Dzogchen — dzogpa chenpo, “great completion” — is the highest teaching of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and exists in parallel forms in Bön. Its core claim: the awakened state is not attained but recognized. It is always already present as rigpa — the open, cognizant, pure awareness that is the mind’s actual nature.
The path has three sections: semde (mind), longde (space), and menngagde (secret instructions). The final section contains the direct introductions for which Dzogchen is known — the teacher points out rigpa, and the student’s work thereafter is to stabilize recognition.
padmasambhava is considered Dzogchen’s progenitor in Tibet. The tradition holds lineal continuity with the primordial buddha Samantabhadra.
Parallels with Zen and Advaita Vedanta have been much remarked — the structural move of non-doing, direct recognition recurs in each.