From Mind and Matter, the Six Sense-Bases Arise IND AND MATTER conditions the six senses. Here, mind means the three aggregates of mental properties1 while matter refers to the four primary elements, the six sense-bases, vitality, and nutriment.
Dependent upon mind and matter the six sense-bases arise: eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and
mind-base. These sense-bases are the doors through which the processes of consciousness occur. In the immaterial realm, every unit of consciousness throughout life is born of associated mental properties. However, for most people this will remain academic knowledge as it can be understood empirically only by Noble Ones in the immaterial realm. Furthermore, in any existence such as a human life, which comprises both mentality and materiality, every resultant consciousness from the moment of
conception arises conditioned by its associated mental properties. Resultant consciousness here means the kind of consciousness that simply sees, hears, etc., the pleasant or unpleasant objects. Visual-consciousness, for example, cannot arise by itself, for it presupposes attention, which considers
the object; contact, which impacts on the object; and volition, which strives to see the object. Consciousness can arise only when these mental properties arise concurrently. This rule of conascence condition is called ‘sahajāta-paccaya’. A load that can be raised by four men working together cannot be moved by the foreman on his own. Similarly, although consciousness is the basis of mental life, it
counts for little by itself and can function only in association with other mental properties. Moreover, these associated mental properties contribute to the five senses by conascence at rebirth. Of course, immediately before conception, only materiality exists. However, in the case of spontaneous
rebirth, the five senses may exist from the very beginning. The conditioning of the sense-bases by consciousness and mental properties at conception is difficult to understand. Nevertheless, we have to accept it on the authority of the Buddha. At other times, resultant and non-resultant consciousness helps to maintain the six senses. This is understandable since, without mind, it is impossible for matter to exist. Materiality and Sense-basesRebirth-consciousness arises from the heart-base. The mind sense depends on the other five senses. Thought and consciousness also have the heart as their physical basis. All the secondary physical phenomena, such as the eye and visual objects, depend on the four primary elements. The five
sensitive material bases are rooted in the primary elements and their kamma-originated material phenomena are rooted in vitality. The five senses also depend on nutriment. To sum up, consciousness is conditioned by at least three mental properties: attention, contact, and volition. Unwholesome states like greed, craving, anger, illusion, pride, doubt, restlessness, worry, envy, ill-will, anxiety, fear,
and so forth arise repeatedly when the supporting conditions are present. Similarly, faith, piety, moral sense, non-attachment, compassion, sympathetic joy, appreciation of the law of kamma, reflection on the three characteristics, and other wholesome mental states occur when conditions are more favourable. Thus the meditator realises the dependence of consciousness on wholesome or unwholesome mental properties, the visual-consciousness on the eye. So the mind base (manāyatana)
is clearly dependent on mind and matter. The mind is also vital to the existence of living matter. So the five senses that produce sense-organs are dependent on the mind. The sense-organs cannot exist without their gross physical bases just as the reflecting mirror cannot exist without the gross matter of glass. So the eye presupposes the gross matter of solidity (pathavī), cohesion (āpo), heat (tejo), and motion (vāyo). In brief, the ability to see
depends on the physical eye. The same may be said of the other sense faculties. Furthermore, we can maintain life only because of vitality and nutriment. This shows how the five senses originate with mind and matter. The sixth sense, the mind, comprising thought, reflection, volition, and so forth, depends on various mental states such as greed or faith. It also depends on contact and the heart base. It
arises from its root, subconsciousness, which in turn forms the basis for the mind-door process of consciousness. All Phenomena are the Effects of CausesSeeing involves the sensitive eye-organ and consciousness. The eye-organ depends on consciousness,
life-force, nutriment, and physical base. Visual-consciousness depends on the eye-organ and the three mental properties of attention, mental formations, and contact. In short, the eye and visual-consciousness depend on mind and matter and the same may be said of the other five senses. A thorough knowledge of the origin of the six senses based on mind and matter is possible only for bodhisattas. Among the Buddha’s disciples, even Venerables Sāriputta and Moggallāna did not seem to
