Trekchö (khregs chod) means "(spontaneous) cutting of tension" or "cutting through solidity.

The practice of trekchö reflects the earliest developments of Dzogchen, with its admonition
against practice. In this practice one first identifies, and then sustains recognition of, one's own
innately pure, empty awareness. The main trekchö instructions in the Lamrim Yeshe
Nyingpo state "This instant freshness, unspoiled by the thoughts of the three times; You directly
see in actuality by letting be in naturalness.”

According to Malcolm Smith, trekchö can also be interpreted as meaning "an undone bundle",
"like a hay bale with the twine." In Vimalamitra's Great Commentary, trekchö is defined as "the
system of buddhahood through immediate liberation as a directly perceived realization that is
not connected to appearances," and states that this is "the superior intimate instruction for the
lazy who attain buddhahood instantly without meditation practice.

PRACTICE
Students receive pointing-out instruction (sems khrid, ngos sprod) in which a teacher introduces
the student to the nature of his or her mind. According to Tsoknyi Rinpoche, these instructions
are received after the preliminary practices, though there's also a tradition to give them before
the preliminary practices. Tsoknyi Rinpoche states, "As for my own personal experience, when
I underwent the ngondro training, I had already received some Dzogchen instructions. The
awakened state of rigpa had been pointed out, and I had a lukewarm certainty about what it was.
But the ngondro helped me progress.
Jigme Lingpa divides the trekchö practice into ordinary and extraordinary instructions. The
ordinary section comprises the rejection of the "all is mind – mind is empty" approach, which is
a conceptual establishment of emptiness. Jigme Lingpa's extraordinary instructions give the
instructions on the breakthrough proper, which consist of the setting out of the view (lta ba), the
doubts and errors that may occur in practice, and some general instructions thematized as "the
four ways of being at leisure" (cog bzhag), which are "a set of brief instructions on the spheres
of view (lta ba), meditation (sgom pa), activity (spyod pa), and result ('bras bu)" according to van
Schaik."
The Seminal Heart tradition in general considers that pointing out instructions should be kept
secret until the moment the lama reveals it to the student. In the Yeshe Lama, Jigme Lingpa
gives the following passage as an introduction to the nature of mind:

Kye! Do not contrive or elaborate the awareness of this very moment. Allow it to be just as it is.
This is not established as existing, not existing, or having a direction. It does not discern between
emptiness and appearances and does not have the characteristics of nihilism and eternalism.
Within this state where nothing exists, it is unnecessary to exert effort through view or meditation.
The great primordial liberation is not like being released from bondage. It is natural radiance
uncontrived by the intellect, wisdom unsullied by concepts. The nature of phenomena, not tainted
by the view and meditation, is evenness without placement and post-evenness without
premeditation. It is clarity without characteristics and vastness not lost to uniformity. Although all
sentient beings have never been separate from their own indwelling wisdom even for an instant,
by failing to recognize this, it becomes like a natural flow of water solidifying into ice. With the
inner grasping mind as the root cause and outer objective clinging as the contributing
circumstance, beings wander in samsara indefinitely. Now, with the guru's oral instructions, at
the moment of encountering awareness-without any mental constructions-rest in the way things
truly are, without wavering from or meditating on anything. This fully reveals the core wisdom
intent of the primordial Buddha Kuntuzangpo.

Regarding the "four cog bzhags", in the Yeshe Lama, these four ways of "freely resting" or "easily
letting be" are described by Jigme Lingpa as follows:
(a) Placement in the mountainlike view: After realizing the true nature-free of thoughts-as it is,
remain in the naturally clear, great awareness that is not subject to mental efforts, grasping, or
the usage of intentional meditation antidotes [against concepts].
(b) Oceanlike meditation: Sit in the lotus posture. Look at space in a state of openness. Avoid
grasping at the perceptions of the six consciousnesses. Clear your cognition like the ocean free
of waves.
(c) Skill in activities: Abruptly relax your three doors of body, speech, and mind. Break free of the
cocoon of view and meditation. Just maintain your clear, naked wisdom naturally.
(d) Unconditional result: Let the five mental objects remain naturally as they are. Then natural
clarity arises vividly within you.
The "setting out of the view" tries to point the reader toward a direct recognition of rigpa, insisting
upon the immanence of rigpa, and dismissive of meditation and effort). Insight leads
to nyamshag, "being present in the state of clarity and emptiness". To practice trekchö
meditation, Jigme Lingpa states one sits cross legged with eyes open.
His instructions on trekchö begin by stating that one must "settle in the present moment of gnosis
[rigpa], without spreading out or gathering in." Rigpa is defined as that knowledge where "the
extremes of existence and nonexistence are unaccomplished."

