Āyatana

''Āyatana'' (Pāli; Sanskrit: आयतन) is a Buddhist term that has been translated as "sense base", "sense-media" or "sense sphere". In Buddhism, there are six ''internal'' sense bases (Pali: ''ajjhattikāni āyatanāni''; also known as, "organs", "gates", "doors", "powers" or "roots"Pine 2004, p. 102) and six ''external'' sense bases (''bāhirāni āyatanāni'' or "sense objects"; also known as ''vishaya'' or "domains"Pine 2004, p. 103).

There are six internal-external (organ-object) ' (Pāli; Skt. '), pairs of sense bases:

:* eye and visible objects
:* ear and sound
:* nose and odor
:* tongue and taste
:* body and touch
:* mindThe Pāli word translated here as "mind" is ''mano''. Other common translations include "intellect
(e.g., Thanissaro, 2001a)
and "consciousness

In the Suttapitaka, ''mano'' does not necessarily refer to all mental processing. Other oft-mentioned complementary mental processes include "consciousness" ('' viññāṇa'') and "mental states" (''citta''). Nonetheless, in the Abhidhamma Pitaka and later texts, these terms are at times used synonymously. and mental objects

Buddhism and other Indian epistemologiesSee also Pine 2004, p. 101. Red Pine argues that this scheme probably predates Buddhism, because it has ten external members (ear, sound, nose, odor, tongue, taste, body, touch) corresponding to the single external skandha (form), and only two internal members (mind and thought) corresponding to the four internal skandhas. identify six "senses" as opposed to the Western identification of five. In Buddhism, "mind" denotes an internal sense organ which interacts with sense objects that include sense impressions, feelings, perceptions and volition.

In the Pali Canon

In the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha identifies that the origin of suffering (Pali, Skt.: ''dukkha'') is craving (Pali: ''Taṇhā, ''; Skt.: '). In the chain of Twelve Nidanas, Dependent Origination, the Buddha identifies that craving arises from sensations that result from contact at the six sense bases (see Figure 2 below). Therefore, to overcome craving and its resultant suffering, one should develop restraint of and insight into the sense bases.

Sense-base contexts

Throughout the Pali Canon, the sense bases are referenced in hundreds of discourses. In these diverse discourses, the sense bases are contextualized in different ways including:

* Sextets (Pali: ''chakka''):
The sense bases include two sets of six: six sense organs (or internal sense bases) and six sense objects (or external sense bases). Based on these six pairs of sense bases, a number of mental factors arise. Thus, for instance, when an ear and sound are present, the associated consciousness (Pali: '' '') arises. The arising of these three elements (''dhātu'') – ear, sound and ear-related consciousness – lead to what is known as "contact" ('' phassa'') which in turn causes a pleasant or unpleasant or neutral "feeling" or "sensation" (''vedanā'') to arise. It is from such a feeling that "craving" (') arises. (See Figure 1.) Such an enumeration can be found, for instance, in the "Six Sextets" discourse (''Chachakka Sutta'', MN 148), where the "six sextets" (six sense organs, six sense objects, six sense-specific types of consciousness, six sense-specific types of contact, six sense-specific types of sensation and six sense-specific types of craving) are examined and found to be empty of self.
* "The All" (Pali: ''sabba''):
In a discourse entitled, "The All" ( SN 35.23), the Buddha states that there is no "all" outside of the six pairs of sense bases. In the next codified discourse (SN 35.24), the Buddha elaborates that the All includes the first five aforementioned sextets (sense organs, objects, consciousness, contact and sensations). References to the All can be found in a number of subsequent discourses. In addition, the Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali literature further conceptualize the sense bases as a means for classifying ''all'' factors of existence.
* The Twelve Dependencies (Pali, Skt.: ''nidāna''):
As described in the "Related Buddhist concepts" section below and illustrated in Figure 2, the sense bases are a critical link in the endless round of rebirth known as the Twelve Causes and as depicted in the Wheel of Becoming (Skt.: ''bhavacakra'').

"Aflame with lust, hate and delusion"

In "The Vipers" discourse (''Asivisa Sutta'', SN 35.197), the Buddha likens the internal sense bases to an "empty village" and the external sense bases to "village-plundering bandits." Using this metaphor, the Buddha characterizes the "empty" sense organs as being "attacked by agreeable & disagreeable" sense objects.

