moha and avijja

I have done some research in the Sutta-pitaka to understand for myself what is the difference between moha and avijja. I did not consult Abhidhamma texts or Lal’s website but i wanted to share this with you.

I came to the conclusion that moha in the sutta’s is never associated with something meritorious. It is not good and bears no good fruits. This is the same for dosa and lobha.

We might, for example, think that greed can be good. Greed comes with welfare and welfare with comfort and less suffering. It is also common to belief that anger can be good. Even therapist find this to be true. Parents, friends, almost everybody tells that becoming angry has positive aspects. For example, it can be a good way to show your own boundaries so that people will not make use of you as if you are garbage. Or getting angry can correct bad behaviour.

But… i have not found any sutta which deals with positive aspects of anger or greed. These three roots, lobha, dosa and moha are definitely not associated with something meritorious.

What seems to be the difference with avijja?

We can be immersed in ignorance (avijja) and still generate meritorous volitional formations and even get a meritorious birth.
At least, this is what i understood from reading SN12.51
https://suttacentral.net/en/sn12.51

So, moha seems to be never associated with something meritorious while avijja can be.

I belief, in the end, avijja refers to the active aspect in the mind of the deeply ingrained habit to belief that mind, as that what experiences, is some kind of ego-entity, a person, a subject, an I. In the end, it refers to the deeply ingrained conceit “I am”. We have Always that conceit with us in the mind that “I”-see, “I”-smell, I live, I am wise, I will die, I sense etc.

I think the sutta’s make clear that avijja-anusaya creates this impression in the mind that mind is an “I”. Our contact with everything we sense is almost Always an ignorance-contact, because there is not only contact, but the avijja anusaya immediately manifest itself and causes that there is not only contact but there is also the impression of an-I-who-makes-contact. This happens all the time and without us wanting this. It just happens conditionally.

So, like greed and hate can get involved in sense-contacts, almost Always ignorance (avijja) gets almost immediately involved. The manifestation of this anasaya seems to be the strongest of all present latent tendencies.

So for myself i have concludes: moha is never associated with something meritorious, while avijja can be. Avijja colours the mind with the conceit “I am”. “I experience”. Moha has no idea. It is totally unaware of all. It is blinded.

An example of meritorious action associated with avijja are maybe those positive ego-istic actions, such as doing good while thinking ‘as a result of this good deed i will become happy, get a good rebirth etc. All those actions associated with a belief in “I am”.

Siebe