NAMKHAI NORBU: THE CYCLE OF DAY AND NIGHT,
where one proceeds along the Path of the Primordial Yoga,
A Basic Text of the Practice of Dzogchen by Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche,
Translated and Edited by John Myrdhin Reynolds

"The Cycle of the Day and Night where one proceeds along the Path of the Primordial Yoga" (gdod-ma'i rnal-'byor gyi lam khyer nyin mtsham 'kor-lo-ma) is a presentation of the fundamentals of Dzogchen practice in a clear and precise manner by one the leading exponents of Dzogchen in the West, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. Central to the practice of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, is the making of contemplation into a continuous process through one's activities during all twenty-four hours of the day. Thus, the author describes the Practice of the Day (nyin gyi rnal-'byor) where one simply observes the rise and fall of one's thoughts and gazes into the open clear dimension of the sky and a Practice of the Night (mtshan gyi rnal-'byor) entailing thge taking of awarenress into sleep and thereafter lucid dreaming. Followng these simple methods, the practitioner develops in the state of contemplation. Based on the teachings of Garab Dorje, the first human master in the Dzogchen lineage from Uddiyana, this volume consists of a translation from the original Tibetan of the author's verse text, together with a commentary drawn from the author's own more extensive oral comentary. A reproduction of the original Tibetan text, as well as a glossary of Dzogchen terms and a biographical sketch of the Tibetan author are included.

From the Commentary:

The Nature of the Mind is from the very beginning void or empty and without any self or concrete substance. But one should not think of mind as b eing a mere nothing because it has the clarity and the limpidity of a mirror. This clarity exists unobstructedly and without interruption, just as the moon may be reflected in the water in various ways. Thoughts arising in the mind are the way in which the Nature of Mind manifests itself. but just as one must understand the reflections in order to understand the nature of the mirror, so one must examine thoughts to see where they arise, where they abide, and where they go. However, when one looks into this matter, one discovers that there is no place where thoughts arise, abide, or go. Nothing can be affirmed and what one finds is void or emptiness. This is the real character of the mind. Now, even though this may be tghe case, thoughts continue to arisw without interruption. Therefore, what one finds ia a primal awareness of pure presence (rig-pa'i ye-shes), where there is no duality opf emptiness on the one hand and clarity on the other. This primal awareness is natural and spontaneously self-perfected. At the level of mind (sems), one does not find this non-duality because mind, or the thought process, opperates in time and conditioning, while the state of of pure presence or intrinsic awareness (rig-pa) lies beyond mind and its limitations.

[Excerpted from The Cycle of Day and Night, translated and edited by John Myrdhin Reynolds, Station Hill Press, Barrytown NY, 1987]