understand it comprehensively before they attained stream-winning. For it is said that the ascetic Upatissa (later known as Venerable Sāriputta) attained the first stage of the Noble Path on hearing the verse uttered by Venerable Assaji: “Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā, tesam hetum tathāgato āha
Tesañca yo nirodho, evam vādī mahāsamano.” (Vin i 40)
This verse says, “All phenomena are the effects of certain other phenomena, which are the causes. The Buddha pointed out these causes, and the cessation of the effects with the cessation of the causes.” Upatissa and his friend Kolita (later known as Venerable Moggallāna) are said to have attained stream-winning after hearing this verse. Nevertheless, they could not have reflected deeply on
Dependent Origination in such a short time. One may understand the Buddha’s teaching on the doctrine according to one’s intellect, but to grasp it fully is possible only for a Buddha. The commentary explains the verse in terms of the Four Noble Truths. “All phenomena are the effects” refers to the truth of suffering. The “cause” (hetu) refers to craving as the cause of suffering (samudayasacca). So the verse epitomises the truth about suffering and its cause.
In those days there were many views about the soul (attā): that it was immortal and passed on to another realm after death, that it was annihilated after the dissolution of the body, that it was created by God, that it was infinite, and so forth. The verse recognizes only the existence of cause and effect,
and denies both the immortality and the annihilation of the soul. This teaching afforded the two ascetics a special insight into the nature of life. The Visuddhimagga Mahātīkā identifies this verse with the teaching on Dependent Origination. It refers to a discourse in the Samyuttanikāya which says, “If this cause arises, then that effect follows. If this
cause ceases, then that effect also ends. Ignorance causes mental formations, etc., so there is suffering. With the cessation of ignorance there follows the cessation of mental formations and so on until suffering becomes extinct.” According to the Mahātīkā, the substance of this teaching is implicit in the above verse regarding both the arising and cessation of suffering. The Mahāyāna Pitaka describes
this verse as a summary of Dependent Origination. Any writing of the verse is said to be beneficial if it is enshrined in a cetiya (pagoda). So it is not surprising that many such inscriptions are found in ancient pagodas. Both views in the commentary and the Mahātīkā are plausible, for the first two noble truths imply Dependent Origination with respect to the arising of suffering and its cause. The other two noble truths imply the doctrine with respect to the cessation of suffering.
The causes and effects in the chain of causation may be summarised thus: ignorance in a past life leads to acts, speech, and thoughts, and these mental formations produce consciousness. The five effects in the present life are consciousness, mind and matter, the six senses, contact, and feeling. These effects become causes, sowing the seeds for a future life and so for craving, attachment,
becoming, and birth. As a result there is aging, death, grief, and suffering in store for the future life. That Dependent Origination is profound is borne out by the Buddha’s reply to Venerable Ānanda. Venerable Ānanda reflected on the doctrine from the beginning to the end, and vice versa. To him it
was clear, and it presented no difficulty. He approached the Buddha and said, “Lord, this Dependent Origination is very profound, but for me it seems so easy to understand.” The Buddha chided him, saying, “You should not say that, Ānanda.” According to the commentary, the Buddha’s words imply a compliment as well as a reproach to Venerable Ānanda. The Buddha meant to say in effect, “Ānanda,
you are highly intelligent, so understanding the doctrine is easy for you, but do not think that it may be so clear to others.” Venerable Ānanda’s ability to understand the doctrine was due to four factors: the perfections that he had developed in his previous lives, the instructions of his teachers, his wide knowledge, and his attainment of the first stage on the Noble Path. In a previous life, Venerable Ānanda was Prince Sumana, the brother of Padumuttara Buddha. As a
provincial governor, he successfully subdued an uprising. The king was very pleased and invited him to ask for anything he wished. Prince Sumana asked for permission to serve the Buddha for the three months of the rainy season. The king did not wish to grant this boon and so he said evasively that it was difficult to know the Buddha’s intention. He could not do anything if the Lord was reluctant to go
