Prabhāsvara Citta

Prabhāsvara Citta (Sanskrit: प्रभास्वर चित्त, pronounced pruh-BHAH-swah-ruh CHIT-tuh) literally means “luminous mind” or “radiant consciousness.” It is composed of two parts:

• Prabhāsvara (प्रभास्वर) — “radiant,” “clear,” “luminous,” from pra- (forth, intensely) + bhās (to shine).
• Citta (चित्त) — “mind,” “consciousness,” or “heart–mind.”
• Thus, Prabhāsvara Citta means “the mind that shines forth with intrinsic luminosity.”

In Buddhist philosophy—especially within the Mahāyāna and Yogācāra traditions—this term refers to the innate purity and clarity of consciousness. The Buddha describes it in the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN I.10):

“Luminous, monks, is this mind (pabhassaraṃ idaṃ cittaṃ), but it is defiled by adventitious impurities.”

Here, the “luminous mind” is not an entity or permanent self, but the natural clarity of awareness obscured by transient mental afflictions (kleśa). When those obscurations are removed through insight and meditation, the mind’s luminous nature reveals itself as emptiness and knowing—inseparable and self-luminous.

In Tibetan, it is translated as ’od gsal gyi sems (འོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་), meaning “mind of clear light.” In Vajrayāna practice, this is experienced directly in the subtlest state of consciousness, particularly in the completion stage (niṣpannakrama) yogas of Highest Yoga Tantra. Philosophically, prabhāsvara citta bridges Madhyamaka and Yogācāra views—affirming that while all phenomena are empty of svabhāva (inherent existence), awareness itself is empty yet luminous, the clear light in which all appearances arise and dissolve.

In short, Prabhāsvara Citta expresses the innate, self-revealing clarity of mind—the ground of both delusion and enlightenment—unstained, boundless, and radiant by nature.