This great earth is grounded on water, the water is grounded on air, and the air stands in space. At a time when a great wind blows, it stirs the water, and the water stirs the earth.

First of eight causes and reason for a great earthquake according to the Mahāparinibbānasutta translated by Bhikkhu Sujato http://suttacentral.net/dn16/en/sujato

After initially embarking on a research journey in order to offer teachings and guided meditations on the four elements — earth, water, fire, air — things change, as they always do, and vital information and insights come to light influencing our choices. Instead, the footage shot exclusively for this project — during travels and everyday life — now finds its way as filmic objects for silent observation, inspiration, contemplation and however else viewers wish to skillfully engage. The above is a combination video. The individual element videos are below in their respective sections. Three of them have more content than what’s show above

Disclaimer: Warning of practicing for elements meditation without a qualified teacher. What follows is what’s been collected thus far for research and informational purposes on the four great elements. Please take only what is helpful and leave the rest

Blog post Contents:

1. This introduction
2. Earth
3. Water
4. Fire
5. Air
6. Miscellaneous and Resources
7. Questions for potential reflection and contemplation
8. Articles

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“Again, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reviews this same body, however it is placed, however disposed, as consisting of elements thus: ‘In this body there are the earth element, the water element, the fire element and the air element.’ Just as though a skilled butcher or his apprentice had killed a cow and was seated at the crossroads with it cut up into pieces; so too, a bhikkhu reviews this same body, however it is placed, however disposed, as consisting of elements thus: ‘In this body there are the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.’

“In this way he abides contemplating the body as a body internally, or he abides contemplating the body as a body externally, or he abides contemplating the body as a body both internally and externally. Or else he abides contemplating in the body its arising factors, or he abides contemplating in the body its vanishing factors, or he abides contemplating in the body both its arising and vanishing factors. Or else mindfulness that ‘there is a body’ is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That is how a bhikkhu abides contemplating the body as a body

from the Mahasatipatthana Sutta v. Dhatumanasika Pabba (Section on Contemplation on Elements)

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Earth Element

“Rāhula, the interior earth element is said to be anything hard, solid, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This includes: head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, undigested food, feces, or anything else hard, solid, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This is called the interior earth element. The interior earth element and the exterior earth element are just the earth element. This should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ When you truly see with right understanding, you reject the earth element, detaching the mind from the earth element.

. . .

Rāhula, meditate like the earth. For when you meditate like the earth, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose they were to toss both clean and unclean things on the earth, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The earth isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like the earth. For when you meditate like the earth, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

from The Longer Advice to Rāhula https://suttacentral.net/mn62/en/sujato

Characteristics:

• Solidity
• Heaviness
• Weight (light, heavy)
• Density (hard, soft)
• Texture (rough, smooth)

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Other (possible) perceptions:

• Pain(?)
• Material world
• Lastingness
• Continuity
• Much subtle variation (in soil, minerals, trees, plants, metals, man-made tangible material and objects)

• Positive support:
  • stability
  • unshakability
  • accepting

Part of the “Earth Kasina” Section of the Visuddhimagga The Path of Purification translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nãnamoli [please excuse copy and paste typos:

[123] When a bhikkhu has thus severed the lesser impediments, then, on his return from his alms round after his meal and after he has got rid of drowsiness due to the meal, he should sit down comfortably in a secluded place and apprehend the sign in earth that is either made up or not made up.

22. For this is said: ⁴ “One who is learning the earth kasina apprehends the sign in earth that is either made up or not made up; that is bounded, not unbounded; limited, not unlimited; with a periphery, not without a periphery; circumscribed, not uncircumscribed; either the size of a bushel (suppa) or the size of a saucer (saráva). He sees to it that that sign is well apprehended, well attended to, well defined. Having done that, and seeing its advantages and perceiving it as a treasure, building up respect for it, making it dear to him, he anchors his mind to that object, thinking, ‘Surely in this way I shall be freed from aging and death.’ Secluded from sense desires … he enters upon and dwells in the first jhána …”

23. Herein, when in a previous becoming a man has gone forth into homelessness in the Dispensation or [outside it] with the rishis’ going forth and has already produced the jhána tetrad or pentad on the earth kasina, and so has such merit and the support [of past practice of jhána] as well, then the sign arises in him on earth that is not made up, that is to say, on a ploughed area or on a threshing floor, as in the Elder Mallaka’s case.

It seems that while that venerable one was looking at a ploughed area the sign arose in him the size of that area. He extended it and attained the jhána pentad. Then by establishing insight with the jhána as the basis for it, he reached Arahantship.

[MAKING AN EARTH KASINA]

24. But when a man has had no such previous practice, he should make a kasina, guarding against the four faults of a kasina and not overlooking any of the directions for the meditation subject learnt from the teacher. Now, the four faults of the earth kasina are due to the intrusion of blue, yellow, red or white. So instead of using clay of such colours, he should make the kasina of clay like that in the stream of the Gangá,⁵ which is the colour of the dawn. [124] And he should make it not in the middle of the monastery in a place where novices, etc., are about but on the confines of the monastery in a screened place, either under an overhanging rock or in a leaf hut. He can make it either portable or as a fixture.

25. Of these, a portable one should be made by tying rags of leather or matting onto four sticks and smearing thereon a disk of the size already mentioned, using clay picked clean of grass, roots, gravel, and sand, and well kneaded. At the time of the preliminary work it should be laid on the ground and looked at.

A fixture should be made by knocking stakes into the ground in the form of a lotus calyx, lacing them over with creepers. If the clay is insufficient, then other clay should be put underneath and a disk a span and four fingers across made on top of that with the quite pure dawn-coloured clay. For it was with reference only to measurement that it was said above either the size of a bushel or the size of a saucer (§22). But that is bounded, not unbounded was said to show its delimitedness.

26. So, having thus made it delimited and of the size prescribed, he should scrape it down with a stone trowel—a wooden trowel turns it a bad colour, so that should not be employed—and make it as even as the surface of a drum. Then he should sweep the place out and have a bath. On his return he should seat himself on a well-covered chair with legs a span and four fingers high, prepared in a place that is two and a half cubits [that is, two and a half times elbow to finger-tip] from the kasina disk. For the kasina does not appear plainly to him if he sits further off than that; and if he sits nearer than that, faults in the kasina appear. If he sits higher up, he has to look at it with his neck bent; and if he sits lower down, his knees ache.

[STARTING CONTEMPLATION]

27. So, after seating himself in the way stated, he should review the dangers in sense desires in the way beginning, “Sense desires give little enjoyment” (M I 91) and arouse longing for the escape from sense desires, for the renunciation that is the means to the surmounting of all suffering. He should next arouse joy of happiness by recollecting the special qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; then awe by thinking, “Now, this is the way of renunciation entered upon by all Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas and noble disciples”; and then eagerness by thinking, “In this way I shall surely come to know the taste of the bliss of seclusion.” [125] After that he should open his eyes moderately, apprehend the sign, and so proceed to develop it.⁶

28. If he opens his eyes too wide, they get fatigued and the disk becomes too obvious, which prevents the sign becoming apparent to him. If he opens them too little, the disk is not obvious enough, and his mind becomes drowsy, which also prevents the sign becoming apparent to him. So he should develop it by apprehending the sign (nimitta), keeping his eyes open moderately, as if he were seeing the reflection of his face (mukha-nimitta) on the surface of a looking- glass.⁷

29. The colour should not be reviewed. The characteristic should not be given attention.⁸ But rather, while not ignoring the colour, attention should be given by setting the mind on the [name] concept as the most outstanding mental datum, relegating the colour to the position of a property of its physical support. That [conceptual state] can be called by anyone he likes among the names for earth (pathavì) such as “earth” (pathavì), “the Great One” (mahì), “the Friendly One” (medinì), “ground” (bhúmi), “the Provider of Wealth” (vasudhá), “the Bearer of Wealth” (vasudhará), etc., whichever suits his manner of perception. Still “earth” is also a name that is obvious, so it can be developed with the obvious one by saying “earth, earth.” It should be adverted to now with eyes open, now with eyes shut. And he should go on developing it in this way a hundred times, a thousand times, and even more than that, until the learning sign arises.

30. When, while he is developing it in this way, it comes into focus⁹ as he adverts with his eyes shut exactly as it does with his eyes open, then the learning sign is said to have been produced. After its production he should no longer sit in that place;¹⁰ he should return to his own quarters and go on developing it sitting there. But in order to avoid the delay of foot washing, a pair of single-soled sandals and a walking stick are desirable. Then if the new concentration vanishes through some unsuitable encounter, he can put his sandals on, take his walking stick, and go back to the place to re-apprehend the sign there. When he returns he should seat himself comfortably and develop it by reiterated reaction to it and by striking at it with thought and applied thought.

[THE COUNTERPART SIGN]

31. As he does so, the hindrances eventually become suppressed, the defilements subside, the mind becomes concentrated with access concentration, and the counterpart sign arises.

The difference between the earlier learning sign and the counterpart sign is this. In the learning sign any fault in the kasina is apparent. But the counterpart sign [126] appears as if breaking out from the learning sign, and a hundred times, a thousand times more purified, like a looking-glass disk drawn from its case, like a mother-of-pearl dish well washed, like the moon’s disk coming out from behind a cloud, like cranes against a thunder cloud. But it has neither colour nor shape; for if it had, it would be cognizable by the eye, gross, susceptible of comprehension [by insight—(see XX.2f.)] and stamped with the three characteristics.¹¹ But it is not like that. For it is born only of perception in one who has obtained concentration, being a mere mode of appearance.¹² But as soon as it arises the hindrances are quite suppressed, the defilements subside, and the mind becomes concentrated in access concentration.

[THE TWO KINDS OF CONCENTRATION]

32. Now, concentration is of two kinds, that is to say, access concentration and absorption concentration: the mind becomes concentrated in two ways, that is, on the plane of access and on the plane of obtainment. Herein, the mind becomes concentrated on the plane of access by the abandonment of the hindrances, and on the plane of obtainment by the manifestation of the jhána factors.

33. The difference between the two kinds of concentration is this. The factors are not strong in access. It is because they are not strong that when access has arisen, the mind now makes the sign its object and now re-enters the life- continuum,13 just as when a young child is lifted up and stood on its feet, it repeatedly falls down on the ground. But the factors are strong in absorption. It is because they are strong that when absorption concentration has arisen, the mind, having once interrupted the flow of the life-continuum, carries on with a stream of profitable impulsion for a whole night and for a whole day, just as a healthy man, after rising from his seat, could stand for a whole day.

_{4. “Said in the Old Commentary. ‘One who is learning the earth kasina’: one who is apprehending, grasping, an earth kasina as a ‘learning sign’. The meaning is, one who is producing an earth kasina that has become the sign of learning; and here ‘arousing’ should be regarded as the establishing of the sign in that way. ‘In earth’: in an earth disk of the kind about to be described. ‘Apprehends the sign’: he apprehends in that, with knowledge connected with meditative development, the sign of earth of the kind about to be described, as one does with the eye the sign of the face in a looking-glass. ‘Made up’: prepared in the manner about to be described. ‘Not made up’: in a disk of earth consisting of an ordinary threshing-floor disk, and so on. ‘Bounded’: only in one that has bounds. As regard the words ‘the size of a bushel’, etc., it would be desirable that a bushel and a saucer were of equal size, but some say that ‘the size of a saucer’ is a span and four fingers, and the ‘the size of a bushel’ is larger than that. ‘He sees to it that that sign is well apprehended’: that meditator makes that disk of earth a well-apprehended sign. When, after apprehending the sign in it by opening the eyes, and looking and then closing them again, it appears to him as he adverts to it just as it did at the moment of looking with open eyes, then he has made it well apprehended. Having thoroughly established his mindfulness there, observing it again and again with his mind not straying outside, he sees that it is ‘well attended to’. When it is well attended to thus by adverting and attending again and again by producing much repetition and development instigated by that, he sees that it is ‘well defined’. ‘To that object’: to that object called earth kasina, which has appeared rightly owing to its having been well apprehended. ‘He anchors his mind’: by bringing his own mind to access jhána he anchors it, keeps it from other objects” (Vism-mhþ 119).}

_{5. “Gaògá (= ‘river’) is the name for the Ganges in India and for the Mahavaeligaògá, Sri Lanka’s principal river. However, in the Island of Sri Lanka there is a river, it seems, called the Rávanagaògá. The clay in the places where the banks are cut away by its stream is the colour of dawn” (Vism-mhþ 119).}

_{6. “‘Apprehend the sign’: apprehend with the mind the sign apprehended by the eye in the earth kasina. ‘And develop it’: the apprehending of the sign as it occurs should be continued intensively and constantly practiced” (Vism-mhþ 120).}

_{7. “Just as one who sees his reflection (mukha-nimitta—lit. “face-sign”) on the surface of a looking-glass does not open his eyes too widely or too little (in order to get the effect), nor does he review the colour of the looking-glass or give attention to its characteristic, but rather looks with moderately opened eyes and sees only the sign of his face, so too this meditator looks with moderately opened eyes at the earth kasina and is occupied only with the sign” (Vism-mhþ 121).}

_{8. “The dawn colour that is there in the kasióa should not be thought about, though it cannot be denied that it is apprehended by eye-consciousness. That is why, instead of saying here, ‘should not be looked at,’ he says that it should not be apprehended by reviewing. Also the earth element’s characteristic of hardness, which is there, should not be given attention because the apprehension has to be done through the channel of seeing. And after saying, ‘while not ignoring the colour’ he said, ‘relegating the colour to the position of a property of the physical support,’ showing that here the concern is not with the colour, which is the channel, but rather that this colour should be treated as an accessory of the physical support; the meaning is that the kasina (disk) should be given attention with awareness of both the accompanying earth- aspect and its ancillary colour-aspect, but taking the earth-aspect with its ancillary concomitant colour as both supported equally by that physical support [the disk]. ‘On the concept as the mental datum since that is what is outstanding’: the term of ordinary usage ‘earth’ (pathavì) as applied to earth with its accessories, since the prominence of its individual effect is due to outstandingness of the earth element: ‘setting the mind’ on that mental datum consisting of a [name-] concept (paññatti-dhamma), the kasióa should be given attention as ‘earth, earth.’—If the mind is to be set on a mere concept by means of a term of common usage, ought earth to be given attention by means of different names?—It can be. What is wrong? It is to show that that is done he said, ‘Mahì, medinì,’ and so on” (Vism-mhþ 122).}

_{9. “‘Comes into focus’: becomes the resort of mind-door impulsion” (Vism-mhþ 122).}

_{10. “Why should he not? If, after the learning sign was produced, he went on developing it by looking at the disk of the earth, there would be no arising of the counterpart sign” (Vism-mhþ 122).}

_{11. “Stamped with the three characteristics of the formed beginning with rise (see A I 152), or marked with the three characteristics beginning with impermanence” (Vism- mhþ 122).}

_{12. “If ‘it is not like that’—is not possessed of colour, etc.—then how is it the object of jhána? It is in order to answer that question that the sentence beginning, ‘For it is …’ is given. ‘Born of the perception’: produced by the perception during development, simply born from the perception during development. Since there is no arising from anywhere of what has no individual essence, he therefore said, ‘Being the mere mode of appearance’” (Vism-mhþ 122). See Ch. VIII, n. 11.}

_{13. Bhavaòga (life-continuum, lit. “constituent of becoming”) and javana (impulsion) are first mentioned in this work at I.57 (see n. 16); this is the second mention. The “cognitive series” (citta-vìthi) so extensively used here is unknown as such in the Piþakas. Perhaps the seed from which it sprang may exist in, say, such passages as: “Due to eye and to visible data eye-consciousness arises. The coincidence of the three is contact. With contact as condition there is feeling. What he feels he perceives. What he perceives he thinks about4. What he thinks about he diversifies [by means of craving, pride and false view] … Due to mind and to mental data …” (M I 111). And: “Is the eye permanent or impermanent … Are visible objects permanent or impermanent? … Is the mind permanent or impermanent? Are mental data … Is mind-consciousness … Is mind-contact … Is any feeling, any perception, any formation, any consciousness, that arises with mind-contact as condition permanent or impermanent?” (M III 279). And: “These five faculties [of eye, etc.] each with its separate objective field and no one of them experiencing as its objective field the province of any other, have mind as their refuge, and mind experiences their provinces as its objective field” (M I 295). This treatment of consciousness implies, as it were, more than even a “double thickness” of consciousness. An already-formed nucleus of the cognitive series, based on such Sutta Piþakas material, appears in the Abhidhamma Piþakas. The following two quotations show how the commentary (bracketed italics) expands the Abhidhamma Piþakas treatment.}

