Ground (Dzogchen)

In Dzogchen, the ground or base (Tibetan: གཞི, Wylie: gzhi) is the primordial state of any sentient being. It is an essential component of the Dzogchen tradition for both the Bon tradition and the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Knowledge of this ground is called rigpa.
A key concept in Dzogchen is the 'basis', 'ground' or 'primordial state' (Tibetan: གཞི་ gzhi), also called the general ground (སྤྱི་གཞི་ spyi gzhi) or the original ground (གདོད་མའི་གཞི་ gdod ma'i gzhi). The basis is the original state "before realization produced buddhas and nonrealization produced sentient beings". It is atemporal and unchanging and yet it is "noetically potent", giving rise to mind (སེམས་ sems,), consciousness (ཤེས་པ་ shes pa), delusion (མ་རིག་པ་ marigpa) and knowledge (རིག་པ་་rigpa). Furthermore, Hatchell notes that the Dzogchen tradition portrays ultimate reality as something which is "beyond the concepts of one and many."
Thus in Dzogchen, the basis is a pure empty consciousness which is what needs to be recognized to achieve awakening. According to Smith, The Illuminating Lamp declares that in Ati Yoga, pristine consciousness is a mere consciousness that apprehends primordial liberation and the generic basis as the ultimate." In other words, spiritual knowledge in Dzogchen is recognizing one's basis.
Since the basis transcends time, any temporal language used to describe it (such as "primordial", "original" and so on) is purely conventional and does not refer to an actual point in time, but should be understood as indicating a state in which time is not a factor. According to Smith, "placing the original basis on a temporal spectrum is therefore a didactic myth."
The basis also is not to be confused with the "all-basis" (Tib. ཀུན་གཞི་ kun gzhi) or with the fundamental store consciousness (Tib. ཀུན་གཞི་རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་ kun gzhi rnam par shes pa), since these are both samsaric modes of consciousness. Other terms used to describe the basis include unobstructed (མ་འགགས་པ་ ma 'gags pa), universal (ཀུན་ཁྱབ་ kun khyab) and omnipresent.
The basis is also associated with the term Dharmatā, defined as follows: "Dharmatā, original purity, is free from all proliferation. Since it is unaffected by ignorance, it is free from all obscurations." According to Smith, describing the basis as “great original purity” (ཀ་དག་ཆེན་པོ་ ka dag chen po) is the only description which is held to be flawless according to various Dzogchen Tantras.
The basis is also associated with the primordial or original Buddhahood, also called Samantabhadra, which is said to be beyond time and space itself. Hence, Buddhahood is not something to be gained, but it is an act of recognizing what is already immanent in all sentient beings. This view of the basis stems from the Indian Buddha-nature theory according to Pettit. Tibetan authors like Longchenpa and Jigme Lingpa specifically linked the Dzogchen view of the basis with Buddha-nature or sugatagarbha (especially as it is found in the Ratnagotravibhāga).
In the Great Commentary of Vimalamitra (8th century), the basis is defined as "one’s unfabricated mind" (rang sems ma bcos pa). As Smith notes, this indicates how the basis is not some transpersonal entity. The basis is therefore not defined as being "one thing" (i.e. monism, Brahman etc.), since there exists the production of diversity. Regarding this, The Realms and Transformations of Sound Tantra states: "Other than compassion arising as diversity, it is not defined as one thing." The Illuminating Lamp commentary explains the pristine consciousness of the basis thus:
The Tibetan master Longchenpa (1308–1364) describes the basis as follows:
Moreover, Longchenpa notes that "ground" should be understood as a "groundless ground", which seems to be a ground and is posited as so only from a relative perspective, while in the true nature of reality it is empty of being a ground. Because it has no intrinsic nature, and from the a relative perspective the experiences of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa seem to arise from it, it is referred to as the ground:
Namkhai Norbu (1938–2018) writes that the term basis denotes "the fundamental ground of existence, both at the universal level and at the level of the individual, the two being essentially the same." This basis is "uncreated, ever pure and, self-perfected, it is not something that has to be constructed," however it "remains hidden to the experience of every being affected by the illusion of dualism." Jean Luc-Achard defines the basis as "the actual, authentic abiding mode of the Mind." According to Achard, Dzogchen tantras define the basis as "Great Primordial Purity" (ka dag chen po). The Tantra of the Beautiful Auspiciousness (bKra shis mdzes ldan gyi rgyud) defines this as "the state abiding before authentic Buddhas arose and before impure sentient beings appeared."
In the Longchen Nyingtik tradition, the ground has three qualities or aspects, also called the "three wisdoms". Each one is paired with one of the three bodies of the Buddha and with one of the three jewels (indicating that these are fully included in each sentient being). Norbu notes that "these three aspects are interdependent and cannot be separated from each other," just like the various qualities of a mirror are all essential to the existence of a mirror. The three aspects of the basis are:
Namkhai Norbu warns that "all examples used to explain the nature of reality can only ever be partially successful in describing it because it is, in itself, beyond words and concepts." Furthermore, he writes that "the Base should not be objectified and considered as a self-existing entity; it is the insubstantial State or condition which serves as the basis of all entities and individuals, of which the ordinary individual is unaware but which is fully manifest in the realized individual."
The text, An Aspirational prayer for the Ground, Path and Result defines the three aspects of the basis thus: