In Buddhism, āyatana (Pāli; Sanskrit: आयतन) is a "center of experience" or "mental home," which create one's experience. The term (Pāli; Skt. ) refers to six cognitive functions, namely sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, body-cognition, and mind-cognition.
Āyatana may refer to both ordinary experience and the chain of processes leading to bondage, as to awakened experience centered in detachment and meditative accomplishment. The Buddhist path aims to relocate one from the ordinary, sensual centers of experience to the "mental home" of the purified, liberated awareness of the jhanas.
Traditionally, the term āyatana is translated as "sense base", "sense-media" or "sense sphere," due to the influence of later commentators like Buddhaghosa. The are traditionally understood as referring to the five senses and the mind.
Etymology
Āyatana (Pāli;
Sanskrit: आयतन) is a
Buddhism term that does not have a single definition or meaning. The standard PTS Pāli-English Dictionary by Davids & Stede (1921) gives the following meanings of
āyatana:
-
. stretch, extent, reach, compass, region; sphere, locus, place, spot; position, occasion
-
. exertion, doing, working, practice, performance
-
. sphere of perception or sense in general, object of thought, sense-organ & object; relation, order
While āyatana is usually translated as "base" or "sphere," or more specifically as "sense field," "sense base", "sense-media" or "sense sphere," according to Ellis, "these are inadequate translations because they are based on later Buddhist traditions and commentarial literature and not on an historical understanding of the term."
In Vedic literature āyatana is "used for a regular place, position, etc. occupied by a person." In some Upanishads it has the meaning of a "dwelling place" or "resort," or a "resting place for the mind," indicating that āyatana means "the place in which experience happens" or a "center of experience." According to Ellis, "center of experience" or "mental home" is a more adequate interpretation than "base" or "sphere."
Ellis notes that āyatana in the suttas most commonly appears as a compound, namely saḷāyatana or cha phassāyatanā, the "six āyatanas of sensual experience." According to Ellis, "This context is so dominant that translators like Bodhi and Walshe translate ‘sense bases’ even if the Pāli texts only mentions āyatana, and not saḷāyatana."
Ellis further notes that saḷāyatana is traditionally interpreted anatonomically, and understood as referring to the five senses and the mind. Yet, according to Olivelle, saḷāyatana refers to cognitive functions, and therefor are understood by Ellis as referring to sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, body-cognition, and mind-cognition.
The saḷāyatana are related to the indriya, the five senses and the mind; the indriya become saḷāyatana when they are distorted by a defiled mind.[ Indriya and Āyatana – Big Difference] Indriya also refers to the five spiritual facultues, which are used to
In the Pali Canon
Throughout the
Pali Canon, the
saḷāyatana are referenced in hundreds of discourses. In these diverse discourses, the sense bases are integrated in various mnemonic lists.
Internal and external āyatana
The
āyatana are further refined as six internal
āyatana and six corresponding external
āyatana. Together they form:
- * sight ('eye') and visible objects
- * hearing ('ear') and sound
- * smelling ('nose') and odor
- * tasting ('tongue') and taste
- * body-cognition ('body') and touch
- * mind-cognition ('mind') and dharmas (mental objects)
Five skandhas
Based on these six pairs of
āyatana, a number of mental factors arise, as described in the
five skandhas. Thus, for instance, when the auditive cognitive function ('the ear') is triggered by sound, the associated consciousness (Pali:
) arises. With the presence of these three elements ( dhātu) – hearing function, sound and hearing function-related consciousness – "contact" ( phassa) arises, which in turn is apprehended as a pleasant or unpleasant or neutral "feeling" or "sensation" ( vedanā). With feeling, "craving" () (or aversion) arises. (See Figure 1.)
Such an enumeration can be found, for instance, in the "Six Sextets" discourse ( Chachakka Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 148), where the "six sextets" (six sense organs, six sense objects, six sense-specific types of consciousness, six sense-specific types of contact, six sense-specific types of sensation and six sense-specific types of craving) are examined and found to be anatta.[ & Bodhi (2001), pp. 1129–36; and, Thanissaro (1998a).]
