I do not know anyone in this world, friend, with its devas, Màra, and Brahmà, in this generation with its ascetics and Brahmins, its devas and humans, who could drive me insane or split my heart or grab me by the feet and hurl me across the Ganges. But ask whatever you want, friend. – The Buddha replies to the yakka Såciloma Såciloma Sutta

PEMASIRI THERA: As I said earlier, various forms of secondary materiality, upàdà-råpa in Pali, are derived from the materiality of the four primary elements, cattàro-mahà-båtàni:

1. Earth element, pañhavã-dhàtu
2. Water element, àpo-dhàtu
3. Fire element, tejo-dhàtu
4. Air element, vàyo-dhàtu

Upàdà-råpa is not original materiality. It is secondary; it is derived from the elements. The four primary elements are already present, and from them similar things are produced; similar in that they are built up from these exact same four elements. It’s all the same råpa; it is all the same four building blocks of earth, fire, water, and air. Secondary materiality is not anything apart from these same four basic blocks. By kamma and by mind, twenty-something different forms of secondary materiality are produced. Bear with me. The four primary elements are already present, and what is produced by kamma and by mind is of the same composition. The four primary elements are only being put together in altered formations, which is the heart of the proposition, “Dependent on consciousness, mentality-materiality arises; vi¤¤àõa-paccayà nàma-råpa§.” All of our physical sense doors eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body are simply secondary forms of materiality. We’re concerned with the workings of kamma and citta, that’s the mind. Is this clear enough for you? Are you following?
David: So far, so good.

SIX SENSE DOORS

Through our six sense doors, we experience six types of objects:

• Eyes and sights
• Ears and sounds
• Nose and aromas
• Tongue and tastes
• Body and tangibles
• Mind and ideas

These six sense doors enable us to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and experience all sorts of different states of consciousness, vi¤¤àõa.

Good. Finally a topic that should be easy to grasp! I’m pretty familiar with my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body.

You’re on the right track. Both this brick meditation hall where we are now sitting and our sense doors are forms of derived materiality; they are both produced from the four primary elements earth, fire, water, and air. But inanimate objects such as this hall as well as our lifeless nails, hair, and dry skin have only gross forms of materiality, and they do not have any subtle forms of materiality, called pasàda-råpa in Pali, nor do they have any of the life essence forms of materiality, råpa-jãvitindriya. The materiality of this hall and our hair are not in this subtle and extremely sensitive state called pasàda. Pasàda-råpa, the subtle materiality, is the most sensitive part of your sense doors and it helps you contact sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangibles. Pasàda-råpa is the subtlest form of the four primary elements. If your eye were the size of this hall, your eye’s pasàda-råpa would be one ray of sunshine reflecting off a spot on the floor. Pasàda-råpa would be just one grain of sand out of this whole big hall.

Each of our sense doors has its own subtle materiality:

• Eye subtle materiality, cakkhu-pasàda råpa
• Ear subtle materiality, sota-pasàda råpa
• Nose subtle materiality, ghàna-pasàda råpa
• Tongue subtle materiality, jivhà-pasàda råpa
• Body subtle materiality, kàya-pasàda råpa
• Heart and growth materiality, hadaya-vatthu and upacaya-råpa

Gross, subtle, and life essence these three forms of materiality, three forms of råpa, support our experiencing of sense objects. These three are vital. It’s easy to accept that the gross materiality of our eyes exists and that our eyes are necessary for the seeing of objects. Obviously, an eye-consciousness cannot take place at our eyes if we don’t have eyes. Then again, it isn’t so easy to accept that the subtle materiality and life essence materiality are also necessary for the experiencing of sense objects, such as the seeing of things. If this subtle materiality, the pasàda-råpa, of a sense door is absent or damaged, it is impossible for that sense door to make contact with its sense object.

Can I prove that subtle materiality really exists?

Yesterday, a wandering bhikkhu dropped in for a visit. He is completely blind. There is absolutely no eye-consciousness arising. Yet, when you look at him, his eyes appear to be in quite good health. All right, I said that an eye has at least these three forms of materiality gross, subtle, and life essence. Since this bhikkhu’s eyes physically exist and they are alive, we accept that his eyes have the gross and the life essence forms of materiality. Then why can’t he see? Definitely something is wrong with his eyes something must be missing or damaged. So what’s missing? Well, maybe this subtle form of materiality called pasàda-råpa is the missing element. I told you four soldiers were here at our centre a few days ago. Do you remember me telling you about them?

