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SN 14.1PTS SN 2.1401 min read

Diversity of Elements

Dhātunānattasutta

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

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 14.1Linked Discourses 14.1
  • 0.21. Nānattavagga1. Diversity

0.3DhātunānattasuttaDiversity of Elements

1.1PTS 2.140Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati.At Sāvatthī.

1.2“Dhātunānattaṁ vo, bhikkhave, desessāmi.“Mendicants, I will teach you the diversity of elements.11.3Taṁ suṇātha, sādhukaṁ manasi karotha, bhāsissāmī”ti.Listen and apply your mind well, I will speak.”

1.4“Evaṁ, bhante”ti kho te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ.“Yes, sir,” they replied.1.5Bhagavā etadavoca:The Buddha said this:

2.1“Katamañca, bhikkhave, dhātunānattaṁ?“And what is the diversity of elements?22.2Cakkhudhātu rūpadhātu cakkhuviññāṇadhātu, sotadhātu saddadhātu sotaviññāṇadhātu, ghānadhātu gandhadhātu ghānaviññāṇadhātu, jivhādhātu rasadhātu jivhāviññāṇadhātu, kāyadhātu phoṭṭhabbadhātu kāyaviññāṇadhātu, manodhātu dhammadhātu manoviññāṇadhātu—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.32.3idaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, dhātunānattan”ti.This is called the diversity of elements.”

2.4Paṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. The “elements” (dhātu) are the many different phenomena that can be observed in the world and in experience. These can be the various aspects of sense experience, diverse character types (SN 14.14–29), states of matter (SN 14.30–39), or other things. Vedic dhātu has a special affinity for the numbers three (as in worlds) and seven. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.5.1–3 discusses how food, water, and heat each break down into three elements.

    ↩ sn14.1:1.2

  2. 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.

    ↩ sn14.1:2.1

  3. 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.

    ↩ sn14.1:2.2