Nagasiva at 10:48, 11 May 2024

2024-05-11T10:48:49Z

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Nagasiva: add to cat dozen

2024-05-11T03:01:05Z

add to cat dozen

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Nagasiva: ignorance

2019-07-15T09:35:22Z

ignorance

New page

<PRE>
The Glory of Ignorance

recently there was mention in NondualitySalon of the value
of eliminating ignorance. as the apparently lone expositor
of the Avidyana (Vehicle of Ignorance) tradition, it is my
duty to defend the sadly neglected and maligned skill of
ignorance which serves as the foundation from which most
if not all knowledge-based mystical paths obtain their authority

to ignore a thing is to, intentionally or no, keep it from
one's conscious attentions. as a child the ability to ignore
portions of our oceanic and chaotic experience is one of the
first skills we learn. without it we would never develop
a personality, orient to the world, or focus on tasks

as we grow up we are informed by guides like parents and
teachers of the limitations and problems which ignoring
things can bring when taken too far or misplaced (e.g.
ignoring the feelings of others, information about the
world such as the history of oppressed peoples, and objects
or complexes which interfere with our development).
it is this type of 'misplaced ignorance' which people
generally identify AS ignorance and of which they seek
to rid themselves

when it comes time for personal refinement and spiritual
growth, ignorance becomes very important. ignoring everything
but what we've identified as the 'self' and ignoring the self
for the benefit of others are both commonplace. meditation
often involves the active focus on a single object, ignoring
all competing perceptions; it is in fact a refinement
of the ignoring skill so as to refrain from misplacing
our application of it which provides the fuel for most
mystical disciplines. we are taught INTENTIONAL ignorance
in most spiritual practices, even while being taught that
we are setting out to 'destroy ignorance'

the history of religion with respect to ignorance is a litany
of disrespect, demonization, and antagonism. in order to
bolster the aspirant to combat misplaced ignorance, spiritual
traditions assault ignorance as The Enemy, The Problem, and
The Cause of All Our Ills, conveniently ignoring the fact
that ignorance underlies all spiritual training and mature
human experience. entertaining simplistic notions about the
cosmos, we may rest easier in our ignorant certainty and
supremacy

to take just two illustrations, the iconographic depictions
of many Indian and Tibetan gods have them standing atop a dwarf
or child (the famous Dancing Siva Nataraja for example) which
is often said to symbolize 'victory over ignorance'. while this
icon can be said to mean many things, inclusive of the
possibility which I have been instructed that the gods
themselves stand atop ignorance as their foundation (i.e.
that without ignorance there would be no gods), tradition
has it that these icons indicate that ignorance is to be
dominated, destroyed, and eliminated even as a personal
being (crushed out of existence; what this says about
dwarves and how they should be treated I leave for others
more persistent than I to pursue)

another illustration is the way that 'vidya' is glorified in
Indian and Asian traditions to the detriment of *a*vidya
(sometimes personally, sometimes as just a metaphysical
principle of perfection). pages and pages of sutras, hours and
hours of lectures, detail the many fabulous qualities of what
is often translated 'wisdom' and 'spiritual knowledge', but
only those of the Avidyana tradition have come to understand
the supreme importance of avidya. faint exceptions to this
are occasional reference in Zen Buddhism to a strong anti-
intellectualism, or the wisdom of Laotse and his description
of 'emptying the mind and filling the belly' (Tao Te Ching:
this phrase describing how the sage should help the people,
by emptying their minds and filling their bellies, is often
ignored or passed off as a reference to emptying their minds
of something specific like intrusive worries)

traditional Buddhist teaching has it that avidya is the
FOUNDATION of Conditioned Arising, the context within
which most if not all sentient beings find ourselves,
and this serves as the basis for the development of a
series of 11 elaborations in a kind of 'Wheel of Samsara'
(the 12-link Chain of Causation). it is avidya which is
given the place 'sin' has in Western religion -- the
reason that spiritual and religious enterprises have
become necessary and important

like sin in Western religion, very often the aspirant is
told that avidya is a particular kind of ignorance
(say, ignorance of the Real, or ignorance of the
fabulous teachings of the Buddha or some bodhisattva)
rather than ignorance as a whole, yet never is this
general avidya described as necessary or integral to
the human experience. the general concept (e.g. sin as
'missing the mark' -- aiming for an ideal and failing to
attain it; an event which happens to most people
throughout their lives) is often left behind for
some cosmic Bad Thing one does (e.g. against the dictates
of the divine) or experiences. in the East the aspirant
is told that hir ignorance is a kind of SICKNESS, and
that the spiritual authority will attempt to help hir
CURE hirself of it, remove its troublesome symptoms by
addressing its root cause: ignorance

this medical-type assessment is accepted as a condition
of ALL sentient beings by many Buddhists ("all life is
suffering") and it colours a sometimes dour and depressive
vision of human and nonhuman life. instead of seeing
ignorance as an important and necessary aspect of living
in the world which is sometimes misapplied, it is treated
like a 'problem' which must be solved in the same way that
one must do penance for the sins one has committed
(through one's own efforts, guided by the masters, one can
be saved/cured/fixed)

the lack of understanding and the propaganda campaign
surrounding ignorance merely attests to the severe
lack of successful introspection taking place in the
places of mystical development!
</PRE>

ignorance2 - Revision history

Nagasiva at 10:48, 11 May 2024

Nagasiva: add to cat dozen

Nagasiva: ignorance