Buddhism Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people practicing or interested in Buddhist philosophy, teaching, and practice. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Where is ignorance, and why does it not end with death? Can we experience it? Does it have to be actively conditioning formations for us to experience it, or can we know this nidana even when freed from it?
I'm interested in an answer from any tradition.
Where is ignorance, and why does it not end with death?
Ignorance is absence of right view. It's not tangible, as much as it is a lacking.
The buddhist notion of rebirth says that we're destined to samsara until sotapatti/"stream-entry" occurs to break the cycle.
Can we experience it?
The most tangible evidence of avijja/ignorance is dukkha/suffering.
Does it have to be actively conditioning formations for us to experience it, or can we know this nidana even when freed from it?
Regarding the first half of your question, ignorance is most likely conditioning formations in both a passive/and an active sense: Sometimes we end up in trouble without seeing it coming, and sometimes we end up in trouble because we deliberately ignore the consequences we have coming to us. These are two examples of how avijja may affect us.
Can't answer the last part of your question though. Sorry.
Ignorance includes self-view. Similarly, "death", being the idea "a being" or "a person" dies, is also a self-view. Since "death" is a self-view, the idea/mental construct of "death" cannot end ignorance.
When there is no self-view, there is no ignorance and there is also no idea of "death", as follows:
Bhikkhu, ‘I am’ is a conceiving; ‘I am this’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall not be’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be possessed of form’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be formless’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be percipient’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be non-percipient’ is a conceiving; ‘I shall be neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient’ is a conceiving. Conceiving is a disease, conceiving is a tumour, conceiving is a dart. By overcoming all conceivings, bhikkhu, one is called a sage at peace. And the sage at peace is not born, does not age, does not die....
Therefore, the 'Deathless' can end ignorance but 'death' cannot end ignorance.
