| Key Term |
āvaraṇa |
| Topic Variation |
obscurations |
| Hover Popup Choices |
obscurations; defilements |
| In Tibetan Script |
སྒྲིབ་པ་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration |
sgrib pa |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script |
आवरण |
| Romanized Sanskrit |
āvaraṇa |
| Tibetan Phonetic Rendering |
drip pa |
| English Standard |
obscurations |
| Richard Barron's English Term |
obscuration |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term |
obstruction |
| Dan Martin's English Term |
obscurations; veils |
| Gyurme Dorje's English Term |
obscuration |
| Term Type |
Noun |
| Source Language |
Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning |
Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. |
| Has the Sense of |
See also adventitious stains (āgantukamala) |
| Related Terms |
āgantukamala |
| Definitions |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |
See page 83: In Sanskrit and Pāli, “obstruction,” “obstacle,” or “hindrance.” In Mahāyāna literature, two types of āvaraṇa are commonly described: “obstructions that are the afflictions,” or “afflictive obstructions” (kleśāvaraṇa), and cognitive or noetic obstructions, viz., “obstructions to omniscience” (jñeyāvaraṇa). Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas can be freed from the afflictive obstructions, but only bodhisattvas are able to free themselves from the cognitive obstructions. In the Yogācāra system, the cognitive obstructions result from fundamental misapprehensions about the nature of reality. |
| Rangjung Yeshe's English Term |
Obscurations. The veils that covers one's direct perception of the nature of mind. In the general Buddhist teachings several types are mentions: the obscuration of karma preventing one from entering the path of enlightenment, the obscuration of disturbing emotions preventing progress along the path, the obscuration of habitual tendencies preventing the vanishing of confusion, and the final obscuration of dualistic knowledge preventing the full attainment of buddhahood. The two veils of disturbing emotions and dualistic perception that cover one's buddha nature. |