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Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c18.s3: (iii) Āyatanas

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c18.s3

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(iii) Āyatanas

v1.c18.s3.1

Āyatanas include both the sense-organs and their objects, the former being distinguished as internal (*ajjhattika*) and the latter as external (*bāhira*), counting twelve in all.⁴ The function of the āyatanas is not only to develop the perceptions (viññāṇa) but also to entangle a being in saṃsāra (repeated existences). With the exception of mano, all the eleven āyatanas belong to rūpakkhandha¹ while mano alone belongs to viññāṇakkhandha. Mano therefore like viññāṇa can be subdivided into 89 states.² The scope of the five organs of sense is limited to their respective objects while the scope of mano is almost unlimited, extending over not only all the other sense-organs and their objects but also over all mental states, denoted in Pāli by the word dhamma.

v1.c18.s3.2

⁴ See Table facing, p. 249.

v1.c18.s3.3

¹ Dhātukathā, pp. 2, 117; see above, p. 250.

v1.c18.s3.4

² See above, p. 255; Vism., p. 483.

v1.c18.s3.5

The Buddhist texts, in conclusion, point out though so much attention has been paid to the analysis of dhātus and āyatanas, one must not forget that these have neither any beginning nor any end, these do not come from anywhere nor go to anywhere; these are in reality substanceless (nirīha) and functionless (avyāpāra).³

v1.c18.s3.6

³ Vism., p. 484.

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