|
By Jayaram V
In Buddhism we frequently come across the word "avijja".
The word "avijja" is a
corrupted form of the Sanskrit word "avidya".
Avijja means lack of knowledge or ignorance. According to the
Four Noble Truths, avijja or ignorance is the cause of dukha
or suffering. Majjima
Nikaya says, "Not knowing about dukkha (sorrow), not knowing
about the origin of dukkha, not knowing about the cessation of
dukkha,
not knowing about the way leading to the cessation of dukkha - this is
called ignorance. Through detachment, ignorance is overcome and when
ignorance is overcome a monk gains true knowledge.
According to the Buddha, the very origin of life in this world
is rooted in ignorance. Since life arose out of ignorance, ignorance is the
first problem to be solved in order to find a permanent solution to the
problem of suffering in our lives.
According to the early tenets of Buddhism, the root cause of ignorance
must be first ascertained and dealt with, and this becomes possible only when we
practice mindfulness and observe life closely to realize how we have
become what we are in the first place and what we are becoming moment
to moment through our thoughts and deeds.
The following 12 steps are called the twelve links in the development
of life. They describe the process of how life comes into existence from a
sea of ignorance and leads to suffering.
1. In the beginning the existence was blind. There was no
knowledge. All of it was a great sea of ignorance.
2. In that great sea of ignorance there were some stirrings
that were formative and organizing.
3. From these stirrings arose the awareness of feelings.
4. From the feelings arose organism that developed
individuality.
5. These organisms developed the six fields, which are, the
five senses and the mind.
6. The six fields developed contacts with things.
7. Contact with things resulted in the origin of sensations.
8. From the sensations arose the thirst of the individual
being.
9. The thirst caused attachment to things.
10. Attachment led to creation and formation of selfhood.
11. Continuation of selfhood resulted in renewed births.
12. Renewed birth of the Self led to suffering, old age,
suffering, sickness and death of being.
Thus ignorance is at the root of the entire creation and origin
of life and of all suffering. It is by removing this ignorance one can start
reversing this process of suffering and continuation of the individuality,
resulting in the liberation from suffering through attainment of Nirvana or
the extinction of self.
List of related articles
The following articles throw further light on the concept of
ignorance.
Discourse on Ignorance:
"When, friends, a noble disciple understands ignorance, the
origin of ignorance, the cessation of ignorance, and the way leading
to the cessation of ignorance, in that way he is one of right view...
and has arrived at this true Dhamma. More...
The Demons of Defilement:
All four of these types of defilement are called the Maras or demons
of defilement. The mother of Mara is ignorance. The children of Mara
are mental fabrications; the grandchildren of Mara are the three forms
of craving; and the great-grandchildren of Mara are greed, aversion,
and delusion. Sometimes these members of the Mara family help us
develop merit and skill. Sometimes they get up and sit on our heads,
lording it over us, ordering us around. Say, for instance, that greed
gets really strong. We grab hold of whatever we can get our hands on,
with no thought for who it belongs to, or whether taking it is right
or wrong. When greed gets really strong, it can pressure us into doing
evil. When anger gets really strong, it puts pressure on our nerves to
the point where we can hand down a death sentence and commit murder.
The same is true with delusion. More... Definition
of Ignorance: "And what is ignorance, what is the origin of ignorance, what is the cessation of ignorance, what is the way leading to the cessation of ignorance? Not knowing about dukkha, not knowing about the origin of dukkha, not knowing about the cessation of dukkha, not knowing about the way leading to the cessation of dukkha — this is called ignorance. With the arising of the taints there is the arising of ignorance; with the cessation of the taints there is the cessation of ignorance. The way leading to the cessation of ignorance is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view... right concentration."
More...
Dhamma Knowledge: I'm going to
talk about knowledge — the highest level of knowledge, not ordinary
knowledge. Ordinary knowledge is adulterated with a lot of defilements
and mental fermentations, and so it's called hethima-vijja, lower
knowledge. Lower knowledge is something everyone has, Buddhist and
non-Buddhist alike: the various branches of worldly knowledge that
people study from textbooks so as to run their societies and
administer their nations. And then there are the special branches of
knowledge, the scientific ways of thinking that people use to invent
all sorts of amazing contraptions for the human race — things like
clairvoyance (television), clairaudience (telephones), and powers of
levitation (airplanes). More...
|
