Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature

by Dalai Lama

  5. Six Sources (ṣaḍāyatana)

  The fifth-link six sources are the six cognitive faculties that exist in the nature of the polluted ripening result (the five aggregates) during the time after the link of name and form has occurred and before the link of contact has come about. In the case of a human rebirth, the six internal sources — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mental cognitive faculties — develop in the womb. They enable us to cognize the six external sources — visible forms, sounds, odors, tastes, tactile objects, and phenomena. The phenomena source (dharmāyatana) is objects of mental consciousness that are perceptible by mind but are not included in the first five external sources. It includes the aggregates of feeling, discrimination, and miscellaneous factors, and various subtle forms — such as dream objects and prātimokṣa ethical restraints — that cannot be known through the five physical senses.

  The cognitive faculties are subtle sensitive forms located in the larger organs listed above, such as the eyeball. They function to connect an object and consciousness so that cognition of the object occurs. The six are called sources because they are the sources for the arising of the six consciousnesses. If a sense faculty is injured and unable to function, the corresponding sensory function is also impaired. The body source is on the skin and inside certain areas of the body. It enables us to experience smooth and rough, hard and soft, and hot and cold, as well as hunger and thirst. The mental faculty is not form; it consists of the six consciousnesses that enable a later moment of mental consciousness to know objects.

  The tactile and mental faculties are present from conception onward. The remaining four cognitive faculties come into being as the embryo develops. When the six cognitive faculties have formed this link is complete, and the new being has the potential to experience objects through the coming together of the object, cognitive faculty, and preceding moment of consciousness.

  Sentient beings are born in four ways: by womb, egg, heat and moisture, and spontaneously. When beings such as devas and hell beings are born spontaneously, all cognitive faculties are complete, and they are fully equipped to interact with their environment.

  A question arises: Do all twelve links pertain to rebirth in the three realms — desire, form, and formless? Vasubandhu’s Treasury of Knowledge says that since beings in the form realm are spontaneously born and do not go through development in the womb, they lack the link of name and form because all their cognitive faculties are present at the time of conception. He also says that there is no occasion for the link of name and form or for five of the six sources for beings in the formless realm because they do not have bodies. Because they have only the mental source, they experience only ten links.

  Asaṅga differs, saying all twelve links are present in births in all three realms. Name and form are partially present in the form realm, and in the formless realm, the link of name and form consists of only the mental consciousness. The link of six sources is partially present because the mental source exists although the sense sources do not.

  The six sources afflict transmigrating beings because they complete name and form, thereby creating the potential for awareness of objects to arise.

  The Six Sources according to the Pāli Tradition

  The fifth-link six sources are the six internal cognitive faculties that join the object and the consciousness to produce contact, the sixth link. The way that the six sources arise from name and form can be understood in two ways: the development immediately after conception and the conditioning that occurs in any cognition.

  Using the example of a human being, in the developmental model name and form refer to the psychophysical organism that was conceived in the mother’s womb and is beginning to evolve. At the moment of conception the consciousness from the previous life enters the fertilized ovum. That is called “name and form taking place in the womb.”

  At this time, the consciousness from the previous life becomes the mental source, and with it arise the other three mental aggregates and the five omnipresent mental factors that constitute name. In this way, name becomes the condition for the mental sense source. The mental functioning of this newly conceived being is rudimentary.

  After conception, the fertilized ovum becomes the body, which is made up of the four elements and form derived from the elements. As a tiny embryo, it has the tactile sense source (tactile faculty) and is capable of experiencing hardness, softness, smoothness, roughness, hot, cold, and so on. As the embryo develops, certain cells begin to specialize and the eye, ear, nose, and tongue sense sources arise. These are not the coarse physical organs but rather subtle sensitive material within them that is able to connect the object and consciousness to produce contact and cognition. In this way, form is the support of the six sense sources. If name and form are cut off — for example, in a miscarriage — the new human being ceases and the six sources do not develop.

  Regarding the conditioning that occurs in any cognition in our daily lives, there is a complex interconnected web of factors that must come together as name and form for a particular sense source to exist and produce contact. In a visual cognition, the visual consciousness and the mental factors that make up name arise dependent on the eye source. That requires the existence of our eyeballs, which are made of the four elements and their derivatives. The eye source could not function if the body were not alive, and that requires the presence of consciousness and its accompanying mental factors. It is in that way that name and form condition the six sense sources.

  Name — the mental aspect of living beings — depends on form — the body. The functioning of the body as a living organism depends on the presence of consciousness and the five omnipresent mental factors. Buddhaghoṣa says (Vism 18.36):

  They cannot come to be by their own strength,

  or yet maintain themselves by their own strength.

  Relying for support on other states,

  weak in themselves, and formed, they come to be.

  They come to be with others as condition;

  they are aroused by others as their objects;

  they are produced by object and condition,

  and each by something other than itself.