Trekchö is translated as ‘thoroughly cutting through’ (resistance, stubbornness, toughness and

closedness), or ‘breakthrough’. The practice of trekchö reveals the view of primordial
purity beyond conceptual elaboration (kadak trödral).
Sogyal Rinpoche writes:
Trekchö means cutting through delusion with fierce, direct thoroughness. Essentially
delusion is cut through with the irresistible force of the view of rigpa, like a knife cleaving
through butter or a karate expert demolishing a pile of bricks. The whole fantastical
edifice of delusion collapses, as if you were blasting its keystone away. Delusion is cut
through, and the primordial purity and natural simplicity of the nature of mind is laid bare.
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche defines trekchö as "cutting any experientially inclined trips"
 TOGAL
Tögal, translated as ‘direct crossing’, ‘the direct approach’ or ‘leapover’, can bring very quickly
the actual realization of the three kayas in this lifetime, and thus is a more rapid way of bringing
about the dissolution of the practitioner’s karmic vision. The practice of tögal brings the
realization of ‘spontaneous presence’ (Tib. !ན་$བ་, lhundrup), and it can only be undertaken by a
practitioner who has first gained stability in the practice of kadak trekchö.
Sogyal Rinpoche writes:
Only when the master has determined that you have a thorough grounding in the practice
of trekchö will he or she introduce you to the advanced practice of tögal. The tögal
practitioner works directly with the clear light that dwells inherently, “spontaneously
present,” within all phenomena, using specific and exceptionally powerful exercises to
reveal it within himself or herself.
Tögal has a quality of instantaneousness, of immediate realization. Instead of traveling
over a range of mountains to reach a distant peak, the tögal approach would be to leap
there in one bound. The effect of tögal is to enable a person to actualize all the different
aspects of enlightenment within themselves in one lifetime. Therefore it is regarded as
the extraordinary, unique method of Dzogchen; whereas trekchö is its wisdom, tögal is
its skilful means. It requires enormous discipline, and is generally practiced in a retreat
environment.
Yet it cannot be stressed too often that the path of Dzogchen can only be followed under
the direct guidance of a qualified master.

Tögal (Tibetan: ཐོད་)ལ་, Wylie: thod rgal) literally means "crossing the peak." It is sometimes
translated as 'leapover,' 'direct crossing,' or 'direct transcendence.'[2][3][4] Tögal is also called "the
practice of vision," or "the practice of the Clear Light" (od-gsal).

Vimalamitra's Great Commentary, defines tögal as "the practice of the direct perception of
pristine consciousness" which is for "the diligent who gradually attain buddhahood through
meditation." Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche glosses the term as "to proceed directly to the goal without
having to go through intermediate steps."[6] Jigme Lingpa follows Longchenpa in seeing the
visionary practice of tögal as the highest level of meditation practice. Tögal is also called "the
practice of vision", or "the practice of the Clear Light (od-gsal)".

PRACTICE
Tögal is practiced in a completely dark setting or through sky gazing. The practices engage the
subtle body of psychic channels, winds and drops (rtsa rlung thig le). These practices aim at
generating a spontaneous flow of luminous, rainbow-colored images (such as thigles or circles
of rainbow light) that gradually expand in extent and complexity. The meditator uses these to
recognize his mind's nature. According to Hatchell, these visionary yogic techniques:
[...] are based on the idea that pure awareness is locked away in the body’s core, localized at
the heart. A set of luminous energy channels then run from the heart to the eyes, acting as
pathways through which awareness can travel and exit the body. Based on special yogic
techniques, awareness can be induced to emerge from the eyes and light up into visionary
appearances. This provides an opportunity for recognition: for the yogi to realize that the
visionary appearances “out there” are none other than presencings of an internal awareness,
and thus to undo the basic error of ignorance.

