INTRODUCTION TO SPACE
I cannot lose myself because space cannot be lost in space ~ Lópon Sangye Tenzin
Space has the following qualities: it is infinite, it permeates everything, it possesses unlimited expansiveness, it has no bottom or surface, it is immeasurable, it does not contract, it is immense, eternal, and immutable—it is beyond words, concepts, philosophy. It is the state of truth that in Dzogchen is described with the term “single sphere,” or “single truth.” That space sometimes appears to us as a reality outside of us, and at other times, as a reality within us; but we share space with the internal and external world because space does not truly have an outside, inside, or middle. The one who has the experience is the one who has the outside, inside, and middle; but when the one who has the experience discovers that it is simply their mind that is creating that outside, inside, and middle, then they arrive at absolute truth, at the direct and profound understanding of Dharmakaya.
The example of a house can be given to describe what space is like. The space in a house is seen as a house, not as space—if the house is square, the space looks square; therefore, space has no form by itself. Our pure consciousness has no limits; we create the limit, and the more limited we are, the more difficult it will be for us to know what it is to be in unlimited space. The less limited we are, the better we will understand the Dzogchen perspective. If the house falls down, the inner space unifies with the outer space. But this experience only occurs in relation to the walls of the house, because the space never changed, it was never divided; the division resided solely in the walls. And when they fall, then one has the experience of the dissolution of duality, the experience of the unity of inner and outer space.
In the Dzogchen tradition, external space is considered very sacred. In a similar way that people can love the earth and trees, Dzogchen practitioners are considered lovers of space. Because when they deeply understand and experience the meaning of space and unify with it—with the essence of space—they can see
that the external is also internal, and when they carry out the practice called “the unification of spaces,” they realize that the inside unifies internally through the mind and externally through the eye. These two processes, carried out through the mind and through the eye, are closely linked, and that is why both are used: the unification of space is done through the mind and the eye. This unification is not a progressive process that goes from inside to outside or from outside to inside; it is a self-discovery, not a process. A process would imply that there were two things—there cannot be a process when there is only one thing—and this self- discovery is a discovery of unity. There is no object or subject. It is not a question of duality, it is an understanding of the singular, the unique.
To illustrate this, let us use the following example: in our language, we have words like “people”; when we say this word, we are not referring specifically to you or me, nor are we saying that it is someone good or bad, nor whether it is one or ten: “people” is a word that expresses something unified, it is unifying a multiplicity. Sometimes, our experience becomes very narrow. For example, we have the space of the house, but we cannot see that this space is infinite, that there are no boundaries, that there is no problem of lack of space. However, generally, we only think about the walls, and that is how problems arise. If you only see the limits, the boundaries, then the experience you have is very small, very limited, and problematic. For example, if you could see the Earth from the Moon, you would have a very different perspective: the entire continent would be in a small place, and perhaps Mexico City would not exist from that perspective. But if you only see the limited spaces—the wall, for example—then the problem arises. It becomes enormous, it becomes everything, because you do not have the experience of space. Instead, if you connect with the infinity of space, the problem becomes nothing. If you see the wall from the perspective of the problem, then you cannot have the experience of space; the problem arises within that space; if you can only see the problem, you cannot see the space in which it is occurring. If you are able to see the space in which the problem is occurring, it dissolves instantly, because space has never been affected by it: space accommodates everything.
For us, anger and love are two different experiences; but from the perspective of space, they are not, because space accommodates, holds, or includes both in the same way. Space is non-dual and therefore has no duality between love and anger. We do have duality; that is why, when we have the experience of love, we feel connected to ourselves, and when we have the experience of anger or hatred, we feel disconnected from ourselves. But this happens only in our minds; in reality, we cannot disconnect from ourselves, there is no force in the Universe that can disconnect us from ourselves. However, from our limited perspective, this experience is one of disconnection.
Let us think about space: everything, every mind, every experience has its place in space, and generally, when we experience something, we lose sight of space.
