Ignorance is simply not knowing the facts, having the facts wrong, or having incomplete knowledge. All of these forms of ignorance lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation, overestimation and underestimation.

Suppose that you are searching for your friend and you see him in a distant field. When you approach, you discover that you have mistaken a scarecrow for your friend. You are bound to be disappointed. It is not as if either the mischievous scarecrow or your friend tried sneakily to mislead you, it is your own ignorance that betrayed you.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:

• Not a buddha yet
• I don’t give a damn
• Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
• Relationships
• Bound by practicality
• Enlightened beings may seem insane
• Buddhist renunciation
• What is life?
• The cup that holds the teachings
• The habit of self
• Pride and pity
• Emotionally not possible
• Change is inevitable
• The Self
• Eventually we are disappointed
• Like a child at the cinema
• Four seals
• Enjoying the bliss of ignorance
• Beyond nonviolence and meditation
• The real source of fear is not knowing