Modern culture does present many conceptual and emotional barriers to realization.
Since the basis of liberation is to deal with disturbing emotions and the basis of enlightenment is to deal with disturbing, (and naive) thoughts/thinking, it seems that we do have rather prejudicial circumstances when it comes to cultivating lucidity and successfully investigating the true nature of our reality.
However, one need not be a "Buddhist" to investigate and practice Buddhadharma. During the long degradations of the teaching of Dharma, there have been many schools and points-of-view, including, (what would now be considered) superstitious and religious approaches. Now, for the inquiring yogin, dead-set on one thing, and one thing only, (I will not allude to what that is here) the two truths are essential and there are two perspectives that are useful.
The teachings have two components or aspects in relation to that. There are the provisional, relative teachings and then, there is the underlying and definitive, (or, if you must, absolute) factor. My understanding is that a serious inquiry into Buddhadharma can start with practicing the capacity to zoom-in and zoom-out while being exposed to as many aspects of the the various vehicles as you can muster.
Of all the various, skillful means, of understanding suffering, (problems, unsatisfactoriness, pain, etc.) and discovering its cessation, (and beyond) Dzogchen, (The Great Perfection) may be a useful key for those with the capacity to utilize it. As a pinnacle, it represents the essential meaning and teaching of all the vehicles in a way that is unique and insightful. However, it is by no means an objective, rationalistic approach to direct reality. It is more like a psychotropic poem that inserts itself into the intellect and provides a rather dynamic basis which can incite and provoke reactions by the confines of conceptual naivety and dualistic reactions.
Dzogchen has become more available due to the effect that China has had on Tibet and the necessity of revealing and spreading what was once reserved for practitioners who were ready or poised for a more direct approach, as Dharma is about customization, context and skillful means, not rigid dogma in a shell of concepts and a cage of beliefs.
The Great Perfection is ultimately and absolutely simple, direct, boundless and instantly present. So, it should be clear from our current experiences, conditioning and culture that the most simple Dharma that strikes at the essential points and the core of our heart's meaning could be, for some, (perhaps many) potentially the most difficult. Yet, rather than presenting a bias as to the challenge, it is the challenge itself that can prove most interesting with the definitive benefit that realization, liberation and enlightenment flourish in the right environment and under the auspices of the essentials.
Good Fortune!
: ; Jp: mappō
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