In Dzogchen, there are the terms chi ing, which means external space, and nang ing, which means internal space. For example, when the practice of “looking at the sky” is done in a group, at first everyone experiences the same sky; this is called external space, and it is the space that everyone shares. After an hour of meditation, each person begins to experience something different: one sees stars, another sees lights, and so on; each sees something different, and this corresponds to their own internal space. When you go into a darkness retreat or a personal retreat, everything that emerges—all those visions—arises from your internal space; that is why the value and beauty of internal space are very important.
Some people do not want so much space, they do not want so much breadth, they want something more cozy. On one occasion, during a seminar on the five elements, a person asked me if they could skip the element of space; they had problems with their wife: she wanted more space, and he wanted to be closer to her. This often happens: when one wants space, the other wants closeness, and vice versa.
The problem is that we cannot ignore space. How does one avoid space? Can you not be in the space you are in now? Think about it for a minute: can you be outside of that space for that minute? You might walk on a platform, but can you be outside of space? No; do you realize this? The notion of space that each person has is different. Sometimes we say: “I have enough space in my life.” Do you feel you have enough space in your life, or do you want more?
The space that remains and permeates, the space that moves, and the space that arises
We can refer to the space that remains and permeates, the space that moves, and the space that arises.
The space that remains and permeates is the one in the heart. You can say: “I want to experience openness in my heart.” “Space” and “openness” are two words that in this context mean the same thing. Essence, in the sense of openness that remains and permeates, is in the heart chakra*.
The space that remains and permeates is the base, it is the natural condition; that is why we say it “permeates”: because that is how it is, it is there, it is now, it is “presence.” With your eyes closed, try to feel it in your heart.
In this case, we refer to two channels that connect each eye directly to the heart.
SPACE, OPENNESS—LIGHT, CLARITY
When you see something, you are seeing something that manifests in space, in openness itself, in expansion itself.
To connect with the openness in the heart and in the movement through the channels, you can close your eyes; when doing the third connection, which is with the space of light, open them.
When chanting Guru yoga, implore the Master to help you discover that openness in your heart; tell him: “Please help me discover the quality of space in energy, please help me discover openness in manifestation.”
Praying to Dharmakaya is different from praying to Sambhogakaya or Nirmanakaya. For example, when you pray to Nirmanakaya, you know you are praying to your Masters, to your guardians; you know how to pray to guardians or ask them to protect you, and when you find yourself in circumstances that require greater protection, you invoke them more strongly: you burn incense, you fumigate. But how do you pray to the source of everything? You cannot ask the source to help you in your business or to help you find a good job; when you pray to the base, you go beyond what you want or do not want. Think that every time you carry out a purification or cleansing practice, you get rid of some things, perhaps without the intention of cultivating others. If your space is blocked, contaminated, or confused, you go beyond those obstacles, and through these practices, you eliminate emotional, physical, and mental blockages and purify yourself; this provides you with another point of reference regarding space.
When you feel very happy, there are two ways to experience that happiness: one is by feeling very excited and thrilled, and the other is more complete: it involves feeling totally satisfied and fulfilled. This feeling of fulfillment is not because you have accumulated everything you need—that is not the meaning—but rather the feeling that you lack nothing. It is the feeling of being complete. This feeling of fulfillment, of being satisfied, is what is meant in Dzogchen by the expression “the great fullness.”
Many times, this feeling of being complete, satisfied, full, open, is obscured. There are physical, emotional, energetic, and mental obscurations, and for some people, these obscurations are so strong that they completely overshadow the perception of their essence, making them feel weak and insecure and in need of protection. As I said, every time you do purification practices, you empty yourself of certain things; you take something away, and this allows you to connect with openness.
In practice, we move towards emptiness; we are not accumulating anything, and often we do not have a good connection with total emptiness. When you connect with Dharmakaya, what do you experience? What does it mean to you? What is your connection like? Many people have a connection with Dharmakaya similar to the one they would have with a guardian, for example, or they have a connection with their essence similar to the one they would have with their car.
Often, they identify more with their car than with their own essence, not just with the car but with everything external and material, with their biological appearance or with their social position and power. In those cases, the connection with their own essence is not clear.