_{(i) “Herein, what is eye-consciousness element? Due to eye and to visible data (as support condition, and to functional mind element (= 5-door adverting), as disappearance condition, and to the remaining three immaterial aggregates as conascence condition) there arises consciousness … which is eye-consciousness element. [Similarly with the other four sense elements.] Herein, what is mind element? Eye-consciousness having arisen and ceased, next to that there arises consciousness … which is appropriate (profitable or unprofitable) mind element (in the mode of receiving). [Similarly with the other four sense elements.] Or else it is the first reaction to any mental datum (to be taken as functional mind element in the mode of mind-door adverting). Herein, what is mind-consciousness element? Eye-consciousness having arisen and ceased, next to that there arises mind element. (Resultant) mind element having arisen and ceased, also (next to that there arises resultant mind-consciousness element in the mode of investigating; and that having arisen and ceased, next to that there arises functional mind-consciousness element in the mode of determining; and that having arisen and ceased) next to that there arises consciousness … which is appropriate mind- consciousness element (in the mode of impulsion). [Similarly with the other four sense elements.] Due to (life-continuum) mind and to mental data there arises consciousness … which is appropriate (impulsion) mind-consciousness element (following on the above-mentioned mind-door adverting)” (Vibh 87–90 and Vibh-a 81f.).}

_{(ii) “Eye-consciousness and its associated states are a condition, as proximity condition, for (resultant) mind element and for its associated states. Mind element and its associated states are a condition, as proximity condition, for (root-causeless resultant) mind-consciousness element (in the mode of investigating) and for its associated states. (Next to that, the mind-consciousness elements severally in the modes of determining, impulsion, registration, and life-continuum should be mentioned, though they are not, since the teaching is abbreviated.) [Similarly for the other four senses and mind-consciousness element]. Preceding profitable (impulsion) states are a condition, as proximity condition, for subsequent indeterminate (registration, life-continuum) states [etc.]” (Paþþh II, and Comy., 33–34).}

_{The form that the two kinds (5-door and mind-door) of the cognitive series take is shown in Table V. The following are some Piþakas references for the individual modes: bhavaòga (life-continuum): Paþþh I 159, 160, 169, 324; ávajjana (adverting) Paþþh I 159, 160, 169, 324; sampaþicchana (receiving), santìraóa (investigating), voþþhapana (determining), and tadárammaóa (registration) appear only in the Commentaries. Javana (impulsion): Paþis II 73, 76. The following references may also be noted here: anuloma (conformity), Paþþh I 325. Cuti-citta (death consciousness), Paþþh I 324. Paþisandhi (rebirth- linking), Vism-mhþ 1, 320, etc.; Paþis II 72, etc.}

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Water Element

And what is the water element? The water element may be interior or exterior. And what is the interior water element? Anything that’s water, watery, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This includes: bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, snot, synovial fluid, urine, or anything else that’s water, watery, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This is called the interior water element. The interior water element and the exterior water element are just the water element. This should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ When you truly see with right understanding, you reject the water element, detaching the mind from the water element.

. . . .

Meditate like water. For when you meditate like water, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose they were to wash both clean and unclean things in the water, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The water isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like water. For when you meditate like water, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

from The Longer Advice to Rāhula https://suttacentral.net/mn62/en/sujato

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Characteristics:

• Liquidity
• Cohesion/collecting
• Dissolving

Other (possible) perceptions:

• Depth
• water=good circulation?; of sensations of fire, air, earth – or field of sensations are locked in one place thus water element holding them
• Resistanceless movement
• Spreading (quality)
• Stagnation
• Swampy
• Dancing
• Binding (agent)
• Diluteness
• Blending
• Distribution
• Amplifying
• Solution / solvent for which other things are dissolved in
• Substrate for settling/purifying (so it doesn’t become myst to block your vision)
• Purity and “contamination”
• Emotional
• Creative world/creations
• Circulation / circulatory system

• Positive support:
  • cleaning / cleansing / clearness / clarity
  • balm
  • anabiotic
  • flowing
  • refreshing
  • cooling
  • slowing
  • floating

“Water Kasina” Section of the Visuddhimagga The Path of Purification translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nãnamoli [please excuse copy and paste typos:

[THE WATER KASINA]

1. [170] Now, the water kasina comes next after the earth kasina (III.105). Here is the detailed explanation.

One who wants to develop the water kasina should, as in the case of the earth kasina, seat himself comfortably and apprehend the sign in water that “is either made up or not made up,” etc.; and so all the rest should be repeated in detail (IV.22). And as in this case, so with all those that follow [in this chapter]. We shall in fact not repeat even this much and shall only point out what is different.

2. Here too, when someone has had practice in previous [lives], the sign arises for him in water that is not made up, such as a pool, a lake, a lagoon, or the ocean as in the case of the Elder Cúla-Sìva. The venerable one, it seems, thought to abandon gain and honour and live a secluded life. He boarded a ship at Mahátittha (Mannar) and sailed to Jambudìpa (India). As he gazed at the ocean meanwhile, the kasina sign, the counterpart of that ocean, arose in him.

3. Someone with no such previous practice should guard against the four faults of a kasina (IV.24) and not apprehend the water as one of the colours, blue, yellow, red or white. He should fill a bowl or a four-footed water pot¹ to the brim with water uncontaminated by soil, taken in the open through a clean cloth [strainer], or with any other clear unturbid water. He should put it in a screened place on the outskirts of the monastery as already described and seat himself comfortably. He should neither review its colour nor bring its characteristic to mind. Apprehending the colour as belonging to its physical support, he should set his mind on the [name] concept as the most outstanding mental datum, and using any among the [various] names for water (ápo) such as “rain” (ambu), “liquid” (udaka), “dew” (vári), “fluid” (salila),² he should develop [the kasióa] by using [preferably] the obvious “water, water.”

4. As he develops it in this way, the two signs eventually arise in him in the way already described. Here, however, the learning sign has the appearance of moving. [171] If the water has bubbles of froth mixed with it, the learning sign has the same appearance, and it is evident as a fault in the kasina. But the counterpart sign appears inactive, like a crystal fan set in space, like the disk of a looking- glass made of crystal. With the appearance of that sign he reaches access jhána and the jhána tetrad and pentad in the way already described.

_{1. Kuóðika—“a four-footed water pot”: not in PED.}

_{2. English cannot really furnish five words for water.}

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Eight causes and reason for a great earthquake according to the Mahāparinibbānasutta translated by Bhikkhu Sujato https://t.co/7VtCn9a2LO pic.twitter.com/a0izQXXIwv

— j dippold (@JJDippold) April 3, 2024

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Fire Element

And what is the fire element? The fire element may be interior or exterior. And what is the interior fire element? Anything that’s fire, fiery, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This includes: that which warms, that which ages, that which heats you up when feverish, that which properly digests food and drink, or anything else that’s fire, fiery, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This is called the interior fire element. The interior fire element and the exterior fire element are just the fire element. This should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ When you truly see with right understanding, you reject the fire element, detaching the mind from the fire element.

. . .

Meditate like fire. For when you meditate like fire, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose a fire were to burn both clean and unclean things, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The fire isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like fire. For when you meditate like fire, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

from The Longer Advice to Rāhula https://suttacentral.net/mn62/en/sujato

Characteristics:

• Temperature:
  • hot / heat / warmth / tepidness / coolness / coldness

Other (possible) perceptions:

• Energy
• Caloricity (a faculty in animals of developing and preserving the heat necessary to life, that is, the animal heat)
• Radiation
• Softening
• Aging
• Destructive (of complex systems)
• Clingy / clinginess
• Ripening
• Creative “world”
• Positive support:
  • warmth
  • (allows for cooking food)

“Fire Kasina” Section of the Visuddhimagga The Path of Purification translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nãnamoli [please excuse copy and paste typos:

[THE FIRE KASINA]

5. Anyone who wants to develop the fire kasina should apprehend the sign in fire. Herein, when someone with merit, having had previous practice, is apprehending the sign, it arises in him in any sort of fire, not made up, as he looks at the fiery combustion in a lamp’s flame or in a furnace or in a place for baking bowls or in a forest conflagration, as in the Elder Cittagutta’s case. The sign arose in that elder as he was looking at a lamp’s flame while he was in the Uposatha house on the day of preaching the Dhamma.

6. Anyone else should make one up. Here are the directions for making it. He should split up some damp heartwood, dry it, and break it up into short lengths. He should go to a suitable tree root or to a shed and there make a pile in the way done for baking bowls, and have it lit. He should make a hole a span and four fingers wide in a rush mat or a piece of leather or a cloth, and after hanging it in front of the fire, he should sit down in the way already described. Instead of giving attention to the grass and sticks below or the smoke above, he should apprehend the sign in the dense combustion in the middle.

7. He should not review the colour as blue or yellow, etc., or give attention to its characteristic as heat, etc., but taking the colour as belonging to its physical support, and setting his mind on the [name] concept as the most outstanding mental datum, and using any among the names for fire (tejo) such as “the Bright One” (pávaka), “the Leaver of the Black Trail” (kaóhavattani), “the Knower of Creatures” (játaveda), “the Altar of Sacrifice” (hutásana), etc., he should develop [the kasióa] by using [preferably] the obvious “fire, fire.”

8. As he develops it in this way the two signs eventually arise in him as already described. Herein, the learning sign appears like [the fire to keep] sinking down as the flame keeps detaching itself. [172] But when someone apprehends it in a kasina that is not made up, any fault in the kasina is evident [in the learning sign], and any firebrand, or pile of embers or ashes, or smoke appears in it. The counterpart sign appears motionless like a piece of red cloth set in space, like a gold fan, like a gold column. With its appearance he reaches access jhána and the jhána tetrad and pentad in the way already described.

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Air Element

And what is the air element? The air element may be interior or exterior. And what is the interior air element? Anything that’s wind, windy, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This includes: winds that go up or down, winds in the belly or the bowels, winds that flow through the limbs, in-breaths and out-breaths, or anything else that’s air, airy, and appropriated that’s internal, pertaining to an individual. This is called the interior air element. The interior air element and the exterior air element are just the air element. This should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ When you truly see with right understanding, you reject the air element, detaching the mind from the air element.

. . .

Meditate like wind. For when you meditate like wind, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind. Suppose the wind were to blow on both clean and unclean things, like feces, urine, spit, pus, and blood. The wind isn’t horrified, repelled, and disgusted because of this. In the same way, meditate like the wind. For when you meditate like wind, pleasant and unpleasant contacts will not occupy your mind.

from The Longer Advice to Rāhula https://suttacentral.net/mn62/en/sujato

Characteristics:

• Supporting
• Pushing
• Movement
• Expanding / contracting

Other (possible) perceptions:

• Respiratory system
• Fluctuation
• Somatic shifts of energy
• Stretching / spreading
• Subtleness
• Ether
• Mental
• Vibration / oscillation

• Positive support:
  • uplifting
  • envelopment
  • lightness
  • cooling (breeze)

“Air Kasina” Section of the Visuddhimagga The Path of Purification translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nãnamoli [please excuse copy and paste typos:

[THE AIR KASINA]

9. Anyone who wants to develop the air kasina should apprehend the sign in air. And that is done either by sight or by touch. For this is said in the Commentaries: “One who is learning the air kasina apprehends the sign in air. He notices the tops of [growing] sugarcane moving to and fro; or he notices the tops of bamboos, or the tops of trees, or the ends of the hair, moving to and fro; or he notices the touch of it on the body.”

10. So when he sees sugarcanes with dense foliage standing with tops level or bamboos or trees, or else hair four fingers long on a man’s head, being struck by the wind, he should establish mindfulness in this way: “This wind is striking on this place.” Or he can establish mindfulness where the wind strikes a part of his body after entering by a window opening or by a crack in a wall, and using any among the names for wind (váta) beginning with “wind” (váta), “breeze” (máluta), “blowing” (anila), he should develop [the kasióa] by using [preferably] the obvious “air, air.”

11. Here the learning sign appears to move like the swirl of hot [steam] on rice gruel just withdrawn from an oven. The counterpart sign is quiet and motionless. The rest should be understood in the way already described.

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Miscellaneous and Resources:

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THE SECTION OF REFLECTION ON THE MODES OF MATERIALITY

The Master having explained body-contemplation in the form of reflection on the repulsiveness of the thirty-two parts of the body, said: “And further,” now, to set forth body-contemplation by way of reflection on the modes (or elements) of materiality.

The elaboration of the meaning together with the application of the simile, in this connection, is as follows:

Just as if some cow-butcher or a cow-butcher’s apprentice, a man who works for his keep, having killed a cow and made it into parts, were sitting at a four-cross-road, just so, a bhikkhu reflects, by way of the modes, on the body, in any one of the four postures thus: “There are in this body the modes of extension, cohesion, caloricity, and oscillation.”

The cow-butcher does not get rid of the cow-percept while feeding the cow, driving it to the place of slaughter, tying it and putting it up there, killing it, and even when seeing the dead carcass of the cow; not until he cuts it up and divides it into parts does the perception of a cow disappear. To that butcher sitting (with the meat before him) after cutting up the cow, however, the perception of a cow disappears, and the perception of flesh comes into being. To him, there is not this thought: “I am selling the cow; these people are taking away the cow.” But to him, indeed, there occurs this thought: “I am selling flesh; these people indeed, are taking away flesh.”…

To the bhikkhu, similarly, the perception of a being or the perception of a person does not disappear as long as he does not reflect, by way of the modes of materiality, in this body as it is placed or disposed in whatsoever position, after sifting thoroughly the apparently compact aggregation. To him who reflects by way of the modes of materiality, however, the perception of a being disappears; the mind gets established by way of the modes of materiality. Therefore, the Blessed One declared: “A bhikkhu reflects on just this body according as it is placed or disposed, by way of the mode of materiality, thinking thus: ‘There are, in this body, the mode of solidity, the mode of cohesion, the mode of caloricity, and the mode of oscillation.’ O bhikkhus, in whatever manner, a clever cow-butcher or a cow-butcher’s apprentice having slaughtered a cow and divided it by way of portions should be sitting at the junction of a cross-road, in the same manner, a bhikkhu reflects… thinking thus: ‘There are, in this body, the mode of solidity… And the mode of oscillation.’ = Imameva kayam yatha thitam yatha panihitam dhatuso paccavekkhati: atthi imasmim kaye pathavidhatu apodhatu tejodhatu vayodhatuti. Seyyathapi bhikkhave dakkho goghatako va goghatakantevasi va gavim vadhitva catummahapathe bilaso pativibhajitva nissinno assa evameva kho bhikkhave bhikkhu imameva kayam… paccavekkhati atthi imasmim kaye pathavidhatu… vayodhatuti.

The yogi is comparable to the cow-butcher; the perception of a being is comparable to the perception of a cow; the fourfold posture is comparable to the cross-road; and the reflection by way of the modes of materiality is comparable to the state of sitting with the cow’s flesh in front after dividing the cow into parts. Here, this is the textual explanation. Details of the reflection on the modes of materiality as a subject of meditation, however, are given in the Path of Purity.

Iti ajjhattam = “Thus internally.” One dwells contemplating the body in the body thus by way of the laying hold of the four modes of materiality, in one’s own or in another’s body or at one time in one’s own body and at another time in another’s body. From here on the exposition should be known just by the method already mentioned. The mindfulness which lays hold of the four modes of materiality is the Truth of Suffering. Thus the portal to deliverance should be known.

By the word placed there is the elucidation of occasion by way of own (or particular) function of material things known as the body in various moments [kaya sankhatam rupadhammanam tasmim tasmim khane sakicca vasena avatthana paridipanam].

By the word disposed here the following meaning should be known: By way of condition, the putting down or settling owing to the arrangement of several conditions [paccaya vasena tehi tehi paccayehi pakarato nihitam].

Reflects (paccavekkhati) = Considers again and again, sees analytically, part by part, separately after sifting thoroughly with the eye of wisdom [pati pati avekkhati ñanacakkhuna vinibhujjitva visum visum passati].

