| Definition |
(1) In the context of the five types of deep awareness, a type of principal awareness that all beings have as an aspect of Buddha-nature. It is "deep" in the sense that it is a fundamental way in which the mind works and has always been there, primordially, with no beginning and no end. (2) When contrasted with "discriminating awareness" (Tib. shes-rab) in the non-Gelug usage of the term, the principal awareness that nonconceptually cognizes the deepest truth of something (its inseparable voidness and appearance), beyond all words and concepts. (3) In the context of the ten Mahayana far-reaching attitudes, when contrasted with "discriminating awareness," principal awareness that nonconceptually cognizes the two truths of something. (4) In the context of an arya's nonconceptual cognition of voidness, in the Gelug usage, either the principal awareness that explicitly and nonconceptually cognizes voidness (deepest truth) during total absorption or the principal awareness that implicitly and nonconceptually cognizes voidness during subsequent attainment. |