Customer Reviews

Roaring Silence: Discovering the Mind of Dzogchen

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a guide for anyone wanting to deepen their meditation practice and a key text for Aro students. It discusses in depth the preparation practices for Dzogchen (which include shi-nè and lhatong meditation) and gives an introduction to Dzogchen itself.

Roaring Silence guides the reader through a series of nine practical sitting exercises - constantly encouraging the testing of experience against the theory. It is more than a manual however - it explains the practices within the context of Dzogchen. It is down to earth and accessible, yet shimmers with the realisation of the path described.

Ngak'chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen demonstrate that through our own practice we have access to a world of extra-ordinary ordinariness. It is not beyond our capacity to experience and re-experience ­in every moment ­the fresh and startling reality of non-duality. This book inspires you to bite the bullet in terms of living on the precipice of total openness and awareness in every moment - and then shows you how.

The editorial review(above) says that this is not for casual readers. Of course not, what "casual reader" would be looking for a book which shows how to enter directly into a fully enlightened condition of life. Anyone not interested in such information should read nothing on Dzogchen or Zen. Those who are interested can begin Dzogchen studies very successfully with this clear, convincing and inspiring book. The meaning of Dzogchen, its methods and its results are superbly presented -- and offered in a series of steps which include meditation guidance to be followed in moving into and on from each step presented.
There is nothing obscure, vague or misleading about the writing in this book. For those stumbling on the book and simply curious to find out what this odd sounding business of Dzogchen is all about -- don't bother, YOU will find it obscure and certainly uninteresting. If, on the other hand, you are a serious spiritual seeker with some familiarity with Zen or Vedanta(non-dual traditions) then you will probably be excited to find such a direct, clear and useable volume as this.

Well, what can one say? I've been reading (and buying ;-) hundreds of books on Tibetan buddhism, mysticism, quantum physics, cosmology, philosophy of possible worlds...

Well, I've been impressed but ... this is my FIRST review... which means (for me - for you) that THIS BOOK is powerful...

A true, no let me say that again, TRUE - EmPoWERMenT !

Let me explain. Buy the book called, "Religious Reading". Read Paul Ricoeur on Hermeneutics, Heidegger on learning to think, Herbert Guenther on the Gzhi, Tondrup Tulku on all the Nyingmapa tradition, David Germano on Longchenpa and Mathew Kapstein on Assimilation of Tibetan tradition...

yeh, read read read. But, hey, just for a second, do me a simple favor.
Put on Steve Roach's WACHUMA'S WAVE, open up your door, step outside, and read this book !

Open it to the Preface, open it randomly (Jungian synchronicity at work), just look at the beautiful cloud danse on the cover.

Hey, if you DON'T READ THIS BOOK, believe me, you will be missing out on a POWERFUL empowerment experience these people provide.

Thanks Ngakpa and Khandro ! Thanks for making these strange and esoteric mindbits accessible to another "seeker of the meaning-stream" that runs like the River of Eden through our lives.

P.S.
If you read this, PLEASE also read their book on Ecstasy. It makes A LOT OF STUFF on tibetan (esoteric teachings) very accessible.

Ok, back to my contemplative surroundsound ;-)

P.S.S.
Sorry if this isn't a very "conventional" review ! Aren't you all SICK of conventional mindsets by now
???

This is the only book without diffusion restriction, which describes fully dzogchen semde. Dzogchen is the highest form of meditation of tibetan buddhism. It allows not only to attain great peace, and to observe the thougths, but mainly to observe the mind stuff itself, and by this to remain temporarily in an awakened state where there is no ego and others, and also several transcendant qualities. Usualy public books on dzogchen have one of the 2 problems:
1) They present the tantric preliminaries but not the dzogchen ones.
2) They present the history or metaphysics of dzogchen but not its practice.
This is not the case for this book: it presents the dzogchen semde preliminaries and the contemplation practice of dzogchen.

There are 3 traditions of dzogchen: semde for the intellectual, longde for the physical, and mengakde for the emotional people (to my opinion). Usualy mengakde is presented as pith instructions, but when you consider them practicaly, they are exotic. See for instance the instruction of shouting "phat" according to Patrul rinpoche.
An intellectual person in the tibetan middle age was some one who could read, write, and reason rationaly, which was rare in this age, but is the case of anybody having attended school today (sorry for my english, I am french). So Semde is very appropriate for westeners.