_Yes. All four soldiers were blind and two of them were also missing a leg or an arm. _

The eyes of those four soldiers also appeared to be in quite good health. But just as the subtle materiality, the pasàda-råpa, of our wandering bhikkhu’s eyes is damaged, the subtle materiality of those soldiers eyes is damaged, and there is no possibility for eye-consciousness to arise.

I often feel my life would be easier if I were blind like those soldiers. All my senses seem to be such a nuisance, like when I’m riding on a crowded Colombo bus. People are rude; they’re always bumping into me.

Because your body has these extremely sensitive forms of the four primary elements called pasàda-råpa, your body has the characteristic of sensing and you feel people bump into you. After a bump, you create a scenario, “He bumped into me because he is rude.” or “She bumped into me out of desire.” The mental states of ill will and greed come up because you cultivate ill will and greed. There is nothing else happening. If someone bumps your body where there is no pasàda-råpa, no subtle materiality, you don’t think there is a problem.
The subtle materiality in your body, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue makes it possible to feel bumps, see me, and hear this dhamma talk, smell the flowers, and enjoy a tastey cup of tea. Likewise, there is materiality in your heart that makes it possible for your heart to beat. The form of materiality in your heart is not pasàda-råpa; it is upacaya-råpa. Upacaya-råpa is similar to the pasàda-råpa in your eyes, ears, and nose, tongue, and body in that it is the initial, gathering materiality. Can you follow what I am saying? We’re getting a little technical. Upacaya-råpa is the first arising of materiality, the frontline growth materiality. Apparently, it’s this form of materiality that creates and controls the beating of the heart that’s what it does. Just as a bump stimulates the subtle materiality in your body and you feel a bump, energy loaded blood stimulates the growth materiality in your heart and your heart beats. The blood supplies the energy to the heart, and the heart circulates the blood throughout the body to pick up the energy. Blood is pumped through the lungs and other organs. The blood and the heart work together.

Eyes, ears, nose, and tongue understanding the nature of these sense doors is fairly straightforward. However, understanding the nature of the body, kàya, and the heart, hadaya-vatthu, is anything but straightforward, as mind comes into play; we always need both nàma and råpa there. Take into account, whenever one of your sense doors experiences its sense object, a consciousness arises both at that sense door and at the heart. Both locations. If we accept that mind is actually in the heart, then this growth materiality, the upacaya-råpa, must be in and around the heart. So, when energy loaded blood flows into the heart, the hearts growth materiality is stimulated, the heart beats and moments of consciousness, vi¤¤àõa, are produced. If the heart doesn’t beat, no energy loaded blood flows into the heart, the hearts growth materiality isn’t stimulated, and no moments of consciousness are produced.

Suffice it to say, the body and the heart are complex sense doors. No, they’re not easy to come to terms with. We’ll learn a little at a time, in as practical way as possible.

Practical?

It’s enough to bear in mind that our bodies have gross, subtle, and life essence forms of materiality, and to also bear in mind that our bodies are extremely delicate, vulnerable to decay and destruction. For example, surgeons who perform skin graft operations do their best to preserve the skin’s subtle as well as its life essence materiality. These two forms of materiality subtle and life essence must survive the operation as they are crucial to the skin’s experiencing of touch. Though most surgeons know nothing of subtle and life essence materiality, for any operation on the human body to be a success, the operating surgeon must somehow care for the health of these two forms of materiality, whether he or she is operating on skin, eyes, hearts, or whatever part of the body. In theory, even tongues and ears can be transplanted, as tongues and ears are nothing more than the four primary elements. Pasàda-råpa and life essence materiality are not forms of mentality, not mind things. Since all our sense organs are purely råpa, purely materiality, it follows then that any one of them could be transplanted or produced artificially.
Years ago when I was in Australia, I had a conversation with a man who had suffered a heart attack and had been clinically dead for a brief period of time. He was taken by ambulance to the local hospital where he was fortunate enough to receive a heart transplant. He made a full recovery. Upon returning home, the man called his family together, “Being close to death changed my life. Someone, a person I don’t know, gave me his heart. I can’t even thank him. What should we do?” As a family, the man, his wife, and his children immediately agreed that they too should make their organs available for donation. Soon after that decision was made, just one short month, the man’s son was killed in a car accident. Yes, the man was sad that his son had died. That was a great loss for him. But since the son had agreed to donate his organs, surgeons transplanted the son’s organs into the bodies of eight different people. Organs from the man’s son improved the lives of eight people. Said the Australian man, the father, “I now have eight new children!”

