The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c5: III. Āyatanas
The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c5
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III. Āyatanas
c5.1
A second, more detailed, classification of the elements is made with a view to a division into cognitive faculties and their objects. There are six cognitive faculties and six categories of corresponding objects. They make the twelve *āyatanas* or "bases" of cognition, viz.:—
c5.2
| I. Six internal bases (*adhyātma-āyatana*) or receptive faculties (*indriya*). | II. Six external bases (*bāhya-āyatana*) or objects (*viṣaya*). |
| 1. Sense of vision (*cakṣur-indriya-āyatana*). | 7. Colour and shape (*rūpa-āyatana*). |
| 2. Sense of audition (*śrotr-endriya-āyatana*). | 8. Sound (*śabda-āyatana*). |
c5.3
3. Sense of smelling (*ghrāṇa-indriya-āyatana*).
4. Sense of taste (*jihvā-indriya-āyatana*).
5. Sense of touch (*kāya-indriya-āyatana*).
6. Faculty of the intellect or consciousness (*mana-indriya-āyatana*).
c5.4
9. Odour (*gandha-āyatana*).
10. Taste (*rasa-āyatana*).
11. Tangibles (*spraṣṭavya-āyatana*).
12. Non-sensuous objects (*dharma-āyatana* or *dharmāḥ*).
c5.5
In this classification the eleven first items correspond to eleven elements (*dharma*), each including one. The twelfth item contains all the remaining sixty-four elements, and it is therefore called *dharma-āyatana* or simply *dharmāḥ*, i.e. the remaining elements.
c5.6
The term *āyatana* means "entrance" (*āyant tanoti*). It is an "entrance" for consciousness and mental phenomena (*citta-caittānām*). Consciousness, it is stated, never arises alone, since it is pure sensation, without any content. It is always supported or "introduced" by two elements: a cognitive faculty and a corresponding objective element. These are the supporters or the "doors" (*dvāra*) for consciousness to appear. Visual consciousness (*cakṣur-vijñāna*) arises in correlation (*pratītya*) with the sense of vision (*cakṣur-indriya*) and some colour (*rūpam ca*). In the case of the sixth cognitive faculty (*manas*), consciousness itself, i.e. its preceding moment, acts as a faculty for apprehending non-sensuous objects.
c5.7
The trend of this classification, which is a characteristic feature of Buddhism from its very beginnings, is unmistakable. It intends to give a division of all objects of cognition into sense-objects and non-sensuous ones. The first are then divided into ten groups according to the five senses and their five objects, and the second (*dharma-āyatana*, or simply *dharmāḥ*), including every non-sensuous object, is left undivided. There are six items corresponding to six cognitive faculties. Thus the twelve *āyatanas*, or "bases of cognition", represent all elements of existence distributed within six subjective and six corresponding objective items. Their synonym is "everything" (*sarvam*). When the principle "everything exists" is set forth it has the meaning that nothing but the twelve bases of cognition are existent. An object which cannot be viewed as a *separate* object of cognition or a *separate* faculty of cognition is unreal, as e.g. the soul, or the personality. Being a congeries of separate elements it is declared to be a name, and not a reality, not a *dharma*.¹
c5.8
¹ The right explanation of the term *āyatana* is given in O. Rosenberg’s *Problems*, p. 138 ff. The usual translation "sphere" ignores the *fundamentum divisionis*. S. Z. Aung, *Compendium*, p. 256, although containing the right suggestion, thinks it "might well be left untranslated".