It is important to understand that when we do purification practices, it is also advisable to fast, not speak, not interact, be alone. What does it mean to be silent? What does it mean to be completely alone? “All of that is a journey towards great perfection. Our body, our speech, our mind, our creativity, everything can be a very positive manifestation; but often there are experiences that obscure our mind. So, how do we connect with Dharmakaya? Through silence, through stillness, with an open heart, through beauty, through devotion, by feeling it as it is and feeling the serenity of all that is, by relaxing and being.
I believe there are more ways to connect with Dharmakaya, and all those mentioned previously are correct.
Practicing in the heart is not trying to open the heart; it is trying to discover the openness that already exists in the heart. When the heart is emotionally closed, it makes sense to try to open it, because in that case, by trying to rediscover the space that is there, we may find that there is none. It is then that physical practices such as 734 Lung, Trul Khor, Yoga, or Chi Khung can be used, which move the body’s energy so that we can experience the life force and love. Often, in human beings, obscurations occur more at the physical and emotional level, that is, they occur more at the energy level than at the mind level.
Often in life, things happen to us that make us lose contact with the base. We also say that often life becomes very flat, very bland; if your life is very bland and you lack creativity, you can connect with Nirmanakaya, and if your life is very scattered and you need more grounding and contact with the base, you can connect with Dharmakaya; if it is scattered and confused externally, you can go inward and connect with the space of the heart.
There are very precise ways to go inward. We could say that we have an instinctive way of going inward, of withdrawing: when something scares us, we immediately go inward, but we are not very clear about where we are going; we only know that by going inward, we protect ourselves. It is very natural for everyone to go home if there is a problem; if you have problems with your employees, you go home; if you have problems with your husband or wife or with your children, you go to your room, and when you have problems in your room, you go to sleep. As I said, it is very natural and instinctive to withdraw or go inward when there are problems; what is not clear is in which direction we are going: “What is my path? What is my destination? Where am I going?” But in a real sense, it is a journey inward, towards the heart, towards our center. Because the heart is not only the center of our experience and our life, it is the center of the Universe, and the only place where we find the center of the Universe and of our being is the space of Dharmakaya.
Basically, what I mean is that when things come into your life that start to bother you, then the practice I have referred to can help you. For example, if you had a very complicated day at work and you go home, you go to your room, and you can sit in front of the altar and go to your heart.
When in practice you experience space in the heart and in the channels and then open your eyes, you see forms, colors, lights, and objects. And if you are able to maintain the connection with space in those forms and lights, it means that those things are flexible and free, they are free forms, free lights, free colors; you are no longer trapped in the form and solidity of things, and therein lies the beauty of the practice: in that flexibility and detachment.
I have referred to the wall, to lights, to colors, but look for similar examples in your own life. When you have a problem that affects you and completely obstructs your experience of space, the base from which you start is the problem itself, so when you open your eyes, you project it outward, you see suffering, you feel bad. Instead, when you are deeply connected with the space of the heart and with the moving space, when you open your eyes to your daily life and the world around you, to the full range of your experiences—regardless of whether they are easy, difficult, confusing, or make you angry—you see everything from the perspective of space, and then you can see that perhaps there is no reason to be angry or feel bad; you perceive that things are fine as they are because you see them from the perspective of space. As we mentioned before, even in difficult situations, you can say: “It’s okay.” That “it’s okay” comes from that space in your heart, and that space is the base, or Dharmakaya, or essence, whatever you want to call it.
When you have many things in your kitchen and decide to throw them away or sell them, then there is a lot of space in it; but that is external space; when you have a small apartment but upon entering it you say: “What a beautiful and large space I have!”, that is internal space; when there are leaks in your house and there is no food or blankets but you say: “What a beautiful home!”, that is internal space; or, when your house is very elegant and everything in it is luxury but you feel miserable, that is a lack of internal space.
I will summarize what I have expressed. If you feel you lack creativity, concentrate on the space of the heart, feel the space in movement through the channels, and when you open your eyes, emphasize what you see outside: the colors, the images, the things; see it all full of energy, as if you were hearing something very interesting or seeing a fascinating image—see it that way, feel the desire to see in this manner. The emphasis is on what you see outside, but always maintaining the connection with that space in the heart. The way to see outward is by fully relating to the external world, feeling completely, seeing completely, smelling completely, tasting completely.