From The Way of Mindfulness
The Satipatthana Sutta and Its Commentary
by Soma Thera https://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html#modes

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• Four Elements YouTube playlist (For Meditation, Contemplation and Study) [embedded below]:

• Mindfulness of Breathing & Four Elements Meditation by Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw [free pdf book not for sale]
• Vissudi maga (element kisinas)
• Talks on the Four Elements
  • Various Four Elements Dhamma talks on dharmaseed.org:
    • 
      • An example: 2019-02-08 Day 6 – Morning Instruction on Breath and 4 Elements (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:33 by Tempel Smith https://dharmaseed.org/talks/54694/
  • EP#007 | Ajahn Sucitto | The Wisdom of the Body: A Buddhist Perspective (four elements starting at 58:46) https://overcast.fm/+kyFkOvWMI/58:46 or https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thebodyknows/episodes/EP007–Ajahn-Sucitto–The-Wisdom-of-the-Body-A-Buddhist-Perspective-eogjpr

• Anālayo, B. Four Element Meditation. Mindfulness 12, 215–225 (2021) [free article and/or PDF — https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-020-01516-1
• Awareness of Four Elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire Guided Meditation Script [pdf]
• Chapter 6 Analysis of Matter in A Manual of ABHIDHAMMA by Narada Maha Thera — https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/a-manual-of-abhidhamma/d/doc690.html and https://archive.org/details/abhidhamma_201807/page/n323/mode/2up
• https://amonksselflessmagic.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/teachings-on-the-four-elements.pdf

Click to access teachings-on-the-four-elements.pdf

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• From the Four Elements Meditation webpage by Leigh Brasington:

Traditional

earth	Solidity and Extension
water	Liquidity and Cohesion
fire	Temperature
wind	Gaseous and Movement

20th/21st Century Physics

earth	Solidity
water	Liquidity
wind	Gaseous
fire	Energy

Ven. Pa Auk

earth	Hardness, Softness Roughness, Smoothness Heaviness, Lightness
water	Flowing, Cohesion
fire	Hot, Cold
wind	Pushing, Supporting

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“Moreover, Mahamati, bodhisattvas should become versed in
the four elements and their elemental forms. And how should bodhisattvas become versed in the four elements and their elemental forms? Mahamati, bodhisattvas should know this: that in reality the four elements do not arise. They should thus examine the non-arising of the four elements. Once they have done so, they will know that the distinguishing of names, appearances, and projections is the distinguishing of perceptions of their own mind and that their external existence does not exist. This is what is meant by distinguishing projections as perceptions of the mind. This means to see that the three realms are devoid of the existence of the four elements and their elemental forms, that they are completely devoid of the four possibilities, and that they include no self or anything that belongs to a self, and to focus instead on the essential characteristic of reality, the essential characteristic of which consists in non-arising.

“Mahamati, how do the four elements give rise to elemental forms? The element distinguished as moisture produces internal and external realms of water. The element distinguished as energy produces internal and external realms of fire. The element distinguished as movement produces internal and external realms of wind. And the element distinguished as divisible form produces internal and external realms of earth—and with form comes space. According to those who cling to mistaken truths, it is the four elements and their elemental forms that give rise to the assemblage of the five skandhas.

“Mahamati, consciousness continues in another existence because of the delight for different realms. As for earth and the other elements and their elemental forms, Mahamati, the four elements serve as its conditions, and the four elements do not serve as its conditions. And how so? The elements do not arise unless nature, shape, location, and function exist. But even if they do arise together with nature, shape, location, and function, Mahamati, they do not do so with regard to what is formless. Therefore, the four elements and their elemental forms are projections of other paths and not mine.

— Lankavatara-sutra translation by Red Pine p.186 starting with footnote 460

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From “Healthy Mindfulness” by https://amonksselflessmagic.wordpress.com

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Yet, for gaining a better comprehension of objects following our previous scheme, we again may at first class them in line with the four elements. So will material objects be taken as an expression of the earth element. Objects of affection may be classed as belonging to the water element. Objects of hatred or aversion are classed under fire element. And objects of a subtle and spiritual kind will be taken as expressions of the air element.

Snippet from “Ārammaṇa Paccaya – Condition of Objects” article via https://amonksselflessmagic.wordpress.com/2020/08/01/arammaṇa-paccaya-condition-of-objects/

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Five Elementals of the Earth:

• Heddeka – an elemental of water
• Chassell – an elemental of fire
• Plymella – an elemental of wind
• Khaleme – an elemental of air and the one with no name – an etheric element.
• Ether – Etheric elemental has no name, it is everywhere and everything

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Five element photography from Daniel Lacroix https://www.lacroixphotography.com/Five-Elements

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Questions for potential reflection and contemplation:

• What are the root cause(s) and condition(s) of (each of the four) element(s) and/or all four together?
• Does water ground earth and air ground fire?
• Would it be possible, helpful, dangerous, etc to (willfully) transform the elements (in a conceptual manner) such as perhaps earth to fluidity, water to vibrational state, air to radiation (fire) potentials on subtle levels, fire to plasma?
• What is the relationship, if any, of the four great elements with forces such as electromagnetism, love, gravity, radiation etc.?
• Can one of the four elements be isolated and exist without another? If so, how and would it (then) be considered a non-compounded, permanent thing? Rephrased: are each of the individual four elements (non)compounded, (im)permanent things? Why or why not?
• Breath as the four elements:
  • The air element is obvious: range of pressure, contraction and expansion
  • Could the pauses at the end of the in & out breaths represent the stillness of earth element? And the lungs take in air no mater what’s in it just like the Earth “accepts” whatever is put upon it? Doesn’t it seem that no matter what is going on around it and to it the lungs continue to breathe being pervasive like the Earth?
  • Is the body’s inbuilt, nonresistant, automatic flow of breath like the water property? Also, isn’t there moisture in the breath, or lack thereof?
  • Could the breath’s energy, especially the in breath, signify the fire element?
  • Would, or could it be beneficial to cycle through each of the four elements along with mindfulness of the natural breath by setting (and perhaps recalling and/or holding) the intention of knowing and experiencing each element?
• Would it be beneficial to contemplate the four elements in relation to language (and how the four elements relate to other things, and/or everything else, on their own and compounded with other stuff?
• Would it be worthwhile to investigate the phrase “what smolders in the day bursts into flame at night, and what burns brightly in the day smolders at night” (from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss) in a literal manner of perhaps more overall earth/air in daytime, and more fire/water at night, or different overall amounts/degrees of an element or elements during daytime vs nighttime? If so, how does this happen?
• Do each of the elements have a type of energy and/or consciousness? If so, for example, how is (the) consciousness and energy of the air element throughout the desire and form realms? If applicable, what are the similarities and differences?
• Is it possible and wise to cycle through elements while (doing) walking (meditation) and/or during (certain kinds of) breath meditation (especially if loosing interest in breath meditation)
• If it makes sense on a relative, and more practical level to do so, where might there be imbalance in the body with the elements? Some say to “ground” oneself for for stability and balance. Isn’t this notion somehow related to the earth element? It also seem quite easy be or become ungrounded. How does this happen? What ought best be done about ungroundedness? Could it be possible there could be a type of unconscious overwhelm with all the massive (subtle) variations that could be attributed to dealing with perceiving too many (individual) objects, seemingly consisting mostly of the earth element?
• When discerning earth element could it be helpful to use (the notions/perceptions):
  • “picking something up” to examine it to determine whether light or heavy
  • “touching” to determine smooth or rough
  • “penetrate” to determine porous or dense

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Articles

Mystery of The Four Elements Sound Practice

Inner Spontaneous Sound Is Not A Contingent Or Compounded Evanescent Phenomenon — This Is Why All Buddhas Reach Enlightenment By Using It

by StillJustJames

Within Tibetan Buddhism, there are foundational texts called the “Seventeen Tantras of the Great Perfection” in which you can find references to a practice using the sounds of the four Elements.

The “Great Perfection,” a phrase that points to the primordial state of Reality, is called Dzogchen in Tibetan, and that is also the name for a group of advanced techniques taught within Tibetan Buddhism (and some other traditions, such as the pre-Buddhist shamanic tradition in Tibet known as “Bön”), that are used to attain this state of absolute perfection. These practices are categorized as Atiyoga, the “highest” path in Tibetan Buddhism because it is considered the most direct path to enlightenment.

All of these tantras are categorized as “pith instructions” within the collection of Tibetan Buddhist sacred writings, and were brought to Tibet by Vimalamitra and Guru Padmasambhava. While each tantra is not dependent upon the others, but is complete in itself, the Reverberation of Sound tantra (in Tibetan: dra talgyur, or sgra thal ‘gyur), is considered to be the root tantra of the seventeen.

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé (1813–1899) in his “The Treasury of Knowledge — Esoteric Instructions,” describes the “sound of four elements” practice found in the Reverberation of Sound tantra this way:

The initial meditation in thögal is training in the meaning of the sounds of the four elements with the three kāyas acting as leader. It says in the Reverberation of Sound Root Tantra:

“This sequence of training in the three kāyas
Makes the sense-pleasures of the elements foremost
Absolutely train in the sounds of earth, water, fire, and air,
And definitely become accomplished”.

These statements are further explained in two footnotes to the above text. The first, summarizing the benefit of the practice, is as follows:

(sGra) thal ‘gyur: A main tantra in the esoteric instruction class of atiyoga. It explains how to attain the level of nirmānakāya⁠¹ and how to accomplish the welfare of others through practices related to sound (Rangdrol, The Circle of the Sun, 82).⁠²

However, the second footnote references the following quote from Jingmé Lingpa (1730–1798) found in his renowned Yeshe Lama Dzogchen practice manual⁠,³ where the following short remark about the four elements sound practice from the Reverberation of Sound tantra is directly addressed:

First, of the six million four hundred thousand verses on the natural Great Perfection, in the extraordinary root tantra Reverberation of Sound it states:

“The stages of training in the three kāyas emphasize the qualities of the elements. Diligently training in the sound of earth, water, fire, and wind will bring certain accomplishment.”

Thus, although this quote expresses the value of practicing with the four sounds [of the elements], since this is seldom practiced anymore, it is acceptable to omit it.⁠⁴

Apparently, again according to the second footnote in Jamgön Kongtrul’s text, Gangteng Tulku Rinpoché agreed (that the practice is no longer done) and added that it mainly resulted in the common spiritual powers (thun mong gi dngos grub).⁠⁵

His point seems to be that the practice of the four elements sound didn’t accomplish much, as the “common spiritual powers” are more of a distraction along the path to Enlightenment than they are needful accomplishments.

But Jingmé Lingpa’s remark is itself confusing because he does not explain why the practice fell out of favor, and yet, seems to imply that he did. The “attain(ment of) the level of nirmānakāya and how to accomplish the welfare of others,” has no obvious association with the attainment of the common spiritual powers, which are a known side-effect of advanced meditation practices in general and not specific to the use of sound as a support for meditation. So the final statement in the quoted passage above is obviously missing a basis for the adverbial “thus” that it begins with.

It may be the case that the wording of that statement was incorrectly translated, as there is no explanation in the passage to which the “thus” can refer — and even a cursory reading of the statement in English clearly shows its awkwardness and lack of cohesion with the preceding lines of text — however, it also may be the case that there is a missing passage that explained why the practice fell out of favor which was purposely excluded from the translation, or perhaps overlooked, or removed in the original Tibetan text.

Or, perhaps it is a faithful translation, rather than incompetence or intentional omission, and Jingmé Lingpa meant it to be that way, or left it that way, either because he wanted to explain why the practice was dropped but couldn’t find an explanation, or he left it that way so that someone paying attention would notice its incongruous wording.

The section of the Yeshe Lama in which these remarks were made is focused specifically on those of “keen faculty who possess the force of the cause,” which literally means those who have succeeded in awakening the “dormant karmic tendencies that exist in the stream of mind due to previously accumulated merit.” The Sound of the Four Elements is presented as a preliminary practice used to “discover the three kāyas,” and thus this practice results in a direct experience of the nature of mind. This makes sense of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé’s quote given above, wherein the practice is described this way: “(t)he initial meditation in thögal is training in the meaning of the sounds of the four elements.” The initial meditation today, known as “trekchö,” means “breakthrough,” and this is how these practices are described by Manjushri in the Surangama Sutra. Given the characterization of inner spontaneous sound as the self-sound of dharmata in Tibetan Buddhism (Chos Nyid Kyi Rang Sgra), this accommodates well with Mipham Rinpoche’s description of Trekchö as:

Do not alter the mind but allow it to settle as it is.
And, in such a state, look naturally within.
There will unfold an experience that is indescribable,
Which has no fixed character as either this or that,
And the natural radiance of which will not cease.
This is the genuine state, the natural condition,
The actual dharmatā, beyond conception.
It is the insight born of natural luminosity,
The view: like a mountain, left as it is.

As you simply abide by that natural state,
There is neither meditation nor distraction.
Without suppressing, cultivating, evaluating or analyzing,
Allow yourself to settle fully into the genuine state.
This is the natural concentration of dharmatā,
Uncorrupted by the bonds of deliberate action.
Abiding in the yoga that is the King of Space,
This is meditation: like the ocean, left as it is.⁶

In any case, the incongruity of the lack of a reason for dropping the practice highlights and reinforces the general confusion about what this practice itself was — i.e., did it use the “external”⁠⁷ sound of “earth, water, fire, and wind,” the way it is characterized and understood today by so many, or did it use the inner spontaneous sounds of the four elements, which are called Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind?

They are not the same.

For example, does a practitioner sit by a waterfall listening to its thunderous roar? Or does she turn her hearing inward and listen to the inner spontaneous sound of the Water Element which is a fundamental aspect of her physical manifestation?

How simple it would be for us all — wannabe future beach bums — if it was the former case. We could just lie on the beach with our eyes closed to block out the blazing Sun, feeling the heat of its fire upon our body, while listening to the thrumming beat of crashing waves of water upon that sand, as a gentle Trade wind fans the heat from our skin, while the wash of the waves cools our feet…

But how simplistic an understanding that image reflects. How could this possibly be the practice — once a preliminary Dzogchen practice, the most advanced practice in Tibetan Buddhism — that directly results in “accomplishing the welfare of others?” It seems like the antithesis of a practice for that.

It would be helpful, in order to understand this practice and why it might have been abandoned, if we look at another Buddhist text, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, that is a primary text in Chan (Chinese) Buddhism. Although this text does not speak about the four Elements sound practice, it does speak specifically about the use of inner spontaneous sound as a support for a practice.

This text was brought to China from India — from where the Buddhist Dzogchen practices originated⁸ — and translated into Chinese. It is a wide-ranging document of the Buddha’s teaching, that, at one point, looks into the different meditation supports used by a “representative sample” of the realized beings in attendance — bodhisattvas and buddhas alike — to reach enlightenment, and, after a recap of the different methods and supports, the method using inner spontaneous sound is singled-out as having a special character that set it apart from all others.

In the sutra, the Buddha asks Mañjuśrī to canvass the assembled arhats and bodhisattvas as to the meditation method and support they each used to reach enlightenment. After a representative group of twenty-five each did so, Mañjuśrī summarized their responses, and then explained that the inner spontaneous sound technique used and described in detail by Avalokitasvara⁠⁹ is the only practice that succeeds even in the absence of all Dharma teachings, because this technique works directly with the original source of all such teachings themselves — the intrinsic resonances of Dharmata — so no teacher is needed.

Inner spontaneous sound is not a contingent or compounded evanescent phenomenon like that of a waterfall, or waves on a beach. This is why all Buddhas reach enlightenment by using this one support alone — in the absence of any true and uncorrupted Dharma, how could anyone reach enlightenment using a technique that is dependent upon contingent and compounded phenomena, such as the breath?

Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī asked exactly this rhetorical question in the the Śūraṅgama Sūtra:

No practice is entirely continuous,
So even mindfulness perforce arises and must halt.
An intermittent practice’s results are intermittent.
How could awareness guide all beings to enlightenment?

And his answer to that question was this:

I can now recommend respectfully the practice
Taught by the One Who Hears the Cries of the World.⁠¹⁰
A being whose mind is tranquil hears the sound
Of drumbeats coming from all ten directions,
And yet he’ll hear each of the drums distinctly.
And so our hearing faculty must be the perfect one,
The one that’s genuine and true.
…
Merely turn your hearing round
To listen to your genuine true nature,
Which is the destination of the Path that is supreme.
This is the genuine way to break through to enlightenment.

It is the way that the innumerable Buddhas followed
Straight to nirvana’s gate. All Thus-Come Ones of eons past
Succeeded by this method.
…
The sages who attained enlightenment by other means
Were aided by the Buddha’s awe-inspiring spiritual power,
And each was especially taught how to abandon all affliction.
Some of these paths are shallow, some go deep; these teachings vary.
…
It is the easiest way to reach enlightenment.
It is the teaching most appropriate
For Ānanda and for the beings drowning
In the Dharma’s ending time. They only need
This practice of the faculty of hearing
For them to break through to enlightenment,
For it surpasses all other methods.
It is the genuine path to the true mind.⁠¹¹

Comparing these two sources reveals a true mystery hanging over the disappearance of this practice — in Tibetan Buddhism — over the last few hundred years:

Why? Why was the practice abandoned?

I am not singling out Tibetan Buddhism for any reason other than that the use, and its discontinuance, of inner spontaneous sound is sufficiently well documented there that it provides a ready example of the fate awaiting all meditation and yoga techniques, as well as their associated doctrinal systems, that the Buddha himself forewarned us about in regards to his teachings, and all teachings. It is illustrative of how hard-won knowledge can be lost over time as misunderstandings accumulate until, no longer comprehending the origin of that knowledge, nor why it was of such practical use in the past, it is relinquished to make way for “something better.”

But the mystery really isn’t why it was lost in this way, but why it was lost at all, given the character of the glowing accolades of its simplicity, the testimony to its effectiveness, and most confusing of all, the assertions and evidence that it was the support and technique used by the greatest enlightened beings present at the founding of Buddhism — including the Buddha himself.

The Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who was second only to the Buddha, and was the embodiment of enlightened wisdom in the Buddhist pantheon, praised the use of inner spontaneous sound as the most effective meditation practice of all, and testified that it was the one that he himself, Gautama Buddha, “and all Buddhas,” used to reach full enlightenment. As well, it was the practice used by Avalokitasvara, the bodhisattva who is the very embodiment of “great responsiveness” in Buddhism.

And yet, it isn’t used anymore.

I suggest that a deep look into the actual practice description in the Reverberation of Sound tantra may help us to see just how dysfunctional the current “reading” of this practice is:

The stages of training with the three kāyas emphasize the qualities of the elements.

By training with the sound of the supreme aspect of earth, fire, water, and wind, supreme attainment will be certain.

The sound of water is roaring and carries the melodious sound of the ḍākinīs. To always engage and become familiar with this, it is certain that the nirmāṇakāya will be attained.

The characteristic of earth is cool and heavy, possessing the sound of great Brahmā. To always engage and maintain balance with this will bring the certain attainment of the nirmāṇakāya.

To accomplish the sambhogakāya⁠,¹² by listening to the sound of fire, this reveals the sound of the great Viṣhṇu.

Whoever listens to this will certainly attain the qualities of the dharmakāya⁠:¹³ the characteristics of wind are cool and fierce and carry the sound of uniting with the king of birds.⁠¹⁴

If one knows how to constantly practice this, then that is training with the common aspect of the three kāyas.⁠¹⁵

This practice, as the first line states, is a practice emphasizing the three kāyas. The word kāya literally means “body,” but here it signifies aspect or dimension. The three kāyas (trikāya) doctrine can be interpreted as describing different aspects of enlightenment or buddhahood itself.

The dharmakāya, sometimes translated as the “truth body” or “reality body,” generally refers to the essential nature of the Buddha. The saṃbhogakāya and the nirmāṇakāya, known collectively as the form bodies, are understood as emanations of the dharmakāya, or the essential nature, of the Buddha.

In other words, the three bodies are the enlightened nature and activity of a Buddha. The saṃbhogakāya, sometimes translated as “enjoyment body,” is the apparitional form the Buddha takes for bodhisattvas and practitioners in meditative states or in dreams. The nirmāṇakāya, sometimes translated as “manifestation body,” is the physical form of the Buddha that can be seen by any sentient being. The Buddha, who is able to emanate in countless forms, does so in order to liberate beings through the illumination and demonstration of the Dharma. All three bodies are ultimately considered inseparable.

Since these “three bodies” are inseparable and are not separate bodies at all, only being different aspects of the essential naturing that we commonly call “mind,” they are aspects of the true naturing of all that is manifested. Thus, everything we perceive around us is nirmāṇakāya; its nature, light or energy is sambhogakāya; and its inherent truth, is the dharmakāya.

So the question is, what is the connection between the essential naturing that we call “mind” and these four elements? The answer to that question is simply this: the Elements are not truly separate from anything, nor are they anything themselves. Instead, they are only aspects of the naturing, or manifesting, of all phenomena.

The essential naturing of these manifestations, which may be distinguished into aspects, some of which are called “Elements,” does not differ in any way from that which we refer to as “mind” — and the supreme aspect of each of these “Elements” is, therefore, the naturing of that essential characteristic represented by each element, rather than the apperceived identification of what is being manifested, as the external analogs of earth, water, fire, and air are.

And it is the reverberations or resonances of that very naturing that is pointed to by the expression “inner spontaneous sound.” Thus, this is the support that uses the “three kāyas.”

The first thing to take note of in the practice description quoted above is the second line asserting that training with the supreme aspect of each of the four Elements will result in supreme attainment. The word “supreme” is used purposely to indicate the specific aspect of sound that is used, and the attainment to be gained through the use of this practice.

“Supreme attainment” is another way of saying Full Enlightenment, which is the supreme attainment of Buddhist practices. It is transparently inconsistent to use the same adjective then — and in the same sentence — to refer to anything having to do with a mundane phenomenon such as the conditioned sounds of moving earth, flowing water, burning wood, and blowing wind.

Instead, the supreme aspect of each of the four Elements must refer to the naturing of the essential characteristic represented by each Element — as distinguished from any manifest phenomenon that is natured — and in regard to this practice, the naturing of that supreme aspect is imperienced (immediate experience) as inner spontaneous sound, and it is that which is used as the support for this practice at each stage.

Thus, rather than a physically manifesting sound of each element’s namesake mundane analog, one must practice with the supreme, i.e., non-manifest, inner spontaneous sound aspect, because this is the self-arising (autogenous) reverberation or resonance of that absolute naturing — called Dharmata in Buddhist doctrine. These reverberations, or resonant sound, is known as chönyid kyi rangdra or chos nyid kyi rang sgra in Tibetan, dharmatā swayambhu nada in Sanskrit.

So this line in the practice description quoted above is specifically cautioning us not to fall into the mistaken belief that we are supposed to use the external physical sounds of the manifested analog phenomena of earth, water, fire, and wind, because these are not the Elements. These are manifested phenomena only.

However, this is exactly what almost everyone does do, including most lamas, teachers, writers, translators and commentators, who comprehend sound only as a conditioned phenomenon, even though they may know better.

In order to reinforce the point being made here about this practice, it is necessary to dig into the detail of this short practice description in a rather pedantic way in the following paragraphs. There are several clear indications — if one is paying attention in a critical way — that the assertions above are correct, but have been overlooked, or misunderstood, by others.

The unfortunate aspect of the misunderstanding of the true meaning of this practice — which appears to have been so widespread — is that there are individuals who are truly willing to believe that sitting by waterfalls, for example, will lead to enlightenment. While it may, because anything is possible, that’s not the practice being described above.

And although listening to waterfalls may lead to enlightenment, in most cases it doesn’t, and I believe that it is this mistaken belief about what is to be used as the support for this practice, and the resulting failure of it to live up to the universally high praise for it, that led directly to its ultimate abandonment within Tibetan Buddhism.

Not comprehending what was being referred to because they believed sound to be only a conditioned phenomenon (which evidently was the result of either never having noticed, or been able to access, inner spontaneous sound — i.e., not having the extant conditions for the insight to arise), writers and translators misled — and mislead — the readers of these important texts by directing them to use the manifest conditioned sounds of the material analogs of the four Elements. In short, they couldn’t comprehend what those texts were clearly saying because of their own ignorance — in this one regard.

And since these manifested conditioned sounds have no more effect (nor less) than any other mundane meditation support, this practice was abandoned in favor of those using more familiar, and probably closer to hand, supports, such as the breath.

So, to begin, notice in the text above that each stage of the four Elements practice denotes the supreme sound characterization of the element in focus:

Yet, an analog mundane sound aspect is only referred to for Water, Fire, and Wind.

You see, the physical manifestation of Earth doesn’t have a mundane sound, unless it’s in motion, which happens very infrequently, so only its supreme sound aspect could be given.

This alone should be enough for an astute practitioner to realize that this practice does not entail listening to the characteristic sounds of external physical analogs of the Elements, because no external physical sound is given for Earth.

But fire, the physical analog of the Fire Element, doesn’t have a characteristic sound itself either — the sounds we associate with fire are those arising from the burning fuel and atmospheric gases being heated up — so again, how could this practice be referring to mundane sound in the case of the Fire Element?

The truth that fire doesn’t have a characteristic sound can be verified using a candle in your home. Since the wax of the candle doesn’t normally harbor impurities, such as wood sap and moisture, nor is it under any tension that would be released as the wax is burned, it burns without the pops of burning sap, nor the explosions of superheated moisture, nor the snaps of suddenly released tension. And without wind moving air currents around the room, the flame doesn’t even waver, and therefore doesn’t make gentle luffing sounds either.

The absence of a characteristic sound for fire is a direct result of the actual chemical reaction that we call “combustion” not creating the conditions for there to be any sound at all. It is the fuel that is burnt, impurities that may be present in the fuel, and its environmental setting that condition the sounds we normally associate with fire.

Thus, external physical fire is without an inherent sound, and this means that even on the level of relative truth — that which is based merely upon the appearances of phenomena — the description of this practice cannot be referring to external mundane sound because then it would have to specify which fuel to burn, and under which conditions, in order to properly delineate which sound of “fire” one should listen to. In the absence of such specificity, the practitioner might just as well choose to “listen” to the rusting of metal, a similar, but much slower oxidative process than combustion.

And it is the same with earth, water and wind — the physical analogs of the Earth, Water and Wind Elements — the conditioned sounds of which aren’t inherent to the analog element, but rather to the environmental context in which it manifests, i.e., the movements of earth, water and air in contact with specific environmental conditions.

Clearly, the practice description text can only be describing the use of the supreme inner spontaneous sound associated with each Element — just as it says it is doing in the second sentence of the quote.

Not only does earth, water, fire, and air not have inherent sounds, the most important point to reflect on here is that any conditioned sound, such as these physical manifestations of “elements,” necessarily arises, endures for just a limited time, and then fades away, thus, these sounds are no better than any other conditioned, and thus ephemeral, phenomena.

In the case of Water and Wind, the mundane sound aspect is given in the text above in order to bring to mind the character of the inner spontaneous sound that one uses for each of those Elements because these Elemental inner spontaneous sounds track the external conditioned sound of their analogs.

The inner spontaneous sound of the Water Element, for example, does indeed sound like running water of various types (rain, rivulets, streams, rivers, waterfalls, etc.)

The inner spontaneous sound of the Earth Element, by contrast, has a sound like one would hear when earth is in motion, such as in a landslide, earthquake, etc. — deep vibrations and rumbling.

Fire, on the other hand, has a special sound, identified in the text as “the sound of the great Viṣhṇu.”

Viṣhṇu is identical to the formless metaphysical concept called Brahman, and the Omkara, which literally means the “OM syllable,” is the supreme sound of the Lord Brahman. Omkara is the primordial sound “A-U-M” from which the whole universe was created, according to the Brahmanic tradition of the Indo-Aryans of Northern India, from which these figures come.

This particular sound — the Omkara — which is a type of sound known also as Shabda Brahman, is described variously as transcendental sound, sound vibration, or the transcendental sound of the Vedas, in the Shatapatha Brahmana text. Their description parallels that of the inner spontaneous sounds discussed here.

The “A-U-M” sound is deep and vibrant. It is the energetic resonance of the presencing of the world. And it is used in a particular type of yoga, known as “Pranava yoga.” Yoga theory asserts that by following the thread of Omkara during meditation back to more and more subtle levels of awareness, the yogi regains union with Brahman.

What world does he who meditates on Aum until the end of his life, win by That? If he meditates on the Supreme Being with the syllable Aum, he becomes one with the Light, he is led to the world of Brahman [the Absolute Being] Who is higher than the highest life, That Which is tranquil, unaging, immortal, fearless, and supreme.⁠¹⁶

Finally, the inner spontaneous sound of the Wind Element has the characteristics of wind in a cave, or other structure that creates the kind of effect we all know from childhood when we placed a seashell against our ears — except that the inner spontaneous sound of the Wind Element arises spontaneously and autogenously.

Each of these inner spontaneous sounds associated with the Four Elements go far beyond the mundane sounds we think of when we use their names — Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind — and this is their most obvious essential benefit as a support for meditation:

Consider contemplating earth: it’s solid and opaque; one can’t move through it. What‘s conditional must lack the nature of a sage. How could this contemplation, then, guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?

Consider contemplating water: contemplating thus involves cognition, which is neither true nor real. Contemplation by itself won’t reach the state that’s thus; then how could water guide all beings toward enlightenment?

Consider contemplating fire: disdaining one’s desire is not the same as ending it. This contemplation, then, is not a method suited to beginners. How could fire guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?

Consider contemplating wind: movement and stillness must be opposites, and opposition cannot be a basis for awakening. Thus how could wind guide beings toward a breakthrough to enlightenment?¹⁷

Hopefully, we will never again confuse the sound of the four Elements — in this context — with physical manifestations like waterfalls, campsite fires, rocks struck together, and wind blowing, nor confuse the inner spontaneous sounds of the four Elements with the manifested sounds of their namesake physical analogs — these physical manifestations are not the Elements, even though they share similar names, nor are the manifested mundane sounds the supreme sounds of the Elements.

Thus, the supreme sound characterization is provided in the practice description above to make sure you don’t make this error — although most do.

So while the inner spontaneous sound for Water has the quality of a water-like sound, it is not a sound that one can listen to in the external world. These external phenomena are useful in order to invoke the correct recognition of the supreme sound of the Element that arises as inner spontaneous sound, however.

So where do these sounds arise, if not in the external world?

They are sounds that arise spontaneously, as resonances of the essential naturing of our bodies, which are most directly accessible by placing one’s attention in the energetic centers of the “subtle body,” known as chakras: Muladhara, Svadhisthana, Nabhi-Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddhi, Ajna, Sahasrara, with the first four — the lower chakras — corresponding to the Elements: Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind.

Note also the last sentence in the practice description that asserts that knowing how to constantly practice this way is training with the common aspect of the three kāyas — the supreme aspect of these Elemental sounds are the resonances of the enlightened activity of the three kāyas, which are three aspects of the true naturing of mind — the naturing of all that manifests.

The four elements practice, while denigrated by some teachers and authors today, who refer to it as “merely a preliminary practice,” was universally reputed to lead directly to the attainment (perfection) of the three kāyas: nirmāṇakāya, sambhogakāya, and dharmakāya, as well as the attainment of both the common siddhis (spiritual powers) as well as the supreme siddhi of full enlightenment.

And in addition, it is also a natural pathway leading directly into the Dzogchen visualization practice of Thögal because, along with inner spontaneous sound, the specific support for the Thögel practice — that of visionary displays — naturally begin to manifest as one follows ever deeper into the inner spontaneous sounds. This is a known effect of the Elemental sounds:⁠¹⁸

As indicated in the root-verses, each of these four elements is connected to a special function. First of all, it should be remembered that the elements are connected to sensory objects in a mode of equivalence which can be described as follows:

 — earth is connected to visual forms;
 — water is connected to sounds;
 — fire is connected to scents; and
 — air is connected to flavors.

Furthermore, in terms of their actual functions, one should also keep in mind that each element is connected to a particular action:

 — earth is associated to the action of apprehending (‘dzin pa),
 — water is associated to engaging (‘jug pa),
 — fire is associated to increasing (mched pa), and
 — air is associated to differentiating (‘byed pa).

Here is how Vimalamitra (in his commentary on the Reverberation of Sound tantra) combines the equivalences between elements, sensory objects and the functions of these elements, through the practice of the sounds of the (four) elements:

[1] The earth element is connected to “apprehending” (‘dzin pa) forms through the eyes; when one trains in the sound of the earth element, one gradually becomes an expert in liberating perceived forms within the experience of Reality (chos nyid).

[2] The water element is connected to the function of “engaging” (‘jug pa) in the sense that it enables one to clearly know the characteristics of forms; therefore, when one trains in the sound of the water element, all sounds liberate within the state of Reality.

[3] The fire element is connected to the function of “increasing” (mched pa) in the sense that it enables one to know outer and inner specificities of forms, etc.; when one trains in the sound of the fire element, all scents naturally liberate within the state of Reality.

[4] The air element is connected to the function of “differentiating” (‘byed pa) insofar as it enables one to distinguish clearly the various colors of perceived forms, such as white, red, yellow, green and so forth. Through the mastery of this element, one can also distinguish individual forms such as squares, triangles, spheres, half-moons, as well as their size, thickness, etc.; when one trains in the outer air element, one is able to liberate all flavors within the experience of Reality itself.⁠¹⁹

Thus, we can readily see why the Four Elements sound practice — which will lead directly to the apprehending of visual forms — was, and still is, the best “preliminary” practice for accessing the visual marvels that are used in Dzogchen — it is a natural segue into the visionary practice of Thögal, and that is, today, the main and most important Dzogchen practice.

When using the four Elements sound practice today, however, you should understand that you are not practicing Dzogchen, because the sound practice is no longer included under the umbrella of “Dzogchen.”

A positive benefit of this practice, however, is that as it is a natural segue into the visionary practice of Thögal, and it obviates the common expedient of using the application of finger pressure on one’s closed eyeballs — which can cause physical damage to the eye — in order to elicit the manifestation of analog displays of light so as to familiarize the practitioner of Thögal with what the authentic visionary displays are somewhat like.

So, yes, this practice can be used as a preliminary practice, in the sense of its use coming before other practices, such as Thögal. If you are under the guidance of a teacher, then the natural autonomy of the four Elements sound practice is superfluous. However, you will forfeit the progressive alchemical effect that manifests great responsiveness (mahākaruṇā) while using inner spontaneous sound as your meditation support. That appears to be a characteristic solely derived from the use of inner spontaneous sound — I have found no reference to it in regard to the use of the visionary displays as a support.

However, one can choose to move directly from this practice into Thögal practice, once the visionary displays start to arise, before the supreme attainment is gained directly through the four Elements sound practice. Using this practice as a vehicle to enter into the visionary displays is certainly possible, and may be necessary if you are instructed to do so by a teacher.

