Basic Meaning
Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes).
Has the sense of
This term entered the Tibetan lexicon as a translation of ālaya, and thus it is often rendered back to its Sanskrit antecedent in modern scholarship and translations. However, as a Tibetan term, it is more commonly read literally as the compound all-ground, or ground of everything. As such it is often used to describe a common locus, or substrate, out of which both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa emerge.
Usage example
In his Entering the Way of the Great Vehicle, Rongzompa states,
ཐེག་པ་གོང་མའི་ཚུལ་ལས་ནི།་ཀུན་གཞིའི་མཚན་ཉིད་གདོད་མ་ནས་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཞེས་བྱ་བལ་ཉོན་མོངས་པ་དང་གནས་ངན་ལེན་གྱི་བག་ཆགས་ནི་གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་སྟེ་གསེར་གཡས་གཡོགས་པའམི་ནོར་བུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་འདམ་དུ་སྦུབས་པ་བཞིན་ཡོན་ཏན་ཅུང་ཟད་མི་སྣང་བར་ཟད་དེལ་རང་བཞིན་ཉམས་པར་བྱས་པ་མེད་དོ།
"In the higher vehicles, the characteristic of the ālaya [kun gzhi] is that it is the primordial awakened mind [bodhicitta]. The afflictions and the imprints that lead to birth in the lower realms are adventitious obscurations, like oxide covering gold, or dirt covering a precious jewel. Although the buddha qualities are temporarily hidden, their nature is not defiled."
-Translated in Sam van Schaik. Approaching the Great Perfection: Simultaneous and Gradual Approaches to Dzogchen Practice in Jigme Lingpa's Longchen Nyingtig. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004: p. 63.
In his Treasury of Words and Meanings, Longchenpa defines four types of kun gzhi: the primordial universal ground (ye don gyi kun gzhi), the linking universal ground (sbyor ba don gyi kun gzhi), the universal ground of varied karmic propensities (bags sna tshogs pa'i kun gzhi), and the universal ground of the karmic propensities(-derived) body (bag chags lus kyi kun gzhi).
-David F. Germano and William S. Waldron. "A Comparison of Ālaya-Vijñāna in Yogācāra and Dzogchen." In Buddhist Thought and Applied Psychological Research: Transcending Boundaries. New York: Routledge, 2006: p. 53.
alaya - *. Literally, the 'foundation of all things.' The basis of mind and both pure and impure phenomena. This word has different meanings in different contexts and should be understood accordingly. Sometimes it is synonymous with buddha nature or dharmakaya, the recognition of which is the basis for all pure phenomena; other times, as in the case of the 'ignorant *,' it refers to a neutral state of dualistic mind that has not been embraced by innate wakefulness and thus is the basis for samsaric experience. alaya 1) *, basis of all, ground-of-all; gathering place, storehouse, ground of all (ordinary/ samsaric) experience; basis of everything, basic nature. 2) abbr. of {kun gzhi'i rnam par shes pa}, {kun gzhi rnam par shes pa}
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