SN 14.1

Dhātunānatta sutta: Diversity of Elements

Dhātunānattasutta

Nānattavagga

The senses function due to the various different elements of sense experience, namely, the internal sense organ, the external sense stimulus, and consciousness.

Vertalingen

Er is nog geen vertaling in deze taal.

At Sāvatthī.

“Mendicants, I will teach you the diversity of elements. Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“And what is the diversity of elements? The eye element, sight element, and eye consciousness element. The ear element, sound element, and ear consciousness element. The nose element, smell element, and nose consciousness element. The tongue element, taste element, and tongue consciousness element. The body element, touch element, and body consciousness element. The mind element, ideas element, and mind consciousness element. This is called the diversity of elements.”

For nānatta (“diversity”), compare puthutta (“expansiveness”) at SN 12.48:5.1 and vemattatā (“disparity”) at SN 48.13:1.6. At MN 1:24.1, the Buddha taught “diversity” as the opposite fallacy to “oneness”; based on the diversity of sense experience, it interprets the world as irreducibly manifold. An example would be the Jains, who believed the world was made up of countless separate entities, a view criticized in Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 3.13 (nānātvaṁ nindyate). Both these fallacies take a particular mode of perception which is true in certain respects and make it into an absolute. The Buddha treats diversity as a way of analyzing experience, not as a metaphysical postulate.

The chapter is structured in two “pentads” (pañcaka), a formalism that gained prominence in the Abhidhamma. The first discourse merely lists the eighteen elements. Subsequent discourses elaborate, each one introducing a new complexity. Discourses 2–5 treat the internal sense fields, while 6–10 treat the external sense fields. In this way the student is introduced to new concepts gradually, and can spend time contemplating each topic before the next is introduced. For these eighteen elements, see MN 28:37.1, MN 115:4.8, and notes there.

Over deze vertaling

Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0

Mogen alle wezens gelukkig zijn