what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
Mariusz
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Mariusz »

sangyey wrote:I venture, from the point of veiw of ultimate reality there never was such a thing as ignorance. From a conventional point of veiw I think that is how things have always been for us. Perhaps now is the time to do something better for ourselves with help from our teachers :buddha1:

I posit that being in the natural state of clear light nature in the beggining and then jumping into ignorance is not what happened :shrug:
:good: because to locate the ignorance (for example "out there") is the very ignorance itself.
Mariusz
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Mariusz »

Center Channel wrote:
gad rgyangs wrote:In Dzogchen it is said that rigpa/vidya and marigpa/avidya are simultaneously, spontaneously and primordially arisen "like gold and its oxide".

First off, he's clearly not asking about Dzogchen.

Secondly, if rigpa (knowledge) was "spontaneously and primordially arisen", then you would not need direct introduction.

Christians, Muslims, Mormons and everyone else would spontaneously awaken to their own nature. :lol:
the realization there never was such a thing as "seems to be" ignorance in the first place = the "self-liberation" beyond all reference points such Jehowa, Allah... but spontaneous and primordially arisen.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche from http://dpr.info/art.poetry.heaven.htm:

Heaven
So blue is the ocean,
Infinite is the mind.
So bright are the heavens,
Luminous is the mind.

Expanse of heaven
Meets with deep blue ocean.
Union at horizon
Takes me beyond breath.

Heaven is bullshit.
And hell the religion of fear.
Man needs no God
Freedom is innate.
SpinyNorman
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by SpinyNorman »

Aemilius wrote:In Madhyamaka ignorance has no independent existence, there is no ignorance before there is samskara (mental formations), it is similar to that there is no father before he has a son (or daughter).
Do you mean there is a mutual dependence of ignorance and mental formations?

Spniy
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Aemilius
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Aemilius »

Spiny Norman wrote:
Aemilius wrote:In Madhyamaka ignorance has no independent existence, there is no ignorance before there is samskara (mental formations), it is similar to that there is no father before he has a son (or daughter).
Do you mean there is a mutual dependence of ignorance and mental formations?

Spniy
It is actually a straight borrowing from Nagarjuna's Shunyatasaptati (Seventy verses on emptiness) or Yuktishastika (Sixty verses on reasoning), can't remember which one. It solves the problem quite nicely, I think, there is no father before there is a son/daughter, i.e. ignorance doesn't exist by itself.

The dilemma is met also in the Pali suttas, the famous intellectual nun Dhammadinna says something like that it would lead to an infinite regress, infinite chain of causes, if you start thinking thatway.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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swampflower
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by swampflower »

Here is a line from the Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta

"And what is ignorance? Not knowing stress, not knowing the origination of stress, not knowing the cessation of stress, not knowing the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: This is called ignorance.
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā
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Aemilius
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Aemilius »

You can't find the expression "infinite regress" in this new translation of nun Dhammadinna's discourse, I think it is in the older one, the point is towards the end when Visakha asks her what is there otherside of ignorance? The answer is very interesting.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html

There is a good teaching about the first link Avidya in Alex Berzin's site, taken from the teachings of Mahayana panditas Vasubandhu, Asanga, Dharmakirti and others:
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/ar ... ks_01.html
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
Beatzen
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Beatzen »

kkrotu wrote:as the title says i want to know what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)? as it is stated in the description of Saṅkhāra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankhara" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
ignorance is the cause of craving and craving is the cause of suffering.
So what is the cause of ignorance? If our true nature is buddha nature, how did we became ignorant? What caused the ignorance of truth ?
This is a big problem amongst zen buddhists, who place an emphasis on the doctrine of "original enlightenment"

As far as I have learned, I believe that consciousness is the cause of ignorance. But it also shares a causal relationship with awareness. There are bound to be other contributing factors in the development of ignorance, but i thought it was cool to theorize that consciousness may share a causal relationship with a pair of epistemological opposites.
"Cause is not before and Effect is not after"
- Eihei Dogen Zenji
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Huifeng
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Huifeng »

Avidya and samskara play a mutually supportive role,
with vijnana right there too.

Try not to think of the links of pratityasamutpada as
a line or circle, it isn't that simple.

