The Meaning of Unwisdom (Avidya)

Author(s): Alex Wayman

Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 7, No. 1/2 (Apr. - Jul., 1957), pp. 21-25
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
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 ALEX WAYMAN

?e Meaningof
Unwisdom
(Avi'dya)
THE WORD "avidya"is crucial in Indianphilosophy.
It is
intoEnglishas "ignorance."
usuallymistranslated Somemightask con-
cerning as "unwisdom"1-why
myrendition is thisanybetter; what
indeed,
is meantbytheword"unwisdom"? The veryquestionimpliesthesuperiority
of the lattertranslation.
People thinktheyunderstand "ignorance."They
wouldnotask,"Whatis themeaningoftheword'ignorance'?" Buttheword
"avidyy' is notunderstoodat theoutset.How much better
to it by
translate
a wordthatmightarousethequestion, "Whatis themeaningof theword
'unwisdom'?"
I THE FIRST KIND OF UNWISDOM

In the Buddhacarita,AMvaghosa castsin poeticalformthe visitof the

futureBuddhato the sage who impartshis Siriakhya doctrinesto
theresoluteyouthwho has Ar.da,
lefthomefortheasceticlifeand is destinedto
becomea religiousgenius.2Presumably Advaghosabelievesthesedoctrines
to antedateBuddhism.Whetherhe is correct in thisviewor not,it is cer-
tainthatforAsvaghosa, wholivedin eitherthefirst or secondcentury, A.D.,
thesedoctrineswereancientones. In CantoXII, verses33-37, the sage
describesthefivevarietiesof unwisdom:darkness, delusion,greatdelusion,
obscuration,and blindobscuration,
and theseare explained, as
respectively,
torpor,birthanddeath,passion,fury,
andweariness.
The Srfmadbhagavata (the Bhagavat-purs?na),
III. vii. 2, calls thosefive
varietiesthe modesof non-knowledge (ajnana-vrtti)and represents them
as of primordial
creation.The MaitriUpanisad(also calledtheMaitrayani
Upanisad) states,"Verily,in the beginningthis world was Darkness
(tamas) alone. That,of course,wouldbe in theSupreme.When impelled
'So translated in my "Notes on the Sanskrit Term Jiiina," Journal of the American Oriental
Society, Vol. 75, No. 4 (October-December, 1955), 253-268. This will be referred to as "Notes."
'E. H. Johnston, The Buddhacarita: or, Acts of the Buddha, Panjab University Oriental Publica-
tions Nos. 31 and 32 (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1935 and 1936), I, Sanskrit
Text, and II,
Translation.

21

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22 ALEX WAYMAN

by the Supreme,thatgoes on to differentiation."3 The Kalacakraschool"

