THE LIMITED PERSPECTIVE AND THE UNLIMITED PERSPECTIVE (DZOGCHEN)
We must recognize that our way of experiencing ourselves is limited, [...] and we try to define the world based on our own limited mind. In Dzogchen, the perspective is unlimited.
Entering the spiritual path in search of experiences to feel more connected with ourselves is a very limited perspective; we must recognize that our way of experiencing ourselves is limited. The only way to have a true experience of consciousness or ourselves is to know and realize that this limitation exists.
We have so many limitations within ourselves that we try to solve everything with this limited sense of things and try to define the world based on our own limited mind. In Dzogchen, the perspective is unlimited.
To understand the unlimited Dzogchen perspective, we must understand what limits or boundaries consist of. A simple way to put it is that limits are our thoughts, our words, our concepts, our language, our assertions: all of these are limits. A limit is not necessarily good or bad, nor does it mean that only bad people need them. Limits are good for those who need them. A limit is a resource for survival, and most people cannot survive if they set aside limits. Buddha survived without limits, but we cannot. Some of these limits make us feel good, others make us feel bad. We flee from those that make us feel bad and try to seek support in those that make us feel good. These are our limits, and as long as we need them, we must have them.
The Dzogchen perspective and the practitioner's perspective are two different things. My Master, Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, always emphasizes this difference. People confuse their way of being with the perspective they want to have; they confuse perspective with themselves, but they are two different things.
There is a difference between Dzogchen and the dzogchenpa or Dzogchen practitioner: Dzogchen is unlimited, but the dzogchenpa is limited; we are limited, the Dzogchen perspective is unlimited. If we try to mix the limited with the unlimited, there will be conflict. And anyone who meditates is limited, that is for sure.
Every sentient being—whether a person, a small insect, or a large elephant—has an unlimited perspective within itself. We can imagine the unlimited perspective, think about it, and even talk about it when we say it is beyond words, and we try to use words in the best possible way to communicate an understanding of the perspective that is beyond words. The unlimited perspective has to do with what we call ka dag, which means "primordially pure." The unlimited perspective is primordially perfect; it is our essence; it is the nature of the Buddha, and every sentient being has the totally unlimited Buddha within itself.
We speak of body, speech, and mind. In terms of speech, we say that the Dzogchen perspective is unspeakable, beyond expression. In terms of action, it is impossible to fabricate: it cannot be fabricated, it cannot be created, it can only be. In terms of mind, the Dzogchen perspective cannot be thought; it is impossible to form an idea of it, but we try, because if we have a pure experience, we want to know what it is. Very few people are content with the experience as it is; everyone wants to know something about that experience: "I had a dream, what does it mean?" "I had an experience, what was it?" Of course, I am not going to say it is wrong to ask this or that you should not do it; but when you talk about something, you are talking from a limited perspective. However, as I said, as long as you need limits, you must have them.
When your perspective is not limited by fears and conflicts, you can live difficult situations, and your body remains relaxed. Then your body can do many more things than when it is trembling and tense. Your speech is relaxed, and you can use language in a different way than usual, and the mind is creative. When the perspective is freer, the body, speech, and mind are less limited. This is not an unlimited perspective, but it is a freer perspective that allows you to respond more freely and spontaneously and with less effort to a situation. The less limited your perspective, the more spontaneous your meditation or experience will be, and the more flexible your behavior will be.