THE FOUR EXCELLENCES
The illuminating of appearances is naturally free and devoid of fixations.
Release appearances without restriction or polarization in awakened consciousness.
This letting go is itself excellent.
Meditation (experience) is naturally radiant in the absence of reference and objectification.
Remain in the experience, totally vast and without reference. This remaining in itself is excellent.
Behavior is free and spontaneous in the absence of attachment. Be sharp when encountering any appearance that arises.
This sharpness is itself excellent.
The result occurs naturally when you have no desire for achievement. Free yourself from all projection generated by hope and fear.
This freedom is itself excellent.
The instruction of the Four Excellences [legpa zhi nam dak, legs pa bzhi nam dak], which is part of the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, is one of the essential teachings of Dzogchen. This teaching is more related to perspective than to method. There are thousands of teachings that focus more externally and attempt to produce changes in a more external, conceptual, and progressive manner; such is the approach of the lower vehicles, for example. However, the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud cycle of teachings is not like that: it is about you, your mind, and your nature; for this reason, it is unique and special. Since these teachings are perspective-oriented, they do not contain many references to qualities like love or compassion; this does not mean that the prajnaparamitas* are unimportant in certain situations and for practitioners. In fact, all qualities are spontaneously perfected in Dharmakaya; they are latent there and only manifest when required.
In Dzogchen, we go to the very root of illusion, of deception— ignorance—which is more important than emphasizing a single quality.
The masters Tapihritsa and Nangzher Lodpo are known as generous because they attained realization and bequeathed to us the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, a series of teachings in a language understandable to us. Once enlightened, Tapihritsa returned to the world to teach Nangzher Lodpo the Four Excellences because this essential instruction was all he required to attain realization. This teaching consists of twelve lines, referring respectively to perspective, meditation, behavior, and fruit.
First Excellence Perspective
The illuminating of appearances is naturally free and devoid of fixations.
Release appearances without restriction or polarization in awakened consciousness. This letting go is itself excellent.
As I mentioned earlier, perspective in Dzogchen has to do with the wisdom of emptiness; therefore, it is an open and unlimited perspective.
Limited perspective has much to do with the mind that attaches. If you manage not to attach to appearances, they release themselves; when you attach to visions or appearances, they seem incapable of self-liberation. The more you attach to them, the more "famous" they become; you create this situation by attaching so much to them. For example: how many people are there in your life who are the opposite of your "famous person"? Most of them. You are free from them, and they are free from you, and this is because you are not attached to them, nor they to you.
Think of an example from your own life where you have much attachment. Can you perceive the fact that you are attached? Attachment is the opposite of this first excellence. When you attach, the vision or appearance to which you attach seems to be hanging onto you; your mind is not free. How can you free your mind to rest in a free world if you do not have a real will to let go, to release?
It is always possible to work on a simple level with our own experience. Observe a given situation: become aware, do not attach, let the situation be freely.
Think of a person, experience, or situation to which you do not wish to attach; simply make room for it, allow it to be. At that moment, your mind will be freed from it; it will cease to attach.
The mind is free; allow it to rest in free space. If you can do this, then you can go even further and achieve more. The next thing you must address is that which you do not feel capable of doing. Ultimately, when we speak of liberation, we refer to liberation from everything.
Life is like a flow: make room for many experiences; live them and do not attach to them. Deep down, you know that you are not who you believe yourself to be today. If you look back ten years, you are not the same person you were then, and you will not be the same person in ten years that you are today. You are not that identity you believe yourself to be; you identify with the roles you play now, and that identity is the basis of your experiences: if you feel good, you feel good because of it, and if you feel bad, that identity is what makes you feel bad. Identity is changing: it has been changing and will continue to change. We believe in that identity as firmly as we believe in our problems. And if our problems block us, it is due to our firm belief in that identity and because through it we attach to people, things, situations, etc. In Buddhism, we speak of impermanence, of change; it is surprising how everything changes, and we move through those changes and make room for them. The moment you think something should not change, you are in trouble. Change is natural. Allowing changes to occur is your gain, your freedom.
The excellence of perspective has to do with the wisdom of emptiness. Perspective must be open; when you do not attach to visions or appearances, they release themselves. This is what in Dzogchen is called "unlimited perspective," fullness. The text of The Four Excellences says: "When you do not attach, you are in the nature of the mind; the mind is always spacious." The natural mind is like this: free of direction, unlimited. Allow your mind to be free in the free world. This is perspective.
Second Excellence Meditation
Meditation (experience) is naturally radiant in the absence of reference and objectification. Remain in the experience, totally vast and without reference. This remaining in itself is excellent.
Meditation is an experience, a result of perspective. You have a particular perspective, and through it, you have a specific experience. Thus, experience is meditation. Perspective is not meditation, but you meditate through your perspective, and if it is erroneous, you live a bad experience; if it is open, you live a clear experience. And if your experience is clear, you are open and allow for greater potentiality for your experience. Conversely, if your perspective is conditioned, your experience is also conditioned, and if you have a conditioned experience, then you may feel uncomfortable or experience suffering.
The second excellence has to do with meditation. When meditating, it is necessary not to attach to the experience. A good meditation is one that happens by itself, not one that you force to occur. When you force it to occur, you are attaching; you are not in the natural state but in the conceptual mind.
Meditation is naturally radiant, without a particular focus. Once one has the perspective, meditation happens by itself.
