Svasaṃvedana

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Key Term	svasaṃvedana
In Tibetan Script	རང་རིག་
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	rang rig
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	स्वसंवेदन
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	rangrik
Richard Barron's English Term	self-knowing awareness [Dzogchen]; self-aware(ness) [Yogachara]
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	self-cognizing consciousness
Dan Martin's English Term	reflexive awareness
Alternate Spellings	svasaṃvitti
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Sanskrit
Has the Sense of	Mind seeing mind. The classic example is that of a lamp that illuminates the surrounding area as well as itself.
Definitions
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism	See page 882: In Sanskrit, lit.“self-knowledge” or “self-awareness,” also seen written as svasaṃveda, svasaṃvit, svasaṃvitti. In Buddhist epistemology, svasaṃvedana is that part of consciousness which, during a conscious act of seeing, hearing, thinking, and so on, apprehends not the external sensory object but the knowing consciousness itself.

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.