I have been teaching from The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen text. These dzogchen teachings and meditations show us that what we are seeking, every enlightened quality, is perfected in us. Why are we saying that what we are seeking is perfected in us?

Look at your life, look around you. Have you noticed that people are searching all of the time? At one talk that I gave, I met an elderly lady, and she was telling the story of how she's come to know all of these different teachers because she's been following so many different ones since back in the 60's and 70's. It seemed as if one could name any teacher and she could say that she has studied with them and received teachings from them, and so on. In one way that is nice – having exposure to many teachers is wonderful and very enriching. However, if all of that effort had instead been geared toward one place and toward one journey and one development and one person and one search, then that place would be fulfilling her more, and she would be stabilizing more, and her search would be getting shorter and shorter, while her finding would be growing more and more. That would be wonderful.

This person was saying, though, that she is still continuing to search for her teacher. It's been that many years, with that many teachers, and she's still not found one? There must be something wrong with the way she's using her search engine. As if maybe one digit is missing from the zip code entered in her search engine, or as if there's maybe one wrong digit in the password she's using for this search. Something is missing, right? If you cannot find a teacher after so many years of searching, then something is missing in your approach.

So it's about you, not about the search engine itself.

In life, and on the spiritual path, it's the same thing. The moment that you cannot find what it is that you are searching for, you have to look at the one who's doing the searching. It's similar to checking to see possibly what digit is missing, or what password is missing. Because something is missing there.

We are good at searching, and many of us are good at not finding. We are addicted to the search. And our addiction to the search makes it a little harder to actually find our teacher.

I remember very clearly this sense of addiction to searching when we were searching for a property that would become the retreat center in Virginia. Our realtor was very kind, sweet and always open, not caring whether we would buy or not buy. She would bring lunch, and we all had so much fun exploring and driving around searching for the right property. Then one day after a few years of steady searching, we found Serenity Ridge. Suddenly the search stopped. And I remember I kind of missed the searching, you know? It was fun to do. I was very happy to have finally found a property, but I definitely noticed that I missed this process of looking.

So we search all of the time. If you look at yourself closely you can clearly see that you're searching for your worth, your wealth. Sometimes in this search for a sense of one's wealth, it gets reduced to that of a strictly monetary wealth, so the focus of the search turns outward. Or you are searching for love, and the love gets reduced to only a romantic attraction to someone, and then again your focus turns to looking outside yourself. We can all see the limitations of a sense of love that is focused only on someone's attractions rather than on fully embracing someone.

Basically we are searching all of the time. Searching and not finding; finding and then losing. And that is painful. Or when we are not losing, then there arises the fear of losing, or the fear of change. It's all so much work! That's why sometimes monasteries can be meaningful places for people to go and just be able to say, at least officially, "This is not part of my life anymore! It's over." But that doesn't mean that once you are in a monastery you are completely peaceful, either. You could still be searching and looking.

Realizing this sense of perfection that is already within us is very important. And you cannot realize it by trying to realize it. You can only realize it when you are absolutely resting in the natural state of mind. That's why I say, those of you who feel that you are not resting enough during the practice, then you will not be able to find or be aware of the four immeasurable qualities of love, joy, compassion and equanimity in you. You'll not see them.

In the dzogchen journey it clearly seems like a lot of clarification is necessary. I realize more and more that while there is a clarity here in the teachings, there is not so much clarity for twenty-first century people, for our modernized world. The instruction needs to be a little bit different; the approach needs to be a little bit different; the language needs to be a little bit different in order to have a more immediate, deeper connection.

And that’s what has gone on throughout the centuries. Otherwise, once the Buddha had given the original teaching, there would be no reason to have any other commentaries on it afterward. However, times change, and people’s way of looking changes. So each commentary is adapting more to that particular century, but essentially it’s the same message, the same teaching. As for the meaning of this particular teaching – I am amazed at how timely it is, how beautiful it is, and how exactly it speaks to what is necessary right now for us.