Although it was most recently considered a preliminary practice, it does require the accomplishment of a certain minimum level of mind-training, with the attainment of fixed concentration, and the concomitant attenuation of thoughts arising, without which the supreme sounds of the Elements, which are very initially very subtle, non-blocking resonances, will be difficult or impossible to notice and engage with.

The salient benefit of this practice — before the supreme attainment — is that it catalyzes you to begin manifesting the nirmāṇakāya, also known as the “perfect body of great responsiveness” (mahākaruṇā). And this makes sense as the perfection of the trikaya is the perfect manifestation of Emptiness:

The final attribute of emptiness to be mentioned is a quality peculiar to the Buddhist analysis: responsiveness. It is the third and final denominator in the list of categories or aspects by which emptiness can be defined: essence, nature, responsiveness.⁠²⁰

In order to perfect the nirmāṇakāya, to benefit all sentient beings, it is necessary that one breaks the bind of one’s ego, and this is a natural result of this practice, through its inherent union with the essential naturing of reality.

Those who emanate to bring benefit to others must first practice this for, if not, then they will not have the ability to plant the seeds that bring forth such emanations. Hence, train in the sound of the elements.⁠²¹

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། ཕན་ནོ་ཕན་ནོ་སྭཱཧཱ།

Footnotes:

¹ “In Tibetan Buddhism the Nirmāṇakāya is envisioned as the manifestation of enlightenment, in an infinite variety of forms and ways, in the physical world. It is traditionally defined in three ways. One is the manifestation of a completely realized Buddha, such as Gautama Siddhartha, who is born into the world and teaches in it; another is a seemingly ordinary being who is blessed with a special capacity to benefit others: a tulku; and the third is actually a being through whom some degree of enlightenment works to benefit and inspire others through various arts, crafts, and sciences.” The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche, Rigpa Fellowship, pg 355
² Note 102 on page 383 in The Treasury of Knowledge — Esoteric Instructions, Jamgön Kongtrul, Snow Lion Publications, 2007
³ Yeshe Lama, Jingmé Lingpa, translated by Lama Chönam and Sangye Khandro, Snow Lion Publications, 2008
⁴ Ibid, page 21
⁵ Note 103 on page 383 in The Treasury of Knowledge — Esoteric Instructions, Jamgön Kongtrul, Snow Lion Publications, 2007
⁶ Taken from: https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/mipham/key-points-of-trekcho on December 27th, 2019
⁷ As already explained in the Proem, there are no “external sounds” simply because sound is an imperience that arises spontaneously, either as a reverberation, or resonance, of the activity of mind, i.e., the naturing that we call “mind,” or as a reflexive or creative response to extant conditions, such as pressure changes in the air (“sound waves”).
⁸ The Tibetan Bön tradition points to a much earlier origin for the Dzogchen practices, roughly 18,000 years ago, in a country called Tazik, reputedly situated to the West of Tibet.
⁹ Avalokitasvara is the embodiment of great responsiveness in Buddhism.
¹⁰ Avalokitasvara
¹¹ See “The Śūraṅgama Sūtra,” Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2009, pgs 253–257
¹² Sambhogakāya is “the intrinsic radiance of energy and light that is spontaneously displayed in the bardo of dharmata (after death), and which is the dimension of complete enjoyment, the field of total plenitude, of full richness, beyond all dualistic limitations, beyond space or time.” Ibid, pg 347
¹³ Dharmakāya is “the absolute nature, uncovered at the moment of death in the Ground Luminosity, the dimension of “empty,” unconditioned truth, into which illusion and ignorance, and any kind of concept, have never entered.” Ibid.
¹⁴ The Garuḍa
¹⁵ This translation from the Reverberation of Sound Tantra (dra talgyur) is that of Kenpo Namdrol Rinpoche. My emphasis on the words “supreme” and “supreme attainment” in the quote.
¹⁶ Prashna Upanishad 5:1,5,7 Interestingly, the same misidentification of the focus of Pranava yoga occurred and today it is the human voice chanting “Aum” that is thought to bring about the supreme accomplishment of merger with the Light.
¹⁷ “Śūrangama Sūtra,” Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2009, pg 252
¹⁸ And is the author’s own experience over decades of working with these sounds.
¹⁹ “Dra Thalgyur — The Characteristics of the Lamp of the Far-Reaching Lasso,” translation from the Tibetan and comments by Jean-Luc Achard, Khyung-mkhar, 2018, pgs 8–9
²⁰ Excerpt From: “The Flight of the Garuda,” by Keith Dowman, Wisdom Publications, 2003, pgs 37, emphasis added.
²¹ Seed of Secret Conduct Tantra

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Overview of The Inner Spontaneous Sound Practices — Part I

Great Responsiveness Meditation and the Yoga of the (Inner Spontaneous) Sounds of the Four Elements

by StillJustJames

There are four different practices using inner spontaneous sound that I am presenting in this book. The first is called Great Responsiveness Meditation. The second practice is the Yoga of the (Inner Spontaneous) Sounds of the Four Elements. These two form a sequence in the sense that necessary accomplishments, which are derived from the Great Responsiveness Meditation, are needed before the Yoga of the Sounds of the Four Elements can be attempted. Once that point has been reached, both practices can continue to be used in parallel.

The third and fourth practices will be discussed in another document and should only be attempted once the first two practices have been mastered. I will explain exactly what is needed to be in place below.

It is interesting to note that the second practice was once one of three practices encompassed within Tibetan “Dzogchen” teachings, but is no longer used in that tradition. Dzogchen is the most direct path within Tibetan Buddhism leading to complete enlightenment. The Yoga of the (Inner Spontaneous) Sounds of the Four Elements is nowadays dismissed as having been “just a preliminary practice” that was once used to enter into the two “principal” Dzogchen techniques, but is no longer necessary. This is believed even though the main Dzogchen practice manual used for more than three centuries, the Yeshe Lama, begins by recognizing the many serious attestations, recorded within the Dzogchen tantras, stating that the sound yoga had been considered to be the most efficacious practice capable of bringing about complete enlightenment on its own.

The title of the root tantra of Dzogchen — the “Dra Thalgyur,” can be translated as either the “Reverberation of Sound” or “All-Penetrating Sound.” The name alludes to, and the tantra asserts,⁠¹ that the whole spiritual teaching is itself the manifestation of the natural sound of reality — the self-sound of the Dharmata, in Buddhist terms. This tantra, considered the ‘root’ text of all other tantras in the Dzogchen tradition, includes instructions for the practice of the Yoga of the Sounds of the Four Elements. Modern translators characterize this text as quite difficult and terse, considering the amount of material it covers. It was only after the discovery of an extensive commentary by Vimalamitra, called “Illuminating Lamp” that organized efforts to translate this text began in earnest.

One can assume then that the “sound” being spoken of in this tantra, from which this highest teaching in Tibetan Buddhism originated, is not the sounds found in the mundane world. And thus, the sound yoga was “preliminary” only in the sense that, for those able to use it, no further techniques, nor explanations were needed. Indeed, this tantra states that all teachings and dharmas arise through these inner spontaneous sounds alone. I attest to these reverberations — these inner spontaneous sounds — as being the source of all such teachings, including this.

After much research, I have come to the rather startling conclusion, based upon contemporary authentic Dzogchen teachings, and private communications with an advanced Dzogchen practitioner and the senior student of a much respected Tibetan Tulku — a reincarnated high lama — who has used the inner spontaneous sounds as his meditation support for much of his life, that the support for this sound yoga practice became misunderstood over time, and then the technique became ineffective, when the wrong support — external mundane sounds — were substituted for the use of inner spontaneous sound.

For example, one modern teaching on the sound yoga practice mentioned in the Yeshe Lama, and described tersely in the Dra Thalgyur, completely misrepresents the sound yoga by ignoring the stated description of it in that root tantra, which clearly states the practice uses the transcendent sounds of the Four Elements — and not the mundane sounds found in the environment.

Basically, the essential nature of the inner spontaneous sounds — that they do not arise, nor disappear, but are continuously, and primordially present when we turn our attention to them with a calm mind, seem to conflict with basic Buddhist teachings about the ephemeral nature of all things, especially those teachings that are geared towards progressive paths that are suitable for the general public. So external sounds — common sounds of the world — were substituted for the use of inner spontaneous sounds of the four elements, because those teaching the yoga practice were themselves not taught how to access these inner spontaneous sounds, and so they could not recognize them for what they truly were. This change undermined the efficacy of the sound yoga technique completely, and so, over time, it was dropped.

If you are interested in the specifics of my analysis of the instructions from the Dra Thalgyur, please read the article “The Mystery” found in Volume Three, The Way of Tradition, here in Tranquillity’s Secret, which gives the background details that I’ve uncovered.

The purpose in my raising this issue is to ensure that you do not fall into a similar misunderstanding.

There is an important difference between caused sound, which arises as a sympathetic resonance with physical conditions (such as air density changes known as “sound waves” that activate the ears, primarily), and inner spontaneous sound that arises autogenously as resonances of the underlying naturing of our being.

When meditating with any natural mundane phenomenon or bodily process, we are stymied by the discontinuous nature of all these supports in two ways:

1) being discontinuous (for example: the breath starts and stops), we are unable to dissolve our awareness into the support;

2) being caused or “struck”, we are not led to our true nature directly by the support, but must rely on a doctrinal system of explanations and pointing-out instructions which tells us what we are to understand. But there is an unbridgeable gulf between conceptual knowledge and direct meditative insight. Conceptual knowledge is useless in attaining direct meditative insights; but direct meditative insights can be conceptualized as pointing out instructions. This is a huge difference and a major difficulty for all meditation supports, other than inner spontaneous sound.

The first practice, called Great Responsiveness Meditation, is described at length in the Buddhist “Surangama Sutra,” and I have included the important sections of that sutra within Tranquillity’s Secret. Included, are detailed discussions about general mind training practices, as well as the most specific attestation to the efficacy of the Great Responsiveness Meditation practice, as used by Avalokitasvara, given therein by Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Transcendent Wisdom.

The practice itself isn’t given a specific name in that sutra, and as I had already chosen to call it Great Responsiveness Meditation before discovering the Surangama Sutra, after its most important effect on the meditator, I’ve kept that name.

In the Surangama Sutra Manjushri attests to this practice being the specific practice used by Buddha, Avalokitasvara (also known as Kuan Yin, Kennon, and Chenrezig, among other cultural variations), Manjushri himself, and “all Buddhas of the past and the future,” in order to reach enlightenment. The reason why all Buddhas reach enlightenment this way is simply that there are no authentic teachings, doctrines, or pointing out instructions available before each Buddha enters this world. Therefore, they must find and utilize inner spontaneous sound — the source of all such teachings, doctrines, and pointing out instructions.

Interestingly, it was brought to my attention that there is also a prophesy that was written down by Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro sometime in the 1940s or 50s (he died in 1959), that asserts that this practice is the best to be used during the period from 2022 to 2032, a period foreseen to be one of increasing insecurity and environmental disasters, including the breakdown of governments and society.

The name given to the practice in that prophecy is the same as I had chosen: Great Responsiveness Meditation, and it is clearly attributed to Avalokitasvara, the “Greatly Responsive One” in the prophecy.

What you do in this first practice is very much like any mindfulness practice: sit comfortably, wearing loose clothing, and initially focus on the most easily experienced sound, which is a very high-pitched squeal, (which is often called “meditation-induced tinnitus,” or just “tinnitus,” by those who don’t understand it), with your eyes closed.

In the past, in certain Hindu practices, there was a hand gesture (the “Shanmukhi Mudra”) which was used to close off the ears and the eyes. It is difficult to maintain for long periods of time. Also, placing your thumbs over your ears to plug them up, itself creates extraneous sounds, and so is not conducive to an effective practice.

In my own case, I came to use industrial earplugs and found them to be of great usefulness for blocking external noise, making it easier to discover the inner spontaneous sounds of the four elements. Over time, earplugs may no longer be necessary, but I still find them useful for creating ‘distance’ between my attention and intrusive external sounds. This is actually very important in the third practice, which will be discussed in a later text.

I am including a pdf describing the type of earplugs I use, at the end of this document. These are industrial-grade earplugs that reduce external sound by almost 30 decibels. They’re inexpensive and last a very long time, and are washable.

As you focus on the first shrill sound, every time you notice that your mind has wandered, bring it back to the sound, without judging yourself or getting impatient. This moment of noticing is a period of “mindfulness.” While you are initially learning to focus your attention and concentrate on this support, you will invariably not be in a state of mindfulness. Why is this? Mindfulness is not something that you adopt as a way of being, it is something that develops over time as you meditate. That point is often lost in modern secular ‘mindfulness’ meditation .

You are looking to develop two aspects of your awareness: focus, which is your “paying attention” to the sound, and concentration, which is the unwavering aspect of your awareness. As these develop, you will begin to notice that you are noticing that your mind wanders from time to time. This is a form of metacognition which develops out of the moments of mindfulness when you notice what your mind is doing, and which naturally aid in the lengthening of the periods in which you are mindful of the focus and concentration of your awareness.

This metacognition is the fertile ground from which spiritual insights arise, and attaining it for long periods of time — even during your daily activities — is called “samadhi.” There are a number of stages of samadhi, often differing from one tradition to another, but in general, it is the absorption of your awareness in this meta-cognitive state, to varying degrees.

Continuing with the first sound, you should note that you get immediate feedback on how well you are doing with your focus and concentration because of the noticeable change of pitch and loudness of that tone as your focus and concentration strengthens. This is why this shrill tone occurs at times during extreme events that may befall us in our lives. At such times, our focus and concentration reach extreme states that are naturally accompanied by the shrill tone. This tone also becomes apparent when a trance state is attained, and this was how I was shown to access this first inner spontaneous sound.

The objective of this first stage is to develop your attentional focus and concentration so that your mind stays as inactive as possible, with a noticeable lengthening of the pauses between arising thoughts.

When we focus on inner spontaneous sounds, what is experienced must be non-discursive (our minds are not quickly going to and fro with our attention). Specifically, we leave awareness on the sounds, and do not allow our mind to be led off by a “story” about the sounds, or anything else for that matter. We can have a wide focus and be aware of different kinds of inner spontaneous sound, but our focus must not waver from these to take in external sounds, or inner speech, or mental images. Selectivity without judgement is the key here. It’s like looking for your friend in a crowd. As you scan faces, looking for your friend, you don’t judge those who aren’t your friend, you just move your attention to the next face until you find them.

When you do not get distracted by an arising thought, a continuation of thoughts, starting from that first thought, does not develop, and thus you begin to experience longer periods marked by a quiescence of thinking, resulting in mental calm, and silence. It is in those periods of mental silence that the inner spontaneous sounds of the four elements become most noticeable.

Once you have achieved a calm mind through practiced focus and concentration on that first shrill sound, you begin to notice the subtle sounds of the four elements, and your focus naturally begins to widen, while your concentration remains strong so that the mind doesn’t wander.

You must allow this widening of awareness as it widens beyond your sense perceptions and thoughts. Noticing the Element Sounds is facilitated by a very open focus of attention, because they are naturally centered in the main chakras within the body, and there are other inner spontaneous sounds that are related to energy flows through various ‘channels’ within the body. All of these are useful, and the more subtle the sound, the more concentrated your awareness must become in order to discover it.

I sometimes describe this state of heightened concentration, or “heightened awareness” as it is colloquially referred to, as being like one’s natural reaction to being alone in a deep forest in the middle of the night, when a state of unwavering attention to the littlest sounds of the forest around you overtakes you, whether out of fear of being attacked, or in delight in the marvelous cacophony of creatures freed from their own fear of being attacked by humans. You must try to be mentally still — completely still — until this becomes your default way of being. No thoughts then will arise to distract you from noticing all the sound that is present in the light of your awareness.

The shrill sound lowers in pitch somewhat, and even more so in loudness, when your focus of attention is wide.

Once the sound of the first element — usually that of Water — is achieved, you develop the others in the same way. And once the four Element sounds become familiar to you, you can begin to use the second technique — the Yoga of the (Inner Spontaneous) Sound of the Four Elements — which is a process of ‘raising’ the different element sounds, through the first four chakras of the body (see below), one into the next, and then into the next, and again into the next, drawing the lower sound ‘upwards’ with your unwavering awareness, like a ‘tractor beam’ of light pulling each sound ‘up’ to merge into the ‘higher’ sound that is characteristic of the next chakra. Once the two sounds are balanced, equally present to your awareness, allow the ‘lower’ chakra sound to fade away as the ‘higher’ sound becomes dominant in the light of your awareness. Do not rush this. Savor it. This will create a rising energy flow through your body. In fact, using this method, you can balance the chakras based upon the ‘fullness’ of each sound, and convert ‘lower’ sexual energy into ‘higher’ spiritual energy.

Truly there is no ‘lower’ or ‘higher’ in an absolute sense. And so, you can, if needed, do this process in a ‘downward’ direction as well, and even work with ‘non-adjacent’ elemental sounds. To do this, place your awareness in the Ajna, or Third Eye, chakra, which is associated with all sounds and then follow the same process.

