---
type: Concept
bundle: sankhya-darshana
bundle_version: 0.13.0
id: avidya-samkhya
title: Avidyā (Sāṃkhya)
iast: Avidyā
devanagari: अविद्या
description: 'Non-discrimination -- the specifically Samkhya sense of ignorance: the failure to distinguish purusha from prakriti (especially from buddhi), the root cause of bondage. SCHOOL-SCOPED against upanishadic-core''s avidya (v0.6), which operates within a non-dual, single-Self framework rather than Samkhya''s dualist one.'
darshana:
- Samkhya
tags:
- avidya
- ignorance
- samkhya
- bondage
not:
- term: ignorance of Brahman (upanishadic-core v0.6 sense)
  why: 'Upanishadic-core''s avidya is the failure to recognize the non-dual identity of atman and brahman, within a system where only one ultimate reality exists. Samkhya''s avidya is structurally different: it is the failure to discriminate two genuinely distinct, really-existing principles (purusha and prakriti) from each other -- a dualist error, not a non-dual one.'
  instead: 'When both appear, name the contrast: Samkhya avidya = mistaking two real, distinct things for one; upanishadic-core avidya (v0.6) = mistaking an apparent duality for what is really non-dual.'
related:
- /concepts/viveka-khyati.md
- /concepts/bandha-samkhya.md
timestamp: '2026-07-10'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Avidyā (Sāṃkhya) -- अविद्या

**Not:** ignorance of Brahman (upanishadic-core v0.6 sense)

## What It Actually Means

Avidyā, in Sāṃkhya, is specifically the failure of discrimination between puruṣa and prakṛti: mistaking buddhi's reflected consciousness, or any product of prakṛti, for puruṣa itself. This is not a general cognitive error or a moral failing; it is a precise metaphysical confusion, and its precise remedy (viveka-khyāti) is equally exact -- discriminate correctly, and avidyā's grip ends immediately, without further steps.

## Audience Metaphor

Samkhya avidyā is like a control-panel operator who forgets they are the operator and starts believing they are the machine's own readouts -- the fix is not to shut the machine down, but for the operator to remember, with total clarity, that they were never the readout at all.

## Citations

1. Samkhya-Karika 63-64 -- see [references/samkhya-karika.md](../references/samkhya-karika.md)
2. Cross-bundle warning: avidya in upanishadic-core v0.6 operates within a non-dual framework -- a structurally different error from this dualist sense