The saḷāyatana are included in the Twelve Nidanas, a list compiled of several sublists including the five skandhas, which describes the process of becoming.[Note that the Twelve Causes and Six Sextets describe the relationship between the saḷāyatana and consciousness in different ways. Relatedly, there are canonical discouses that put forth hybrid models of these various psychophysical factors, such as described in "The World Discourse" ( Loka Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya 12.44) (Thanissaro, 1998b; and, Bodhi, 2005a, pp. 358–59) where the aforementioned six "sextets" (from the eye and form to craving) condition the last four "causes" (clinging, becoming, birth, old age & death) and suffering. In reference to this and similar "variant" discourses, Bodhi (2005a) notes:
]
- "These variants make it plain that the sequence of factors should not be regarded as a linear causal process in which each preceding factor gives rise to its successor through the simple exercise of efficient causality. Far from being linear, the relationship among the factors is always complex, involving several interwoven strands of conditionality." (Bodhi, 2005a, p. 316.)
"The All"
In a discourse entitled, "The All" (
Samyutta Nikaya 35.23), the Buddha states that there is no "all" outside of the six pairs of the
saḷāyatana. In the next codified discourse (SN 35.24), the Buddha elaborates that the All includes the first five aforementioned sextets (sense organs, objects, consciousness, contact and sensations).
[Bodhi (2000b), p. 1140; and, Thanissaro (2001a).] References to the All can be found in a number of subsequent discourses.
[For instance, Samyutta Nikaya 35.25 through 35.29, including the famed "Fire Sermon" (SN 35.28).] In addition, the
Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali literature further conceptualize the
saḷāyatana as a means for classifying
all factors of existence.
[Bodhi (2000b), p. 1122.]
"Aflame with lust, hate and delusion"
In "The Vipers" discourse (
Asivisa Sutta,
Samyutta Nikaya 35.197),
the Buddha likens the internal
saḷāyatana to an "empty village" and the external
saḷāyatana to "village-plundering bandits." Using this metaphor, the Buddha characterizes the "empty"
[In the context of SN 35.197, the term "empty" might simply be meant to convey "passive." It could also be used in the Buddhist sense of self-less, as in anatta ( see). In fact, in Samyutta Nikaya 35.85, the Buddha applies this latter notion of emptiness ( Shunyata) to all internal and external saḷāyatana (Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 1163–64; and Thanissaro, 1997c).] sense organs as being "attacked by agreeable & disagreeable" sense objects.
[Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1237–1239 (where this discourse is identified as SN 35.238); Buddhaghosa (1999), p. 490 (where this discourse is identified as S.iv,175); and, Thanissaro (2004).
]
Similarly, in the last sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya's Salayatana-samyutta, entitled "The Sheaf of Barley" (which Bodhi, 2000b, identifies as SN 35.248 and Thanissaro, 1998d, as SN 35.207), the Buddha describes the sense organs as "struck" or "thrashed" by "agreeable and disagreeable" sense objects (Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 1257–59; Thanissaro, 1998d).
Elsewhere in the same collection of discourses (Samyutta Nikaya 35.191), the Buddha's Great Sravaka Sariputta clarifies that the actual dukkha associated with sense organs and sense objects is not inherent to these saḷāyatana but is due to the "fetters" (here identified as "desire and lust") that arise when there is contact between a sense organ and sense object.[Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1230–1231 (where this discourse is identified as SN 35.232); and, Thanissaro (1997b).]
In the "Fire Sermon" ( Adittapariyaya Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya 35.28), delivered several months after the Buddha's bodhi, the Buddha describes all saḷāyatana and related mental processes in the following manner:
- "Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Vinnana at the eye is aflame. Phassa at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye – experienced as Vedana – that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of Kilesa, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with Dukkha."
[ Thanissaro, 1993. For other references to the saḷāyatana as "the All," see Thanissaro (2001b) and Thanissaro (2001a). The saḷāyatana are "the All" insomuch that all we know of the world is known through the saḷāyatana.]
Liberation
The Buddha taught that, in order to escape the dangers of the
saḷāyatana, one must be able to apprehend the
saḷāyatana without
kilesa. In "Abandoning the Fetters" (
Samyutta Nikaya 35.54), the Buddha states that one abandons the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as
impermanence" (Pali:
anicca) the
saḷāyatana, objects, sense-
vinnana, contact and
Vedana.
