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 is attracted to a magnet.
The ego, however, piles layer after layer
of itself on top of 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.
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