Grammatical Analysis
Mada: [m.] vanity; intoxication; pride; infatuation. From root mad (to be intoxicated, to revel in).
Orthodox Definition
Mada is a minor defilement (upakkilesa) representing a state of psychological intoxication. It is not intoxication via alcohol, but the deep, blinding vanity that arises when a person becomes obsessed with their own worldly advantages.
The Buddha frequently isolated three specific types of intoxication:
- Yobbana-mada: Intoxication with youth (forgetting that the body will inevitably age).
- Ārogya-mada: Intoxication with health (forgetting that the body is entirely vulnerable to sickness).
- Jīvita-mada: Intoxication with life (forgetting that death can strike at any moment).
When the mind is swollen with mada, it abandons urgency (saṃvega) and slides directly into heedlessness (pamāda), completely neglecting the practice of the Dhamma until disaster strikes.
Textual References
- Sutta: Mada Sutta (AN 3.39) – The Buddha reflecting on his own life as a prince, demonstrating how he shattered these three specific intoxications by contemplating old age, sickness, and death.
- Abhidhamma: Vibhaṅga (Analysis of defilements).
- Commentary: Papañcasūdanī – Tracking how vanity blinds the practitioner to the universal characteristic of suffering.