Rigpa
In Dzogchen teaching, rigpa (Tibetan: རིག་པ་, Wylie: rig pa
; Skt. vidyā; "knowledge") is the knowledge of the ground. The opposite of rigpa is marigpa (avidyā, ignorance).
Definition
Rigpa is the knowledge of the ground.Erik Pema Kunsang translates a text which provides basic definitions of rigpa and marigpa in a Dzogchen context:
Kadag and lhungrub
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" 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.
Rigpa and mind
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.