Based on the provided document, here is the extracted text:

🌈 Rainbow Body & Christ

This article is based on a presentation given by Dmitry Ermakov, Foundation for the Preservation of Yungdrung Bön, UK, at the Sixth International Conference of Bön Studies, Triten Norbutse Institution, Kathmandu, on February 7-8, 2025. The conference was held during Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche's centenary jubilee celebration.

Dmitry Ermakov dedicated the article to the cherished memory of Yongdzin Rinpoche, who passed away on June 12, 2025.

Introduction

There has been an increasing discussion on comparing the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with the ultimate realization of the Dzogchen path, the Rainbow Body. For instance, Father Francis Tiso's book, Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, the Dissolution of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpo A Cho, drew parallels and suggested that Dzogchen might have been influenced by Syriac Christianity.

The author of this article thought it important to bring a Bönpo perspective to this discussion, presenting the ideas of Chyabje Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, who discussed the subject several times over a 30-year association with the author.

The article focuses mainly on one specific aspect: whether Jesus Christ could have achieved Rainbow Body.

Inner Aspect: Views and Methods

• The Base, Path and Fruit of Dzogchen: To obtain Rainbow Body, the ultimate spiritual fruit of Dzogchen, one must correctly realize the Dzogchen View and then follow the Dzogchen Path until the final result manifests.

• Dzogchen View: The Tibetan word 'rdzogs chen' means both 'completely finished' and 'great perfection'. Here, it refers to the Great Perfection, which is the Nature of Mind of every sentient being and the teachings on how to realize this Nature.
  The Nature of Mind is the primordial, uncreated Base of All, beyond cause and effect, time and space, limitations, extremes, concepts, and thoughts.
  It encompasses the entire Universe, including all phenomena and sentient beings.
  The Natural State is not a single universal consciousness like Brahman or God Creator, nor is it nothingness; it is beyond both.
  Clarity (Tib. gsal ba) and Emptiness (Tib. stong pa) are often used for explanation, but the Natural State is non-dual, meaning Clarity and Emptiness are inseparable (Tib. gsal stong dbyer med).

• Fruit of Dzogchen: In the last stage of thögal (pure visions), the visions dissolve back into the Natural State, and the practitioner fully realizes all aspects of the Nature of their mind, never departing from it.
  This is called bönku (Tib. bon sku) or dharmakaya.
  The physical body dissolves into light, the essence of the elements, which is called Rainbow Body (Tib. 'ja'lus), and is the realization of dzogku (Tib. rdzogs sku) or sambhogakaya.
  The countless emanations sent to help sentient beings stuck in samsara are called trülku (Tib. sprul sku) or nirmanakaya.
  This threefold attainment is known as kusum (Tib. sku gsum)—the Three Buddha Bodies.
  Potentially, anyone who correctly practices the Dzogchen View, Meditation, and Conduct can achieve this realization.

Rainbow Body and Theism

In 2022, Yongdzin Rinpoche commented on the question of whether Rainbow Body can be achieved by following teachings of spiritual traditions and religions other than Yungdrung Bön and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, particularly theistic systems:

• In Dzogchen, one does not use or stop thoughts but leaves them as they are, letting them appear from and dissolve back into Nature.

• "Everything just appears spontaneously by itself and then everything disappears into Nature—this is Rainbow Body".

• Nobody can attain Rainbow Body until they have understood that everything appears and disappears by itself and that they are completely integrated with Nature (jalü).

• If one practices fixation with an image or visualization for a long time, they might become like a yidam deity, but this is practicing with the mind and has nothing to do with jalü.

• Dzogchen says "don't use thoughts, don't follow them, leave everything as it is," while generally, all religious and spiritual teachings, including Bönpo/Buddhist Sutra and Tantra, depend on thought.

• "Christians and Muslims believe very much in the soul, and as long as they do, they cannot take Rainbow Body".

• "Christians believe Christ disappeared and then reappeared, but this has nothing to do with jalü".

Dzogchen View and the Gospels

• Chögyal Namkhai Norbu stated that Christian teachings are grounded in the principle of an almighty, eternal, stable, and immutable God, and the path consists of observing His commandments with great faith to attain eternal life in His retinue.

• He also noted that the Christian concept of God seems similar to the idea of Brahman in ancient Indian religion.

