I absolutely agree that Kabbalah and Dzogchen are not the same. I'm just saying there are elements of DO and other reflections of Buddhism in Kabbalah, just like one can find reflections of many different truths in many different forms of spirituality. Kabbalah lacks many things that Dzogchen has, and includes many things Dzogchen does not. I'm not saying they are identical. Yet a whole book could be written on the similarities between the two systems. Perhaps the foundational philosophy, and therefore the end realization, are different. The foundational philosophy of Kabbalah is emanationism, but beyond that point it recognizes almost all the points of DO. Many of the practices are extremely similar, much of the spiritual philosophy behind the practices is similar. Kabbalah even has its own kind of Bodhicitta, and considers it the foundation of all practice, that without it no good can come from the study of Kabbalah. They recognize the accumulation of merit in order to give it away. The list is quite long. They believe in reincarnation, that if you don't achieve perfection in this life, you have to keep coming back until you do. They recognize individuals as reincarnations of past masters, and its actually traditional in Kabbalah to do this, perhaps not to the extent of Buddhism, but nevertheless its a very prevalent belief. Its also believed that one can obtain the "soul" of other masters. The belief is the same as merging with the mind stream of past masters. The belief is that if one can make oneself similar enough to say, the Ari, one could emanate the "Soul" of the Ari. The concept of Soul and Mind in Kabbalah are almost interchangeable. In fact every level of Soul in Kabbalah is considered a level of Mind as well. Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chiah and Yechidah.Namdrol wrote:No, nothing at all like Samantabhadra.wisdom wrote:Atika Qadisha (Something like the primordial Buddha, literally it means "The Ancient Holy One").
Kabbalah and Dzogchen could not be further removed from one another.
Kabbaha is basically a mysticized neo-platonical emanationalism, Dzogchen is not.
As for Atika Qadisha, its considered the Primordial Man. Beyond thoughts, beyond words, the source of all perfection, second to none, self existing, and without cause. That sounds a lot like my understanding of the Primordial Buddha, but I could be wrong.