Avidyā Skt. , lit. “ignorance, nescience.” As a Vedantic term, avidyā refers to both individual and cosmic ignorance. Individual ignorance is the inability to distinguish between the transient and the intransient, between the real and the unreal; cosmic ignorance is māyā. Its effect is the same as that of ajñāna.
(Pali, avijjā); ignorance or delusion, that is, noncognizance of the four noble truths, the three precious ones (triratna), and the law of karma. Avidyā is the first part in the nexus of conditionality (pratītya-samutpāda), which leads to entanglement in the world of samsāra as well as to the three cankers (āsrava). It is one of the passions (klesha) and the last of the ten fetters (samyojana).
Avidyā is considered as the root of everything unwholesome in the world and is defined as ignorance of the suffering-ridden character of existence. It is that state of mind that does not correspond to reality, that holds illusory phenomena for reality, and brings forth suffering. Ignorance occasions craving (trishnā) and is thereby the essential factor binding beings to the cycle of rebirth. According to the Mahāyāna view, avidyā with regard to the emptiness (shūnyatā) of appearances entails that a person who is not enlightened will take the phenomenal world to be the only reality and thus conceal from himself the essential truth.
Avidyā is differently expounded by the individual Mahāyāna schools. In Mādhyamaka ignorance refers to the determination of the mind through a priori ideas and concepts that permit beings to construct an ideal world, that confer upon the everyday world its forms and manifold quality, and that thus block vision of reality. Avidyā is thus the nonrecognition of the true nature of the world, which is emptiness (shūnyatā), and the mistaken understanding of the nature of phenomena. In this way it has a double function: ignorance veils the true nature and also constructs the illusory appearance; the two condition each other mutually. In this system avidyā characterizes the conventional reality.
For the Sautrāntikas and Vaibhāshikas avidyā means seeing the world as unitary and enduring, whereas in reality it is manifold and impermanent. Ignorance confers substantiality on the world and its appearances. In the Yogāchāra view avidyā means seeing the object as a unit independent of consciousness, when in reality it is identical with it.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Avidyā documents
Books on Avidyā
External links