[Bodhi (2000b), p. 1148.] Similarly, in "Uprooting the Fetters" (SN 35.55), the Buddha states that one uproots the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as
Anatta" (
anatta) the aforementioned five sextets.
[Bodhi (2000b), p. 1148. For a correspondence between impermanence and nonself, see Three marks of existence.]
To foster this type of penetrative knowing and seeing and the resultant release from suffering, in the Satipatthana Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 10) the Buddha instructs monks to meditate on the saḷāyatana and the dependently arising fetters as follows:
- "How, O bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu live contemplating mental object in the mental objects of the six internal and the six external sense-bases?
- "Here, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu understands the eye and material forms and the fetter that arises dependent on both (eye and forms); he understands how the arising of the non-arisen fetter comes to be; he understands how the abandoning of the arisen fetter comes to be; and he understands how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned fetter comes to be. ''In He understands the ear and sounds ... the organ of smell and odors ... the organ of taste and flavors ... the organ of touch and tactual objects ... the consciousness and mental objects....
- "Thus he lives contemplating mental object in mental objects ... and upadana to naught in the world."
[ Soma (1999), section entitled, "The Six Internal and the Six External Sense-bases."]
In the Four Noble Truths, one of many summaries of the Buddhist path to liberation, dukkha ('suffering') is observed to arise with craving (Pali: ; Skt.: , lit. 'thirst'). In the chain of Twelve Nidanas, craving arises with Vedana when the saḷāyatana is activated by contact. To detach from tanha and dukkha, one should develop awareness ( sati (mindfullness) and sampajañña (clear comprehension)) of the chain of events triggered by the saḷāyatana, and practice restraint and detachment ( sammā-vāyāma (right effort) and dhyana ('meditation')).
Ellis notes that āyatana may also refer to the various stages of meditation ( jhana), and "even the state of liberated Buddhist
masters is termed āyatana."' As such, they are also a "center of experience" or "mental home," in which our normal states of mind are abandoned and one relocates in the purified, liberated awareness of the jhanas.
In post-canonical Pali texts
The
Vimuttimagga, the
Visuddhimagga, and associated
Atthakatha[In terms of the Pali commentaries, for instance, there is overlap between the Visuddhimagga and the commentary to the Dhammasangani, Atthasālinī (e.g., cf. Vsm. XIV,49 Buddhaghosa, and Asl. 310 Rhys).] and subcommentaries all contribute to traditional knowledge about the
saḷāyatana.
Understanding sense organs
When the Buddha speaks of "understanding" the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body, what is meant?
According to the first-century CE Sinhalese meditation manual, Vimuttimagga, the sense organs can be understood in terms of the object sensed, the consciousness aroused, the underlying "sensory matter," and an associated mahabhuta that is present "in excess."[In regards to defining the saḷāyatana in terms of excess primary elements, the Visuddhimagga (Vsm. XIV, 42) is critical:
]
- "... Others say that the eye is sensitivity of those primary that have fire in excess, and that the ear, nose, tongue, and body are sensitivity of those primary that have respectively aperture, air, water and earth in excess. They should be asked to quote a sutta. They will certainly not find one." (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 444, para. 42.)
These characteristics are summarized in the table below.