setsthezodiacin correspondence withthetwelvemembers of theBuddhist
doctrineof DependentOrigination, and labelseach withone of thethree
"virtues"(guna)--darkness (tamas), excitement(rajas), and lucidity
(sattva); and hereunwisdom, thefirstmemberof DependentOrigination,
corresponds to Makara (Capricornus)and is labelled"darkness."In the
language of the Guhyasamsaja school,unwisdom is thebalancedmergerof
instrument (upaya) and insight(prajrzi),symbolized by the junctionof
day and night.5According to the Lalitavistara,"By the wrongprocedure
engenderedby [former]discursivethoughtand imagination, unwisdom
arises;and thereis no one whois itsproducer," whilethisunwisdom mem-
berof DependentOrigination doesnotconstitute a transmigration.6
SincetheBhagavat-purana, as citedabove,refers to thefivefold unwisdom
as themodesof non-knowledge, thispermitsan immediate passageto the
Vedantaexplanations.Dasgupta,in his exposition of the Sarihkara school
ofVedanta,writes, "Ajfidna, thecauseofall illusionsis defined as thatwhich
is beginningless, yetpositiveand removableby knowledge."'However,
"Ajfianais nota positiveentity(bhava) likeanyotherpositiveentity, but
it is called positivesimplybecauseit is not a merenegation(abhava)."8
Again,"Ajfiinadefined as theindefinite whichis neither positivenorneg-
ativeis also directlyexperienced byus in suchperceptions as 'I do notknow,
or I do notknowmyself or anybody else,'or 'I do notknowwhatyousay,'
or moreparticularly 'I had beensleepingso longhappilyanddid notknow
anything.'Suchperceptions pointto an objectwhichhas no definite char-
acteristics,and whichcannotproperly be said to be eitherpositiveor neg-
ative.'"9
Consideringall thoseaccounts,the firstkindof unwisdomis a passive
something,the originalcause of illusion,darknessto our understanding,
and alludedto bytherecollection "I was in deep sleep and did notknow
anything."
8Maitri Upanisad V. 2, in Robert Ernest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (Madras
printing: Oxford University Press, 1949), p. 423.
'I first found these correspondences neatly set forth in a native Tibetan work on astrology, the
Bstan risis by Blo bzani tshul khrims rgya mtsho, in the section entitled "Rtsis hgrel." Later I traced
out the places of presentation in the Kalacakra commentary Vimalaprabhd (Derge Tanjur, No. 1347,
in Vols. Tha and Da of Rgyud). For example, correspondence of Makara (Tibetan: chu srin) with
avidyd, (Tibetan: ma rig pa), etc., Vol. Tha. 212b-4, f.; correspondenceof the zodiac with the gunas,
Vol. Da, 206a-1, f.; discussion of Dependent Origination and in relation to the zodiac, Vol. Da,
261a-1, f.
"Notes," p. 260. SIbid., pp. 266-267n.
7Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy (Cambridge: the University Press,
1932), Vol. I, p. 452.
Ibid., p. 453. Ibid., p. 454.

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THE MEANING OF UNWISDOM (AVIDYA) 23

II THE SECOND KIND OF UNWISDOM

Dasguptao?showsthattheMajjhimaNik~yaof thePdli Buddhistcanon

sets fortha fourfold"ignorance" (avijja), "ignorance"of the four Noble
Truths. As is well known,theseTruthsare, Suffering,the Source of Suffer-
and thePathLeadingto thatCessation.He
ing,theCessationof Suffering,
"The avidyd,whichis equivalentto thePili wordavijjd,occurs
continues,
in the Upanisads also, but thereit means ignoranceabout the itman doc-
trine,and it is sometimes contrastedwithvidydor trueknowledgeabout-
theself(Otman)."
Unwisdom(avidya) is definedin Patafijali'sYoga Sitra (II. 5) as fol-
lows: "Unwisdomis takingimpermanence, impurity, suffering, and non-
atmanto be,respectively, permanence, purity,bliss,and atman."Patafijali's
explanationof unwisdomis preciselythe four varietiesof "delusion"
(viparyasa),an ancientdoctrineof Buddhism, vipallisain Pili."
The fourvarieties arediscussed in Arydsafiga'sYogacarabhfmi. In Stages
VIII-IX, "With Thought and Without Thought"(sacittikA bhfmi, acittikA
bhfimi),he has a sectionentitled"Establishment of ThoughtIllusionand
Non-Illusion"(cittabhranti-vyavasthana), wherehe states,'2 "Anythought
deludedbyone of thefourdelusionshas ThoughtIllusion."He had stated
earlier'3the fourdelusions,and exactlythe same as the standardlist,in
the orderof impermanence, suffering,
impurity, and non-atman.In the
commentarial portion of the Yogacnrabhfimi, Arydsafiga writes,'4"In the
Sravakabhfmi it is expoundedthatthe Four Truthsare observedunder
sixteenaspects.In thatcase,whyis theTruthof Suffering observedunder
fouraspects?It is said: as the antidoteforthe fourformsof delusion.
Amongthose,one aspectis theantidoteforone delusion.One aspectis the
antidotefortwo delusions.The two last aspectsare the antidoteforthe
lastdelusion."He meansthatof thefouraspectsof theTruthof Suffering,
"Thereis impermanence" is theantidote
forthedelusionthatimpermanence
is permanence;"There is suffering," for the delusion that suffering
(duhkha) is bliss(sukha)' and thatimpurity is purity;"Thereis voidness"
and "Thereis non-atman," forthe delusionthatnon-atman is atman.
p0Ibid., p. 111.
"'This has been pointedout by Louis de La VallkePoussin,"Le Bouddhisme et le Yoga de Patafi-
jali," MdlangesChinoiset Bouddhiques,V (1936-1937), 233. The oldest referencehe gives is to
the Ariguttara Nikdyaof the Pali canon. The fourviparydsahave been recentlyexpounded:Edward
Conze, "On 'pervertedviews,'" East and West,VII, No. 4 (Jan., 1957), 313-318.
"1The originalSanskritfor thesetwo briefStagesis on a folio which intrudedinto the Bihar
manuscript of thegrivakabhumi,whichI am editing.
xaYogicarabhfimi, "Bahubhuimika" section,Derge Tanjur,Sems tsam,Tshi, 7a-2,3.
' Yogicarabhumi, section,Semstsam,Zhi, 66b-5.6.
"Viniicayasariigraha"
"'This expositioncertainlysupportsCharlesA. Moore'spositionin his paper "The Meaningof
Duhkha" presented at the meeting of the WesternBranchof the AmericanOrientalSocietyheld at

