- Form or matter (rupa)
- Feeling (vedana)
- Notions or perceptions (samjña)
- Formations (samskara), also called volitions or
formative forces - Consciousness (vijñana)
Aggregates two through five may be called name
(nama). Name-and-formis a synonym for the five ag-
gregates, which are fundamentally impermanent. They
have nothing one might consider to be a “self,” and
they bring suffering, being inevitably subject to change.
The first five DISCIPLES OF THE BUDDHA became
ARHATS(saints) upon understanding the teaching of
the egolessness of the aggregates. Matter has mass; it
obstructs. It incorporates the four great elements: earth
(hardness), water (moisture), fire (heat), air (motion).
Feelings may be physical or mental, and are classified
as either pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Notions are
concepts, which are formed; one may have the con-
cepts of color and form, for example, when seeing a
green leaf. Formations are the mind in action, in which
volition (cetana) is central. Consciousness is the cog-
nitive function.
The twelve bases (ayatana) refer to the process of
cognition. Ayatanameans “a place of entry,” namely
the six sense organs or faculties (indriya), the six in-
ternal bases. Alternatively, ayatana can refer to that
which enters, namely the six objects (visaya) of cog-
nition, the six external bases. The twelve ayatanaare:
the six bases of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind;
and the six objects of color or form, sound, smell,
taste, palpables, and mental or immaterial objects (the
factors).
The eighteen elements are distinguished in relation
to the flow of life in the three realms of existence: the
realm of sensuality (kamadhatu), the realm of subtle
matter (rupadhatu), and the immaterial realm
(arupadhatu). The first twelve constitute the above
twelve bases (ayatana), to which are added the six cor-
responding consciousnesses: visual consciousness
through to mental consciousness.
Sarvastivada dharma theory
Many Sarvastivada texts elaborate on dharma theory.
Besides the texts already mentioned, one may add
the Dharmaskandha(Aggregate of Factors) and the
Prakarana(Treatise). Existence is described in four
categories of formed factors, totaling seventy-two fac-
tors, and one category of three unformed or uncon-
ditioned factors, thus giving seventy-five dharmas in
all. The five categories are:- Matter (rupa)
- Thought (citta)
- Thought-concomitants or mentals (caitta) asso-
ciated with thought, arising in association with
pure consciousness or mind - Formations dissociated from thought (cit-
taviprayukta) - Unformed factors (asamskrta)
Form or matter contains eleven factors: the first five
faculties and their objects, plus unmanifested form
(avijñaptirupa). When mental action is made manifest
in physical or vocal action, it is described by the term
intimation(vijñapti). When it is not externalized or
made manifest, the material aspect is nonintimated,
and thus unmanifested. One might understand
avijñaptirupaas the moral character of a person or a
force of habit. It is a potential form, preserved in the
physical body. Not all branches of the Sarvastivada
school distinguished this material factor, but it appears
in the S ́ariputrabhidharma,which is said to be of Dhar-
maguptaka affiliation.
The second category—thought—is just the one fac-
tor of mind, or pure consciousness. In the classifica-
tion of the eighteen elements, it includes the six
consciousnesses, plus the mind element. It is the
consciousness aggregate and also the internal mind
faculty. The third category is the forty-six thought-
concomitants, which are factors associated with
thought. Not all adherents of the Sarvastivada school
agreed with the existence of these factors. For exam-
ple, Dharmatrata (second century C.E.), a Darstantika
(probably a Sautrantika who followed the long vinaya),
says that these factors are only subdivisions of volition,
and he denies their separate existence. Buddhadeva
(first century C.E.) says that they are none other than
thought itself. But the Kos ́a enumerates forty-six
thought-concomitants.
Ten mental factors accompany every thought; these
are the factors “of large extent” (mahabhumika), that
is, basic or general. They are:- Feeling (vedana)
- Notion (samjña)
DHARMA ANDDHARMAS