The book is very good to present the non religious approach of dzogchen for yogis.
It gives a precise description of the 2 first yogas of dzogchen semde preliminaries, and less acurate of the 2 last ones. It is not so clear about the absoptions of Dzogchen. But it has a very great value in giving precise and progressive meditation exercices to do at home.
If you have a good practice of Shine meditation and an external knowledge of dzogchen, you can practice it with this book.

There are 2 little drawbacks of this book, leading to my only 4 stars. One is that one of the lamas uses too much an artistic style to metaphoricaly describe the method, whereas he could do it straigthforwardly. The other lama abuses of the question/answer part to play a game like an actress in a theater.

For a practitioner, except if you have sangha restricted books on dzogchen practice, to my knowledge it is the best book on dzogchen. Public books by Sogyal Rinpoche, Namkay Norbu, John Reynold, Dalai lama and so on, are mainly on the history, metaphysic of dzogchen, or on tantra rituals.

So thanks to these western lamas who have rejected the obscurantism of tibetan dzogchen tradition. The Dharma will progress in the West with such a work.

Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen are two contemporary Lamas who write with a warmth and clarity that creates a meaningful and valuable guide to how to approach and practice meditation from the perspective of Dzogchen.

With the precision and intimacy of knowledge their subject matter as that of surgeon or anatomist, they provide wonderfully accessible instructions that they position within the everyday of life. Busy lives are acknowledged as the very stuff and place of where these practices take place.

Practical instructions and exercises are placed within the book so that as one reads opportunities to practice are given, and then these practices are given definition and description against a larger backdrop of explanation. This emphasis of actually practicing whilst reading the book means that it constantly offers up new insights and can be returned to and relied on to give guidance on repeated readings. My copy is happily well thumbed.

This book is a must read if you are interested in the most simple, yet very challenging and profound, meditation techniques. I have had a good fortune to meet a living teacher, who has taught on the very same subject, but this book accompanies and wraps those teachings perfectly. Roaring Silence provides the stepping stones to start the journey into your very own mind and to the whole phenomenal universe that's dancing in front of our noses, all the time.

This book was my introduction to silent sitting meditation. I spent three hours spread over three days doing one of the suggested exercises, with what I initially thought were mixed results. On further reading, the book described my experience exactly! It really SHOWED me, rather than TOLD me how to "practice perfectly". I found the whole thing so exciting that it got me started with regular silent sitting meditation practice.

If you are interested to learn to meditate then this is the book for you. It is easy to follow and includes nine sitting exercises that are explained throughout the book.

This book includes preparatory practices for Dzogchen and gives a glimpse into Dzogchen itself.
I have read numerous books on Dzogchen but never have I found a more simple and easy to follow introduction into the actual practice.

The authors of this remarkable book, two tantric teachers from the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism (which is where Dzogchen finds its home), state in the opening that this book is for those who have had at least a glimpse of non-dual awareness already. Without that, they say, it's rather pointless to read on, and I would agree.

If you have had some experiences of this, however, and you feel attracted (perhaps through a karmic connection?) to Dzogchen, then this book is a treasure. It is the closest to a "how-to" book that one can really find on this remarkable tradition. That being said, it is no substitute for a qualified teacher.

Dzogchen is a tradition of "formless" or "open" meditation, somewhat like Zen (also in its radical nondualism and corresponding use of paradoxical language). However, it is located within Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, and hence exists in a different system to Zen. From my own experience, I would hazard that Zen is in a sense simpler and cleaner than the Tibetan systems. However, I now prefer the Tibetan teachings, since they seem more encompassing and are richer (in my mind). But every person is different.

Dzogchen means "the Great Perfection", since in Dzogchen one sees all phenomena as the utterly perfect play of primordial wisdom. For more, I would suggest turning to the book.

One last comment: the book gives exercises and stresses that one follow them strictly and not just glaze over them. I would also reiterate that suggestion. Realization comes from practice, not just skimming through a book. Do the exercises faithfully, and I think you will benefit greatly from this excellent slim volume.

May all beings abide in perfect bliss.

Magnificent book! Highly recommended! This is the most eloquent book on Dzogchen. It clearly explains everything you need to know to actuate this vehicle for enlightenment. It is similar to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu's books but is easier to understand. Dzogchen requires experiential understanding which is achieved through meditation, contemplation, and studying/memorizing the main points, all on a daily basis.