Ground (Dzogchen)

In Dzogchen ground (Tibetan: གཞི, Wylie: gzhi; IAST: āśraya or sthāna) is the primordial state. It is an essential component of the Dzogchen tradition for both the Bonpo and the Nyingmapa. Knowledge of this Ground is called rigpa.

Etymology

The Tibetan: གཞི, Wylie: gzhi has been rendered as 'Base', 'Basis', 'Ground' and 'Ground of Being' amongst other English glosses. According to Dudjom the original Sanskrit-term is āśraya (IAST; Sanskrit Devanagari: आश्रय; Etymology: आ- √श्रि), but it could also be sthāna.

Sam van Schaik states that gzhi is to be distinguished from kun gzhi. In the Seminal Heart series a distinction is made between kun gzhi, c.q. ālaya, "the base of it all", the samsaric basis of consciousness, of all the samsaric appearances; and gzhi, "the nirvanic basis known as the ground."

Three qualities

Gankyil

According to the Dzogchen-teachings, the Ground or Buddha-nature has three qualities:

• ngo bo, "essence", openness or emptiness (Wylie: ngo bo stong pa),
• rang bzhin, "nature", luminosity, lucidity or clarity (as in the luminous mind of the Five Pure Lights) (Wylie: rang bzhin gsal ba),
• thugs rje, "power", universal compassionate energy (Wylie: thugs rje kun khyab), unobstructed (Wylie: ma 'gags pa).

(In Goodman & Davidson 1992,) Herbert V. Guenther points out that this Ground is both a static potential and a dynamic unfolding. They give a process-orientated translation, to avoid any essentialist associations, since

ngo-bo (facticity) has nothing to do with nor can even be reduced to the (essentialist) categories of substance and quality; [...] rang-bzhin (actuality) remains open-dimensional, rather than being or turning into a rigid essence despite its being what it is; and that thugs-rje (resonance) is an atemporal sensitivity and response, rather than a distinct and narrowly circumscribed operation.

The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo

Beings are trapped in samsara by not recognizing the ground. The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo from the Gonpa Zangthal states:

From the beginning you beings are deluded

Because you do not recognize

The awareness of the ground

See also

• Seventeen Tantras
• Rigpa

Sources

Published sources

• Dudjom Rinpoche; Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje (1991), The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: its Fundamentals and History. Two Volumes. Translated and edited by Gyurme Dorje with Matthew Kapstein, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-087-8
• Goodman, Steven D.; Davidson, Ronald M. (1992), Tibetan Buddhism: reason and revelation, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-7914-0785-3
• Hubbard, Jamie (2008), Original Purity and the Arising of Delusion (PDF)
• Ranjung Yeshe (2006), Quintessential Dzogchen, Translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema
• Longchen Rabjam (1998), The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding, Translated by Richard Barron, Padma Publishing
• Petit, John Whitney (1999), Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzochen, the Great Perfection, Boston: Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-157-2
• Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (2001), Het wonder van onze oorspronkelijke geest. Dzokchen in de bontraditie van Tibet (Dutch translation of "Wonders of the Natural Mind"), Elmar BV
• Rossi, Donatella (1999), The Philosophical View of the Great Perfection in the Tibetan Bon Religion, Snow Lion, ISBN 1-55939-129-4
• Schaik, Sam (2004), Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Methods of Dzogchen Practice in the Longchen Nyingtig (PDF), Wisdom Publications Inc.

Further reading

• Lipman, Kennard (c. 1984). "How Samsara is Fabricated from the Ground of Being." Translated from Klong-chen rab-'byams-pa's "Yid-bzhin rin-po-che'i mdzod". "Crystal Mirror V". Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, pp.336-356 revised edition 1991; First published 1977
• Hubbard, Jamie (1994, 2008). Original Purity and the Arising of Delusion. Smith College. Source: [1] (accessed: Friday April 9, 2010)