Avijjā

[bharadwaja]

√vid = to know is related to √vind = to find.

a-vidyā (or its malformed equivalent avijjā) is the state of not having found (knowledge).

So the OP is right in that there is no separate thing called avidyā, it is simply the absence of vidyā

[Spiny Norman]

So the OP is right in that there is no separate thing called avidyā, it is simply the absence of vidyā

I wonder if "absence" is a little passive though? I think the prefix a- has the same negating affect in Pali as it does in English, eg "atypical" = "not typical". So aviija = not viiija. If viija is seeing the truth of suffering, etc, then aviija is not seeing those those truths.