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What conditions ignorance?
Talisman
Veteran
If ignorance (the root cause of Dukkha) can cease, then it is impermanent. All impermanent things are so due to their being dependent upon conditions. By uprooting these conditons, the cause is thereby uprooted as well. What conditions ignorance?
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Comments
There's a gazillion ways and combination of factors that go into ignorance. So I would say that there are a gazillion factors that condition ignorance. It's almost an imponderable, in fact it probably partially is an imponderable, because it may be the fruit of karma, which is imponderable.
Think about it. Myriad ways to be wrong/ignorant, one way to be correct/understand and perceive correctly.
Factors too numerous to mention condition ignorance.
...
Makes sense the more I think about it.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedi
In Buddhism, the five hindrances (Pali: pañca nīvaraṇāni)[1] are negative mental states that impede success with meditation (jhāna / bhāvanā) and lead away from enlightenment (nibbāna). These states are:
1. Sensual desire (kāmacchanda): Craving for pleasure to the senses.
2. Anger or ill-will (byāpāda, vyāpāda): Feelings of malice directed toward others.
3. Sloth-torpor or boredom (thīna-middha): Half-hearted action with little or no concentration.
4. Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): The inability to calm the mind.
5. Doubt (vicikicchā): Lack of conviction or trust.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_hindrances
the hindrances are the nutriment/food (ahara) of ignorance. the hindrances are not the cause (hetu), paccaya (conditioning factor) or samudhaya (origin) of ignorance. the hindrances are siimply the food
for example, as human beings, we have a physical body with the four elements as their cause & condition. for example, when an embryo is conceived in the womb, it is simply not physical food. it is genetic material with genetic coding. this physical body has food, such as bananas & apples, as its nutriment (ahara) but not as its cause (hetu) and condition (paccaya)
the hindrances are the same. the hindrances sustain ignorance, they keep ignorance alive, but they are not the cause & condition of ignorance
for example, when the mind enters the 1st jhana, it is free from the five hindrances. however, ignorance has not yet been extinguished
ignorance does not have a cause & condition
So I'm not sure. But it does seem that ignorance is effectively the "default setting" for conditioned existence.
Spiny
"With the arising of the taints there is the arising of ignorance; with the cessation of the taints there is the cessation of ignorance...
And what are the taints, what is the origin of the taints, what is the cessation of the taints, what is the way leading to the cessation of the taints? There are three taints: the taint of sensual desire, the taint of being and the taint of ignorance. With the arising of ignorance there is the arising of the taints. With the cessation of ignorance there is the cessation of the taints. The way leading to the cessation of the taints is just this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view... right concentration."
ignorance does not have a cause & condition. however it is a "conditioned thing" because it can be eradicated via insight (vipassana)
Also, I know you don't believe in rebirth, but the concept of being reborn an infinite amount of times since begginingless time, poses the possibility that our death (even from moment to moment) leaves us in a state of bewilderment (ignorance.)
:coffee:
I do not see what you have asserted above can be deduced from the quotes below
You are asserting a "beginningless beginning" where as the Buddha simply said the beginning cannot be be conceived or identified. The Buddha is not asserting any beginning. Where as you are asserting there is a beginning (albeit beginningless).
The Buddha did not say what is said by whatever you have heard or read.
Or course I do not believe in rebirth. The Buddha advised for those interested in enlightenment, rebirth is a subject of "inappropriate attention" and not a factor of the "noble path".
Regards
Ignorance provides fertile ground for the five hinderances to flourish, but I would not say ignorance arises from them. But, the hinderances do block the acquiring of wisdom, in the same way a heavy curtain blocks the light coming through the window and keeps the room in deep shadow.
But it's still only a partial understanding. No window, no curtain, no room. All empty.
It rained last night and the cool breeze through the window smells like lilacs.
Spiny
Presumably it's clear comprehension, wisdom.
Spiny
This doesn't answer the question for me of what 'mechanical' changes occur in the metaphysical psyche of an unenlightened being as they become enlightened.
What happens when we turn towards the sensitive response of feeling of having a self and experience dichotomy? The sensitivity increases and becomes difficult to tolerate. The response is to close down further and avoid.
We need two strategies. How to encourage ourselves to open more. How to let go. Including awareness/opening/mindfulness. And how to cope with or support in the face of the fear and delusion etc.
Spiny