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Only when we have a genuine, abiding desire to free ourselves from suffering and all its causes does our spiritual journey begin. That original desire is very potent and very real. It is the basis upon which we enter the path that will lead us to our goal. Yet from the point of view of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions, there is no place to go on that path, no end of the road where we will one day satisfy our thirst for liberty. Why? Because the very thing that we are looking for—freedom, wakefulness, enlightenment—is right here with us all the time.

In the same way, we search for enlightenment outside ourselves. We search for freedom high up in the mountains of the Himalayas, at peaceful beaches and in wonderful monasteries, where there are footprints everywhere. In the end, you may find traces of Milarepa’s enlightenment in the caves where he meditated or hints of Naropa’s enlightenment at the bank of river Ganges. You may find signs of the enlightenment of many individual masters in different towns, cities or monasteries. What you will not find, however, is the one thing you are looking for—your own enlightened nature. You may find someone else’s enlightenment, but it is not the same as finding your own.

In order to find our own enlightenment, we have to start right here where we are. We have to search inwardly rather than outwardly. From the Mahamudra-Dzogchen point of view, the state of freedom, or enlightenment, is within our mind and has been from beginningless time. Like our buffalo comfortably resting in its stable, it has never left us, although we have developed the idea that it has left home. We think it is now somewhere outside and we have to find it. With so many footprints leading in different directions, so many possibilities for where it could be, we may start to hallucinate. We could think that it was stolen by a neighbor and is gone forever. We start to have all kinds of misconceptions and mistaken beliefs.

What we are trying to leave behind is duality, the mind of confusion, our perpetual state of suffering. Physically, yes, you can leave your hometown behind and go to some secluded places such as mountain caves or monasteries. Your body will be somewhere else but will your mind be in a different state? How your mind functions when you are in a mountain cave, monastery or at home is what determines whether you are in the state of samsara or nirvana.

According to the teachings of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, enlightenment is right here within our mind’s nature. That nature is what we are trying to discover and connect with. That nature is what we are trying to recognize, to realize and to perfect. That is the whole journey on this path.

How can we recognize this nature of mind? The experience of awakening, of complete enlightenment, can be brought to you through many different methods. There is the Hinayana approach, the Mahayana approach and the Vajrayana, or Mahamudra-Dzogchen, approach to awakening. These three methods lead to the same goal. The difference is not in the result achieved but in the time it takes to reach that result and in the methods used. Of these three, only the latter is said to possess the methods that can lead to the realization of the true nature of mind in one lifetime. In the Vajrayana liturgy, this way of achieving the state of wakefulness is called attaining “complete enlightenment in one instant.” When we take the instructions to heart, when we employ the methods properly, stage by stage, and when we focus on the path and do not fall into any sidetracks, then this awakening can take place in any minute. One moment we can be a totally confused, ordinary sentient being, and the next we can be a completely enlightened being. This outrageous but very realistic notion is known as sudden enlightenment or “wild awakening.”