Instead, when your experience of the world becomes confusing, gray, unstable, instead of looking outward, look inward and experience that vastness or expansion of space in the heart. Why do you want to do this? Because if you feel confusion outside, it means you lack space inside. In the world, there are so many stimuli, so many experiences, so many things, that if we related to each one of them, it would be tremendous: we cannot relate to everything, but to relate to those things with which we do want to relate—to our goals in daily life or on the spiritual path—we have to withdraw and try to find that space within ourselves regarding those experiences; that is a very good practice.
Let us examine the two aspects of disturbances: one would be the lack of creativity in a broad sense, and the other would be in a more specific sense, related to obstacles to our own creativity. By creativity, we mean those experiences in which we can be creative in our lives. So many things happen in our lives, in our experiences, in our relationships, that sometimes it is difficult to manage them well. When that happens to you, you go inward; conversely, when you lack creativity in your life, you put the emphasis outward. Sometimes you get very excited about something and immediately feel the impulse to take some action. Observe this feeling in yourself: when you are very excited and thrilled about something, it is a very rapid energetic sensation, it is very flexible; it is similar to space.
One of the poems by Lópon Sangye Tenzin says: “Let your inner space be in the outer space.” This is like pouring inner space into outer space through the eyes.
Imagine you are a teapot with boiling water; through the spout, you pour the water into a lake. What happens then? Those two waters merge. The experience of the fusion of inner space with outer space provides an intense sensation of expansion and vastness.
Dharmakaya means space. The space in the heart is the same as the space of the wall. In Dharma, these two spaces are connected to each other and are the essence, they are Dharmakaya: they are the source. When you want to connect with Dharmakaya, you do not need to have an image, such as that of Sherab Chamma*; the reason you have the image is because you cannot connect with space because it is too vast, and therefore you feel you might get lost. You need a little support, so you resort to the image of Sherab Chamma as a representation of the source, and when you see it, you have an experience in your heart. So, you relate that image to the heart, not to the mind: you feel it, you do not think it. It is what you know, not what you think you know. You connect directly with that experience, and there is no conceptual limit.
When you practice the union of the three spaces, it is possible that your experience may have little depth or little intensity, but perhaps you want to try to obtain an experience similar to the one described above by trying to feel that emptiness in your heart. That can be a good access point: it is as if you merge with Dharmakaya or immerse yourself in space or in essence; this would be the meaning.
In the practice of the union of the three spaces, perceiving openness or space in the heart comes very close to the depth we want to experience in meditation, and when we get that close, it is good to immerse ourselves or merge with Dharmakaya or with essence: that is the space that comes closest to deep experience.
When we speak of the unification of the three spaces, we are actually talking about the same space; we simply divide it into three: the space of the base, the space of the path, and the space of the result or fruit.
In the context of practice, these relate respectively to the space of the heart, the space in movement, and the space of the outside.
The unification of the three spaces relates to emptiness. Generally, the experience we can have of emptiness can give us a feeling of great power, or it can cause us fear. When you get home and have nothing to do, you look around and say: “Well, what do I do?” What happens to you is that you are in that space where there is a certain emptiness, and therefore you feel you have to do something to fill it, so you go shopping or go for a drive; but that is precisely the space in which you must remain. Often, we find it difficult to relate to this empty space because we are not familiar with it, because we are afraid of it, because we feel that there is no life or color there, and consequently, we feel that we need to do something to avoid it. When monks and yogis go to the mountains or caves and isolate themselves, they are precisely seeking that space, that quality of space that we flee from by going shopping.
Imagine walking in the desert for a month, or spending forty-nine days in a dark room, or in those moments when you are completely alone: you can interact with nature, but you cannot argue with anyone. What you can do is argue with yourself, and you probably will. That is why, when a long retreat is undertaken, in the early stages one goes through all the realms*, from hell to the realm of hungry ghosts and so on up to the realm of the gods; it is hard to share the experience of hell with someone. Truly imagine that you are completely alone in the desert or that you spend forty-nine days in a dark retreat: what you are experiencing is that emptiness and how, in that emptiness, you experience yourself.