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How Thought Snowballs

MN 18, the Madhupiṇḍika Sutta — set 5, Advanced and Reference Texts

Reading time: about 9 min · 1,468 words

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Before you read

A Sakyan named Daṇḍapāṇi asks the Buddha what he teaches. The answer is so compressed that he shakes his head, sticks out his tongue, and walks off leaning on his staff.

The Buddha repeats the same compressed answer to the monks — then gets up and goes into his dwelling without explaining it. They take the problem to Mahākaccāna, who unpacks it: from the eye and its object comes knowing, then contact, then felt experience, then recognition, then thinking, and then proliferation, which turns back on the person and overruns them. The sequence tips at the point where you stop having an experience and start being run by the commentary on it.

Ānanda's response gives the text its name. Coming across this teaching, he says, is like a starving man finding a honey ball — sweet wherever you taste it. Both reactions in this text are fair ones.

Translation

The Setting

So I heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying among the Sakyans at Kapilavatthu, in the Nigrodha grove.

Then, in the morning, the Buddha robed up and, taking bowl and robe, entered Kapilavatthu for alms.

After going for alms in Kapilavatthu, and after returning from the meal, he went to the Great Wood for the day, plunged deep into the Great Wood, and sat down at the root of a beluva sapling.

Daṇḍapāṇi's Question

Then Daṇḍapāṇi the Sakyan, while walking and strolling, went to the Great Wood, plunged deep into it, approached the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him.

After they had exchanged greetings and polite conversation, he stood to one side, leaned on his staff, and said to the Buddha:

"What does the ascetic say? What does he declare?"

"Friend, I speak in such a way that a person does not quarrel with anyone in the world with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, among this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans. And I speak in such a way that recognitions do not underlie that brahmin living detached from sensuality, free from doubt, with uncertainty cut off, with ignorant wanting worn away in every kind of becoming.

That is what I say, friend; that is what I declare."

When this was said, Daṇḍapāṇi the Sakyan shook his head, stuck out his tongue, raised three furrows on his forehead, and left leaning on his staff.

The Bhikkhus Ask What He Meant

Then, in the late afternoon, the Buddha came out of seclusion, went to the Nigrodha grove, sat down on the seat prepared, and told the bhikkhus about the exchange with Daṇḍapāṇi.

Then one bhikkhu said to him:

"But, bhante, how does the Buddha speak without quarreling with anyone in the world with its gods, Māras, and Brahmās, among this population with its ascetics and brahmins, its gods and humans?

And how is it that recognitions do not underlie the Buddha, that brahmin living detached from sensuality, free from doubt, with uncertainty cut off, with ignorant wanting worn away in every kind of becoming?"

The Buddha's Summary

"Bhikkhu, from the source by which the recognitions and notions of proliferation sweep over a person:

if there is nothing there to delight in, to affirm, or to take personally, this is the end of the underlying tendency to passion, the end of the underlying tendency to aversion, the end of the underlying tendency to views, the end of the underlying tendency to doubt, the end of the underlying tendency to conceit, the end of the underlying tendency to passion for becoming, the end of the underlying tendency to ignorance, the end of taking up rods and blades, the end of quarrels, disputes, arguments, contention, slander, and false speech.

Here these bad unwholesome dhammas cease without remainder."

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Fortunate One got up from his seat and entered his dwelling.

Mahākaccāna Is Asked to Explain

Soon after the Buddha had gone, the bhikkhus thought:

"The Buddha gave a brief summary and entered his dwelling without explaining the meaning in detail. Who could explain the detailed meaning of this brief summary?"

Then they thought:

"This venerable Mahākaccāna is praised by the Buddha and esteemed by wise fellow practitioners. He is capable of explaining the detailed meaning of this brief summary. Let us go to him and ask him."

So they went to venerable Mahākaccāna, exchanged greetings with him, sat down to one side, and asked him to explain the matter.

Mahākaccāna first said:

"Friends, it is as though a person in need of heartwood, seeking heartwood, would pass by the root and trunk of a great standing tree full of heartwood and imagine that heartwood should be sought among the branches and leaves.

That is what has happened here. While the Teacher himself was present face to face, you passed him by and thought this matter should be asked of me.

Still, friends, listen carefully and attend well. I will speak."

"Yes, friend," the bhikkhus replied.

The Sequence Through the Six Sense Doors

Mahākaccāna said:

"Friends, the Buddha gave this brief summary and then entered his dwelling without explaining the meaning in detail:

'From the source by which the recognitions and notions of proliferation sweep over a person ... here these bad unwholesome dhammas cease without remainder.'

I understand the detailed meaning of that brief summary like this:

Dependent on eye and visible forms, eye-knowing arises. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as condition, felt experience. What they feel, they recognize. What they recognize, they think about. What they think about, they proliferate about. From what they proliferate about as the source, the recognitions and notions of proliferation sweep over a person when it comes to visible forms knowable by the eye in the past, future, and present.

The same pattern applies for ear and sounds, nose and smells, tongue and tastes, and body and tangibles.

Dependent on the thinking mind and dhammas, mind-knowing arises. The meeting of the three is contact. With contact as condition, felt experience. What they feel, they recognize. What they recognize, they think about. What they think about, they proliferate about. From what they proliferate about as the source, the recognitions and notions of proliferation sweep over a person when it comes to dhammas knowable by the mind in the past, future, and present."

When the Process Can Be Designated

"Friends, where there are eye, visible forms, and eye-knowing, it is possible to designate contact.

Where contact can be designated, it is possible to designate felt experience.

Where felt experience can be designated, it is possible to designate recognition.

Where recognition can be designated, it is possible to designate thinking.

