Dzogchen presents enlightenment as the recognition of what is already fully present rather than the acquisition of something new. At the heart of this view is rigpa, the primordial, intrinsic awareness that is pure, empty, and luminous. This awareness is described as effortlessly perfect and primordially pure, never truly stained or corrupted, even though it is usually obscured by ignorance and dualistic clinging. Thus, enlightenment is not a transformation into a different state, but the unveiling of this innate nature that has always been there.

From this perspective, enlightenment is the stable recognition and abiding in rigpa, free from conceptual elaboration and subject–object division. It is the realization that the nature of mind is both empty and spontaneously present, with all appearances arising naturally within this ground of awareness. Rather than being constructed through gradual spiritual improvement, this realization can occur through direct introduction to rigpa by a qualified teacher, followed by the ongoing stabilization of that recognition. The path, then, is less about fabricating enlightenment and more about allowing obscurations to fall away so that the natural perfection of awareness can reveal itself.

In Dzogchen, this enlightened condition is understood as already complete, with the qualities traditionally described as the three kayas naturally present within rigpa itself. Conventional ideas of progress, effort, and striving are treated as provisional supports rather than the essence of the path, because the goal is not to build something new but to recognize what has always been the case. Enlightenment, in this light, is the clear seeing that one’s true nature is inherently enlightened, and the steady resting in that recognition without interruption.