Avidyā (Buddhism)
Ignorance or misconceptions about the nature of metaphysical reality / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Avidyā (Sanskrit: अविद्या; Pali: 𑀅𑀯𑀺𑀚𑁆𑀚𑀸, romanized: avijjā; Tibetan phonetic: ma rigpa) in Buddhist literature is commonly translated as "ignorance".[1][2][3] The concept refers to ignorance or misconceptions about the nature of metaphysical reality, in particular about the impermanence and anatta doctrines about reality.[2][4][5] It is the root cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness),[6] and asserted as the first link, in Buddhist phenomenology, of a process that leads to repeated birth.[7]
Translations of avidyā | |
---|---|
English | ignorance, misconceptions |
Sanskrit | avidyā (Dev: अविद्या) |
Pali | avijjā (Brah.: 𑀅𑀯𑀺𑀚𑁆𑀚𑀸) |
Burmese | အဝိဇ္ဇာ (MLCTS: əweɪʔzà) |
Chinese | 無明 (Pinyin: wú míng) |
Japanese | 無明 (mumyō) |
Khmer | អវិជ្ជា, អវិទ្យា (UNGEGN: âvĭchchéa, âvĭtyéa) |
Korean | (Hangeul) 무명 (Hanja) 無明 (RR: mu myeong) |
Sinhala | අවිද්යාව |
Tibetan | མ་རིག་པ (Wylie: ma rig pa; THL: ma rigpa) |
Tagalog | avidya |
Thai | อวิชชา (RTGS: awitcha) |
Vietnamese | vô minh |
Glossary of Buddhism |
Avidyā is mentioned within the Buddhist teachings as ignorance or misunderstanding in various contexts:
- Four Noble Truths[8]
- The first link in the twelve links of dependent origination
- One of the three poisons within the Mahayana Buddhist tradition
- One of the six root kleshas within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings
- One of the ten fetters in the Theravada tradition
- Equivalent to moha within the Theravada Abhidharma teachings
Within the context of the twelve links of dependent origination, avidya is typically symbolised by a person who is blind or wearing a blindfold.[citation needed]