For example, to feel good and free from your "famous person" you need to have the correct perspective: there is no substance in you or in it, and this is a rest—the object dissolves, the subject also dissolves. What remains then? The inseparability of emptiness and clarity. Clarity, light, is present because the obscuring object has dissolved; it is present clearly, spontaneously, effortlessly. That is why it is said here that, without a particular focus, meditation is "naturally radiant"; it is natural because it involves no effort, and it is radiant because there are no obscurations: subject and object are clear, radiant.
When you experience that clarity, that is called meditation. It is good that this clarity arises, and it arises because you are allowing it, and the fact that you allow it means you are not attaching. Do not attach to that clarity either.
Similarly, for example, pain can arise when your perspective is limited. Pain is like erroneous meditation: when you suffer pain spontaneously and effortlessly, and it is present in the morning, in the afternoon, at night; you do nothing to make it arise, but it arises as a result of your perspective: if you did not have that perspective, you would not have that pain. Thus, it is clear that experience is the result of perspective. If, instead, you have a good experience and say to yourself, "This is great," that is enough for your mind to generate attachment. A good meditation is one that occurs when you are able to allow it without attaching to it, so simply allow it.
Third Excellence Behavior
Behavior is free and spontaneous in the absence of attachment. Be sharp when encountering any appearance that arises
This sharpness is itself excellent.
In the instruction of the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, there are examples of masters that will probably seem somewhat strange to us because their behavior is like that of a child, or like that of a deranged person, or even like that of dogs or pigs, which eat everything indiscriminately. These are behaviors characteristic of certain enlightened masters; however, this does not mean that you have to behave in the same way; these are metaphors. And since you are not enlightened, you could not behave that way, but you also do not need to question it.
Such behavior speaks of a certain level of flexibility.
When you admire a person for their flexibility, that may be an indication that you lack it; the fact of realizing this is what can lead you to admire them. Conversely, there are people who are capable of finding problems even in nirvana itself; they find problems in all situations. When you find yourself between these two extremes, you can perceive that the flexible person is happier than you, and conversely, that the inflexible person suffers more than you. The difference between these two people lies in their perspective. Internally, the person who is very flexible is happy, free, and open, and their experience of themselves is fluid and radiant.
Behavior has to do with how you face a situation. When your car breaks down and you have no gas, food, or water, you can see how flexible or inflexible you are.
Those people who are naturally happy and content see the world in an open way and therefore experience themselves in a very open way, so when they find themselves in certain life situations, they live them from that openness, without any particular expectations.
Many times, when a person complains about another, they are actually complaining about themselves. When you manage to perceive this, you find more skills and means to perceive it in yourself. So, when you return home irritated and complain to your family, you suddenly realize your state and tell yourself that your complaints have nothing to do with your family but that you are in a bad mood that day. Realizing this helps a lot: you stop interacting with them and spreading your bad mood at home; you go for a walk, to the movies, and stop interacting. Otherwise, you can attribute the cause of your bad mood to another person and make a very solid idea out of it, which does not help. If, on the contrary, you realize that that other person does such-and-such that bothers you, or complains about you, you know that they do it because they are suffering, because they are going through difficulties, that they need help; so, instead of feeling personally attacked, you feel more compassion, you know that their behavior has nothing to do with you but that the person is simply expressing their suffering, and then you can help them. This is what happens with professionals like doctors, who sometimes have to deal with deranged people: they do not take it personally, and because of that, they can help.
Be capable of being in any experience that arises in a given situation. There is a difference between taking charge of something and going crazy over it; going crazy is not useful. However, we must take charge of that matter. In some situations, you can say "no" in such a way that the other person feels happy and respects you at the same time; it is not necessary to say "yes" to everything. Be capable of being sincere in your speech.
Fourth Excellence: The Result
The result occurs naturally when you have no desire for achievement. Free yourself from all projection generated by hope and fear.
This freedom is itself excellent.
The result, the fruit, arises on its own; there is nothing to achieve; it is beyond hope and fear. In Dzogchen, it is often said: "The result is already there; there is nothing to achieve." This means that you do not produce the result. Do you, for example, produce supreme bliss? No, it is already there; you simply discover what is already there.
It is necessary that you find yourself free from desiring, from hoping, from fearing, from having.
When you overcome hope and fear, the result is there by itself. There is a line from the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud that says: "Overcoming hope and fear is the result, it is the fruit. Bliss is there naturally when you have no hope or fear."
Thus, in Dzogchen, perspective is unlimited; meditation is spontaneous; behavior is flexible, and the result exists naturally and effortlessly.
CONCLUSION
In all Dzogchen traditions, these teachings have historically been kept very secret, and certain aspects of the teachings have been shared only individually, from master to disciple. However, my own master Yongdzin Sangye Tenzin Rinpoche advised me to share these teachings openly to increase the possibility of their survival.
From my perspective, to help the survival of these teachings:
The purity of this lineage must be preserved. The lineage chain must remain unbroken. Initiations, transmissions, and specifications of the instructions must remain pure and unchanged. The knowledge shared and the experience of Dzogchen must remain genuine. There are many serious and committed Dzogchen students who are following this path. Even so, after 20 years of teaching, I realize that the aforementioned way is not for everyone. You can certainly practice Dzogchen without strictly adhering to ancient culture and traditions; you can awaken your own true nature without following an existing lineage or teaching method: Dzogchen wisdom and knowledge exist in other forms, and it is formless.
I believe that for most Westerners, the practice of Dzogchen is the best practice. It allows one to connect directly with one's own being and realize one's true nature without struggling too much with all the forms.