User:Dorje108/Avidya

Avidyā (Sanskrit; Pāli: avijjā; Tibetan phonetic: ma rigpa) is commonly translated as "ignorance" or "delusion". It can be defined as not understanding the full meaning and implication of the four noble truths or as a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of reality. Avidyā is identified within the Buddhist teachings as follows:
 * The first link in the twelve links of dependent origination.
 * One of the three poisons within the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.
 * One of the six root kleshas within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings
 * One of the ten fetters in the Theravada tradition
 * Equivalent to moha within the Theravada Abhidharma teachings

Within the context of the twelve links of dependent origination, avidya is typically symbolized by person who is blind or wearing a blindfold.

Overview
Avidya is explained in different ways or on different levels within different Buddhist teachings or traditions. On the most fundamental level, it is a misunderstanding of the nature of reality; more specifically–a misunderstanding of the nature of self and of phenomena. On a more general level, avidya can be defined as not understanding the full meaning and implication of the four noble truths.

Ron Leifer explains:
 * From the Buddhist point of view, the unwillingness or failure to see the facts of life as they are, to see ourselves as we are, and to conduct ourselves in harmony with these realities, is the chief cause of our self-inflicted suffering and, therefore the chief obstacle to our happiness. This state of denial, or lack of realization of the facts of existence, is called avidya in Sanskrit--literally, "the failure to see or know"--translated as "ignorance". One of the great contributions of Gautama Buddha was the realization that ignorance is the primary cause of the sufferings we impose on ourselves and others.

Theravada
Bhikkhu Bodhi provides the following definition based on the Theravada Abhidharma teachings:
 * Ignorance (avijja) is the cetasika delusion (moha), which obscures perception of the true nature of things just as a cataract obscures perception of visible objects. According to the Suttanta method of explanation, ignorance is non-knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. According to the Abhidharma method, ignorance is non-knowledge of eight things: the Four Noble Truths, the pre-natal past, the post-mortem future, the past and the future together, and dependent arising.

Bhikkhu Bodhi explains the relationship between the terms avijja and moha as follows:
 * Ignorance (avijja) is actually identical in nature with the unwholesome root "delusion" (moha). When the Buddha speaks in a psychological context about mental factors, he generally uses the word "delusion" (moha); when he speaks about the causal basis of samsara, he uses the word "ignorance" (avijja).

Nina van Gorkom states:
 * Moha is ignorant of the true nature of realities, it does not know nāma and rūpa as they are. Moha is lack of knowledge about the four noble Truths: about dukkha, the origination of dukkha, the ceasing of dukkha and the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha. So long as ignorance has not been eradicated we have to continue to be in the cycle of birth and death, we have to be born again and again. The Pāli term avijjā is used for ignorance in connection with the “Dependent Origination”, the conditional arising of phenomena in the cycle of birth and death. Avijjā is the first link in the chain of conditions for the continuation of this cycle. At the attainment of arahatship ignorance is eradicated and then there are no more conditions for rebirth.

Mahayana
Mipham Rinpoche provides the following definition based on the Mahayana Abhidharma:
 * Ignorance means not knowing the [law of] actions and their effects, the [four] truths, and the virtues of the Precious Ones. It cases all affliction to occur.

The Abhidharma-samuccaya states:
 * What is ignorance (avidya)? It is a lack of being aware to one's fullest capacity and it covers the three realms of life. Its function is to serve as it basis for mistaken stubbornness, doubt and emotionality about the entities of reality.

In the Mahayana tradition, two levels of ignorance (avidya) are identified. Dzigar Kongtrul explains:
 * There are two levels of ignorance: ignorance of the absolute, or the essential nature of phenomena, and the ignorance that prevents us from taking an accurate reading of the relative world. These two kinds of ignorance are like two kinds of thread: When they are tightly woven together, they are not easy to identify, yet they make up the fabric of delusion.


 * As a result of the first type of ignorance, we lack wisdom. Lacking an understanding of our true nature, we perceive that which is illusory and spacious to be solid and real. The second type of ignorance is the inability to clearly understand the laws of karma and interdependence, which then results in an inaccurate relationship to the world.

Within the twelve nidanas
Avidya is identified as the first of the twelve links of dependent origination (twelve nidanas)—a sequence of links that describe a karmic process that keeps being bound within samsara (cyclic existence).

Ajahn Sucitto explains:
 * The sequence of dependent origination begins with the condition of unknowing or ignorance (avijjā), which in Buddhist iconography is depicted as either a blind man or someone wearing a blindfold. This is the driver of the bus to dukkha [i.e. suffering]. If you have to choose the one determining factor for suffering, it’s this ignorance. People tend to take “ignorance” as pejorative, but it more precisely refers to a lack of gnosis or insightful seeing. It is summarized as “not understanding the four noble truths”—or, perhaps more accurately, not understanding their implications. That is, as long as there is the condition of ignorance, the mind still expects to find an experience that is completely satisfying and feels disappointed when things “go wrong.” There is a parable of a man eating a bag of chili peppers one by one, weeping at their fiery taste as he does so. When asked why he continues to eat the peppers, he replies, “I’m looking for the sweet one.” This is ignorance.

Chogyam Trungpa states:
 * The twelve nidanas begins with what's called ignorance. It is ignorant in the sense that our own struggle has not been seen. We are unable to see our own struggle properly and completely, therefore there is this notion of blindness. The imagery for this is what's called the blind mother principle. A blind grandmother has no chance to see her grandchildren. She has her own concepts and ideas about how the world should function in her particular period of time in history and her particular social setup. All of that is on one level, that of blindness. And within the blindness, the grandmother struggles enormously, trying to communicate with her grandchildren constantly. The blind grandmother is also highly inquisitive and extremely interested in any kind of gossip that involves the grandchildren. Her way of maintaining power over her grandchildren is to maintain her intelligence of the gossip, which is what is called subconscious gossip: who got married, who had children, who got divorced, who got killed, who had cancer, who had an accident--that and this, this and that, this, this, that... That kind of gossip is endless...it goes on like a wheel which revolves again and again and again, maintaining constant eternity. Therefore, the second nidana process, which is called samskara...is traditionally analogized by a potter's wheel...This represents conceptual mind forming itself in a certain situation, and this is the point at which the creation of karma begins.

Uprooting avidya
The antidote to avidyā is the development of "wisdom" (Skt.: prajñā; Pali: pañña). This can be achieved by practicing awareness/mindfulness (Pali: sati, Skt: ), patient endurance (Skt: Kshanti; Pali: khanti) and meditation (Skt: dhyāna). More generally, wisdom is developed by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

Etymology
The term vidya means "to see" or "to know". The term a is a negation. Therefore, avidya means to "not see" or "not know".

The word is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weid-, meaning "to see" or "to know". It is a cognate with the Latin verb ''vidēre' (to see)' and English "wit".

Roshi Enkyo O’Hara states that the Chinese and Japanese symbols for this term show the character “mu”, a barrier, next to the characters for the sun and moon: meaning no sun and moon, no light, no clarity, no knowing, a completely deluded state.