• Chögyal Namkhai Norbu continued that a Dzogchen text establishes only that one must realize the profound meaning of the real condition of existence within oneself, not defining anything concerning the external world.

• The XIV Dalai Lama pointed out that the Buddhist worldview, based on the principle of interdependence (dependent origination), has no room for an atemporal, eternal, absolute truth or the concept of a divine Creation. Similarly, the Christian metaphysical worldview, based on Creation and a divine Creator, has no place for the idea that all things arise from the interaction of causes and conditions.

Six Signs of a Dzogchen Practitioner who is about to manifest Rainbow Body

During a discussion in Paris in April 1999, Yongdzin Rinpoche elucidated six points distinguishing an advanced Dzogchen practitioner from Christ:

1. Someone who is about to achieve Rainbow Body is beyond emotional and physical suffering.

2. They have neither fear nor doubt.

3. Since they are a Buddha, there is no one to whom they pray anymore.

4. They cannot be wounded or killed because they have completely realized the Dzogchen View and see their own body as an illusory apparition without material substance.

5. No blood or other bodily liquids can be drawn from their body.

6. One must have studied and practiced Dzogchen to achieve the result of Rainbow Body.

Comparison with Christ's Experience

The article contrasts these six points with the Gospels:

• Suffering, Fear, Doubt, and Prayer: In Gethsemane, Jesus was in anguish, praying earnestly, with his sweat like drops of blood (a rare condition called hematohidrosis caused by extreme anguish/anxiety). He expressed his soul was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" and prayed for "this cup" (crucifixion) to be taken from him. While on the cross, he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". This demonstrates Jesus experienced emotional suffering, fear, and doubt, and prayed to his God, unlike the Dzogchen practitioner who is beyond these.

• Wounding and Bodily Liquids: Jesus was delivered into the hands of men who would kill him. After he died, a soldier pierced his side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. This is contrary to the Dzogchen signs that a realized practitioner cannot be wounded or killed and no blood or bodily liquids can be drawn from their body.

• Dzogchen Practice: The Gospels do not contain any record of Jesus practicing or teaching Dzogchen.

Resurrection and Ascension

• Resurrection: In the canonical Gospels, the Resurrection descriptions include:
  The stone rolled away from the tomb, and Christ's body was gone.
  Angels told women Jesus had risen as prophesied.
  Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalen and others in flesh, allowing them to touch him.
  Jesus explained his resurrection was according to prophecies by previous prophets of God.
  Since Christ died, the Resurrection is related to jalü phochung (the Lesser Rainbow Body achieved in bardo), not jalü phochen (the Greater Rainbow Body).

• Ascension: The Ascension of Christ, 40 days after the Resurrection, is described as Jesus being taken up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God.
  The 40 days are noted as curiously resembling the general 49-day period of bardo in Yungdrung Bön and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.
  This underlines that Jesus was following in the footsteps of the Hebrew prophets, not practicing Dzogchen.
  Christ's Ascension, like those of Enoch and Elijah, is thanks to the grace of God, as "Ascension to heaven, in Jewish tradition, was a gift of God to those whom he loved".

Conclusion

• The author argues that Christ's Transfiguration, Resurrection, and Ascension cannot be compared to the supreme realization in Dzogchen, Rainbow Body.

• Unlike the ultimate realization in Yungdrung Bön and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Christ's threefold attainment was due to the intervention of the God Yahweh and was not the result of liberating his ordinary mind into the Nature of Mind and dissolving his material body into the essence of the elements.

• The Dalai Lama noted that Christ's miracles pointed "not to his person... but to the human nature he shares with us," relying on the Holy Spirit (divine resources outside himself).

• From the Yungdrung Bön point of view, by sitting "at the right hand of God," Christ entered a realm of long-living gods, which is still within samsara.

• Christ's spiritual realization (Resurrection) cannot be achieved by Christian devotees, who must wait until the Day of Judgement to be resurrected in their physical bodies.

• The article concludes with Yongdzin Rinpoche's succinct statement: "Christians and Muslims believe very much in the soul, and as long as they do, they cannot take Rainbow Body. Christians believe Christ disappeared and then reappeared, but this has nothing to do with jalü".

https://gemini.google.com/app/0155b2646f284e9c