That’s an inspiring story. I always carry my organ donor card you never know.

Yes, it’s difficult to predict our exact moment of death. Funny, as a child, I read commentaries on life at the time of the Buddha as science fiction because many of these ancient commentaries seemed far too remarkable to be true. There are accounts of surgeons transplanting organs as well as repairing eyes, transferring blood from one person to another person, and operating on brains. Dr. Jãvaka, for instance, reportedly performed many of these types of operations. Since it all sounded exaggerated, I always read these ancient commentaries as fairytales, that is right up until I heard that our present-day surgeons were also performing organ transplants. The Buddha lived at a time when society was in an advanced stage of development. And whenever society as a whole is in an advanced stage, the arts and sciences, which include medicine, are also in an advanced stage. I now have much more confidence in the ancient commentaries.
SIX SENSE BASES
We’re now going to talk about saëàyatana. Saëà means six, and àyatana means the base of mental contact with sense objects. Thus, saëàyatana is generally translated as the six sense bases of mental contact, or simply the six sense bases:

• Eye sense base, cakkhàyatana
• Ear sense base, sotàyatana
• Nose sense base, ghànàyatana
• Tongue sense base, jivhàyatana
• Body sense base, kàyàyatana
• Mind sense base, manàyatana

There are many ways to teach the six sense bases, from briefly to detailed to the deeply profound. One teacher will tell you the sense bases are identical to the sense doors, that your eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are the sense bases. A brief teaching. A second teacher will tell you that there are six pairs of internal and external sense bases. Your physical eyes would be an internal base and the objects you see would be your eyes matching external base. A third teacher will tell you the sense bases are the subtle materiality, the pasàda-råpa, part of each sense door he or she will say that is real sense base. There are many, many ways of teaching the sense bases. Sense bases are taught in scores of suttas and in the Abhidhamma. A fourth teacher will tell you the nature of sense bases must be penetrated on your own by descending into a deep Samadhi; otherwise, their nature remains nothing more than book knowledge.

Even though these various ways of teaching appear incomplete and contradictory, all these different ways may be correct. All these teachers could be right in what they have to say about the sense bases it depends upon the needs of the student.

How can teachings be at odds with each other?

A teacher’s way of teaching depends upon the temperament of his or her student. For instance, in the Buddha’s teaching to ânanda on the process of dependent origination found in the Mahànidàna Sutta, the Buddha goes from the link of mentality-materiality directly to the link of contact, and he doesn’t even mention the six sense bases:

1. Dependent on ignorance, formations arise; avijjà-paccayà saïkhàrà
2. Dependent on formations, consciousness arises; saïkhàra-paccayà vi¤¤àõa§
3. Dependent on consciousness, mentality-materiality arises; vi¤¤àõa-paccayà nàma-råpa§
4. Dependent on mentality-materiality, contact arises; nàma-råpa§-paccayà phasso
5. Dependent on contact, feeling arises; phassa-paccayà vedanà
6. Dependent on feeling, craving arises; vedanà-paccayà taõhà
7. Dependent on craving, clinging arises; taõhà-paccayà upàdàna§
8. Dependent on clinging, becoming arises; upàdàna-paccayà bhavo
9. Dependent on becoming, birth arises; bhava-paccayà jàti
10. Dependent on birth, decay and aging and death arise; jàti-paccayà jarà-maraõa§

Why are you teaching me about sense bases if the Buddha didn’t see the need to teach the sense bases? Maybe we could skip them?

