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Are you ignorant?
lobster
Crusty Veteran
I iz.
Be very surprised if I knew everything. Some people think of the Buddha as a Lord Shiva on steroids, who knew everything, everywhere. That is ignorant of his humanity and our potential in my opinion.
Some people like to pretend they will be 'more serious seekers' in a post-life ethereal-zombie reanimation. Bit too ignorant for my simple minded nowness.
On the whole ignoring what is important and dwelling, even wallowing in ignorance is the human norm but not the only possibility ...
I try not to be ignorant. Are you ignorant in the Buddhist sense of the word? What is the nature of your ignorance and knowledge?
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Comments
What story?
ah ha! You are ignorant of my abilility to change my initial post? When I say story, I mean story relating to ignorance and knowledge ...
Sorry for the confusion ... 
Life is complicated, and huge. I am ignorant in most areas. I only have time in life to be knowledgeable in a few areas. And very knowledgeable in very few.
Oi dunno...
"But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die." Genesis Bible
We have all eaten from the tree of "knowledge". This knowledge is ignorance(avijja) in Buddhism which starts the whole samsaric cycle. This is wrong knowledge.
Ain't this confusing?
I can't recall any past lives so yes I must be ignorant.
My ignorance depends on there being truth.
My truth would be proof that I am ignorant.
I don't have a truth, I only have that which makes the most sense at the time.
I am still ignorant but less and less so in a negative way thanks to Buddha.
I do not want to lose my ignorance to the greatest degree because then I lose my wonder.
I will settle for aiming for the Eightfold path and let the answers fall where they may.
I understand everyone in some way. Eventhough I was born in korea which has over 1500years of history of buddhism and eventhough I grew up in a buddhist family I did not know anything about buddha(s). I simply thought Shakyamuni buddha was someone who realized something really amazing through some kind of practice but did not tell people what that realization was. I lived that way for a long long time. I loved Jesus because I was looking for someone who can tell me what the truth is.
I became a buddhist not because I wanted to but because I wanted to survive. I don't want to tell everyone specifically but I can say that through Shakyamuni buddha's teaching I found a way to live.
I want to mention that Shakyamuni buddha has The Ten Epithets of a Buddha.( other buddhas have theirs too )
If you study them you will know roughly why we respect buddhas.
I will just leave it there.
We wouldn't be here on earth if we were not ignorant ( as in Avidyā ).
Avidyā is something that we cannot get rid of by increasing knowledge.
it is something to do with the evil and good in us.
oh well,
I am just a very very ignorant sentient being : ) though I am trying everyday to get rid of some ignorance even just a little bit if I can...its hard!
I am so grateful to Shakyamuni Buddha for his teachings. I cannot describe that in words.
Thank you !!!
I'm looking at my phone right now, sitting on a giant rock that is orbiting a giant ball of fire.
I have no idea how I got here and yet here I am.
Ignorant isn't even a strong enough word haha.
We humans love to pretend to know what's going on, yet we really have no idea. It's incredible.
That's partly why I figure we should at least have fun with it.
@lobster
Hmmmm.. You are an endless source of good questions to ask.
**Are you ignorant? **
Only when that "you" is separated in anyway from any "others".
@Earthninja said:
I'm looking at my phone right now, sitting on
a giant rock that is orbiting a giant ball of fire.
I have no idea how I got here and yet here I am.
Ignorant isn't even a strong enough word - haha.
We humans love to pretend to know what's going on,
yet we really have no idea. It's incredible.
~~~
Well, you're ignorant enough to be a poet.
Exactly so. Can not remember if I am Hinayana or Mahayana BUT ignorance like wisdom, love and the good stuff is shared.
Nirvana for everyone. Ignorance for no one. Iz plan!
From the Buddhist perspective, Yes "I AM" on both accounts ie of false sense of self which lacks complete practical knowledge of Dependant Arising-(which leads to defilements in this false sense of self) & of person and phenomena (what I do know is still Samsaric based knowledge- at the moment emptiness is just 'background music' playing as I go about my day to day conventional interactions, on occasions where sense of self is not present the volume is increased ) ...
Thus I have heard: Tis only when non-conceptual awareness makes its presence felt does true [contaminant-free] wisdom arise...
The nature of both 'my' ignorance and knowledge is "Samsaric based".... but I too have a plan....with the help of all my selves (that wander in the ignorance of samsara's dependant arising's forest), I'm using the "I" (a convenient analytic device) to work on dismantling both forms of ignorance and samsaric based knowledge, and at the same time I'm trying not to let my 'self' know of my plans
which I've found is not an easy task..... I guess that's bloody Samsara for ya 
"Round and round the cycle goes, keeping awareness on its toes! But alas "I" have found... that ignorance "IS" bliss when "I AM" not around !"
