Within the Dzogchen tradition, ritual and ceremony are present, yet they are consistently framed as supports rather than as the heart of the path. The central emphasis remains the direct recognition of rigpa, or natural awareness, which is regarded as fundamentally beyond conceptual elaboration and complex liturgy. Nonetheless, Dzogchen is embedded within the broader Tibetan Buddhist world, and so it makes use of certain ritual structures to prepare the mind, connect practitioners to lineage, and create conducive conditions for this direct recognition. In this sense, ritual functions more as a skillful container than as an end in itself.

Among the most important ceremonial elements are empowerments, or wang, through which a qualified teacher authorizes and transmits specific practices. Closely related are reading transmissions (lung) and oral instructions (tri), as well as formal pointing-out instructions that introduce the disciple to the nature of mind in a structured, often ceremonial setting. Refuge and bodhicitta prayers are also commonly used to establish a stable ethical and motivational basis. These elements underscore that, even in a tradition that emphasizes spontaneity, authentic practice is expected to arise within an unbroken line of transmission.

Supporting practices such as guru yoga, especially focused on the root lama or figures like Padmasambhava, are frequently performed with visualization, mantra recitation, and offerings. Feast offerings (tsok or ganapuja), mandala offerings, prostrations, and dedication prayers may all appear in Dzogchen contexts as ways of purifying obscurations and strengthening devotion. In many lineages, these are gathered into preliminary practices (ngöndro), which can include extensive cycles of refuge, Vajrasattva purification, mandala offerings, and guru yoga performed in a clearly ritualized format. These preliminaries are not usually regarded as the essence of Dzogchen, but as powerful preparations for it.

The core contemplative methods associated with Dzogchen, such as trekchö and tögal, are themselves simple and direct, and are often described as non-ritual in their essential nature. Yet even these are commonly framed by brief opening and closing prayers, protective invocations, or short offering rituals, especially in retreat settings. Rituals related to death and the intermediate state, including readings from Dzogchen-oriented bardo texts and practices aimed at guiding consciousness at the time of dying, further illustrate how Dzogchen teachings permeate ceremonial life. Across these diverse forms, the pattern remains consistent: ritual is used sparingly and purposefully, always in service of recognizing and stabilizing the natural state rather than replacing it.