AVIDYÂ. — A-vidyâ is non-knowledge, ignorance, but not in the common sense of the word, rather in the philosophical-religious sense of ignorance of the Supreme Truths, the knowledge (vidyâ) of which confers liberation from rebirth, the cause of suffering. One may be versed in every art and discipline, yet remain in the state of ignorance or a., with respect to liberating gnosis. This gnosis is not always the same, for it depends on the principles that serve as the basis for the various religions and philosophies of ancient India.
In the Sâmkhya system (see BRAMANESIMO) a. consists in attributing to the spirit the activity of matter, in confusing the soul with the body. In Yoga (see YOGA) a. has four forms: supposing eternal what is not, such as residence in heaven; considering pure what is impure, such as the body; mistaking for joy what is pain, such as the objects of the senses; believing oneself (ätman) to be what one is not.
In systematic Vedânta, a. is the innate disposition to confuse the soul with its upâdhi (conditions): body, psychic apparatus, and karman, of which only the body dissolves at death, while the other upâdhi accompany the soul into another existence. The negative concept of a. as non-knowledge acquires, in Vedânta, a positive value when it refers to empirical science, considered false knowledge because it speaks of a manifold universe while only the Brahman-ätman exists and all else is illusion (mâyâ).
In original Buddhism, avijjä = a. is ignorance of the four fundamental truths revealed by the Buddha in the sermon at Benares.