|
|
| eye | visual objects | visual consciousness | "...the three small fleshy discs round the pupil, and the white and black of the human eye that is in five layers of flesh, blood, wind, phlegm and serum, is half a poppy-seed in size, is like the head of a ...." | Earth |
| ear | sound waves | auditory consciousness | "...in the interior of the two ear-holes, is fringed by tawny hair, is dependent on the membrane, is like the stem of a blue-green bean...." | Sounds |
| nose | odors | olfactory consciousness | "...in the interior of the nose, where the three meet, is dependent on one small opening, is like a (flower in shape)...." | air |
| tongue | tastes | gustatory consciousness | "...two-finger breadths in size, is in shape like a blue lotus, is located in the flesh of the tongue...." | water |
| body | tangibles | tactual consciousness | "...in the entire body, excepting the hair of the body and the head, nails teeth and other insensitive parts...." | Heat (or lack thereof) |
Table 1. The Vimuttimagga's characterization of sense organs.[This table is based on Upatissa et al. (1995), pp. 238–240.] |
The compendious fifth-century CE Visuddhimagga provides similar descriptors, such as "the size of a mere louse's head" for the location of the eye's "sensitivity" (Pali: pasāda; also known as, "sentient organ, sense agency, sensitive surface"),[Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–25), p. 446, entry for "Pasāda" (retrieved 2008-04-16 from "U. Chicago" at [13]).] and "in the place shaped like a goat's hoof" regarding the nose sensitivity (Visuddhimagga. XIV, 47–52).[Buddhaghosa (1999), pp. 445–6. While this Visuddhimagga chapter (XIV) actually pertains to the Skandha, this characterization is referenced in the Visuddhimagga chapter (XV) on the Sense Bases (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 489, verse 8).] In addition, the Visuddhimagga describes the sense organs in terms of the following four factors:
- * characteristic or sign ( lakkhaa)
- * function or "taste" ( rasa)
- * manifestation ( paccupahāna)
- * proximate cause ( padahāna)
Thus, for instance, it describes the eye as follows:
- Herein, the eye's characteristic is sensitivity of mahabhuta that is ready for the impact of visible data; or its characteristic is sensitivity of primary elements originated by Karma sourcing from desire to see. Its function is to pick up an among visible data. It is manifested as the footing of eye-vijnana. Its proximate cause is primary elements born of kamma sourcing from desire to see.
[Vsm. XIV, 37 (trans. Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 443; square-bracketed text in original). The Pali (from the Burmese CSCD, retrieved 2008-04-16 from "VRI" at http://www.tipitaka.org/romn/cscd/e0102n.mul2.xml) associated with this passage is:]
In regards to the sixth internal āyatana of mind ( mano), Pali subcommentaries (attributed to Dhammapāla Thera) distinguish between consciousness arising from the five physical saḷāyatana and that arising from the primarily post-Pali Canon notion of a "life-continuum" or "unconscious mind" ( bhavaga-mana):[Regarding bhavaga being a primarily post-canonical concept, see Matthews (1995, p. 128) where he states for instance: " Bhavaga does not occur in the Sutta Pitaka, but its appearance in both the Dhammasangani and the Patthana assured that it received much post-classical attention in the Theravāda." He further amplifies this in an endnote (p. 140, n. 34): "... Although bhavaga does appear in the Abhidhamma Piaka, it is not until the post-classical era that it receives much attention." Citing Ñāamoli and others, Matthews (1995, p. 123) defines the "classical age" as "ended about the 4th century A.D.," just prior to the "great age of Atthakatha."]
- "Of the consciousness or mind aggregate included in a course of cognition of eye-consciousness, just the eye-base not is the 'door' of origin, and the external base of the material form is the visible object. So it is in the case of the others that. But of the sixth sense-base the part of the mind base called the life-continuum, the unconscious mind, is the 'door' of origin...."
[Soma (2003), p. 133. This excerpt is from the subcommentary to the Majjhima Nikaya, the Līnatthapakāsanā Tīkā.]
The roots of wisdom
In the fifth-century CE exegetical
Visuddhimagga,
Buddhaghosa identifies knowing about the
saḷāyatana as part of the "soil" of liberating wisdom. Other components of this "soil" include the
skandha, the
indriya, the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination.
[Buddhaghosa & Ñāamoli (1999), pp. 442–43.]
Related Buddhist concepts
-
Skandha (Pali, khandha; Skt., skandha):
In a variety of suttas, the aggregates, elements ( see below) and saḷāyatana are identified as the "soil" in which craving and upadana grow.[See, for instance, Samyutta Nikaya 35.91 where the Buddha proclaims:
]
- "Whatever, , is the extent of the aggregates, the elements, and the saḷāyatana, a does not conceive that, does not conceive in that, does not conceive from that, does not conceive, 'This is mine.' Since he does not conceive anything thus, he does not cling to anything in the world. Not clinging, he is not agitated. Being unagitated, he personally attains Nibbāna..." (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 1171). In general, in the Pali Canon, the aggregate of material form includes the five material sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue and body) and associated sense objects (visible forms, sounds, odors, tastes and tactile objects); the aggregate of consciousness is associated with the sense organ of mind; and, the mental aggregates (sensation, perception, mental formations) are mental sense objects.
[See, for instance, Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1122–24. Beyond the five aggregates, Nibbana is also identified as a "mental object" perceivable by "mind" ( mano) (see, for instance, Bodhi, 2000a, p. 288).]