So when you become ready, allow these four qualities to have a presence in your life. Have some sense of spontaneous love, some sense of spontaneous gratitude, some sense of spontaneous kindness and compassion. If you have a sense of the presence of these, it is because of two reasons: the view and the meditation. You're more open; that's the view. Openness. And you are more aware of that openness; that's the meditation. Awareness. With the view and meditation, then these qualities will show more of a presence. When they arise enough in you, then they become activated. And when they are activated enough, they find a story.

When you feel so much love, then it will find a story. How does it find a story? Well, for instance your eyes are closed in meditation, and you feel so much love, right? Then the moment that you open your eyes, what do you see in front of you? In my case right now, I see a computer, and I see a screen, and I see all of you, and I see a little text appearing there below, and I see a cup of coffee sitting here. And so from this quality of love, the moment I open my eyes, I say, “Oh, so many beautiful people, I love them. Wow, this is a great teaching, I am so blessed. Wow, my special cup of morning coffee, mmm I love it.” You see? Love finds a story.

But when I am not open enough, then instead I drag myself in front of the computer, I struggle with opening it up, and I sit here in front of it in a miserably effortful way. Then from there, if I'd try to practice love and open my eyes, I would see all of these people, these people who look like they are miserable, too. So here my aversion would find a story! “Oh, my cup of coffee wasn't warm enough, and now it's cold already – this is just horrible. Why don't they make a cup that could hold the heat a little bit longer, no? I hate those companies. They charge a lot of money.” So in this way I look out and find my story of hate.

When we find a story of hate, unfortunately we don't look at ourselves to observe what's going on with us, who we are and why we are feeling like that, why we are relating like that. That's never a question. I just objectively say, this coffee is bad, this computer is bad, and this is bad, and this is bad. And I really only look outwardly at things – projecting out, projecting all of my hatred, which is arising from a disconnection in myself and the fear of not being able to protect my pain identity. I easily feel anger and easily project that anger toward the outside and toward other people. This is what's happening. In short – this is what our life is.

An important question that we probably all are feeling in these times is: in this world that is so divided, how do we survive? How do we not feel so depressed and so helpless? What should I do? Should I do anything?

I ask myself this question, as I'm sure many of you do. A good rule of thumb, though, is that when you have nothing good to say, then don't say! When you have nothing good to do, then don't do! Whenever you cannot think straight, then don't think! Is this complicated advice? No!

In situations like these it is helpful to meditate more. Do more personal retreats. During these times of lockdown in some ways it can definitely be a beautiful gift – a time for personal development. That's why I say it's not a lockdown, it's a global retreat; it's a family retreat. And sometimes when people in the family are all relaxed, and when they are open and when they are kind and engage in positive actions, then it's a wonderful family retreat.

However, when people in the family are not open, and when people are stressed out or frustrated, and they are saying the wrong things to each other and arguing, then it's not a good family retreat. Even if that's the case, you can make it into a good retreat: simply do less, talk less, think less, and just be more, and enjoy the silence more. Even though you may naturally be very talkative and love to talk, the problem is that in that particular situation, each time you talk you end up messing up, and you don't want to mess up.

These are the emotional stages of experience that happen on a daily basis. When it happens to you like that, then it's just a matter of making a simple choice – be quiet! Right? Be quiet. Put signs up everywhere in your house reminding you of being silent. And especially have them up for the moments of the day when you're feeling the most talkative. Whatever time of day you're most talkative, the silence signs should be there saying, “I know you want to talk. Just be quiet. Enjoy the silence. Because you are not going to say many fun things. You're going to start an argument here.”

Again, I think it's beautiful to be able to really feel that all of the qualities are here in us. In short, it's having a deep sense in ourselves of trust that what I am searching for – it's really in me! And from this space, you can offer that to others.

“I am so sorry that I have been asking for love from you, my partner or sibling or parent, for such a long time. So sorry, but now I realize that love is really in me! I found it – a treasure of love! And I have some for you too! I found enough not only for myself, but for so many people. It's like water from a spring that is overflowing and just pouring out, and I have enough for you."

Because you've discovered so much more in you, now you can give to them what you have always been asking from them over all these years.