Reading guide
One cause, two mirrored outcomes
The same three roots — greed, hate, and delusion — explain both fury and gentleness: present, they cause someone to get annoyed and show it; absent, the identical situation produces no annoyance at all. Nothing external distinguishes the furious from the gentle; only the presence or absence of the three roots does.
A chief named for the very trait at issue
Caṇḍa's own name means “fierce, furious” — whether coincidence or a deliberate narrative touch, his own question about the cause of fury is asked by someone whose own name names that very quality.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then Fury the chief went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why some people are regarded as furious, while others are regarded as gentle?” “Take someone who hasn’t given up greed. So they get annoyed by others, and they show it. They’re regarded as furious. They haven’t given up hate. So they get annoyed by others, and they show it. They’re regarded as furious. They haven’t given up delusion. So they get annoyed by others, and they show it. They’re regarded as furious. This is the cause, this is the reason why some people are regarded as furious. But take someone who has given up greed. So they don’t get annoyed by others, and don’t show it. They’re regarded as gentle. They’ve given up hate. So they don’t get annoyed by others, and don’t show it. They’re regarded as gentle. They’ve given up delusion. So they don’t get annoyed by others, and don’t show it. They’re regarded as gentle. This is the cause, this is the reason why some people are regarded as gentle.” When he said this, Fury the chief said to the Buddha, “Excellent, sir! Excellent! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with clear eyes can see what’s there, the Buddha has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to the Buddha, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. From this day forth, may the Buddha remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”
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