Ignorance and Wisdom

Ignorance (avidyā) is not a truly existent dharma; it has no real substance, and therefore it can be extinguished, whereas truly existent dharmas cannot be extinguished—for example, the tathāgatagarbha, the self-nature of suchness. Wisdom and ignorance are opposed to each other: where there is ignorance there is no wisdom, and where there is wisdom, ignorance disappears. When ignorance is completely extinguished, the Ālayavijñāna is transformed into the undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). Before the eighth bhūmi, when the ignorance of the first seven consciousnesses is heavy, the tathāgatagarbha is called the Ālayavijñāna, meaning that sentient beings at this stage have the karma of segmented birth-and-death (pariccheda-maraṇa) within their seven consciousnesses and five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Wisdom is born later, corresponding to ignorance, and is a dharma of arising, ceasing, and change. However, the wisdom of all Buddhas never regresses and never perishes, just as a Buddha will never change back into a sentient being.