Kun rig (ཀུན་རིག་) translates to “all-accomplishing awareness” or “omniscient awareness.” In the context of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly in the རྫོགས་ཆེན Dzogchen tradition, it refers to the primordial wisdom that pervades all phenomena and transcends dualistic concepts. Kun rig represents the mind’s inherent potential to know all things without obstruction, often associated with the wisdom of omniscience that characterizes fully enlightened beings.
Kun rig is a key concept in Dzogchen teachings and is regarded as the ultimate, unchanging, and all-pervasive awareness that underlies all existence. It is free from the limitations of ordinary perception and conceptual thinking, embodying the vastness and clarity of awakened mind.
Rigpa (རིག་པ་), often translated as “pure awareness” or “intrinsic awareness,” refers to the direct realization of the true nature of the mind in Dzogchen practice. Rigpa is the immediate, experiential recognition of one’s own primordial nature—the state of pure, non-dual awareness that is ever-present and free from delusion.
While Kun rig represents the all-accomplishing, omniscient quality of awareness, Rigpa is the experiential realization of this awareness. Rigpa can be understood as the recognition of Kun rig within oneself. In other words, once the practitioner directly realizes Rigpa, they come into contact with Kun rig—the vast, all-encompassing dimension of awakened awareness.
In practice, Rigpa is often described as the doorway to realizing Kun rig. While Rigpa is the recognition of the nature of the mind in its most essential form, Kun rig represents the fully awakened state of this awareness, in which all phenomena are experienced as expressions of this non-dual, all-encompassing wisdom.
In summary:
• Rigpa is the recognition of the true nature of the mind. • Kun rig is the all-accomplishing, omniscient quality of this awareness, representing its full potential in the enlightened state.
Both concepts are intimately related and essential to understanding Dzogchen teachings on the nature of mind and enlightenment.