When We Stop Fighting Ourselves

Dzogchen, the Dalai Lama, and the Art of Living Through Presence

Over the years, I have read philosophy, psychology, theology, and a variety of wisdom traditions. Some have been complex. Others surprisingly simple. Certain insights have stayed with me throughout life because they point toward something fundamentally human that is not confined to any particular religion, culture, or historical period.

One of these insights can be found in Dzogchen, a central tradition within Tibetan Buddhism.

At first encounter, the word may seem unfamiliar. Dzogchen is usually translated as “The Great Perfection.” To Western ears, this can sound like yet another ideal urging us to become better, stronger, or more enlightened. Yet its meaning is almost the opposite.

Dzogchen is not primarily about becoming something else.

It is about discovering what is already present.

This idea challenges much of modern culture. We live in a time when life is often presented as a project. We are expected to develop ourselves, optimize ourselves, perform more effectively, and continuously improve. We are encouraged to become a better version of ourselves.

Dzogchen asks a different question:

What if the most important task is not to become something new, but to see more clearly what is already here?

The Clouds and the Sky

A classic image in Dzogchen is the sky.

Thoughts, emotions, worries, and memories are like clouds. They come and go. Sometimes they are light and bright. At other times they are dark and threatening.

But behind the clouds there is the sky.

The open sky is not destroyed by the storm.

In the same way, Dzogchen teaches that there is a fundamental clarity within human awareness that does not disappear even when life becomes difficult.

This does not mean that suffering is an illusion. Grief hurts. Anxiety hurts. Shame hurts. Yet suffering is not the whole truth about who we are.

Many of us identify ourselves with what we experience.

We say:

“I am my anxiety.”

“I am my depression.”

“I am my diagnosis.”

“I am my history.”

Dzogchen responds with remarkable gentleness:

You experience these things.

But you are not identical to them.

This insight may seem simple, but it contains a profound form of freedom.

The Dalai Lama’s Interpretation

For decades, the Dalai Lama has made Buddhist thought accessible to people around the world. He often emphasizes that one does not need to become a Buddhist in order to learn from Buddhism.

When speaking about Dzogchen, he highlights what the tradition calls rigpa—the awakened awareness that recognizes the true nature of mind.

At the same time, he warns against a common misunderstanding.

If everything is already perfect, why do anything at all?

His answer is clear.

Genuine insight does not lead to passivity.

It leads to compassion.

As we become less trapped by our own ego, we become more open to other people.

For this reason, Dzogchen, as interpreted by the Dalai Lama, never becomes a private search for inner peace alone. It becomes a way of life characterized by care, responsibility, and love.

A clear mind is not meant merely to create peace within ourselves.

It is meant to help us meet others more wisely and compassionately.

The Art of Living as Presence

Seen through the lens of practical philosophy, this is about far more than meditation.

It is about how we live.

Many of life’s difficulties are not necessarily solved by thinking more.

Sometimes we need to see differently.

We need to notice how often we try to control what cannot be controlled.

We fight the past.

We fight aging.

We fight our limitations.

We fight our own thoughts.

But life is not always a problem to be solved.

Sometimes it is a reality to be lived.

Here, Dzogchen approaches many of the insights found in Western philosophy.

The Stoics taught us to distinguish between what is within our control and what is not.

Martin Buber reminded us that every human being is more than our descriptions of them.

Hans-Georg Gadamer showed how all understanding is limited and incomplete.

In different ways, each of these traditions points toward humility.

We never see the whole of reality.

We only see parts of it.

An Experience by the Lake

For me, such ideas often become most understandable in nature.

Early in the morning by Lake Vegår, the world can sometimes feel remarkably simple.

The water lies still.

Mist drifts slowly across the surface.

A bird breaks the silence.

In moments like these, it is not necessary to analyze everything.

It is enough simply to be present.

Perhaps this is part of what Dzogchen seeks to point toward.

Not a special religious experience.

Not a mystical state.

But a simple awareness of being fully awake to life as it actually is.

The Quiet Freedom of the Art of Living

In our time, freedom is often understood as the ability to do whatever we want.

Dzogchen points toward another kind of freedom.

The freedom not to be enslaved by every thought that arises.

The freedom not to identify completely with fear, shame, or worry.

The freedom to meet ourselves with greater kindness.

This freedom does not make us perfect.

It makes us more human.

Perhaps that is why Dzogchen can be valuable even for people who are not Buddhists.

It requires no particular creed.

It simply invites us to examine our own experience.

To pause.

To look.

To discover that life does not always need to be improved before it can be lived.

For the art of living is not only about changing life.

It is also about developing the capacity to be fully present in the life that is already here.

For the art of living is not only about changing life.

It is also about developing the capacity to be fully present in the life that is already here.

Author’s Note

This essay is inspired by reflections on Dzogchen, the Dalai Lama’s interpretation of Buddhist wisdom, and the relationship between Eastern contemplative traditions and Western practical philosophy. It explores how the cultivation of presence, humility, and compassion can contribute to the art of living, regardless of one’s religious or philosophical background.  This essay is written in a conversation with OpenAI/ChatGPT which also made the illustration.