The Mahànidàna Sutta is not the only sutta dealing with the process of dependent origination. And since many of these other suttas do treat the six sense bases as a separate link, we too should best treat the six sense bases as a separate link. Let’s look at how the Buddha presents dependent origination in the Nidàna Saüyutta:

1. Dependent on ignorance, formations arise; avijjà-paccayà saïkhàrà
2. Dependent on formations, consciousness arises; saïkhàra-paccayà vi¤¤àõa§
3. Dependent on consciousness, mentality-materiality arises; vi¤¤àõa-paccayà nàma-råpa§
4. Dependent on mentality-materiality, the six sense bases arise; nàma-råpa-paccayà saëàyatana§
5. Dependent on the six sense bases, contact arises; saëàyatana-paccayà phasso
6. Dependent on contact, feeling arises; phassa-paccayà vedanà
7. Dependent on feeling, craving arises; vedanà-paccayà taõhà
8. Dependent on craving, clinging arises; taõhà-paccayà upàdàna§
9. Dependent on clinging, becoming arises; upàdàna-paccayà bhavo
10. Dependent on becoming, birth arises; bhava-paccayà jàti
11. Dependent on birth, decay and aging and death arise; jàti-paccayà jarà-maraõa§

In this sutta, a teaching given to bhikkhus at Sàvatthi, the Buddha feels the need to mention the six sense bases. He states that mentality-materiality is the necessary condition for the six sense bases, and then states that the six sense bases are the necessary condition for contact.

Did the Buddha somehow forget the six sense bases in the Mahànidàna Sutta? Did he make a mistake?

No, the Buddha didn’t forget them or make a mistake! The needs of ânanda as a student were different from the needs of those bhikkhus at Sàvatthi. The Buddha doesn’t have to treat the six sense bases as a separate link in the Mahànidàna Sutta because ânanda understood that the sense bases are included with mentality-materiality. The Buddha can omit the six sense bases simply because he already covered the sense bases when he talked about mentality-materiality. Don’t think the six sense bases are something totally separate or different from mentality-materiality, nàma-råpa. They aren’t separate. Saëàyatana§ is part and parcel of the same nàma-råpa. I mentioned this point earlier in our talk on the relationship between consciousness and mentality-materiality, that everything can be seen as mentality-materiality. Everything. Thus, and leaving aside nibbàna, if we accept that everything is within the scope of mentality-materiality, then the sense bases must be within the scope of mentality-materiality. If the appropriate mentality-materiality is present, a kamma based sense base of mental contact will definitely arise.

Are you talking about my eyes and ears when you say sense bases? Are the sense bases the same as the sense doors?

No. Your eyes are not a sense base, as a sense base is more than the materiality of sense doors.

My eyes and ears and the rest of my senses must be somehow related to my sense bases. Right?

Yes, there’s a close union between sense doors and sense bases. For you to experience objects, for you to see or hear or taste, the gross materiality of your eyes and ears and tongue must be present and undamaged. If the sense door is not there, the mind cannot arise at that place. We all know that we need eyes to see, and ears to hear. However, sense bases are also in close union with mentality. Sense bases have two sides mentality side in addition to the materiality side. Since your sense doors eyes, ears, nose, est. are built up from the four primary elements, and they are the materiality side to your sense bases.

Alright, the gross materiality of my sense doors is only half the story.

Correct. And don’t forget about the subtle and life essence forms of materiality of your sense doors. Furthermore, though the gross, subtle, and life essence forms of materiality of the sense doors are needed to experience objects, the materiality of the sense doors is not what is meant by the term sense base, àyatana, as sense bases have that mentality side too. So, from the mentality side, there is consciousness.

One side of a sense base is materiality and the other side is consciousness?

No, we can’t quite say that either, as the mentality side to the sense bases is not only consciousness. Yet, when we talk about mentality, we also have to bring in the concept of consciousness. And when we talk about consciousness, we have to bring in mentality as well as materiality. Consciousness is not something that operates in isolation. It doesn’t have its own active and inherent characteristics. It only knows what has arisen. Feelings, perceptions, mentality and materiality, mental formations many different phenomena unite and are known by a moment of consciousness. This topic of sense bases is not easily approached intellectually because there’s a complexity, an inter-relatedness with the other links in the process of dependent origination: consciousness conditions mentality-materiality; consciousness also depends upon mentality-materiality; mentality-materiality is the condition for the arising of the six sense bases; and the six sense bases condition mental contact. Yes, mentality-materiality, nàma-råpa, and consciousness, vi¤¤àõa, must always be talked about together because mentality-materiality and consciousness arise together.

