AVIDYA

In Vedanta, avidya is defined as ignorance.  This ignorance is the ego covering over the individual soul (Atman) with every kind of irrelevance, denying the Atman its destiny, which is its identification with its source, Brahman.  This is to say, the Atman is in its nature drawn to Brahman like the needle of a compass to a magnet.  The ego, however, piles layer after layer of itself over the needle so that the Atman does not feel the attraction of the magnet that is Brahman.  But wash away these layers, by spiritual practice, and the needle feels at once the draw of the magnet and is able to connect with it.

Avidya in Buddhism is different.  Here the emphasis is on the psychological rather than the spiritual and concerns pain and suffering.  There are two types of avidya or ignorance in Buddhism.  The first is the innocent ignorance of not knowing any better.  A baby will put its hand in the fire not knowing it will get burned.  The second type of ignorance, though, is what is termed ignore-ance.  It's ignoring what, from our experience, we know will cause us pain.  We know that by putting our hand in the fire it will get burned, but we do it anyway.  We ignore the lesson of our pain.  Life is full of pain, especially psychological and emotional pain, but rather than pay attention to when, where, and how this pain comes about, we ignore it.