  And just as people depend upon

  a boat for traversing the sea,

  so does the mental “body” need

  the physical body for occurrence.

  And as the boat depends upon

  the people for traversing the sea,

  so does the physical body need

  the mental “body” for occurrence.

  Depending each upon the other,

  the boat and people go on the sea.

  And so do mind and body both

  depend the one upon the other.

  Included in the mental source is the bhavaṅga, or subliminal consciousness. Spoken of in the commentaries and the Abhidhamma, but not the sūtras, the bhavaṅga is a passive, underlying stream of consciousness from which active consciousness arises. It occurs in the absence of any cognitive process and serves to connect all the active states of consciousness; however, it is not a permanent consciousness or self. It is included in the mental source because due to it, active mental consciousness arises. At the microscopic level of individual mind moments in the waking state, the mind could be going in and out of the bhavaṅga so quickly that we do not notice it. During sleep, the mind is in bhavaṅga for a longer time, emerging to dream and then returning to dreamless sleep with the bhavaṅga. The bhavaṅga is also present when fainting.

  6. Contact (sparśa)

  Contact is the polluted mental factor that, due to the convening of the three — the object, cognitive faculty, and consciousness — causes the object to be experienced as pleasant, painful, or neutral through its own capability and that exists after the link of six sources has occurred and before the link of feeling has come about. Contact afflicts transmigrating beings because it connects the object, cognitive faculty, and the consciousness, so that beings dualistically discriminate.


  In general, a consciousness comes about because of three conditions: (1) The observed object condition (ālambana-pratyaya) is the object that causes a consciousness to be generated in its aspect — for example, in the aspect of blue or of a sound. (2) The dominant condition (adhipati-pratyaya) is the cognitive faculty that causes its corresponding consciousness to apprehend its corresponding object and no other. The dominant condition for sight — the eye faculty — enables a visual consciousness to apprehend color and shape, but not smell or taste. (3) The immediately preceding condition (samanantara-pratyaya) is the previous moment of consciousness that allows the next moment of consciousness to arise as something that cognizes objects.

  When these three come together, contact arises. Because there are six objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and phenomena), six cognitive faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), and six consciousnesses (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental), there are six types of contact. Contact acts as the basis for and leads to the feeling that exists in the next moment.

  7. Feeling (vedanā)

  Feeling is the polluted mental factor that experiences the object as pleasurable (happy), painful (suffering), or neutral through its own capability, by depending on its cause, the link of contact. Feeling here does not mean emotion; rather, it is the pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral experience that comes about just after any of our cognitive faculties contact an object and produce a consciousness cognizing that object. Feeling afflicts transmigrating beings because it experiences the polluted feelings of pleasure and pain.

  While feeling is usually categorized as of three types — pleasure, pain, and neutral — or of five types — physical pleasure, mental happiness, physical pain, mental pain, and neutral — here in the explanation of dependent origination it is of six types: the feelings arising from eye, ear, nose, tongue, tactile, and mental contact. While many other mental factors, such as discrimination and intention, also arise in response to contact, the Buddha singled out feeling because it leads most directly to craving. This is evident in our lives: experiencing pleasure leads to craving for more pleasant feelings, experiencing pain sparks craving to be separated from such undesirable feelings, and experiencing neutral feeling prompts craving for it not to diminish. The latter especially applies to beings in the fourth dhyāna and above who have only neutral feeling and do not wish the peace it brings to cease.

  Ignorance, karma, and causal consciousness project a rebirth that begins with the resultant consciousness and continues as the body develops during the links of name and form and the six sources, so that contact and feeling occur. Feeling is one of the chief ways that karma ripens: virtuous actions produce pleasant physical and mental feelings and nonvirtuous actions produce painful physical and mental feelings. On the one hand, feelings are the result of an evolutionary process beginning with ignorance and karma. On the other hand, they initiate a new chain of events because they instigate craving. Craving, which is also reflected in emotions such as attachment and anger, creates more karma. In this way, saṃsāra perpetuates itself.

  If we observe our experience closely, we will notice how many feelings we experience, one after the other, during the day. We will also notice how reactive we are to those feelings. Our craving to have pleasure and to avoid pain is strong, affecting our moods and motivating most of our actions. The idea of experiencing pleasure from our morning cup of coffee or tea gets us out of bed in the morning. Seeking the happiness that comes from having money and possessions, we go to work. Craving to be free of pain, we defend ourselves against criticism and lash out at anything that hurts or even inconveniences us.

  The space between feeling and craving is one of the places where the forward motion of dependent origination can be broken. Feelings naturally arise when contact with external objects or internal objects such as memories, ideas, and plans occurs. By being aware of feelings and noting them with introspective awareness, it is possible to prevent craving from arising in response to them. We practice observing feelings without reacting to them, observing where they come from, where they abide, and where they go. We study the seemingly instantaneous reactions we have to different feelings and how our craving for unpleasant feelings and craving to be free from unpleasant feelings control our lives.