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24 ALEX WAYMAN

It followsthatPatafijali's"unwisdom" is, in Buddhistterminology, un-

wisdomconcerning theTruthof Suffering in its fouraspects.This use of
theword"unwisdom" is fullyconsistent
withtheUpanisadicusageof false
knowledge, contrastedwith true knowledge, abouttheself.
The secondkindof unwisdom is thepositiveimpediment of falseknowl-
is deluded,misled,thinkshe knowsbutdoesnotknow.
edge. The individual

III THE BUDDHA AND THE COMPLETE BUDDHA

When commenting on the expression sahs rgyas(the Tibetantransla-

tion for buddha) as occurringin the Vajravidara-na-dharan? , Jfidnavajra
writes,"1"Regarding thetermsahs,havingeliminated all thehindrances of
corruption and of theknowable, he has awakened(buddha) fromthesleep
of unwisdom, forwhichreasonhe is called "awakened"(sahs, buddha).
He is like a personawakenedfromsleep. Regardingthe termrgyas,his
knowledge(jfiina) has been expanded(vibuddha) to all the knowable,
forwhichreasonhe is called "expanded"(rgyas,vibuddha). He is like
the expanded(or, full-blown)Kumudaflower.He has the perfection of
elimination and of knowledge."17
Now, thisquestionis obvious:"Is the 'unwisdom'fromwhichhe has
awakened(buddha) oneor bothofthetwounwisdoms alreadyexpounded?"
The keywordsare "elimination" and "knowledge."Briefly answering the
question,onlythesecondkindofunwisdom affords
something to be actively
eliminated.Otherwise stated:to whatever extentthefirstkindofunwisdom
offersanything to be eliminated,thiselimination cannottakeplacethrough
effort.In thecaseof thisfirst kindit is simplya matterof knowingevery-
thingin thesituation whereformerly one recognized thathe did notknow
anything.
But the topic warrantsmore explanation.EarlyBuddhism,now rep-
resented mostcompletely, butnotexclusively, bythePdlitexts,amountsto
the fourNoble Truthsin theirextensiveexposition.Here, by following
University of California, Los Angeles, May 3-4, 1957. Since duhkha is contrasted with sukha both
in Patafijali's Yoga Sftra and in Buddhism, one cannot translate duhkha with such a rendering as
"uneasiness," and the like, without also finding some comparable contrasting translation for sukha.
The fallacy of such a translation as "uneasiness" is that the translator assumes that a word ceases
to have its ordinary concrete significance because it is employed in a metaphysical context. Still,
apples, for example, can be referredto in philosophy books.
"The commentary Bhdsyavrttipradipa, No. 2687 in the Derge Tanjur, Rgyud, Thu, 246b-3,f.:
saris zhes bya ba ni / fion moris pa daii / ges byahi sgrib pa mthah dag sparis nas / ma rig pahi giiid las
saris pas na saris zhes byaho / dper na skyes bu gfiid las saris pa bzhin no / rgyas zhes bya ba ni / fes
bya mthah dag la ye ses rgyas pa na rgyas zhes gsufisso / dper na ku-mu-da rgyas pa Ita buho / spaiis
pa dari ye ies phun sum tshogs paho /
17For further information on the material of this passage, see "Notes," pp. 257-258n, and Nils
Simonsson, Indo-tibetische Studien (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri Ab, 1957), pp. 265-
266.