Where thinking can be designated, it is possible to designate the sweeping-over of the recognitions and notions of proliferation.

The same pattern applies for ear and sounds, nose and smells, tongue and tastes, and body and tangibles.

Where there are mind, dhammas, and mind-knowing, it is possible to designate contact.

Where contact can be designated, it is possible to designate felt experience.

Where felt experience can be designated, it is possible to designate recognition.

Where recognition can be designated, it is possible to designate thinking.

Where thinking can be designated, it is possible to designate the sweeping-over of the recognitions and notions of proliferation."

When the Process Cannot Be Designated

"Friends, where there are no eye, no visible forms, and no eye-knowing, it is not possible to designate contact.

Where contact cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate felt experience.

Where felt experience cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate recognition.

Where recognition cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate thinking.

Where thinking cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate the sweeping-over of the recognitions and notions of proliferation.

The same pattern applies for ear and sounds, nose and smells, tongue and tastes, and body and tangibles.

Where there are no mind, no dhammas, and no mind-knowing, it is not possible to designate contact.

Where contact cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate felt experience.

Where felt experience cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate recognition.

Where recognition cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate thinking.

Where thinking cannot be designated, it is not possible to designate the sweeping-over of the recognitions and notions of proliferation.

That is how I understand the detailed meaning of the brief summary given by the Buddha.

If you wish, friends, you may go to the Buddha and ask him about this matter. Remember it as the Buddha explains it."

The Buddha Confirms Mahākaccāna

Then the bhikkhus, delighted with what Mahākaccāna had said, went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and told him the whole exchange, concluding:

"Mahākaccāna explained the meaning to us in this way, with these words and these phrases."

"Bhikkhus, Mahākaccāna is wise; Mahākaccāna has great discernment.

If you had asked me about this matter, I too would have explained it in just the same way as Mahākaccāna explained it.

That is what it means. That is how you should remember it."

The Honey Ball

When this was said, venerable Ānanda said to the Buddha:

"Bhante, it is as though a person weak from hunger were to obtain a honey ball. Wherever they might taste it, they would get only a sweet, delicious flavor.

In the same way, wherever a capable bhikkhu were to examine with discernment the meaning of this dhamma exposition, they would get only gladness and clarity of mind.

What is the name of this dhamma exposition, bhante?"

"Then, Ānanda, remember this dhamma exposition as The Honey Ball."

That is what the Buddha said. Venerable Ānanda was glad and welcomed what the Buddha had said.

Words used in this translation (22)
aversion
One of the three "roots" behind unwholesome action, alongside greed and delusion -- the pushback against what's unwanted or unpleasant.
becoming
This project's rendering of "bhava" -- the settling of experience into a way of being that feels like somebody being something. Often translated "existence."
bhante
A respectful way of addressing a senior monastic, roughly "venerable sir." Left untranslated because English has no natural equivalent.
bhikkhu
A Buddhist monk -- someone who has left household life to practise full time. Left untranslated because "monk" carries centuries of unrelated European associations.
bhikkhus
Buddhist monks -- those who have left household life to practise full time. The Buddha's usual way of addressing the assembly, roughly "friends" in force.
body
The physical body, as distinct from speech and the mental side of experience.
brahmin
Originally a member of ancient India's hereditary priestly class. These texts sometimes reuse the title for an ideal practitioner who has completed the path. Context shows whether caste or conduct is the point.
clarity
This project's rendering of "amoha," literally "non-delusion" -- seeing without the confusion and distortion that drive harmful action.
contact
This project's rendering of "phassa" -- the meeting of a sense, its object, and the knowing of it. A technical link in the dependent-arising sequence, not physical touch specifically.
dhamma
Depending on the sentence, either the Buddha's teaching or simply a thing, quality, or state of affairs. These texts use one word for both, and each passage makes clear which it means.
doubt
Uncertainty and indecision, especially about the practice and the teaching. As one of the five hindrances, it keeps the mind wavering instead of committing.
felt experience
This project's rendering of "vedanā", often translated "feeling". It is the immediate pleasant, painful, or mixed tone of an experience, before any story we build on top of it.
gladness
This project's rendering of "muditā", often translated "sympathetic joy". It means being truly glad at someone else's good fortune. You cultivate it as a practice; you do not assume it comes naturally.
ignorance
This project's rendering of "avijjā" -- not general stupidity, but specifically not seeing how dissatisfaction works and how it ends. The first link in the dependent-arising sequence.
ignorant wanting
Wanting something you can't have right now. This project's rendering of "taṇhā", often translated "craving". We call it ignorant because it comes from not seeing clearly; ordinary, sensible wanting is something else.
knowing
This project's rendering of "viññāṇa" (often translated "consciousness") -- bare awareness of an object through one of the senses or the mind.
recognition
This project's rendering of "saññā" (often translated "perception") -- the mind's act of identifying and labeling what it encounters.
seclusion
This project's rendering of "viveka" -- being apart from the usual pull of the senses and from unwholesome states. Physical solitude is one form of it, not the whole of it.
thinking mind
This project's rendering of "mano": the part of mind that thinks and registers ideas. These texts count it as a sixth sense, alongside the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body.
underlying tendency
A reactive pattern that isn't necessarily active right now but is ready to reassert itself given the right conditions -- lying underneath rather than gone.
unwholesome
This project's rendering of "akusala". Roughly: mentally and ethically harmful. It is blameworthy, leads to harm, and people with good judgment criticize it.
world
A word whose scope shifts with the teaching. It can mean the lived world we build through the senses and the mind, or the wider physical cosmos. The surrounding passage shows which sense it has.
Source and corrections