Sentient Beings Have Been in Avidya Since Beginningless Kalpas

Sentient beings have been shrouded in fundamental ignorance since beginningless time, their minds never having attained true clarity. If sentient beings were to be free from fundamental ignorance, and this ignorance were completely obliterated, they would be Buddhas. Sentient beings have never previously attained Buddhahood; if they had once become Buddhas, they would never revert to being sentient beings again. The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment elucidates this point, with the World-Honored One illustrating it thus: just as pure gold refined from a gold mine never reverts to being ore, so too does one who attains Buddhahood never regress to being a sentient being. This further demonstrates that sentient beings have been afflicted by fundamental ignorance since time without beginning—this state requires no logical explanation, for it is inherently so. In the fourth volume of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Ānanda inquired of the World-Honored One about the origin of fundamental ignorance, questioning why it exists. The World-Honored One responded that fundamental ignorance has no source and exists without cause; if it had a cause, it would not be fundamental ignorance.