āvaraṇa

Sanskrit Noun

āvaraṇa

obscurations

आवरण

སྒྲིབ་པ་

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.

Term Variations
Key Term	āvaraṇa
Topic Variation	obscurations
Tibetan	སྒྲིབ་པ་  ( drip pa)
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	sgrib pa  ( drip pa)
Devanagari Sanskrit	आवरण
Romanized Sanskrit	āvaraṇa
Buddha-nature Site Standard English	obscurations
Richard Barron's English Term	obscuration
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	obstruction
Dan Martin's English Term	obscurations
Gyurme Dorje's English Term	obscuration
Term Information
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.
Related Terms	āgantukamala
Term Type	Noun
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.