I feel that the Buddhist concept of avidya (avijja) describes a lack of skill as opposed to a lack of knowledge. If our true nature is just plain ignorance then there really is no hope. I think there's a slight error in translation here.
I think our true nature would be more akin to wondrous awareness than ignorance.
Thanks guys
Well said @ourself, understanding and seeing ignorance and samsara for what they are, inherently empty, is the basis of wisdom. Is wisdom empty?
Here is the answer:
Ignorance is grasping at ghosts, phantoms, pasts gone, futures unlived, presents we are not in ... That is what we unravel, empty of our clinging attachments.
So wisdom is empty of ignorance and a 'wondrous awareness'.
Here come the chocolate box Buddhas ... real?
http://dharmaflower.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Five-Wisdom-Buddhas.jpg
Ignorance is not knowing things as they really are.
Or rather, wanting things to be what we want them to be.
"Ignorance is not knowing things as they really are".
I want much, a lot of desires all the time, every minute, every second, I move, I blink, I scratch my self, wash the body, eat, my heart is pumping and so on...eventually this ship will go down.
WIll I die in Ignorance? Always tried so hard to stay alive, and not suffer.
@lobster sez "On the whole ignoring what is important and dwelling, even wallowing in ignorance is the human norm but not the only possibility ...
I try not to be ignorant. Are you ignorant in the Buddhist sense of the word? What is the nature of your ignorance and knowledge?"
I sez that's right and I try not to be ignorant, and I'm sure I'm a well-rounded ignoramus, and as a matter of fact believe I was scared stupid at an early age!
Yeah but you still get pizza even if ignorant right?
I don't think i'm fully or truly ignorant, because I feel that I've seen for myself, that which the Buddha said is visible here and now.
I think most of us aware of the second Noble Truth; of ignorance being the cause of dukkha.
Many times we ignore the cycles of attraction and repulsion that propel our perpetually being embroiled in a continual samsara birthing
Do we ignore the karmic possibilities of the eightfold path as genuine knowledge, inspiration and effective action? I am sure we all are trying to engage with the way out ...
Are we pretend Buddhists, part time ultra spirituals? Seasonal meditators? Internal knowledge comes from real practical effort. We all know that.
"Ignorance must not be perceived as a passive state of mere non-awareness; rather, it is a deluded state of mind, a fundamental misapprehension of the nature of reality.
[...] Ignorance is not simply the absence of knowledge but rather it is the antithesis of knowledge; it is misknowledge, a force actively opposing knowledge."
(HH the Dalai Lama - "The World of Tibetan Buddhism")
I found this concept by the Dalai Lama of Ignorance being an active force opposing knowledge quite intriguing.
I don't know, @lobster, if it is just a matter of real practical effort.
Some people practice hard and wisdom never comes.
It has rather to do with "suspension of ignorance" by actively abiding on the path somehow, but without striving.
https://suttacentral.net/en/mn26
Thanks guys,
The Buddhist term for ignorance is Avidya and it is not just the want or absence of knowledge and wisdom. It also has attributes of delusion.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avidyā_(Buddhism)
Part of this delusion is looking for the cause and cessation of dukkha in the very components masking wisdom.
There are many people here who display increasing wisdom. People are inherently wise, experienced, capable of great good. That is the part they resonate the most in others and as good companions offer to the best of their understanding.
We do strive for/actively abide in, our wisdom body ... well I do ... iz plan!
I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when Ignorance is not there...
No joke. True true.
/Victor
I am too ignorant to understand the ignorance described in this thread.
"actively opposing knowledge"
I must be ignorance personified.
Not so.
For example we might read in the sutras about how a stream enterer is not born as a chicken, woman or only as a noble or god being and in ignorance run to the nearest Catholic Church for some sensible religion ...
Or we might seek a mature, modern interpretation of ancient prejudice and superstition. If you think none exists in dharma you are [spoiler alert] ignorant.
Thinking about things in psychological terms is helpful. For example the five to six realms:
http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/tp/Six-Realms-of-Existence.htm
The idea that 'hungry ghosts' exist in another dimension/realm may scare the simple minded or children. However these pictorial stories do nothing for those weary of cultural fairy tales as 'reality'. We can however find aspects of our persona that are sucking at dead suttas for nourishment like hungry ghosts ... Just packing my bags for the hell realms reserved for ignorant heretics