Elements - Manyfold Elements I

Not only the body, but also the mind should be considered as elements. There is nothing in our life which is not an element. Our past lives were only elements and our future lives will only be elements. We are inclined to think of our future life and wish for a happy rebirth. We should, however, realize that there is no self which in the future will have another existence ; there are and will be only elements. We have learned to classify citta in different ways and this reminds us that cittas are only elements. Not only cittas are elements, but cetasikas too are elements. We are attached to happy feeling and we dislike unpleasant feeling. Feelings, however, are only elements, which arise because of conditions. When we are tired or sick we take tiredness and sickness for self and we have aversion. Why do we not accept unpleasant things as they come to us, since they are only elements? One might not be inclined to see realities as elements, but it is the truth. One might not like to remember that things are impermanent, that birth is followed by ageing, sickness and death, but it is the truth. Why do we not want to see the truth?

 

In the 'Discourse on the Manyfold Elements' (Middle Length Sayings III, 115)

we read that the Buddha, while he was staying in the Jeta Grove, in

Anathapindika's monastery, said to the monks that fears, troubles and

misfortunes occur to the fool, not to the wise man. He said to the monks:

 

'...Monks, there is not fear, trouble, misfortune  for the wise man.

Wherefore, monks, thinking, 'Investigating, we will become wise',

this is how you must train yourselves, monks.'

 

When this had been said, the venerable Ānanda spoke thus to the Lord:

'What is the stage at which it suffices to say, revered sir:

'Investigating, the monk  is wise'?'

 

'Ānanda, as soon as a monk is skilled in the elements 

and skilled in the (sense) fields

and skilled in conditioned genesis

and skilled in the possible and the  impossible,

it is at this stage, Ānanda, that it suffices  to say,

'Investigating, the monk is wise.''

 

'But, revered sir, at what stage does it suffice to  say,

'The monk is skilled in the elements'?'

 

'There are these eighteen elements, Ānanda:

the element of eye,

the element of material shape,

the element of visual consciousness;

the element of ear, 

the element of sound,

the element of auditory consciousness ;

the element of nose,

the element of smell,

the element of olfactory consciousness ;

the  element of tongue,

the element of taste,

the element of gustatory consciousness;

the element of body,

the element of touch,

the element of bodily consciousness; 

the element of mind,

the element of mind-objects,

the element of mental consciousness.

When, Ānanda, he knows and sees these eighteen elements,

it is at this stage that it suffices to say,

'The monk is skilled in the elements.' '

 

'Might there be another way also, revered sir, 

according to which suffices to say,

'The monk is skilled in the elements'?'

 

'There might be, Ānanda.

There are these six elements, Ānanda:

the element of extension,

the element of cohesion,

the element of radiation,

the element of mobility,

the element of space,

the element of consciousness.

When, Ānanda, he knows and sees these six elements,

it is at this stage that it suffices to say, 

'The monk is skilled in the elements.''

 

'Might there be another way also, revered sir,  

according to which it suffices to say,

'The monk is  skilled in the elements'?'

 

'There might be, Ānanda.

There are these six elements, Ānanda:

the element of happiness,

the element of anguish,

the element of gladness,

the element of sorrowing,

the element of equanimity,

the element of ignorance.

When, Ānanda, he knows and sees these six elements,

it is at this stage that it suffices to say, 

'The monk is skilled in the elements.''