Four visions

The four visions (Tib. སྣང་བ་བཞི་, Wyl. snang ba bzhi) of tögal are:

1. direct realization of reality itself (Tib. ཆོས་ཉིད་མངོན་སུམ་, chönyi ngön sum; Wyl. chos nyid mngon sum)
2. increasing experience (Tib. ཉམས་གོང་འཕེལ་, nyam gong pel; Wyl. nyams gong ‘phel)
3. awareness reaching full maturity (Tib. རིག་པ་ཚད་ཕེབས་, rigpa tsé pep; Wyl. rig pa tshad phebs)
4. dissolution of experience into the nature of reality (Tib. ཆོས་ཉིད་ཟད་ས་, chönyi zésa, chönyi zépa or chözé lodé; Wyl.chos nyid zad sa)

Alternative Translations

(from Lotsawa School)

1. experiencing the nature of reality directly
2. id.
3. intrinsic awareness reaching full measure (Lama Chökyi Nyima)
4. id.

(from Dzogchen by His Holiness the Dalai Lama)

1. manifest intrinsic reality
2. increasing of experience
3. rigpa attains its full measure
4. exhaustion of phenomena, beyond the mind

(from A Guide to the Practice of Ngöndro)

1. the direct experience of dharmata
2. increased experience or increase of experience

(from Dzogchen and Padmasambhava)

4. the wearing out of phenomenal reality

(Padmakara Translation Group)

1. dharmata actually appearing
2. increase of experiences and appearances (Tib. ཉམས་སྣང་གོང་འཕེལ་, nyam nang gong pel)
3. the ultimate reach of awareness
4. exhaustion of phenomena beyond mind (Tib. ཆོས་ཟད་བློ་འདས་, chözé lodé)

(Matthieu Ricard)

1. the absolute nature becoming manifest
2. the experience of increasing appearances
3. awareness reaching its greatest magnitude
4. the exhaustion of phenomena in dharmata

Further Reading

• Jamgön Kongtrul, The Treasury of Knowledge, Book Eight, Part Four: Esoteric Instructions, Snow Lion, 2007, pp.94-95

Teachings by Sogyal Rinpoche

• Myall Lakes, 22 January 2010