Moha:
Confusion

 

In AN 6.47 Sivaka the wanderer asks Gotama to explain the idea of a Dhamma which is to be seen for one's self.

There are some significant differences of opinion concerning the meaning of a couple of terms in this sutta and this results also in a very different understanding between translators as to its meaning in general.

My take is that it is a very skillfully handled answer to Sivaka's question that not only answers his question, but teaches him a Dhamma lesson that illustrates the answer.

Check it out for yourself.

Bhk. Bodhi does not get his say, because his translation cannot be posted because of copyright restrictions, but his translation of key terms is cited in the footnotes to my translation.

I have here suggested a significant change in the usual translation of 'moha' as 'delusion' (Hare's 'infatuation').

I am suggesting 'confusion'.

In this sutta we can see that one is supposed to be able to recognize the presence or absence of 'moha' within ourselves. People are able to recognize when they are confused, they are not able to recognize when they are deluded or infatuated as those ideas are defined by the fact of the self being deceived.