Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (125)

What Is Ignorance (Moha)?

What is ignorance (moha)? Not understanding is called ignorance. Ignorance is also called avidyā (fundamental ignorance), and avidyā is also called not understanding—being ignorant of the origins and workings of all dharmas, ignorant of the true nature of all dharmas, ignorant of what the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) are and their substance, ignorant of the eighteen realms (aṣṭādaśa-dhātu) and their substance, ignorant of how to realize the no-self of the five aggregates of the Small Vehicle, ignorant of the twelve links of dependent origination (dvādaśāṅga-pratītyasamutpāda) of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, ignorant of the tathāgatagarbha dharma of the Great Vehicle, ignorant of how to attain enlightenment, ignorant of how to know the seed qualities of the tathāgatagarbha, ignorant of how to cultivate oneself so as to vastly benefit sentient beings, and ignorant of how to cultivate and become a Buddha—not understanding all these dharmas is avidyā, and belongs to ignorance (moha). This includes not understanding avidyā and ignorance themselves, which is likewise ignorance and avidyā.

The avidyā that sentient beings store within the tathāgatagarbha is immeasurable and boundless in quantity. When all of this avidyā has been completely destroyed, one becomes a Buddha. Avidyā is divided into three kinds. The first is the avidyā of a single thought—the craving for the world of the three realms and the attachment to the body of the five aggregates; when this is severed completely, one realizes the fourth fruit and enters nirvāṇa without remainder. The second is beginningless avidyā: from beginningless kalpas, sentient beings have not known that there is a true mind, the tathāgatagarbha, which can give rise to the bodies of the five aggregates life after life and the dharmas of the world of the three realms, and which is the truly unborn and undying self of sentient beings. The third is the avidyā as numerous as dust grains and sand, which can also be subsumed under beginningless avidyā; it means that on the path to Buddhahood, the principles one does not understand are as numerous as dust grains and sand, and all must be eliminated before becoming a Buddha. This is also called the afflictions of cultivation; when a bit of this affliction is eliminated, avidyā is reduced a little, and one draws a little closer to Buddhahood.