Nature in Mind

In Buddhist philosophy, svasaṃvedana (also svasaṃvitti) is a term which refers to the reflexive nature of consciousness, or the awareness of being aware. It was initially a theory of cognition held by the Mahāsaṃghika and Sautrāntika schools while the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika school argued against it. The idea was famously defended by the Indian philosopher Dignāga, and is an important doctrinal term in Indian Mahāyāna thought and Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often translated as self-cognition or self-apperception, and by Malcolm Smith as "one's own vidyā."