to the prince’s palace. On the advice of the bhikkhus, the prince requested an elder, also named Sumana, to arrange for an interview with the Buddha. When Prince Sumana met the Buddha, he told the Lord how Venerable Sumana had done a thing that was beyond the power of other bhikkhus. He asked what kind of meritorious deeds a man should do to be so intimate with the Lord. The Buddha said that one could become like Venerable Sumana by practising generosity and morality. Prince Sumana
asked the Lord to spend the rainy season in his city as he wished to do meritorious deeds, aspiring to become a privileged elder like Venerable Sumana in the Sangha of a future Buddha. Seeing that his visit there might be of benefit to many, the Buddha said, “Sumana, the Buddha loves solitude”, which implied acceptance of the invitation. The prince then ordered more than a hundred monasteries to be built along the route, where the
Buddha and the Sangha might rest comfortably at night. He bought a park and turned it into a magnificent monastery with dwellings for the Buddha and many monks. When all was ready, he sent word to his father and invited the Buddha to come to his city. The prince and his people welcomed the Buddha and his disciples. Honouring them with flowers and scents, they led them to the monastery. There the prince formally donated the monastery and the park to the Buddha. After performing this act
of charity, the prince summoned his wives and ministers and said, “The Buddha has come here out of compassion for us. The Buddhas do not care for material well-being. They care only for the practice of the Dhamma. I wish to honour the Buddha with practice so that he may be well pleased. I will observe the ten precepts and stay at the residence of the Buddha. You must feed and serve all the arahants every day during the rains-retreat as I have done today.” The Buddha’s High Regard for PracticeIncidentally, there is a story showing the importance that the Buddha attached to the practice of the Dhamma. Once, the Buddha left the Jetavana monastery to go on tour. King Kosala, the merchant
Anāthapindika and other lay disciples requested the Buddha not to go, but in vain. The merchant was unhappy because he had lost the opportunity to hear the Dhamma or to make offerings to the Lord and the bhikkhus. His slave-girl, Punnā by name, said that she would ask the Buddha to come back. The merchant promised to free her if she could persuade the Buddha to return to the monastery. So, Punnā
followed the Buddha quickly and implored the Lord to return. The Buddha asked her what she would do. She replied that she had nothing to offer, but that she would take the three refuges and observe the five precepts if the Lord spent the rainy-season in Sāvatthi. Saying, “Sādhu”, the Buddha blessed her and returned to Jetavana Monastery. The news spread and the merchant set Punnā free, adopting her
as his daughter. She was now free to do what she liked and to shape her own destiny. So, by virtue of her kammic potential, she joined the Sangha. She practised meditation, and when she had developed insight into impermanence, the Buddha exhorted her, “My daughter, just as the moon is full on the fifteenth day, so too you should practise insight to the end. When your insight is complete, you will attain the end of suffering.” After hearing this exhortation, Sister Punnā became an arahant. Of course, the Buddha had foreseen Punnā’s destiny. It was his concern for her spiritual development that prompted him to cancel the projected tour and turn back in response to her appeal. This is an example of the high regard for the practice of Dhamma that Gotama Buddha had in common with other Buddhas. So (to return to the story of Venerable Ānanda’s past life) Prince Sumana observed the ten precepts and dwelt at the residence of the Buddha. He spent his time near Venerable Sumana and closely watched him serving the Buddha. Shortly before the end of the rainy season, he returned home and donated lavishly to the Sangha. In his prayer to the Buddha, he affirmed his aspiration to become an
intimate attendant of a future Buddha. The Buddha blessed him and the prince developed perfections for innumerable lifetimes. The Jātakas refer to many lives that Sumana devoted to perfecting himself in collaboration with the bodhisatta. Sometimes the bodhisatta was king and he was the king’s minister, or the bodhisatta was a human being and he happened to be a deva or Sakka. However, their positions
were often reversed. In some Jātakas they were brothers. Thus they developed perfections in close parallel throughout innumerable lives. Finally, Ānanda (formerly Prince Sumana) was the nephew of King Suddhodana. After spending the first rainy season near Benares, the Buddha went to Rājagaha and from there he continued to Kapilavatthu at the invitation of his father. When he left his native place, Ānanda, Devadatta, and some other Sakyan princes followed the Buddha and joined the Sangha.