Four visions
The practice of tögal entails progressing through the "Four Visions" (snang ba bzhi), which are:

1. "The Absolute Nature Becoming Manifest" or "The Vision of Awareness' Immediacy" -

This refers to initial visions of lights in the visual field, such as circles called thigle, and
"linked chains of spots".
2. "The Experience of Increasing Appearances" or "The Vision of the Intensification of
Experience" - According to Hatchell, in this stage "visionary experience becomes more
intense. The number, shape, and size of the appearances increase, and they begin to
assemble together in simple configurations."[14]
3. "Awareness Reaching its Greatest Magnitude" or "The Vision of Awareness'
Optimization" - Hatchell writes that "at this stage, the abstract lights begin to organize
themselves, ultimately taking shape as a mandala of 100 peaceful and wrathful
deities."[14]
4. "The Exhaustion of Phenomena in Dharmata" or "The Vision of Exhaustion within
Reality" - In this final vision, appearances dissolve back into the expanse and fade away.
 RIGPA
In Dzogchen, rigpa (Tibetan: རིག་པ་, Wylie: rig pa; Skt. vidyā; "knowledge") is knowledge of
the ground. The opposite of rigpa is ma rigpa (avidyā, ignorance). A practitioner who has
attained the state of rigpa and is able to rest there continuously is called
a Rigdzin (see Vidyadhara), which may be used as a title either pre- or post-nominally.

Rigpa (Sanskrit: vidyā, 'knowledge') is a central concept in Dzogchen. According to Ācārya

Malcolm Smith:
A text from the Heart Essence of Vimalamitra called the Lamp Summarizing Vidyā (Rig pa bsdus
pa’i sgronma) defines vidyā in the following way: "...vidyā is knowing, clear, and unchanging" In
Sanskrit, the term vidyā and all its cognates imply consciousness, knowing, knowledge, science,
intelligence, and so on. Simply put, vidyā means unconfused knowledge of the basis that is its
own state.
Rigpa is the knowledge of the ground. It has also come to mean the 'pristine awareness' that is
the fundamental ground itself. Erik Pema Kunsang translates a text which provides basic
definitions of rigpa and ma rigpa in a Dzogchen context:
Unknowing (marigpa) is not knowing the nature of mind. Knowing (rigpa) is the knowing of the
original wakefulness that is personal experience.

Rigpa has two aspects, namely kadag and lhun grub. Kadag means "purity" or specifically
"primordial purity". Lhun grub in Tibetan normally implies automatic, self-caused or spontaneous
actions or processes. As quality of rigpa it means 'spontaneous presence'[7] It may also mean
'having a self-contained origin', being primordially existent, without an origin, self-existent. This
division is the Dzogchen equivalent of the more common Mahayana wisdom and compassion
division.
Closely related terms are ye shes (Skt. jñāna, pristine consciousness) which is "the original,
unadulterated state of consciousness" and wisdom (shes rab, Skt. prajña). Rigpa is also
described as "reflexively self-aware primordial wisdom." Thus, wisdom is nothing other than
rigpa. The analogy given by Dzogchen masters is that one's true nature is like a mirror which
reflects with complete openness, but is not affected by the reflections; or like a crystal ball that
takes on the colour of the material on which it is placed without itself being changed. The
knowledge that ensues from recognizing this mirror-like clarity (which cannot be found by
searching nor identified) is called rigpa.
Sam van Schaik translates rigpa as "gnosis" which he glosses as "a form of awareness aligned
to the nirvanic state, free from all delusion". He notes that other definitions of rigpa include "free
from elaborations" (srpos bral), "non conceptual" (rtog med) and "transcendent of the intellect"
(blo 'das). It is also often paired with emptiness, as in the contraction rig stong (gnosis-
emptiness).
The unconditioned nature of rigpa is described in the Longchen Nyingthig as follows:
Not constructed by excellent buddhas, nor changed by lowly sentient beings, this unfabricated
gnosis of the present moment, is the reflexive luminosity, naked and stainless, the Primordial
Lord himself.
John W. Pettit notes that rigpa is seen as beyond affirmation and negation, acceptance and
rejection, and therefore it is known as "natural" (ma bcos pa) and "effortless" (rtsol med) once
recognized. Because of this, Dzogchen is also known as the pinnacle and final destination of all
paths.
Ācārya Malcolm Smith also notes that the atemporal nature of the basis also applies to the
presence of the basis in sentient beings as rigpa:
Since time is not a factor when it comes to the analysis of the basis, Great Perfection texts can
define the liberation of sentient beings as timeless, meaning that the state of liberation is their
unconditioned essential state. It is not something to gain; it is something to discover. More
importantly, the basis is buddhahood and functions as buddhahood.
As Alexander Berzin notes, all of the good qualities (yon-tan) of a Buddha are already "are innate
(lhan-skyes) to rigpa, which means that they arise simultaneously with each moment of rigpa,
and primordial (gnyugs-ma), in the sense of having no beginning."
Dzogchen texts refer to the basis and its rigpa as it is present in sentient beings as
the sugatagarbha. Vimalamitra's Commentary states that "because the aim of buddhahood
exists in the manner of a seed in the pristine consciousness of one’s vidyā, there is definitely
success through practice."
Dzogchen texts also describe how rigpa is connected to the energy body. Dzogchen tantras
explain that rigpa can be located in the center of the human body, in the heart centre.
The Realms and Transformations of Sound Tantra states: "The jewel present within the heart in
the center of one’s body is great pristine consciousness."