  Only feelings accompanied by ignorance cause craving. When ignorance has been eliminated, feelings are present but craving does not arise. Arhats, pure ground bodhisattvas, and buddhas also experience feelings, but since their feelings are not the result of a process initiated by ignorance, they are blissful.

  The feelings experienced by an awakened one are inconceivable for us ordinary beings. During the Buddha’s lifetime, a great drought and famine afflicted the land. The saṅgha received no alms, until one man who owned horses gave the monks some fodder to eat. The fodder tasted disgusting to the monks, but the Buddha ate it contentedly. One monk, overcome with sadness that the Buddha had to endure such foul food, said, “What a desperate situation that the Blessed One has only this vile fodder to eat!” The Buddha lovingly responded, “Please don’t worry,” and taking a small part of the fodder from his mouth, gave it to the monk to eat. Chewing it, the monk was astonished to taste what had become delicious divine food owing to its contact with the Buddha’s senses.

  REFLECTION

  1. Observe your feelings with mindfulness and introspective awareness and identify pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings.

  2. Be aware that they arise after contact with an object.

  3. Watch how instantly craving arises for pleasant feelings to continue and for unpleasant feelings to cease.

  4. How do all these feelings, as well as the craving they provoke, affect your life? How do you respond to them?

  5. Are there certain objects that it would be helpful for you to avoid temporarily so that you can work on reducing the craving that results from contact with them?

  8. Craving (tṛṣṇā)

  Craving is a mental factor that, by depending on the link of feeling, does not wish to separate from its object. Eighth-link craving occurs specifically while we are actively dying and is a form of attachment that arises strongly while the body weakens and the coarse consciousnesses still function. This craving does not wish to separate from our possessions, our dear ones, our body, and the ego-identity we have constructed during this life. Craving afflicts transmigrating beings by making the next rebirth closer.

  In general three types of craving arise during the course of our lifetimes:

  (1) Craving for pleasant feeling arises through the contact of our cognitive faculties with particular sense objects and does not want to separate from pleasurable feelings and the attractive objects and people that stimulate them. The Buddha compares giving in to craving to a person who drinks an exquisitely delicious drink knowing it contains poison. We become like laboratory rats who exhaust themselves tapping on a lever although they very rarely get a grain of rice for their effort.

  (2) Craving for existence arises while dying because of terror that the continuity of the self will cease. Fearing that we will no longer exist, craving for saṃsāric aggregates surges.

  (3) Craving for nonexistence desperately seeks separation from painful feelings. When the mind contacts an undesirable object, pain arises. This gives rise to craving for the pain to become nonexistent; we want to be released from the painful feeling and the object or person that triggered it. An extreme instance of this craving yearns for the self to become totally nonexistent at the time of death — a mistaken, nihilistic notion that could lead to suicide and bring devastating results.

  The three types of craving are also described in relation to the three feelings: (1) craving not to be separated from pleasurable feelings, (2) craving to be separated from painful feelings, and (3) craving for neutral feeling not to diminish — that is, for neutral feelings not to degenerate into painful feelings.

  In our daily lives, we can witness feeling giving rise to craving. We crave
the pleasant feelings and the possessions, people, situations, talents, and opportunities that appear to generate them. We crave to be separated from anything that disturbs our peace, including ideas and policies we disagree with. Craving clearly demonstrates the unsatisfactory nature of cyclic existence — we always want something, are fearful of losing what we like, and are impatient to be free of what we don’t like.

  Once craving arises with respect to any of the three feelings, it swiftly leads to clinging to that feeling and to the object that seems to bring it. This, too, is easy to observe in our lives. We experience pleasure from being praised. Enjoying it, we crave more. When craving increases, clinging arises as we wish to hear more ego-pleasing words and to be with the people who say them.

  From another perspective, craving is of six types: craving for visible objects, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and phenomena. The latter are objects of mental consciousness and include conceptual appearances of the objects perceived by the five senses, thoughts, images, fantasies, ideas, feelings, and emotions. Craving is described in terms of its six objects because it arises from feeling, feeling from contact, and contact from the sense sources; each of those links is delineated as six in dependence on the six objects.

  Developing mindfulness and wisdom to identify and counteract the different types of craving is essential. To do this, contemplate the various things you encounter and think about. Consider that they are merely fleeting conventions. They have no inherent essence. There is no “me,” no “them.” In this way, practice viewing all mental states and objects as transient. Let them go without attaching to them.

  Beings who are free from craving experience whatever feelings arise in their minds with equanimity rather than with dissatisfied or fearful reactivity. Freedom from craving does not mean our lives become boring. Rather, there is now mental space for constructive aspirations — to develop wisdom, love, and compassion, and to benefit sentient beings — that are not influenced by ignorance.