The perfections that Venerable Ānanda had cultivated through many lifetimes made it easy for him to understand the law of Dependent Origination, which baffled so many others. Moreover, Venerable Ānanda had received instructions from his teachers. He had not only lived with them, but had also studied and memorised the doctrine. This kind of learning helped him to understand Dependent
Origination. He attained the first stage of the Noble Path after hearing the discourse of the noted teacher, Venerable Punna. Venerable Ānanda paid a high tribute to Venerable Punna for his illuminating discourse, the substance of which is as follows: “Self-conceit arises from attachment to the body, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. It cannot arise without the five aggregates
any more than the reflection of a man’s face can appear without a mirror. These five aggregates are not permanent. Since they are impermanent, you should meditate to realise that none of them, whether past, present or future, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, distant or near, is yours, yourself or your soul. The well-informed disciple of the Buddha who contemplates thus
and realises the truth is disillusioned with the five aggregates. He becomes detached and free. He knows that his mind is free, that he has done what has to be done, that he has nothing else to do for his freedom.” This was what Venerable Punna taught Venerable Ānanda. As a stream-winner, Venerable Ānanda
realised the cause-and-effect relationships of Dependent Origination. He had this insight when he practised meditation, so he knew that ignorance, craving, attachment, becoming, birth, consciousness, and so forth, form the links in the chain of causation. Here, illusion or ignorance is avijjā, craving is tanhā, attachment is upādāna, becoming is kammabhava. So when it is said that kamma leads to
rebirth, we should understand that rebirth is also conditioned by attachment, etc. The past involves ignorance, mental formations, craving, attachment, and becoming as causes. One who realises this through contemplation is free from all doubts, which cannot be removed merely through learning and reflection. As the best-informed disciple of the Buddha, Venerable Ānanda also gained the recognition of the
Teacher in matters of knowledge. He usually accompanied the Buddha on tour and memorised all the discourses. He could repeat a discourse verbatim after he had heard it only once. As for the Buddha’s talks given in his absence, he heard these from others and memorised them too. The suttas that he had thus learnt by heart are said to number eighty-four thousand. Venerable Ānanda was famous for his retentive memory. The commentary on the Mahāvedalla Sutta
says that he could memorise hundreds of verses in a short time. With his wide knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha, it is no wonder that the doctrine of Dependent Origination did not present much difficulty to him. Even today, given a thorough knowledge of the Tipitaka, a man may understand the cause-and-effect relationship in the doctrine. The Abstruseness of the Doctrine
Nevertheless, the doctrine is abstruse in terms of effects, causes, teaching, and empirical knowledge (pativedha). In the first place, understanding mental formations, etc., as the result of ignorance and other causes is very difficult. Most people mistake the suffering of mind and matter for happiness. It is
ignorance not to know that happiness is an illusion. They believe that their egos think; they do not know mental formations as an effect of ignorance, but think that they themselves create them. So it is difficult for them to see wholesome or unwholesome deeds as the effects of ignorance. More difficult to understand is the causal relation between the mental formations of the previous life and the rebirth-consciousness of the present existence. Likewise, it is hard to understand that mind and
matter, the six senses, etc., are conditioned by consciousness and so forth. Equally hard to grasp are the causes involved in Dependent Origination, for people believe that they shape their own destiny. Some say that they are created by God or Brahmā while others insist that everything happens by chance. Most of them do not see ignorance, etc., as the basis of their existence. Again, some teachings of the Buddha on the doctrine begin with ignorance and end with death. Some are set forth
