Avidyā (Buddhism)

Overview

Avidyā is explained in different ways or on different levels within different Buddhist teachings or traditions. On the most fundamental level, it is ignorance or misunderstanding of the nature of reality; more specifically about the nature of not-Self and dependent origination doctrines. Avidyā is not lack of information, states Peter Harvey, but a "more deep seated misperception of reality". Gethin calls avidyā as 'positive misconception', not mere absence of knowledge. It is a key concept in Buddhism, wherein avidyā about the nature of reality, rather than sin, is considered the basic root of Dukkha. Removal of this avidyā leads to overcoming of Dukkha.

While avidyā found in Buddhism and other Indian philosophies is often translated as "ignorance", states Alex Wayman, this is a mistranslation because it means more than ignorance. He suggests the term "unwisdom" to be a better rendition. The term includes not only ignorance out of darkness, but also obscuration, misconceptions, mistaking illusion to be reality or impermanent to be permanent or suffering to be bliss or non-self to be self (delusions). Incorrect knowledge is another form of avidyā, states Wayman. According to Matilal, avidyā is not mere ignorance or lack of knowledge, but "the inherent misconception, a beginningless, cosmic confusion in all of us, which perpetuates our painfull existence", a doctrine "which states that knowledge begets freedom by destroying our avidya, our false beliefs, misconceptions and wrong convictions".

In other contexts, avidyā includes not knowing or not understanding the nature of phenomena as impermanent, the Four Noble Truths, other Buddhist doctrines, or the path to end suffering. Sonam Rinchen states avidyā in the context of the twelve links, that "[Ignorance] is the opposite of the understanding that the person or other phenomena lack intrinsic existence. Those who are affected by this ignorance create actions which precipitate them into further worldly existence." Not understanding the Four Noble Truths, or its implications, is also Avidya.

Avidyā is identified as the first of the twelve links of dependent origination (twelve nidanas)—a sequence of links that describe why a being reincarnates and remains bound within the samsāra, a cycle of repeated births and deaths in six realms of existence. The twelve nidānas are an application of the Buddhist concept of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). This theory, presented in Samyutta Nikāya II.2–4 and Digha Nikāya II.55–63, asserts that rebirth, re-aging and re-death ultimately arise through a series of twelve links or nidānas ultimately rooted in avidyā, and the twelfth step Jarāmaraṇa reflects the unending cycle of dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).

In Buddhist traditions

Avidyā appears as a major item of discussion in two doctrines about the nature of reality, in various Buddhist traditions. One relates to the Anattā (Anatman) doctrine, that is ignorance or misconceptions about "Self", when in reality there is only non-Self according to Buddhism. The second relates to Anicca doctrine, that is ignorance or misconceptions about "permanence", when the nature of reality is impermanence.

Theravāda

Bhikkhu Bodhi states that avidyā is an important part of the Theravada Abhidharma teachings about dependent arising about conditions that sustain the wheel of birth and death. One such condition is the karmic formations that arise from ignorance. In other words, states Bodhi, ignorance (avijjā) obscures "perception of the true nature of things just as a cataract obscures perception of visible objects". In the Suttanta literature, this ignorance refers to the non-knowledge of the Four Noble Truths. In the Abhidharma literature, in addition to the Four Noble Truths, it is the non-knowledge of one's 'past pre-natal lives' and 'post-mortem future lives' and of dependent arising.

Mahāyāna

The Mahāyāna tradition considers ignorance about the nature of reality and immemorial past lives to be a primordial force, which can only be broken through the insight of Emptiness (sunyata). However, compared to other Buddhist traditions, states Jens Braarvig, Avidyā is not so much emphasised, instead the emphasis on "construing an illusory reality" based on conceptualisation when the ultimate reality is Emptiness.

Avidya is the greatest impurity and the primary cause of suffering, rebirth. The insight into Emptiness, state Garfield and Edelglass, that is the "lack of inherent nature of all phenomena, including the self, cuts the impurities", an insight into Emptiness yields full awakening.

Vajrayāna

The Vajrayāna tradition considers ignorance as fetters of bondage into samsara, and its teachings have focused on a Tantric path under the guidance of a teacher, to remove avidyā and achieve liberation in a single lifetime.