page_title: Dzogchen
section_title: Early Dzogchen (9th–10th century)
hierarchical_section_title: Dzogchen / Origins and history / Historical origins and development / Early Dzogchen (9th–10th century)
caption_attribution_description: English: Nubchen Sanggye Yeshe (b.832 - d.962) - Disciple of Padmasambhaba
context_page_description: Dzogchen, also known as atiyoga, is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism aimed at discovering and continuing in the natural primordial state of sentient beings. One's primordial ground is said to have the qualities of purity, spontaneity and compassion. The goal of Dzogchen is knowledge of this basis, this knowledge is called rigpa. There are numerous spiritual practices taught in the various Dzogchen systems for awakening rigpa. Dzogchen developed in the Tibetan Empire period and the Era of Fragmentation and continues to be practiced today both in Tibet and around the world. It is a central teaching of the Yundrung Bon tradition as well as in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. In these traditions, Dzogchen is the highest and most definitive path of the nine vehicles to liberation. Dzogchen is also practiced in other Tibetan Buddhist schools, such as the Kagyu and the Gelug school.
context_section_description: Most of the early Dzogchen literature, which are claimed to be "translations", are original compositions from a much later date than the 8th century. According to Germano, the Dzogchen tradition first appeared in the first half of the 9th century, with a series of short texts attributed to Indian saints. According to van Schaik, the earliest manuscripts available are from Dunhuang.
  The most of important of these are the "Eighteen Great Scriptures" (Lung-chen bco-brgyad), which were referred to as "mind oriented" (sems phyogs), and later became known as "mind series" (sems de). Another group of early texts are the "five early translations" (sNga-'gyur lnga). The focus of all these texts is the "mind of enlightenment" (byang-chub-kyi sems, Skt. bodhicitta). According to Sten Anspal, this "refers to the true nature of a person's consciousness, which is essentially identical to the state of Buddha. The texts explain how accessing and abiding in this pure and perfect state of consciousness fulfills and surpasses all the various practices and methods of other Buddhist approaches."
  The mind series reflect the teachings of early Dzogchen, which rejected all forms of practice, and asserted that striving for liberation would simply create more delusion. One has simply to recognize the nature of one's own mind, which is naturally empty (stong pa), luminous ('od gsal ba), and pure. According to Germano, its characteristic language, which is marked by naturalism and negation, is already pronounced in some Indian tantras. Nevertheless, these texts are still inextricably bound up with tantric Mahayoga, with its visualisations of deities and mandalas, and complex initiations. Sam van Schaik notes that early Dzogchen texts are concerned with other key terms such as rigpa (gnosis, knowledge) which refers to non-dual and non-conceptual awareness, and spontaneous presence (lhun gyis grup pa).
  
  Christopher Hatchell explains that for early Dzogchen "all beings and all appearances are themselves the singular enlightened gnosis of the buddha All Good (Samantabhadra, Kuntu Zangpo)", and that it "also shows a disinterest in specifying any kind of structured practices or concepts via which one could connect with that gnosis. Rather, the tradition argues, there is nothing to do and nothing to strive for, so the reality of All Good will manifest in its immediacy just by relaxing and letting go." This tendency can be seen in the short Dzogchen text "Cuckoo of Awareness":
  In variety, there is no difference.
  And in parts, a freedom from elaborations.
  Things as things are, are not conceptual, but
  The shining forth of appearances is All Good.
  Since you are finished, cast off the sickness of effort!
  
  Resting naturally, leave things [as they are]." 
  This method of pointing the meditator to the direct experience of the true nature of reality that is immediately present was seen as superior to all other Buddhist methods, which were seen as intellectual frabrications. However, according to van Schaik, this rhetoric does not necessarily mean that practicioners of Dzogchen did not engage in these "lower" practices. 
  During the 9th and 10th centuries these texts, which represent the dominant form of the tradition in the 9th and 10th centuries, were gradually transformed into full-fledged tantras, culminating in the Kulayarāja Tantra (kun byed rgyal po, "The All-Creating King"), in the last half of the 10th or the first half of the 11th century. According to Germano, this tantra was historically perhaps the most important and widely quoted of all Dzogchen scriptures.
  The work of Nubchen Sangye Yeshe (9th century) is also an important source for the mind series traditions, particularly his Samten Migdrön. By the 11th century these traditions developed in different systems such as the Kham, the Rong and the Nyang systems, which according to Ronald Davidson "are represented by texts surviving from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries"). The Kham yogi Aro Yeshe Jungne (a ro ye shes 'byun gnas, 10th century) is particularly interesting, as he was said to have united 
caption: Nubchen Sanggye Yeshe (832-962)
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