To balance your energy, if there is an imbalance, start with Fire and merge into Earth, then to Water, Fire again, and then Air (Wind).

Manipulating these sounds leads to energetic effects that have both physical manifestations and lead directly into the visionary displays of light that are the support for Dzogchen Thögel practice.

Once you hear the Element sounds, you leave the high-pitched sound behind and it will recede into the background naturally as you begin to focus on the Element sounds.

This is not actually as easy to do as it is to write that sentence. First off, you have to learn to place your awareness in different parts of your body, because the element sounds are strongest in different energy centers (chakras) in the body. Placing your awareness is different than focusing your attention on something. I literally mean learning to be in a part of your body other than your head, where we tend to be all the time because of the concentration of our senses there. If we are injured in some way, our awareness naturally jumps to that place in the body. You must learn to move it there without being injured.

There are hand mudras, that will be introduced in subsequent documents, that assist you in placing your awareness. They work both because of the configuration of your hands, and because of the placement of your hands on various points on the body, while making the mudra.

There are also body postures that you will need to develop in order to get your energy channels open. This helps reinforce the element sounds so that they are more easily found. There are also some movements that you can use to get energy moving properly through your body, in case there are blockages, which is quite common today. And, also, some yoga postures that help increase your ability to sit properly for long periods of time without discomfort. All of these will be explained in detail in subsequent documents as you establish your practice using the first shrill sound.

You are actually very fortunate if you hear this high-pitched responsive sound already. It truly allows you to develop your concentration and focus of awareness quicker than standard mindfulness meditation supports because of the feedback from the changes in pitch and volume of that sound.

If on the other-hand, you do not notice that sound yet, there are techniques that can help bring it out. Entering a trance state is the primary way to do this, and such a state can be established in a myriad of ways, including mantra repetition, repetitive motions, and repetitive drumming, amongst others. I have attached links to a video demonstrating a personal practice that I have developed over time to achieve multiple goals at the same time, using both repetitive motion and mantra repetition, while learning to properly align your spine. As well, I have made available a set of shamanic drumming recordings that you can access, if that is helpful to you.

The more you learn to place your attention, without straining, on these sounds within the mind, the more developed and clear they become over time. And since they do not block each other, the more developed they become, the richer the experience becomes, as they are all present to your attention together.

The different kinds of inner spontaneous sounds are often described in relation to the different centers and flows of your “subtle energetic body,” a term that is useful here because of its recognized efficacy and practical use in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Medical Chi Gong, and of course, Yoga. So, what you are really doing, as you develop these resonances, is gathering yourself into a balanced energetic whole. Great tranquillity comes from this, and that is the first benefit to be derived from using this support and these practices.

If you have a quiet place to meditate, away from road and equipment noise, that makes it easier for you to notice the other, more subtle, inner spontaneous sounds of the four elements. In general, late at night, or early in the morning are the best times to meditate using inner spontaneous sounds.

Achievement of contentment (in contrast to modern ‘happiness’), attaining equanimity, and acquiring “great responsiveness” are the key benefits of this practice.

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། ཕན་ནོ་ཕན་ནོ་སྭཱཧཱ།

👈 || UNSAYING | CONTEMPLATION | TRADITION | MEDITATION | DISCUSSION | BACK MATTER || 👉

Appendices

The Seven Chakra Sounds

Sample Sounds

These samples are meant as a guide only so that you understand the character of the inner spontaneous sound you are listening for. These sounds are subtle at first, but their character is unmistakable, even though it can change from day-to-day. Water, for instance, can be any kind of naturally moving water: rain falling on leaves; small rivulets, streams, rivers, waterfalls. Wind can be a gentle breeze up to storms of various intensity. Earth just seems to get more pronounced.

Earth Element Inner Spontaneous Sound Example

Water Element Inner Spontaneous Sound Example

Wind Element Inner Spontaneous Sound Example

* Fire does not have a sound equivalent in external phenomena. The sounds that we think of when we are imagining fire are all related to the fuel being burned, and/or the environmental conditions, such as wind, in which the fire is burning. Wood, for example, snaps when some moisture explodes into steam, and cracks when tension in the grains is suddenly released.

Listen to a candle flame, while in a closed room. If the wax is pure, and there are no air currents, the candle is silent to our hearing.

The Fire Element sound is energetic and unwavering, so listen for a steady tone of a middle to high pitch (but not the very high pitched squeal of the first sound), as that is how this inner spontaneous sound can be characterized. But it is more than just a simple tone, as it always has a certain complexity, as there are resonances to the fire sound, almost like overtones, creating a sensation more like an electric hum. The key telltale is the energetic quality of the sound, which is more profound than just volume, and which is accompanied by a sympathetic vibration in the Solar plexus.

Mantra pdf:

Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Pema Siddhi Hum — A4

Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Pema Siddhi Hum — US LTR

Earplugs

3M EAR UltraFit Earplugs

Drumming Recordings

Shamanic Drum Voyage with Prep, Callback, and Background

Shamanic Drumming With Callback only

Footnotes

¹ This is stated in the article: “The Drathalgyur, All-Penetrating Sound Tantra” published in The Mirror, #128, July 2015 by Shang Shung Institute

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Four Elements Inner Spontaneous Sound Yoga

by StillJustJames

All meditation practices use a support, at least initially, upon which you focus your attention. This is done in order to keep your mind in check. It is through the slowing down and even pausing of mental chatter that the common health-related benefits, including tranquillity in the face of stress, and improved concentration are obtained. These are the most sought after results of meditation, and most mindfulness meditators today are happy with those results. Mindfulness meditation is quick, it’s easy, and it’s productive… so why not?

Mindfulness meditation uses different types of phenomena as the support for the practice. The support is that which you focus your attention on in a mindful manner. The breath is the most frequently used, but really any phenomenon will suffice as they are equally beneficial. Through the effort to focus the attention, you can calm your mind.

But there are other types of meditation, with other goals. Most of these other goals are directed at various aspects of enlightenment, via a progression of insights gained through the meditation technique. And then, of course, there are the various types of yoga which are based upon physical movement and postures. Here too, the goal today is mostly in health benefits, including improved range of motion, balance, body awareness, and flexibility. Interestingly, yoga was originally an important entryway into an advanced type of meditation. It was also referred to as yoga and was specifically called Nadanusandhana, and it was said that it was the ultimate goal of all the other yoga practices.

That name comes from the root Sanskrit word Nāda meaning sound, but in this case the sound in question was characterized as Anāhata Nāda, unstruck sound. It is said that this is experienced by many that practice yoga. This unstruck sound is not heard in the common sense of hearing, but within the mind, as this sound is awakened within by the yogic practices. Nadanusandhana is a meditation practice that uses these unstruck sounds to further progress on the path to enlightenment.

But this is not the only one type of practice that uses these unstruck sounds. The Four Elements Inner Spontaneous Sound Yoga is another kind of practice that use the unstruck sounds, and is unrelated to Hatha yoga practices. The name of this practice includes the word yoga, however, because it specifically makes use of union with the unstruck sounds, in a particular way, in order to catalyze fundamental changes in you, the practitioner. Thus this meditation practice is notable for two things: first, it does not use a physical caused phenomenon as a support, and second, its result goes beyond the body-related benefits of mindfulness meditation and basic yoga practices.

The particular support used in this practice has been used in different ways in many spiritual and religious traditions. Unfortunately, each use has earned it a different name. So besides the already mentioned Anāhata Nāda, it is also called: Astral sound, Dharmata Swayambhu Nada, Divine Tremoring, Eternal Sound, Inner Sound, Music of the Spheres, Primordial Sound, Sacred Sound, Shabda, Sound of Creation, Sound of Silence, also Thunder of Silence, Soundless Sound, Transcendental Sound, Unborn Sound, Unstruck Sound, and The Word of God.

And I have added another name because this practice is not presented here in relation to any doctrinal system, but has been specifically reframed to focus on the practice and its result, which are not in any way dependent on a doctrinal system to understand. Thus I call the support of the Four Elements practice: autogenous resonances. The Four Elements Inner Spontaneous Sound Yoga is an advanced meditation practice that uses these autogenous resonances in a specific way to catalyze particular changes in the practitioner.

In Tibetan Buddhism, these autogenous resonances are known to be the self-arising sound of the naturing of Dharmata. The Dharmata is the intrinsic nature of reality. These sounds then are the reverberations, or resonances, arising in harmony with the naturing of everything. In Hindu traditions, in which these autogenous resonances are known as the Anāhata Nāda, they are described in many ways, and are sometimes presented as vibrations, or tremoring.

However, it is confusing to think of these sounds as vibrations because vibrations require space, time, and the movement of something, but the Anāhata Nāda is unstruck, and the Dharmata is timeless, and its essence is empty, i.e., both are commonly presented as non-physical, non-spatial, non-temporal, and non-substantial. How then is there vibration?

Because this practice is presented outside of any particular doctrinal system, including that of the current physicalist view of a material reality, all unnecessary complications have been distilled out it. Instead, see these autogenous resonances as what is noticed when you turn your attention inward and away from all outward phenomena. This inward turn does not mean just inside you, because then it would be limited to the whoosh of blood, the thumping of your heart, the gurgles of your digestion, and the cracks and gratings of bones. Rather, this inward turn is into your mind, and it employs that which is interpreted as sound by your mind.

The more you place your attention, without straining, on these autogenous resonances in your mind, the more developed they become over time. And since they do not block each other, the more developed they become, the richer the experience becomes, as they are all present to your awareness together.

The different kinds of resonances are often described in relation to the different centers and flows of your subtle energetic body, a term that is let stand here because of its recognized effective and practical use in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Medical Chi Gong, and of course, Yoga. So what you are really doing as you develop these resonances is gathering yourself into a harmonious whole. Great tranquillity comes from this, and that is the first benefit to be derived from using this support and this practice.

Initially, these resonances are not apparent, or very subtle, and require a great deal of patience to access. Meditation is sometimes described as listening to the silence between thoughts, and our effort in meditation is rightfully directed towards consciously increasing the periods of such silence. And yet, silence is heard, even though there is no phenomenon that is causing a sound. In the same way, these autogenous resonances are heard even though there is no source for them. They are self-arising, uncreated, and not dependent or contingent on any external or internal cause.

There is one important difference between this support and all others that is crucial, however. In the Buddhist Shurangama Sutra, the Bodhisattva Manjushri, who is associated with transcendent wisdom, explains that this support, since it is not a contingent, compounded or caused, phenomenon as all others are, it is continuous in the sense that it does not arise and pass away as the breath does, and as normal sounds do. It is therefore always present when we turn to it. All other supports, such as the breath, are discontinuous, and thus one reaches a point where, in order to proceed further and accomplish greater concentration leading to enlightenment, one needs the presence of Dharma teachings and an enlightened teacher to overcome their discontinuous nature. This is why, according to the Surangama Sutra, all Buddhas reach enlightenment through the use of this support alone. However, we can just say that these resonances are important because of this one fact: they bring our attention onto the fundamental and essential nature of the mind itself, and this leads directly to enlightenment.

There are two renowned changes that are catalyzed by this practice, which I can attest to based upon my own use of it, that I’ll mention: One is a remarkable ability to be patient. Very little fazes you, and you have a seemingly limitless equanimity when dealing with difficult situations. The second change is much more remarkable and is attested to in every tradition where this support has been used, it changes you so that you begin to manifest great compassion. This is called mahākaruṇā in Sanskrit, and it is well-known in Buddhist and Hindu traditions. In brief, you become self-less and your every act sublimates into the ultimate compassionate response to whatever situation confronts you. Loving-kindness becomes an automatic response, unclouded by any unbalanced self-interest, thus your compassion is equally balanced between yourself and others. In short, compassionate virtue is the effect of using this support.

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Four Elements Sections in The Vimuttimagga – Path of Freedom by Arahant Upatossa

[Note: Please excuse formatting and see the original text for footnotes]

THE DETERMINING OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS
Q. What is the determining of the four elements? What is the practicing of it? What are its salient characteristic, function and manifestation? What are its benefits? What is the procedure?

A. To discern the four elements within one’s form – this is called distinguishing the four elements. The undisturbed dwelling of the mind (in determining) – this is called the practicing of it. Close investigation of the four elements is its salient characteristic. The understanding of emptiness is its function. The removing of the thought of being” is its manifestation.

What are its benefits? There are eight benefits: One who practises the determining of the four elements overcomes fear, worldly pleasure and dis- content, is even-minded towards desirable and undesirable (objects), destroys the idea of male and female, is endowed with great wisdom, fares well and approaches the ambrosial. His states of mind are clear. He is able to perfect all his actions.

What is the procedure? The new yogin grasps the elements in two ways: briefly and in detail.

Q. What is the grasping of the elements briefly? A. That yogin enters a place of solitude, and with mind collected considers thus: “This body should be known by the four elements. There is in this body the nature of solidity-that is the earthy element;3 (there is) the nature of humidity- that is the watery element ;4 (there is) the nature of heat – that is the fiery element;5 (there is) the nature of motion-that is the element of air.6 Thus in this body there are only elements. There is no being.’ There is no soul”,” In this way one grasps the elements briefly. Again it is said that the ‘yogin grasps the elements briefly. He’ understands the body through understanding the midriff, its colour, its form, its place. Thus that yogin grasps the elements briefly. He understands the nature of the whole body through understanding the midriff, its colour, its form, its place. He understands this body through understanding flesh, its colour, its form, its place. That yogin, having understood the whole body through understanding flesh, its colour, its form, its place, understands tIris whole body through understanding the veins, their colour, their form, their place. That yogin, having understood the whole body through understanding the veins, their colour, their form, their place, understands the whole body through understanding the bones, their colour, their form, their place. That yogin in these four ways dominates his mind. After dominating his mind, he makes his mind pliant and capable of bearing the object. That yogin, having in these four ways dominated his mind and having made his mind pliant and capable of bearing the object, in these four (other) ways knows that which has the nature of solidity as the element of earth; that which has the nature of humidity as the element of water; that which has the nature of heat as the element of fire; that which has the nature of motion as the element of air. Thus that yogin, in these four ways, knows that there are only elements and that there is no being and no soul. Here the other ways also are fulfilled. Thus one grasps the elements briefly.

TWENTY WAYS OF GRASPING THE ELEMENT OF EARTH
How does one grasp the elements in detail? One grasps the element of earth in detail through twenty ways, namely, (through) hair of the head and of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, veins, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, spleen, gorge, intestines, mesentery, midriff, excrement, brain (that are) in this body.

TWELVE WAYS OF GRASPING THE ELEMENT OF WATER
One grasps the element of water in detail through twelve ways, namely, (through) bile, saliva, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, slobber, nasal mucus, synovial fluid, [439] urine (that are) in the body.

FOUR WAYS OF GRASPING THE ELEMENT OF FIRE
One grasps the element of fire in detail through four ways, namely, (through) fever heat and normal heat of the body, weather, equality of cold and heat and (the heat) by means of which one digests the fluid or solid nutriment which one takes. These are called the element of fire.

SIX WAYS OF GRASPING THE ELEMENT OF AIR
One grasps the element of air in detail through six ways, namely, (through) ” the air discharged upwards, the air discharged downwards, the air which depends on the abdomen, the air which depends on the back,1 the air which depends on the limbs, the air inhaled and exhaled.2

Thus when one sees this body in forty-two ways, only the elements manifest themselves. There is no being. There is no soul. Thus the elements are grasped in detail.

And again, predecessor-teachers1 have said that one should determine the four elements through ten ways, namely, through the meaning orterms,I through object, aggregation, powder,8 non-separation, condition,· characteristic, & similarity and dissimilarity,e sameness and difference,7 puppet.

First, the chapter which refers to the meaning of terms is as follows : —

Q. How should one determine the elements through terms?
A. Two terms; viz., the common and the special terms. Here the four primaries are common (terms). Earth-element, water-element, fire-element, air-element are special terms.

Q. What is the meaning of “four primaries”?
A. Great manifestation is called primary. They are great; they are illusory; but they appear real. Therefore they are called “primaries” “Great” : By way of yakkha and others” the term great is applied.

Q. Why is the “great manifestation” called great?
The elements are “great manifestation” as the Blessed One has declared in the following stanza:

“I declare the size of earth to be
two hundred thousand nahutas and four.
Four hundred thousand nahutas and eight
is of water the bulk; air’s in space
which reckoned is at nahutas six
and nine times a hundred thousand; in that this world of ours lies. There is in the world consuming fire that will in mighty flames rise up to Brahma’s world for seven days” 8

“Great manifestation” is thus. Therefore they are called the primaries.

Q. How do the primaries that are unreal appear as real?

A. What are called primaries are neither male nor female. They are
seen through the form of a man or a woman; And element is neither long nor short. It is seen through the form of the long and the short. An element is neither a tree nor a mountain, but it is seen through the form of a tree or a mountain. Thus the primaries are not real, but appear real·and are called primaries.

