On Mar 4, 2007, at 9:46 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote:
Vaj - Striving and effort presents an obstacle in TM, Tibetan Dzogchen and the practice of Soto Zen. In fact, striving is counterproductive. According to the Buddha himself, enlightenment cannot be achieved by striving. Here's a quote from a Tibetan Buddhist teacher of Dzogchen, who also seems to indicate that you are mistaken.
I made no comments on Dzogchen, we were discussing Lawson's TM dogmas of effort vs. effortlessness. Sogyal Rinpoche does state it nicely.
The key to understanding this from a Patanjali POV is to understand the difference between samprajnata samadhi, cognitive samadhi and asamprajnata or acognitive samadhi. The former relies on alambanas or supports (or "supportive factors"). In samprajnata the mind needs an object--either a gross or a subtle one. The objects can be any of the 24 forms of gross and subtle matter or an incarnation of god, etc. These all require effort or subtle effort, usually this involves a "meditator" (one deciding to meditate), a process of meditation (a process) and an object of that meditation (e.g. a mantra). Achieving a calm or transcendent state, where these three unite somewhat, from such means, is effortful even if one successfully transcends as one is still stuck in a subtle chain of action. One has not transcended action or karma.
