...a reader asks what school of Buddhism I follow. Okay: I'm a Dzogchen practitioner who is studying in the Vajrayana tradition, specifically about half way through the Ngöndro or preliminary practices.
Vajrayana is about persuading your unconscious to be a Buddhist. A guy walks out of a mental hospital cured of his paranoia about being persecuted by a giant chicken. Two weeks later he's back, sweating with fear.
“But I thought you no longer thought the giant chicken was real,” says the head psychiatrist.
“I know that!” says the guy. “But try telling it to the chicken!”
Vajrayana is about persuading the chicken that it doesn't exist.
Dzogchen is considered to be the highest yana of Buddhism according to the Tibetans. Everyone gets what they need, yana-wise. Somehow Dzogchen clicks with me.