What is the meaning of “by way of yakkha and others”? It is as if a yakkha were to enter into a man and take possession of him. Through the possession of the yakkha that man’s body would manifest four qualities:

hardness, (excess of) water, heat and lightness of movement. In the same way’ the four elements in union with the body fulfill four qualities. Through the union of the earthy element hardness is fulfilled. Through the union of the watery element fluidity is fulfilled. Through the union of the. fiery element heat is fulfilled. And through the union of the airy element lightness of movement is fulfilled. Therefore the primaries are to be known “by way of yakkha and others”. Primary is the meaning of the word.

THE FOUR ELEMENTS

Q. What is the meaning of earth-element, water-element, fire-element and air-element?
A. Extensiveness and immensity are called the meaning of earth. Drinkability and preservation – these constitute the meaning of water. Lighting up is the meaning of fire. Movement back and forth is the meaning of air.

What is the meaning of element? It means the retention of own form, and next the essence of earth is the earthy element. The essence of water is the watery element. The essence of fire is the fiery element. The essence of air is the airy element.

What is the essence of earth? The nature of hardness; the nature of strength; the nature of thickness; the nature of immobility; the nature of security; and the nature of supporting. These are called the essence of earth.

What is the essence of water? The nature of oozing; the nature of humidity; the nature of fluidity; the nature of trickling; the nature of permeation; the nature of increasing; the nature of leaping; and the nature of cohesion. These are called the essence of water.

What is called the essence of fire? The nature of heating; the nature of warmth; the nature of evaporation; the nature of maturing; the nature of consuming; and the nature of grasping. These are called the essence of fire.

What is the essence of air? The nature of supporting; the nature of coldness; the nature of ingress and egress; the nature of easy movement; the nature of reaching low; and the nature of grasping. These are called the essence of air.

These are the meanings of the elements. Thus one should determine the elements through the meaning of words.

Q. How should one determine the elements through “objects”?
A. In the element of earth, stability is the object. In the element of water, cohesion is the object. In the element of fire, maturing is the object. In the element of air interception is the object.

And again, in the element of earth, upstanding is the object; in the element of water, flowing down is the object; in the element of fire, causing to go upwards is the object; in the element of air, rolling on is the object. And again, owing to the proximity of two elements, one, at first, (in stepping for- ward) raises up one foot; and afterwards, owing to the proximity of two elements, one lifts up the (other) foot. Owing to the proximity of two elements, one at first sits or sleeps. And owing to the proximity of two elements, one afterwards gets up and walks. Owing to the proximity of two elements, at. first, rigidity and torpor are induced. Owing to the proximity of two elements, one becomes energetic afterwards. Owing to the proximity of two elements, there is heaviness in one at first. Owing to the proximity of two elements, there is lightness afterwards. Thus one should determine the four primaries through “object”l.

How should one determine the four primaries through “aggregation”? Aggregation consists of the earth-element, the water-element, the fire-element and the air-element. By means of-these elements form, smell, taste and touch take place. These eight are produced generally together; they co-exist and do not go apart. This combination is. named aggregation. And again, there are four kinds, namely, aggregation of earth, aggregation of water, aggregation of fire and aggregation of air. In the aggregation of earth, the earth-element predominates; and the water-element, the fire-element and the air-element gradually, in order, become less. In the aggregation of water, the water-element predominates; and the’ earth-element, the air-element and the fire-element gradually, in order, become less. In the aggregation of fire, the fire-element predominates; and the earth-element, the air-element and the water-element gradually, in order, become less. In the aggregation of air, the air-element predominates; and ,the fire-element, the water-element and the earth-element gradually, in order, become less.t Thus one should determine the elements through “aggregation”.

Q. How should one determine the four primaries through “powder”?
A. One determines the element of earth that is next the finest particle of space.3 This earth is mixed with water; therefore it does not scatter. Being matured by fire, it is odorless; I being supported by air, it rolls. Thus one should determine. Again, predecessors have said: ” I f pulverized into dust, the earth-element in the body of an average person will amount to one koku and two sho.l Then, if mixed with water, it will become six sho and five go 2. Matured by fire, it is caused to roll by the wind”. Thus one should determine the body through “powder”.

Q. How should one determine the body through “non-separation”?
A. The earth-element is held together by water; is matured by fire; is sup- ported by air. Thus the three elements are united. The element of water rests on earth; is matured by fire; is supported by air. Thus the three elements are held together. The element of fire rests on the earth; is held together by water; is supported by air. Thus the three elements are matured. The element of air rests on earth; is held together by water; .is matured by fire. Thus the three elements are supported. The three elements rest on earth. Held together by water, the three elements do not disperse. Matured by fire, the three elements are odorless. Supported by air, the three elements roll on, and dwelling together, they do not scatter. Thus the four elements in mutual dependence dwell and do not separate. Thus one determines the elements through non-separation.

Q. How should one determine the elements through “condition”?
A. Four causes and four conditions produce the elements. What are the four? They are kamma, consciousness, season and nutriment. What is kamma? The four elements that are produced from kamma fulfill two conditions; namely, the producing-condition3 and kamma-condition.’ The other elements fulfill the decisive-support-condition. 5 Consciousness:- The four elements that are produced from consCiousness fulfill six conditions, namely, producing-condition, co-nascence-condition,8 support-condition, 7 nutriment- condition, 8 faculty-condition, 9 presence-condition.10 The other elements fulfill condition,11 support-condition and presence-condition.

In the consciousness at the moment of entry into the womb, corporeality fulfills seven conditions, namely, co-nascence-condition, mutuality-condition,12 support-condition, nutriment-condition, faculty-condition, result-condition,13 presence-condition.

The consciousness of the birth-to-be fulfills three conditions in regard to the pre-born body, namely, post-nascence-condition, support-condition and presence-condition. The four primaries that are produced from season fulfill two conditions, namely, producing-condition and presence-condition. The other elements fulfill two conditions, namely, support-condition and presence-condition. Nutriment:- The four primaries that are produced from food fulfill three conditions, namely, producing-condition, nutriment-. condition and presence-condition. The other elements fulfill two conditions, namely, support-condition and presence-condition. Here the four elements that are produced by kamma are co-nascent elements. (Elements that are mutually dependent) fulfill four conditions, namely, co-nascence-condition, mutuality-condition, support-condition, presence-condition. Other elements fulfill two conditions, namely, support-condition and presence-condition. Thus one should know (the elements) produced from consciousness, produced from season and produced from food. The earth-element becomes a condition of the other elements by way of resting-place. The water-element becomes a condition of the other elements by way of binding. The fire-element becomes a condition of the other elements by way of maturing. The air-element becomes a condition of the other elements by way of supporting. Thus one determines the elements through “condition”.

Q. How should one determine the elements through “characteristic”?
A. The characteristic of the earth-element is hardness. The characteristic of the water-element is oozing. The characteristic of the fire-element is heating. The characteristic of the air-element is coldness. Thus one determines the elements according to “characteristic”.

Q. How should one determine the elements through “similarity and dissimilarity”?
A. The earthy element and the watery element are similar because of ponderability. The fire-element and the air-element are similar because of lightness. The water-element and the fire-element are dissimilar. The water-element can destroy the dryness of the fire-element; therefore they are dissimilar. Owing to mutuality, the earth-element and the air-element are dissimilar. The earth-element hinders the passage of the air-element; the air element is able to destroy the earth-element. Therefore they are dissimilar. And again, the four elements are similar owing to mutuality or they are dissimilar owing to their natural characteristics. Thus one determines the elements according to “similarity and dissimilarity”.

Q. How should one determine the elements through “sameness and difference”?
A. The four elements that are produced from kamma are of one nature, because they are produced from kamma; from the point of characteristics they are different. In the same way one should know those that are produced from consciousness, from season and from nutriment.

The (portions of the) earth-element of the four causes and conditions are of one nature owing to characteristics; from the point of cause they are different. In the same way one should know the air-element, the fire-element and the water-element of the four causes and conditions. The four elements are of one nature owing to their being elements, owing to their being great. primaries; are of one nature owing to their being things; are of one nature owing to their impermanence; are of one nature owing to their suffering; are of one nature owing to their being not-self. They are different owing to characteristics; are different owing to object; are different owing to kamma; are different owing to differing nature of consciousness; are different owing to the differing nature of the season; are different owing to the different nature of nutriment; are different owing to differences of nature; are different owing to differences of arising; are different owing to the differences in birth;’ are different owing to differences in faring. Thus one determines the elements through “sameness and difference”.

SIMILE OF THE PUPPET

Q. How should one determine the elements through “puppet”?

A. It is comparable to a skillful master of puppets who makes of wood (effigies) of humans, complete in every part, in the form of man or woman, and makes these walk, dance, sit or squat through the pulling of strings. Thus these puppets are called bodies; the master of puppets is the past defilement by which. this body is made complete; the strings are the tendons; the clay is flesh; the paint is the skin; the interstices are space. (By) jewels, raiment and ornaments (they) are called men and women. Thoughts (of men and women) are to be known as the tugging by the element of air. Thus they walk, dwell, go out, or come in, stretch out, draw in, converse or speak.1

These puppet-men, born together with the element of consciousness, are subject to anxiety, grief and suffering through the causes and conditions of anxiety and torment. They laugh or frolic or shoulder. Food sustains these puppets; and the faculty of life2 keeps these puppets going. The ending of life results in the dismembering of the puppet. If there happens to be defiling kamma, again a new puppet will arise. The first beginning of such a puppet cannot be seen; also, the end of such a puppet cannot be seen.3 Thus one determines the elements through “puppet”. And that yogin by these ways and through these activities discerns this body through “puppet” thus: “There is no being; there is no soul”.

When that yogin has investigated through the object of the elements and through the arising of feeling, perception, the formations and consciousness, he discerns name and form. Thenceforward he sees that name-and-form is suffering, is craving, is the source of suffering; and he discerns that in the destruction of craving lies the destruction of suffering, and that the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the complete destruction of suffering. Thus that yogin discerns the Four Noble Truths fully. At that time he sees the tribulation of suffering through impermanence, sorrow and not-self. Always attend- ing to these, his mind is undisturbed. He sees the merit of the destruction of suffering through wisdom, tranquillity and dispassion. In this way that yogin, seeing the tribulation of suffering and the merits of cessation, dwells peacefully endowed with the faculties, the powers and the factors of enlightenment. 1 He makes manifest the consciousness that proceeds from perception of the formations and attains to the element of the most excellent. 2

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The body of esoteric Buddhist teachings focus upon self-mastery processes in order to clear, discipline and elevate the mind into neutrality of the zero-point, pure conscious observer presence, or as eastern philosophy refers to it, the mode of perception that is emptiness. Tibetan Buddhism teaches the Law of One universal principles that all tangible matter is made up of the five elements; fire, aether (space), air, earth and water, which are built in their geometric forms as the platonic solids which form into the blueprints of morphogenetic fields. These elements constitute the entire building blocks of DNA that comprise universal creation, and are represented in the manifestation of angelic humanity’s 5-Star physical body, a basic 12 stranded DNA diamond sun body. The five primary elements of all creation are made upon five color waves of solar ray frequencies, which are called upon through the frequencies of emerald green, azure blue, pale red, golden yellow and white. The process to realize the rainbow body, is to attune to the five elements in their purest organic consciousness in which the raw materials that make up the human being’s physical body DNA are re-absorbed back into their true spiritual nature. They are reabsorbed as organic rainbow consciousness units, through the merging that occurs between the human biology with the five elements in creation, as connected to their five unique color wave spectrums. Consciousness movement merges with the element of air to oscillate energy spirals into fire, from the spirals of divine fire emerges water, and from the watery magnetism emerges the solidity of the earth element, where the combined elements unify and alchemize into the magnetic collapse of the physical body into the elemental forces of nature, spiraling into the highest frequencies of the cosmic rainbow consciousness.

From https://energeticsynthesis.com/resource-tools/3854-blue-rainbow-bridge

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CHAPTER XV of The Path of Purification Visuddhimagga

[Note: please excuse the formatting (like the wrong diacriticals ì, á, etc. and see https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/PathofPurification2011.pdf page numbers 492-502 (in text on bottom of pages not the pdf numbering) for the more proper version with important footnotes not included here]

THE BASES AND ELEMENTS
(Áyatana-dhátu-niddesa)
[A. DESCRIPTION OF THE BASES]

