The term Dzogchen can be translated into English in different ways: as the Great Completion, the Great Perfection and the Great Exhaustion.<\/p>\n
It is called the Great Completion<\/strong> because the nature of mind is endowed with all enlightened qualities and everything is complete within it. Everything is complete within this path, within these instructions. If we relate this to our individual path and practice, then it means that our mind itself is completely awakened right from the beginning. It is full of the genuine qualities of buddhahood. There is nothing missing<\/p>\n It is called the Great Perfection<\/strong> because the nature of mind and the nature of the world is perfect from the beginning. There are no impurities in the true nature of mind. All such incidental stains are temporary. The true nature, or reality, of mind is perfect; it is inherently pure, which in Dzogchen language is called the ?primordial pure? nature. Therefore, you don?t have to look beyond or go outside of your immediate experience to find another thought or emotion that is more sacred, more pure.<\/p>\n It is called the Great Exhaustion<\/strong> because, first, from the point of view of the fruition of the path, all the mind?s impurities are exhausted and consumed; and second, from the point of view of mind?s true nature, these impurities have never had any true existence. In reality, they have no true essence. They are just the confused appearances of our thoughts. From the positive side we say they are primordially pure, and from the point of view of negation we say they are primordially nonexistent.<\/p>\n