~~ Huifeng
Malcolm
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Malcolm »

Huifeng wrote:Avidya and samskara play a mutually supportive role,
with vijnana right there too.

Try not to think of the links of pratityasamutpada as
a line or circle, it isn't that simple.

~~ Huifeng
Well, it is that simple.

--> Affliction -->Action --> Suffering --> Affliction...etc.
Beatzen
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Beatzen »

Namdrol wrote:
Huifeng wrote:Avidya and samskara play a mutually supportive role,
with vijnana right there too.

Try not to think of the links of pratityasamutpada as
a line or circle, it isn't that simple.

~~ Huifeng
Well, it is that simple.

--> Affliction -->Action --> Suffering --> Affliction...etc.
Nothing is ever that simple.

If you can't understand how myopic that kind of schematic is...
"Cause is not before and Effect is not after"
- Eihei Dogen Zenji
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Grigoris
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Grigoris »

kkrotu wrote:This is interesting but how can samsara be beginningless and nibbana permanent since enlightenment would be the end of samsara and the beginning of nibbana(at least for the one becoming enlightened) . So if samsara has and end it must have a beginning and if nibbana has a beginning it must have an end.
It is confusing to you since you conceive of ignorance and enlightenment as being two distinctly exclusive things.

If mind is a coin then the bliss of Nirvana is 'heads" and the suffering of ignorance is "tails".
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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LastLegend
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by LastLegend »

Ignorance then is a necessary.
It’s eye blinking.
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Why should ignorance avoid being empty of cause or origin like everything else? As the Heart Sutra & Master Hua put it:
And no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death.

“No ending of ignorance” means that its basic nature is empty.
False activity, discrimination, followed by name and form;
The six entrances, contact, feeling, love, grasping, having;
Rebirth, old age and death are each that way too.
For thousands of miles the sky is clear, without a cloud or a shadow.
Still water fills a deep pool and reveals the light of the moon.
Like people who drink when thirsty perceive for themselves the hot from the cold,
Merely talking about food or helping things grow: the work is always wanting.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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Grigoris
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Grigoris »

Necessary, unnecessary, both necessary and unnecessary, neither necessary nor unnecessary. Those are the four extremes regarding ignorance. The truth regarding ignorance?
Existence is Nirvana -
indeed they can't be
considered apart;

one; lacking any nature -
to me they are
completely stainless.
Saraha
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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LastLegend
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by LastLegend »

gregkavarnos wrote:Necessary, unnecessary, both necessary and unnecessary, neither necessary nor unnecessary. Those are the four extremes regarding ignorance. The truth regarding ignorance?
Existence is Nirvana -
indeed they can't be
considered apart;

one; lacking any nature -
to me they are
completely stainless.
Saraha
:namaste:
Sounds good.

What is ignorance then?
It’s eye blinking.
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Aemilius
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Aemilius »

Avidya could also be translated as innocence, it is the same word.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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Mr. G
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Mr. G »

Aemilius wrote:Avidya could also be translated as innocence, it is the same word.
I've never seen the Sanskrit translation of avidya as "innocence"
  • How foolish you are,
    grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention!
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Anders
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Anders »

Aemilius wrote:Avidya could also be translated as innocence, it is the same word.
Huh? Vidya = Knowledge. A-vidya is literally 'unknowing'.
"Even if my body should be burnt to death in the fires of hell
I would endure it for myriad lifetimes
As your companion in practice"

--- Gandavyuha Sutra
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Grigoris
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Grigoris »

LastLegend wrote:Sounds good.

What is ignorance then?
Check ouy swampflowers answer here http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.ph ... =20#p74520" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; OR one can simply say that gnorance is a lack of the realisation of the true (dependently existing) nature of smasaric existence.
:namaste:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Aemilius
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Re: what is the cause of Avidyā(ignorance)?

Post by Aemilius »

Anders Honore wrote:
Aemilius wrote:Avidya could also be translated as innocence, it is the same word.
Huh? Vidya = Knowledge. A-vidya is literally 'unknowing'.

I think "innocence" captures the meaning quite well, thinking about the Devas in the beginning of the kalpa or the world cycyle, they don't know what it is before them? They taste it out of curiosity, they are innocent of what is to follow.
"Ignorance" is a heavily loaded word in comparison, "lack of awareness" is more neutral.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
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