This work attempts to develop the point that ignorance is fundamentally understood in Buddhism not as a statement about the absence of a particular piece of knowledge, but as the articulation of a state of mind, a mode of experiencing.
Chapter I investigates some major Western traditions and argues that a commitment to metaphysical entities in one form or another acts as a deterrent to the consideration of ignorance as a central philosophical issue.
Chapter II deals with the issue of misperception in the West and makes a claim that in Buddhism this issue is most significantly articulated as ignorance. The point is made that the Buddhist concern is more general in outlook, pointing to the total disposition of man as opposed to his particular perceptual acts.
Chapter III elaborates the theme that the discussion of the subject is necessary to the discussion of philosophical ignorance. Different expressions of the subject made by Descartes, Kant and Husserl are used to highlight the Buddhist articulation of "non-ego" (anatta) as the subject.
Chapter IV argues that Early Buddhism expresses ignorance (avijja) as a positive obstruction to wisdom, a condition which prevents man from realizing the true nature of existence. It is also claimed that in Mahayana Buddhism the sinitic articulation of mind (hsin) presents a move to understand the Buddhist enlightenment as ontological immediacy which is prior to thoughts' discriminative acts. Ignorance is thus associated with discrimination.
Chapter V argues that for Dogen, ignorance (mumyo) is expressed as a "culture" which limits man's mode of experiencing. Dogen's advocacy of zazen is interpreted as a practical attempt to depetrify human awareness. For Dogen, ignorance is not to be conceptually rejected but ontologically authenticated.
Chapter VI concludes that "desire," "culture" and "language" are the basic contributive factors which articulate the mode of experience wherein ignorance is not apparent. The point is made that in Buddhism, ignorance is the condition for responsibility rather than an excuse from it. Ignorance and suffering are central to the Buddhist understanding of man.