in reverse order. Some begin with the middle links in the chain and go back to the beginning or on to the end. These various versions of the doctrine add to the difficulty of understanding it. To gain an insight into the doctrine, one has to practise insight meditation and realise the complex causal relations empirically. This practical approach to the study of Dependent Origination is not easy, for the method must be right, and one must practise it steadfastly and thoroughly. In spite of these difficulties, the doctrine seemed clear to Venerable Ānanda because of his unusual qualifications. So the Buddha’s words, “Do not say this, Ānanda”, may be an implicit compliment to him. However, according to the commentary, the Buddha’s saying may be an indirect reproach. It may
mean, in effect, “Ānanda, you say that Dependent Origination is easy to understand. Then why did you become a stream-winner only after hearing my teaching? Why have you not attained any stage higher than the first stage on the Path? You should think of your shortcomings: you are my disciple with average, limited intelligence and what you say does not agree with my words. It is a saying that should
not have been uttered by a close disciple like you. I have had to develop intelligence for aeons to know this doctrine and so you should not speak lightly of it.” Thus, after chiding Venerable Ānanda implicitly by a few words, the Buddha stressed the profundity of Dependent Origination. “This Dependent Origination is profound, Ānanda, and it appears profound. It is through not understanding
and not penetrating this law that this world of living beings resembles a tangled ball of thread, or a bird’s nest of sedge or reed. Thus they do not escape from the lower states of existence, from suffering, from the cycle of existence.” In other words, this law concerning the conditioning of consciousness, mind and matter, etc., by
ignorance, mental formations and so forth, is very profound. So people do not know that only cause-and-effect relationships continue, and that there is no permanent being. They believe that a continuous being exists from the time of conception, that it is a person who develops and grows up. Some maintain that this person, being or soul has had many previous lives. All these illusions are due to ignorance of Dependent Origination. A person’s actions, speech, and thoughts are clearly due to ignorance of the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination. Undeniably, skilful acts bear sweet fruits, unskilful acts bear bitter fruits, and everyone fares according to their deeds. So ignorance leads to kammas or mental formations, which in turn lead to rebirth, consciousness, etc. This fact is clear to an intelligent person. Because of their inability to understand Dependent Origination, living beings remain trapped, wandering endlessly from one existence to another. Mostly, they are reborn in the lower realms, gaining the celestial realms only occasionally by virtue of their wholesome kamma. When the kammic effects run out, they revert to the lower realms, from where it is hard to regain human or celestial births. The
attainment of the higher planes of existence is possible only when a dying being has memories of meritorious deeds. A virtuous act is unthinkable among the lower forms of life. The law of the jungle prevails in the animal kingdom, leaving no room for love, compassion or other spiritual values. They usually die stricken with pain and fear. So an animal is very likely to be born again in the lower realms. Due to ignorance of Dependent Origination, a living being is unable to get free from the cycle of existence. No matter how long it goes round and round, an ox yoked to a mortar cannot leave the strictly limited area of its mobility. Likewise, the ignorant person is trapped in the cycle of existence, which largely means confinement to the lower realms. Thus they remain subject to existence for aeons. Understanding Dependent Origination is as vital as realising the Four Noble Truths, and they amount to the same thing. Insight meditation aims to gain insight into these teachings, both intellectually and empirically, but they are profound. Even through meditation it is not easy to fully understand ignorance, mental formations, etc. The Buddha reflected on Dependent Origination before, and shortly after, his attainment of supreme enlightenment. For seven days he was absorbed in the peace of liberation, then, on the seventh night, he contemplated Dependent Origination. |
