Advaita Vedanta Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====''Avidyā'' (ignorance)==== ''[[Avidyā (Hinduism)|Avidyā]]'' is a central tenet of Shankara's Advaita, and became the main target of Ramanuja's criticism of Shankara.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=152}}{{sfn|Grimes|1990|p={{page needed|date=February 2022}}}} In Shankara's view, avidyā is ''adhyasa'', "the superimposition of the qualities of one thing upon another."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=77}} As Shankara explains in the ''Adhyasa-bhasya'', the introduction to the ''Brahmasutrabhasya'': {{blockquote|Owing to an absence of discrimination, there continues a natural human behaviour in the form of 'I am this' or 'This is mine'; this is avidya. It is a superimposition of the attributes of one thing on another. The ascertainment of the nature of the real entity by separating the superimposed thing from it is vidya (knowledge, illumination).}} Due to ''avidya'', we're steeped in ''loka drsti'', the empirical view.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=157}} From the beginning we only perceive the empirical world of multiplicity, taking it to be the only and true reality.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=157}}{{sfn|Rambachan|2006|pp=114–122}} Due to avidyā there is ignorance, or nescience, of the real Self, ''[[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman-Brahman]]'', mistakingly identifying the Self with the body-mind complex.<ref group=web name="EB_Maya"/> With ''parmartha drsti'' ignorance is removed and ''vidya'' is acquired, and the Real, distinctionless Brahman is perceived as the True reality.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=157}} The notion of avidyā and its relationship to Brahman creates a crucial philosophical issue within Advaita Vedānta thought: how can avidyā appear in Brahman, since Brahman is pure consciousness?{{sfnp|Kaplan|2007}} For Shankara, ''avidya'' is a perceptual or psychological error.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=78}} According to Satchidanandendra Saraswati, for Shankara "''avidya'' is only a technical name to denote the natural tendency of the human mind that is engaged in the act of superimposition."{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=160}} The later tradition diverged from Shankara by turning ''avidya'' into a metaphysical principle, namely ''mulavidya'' or "root ignorance," a metaphysical substance which is the "primal material cause of the universe (''upadana'')," thereby setting aside Shankara's 'Unevolved Name-and-Form' as the explanation for the existence of materiality.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=78}}{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=149}} According to Mayeda, "[i]n order to save monism, they characterized ''avidya'' as indefinable as real or unreal (''sadasadbhyam anirvacanya''), belonging neither to the category of being nor to that of non-being."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=78}} In the 20th century, this theory of ''mulavidya'' became a point of strong contention among Advaita Vedantins, with [[Satchidanandendra Saraswati]] arguing that Padmapada and Prakasatman had misconstrued Shanakara's stance.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|p=150}} Shankara did not give a 'location' of ''avidya'', giving precedence to the removal of ignorance.{{sfn|Doherty|2005|p=209-210}}{{refn|group=note|Compare [[Parable of the Poisoned Arrow]]}} Sengaku Mayeda writes, in his commentary and translation of [[Adi Shankara]]'s Upadesasahasri: {{blockquote|Certainly the most crucial problem which Sankara left for his followers is that of avidyā. If the concept is logically analysed, it would lead the Vedanta philosophy toward dualism or nihilism and uproot its fundamental position.{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=82}}}} The later Advaita-tradition diverged from Shankara, trying to determinate a locus of ''avidya'',{{sfn|Potter|2006|p=7-8}} with the Bhamati-school locating ''avidya'' in the ''jiva'' c.q. ''prakriti'', while the Vivarana-school locates it in Brahman.{{sfn|Murthi|2009|pp=155-156}}{{sfn|Potter|2006|p=7-8}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page