Ka dag

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Key Term	ka dag
In Tibetan Script	ཀ་དག
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	ka dag
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	kadak
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	essential purity
Ives Waldo's English Term	original purity
Term Type	Noun
Source Language	Tibetan
Basic Meaning	Primordial Purity is a terminology in the Dzogchen tradition and it refers to the empty nature of the phenomena which is experienced through the practice of cutting through meditation. It is often juxtaposed with Spontaneous Presence.
Has the Sense of	All things in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism are said to be primordially empty and thus pure and free from extremes and defilements. More specifically, it refers to the nature of the consciousness or Buddha-Nature, which is empty by nature but endowed with spontaneous luminosity. Primordial Purity is the empty aspect of the Buddha-Nature which is primordially present in all beings.
Related Terms	trekcho
Definitions

Primordial purity is a term found in the Dzogchen tradition and refers to the empty nature of phenomena which is experienced through the practice of cutting-through meditation (khregs chod). It is often juxtaposed with spontaneous presence (lhun grub).

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient.

In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas.