<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/dzogchentoday.org\/wp-dzogtodaychen-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/The-Path-leading-nowhere-2.jpg” alt=”The Path leading nowhere-2.jpg” title_text=”The Path leading nowhere” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” height=”530px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”||||||||” link_font=”|100|||on|||#000000|” link_text_color=”#000000″ quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”29px|||||” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Do not try to transform, to reach anything, but remain in the great luminous simplicity, effortless, unaltered. An illusory path for an illusory result: once its illusion is recognized, it gives way to the primordial evidence of reality.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text quote_border_weight=”0px” quote_border_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”Vidaloka||||||||” link_font=”|100|||on|||#000000|” link_text_color=”#000000″ quote_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” quote_text_color=”#13204d” quote_line_height=”1.3em” header_font=”Vidaloka|700|||||||” header_2_font=”Vidaloka|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#13204d” header_3_font=”|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_letter_spacing=”12px” header_5_font=”|300|||||||” header_5_text_color=”#bfbfbf” header_5_letter_spacing=”12px” header_6_font=”|700|||||||” header_6_letter_spacing=”12px” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet” custom_padding=”29px|||||” quote_font_size_tablet=”” quote_font_size_phone=”” quote_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n n the Dzogchen tradition, the path is usually divided into preliminary, main and completion stages. The result of the path proposed by the Great Perfection is the rainbow body, the realization of the body of light and the incredible disappearance of the practitioner’s physical body in the eyes of those who remain (see this article of Johanne<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n