Whew!

Sense bases are in union with mentality, which means sense bases are in union with consciousness; a sense base is where consciousness is generated. If we can penetrate the nature of consciousness, we can penetrate the nature of the sense bases. As the Buddha states in the Honeyball Sutta, “When the sense door, the object of the sense door, and the sense door consciousness come together, there is mental contact.” Your eye sense base, the cakkhàyatana, is not your material eye, is not the pasàda-råpa that is present in your eye, and is not the object that you see. Your physical eyeball is no more than the material place where your eye-consciousness arises.

A sense base, àyatana, requires the sense door, requires a sense doors matching sense object, and requires the sense door consciousness. Consciousness. The consciousness of the sense door must arise. To taste curry, for the sense base of taste to arise, we need our tongue, some curry, and the tongue consciousness. Clearly, the arising of the tongue sense base requires the surface of the tongue where the consciousness of taste can be generated. We have feelings, perceptions, and mental formations about the delicious curry. These various causes and conditions arise and then die. Not just one cause. Many causes come together. Only when there is the sense door, the matching object of the sense door, and the sense door consciousness can there be mental contact. When all of these come together, we find the curry to be delightfully sour! The consciousness must arise. The eyes of the blind bhikkhu and those blind soldiers appear to be okay. Their eyes look as if they are fine. But the place within their eyes where eye-consciousness arises is dead, and that’s really the àyatana, the sense base.

The place where consciousness arises is the sense base?

Consciousness is a critical component, as it’s consciousness that knows all the causes and conditions that come together. Consciousness knows the objects of our senses. Without the arising of consciousness, vi¤¤àõa, there is no sense base; and for consciousness to arise, the sense base must also be there. Both ways.

If I’m following correctly, a sense base is not a sense door, not the subtle materiality, and not the sense object. And not really even consciousness, as you said earlier that consciousness is inactive and doesn’t have any inherent characteristics. Then, what is a sense base?

See a sense base as a characteristic of mentality-materiality. Yes, a sense base depends upon mentality-materiality. Nevertheless, try to let go of sense bases being something either mental or material, or being a fixed place or being anything substantial in any way at all. âyatana, sense base, means the gross and subtle materiality, the råpa, of sense doors make contact with external objects. In other words, a consciousness, based on an object, arises at a sense door. For example, the eye-àyatana means, based on the eye and sights, an eye-vi¤¤àõa arises. That’s the nature of eyes and sights. Nothing more. Sense base is a characteristic, simply the nature of things, the way that many different things come together and behave for a brief period of time. Âyatana means gathering places where mind can arise. More than mind, àyatana means a consciousness, a vinnàna, can be produced.

Consciousness is only produced at one of our sense doors when our faculty of attention, manasikàra, directs consciousness towards that sense door. You have healthy and fully functioning eyes. When you direct your consciousness towards your eyes, you experience visible objects. If you direct your consciousness somewhere else, towards another sense door, then you won’t be aware of seeing anything; you won’t be experiencing visible objects. The same applies to your ears, nose, and tongue. The arising of consciousness at a sense door is always only a possibility.

Why are you stressing the importance of consciousness and seeing sense bases as a characteristic? It sure seems easier to see my sense bases as my sense organs.

Sense bases are not just the materiality of sense doors, as the possibility of consciousness arising has to be considered.

Yes, I believe you. But why should I bother seeing sense bases in this way?
Sense bases fuel this engine called a human being. It’s this characteristic of mentality-materiality that supplies the fuel for craving, suffering, and in the end samsàra. Our suffering doesn’t lie in our ears, in the sounds, or in ear-consciousness. It’s in the craving that arises in dependence of all these, lies in the sense bases, that’s where suffering lies. Ears are not interested in sounds! Do you agree? So, if we penetrate the nature of sense bases, we use our sense doors in beneficial ways, in kusala ways, to overcome the akusala. When our consciousness picks up sense objects, we experience these sense objects without abhijjhà or domanassa, without coveting or grieving. We’re talking about the practice of sati, a practical training to open up our minds to nibbàna!