Elsewhere in the same collection of discourses ( SN 35.191), the Buddha's Great Disciple Sariputta clarifies that the actual suffering associated with sense organs and sense objects is not ''inherent'' to these sense bases but is due to the "fetters" (here identified as "desire and lust") that arise when there is contact between a sense organ and sense object.

In the "Fire Sermon" (''Adittapariyaya Sutta'', SN 35.28), delivered several months after the Buddha's awakening, the Buddha describes all sense bases and related mental processes in the following manner:
:"Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye – experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain – that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging & death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs."

Extinguishing suffering's flame

The Buddha taught that, in order to escape the dangers of the sense bases, one must be able to apprehend the sense bases without defilement. In "Abandoning the Fetters" ( SN 35.54), the Buddha states that one abandons the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as impermanent" (Pali: ''anicca'') the six sense organs, objects, sense-consciousness, contact and sensations. Similarly, in "Uprooting the Fetters" (SN 35.55), the Buddha states that one uproots the fetters "when one knows and sees ... as nonself" (''anatta'') the aforementioned five sextets.

To foster this type of penetrative knowing and seeing and the resultant release from suffering, in the Satipatthana Sutta ( MN 10) the Buddha instructs monks to meditate on the sense bases and the dependently arising fetters as follows:
:"How, O bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu live contemplating mental object in the mental objects of the six internal and the six external sense-bases?
:"Here, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu understands the eye and material forms and the fetter that arises dependent on both (eye and forms); he understands how the arising of the non-arisen fetter comes to be; he understands how the abandoning of the arisen fetter comes to be; and he understands how the non-arising in the future of the abandoned fetter comes to be. 'In a similar manner:''He understands the ear and sounds ... the organ of smell and odors ... the organ of taste and flavors ... the organ of touch and tactual objects ... the consciousness and mental objects....
:"Thus he lives contemplating mental object in mental objects ... and clings to naught in the world."

In post-canonical Pali texts

The ''Vimuttimagga'', the ''Visuddhimagga'', and associated Pali commentaries and subcommentaries all contribute to traditional knowledge about the sense bases.

Understanding sense organs

When the Buddha speaks of "understanding" the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body, what is meant?

According to the first-century CE Sinhalese meditation manual, ''Vimuttimagga'', the sense organs can be understood in terms of the object sensed, the consciousness aroused, the underlying "sensory matter," and an associated primary or derived element that is present "in excess." These characteristics are summarized in the table below.

The compendious fifth-century CE ''Visuddhimagga'' provides similar descriptors, such as "the size of a mere louse's head" for the location of the eye's "sensitivity" (Pali: ''pasāda''; also known as, "sentient organ, sense agency, sensitive surface"), and "in the place shaped like a goat's hoof" regarding the nose sensitivity ( Vsm. XIV, 47–52). In addition, the Visuddhimagga describes the sense organs in terms of the following four factors:
:* characteristic or sign (''lakkhaa'')
:* function or "taste" (''rasa'')
:* manifestation (''paccupahāna'')
:* proximate cause (''padahāna'')
Thus, for instance, it describes the eye as follows:
:Herein, the eye's characteristic is sensitivity of primary elements that is ready for the impact of visible data; or its characteristic is sensitivity of primary elements originated by kamma sourcing from desire to see. Its function is to pick up n objectamong visible data. It is manifested as the footing of eye-consciousness. Its proximate cause is primary elements born of kamma sourcing from desire to see.

In regards to the sixth internal sense base of mind (''mano''), Pali subcommentaries (attributed to Dhammapāla Thera) distinguish between consciousness arising from the five physical sense bases and that arising from the primarily post-canonical notion of a "life-continuum" or "unconscious mind" (''bhavaga-mana''):
:"Of the consciousness or mind aggregate included in a course of cognition of eye-consciousness, just the eye-base ot the mind-baseis the 'door' of origin, and the xternal sensebase of the material form is the visible object. So it is in the case of the others hat is, the ear, nose, tongue and body sense bases But of the sixth sense-base the part of the mind base called the life-continuum, the unconscious mind, is the 'door' of origin...."

The roots of wisdom

In the fifth-century CE exegetical ''Visuddhimagga'', Buddhaghosa identifies knowing about the sense bases as part of the "soil" of liberating wisdom. Other components of this "soil" include the aggregates, the faculties, the Four Noble Truths_and_Dependent_Origination.

_Related_Buddhist_concepts

* Four_Noble_Truths:_BUDDHIST_PHILOSOPHY_Encycl_...