Ignorance

Avijjāsutta

Ignorance

Avijjāsutta

EN
At Sāvatthī. Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha and said to him: “Sir, they speak of this thing called ‘ignorance’.
PL
Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho aññataro bhikkhu yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami …pe… ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: “‘avijjā, avijjā’ti, bhante, vuccati.
EN
What is ignorance? And how is an ignoramus defined?” “Mendicant, it’s when an unlearned ordinary person doesn’t understand form, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation. They don’t understand feeling …
PL
Katamā nu kho, bhante, avijjā; kittāvatā ca avijjāgato hotī”ti? “Idha, bhikkhu, assutavā puthujjano rūpaṁ nappajānāti, rūpasamudayaṁ nappajānāti, rūpanirodhaṁ nappajānāti, rūpanirodhagāminiṁ paṭipadaṁ nappajānāti; vedanaṁ nappajānāti …
EN
perception … choices … consciousness, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation. This is called ignorance.
PL
saññaṁ … saṅkhāre nappajānāti …pe… viññāṇanirodhagāminiṁ paṭipadaṁ nappajānāti. Ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhu, avijjā;
EN
And this is how an ignoramus is defined.”
PL
ettāvatā ca avijjāgato hotī”ti. Paṭhamaṁ.

Pāli root text and English translation by Bhikkhu Sujato from SuttaCentral (https://suttacentral.net), CC0.

Source