Within Tibetan Buddhism, Dzogchen is regarded as a supreme and most direct teaching on the nature of mind, yet it is not isolated from the wider tradition. It is especially associated with the Nyingma school, where it is presented as the highest of the nine vehicles and the culminating view and practice. Other Tibetan schools, such as Kagyu and Sakya, have also incorporated Dzogchen teachings, while some masters in traditions that emphasize other apex systems have engaged with it as a complementary approach. Although less central in some schools, it is not framed as contradictory to their core doctrines. In this way, Dzogchen stands as both a distinctive path and a shared point of reference within the broader Tibetan Buddhist landscape.

In terms of doctrinal position, Dzogchen presupposes the philosophical ground of emptiness and the ethical and compassionate orientation of the bodhisattva path. It is often described as transcending more gradual approaches without rejecting them, and is usually taught after substantial foundational training. Practitioners commonly undertake preliminary practices, cultivate calm and insight, and engage tantric commitments before receiving direct instructions in natural awareness. Rather than displacing sutra and tantra, Dzogchen is presented as their fruition perspective, bringing their insights to a direct, experiential realization. It thus functions as a culminating lens through which the rest of the path is understood and enacted.

The relationship between Dzogchen and other advanced Tibetan methods is often characterized more by difference in style than by opposition in principle. While some traditions articulate their highest teachings through structured tantric stages, Dzogchen emphasizes direct recognition of primordial awareness, or rigpa, through pointing-out instructions. Its hallmark is an immediate approach that highlights the already-complete nature of reality, rather than elaborate processes of transformation. Yet practitioners typically continue with other Buddhist practices—ethical discipline, compassion, and study—while maintaining the Dzogchen view. In lived practice, Dzogchen serves as a unifying orientation, allowing the diverse methods of Tibetan Buddhism to converge in the recognition of the mind’s natural state.