Furthermore, the Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra states:

The transcendent state of the perfect buddhas is supported. It is supported on the material
aggregate, for example, like an eagle sleeping in its nest. It has a location. It is located in the
heart, for example, like a figure in a vase.
Dzogchen tantras also discuss the related topic of the energy body, mainly the nāḍīs, vāyus,
and bindus (rtsa, rlung, and thig le; channels, winds and circles).

Immanence
According to van Schaik, there is a certain tension in Dzogchen thought (as in other forms of
Buddhism) between the idea that samsara and nirvana are immanent within each other and yet
are still different. In texts such as the Longchen Nyingtig for example, the basis and rigpa are
presented as being "intrinsically innate to the individual mind" and not "as states to be attained
or developed."
The Great Perfection Tantra of the Expanse of Samantabhadra’s Wisdom, using the Adi-Buddha
Samantabhadra as a symbol for enlightenment, states:
If you think that he who is called "the heart essence of all buddhas, the Primordial Lord, the noble
Victorious One, Samantabhadra" is contained in a mindstream separate from the ocean-like
realm of sentient beings, then this is a nihilistic view in which samsara and nirvana remain
unconnected.
Likewise, Longchenpa (14th century), writes in his Illuminating Sunlight:
Every type of experiential content belonging to samsara and nirvana has, as its very basis, a
natural state that is a spontaneously present buddha—a dimension of purity and perfection, that
is perfect by nature. This natural state is not created by a profound buddha nor by a clever
sentient being. Independent of causality, causes did not produce it and conditions can not make
it perish. This state is one of self-existing wakefulness, defying all that words can describe, in a
way that also transcends the reach of the intellect and thoughts. It is within the nonarising
vastness of such a basic natural state that all phenomena belonging to samsara and nirvana
are, essentially and without any exception, a state of buddha—purity and perfection.
In the Longdé texts (and in other works), a common term used to denote the immanent
enlightened nature is bodhicitta (byang chub sems).[16]
This lack of difference between these two states, their non-dual (advaya) nature, corresponds
with the idea that change from one to another doesn't happen due to an ordinary process of
causation but is an instantaneous and perfect 'self-recognition' (rang ngo sprod) of what is
already innately (lhan-skyes) there.[25] According to John W. Pettit, this idea has its roots in Indian
texts such as Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika, which states that samsara and nirvana are
not separate and that there is no difference between the "doer", the "going" and the "going to"
(i.e. the ground, path and fruit).[17]

Practice
Dzogchen practices aim to attain rigpa and integrate this into everyday life:
The practical training of the Dzogchen path is traditionally, and most simply, described in terms
of View, Meditation and Action. To see directly the Absolute state, the Ground of our being is the
View; the way of stabilising that view, and making it an unbroken experience is Meditation; and
integrating the View into our entire reality, and life, is what is meant by Action.
The Menngagde or 'Instruction Class' of Dzogchen teachings are divided into two
parts: trekchö and tögal (thod rgal). Ron Garry:
The practice is that of Cutting through Solidity (khregs chod), which is related to primordial purity
(kadag); and Direct Vision of Reality (thod rgal), which is related to spontaneous presence (Ihun
grub).
In Dzogchen, a fundamental point of practice is to distinguish rigpa from sems (citta, (grasping)
mind). According to the 14th Dalai Lama, "sems is the mind which is temporarily obscured and
distorted by thoughts based upon the dualistic perceptions of subject and object." Rigpa is pure
awareness free from such distortions. Cittata, the nature of mind, is the inseparable unity of
awareness and emptiness, or clarity and emptiness, which is the basis for all the ordinary
perceptions, thoughts and emotions of the ordinary mind.[citation needed]
Citing Dodrupchen Jikme Tenpe Nyima, the 14th Dalai Lama states the full measure of rigpa
occurs with the third vision.

