The Honeyball Discourse
A monk approached Buddha claiming to understand the teaching without detailed explanation. Buddha gave a concise statement about mental proliferation, then left. The monk struggled to explain it to others, leading to confusion and argument.
When Buddha returned, he explained how conflict arises: from sensory contact comes feeling, from feeling comes perception, from perception comes thinking, from thinking comes proliferation, and from proliferation come all the conflicts that plague human society.
The "honeyball" metaphor suggests how sweet initial contact (like seeing agreeable content) can lead to sticky mental elaboration that's hard to escape.
Digital Age Relevance
- Algorithmic Amplification: Social media algorithms exploit mental proliferation by showing content that triggers strong emotional responses.
- Echo Chambers: Proliferation creates mental bubbles where we only see information that confirms our existing stories.
- Viral Conflicts: Minor disagreements escalate through proliferation into major online battles and real-world divisions.
- Addiction Patterns: The proliferation process keeps us scrolling, seeking more stimulation and validation.