AVIDYA

In Vedanta, avidya is defined as ignorance.  This ignorance is the ego burdening the 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 by 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.  Only by washing away these layers, by spiritual practice, will the needle feel once again the draw of the magnet and be able to connect with it.

Avidya in Buddhism is different, however.  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 his hand in a fire not knowing he will get burned.

The second type of ignorance in Buddhism, though, is what is termed ignore-ance.  It is ignoring what, from our experience, we know will cause us pain.  This is to say, we know that by putting our hand in a fire we will get burned, but we do it anyway.  We ignore the lesson of our pain.  Life is full of pain, psychological and emotional pain especially, but rather than pay attention to when, where, and how this pain comes about, we ignore it.