Dzogchen (Atiyoga) centers on rigpa, nondual awareness, approached through trekcho, 'cutting through', and togal, 'leap-over' visionary practice. Its root literature is the Seventeen Tantras and the works of Longchen Rabjam (1308-1364), especially the Seven Treasuries. The tradition's own histories trace transmission through Garab Dorje and Padmasambhava; academic lineage work documents its medieval formation within Nyingma and Bön.
In the West, Dzogchen is marketed as the instant path, awareness of awareness, no ladder required. Traditional teachers counter that without ngondro preliminaries and a qualified introduction to rigpa, the 'shortcut' produces only a concept of openness, not the state.
Dzogchen radicalizes wu wei: since rigpa is primordially present, every seeking gesture obscures it, and the path is the progressive exhaustion of the path itself. It is the contemplative tradition that most openly predicts its own uselessness, and calls that the sign of success.
If the mind's nature is already pure sky, what exactly is meditation for?