This paper shows differences and similarities between Avidya in Buddhism And Maya in Advaita Vedanta

1. Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
Department of philosophy
Name: Ali sheeraz
Enrollment no: gk0600
Subject: classical indian philosophy (pym-7003)
Std: master of arts 1st
sem
Topic: differencesandsimilaritiesbetweentheconceptofavidya in buddhism and
the concept of maya in advaita vedanta

2. Introduction to Avidya(Nescience) & Maya(illusion):
Concept of Avidya in Buddhism:
Avidya, or ignorance, is the inability to distinguish between the transitory and eternal aspects of
experience. The term has a specific sense in Buddhist philosophy. It means being unaware of the
Four Noble Truths, the three precious jewels (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha), and the
truth of karma—in other words, the truths of Buddha’s teachings.
Avidya in Theravada:
Bhikkhu Bodhi says that Avidya is an important part of the doctrine of the Abhidharma of the
Theravada on dependent arising, on the terms on which keeps the wheel of birth and death. One
of these conditions is a karmic formations, which arise from ignorance. In other words, the state
of Bodhi, ignorance is avijja obscures "the perception of the true nature of things just as a
cataract obscures perception of visible objects". In the Suttanta literature, this ignorance means
ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. In the literature of the Abhidharma, in addition to the four
noble truths, it is not the knowledge of the past life, prenatal and postmortem life, and dependent
arising.
Avidya in Mahayan:
In the tradition of Mahayana considers ignorance about the nature of reality and ancient past
lives to be a primordial force that can be destroyed only through the understanding of emptiness,
shunyata. However, compared to other Buddhist traditions States Braarvig, Jens, Avidya is not
so much the accent, not the focus on "in construing an illusory reality" is based on a concept
where ultimate reality-emptiness.
Avidya is the greatest impurity and the main cause of suffering, rebirth. Insight into emptiness,
the state of Garfield and Edelglass that this "lack of intrinsic nature of all phenomena, including
himself, cuts the contaminants," understanding the void gives full awakening.
Avidya in Vajrayana:
The Vajrayana tradition believes ignorance, the yoke of bondage in Samsara, and his teachings
were focused on the tantric path under the guidance of a teacher to remove Avidya and attain
liberation in one life.
Avidya is defined as the first of the twelve links of dependent arising of the twelve nidanas, the
chain of links that describe why a being is reborn and remains within samsara, the cycle of
repeated birth and death in the six worlds of existence. Twelve nidanas the application of the
Buddhist concept of dependent arising, pratītyasamutpāda. This theory, presented in Samyutta
Nikaya second.2-4 and Digha Nikaya second.55-63, says that rebirth, again and again aging is

3. death ultimately result of a series of twelve nidanas or one ultimately rooted in avidly, and the
twelfth step Jarāmarana provokes dependent arising of Avicii, creating an endless cycle of
dukkha.
Concept of Maya in Advaita Vedanta:
Maya, (Sanskrit: “magic” or “illusion”) a fundamental concept in Hindu philosophy, notably in
the Advaita (Nondualist) school of Vedanta. Maya originally denoted the magic power with
which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion. By extension, it
later came to mean the powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world
is real. For the Nondualists, maya is thus that cosmic force that presents the infinite brahman (the
supreme being) as the finite phenomenal world. Maya is reflected on the individual level by
human ignorance (ajnana) of the real nature of the self, which is mistaken for the empirical ego
but which is in reality identical with brahman.
Vedanta declares that our real nature is divine: pure, perfect, eternally free. We do not have to
become Brahman, we are Brahman. Our true Self, the Atman, is one with Brahman.
But if our real nature is divine, why then are we so appallingly unaware of it?
The answer to this question lies in the concept of maya, or ignorance. Maya is the veil that
covers our real nature and the real nature of the world around us. Maya is fundamentally
inscrutable: we don’t know why it exists and we don’t know when it began. What we do know is
that, like any form of ignorance, maya ceases to exist at the dawn of knowledge, the knowledge
of our own divine nature.
Brahman is the real truth of our existence: in Brahman we live, move, and have our being. “All
this is indeed Brahman,” the Upanishads—the scriptures that form Vedanta philosophy—declare.
The changing world that we see around us can be compared to the moving images on a movie
screen: without the unchanging screen in the background, there can be no movie. Similarly, it is
the unchanging Brahman—the substratum of existence—in the background of this changing
world that gives the world its reality.
Yet for us this reality is conditioned, like a warped mirror, by time, space, and causality—the law
of cause and effect. Our vision of reality is further obscured by wrong identification: we identify
ourselves with the body, mind, and ego rather than the Atman, the divine Self.
This original misperception creates more ignorance and pain in a domino effect: identifying
ourselves with the body and mind, we fear disease, old age and death; identifying ourselves with
the ego, we suffer from anger, hatred, and a hundred other miseries. Yet none of this affects our
real nature, the Atman.
Maya can be compared to clouds which cover the sun: the sun remains in the sky but a dense
cloud cover prevents us from seeing it. When the clouds disperse, we become aware that the sun
has been there all the time. Our clouds—maya appearing as egotism, selfishness, hatred, greed,
lust, anger, ambition—are pushed away when we meditate upon our real nature, when we engage
in unselfish action, and when we consistently act and think in ways that manifest our true nature:

4. that is, through truthfulness, purity, contentment, self-restraint, and forbearance. This mental
purification drives away the clouds of maya and allows our divine nature to shine forth.
Shankara, the great philosopher-sage of seventh-century India, used the example of the rope and
the snake to illustrate the concept of maya. Walking down a darkened road, a man sees a snake;
his heart pounds, his pulse quickens. On closer inspection the “snake” turns out to be a piece of
coiled rope. Once the delusion breaks, the snake vanishes forever.
Similarly, walking down the darkened road of ignorance, we see ourselves as mortal creatures,
and around us, the universe of name and form, the universe conditioned by time, space, and
causation. We become aware of our limitations, bondage, and suffering. On “closer inspection”
both the mortal creature as well as the universe turn out to be Brahman. Once the delusion
breaks, our mortality as well as the universe disappear forever. We see Brahman existing
everywhere and in everything.
Differnces Between Avidya and Maya:
Maya is totally related to God (Māyāvacchinna Īśvaraḥ) and Avidya is totally related to the
individual soul (Avidyāvacchinno jīvaḥ). In both of them, the truth is hidden and falsehood is
experienced. In both, there is theoretical ignorance (Ajñāna āvaraṇam) as well as practical
ignorance (Ajñāna vikṣepaḥ). In both, the theoretical ignorance can be removed through
knowledge and analysis. In the case of Maya, the practical ignorance can never be removed by
any soul since the divine power of Maya greatly exceedes the power of any soul. In Avidya too,
practical ignorance cannot be removed immediately. It exists for a little time after the theoretical
ignorance is removed and then it vanishes.
A rope is mistaken to be a snake in dim light. On shining the torch light on it, the snake
disappears and the rope appears. This is the removal of theoretical ignorance. But even after the
rope is seen, the fear of the snake persists for a little time and then it disappears permanently.
Thus, practical ignorance persists for some time even after the truth (rope) is realized, in the case
of Avidya .
Energy appearing to be matter is an example of Maya. You may study atoms using powerful
microscopes and instruments and realize that the sub-atomic particles are after all, only waves of
energy. That scientific knowledge and analysis only removes your theoretical ignorance. But in
spite of it, your practical experience of matter will not disappear, throughout your life or even
throughout all your future lives! Therefore, Maya is the divine power of God, whereas Avidya is
just like a shadow, which is the soul’s ignorance of true knowledge.
According to Swami Sivananda ; The primitive dead principle, which is essentially one, is called
Maya, when we take into account the predominance of its projecting power, and is called Avidya
when we take into consideration the predominance of its enveloping power. Thus the material
principle of which the projecting power is superior to the concealing power is the limiting
condition of Isa; and the same principle with its concealing power predominant is the limiting

5. condition of Jiva. The Avidya which forms the limiting adjunct of Jiva is otherwise called
Ajnana.
That the projecting power is predominant in Isa follows from His being the creator of this great
world. He is always conscious of His free state, and hence is untouched by the concealing power.
Jiva, on the contrary, labours under ignorance of Brahman his true nature owing to the
predominance of the concealing power of the material principle working in him. He is
incompetent to create the great universe as he lacks the predominance of the projecting power.
Vedanta-Siddhanta Bheda.
Just as the mirror is rendered dim by a layer of dirt attaching to it, so also Knowledge is veiled
by Avidya. Therefore all people are deluded. They cling to things unreal and mistake the body
for the pure Atman. They think that this illusory world of names and forms is quite real.
Mula Prakriti is the slumbering or latent state of the Universe called also Maha Sushupti when
the Gunas are in a state of equilibrium. When the Gunas are disturbed, Mula Prakriti is called by
the different names as Maya, Avidya, Tamas, etc. Brahman is beginningless and endless. Maya
is beginningless but She has an end. She vanishes as soon as one gets the Knowledge of the Self.
Similarities Between Avidya And Maya:
According to Swami Sivananda, The reflection of intelligence is Maya which has no beginning,
which is indescribable, which is the source of inorganic world, and which is connected only with
the intelligence called Isa or the Supreme Being. The reflections in numerous small portions of
that Maya, which are possessed of two powers of enveloping and projecting and which are
known as Avidya are said to be Jivas.
It may be noticed here that in this view Maya and Avidya are looked upon as one element, and
are related with each other as the whole and its parts. The former is the adjunct (Upadhi) of Isa,
the latter of Jiva (Prakartha Vivarana).
In Tattva-Viveka, a chapter of Panchadasi, the matter is thus elucidated:
The primitive non-intelligent principle (Mulaprakriti) which consists of three Gunas (Primordia
rerum) has two forms, (1) Maya and (2) Avidya. According to the text, That non-intelligent
principle divided itself into two forms named Maya and Avidya, which are the reflectors, as it
were, of Isa and Jiva respectively.
Maya is that portion of the primitive non-intelligent principle in which pure Sattva is not
subordinated to Rajas and Tamas. In other words, that portion in which Pure Sattva is
predominant is called Maya, whereas that in which the Sattva is subordinated to Rajas and
Tamas and is consequently impure, is known as Avidya. Reflections of intelligence in Maya and
Avidya are Isa and Jiva respectively.

6. Conclusion:
The effect of avidya is to suppress the real nature of things and present something else in its
place. In effect it is not different from Maya (pronounced Māyā) or illusion. Avidya relates to the
individual Self (Ātman), while Maya is an adjunct of the cosmic Self (Brahman). So, Avidya in
the concept of buddhism and Maya in the concept of Advaita Vedanta are closely related to each
other.