1. [481] The “bases” (XIV.32) are the twelve bases, that is to say, the eye base,
   visible-data base, ear base, sound base, nose base, odour base, tongue base, flavour
   base, body base, tangible-data base, mind base, mental-data base.
2. Herein:
   (1) Meaning, (2) character, (3) just so much,
   (4) Order, and (5) in brief and detail,
   (6) Likewise as to how to be seen—
   Thus should be known the exposition.
3. 1. Herein, [as to meaning] firstly individually:
   It relishes (cakkhati), thus it is an eye (cakkhu); the meaning is that it enjoys a visible datum and turns it to account.
   It makes visible (rúpayati), thus it is a visible datum (rúpa); the meaning is that by undergoing an alteration in appearance (colour) it evidences what state is in the mind (lit. heart).
   It hears (suóáti), thus it is an ear (sota).
   It is emitted (sappati), thus it is sound (sadda); the meaning is that it is uttered.
   It smells (gháyati), thus it is a nose (ghána).
   It is smelt (gandhayati) thus it is odour (gandha); the meaning is that it betrays its own physical basis.
   It evokes (avhayati) life (jìvita), thus it is a tongue (jivhá).
   Living beings taste (rasanti) it, thus it is flavour (rasa); the meaning is that they enjoy it.
   It is the origin (áya) of vile (kucchita) states subject to cankers, thus it is a body (káya), origin being the place of arising.
   It is touched (phusiyati), thus it is a tangible datum (phoþþhabba).
   It measures (munáti), thus it is a mind (mano).
   They cause their own characteristic to be borne (dhárayanti), thus they are mental data (dhammá).1
4. [As to meaning] in general, however, base (áyatana) should be understood
   as such (a) because of its actuating (áyatana), (b) because of being the range (tanana) of the origins (áya), and (c) because of leading on (nayana) what is actuated (áyata).2
   Now, the various states of consciousness and its concomitants belonging to such and such a door-cum-object among those consisting of the eye-cum-visible datum, etc., (a) are actuated (áyatanti), each by means of its individual function of experiencing, etc.; they are active, strive, and endeavour in these, is what is meant. And (b) these [doors-cum-objects] provide the range for (tananti) those states that are origins (áya); they give them scope, is what is meant. And (c) as long as this suffering of the round of rebirths, which has gone on occurring throughout the beginningless round of rebirths and so is enormously actuated
   (áyata), does not recede, so long they lead on (nayanti); they cause occurrence, is what is meant.
   So all these [482] things are called “bases” because they actuate, because they are the range of the origins, and because they lead on what is actuated.
5. Furthermore, “base, (áyatana) should be understood in the sense of place of abode, store (mine),3 meeting place, locality of birth, and cause. For accordingly in the world in such phrases as the lord’s sphere” (áyatana) and “Vásudeva’s sphere” (áyatana), it is a place of abode that is called “base”; and in such phrases as “the sphere of gold” and “the sphere of silver” it is a store (mine) that is called “base.” But in the Dispensation, in such passages as:
   “And so in the delightful realm (áyatana)
   Those flying in the air attend him” (A III 43),
   it is a meeting place; and in such phrases as “The southern land is the realm (áyatana) of cattle” (?) it is the locality of birth; and in such passages as “He acquires the ability to be a witness of it … whenever there is an occasion (áyatana) for it’” (M I 494; A I 258), it is a cause.
6. And these various states of consciousness and its concomitants dwell in the eye, etc., because they exist in dependence on them, so the eye, etc., are their place of abode. And they frequent the eye, etc., because they have them [respectively] as their [material] support and as their object, so the eye, etc., are their store. And the eye, etc., are their meeting place because they meet together in one or other of them, [using them] as physical basis, door, and object. And the eye, etc., are the locality
   of their birth because they arise just there, having them as their respective supports and objects. And the eye, etc., are their reason because they are absent when the eye, etc., are absent.
7. So for these reasons too these things are called “bases” in the sense of place of abode, store, meeting place, locality of birth, and reason.
   Consequently, in the sense already stated, it is an eye and that is a base, thus it is the eye base … They are mental data and those are a base, thus they are the mental-data base.
   This is how the exposition should be known here as to meaning.
8. 2. Character: Here too the exposition should be known as to the characteristic of the eye and so on. But their characteristics should be understood in the way given above in the Description of the Aggregates (XIV.37ff.).
9. 3. As to just so much: as just so many.4 What is meant is this: The eye, etc., are mental data too; that being so, why is “twelve bases” said instead of simply “mental-data base?” It is for the sake of defining door-cum-object for the arising of the six consciousness groups. And here they are stated as twelve since this is how they are classed when so defined. [483]
10. For only the eye base is the door of arising, and only the visible-data base is the object, of the consciousness group comprised in a cognitive series containing eye-consciousness. Likewise the others for the others.
    But only one part of the mind base, in other words, the life-continuum mind,5 is the door of arising, and only the mental-data base not common to all is the object, of the sixth [consciousness group].
    So they are called “the twelve” because they define door-cum-object for the arising of the six consciousness groups. This is how the exposition should be known here as to just so much.
11. 4. As to order: here too, from among “order of arising,” etc., mentioned
    above (XIV.211), only “order of teaching” is appropriate. For the eye is taught first among the internal bases since it is obvious because it has as its objective field what is visible with resistance (see last triad, Dhs 2). After that the ear base, etc., which have as their objective fields what is invisible with resistance. Or alternatively, the eye base and ear base are taught first among the internal bases because of their great helpfulness as [respective] causes for the “incomparable of seeing” and the “incomparable of hearing” (see D III 250). Next, the three beginning with the nose base. And the mind base is taught last because it has as its resort the objective fields of the [other] five (M I 295). But among the external bases the visible-data base, etc., [are taught] each one next [to its corresponding internal base] because they are the respective resorts of the eye base, and so on.
12. Furthermore, their order may be understood as that in which the reasons
    for consciousness’s arising are defined; and it is said: “Due to eye and to visible objects eye-consciousness arises, … due to mind and mental objects mind-consciousness arises” (M I 111).
    This is how the exposition should be known here as to order.
13. 5. In brief and in detail: in brief the twelve bases are simply mentality-materiality because the mind base and one part of the mental-data base are included in mentality, and the rest of the bases in materiality.
14. But in detail, firstly as regards the internal bases, the eye base is, as to kind, simply eye sensitivity; but when it is classified according to condition, destiny, order [of beings], and person,6 it is of infinite variety. Likewise the four beginning with the ear base. And the mind base, when classified according to profitable, unprofitable, resultant, and functional consciousness, is of eighty-nine kinds or of one hundred and twenty-one kinds,7 but it is of infinite variety when classified according to physical basis, progress, and so on.8 The visible-data, sound, odour,
    and flavour bases are of infinite variety when classified according to dissimilarity, condition, and so on.9 The tangible-data base is of three kinds as consisting of earth element, fire element, and air element; [484] but when classified according to condition, etc., it is of many kinds. The mental-data base is of many kinds when classified according to the several individual essences of feeling, perception, formations, subtle matter, and Nibbána (see Vibh 72).
    This is how the exposition should be known in brief and in detail.
15. 6. As to how to be seen: here all formed bases should be regarded as having
    no provenance and no destination. For they do not come from anywhere prior to their rise, nor do they go anywhere after their fall. On the contrary, before their rise they had no individual essence, and after their fall their individual essences are completely dissolved. And they occur without mastery [being exercisable over them] since they exist in dependence on conditions and in between the past and the future. Hence they should be regarded as having no provenance and no destination.
    Likewise they should be regarded as incurious and uninterested. For it does not occur to the eye and the visible datum, etc., “Ah, that consciousness might arise from our concurrence.” And as door, physical basis, and object, they have no curiosity about, or interest in, arousing consciousness. On the contrary, it is the absolute rule that eye-consciousness, etc., come into being with the union of eye with visible datum, and so on. So they should be regarded as incurious and uninterested.
16. Furthermore, the internal bases should be regarded as an empty village
    because they are devoid of lastingness, pleasure, and self; and the external ones as village-raiding robbers (S IV 175) because they raid the internal ones. And this is said: “Bhikkhus, the eye is harassed by agreeable and disagreeable visible objects” (S IV 175). Furthermore, the internal ones should be regarded as like the six creatures (S IV 198–99) and the external ones as like their resorts.
    This is how the exposition should be known here as to how to be seen. This, firstly, is the section of the detailed explanation dealing with the bases.
    [B. DESCRIPTION OF THE ELEMENTS]
17. The “elements” next to that (XIV.32) are the eighteen elements, that is to say, eye element, visible-data element, eye-consciousness element; ear element, sound element, ear-consciousness element; nose element, odour element, nose-consciousness element; tongue element, flavour element, tongue-consciousness element; body element, tangible-data element, body-consciousness element; mind element, mental-data element, mind-consciousness element.
18. Herein:
    (1) As to meaning, (2) characteristic, et cetera,
    (3) Order, (4) just so much, and (5) reckoning,
    (6) Then condition, and (7) how to be seen—
    Thus should be known the exposition.
19. 1. Herein, as to meaning: first the exposition of “eye,” etc., should be known individually as to meaning in the way beginning: It relishes (cakkhati), thus it is an eye (cakkhu); it makes visible (rúpayati), thus it is a visible datum; [485] and the consciousness of the eye is eye-consciousness (see §3).
    As to meaning in general: (a) it sorts out (vidahati), (b) it assorts well,
    (c) a sorting out (vidhána), (d) it is sorted out (vidhìyate) by means of that, or (e) it causes to be sorted (dhìyati) here, thus it is a sort (dhátu = element).10
20. (a) The mundane sorts (elements), when defined according to their
    instrumentality, sort out (vidahanti) the suffering of the round of rebirths, which is of many kinds, just as the “sorts” (ores—see XI.20) of gold and silver, etc., do gold and silver, and so on. (b) They assort well (dhìyante) with living beings, as a burden does with burden bearers; they are borne (dháriyanti), is the meaning. (c) And they are only mere sortings out (vidhána) of suffering because no mastery is exercisable over them. (d) And by means of them as instruments the suffering of the round of rebirths is continually being sorted out (anuvidhìyati) by living beings. (e) And that [suffering], being sorted out (vihita) in this way, is caused to be sorted (dhìyati) into those [sorts (elements)]; it is caused to be placed in them, is the meaning. So each thing (dhamma) among those beginning with the eye is called a “sort” (dhátu—element) in the meaning just stated beginning “It sorts out, it assorts well.”
21. Furthermore, while the self of the sectarians does not exist with an
    individual essence, not so these. These, on the contrary, are elements (dhátu) since they cause [a state’s] own individual essence to be borne (dhárenti).11 And just as in the world the variously-coloured constituents of marble such as malachite, cinnabar, etc., are called “elements,” so too these [beginning with the eye] are elements like those;12 for they are the “variously-coloured” constituents of knowledge and the knowable. Or just as the general term “elements” is used for juices, blood, etc., which are constituents of the collection called the “carcass,” when they are distinguished from each other by dissimilarity of characteristic, so too the general term “elements” should be understood as used for the constituents of the selfhood (personality) called “the pentad of aggregates”; for these things beginning with the eye are distinguished from each other by dissimilarity of characteristic.
22. Furthermore, “element” is a term for what is soulless; and for the purpose of abolishing the perception of soul the Blessed One accordingly taught the elements in such passages as “Bhikkhu, this man has six elements” (M III 239). Therefore the exposition should be understood here firstly as to meaning thus: it is an eye and that is an element, thus it is the eye-element … It is mind-consciousness and that is an element, thus it is mind-consciousness element.
23. 2. As to characteristic, et cetera: here too the exposition should be understood as to the characteristic, etc., of the eye, and so on. And that should be understood in the way given above in the Description of the Aggregates (XIV.37ff.).
24. 3. As to order: here too, from among “order of arising,” etc., mentioned
    above (XIV.211), only “order of teaching” is appropriate. It is set forth according to successive definition of cause and fruit.13 For the pair, eye element and visibledata element, are the cause and eye-consciousness element is the fruit. So in each case.
25. 4. As to just so much: as just so many. What is meant is this: in various places in the Suttas and Abhidhamma the following as well as other [486] elements are met with—the illumination element, beauty element, base-consisting-of-boundless-space element, base-consisting-of-boundless-consciousness element, base-consisting-of-nothingness element, base-consisting-of-neither-perception-nor-non-perception element, cessation-of-perception-and-feeling element (S II 150); sense-desire element, ill-will element, cruelty element, renunciation element,
    non-ill-will element, non-cruelty element (Vibh 86); bodily-pleasure element, bodily-pain element, joy element, grief element, equanimity element, ignorance element (Vibh 85); initiative element, launching element, persistence element (S V 66); inferior element, medium element, superior element (D III 215); earth element, water element, fire element, air element, space element, consciousness element (Vibh 82); formed element, unformed element (M III 63); the world of many elements, of various elements (M I 70)—that being so, why is the classification only made according to these eighteen instead of making it
    according to all of them? Because, as far as individual essence is concerned, all existing elements are included in that [classification].
26. The visible data-element itself is the illumination element. The beauty
    element is bound up with visible-data and so on. Why? Because it is the sign of the beautiful. The sign of the beautiful is the beauty element and that does not exist apart from visible data and so on. Or since the visible data, etc., that are objects consisting of profitable kamma-result are themselves the beauty element, that is thus merely visible data and so on. As regards the base-consisting-of-boundless-space element, etc., the consciousness is mind-consciousness element only, while the remaining [states] are the mental-data element. But the cessation-of-perception-and-feeling element does not exist as an individual essence; for
    that is merely the cessation of two elements.14
27. The sense-desire element is either merely the mental-data element, according as it is said, “Herein, what is the sense-desire element? It is the thought, applied thought, … wrong thinking, that is associated with sense desires” (Vibh 86), or it is the eighteen elements, according as it is said: “Making the Avìci hell the lower limit and making the Paranimmitavasavatti deities the upper limit, the aggregates, elements, bases, materiality, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness that are in this interval, that belong here, are included here: these are called the sense desire element” (Vibh 86). [487]
28. The renunciation element is the mental-data element; also, because of the passage, “Also all profitable states are the renunciation element” (Vibh 86), it is the mind-consciousness element too. The elements of ill-will, cruelty, non-ill-will, non-cruelty, bodily pleasure, bodily pain, joy, grief, equanimity, ignorance, initiative, launching, and persistence are the mental-data element too.
29. The inferior, medium, and superior elements are the eighteen elements
    themselves; for inferior eyes, etc., are the inferior element, and medium and superior eyes, etc., are the medium and superior elements. But literally speaking, the unprofitable mental-data element and mind-consciousness element are the inferior element; both these elements, when mundane profitable or mundane indeterminate, and the eye element, etc., are the medium element; but the supramundane mental-data element and mind-consciousness element are the superior element.
30. The earth, fire, and air elements are the tangible-data element; the water
    element and the space element are the mental-data element only; “consciousness element” is a term summarizing the seven consciousness elements beginning with eye-consciousness.
31. Seventeen elements and one part of the mental-data element are the formed element; but the unformed element is one part of the mental-data element only. The “world of many elements, of various elements” is merely what is divided up into the eighteen elements. So they are given as eighteen because, as to individual essence, all existing elements are included in that [classification].
32. Furthermore, they are stated as eighteen for the purpose of eliminating the kind of perception to be found in those who perceive a soul in consciousness, the individual essence of which is cognizing; for there are beings who perceive a soul in consciousness, the individual essence of which is cognizing. And so the Blessed One, who was desirous of eliminating the long-inherent perception of a soul, has expounded the eighteen elements thus making evident to them not only consciousness’s multiplicity when classed as eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue- and body-consciousness elements, and mind, and mind-consciousness elements,
    but also its impermanence, which is due to its existing in dependence on eyecum-visible-data, etc., as conditions.
33. What is more, the inclinations of those who are teachable in this way [have to be considered]; and in order to suit the inclinations of beings who are teachable by a teaching that is neither too brief nor too long, eighteen are expounded. For:
    By methods terse and long as need may be
    He taught the Dhamma, so that from beings’ hearts,
    If they have wit to learn, the dark departs
    Melting in the Good Dhamma’s brilliancy.
    This is how the exposition should be understood here as to just so much.
34. 5. As to reckoning: the eye-element, firstly, is reckoned as one thing according to kind, [488] namely, eye sensitivity. Likewise, the ear, nose, tongue, body, visible data, sound, odour, and flavour elements are reckoned as ear sensitivity, and so on (XIV.37ff.). But the tangible-data element is reckoned as three things, namely, earth, fire and air. The eye-consciousness element is reckoned as two things, namely, profitable and unprofitable kamma-result; and likewise the consciousness elements of the ear, nose, tongue, and body. The mind element is reckoned as three things, namely, five-door adverting (70), and profitable (39) and unprofitable (55) resultant receiving. The mental-data element as twenty things, namely, three immaterial aggregates, sixteen kinds of subtle matter, and the unformed element (see Vibh 88).15 Mind-consciousness element is reckoned as seventy-six things, namely, the remaining profitable, unprofitable, and indeterminate consciousnesses. This is how the exposition should be understood as to reckoning.
35. 6. Condition: the eye element, firstly, is a condition, in six ways, namely,
    dissociation, pre-nascence, presence, non-disappearance, support, and faculty for the eye-consciousness element. The visible-data element is a condition, in four ways, namely, prenascence, presence, non-disappearance, and object, for the eye-consciousness element. Similarly with the ear-element and the sound-element for the ear-consciousness element and so on.
36. The adverting mind element (70) is a condition, as the five conditions,
    namely: proximity, contiguity, absence, disappearance, and proximity-decisive-support, for these five [beginning with the eye-consciousness element]. And these five are so too for the receiving mind element ((39), (55)). And so is the receiving mind element for the investigating mind-consciousness element ((40), (41), (56)). And so is that too for the determining mind-consciousness element (71). And so is the determining mind-consciousness element for impulsion mind-consciousness element. But the impulsion mind-consciousness element is a condition, as the six conditions, namely, as the five already stated and as repetition
    condition, for the immediately following impulsion mind-consciousness element.
    This, firstly, is the way in the case of the five doors.
37. In the case of the mind door, however, the life-continuum mind-consciousness element is a condition, as the previously-stated five conditions, for the adverting mind-consciousness element (71). And the adverting mind-consciousness element is so for the impulsion mind-consciousness element.
38. The mental-data element is a condition in many ways, as conascence,
    mutuality, support, association, presence, non-disappearance, etc.,16 for the seven consciousness elements. The eye element, etc., and some of the mental-data element,17 are conditions, as object condition, etc., for some of the mind-consciousness element.
39. And not only are the eye and visible data, etc., conditions for the eye-consciousness element, etc., [respectively], but also light, etc., are too. Hence the former teachers said: “Eye-consciousness arises due to eye, visible datum, light, and attention. [489] Ear-consciousness arises due to ear, sound, aperture, and attention. Nose-consciousness arises due to nose, odour, air, and attention. Tongue-consciousness arises due to tongue, flavour, water, and attention. Body-consciousness arises due to body, tangible datum, earth, and attention. Mind-consciousness arises due to life-continuum-mind,18 mental datum, and attention.”
    This is in brief. But the kinds of conditions will be explained in detail in the Description of Dependent Origination (XVII.66ff.).
    This is how the exposition should be understood here as to condition.
40. 7. How to be seen: the meaning is that here too the exposition should be
    understood as to how they are to be regarded. For all formed elements are to be regarded as secluded from the past and future,19 as void of any lastingness, beauty, pleasure, or self, and as existing in dependence on conditions.
41. Individually, however, the eye element should be regarded as the surface of a drum, the visible-data element as the drumstick, and the eye-consciousness element as the sound. Likewise, the eye element should be regarded as the surface of a looking-glass, the visible-data element as the face, and the eye-consciousness element as the image of the face. Or else, the eye-element should be regarded as sugarcane or sesame, the visible-data element as the [sugarcane] mill or the [sesame] wheel rod, and the eye-consciousness element as the sugarcane juice or the sesame oil. Likewise, the eye-element should be regarded as the lower fire-stick, the visible-data element as the upper fire-stick,20 and the eye-consciousness
    element as the fire. So too in the case of the ear and so on.
42. The mind element, however, should be regarded as the forerunner and
    follower of eye-consciousness, etc., as that arises.
    As to the mental-data element, the feeling aggregate should be regarded as a dart and as a stake, the perception and formations aggregates as a disease owing to their connection with the dart and stake of feeling. Or the ordinary man’s perception should be regarded as an empty fist because it produces pain through [disappointed] desire; or as a forest deer [with a scarecrow] because it apprehends the sign incorrectly. And the formations aggregate should be regarded as men who throw one into a pit of hot coals, because they throw one into rebirth-linking, or as thieves pursued by the king’s men because they are pursued by the pains of birth; or as the seeds of a poison-tree, because they are the root-cause of the aggregates’ continuity, which brings all kinds of harm. And materiality should be regarded as a razor-wheel (see J-a IV 3), because it is the sign of various kinds of dangers.
    The unformed element, however, should be regarded as deathless, as peace, as safety. Why? Because it is the opposite of all ill. [490]
43. The mind-consciousness element should be regarded as a forest monkey,
    because it does not stay still on its object; or as a wild horse, because it is difficult to tame; or as a stick flung into the air, because it falls anyhow; or as a stage dancer, because it adopts the guise of the various defilements such as greed and hate.
    The fifteenth chapter called “The Description of the Bases
    and Elements” in the Treatise on the Development of
    Understanding in the Path of Purification composed for
    the purpose of gladdening good people.

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