MA RIGPA (Ignorance)
Ma rigpa (avidyā) is the opposite of rigpa or knowledge. Ma rigpa is ignorance, delusion or
unawareness, the failure to recognize the nature of the basis. An important theme in Dzogchen
texts is explaining how ignorance arises from the basis or Dharmata, which is associated with ye
shes or pristine consciousness.[31] Automatically arising unawareness (lhan-skyes ma-rigpa)
exists because the basis has a natural cognitive potentiality which gives rise to appearances.
This is the ground for samsara and nirvana.
When consciousness fails to recognize that all phenomena arise as the creativity (rtsal) of the
nature of mind and misses its own luminescence or does not "recognize its own face", sentient
beings arise instead of Buddhas. Ma rigpa is explained in Vimalamitra's Great Commentary as
follows:
Delusion arises from the difference between the basis and the conscious aspect of the basis.
Apart from generally pervading, the so-called “basis” is totally undifferentiated, without any
consideration of delusion or nondelusion. That so-called “knower” (rig pa po) or “mind” (the
special assertion of a consciousness demonstrated in our own texts) is deluded.
According to Vimalamitra's Illuminating Lamp, delusion arises because sentient beings "lapse
towards external mentally apprehended objects". This external grasping is then said to produce
sentient beings out of dependent origination. This dualistic conceptualizing process which leads
to samsara is termed manas as well as "awareness moving away from the ground". However,
some beings do not lapse into dualism by externalizing their own display and instead immediately
recognize all phenomena which arise from the basis as the insubstantial appearances of their
own nature. These beings immediately become Buddhas.
Thus, out of the basis, sentient beings arise due to ignorance/delusion, while Buddhas arise due
to recognition and wisdom. As Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche notes, a sentient being is "empty
cognizance suffused with ignorance" while the mind of a Buddha is "empty cognizance suffused
with rigpa".
Longchenpa explains the process of how rigpa (rendered here as "gnosis") lapses into ignorance
in his Tsigdön Dzö as follows:
General delusion is caused by the stain of gnosis not recognizing the manifest ground, through
which gnosis itself becomes polluted with delusion. Though gnosis itself is without the stains of
cognition, it becomes endowed with stains, and through its becoming enveloped in the seal of
mind, the gnosis of the ever-pure essence is polluted by conceptualization. Chained by the
sixfold manas, it is covered with the net of the body of partless atoms, and the luminosity
becomes latent.

Three kinds of ignorance

The Seminal Heart texts posits "three kinds of ignorance" (ma rig pa gsum), which according to
Higgins are "three progressive phases of error":

• Ignorance of single identity that is the cause (bdag nyid gcig pa'i ma rig pa), the most
fundamental ignorance and the source of all error. It is the primordial failure to recognize the
single source of rigpa and ma rigpa, i.e. the nondual empty Essence of the Basis.
• Co-emergent ignorance (lhan cig skyes pa'i ma rig pa), which is related to not seeing
arising appearances as they really are. It is the failure to recognize the Nature of the Basis
(i.e. clarity) which arises simultaneously together with cognition.
• Conceptually elaborated ignorance (kun tu brtags pa’i ma rig pa), also known as imputed
ignorance and relates to the imputation of false and dualistic concepts onto appearances,
particularly related to "self" and "other".
Longchenpa explains the three forms of ignorance as follows:
During the arising of the ground-manifestation, the clear and knowing cognition as the expressive
energy of compassionate responsiveness (thugs rje) [i.e. the dynamic aspect of the ground]
manifests in close affiliation with the three kinds of ignorance because it fails to directly recognize
that it itself is what appears as able to discriminate amongst objects. These three aspects are as
follows: [A] ignorance of single identity as the cause consists in not recognizing that all cognitions
are of the same identical nature; [B] co-emergent ignorance consists in the fact that this non-
self-recognition (rang ngo ma shes pa) and cognition (shes pa) arise together; and [C]
conceptually elaborated ignorance consists in discriminating self-manifestation as something
other [than oneself].