Study, Reflect and Practise. April 2026
Studying, Reflecting and Practising
In order to sustain our Dharma life we need to deepen and support our meditation practice with the study of the key points of the path we are following. According to the tradition there are three stages, referred to in Tibetan as ‘thos sam gom sum’.
We begin by listening (Tib. Thos) to the Dharma teachings and opening ourselves to them, rather than pulling them into the structure of whatever habitual concepts we rely on.
After we have absorbed the meaning of the teachings, the second stage is to reflect (Tib. bSam) on them in the light of our own experience. By listening for the resonances of these patterns, we gain more and more sense that our life unfolds through the dynamic interaction of the ever-shifting environment and our ever-shifting mind. With this, it becomes clear that what we take to be our usual sense of our mind is not something apart from the flow of experience, but is itself part of the interplay of our delusions of separate subject and separate object.
When this is clear for us we can move onto the third stage, which is the meditation (Tib. sGom). We do this by opening to the empty source of everything. This source, which is the mind itself, has no fixed or defining content. It is not far away but is closer to us than our own breath. By opening to this intrinsic availability we can see that it neither promotes nor blocks specific occurrences. It has neither friends nor enemies. The key point is to open to this directly rather than thinking about it.
So we begin with study in order to be sure that we are receiving the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings without mixing them with anything else. Then we reflect on what we have learned. Again and again we try to see how this can illuminate our life – both how we get tied in knots and how we get free of them. Then we relax and open into the ever-open and see that both self (the ‘subject’) and other (the ‘object’) are aspects of the ungraspable flow.
Although Dzogchen is known as the quick path we each have to work with our own current capacity. We need patience and diligence because our own path will take us as long as it takes.
In November 2025 I prepared a suggested study programme based on my books and you can access it here.
https://simplybeing.co.uk/texts-and-transcripts/a-suggested-study-programme/