Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamanasūtra), Part Six

What Are the Six Elements

Original text: 佛言大王。如是六界。六触处十八意所伺察。是补噜沙。为缘得生。云何六界。所谓地界水界。火界风界。空界识界。

Explanation: The Buddha said to King Śuddhodana: Great King, the six elements just mentioned are what can be observed and contemplated through the six contact bases and the eighteen elements; it is on account of these six elements as conditions that a person comes into being. If one were like an arhat abiding in nirvāṇa without remainder, with no five-aggregate body existing in the threefold world, then there would be no active manifestation of the six elements. What are the six elements? They are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the wind element, the space element, and the consciousness element.

The six elements are the six great seed elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. The six contact bases are the eye contact base, the ear contact base, the nose contact base, the tongue contact base, the body contact base, and the mind contact base; the eighteen elements are the six faculties, the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses. "Puruṣa" means "person," referring to the provisional self; that is to say, the provisional self can only come into being with the six elements as conditions. If this provisional person called "I" is to be born, the six great seeds must serve as conditions: among them, the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space give rise to sentient beings' five-aggregate bodies, and the consciousness element gives rise to sentient beings' conscious mind. Together, the six elements give rise to sentient beings' five aggregates—the aggregate of form (rūpa), the aggregate of feeling (vedanā), the aggregate of perception (saṃjñā), the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra), and the aggregate of consciousness (vijñāna).