Both the aggregates and the saḷāyatana are identified as objects of mindfulness meditation in the Satipatthana Sutta. In terms of pursuing liberation, meditating on the aggregates eradicates self-doctrine and wrong-view upadana while meditating on the saḷāyatana eradicates sense-pleasure clinging.[See, for instance, Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1124–26; and, Bodhi (2005b), starting at time 48:47. Also see the article on upadana for the Pali Canon explanation of the four types of clinging: sense-pleasure, wrong-view, rites-and-rituals and self-doctrine.]
-
Dependent Origination (Pali: ; Skt.: pratitya-samutpada):
As indicated in Figure 2 above, the six saḷāyatana (Pali; Skt.: ) are the fifth link in the Twelve Nidanas ( nidāna) of the chain of Dependent Origination and thus likewise are the fifth position on the Bhavacakra ( bhavacakra). The arising of the six saḷāyatana is dependent on the arising of namarupa (Pali, Skt.: nāmarūpa); and, the arising of the six saḷāyatana leads to the arising of "contact" (Pali: phassa; Skt.: sparśa) between the saḷāyatana and Vijnana (Pali: ; Skt.: visjñāna) which results in pleasant, unpleasant and neutral vedana (Pali, Skt.: vedanā).
-
Elements (Pali, Skt.: dhātu):
[The Pāli word referenced here as "element," dhātu, is used in multiple contexts in the Pali canon. For instance, Bodhi (2000b), pp. 527–8, identifies four different ways that dhātu is used including in terms of the "eighteen elements" and in terms of "the four primary elements" ( mahabhuta).]
The eighteen elements include the twelve saḷāyatana. The eighteen elements are six triads of elements where each triad is composed of a sense object (the external saḷāyatana), a sense organ (the internal saḷāyatana) and the associated sense-organ-consciousness ( ).[In Buddhist literature, when a sense object and sense organ make contact (Pali, phassa), sense-consciousness arises. (See for instance Majjhima Nikaya 148.)] In other words, the eighteen elements are made up of the twelve saḷāyatana and the six related sense-consciousnesses.
-
Karma (Skt.; Pali: kamma):
In a Samyutta Nikaya discourse, the Buddha declares that the six internal senses bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind) are "old kamma, to be seen as generated and fashioned by volition, as something to be felt."[Bodhi (2005b), pp. 1211–12. See also Thanissaro (1997a).] In this discourse, "new kamma" is described as "whatever action one does now by body, speech, or mind." In this way, the internal saḷāyatana provide a link between our volitional actions and subsequent perceptions.
See also
-
Heart Sutra—Mahayana text that shows the ayatanas in Mahayana discourse
-
Indriya—"faculties", which include a group of "six sensory faculties" similar to the six saḷāyatana
-
Prajna (wisdom)
-
Satipatthana Sutta—includes a meditation using saḷāyatana as the meditative object
-
Skandha—a similar Buddhist construct
-
Twelve Nidanas—the chain of endless suffering of which the saḷāyatana are the fifth link
Notes
Sources
- Primary
-
-
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000b). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. (Part IV is "The Book of the Six Sense Bases (Salayatanavagga)".) Boston: Wisdom Publications. .
-
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2005a). In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. Boston: Wisdom Publications. .
-
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (18 Jan 2005b). MN 10: Satipatthana Sutta (continued) (MP3 audio file) In. Available on-line at http://www.bodhimonastery.net/MP3/M0060_MN-010.mp3.
-
Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya (trans. from Pāli by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. (Chapter XV is "The Bases and Elements (Ayatana-dhatu-niddesa)".) Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. .
-
, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2001). The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. .
-
Rhys Davids, Caroline A.F. (1900, 2003). Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piaka, entitled Dhamma- (Compendium of States or Phenomena). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing.
- Secondary
-
Hamilton, Sue (2001). Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
-
Matthews, Bruce (1995). "Post-Classical Developments in the Concepts of Karma and Rebirth in Theravāda Buddhism," in Ronald W. Neufeldt (ed.), Karma and Rebirth: Post-Classical Developments. Delhi, Sri Satguru Publications. (Originally published by the State University of New York, 1986). .
-
Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921–5). The Pali Text Society's Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
External links