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THE MEANINGOF UNWISDOM(AVIDYA) 25

theNoble Eightfold Path,one attainstheCessationof theSourcesofSuffer-

ing. This is thebasicpathof "elimination," laterrewritten,withadditions,
as theBodhisattva path. Recalling that the aspectof the Truth of Suffer-
ing "There is Suffering"is the antidote for both thedelusionsthat suffering
is blissand thatimpurity is purity,the familiarlotussymbolism becomes
relevant. The lotustakesits rise frommud,and, becomingcleansedin
theintermediate spaceof water,presents thesunwitha pureflower, which
thesunopens. In termsof someChineseBuddhist schools-althoughthey
mightnotlook at thematterin thislight-thepathof purification of the
lotusis the"gradualpath";thefullexpansionof thefloweris the"sudden
enlightenment." To speakof "suddenenlightenment" withoutthe "grad-
ual path"amountsto teachingthata flowercan open withoutsupportof
a stemthattakesitsrisefromrootsin soil. Thus,thoseBuddhists who re-
jectedthe"gradualpath"rejectedas well the bulkof theBuddha'steach-
ing.
In termsof theIndiansituation, one mightexplaintheBuddhist reform
by the exampleof bakinga cake. Insteadof the way of exposition that
dwellson theloveliness and tastiness of thecake,theBuddhawrotea cook-
bookprosaically statinghow to bakethecake. Or, ratherthanspendtime
expanding topicof heaven'sglories,he showedtheladderthatenables
the
the candidateto transcend earth.In short,theBuddhashowedthewayof
becoming a Buddha by the methodnowcalled"elimination." This method
is sometimescalled "works" (karma) as contrasted with "knowledge"
(jfiana), and it is frequently set forthin termsof "merit" Be-
cause Buddhismhas fullytreatedthis phase,one may understand (pun.ya).that
Patafijali'sYoga Sutrahas borrowedfromBuddhismin the matterof a
certain"unwisdom"-thesecondkind.
On theotherhand,the borrowing goes the otherwayin thematterof
theopeningof theflower, or completeBuddhahood.The broadtreatment
of thistopicin theMahiy~inaBuddhisttextscannotbe tracedto the Pali
scriptures,exceptperhapsin strayand rarepassagesthatwerenot stressed
in Pali Buddhism.The Upanisadsprovideabundantinformation about
this;and one may tentatively statethattheseand the Purinicliterature,
addedto earlyBuddhism and recastin language,haveresulted in Mahayana
Buddhism.
Apparently withgood reasonAivaghosaexpressedthe "fivefold unwis-
dom"-the firstkindof unwisdom-inthe wordsof the sage Ardda. In
myview,Buddhismhas not contributed, althoughit contains,the instruc-
tionof the particular knowledgeor knowledges thatreplacethe fivefold
unwisdom.

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