Samyutta Nikaya: Dhatusamyutta

 

Elements

 

I.          18 Elements

            eye – sight object – eye consciousness

            ear, nose, tongue, body, mind

 

II.        Other collections of “elements”, many of which are mostly in the way of personal affinities.

 

III.       Four elements: earth, wind, fire air.

 

1: Introduces the 18 elements. By “element” is meant the intrinsic nature of all elements, in the sense that they have an intrinsic nature consisting in their emptiness and absence of a being.

 

2: This ties the 18 elements into dependent origination. Each of the six sense bases gives rise to a particular contact: the eye gives rise to eye-contact, and so forth. (One would see “feeling” – the next link – as being independent of any particular contact—pleasant, unpleasant, netural but not specific to a sense. [NOTE: I later came to realize that this was an erroneous idea: the feeling is that born of eye-contact, and so on. So there are definitely different kinds of feeling.]

 

3: Points out that contact arises from the element, and not element from the contact. (The note points out that this is an apparent conflict with the Abhidhamma, which postulates that element and contact arise mutually.)

 

4: Having said that feeling is not diversified (in my comment to #2) I find this sutta telling me that I’m wrong. There is a feeling born of contact which is born of element—thus feeling is diversified.

 

5: This states that feelings do not arise mutually with contact, which does not arise mutually with element.

 

eye -> eye contact -> feeling born of eye contact etc.

 

6: Simple statement of the six sense bases.

 

7: A chain of causation based on element:

 

element -> perception -> intention -> desire -> passion -> quest

 

8: The above chain (#7) but clearly identified as being one-way; quest arises from passion, and not passion from quest.

 

9: Another chain:

 

element -> perception -> intention -> contact -> feeling -> desire -> passion -> quest -> gain

 

Each is a “civersity”—that is, the “gain” arises conditioned by the “element”

 

10: Identifies #9 as a one-way chain

 

11: Of this odd set of seven elements, one part is a chain of dependence:

 

(form) -> base of the infinity of space -> base of the infinity of consciousness -> base of nothingness -> base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception

 

12: Each of these six elements (3 elements with their opposites) give rise to a chain:

 

perception of x -> intention to do x -> desire to do x -> passion to do x -> quest to do x

 

Desire (Sensuality )                 Renunciation

Ill-Will                                     Non-ill-will

Harmfulness                            Harmlessness

 

Of course following the right hand column means to conduct oneself rightly in body, speech, and mind.

 

13: Ignorance is identified as an element, which gives rise to any number of inferior phenomena: those of perception, view, thought, volition, longing, wish, person, speech. A higher level (less ignorance) gives rise to middling phenomena; the highest level gives rise to superior phenomena.

 

14: This one seems to take an “elemental” view of karma. Beings come together and unite by way of elements: inferior to inferior, good to good.

 

This one sounds a bit as though it could be perverted into a doctrine of class-freezing, keeping people in their same caste, although that cannot be the meaning.

 

15: Bit of history here: Devaputta after the attempted schism, with his apostate monks.

 

16: Similar to #15, this seems to emphasize the need for sangha. The mixing together of those of like disposition, and the avoiding of those wh are lethargic, devoid of energy.

 

17: Another exposition on like associating with like. It also states that this is the way it is and not just the way it ought to be.

 

18: Even more of the same, elucidating the many types that come together—expressed in pairs of opposites.

 

19 – 24: More types

 

25: The types here are those following the precepts and those who are not.

 

26: Like #25, but a longer list: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, divisive speech, harsh speech, idle chatter.

 

27: The list from #26, adding: covetousness, ill will, wrong view.

 

28: Now the list is the Noble Eightfold Path. (view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration.)

 

29: Eightfold Path + knowledge and liberation.

 

30 – 31: Understanding the impermanence of each element (impermanent, suffering, subject to change) is here applied to air, water, earth, fire.

 

32: Liberation expressed as understanding the gratification in, danger in, and escape from, each of the four elements.

 

33: An expansion of #32, this one contains something very important. That is:

 

“If there were no gratification in the [earth, water, heat, air] element, beings would not become enamoured of it.

 

“If there were no danger…beings would not experience revulsion in it…

 

“If there were no escape…beings would not escape from it…”

 

This sutta reminds me of those wonderful moments when the Buddha says: ‘If this were not possible, I would not ask this of you.’

 

34: The four elements are neither exclusively suffering nor exclusively pleasure; they contain elements of both.

 

35: This makes an excellent continuation to #34: because each element contains suffering (although it is not exclusively so), then to puruse delight in this element is to pursue suffering (in addition to the pleasure.) As the Buddha puts it, “One who seeks delight in suffering, I say, is not freed from suffering.”

 

36: This connects the elements into the twelve links, in that the elements are seen to arise, continue, produce, and manifest, giving rise to suffering, disease, aging-and-death. The cessation of the elements brings the cessation of suffering, disease, aging-and-death.

 

37: Understanding gratification, danger, and escape of the elements is the mark of the true practitioner.

 

38: Adds origin & passing away of the elements to #37.

 

39: Summation of sorts.