What Is Avidya?

Ignorance is an illusory dharma, not a real dharma; it has no substantial essence, much like duckweed. Ignorance is a state of the mind characterized by lack of clarity, lack of understanding, and unknowing—a state that is constantly changing and can also disappear. Once ignorance vanishes, the mind transforms into a state of clarity, understanding, and wisdom. Real dharmas, however, are truly existent, unchanging, and cannot be eliminated. For example, Suchness, the Self-Nature, and the Buddha-nature are dharmas that precede heaven and earth; they are truly existent dharmas, not dharmas born later, and therefore cannot be extinguished.

Wisdom and ignorance are opposing dharmas: where there is ignorance, there is no wisdom; where there is wisdom, there is no ignorance. The essence of the Buddha-nature is the embodiment of great wisdom; it is not deluded by any dharma, and thus possesses not a trace of ignorance. The seven consciousnesses, lacking great wisdom, are obscured by ignorance; because they are obscured by ignorance, they lack great wisdom. Once the ignorance of the seven consciousnesses is completely extinguished, the four kinds of wisdom become perfectly luminous.