4.4. Contact!
Moving along to the next section in the Chachakkasuttaṃ, the fourth group of six.
cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, sotañca paṭicca sadde ca uppajjati sotaviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, ghānañca paṭicca gandhe ca uppajjati ghānaviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, jivhañca paṭicca rase ca uppajjati jivhāviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, kāyañca paṭicca phoṭṭhabbe ca uppajjati kāyaviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, manañca paṭicca dhamme ca uppajjati manoviññāṇaṃ, tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso. cha phassakāyā veditabbā’ti – iti yaṃ taṃ vuttaṃ, idametaṃ paṭicca vuttaṃ. idaṃ catutthaṃ chakkaṃ.
Dependent on the eye and forms, eye consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
Dependent on the ear and sounds, ear consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
Dependent on the nose and smells, nose consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
Dependent on the tongue and tastes, tongue consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
Dependent on the body and tangible sensations, body consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
Dependent on the mind and mental phenomena, mind consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is phassa.
It was with reference to this that it was said, "The six classes of phassa should be known." This is the fourth group of six.
--- MN148 Chachakkasuttaṃ
It seems the Buddha created a special meaning for the everyday word phassa. It literally means 'touch' or 'contact'. In pre-Buddhist literature, the Sanskrit cognate, sparśa, only ever has the meaning of 'touch', 'the sense of touch', and 'sensation'. The Buddha very carefully redefined this word to mean the contact between three things:
- the sense base
- the sense object
- the corresponding consciousness
Hence, the repetition of tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso, 'the meeting of the three is contact'. In more conventional English, we could say that phassa is a conscious sense experience with three necessary conditions.
When a sense organ, for example the eyes, encounter a corresponding object, a visual form, eye consciousness arises. When the three are present, that is called phassa. This contact is instantaneous, a composite experience which is the basis for all subsequent mental processing, the arising of a pleasant, unpleasant or neutral feeling tone (vedanā), the mental classification according to previous memories (saññā), and the intentional activities in response (saṅkhārā).
You would simply say, "I am seeing."
If the eyes are not working, no conscious experience of seeing occurs.
If forms are not visible, no conscious experience of seeing occurs.
If consciousness does not arise, for example in deep sleep, when passed out, in a coma, or when attention is fully engaged with another sense, no conscious experience of seeing occurs.
Only when all three are present does a conscious experience of seeing occur.
Everything that you have ever experienced, and everything you will ever experience in your entire life is phassa, this meeting of sense organ, sense object and the corresponding consciousness. It is the only reality you have ever known. Let that sink in for a moment.
The difference between language and experience
Now we are finally in a position to see how the structure of language differs from the structure of experience. There is no 'I', 'seeing' and 'you', there is merely the meeting of three conditions and a composite experience, which cannot be separated into subject, activity and object, except intellectually, by inference.
A similar example—water is a composite of oxygen and two hydrogen atoms. But if you separate it into its components it is no longer water. In the same way, each and every experience is a composite which cannot be separated. If it's missing one of its necessary components, the experience simple does not occur.
It's not like there's an 'I' waiting around for experience to happen. The illusion of 'I' is created by the experience itself.
Matter has no appearance, we could just say it's just a mass of energy. The appearance is created by the combination of eyes, visible matter and a conscious mind. Without any of those three components, seeing does not occur.
Colours are not an inherent property of matter, but a product of matter, the human eye and conscious perception. Likewise for all the other qualia of experience.
Let's look at phassa within the laboratory of subjective experience.
Meditation on contact
Transcript
Every single conscious experience is what the Buddha called *phassa*, contact. Contact is the convergence of three conditions, the sense base, the sense object and the corresponding consciousness. Without these conditions in place, there is no experience to be talked about. ^^^ The fact that you are experiencing something means the three conditions are already in place for experience to occur. Let's analyse conscious experience of the six sense fields. Open your eyes if they are closed, and look at something in your visual field. This conscious experience of seeing is the *phassa* the Buddha was talking about, the coming together of three conditions. Just for a moment, analyse the three conditions for this visual experience to take place. For this experience to happen, there must be 1. eyes to see 2. forms that are seen 3. eye consciousness, the mind's ability to know sights ^^^ The eyes, by themselves, see nothing. Forms cannot be seen without the eyes. And there is no eye consciousness independent of the eyes and forms. What you are seeing is the composite of the three. Intellectually you can break them apart, but this is a composite experience, if you remove any one condition, the entire experience ends. Test that out by closing your eyes. Or by looking away at something else. You are not seeing forms out there, but a very neat composite reconstruction within your own mind. Pick another experience in the visual field and analyse it according to these three conditions. Each visual experience consists of one, two, three things. Spend some time analysing your visual experiences in this way. --- Pick something that you can hear, an experience in the auditory field. This too is a composite of three conditions 1. the ear 2. the audible sound vibration 3. ear consciousness, the mind's ability to know sounds ^^^ What you are hearing is not out there, but a reconstruction in your mind. If you remove any one of three conditions, the experience does not occur. Pick another sound in your environment and perform the same analysis. What are the three conditions? Spend some time analysing your auditory experiences in this way. --- Find something in your environment to smell. This experience of smell is a composite of three conditions. 1. a nose 2. some scented molecules 3. nose consciousness, the mind's ability to know smells ^^^ What you are smelling is not 'out there', but a composite, a reconstruction in the mind which is composed of these three things. If you remove any one of these three conditions, the experience ends. Test that out by blocking your nose. Or moving away from the smell. Pick another smell in your environment and perform the same analysis. Spend some time analysing your olfactory experiences in this way. --- When you are eating or drinking, pay attention to any taste experience which occurs. This taste is a composite of three conditions 1. tongue 2. flavoured molecules 3. tongue consciousness, the mind's ability to know flavours ^^^ The taste experience is not in your mouth, it is a reconstruction in the mind, made up of these three components. If you remove any one of these three conditions, the experience ends. No tongue, no flavours, no tongue consciousness, no tasting. As you are eating or drinking, keep analysing every taste, identify the three conditions for taste to occur. Spend some time analysing your taste experiences in this way. --- Pay attention to some physical sensation that is occurring in your body. This physical feeling is a composite of three conditions. 1. a body 2. some tangible sensation 3. body consciousness, the mind's ability to know sensations ^^^ What you are feeling is not out there, but a composite reconstruction in the mind, made up of these three things. If you remove any single condition, the experience ends, or doesn't happen in the first place. Pick another physical sensation in your body and perform the same analysis. What is this experience of bodily feeling composed of? What are the conditions for it to exist? Spend some time analysing your tactile experiences in this way. --- And finally we come to the mind itself. The place where it all happens. Pay attention to some mental activity. Your mental mood, or a thought. If mental phenomena are changing too fast to analyse, you can create a thought of goodwill and analyse that. This mental experience is a composite of three things. 1. a mind 2. mental phenomena 3. mind consciousness, the mind's ability to know itself ^^^ If you remove any one of those conditions, the experience ends. Keep watching your mental experiences and perform the same analysis. What are the necessary conditions for this to occur? Spend some time analysing your mental experiences in this way. --- Now come back to open awareness. As often as you are able, pick one experience. What are three conditions necessary for this conscious experience to occur? The internal base, the external perceivable object and the corresponding type of consciousness. Train yourself to be able to do this exercise with any object of experience. --- If this analysis gets tiring or difficult, come back to simple open awareness for a while, calmly knowing what is happening as it is happening. You may also find the opposite, that this analysis gives a very powerful boost to the clarity of mindfulness. If that's the case, please continue with it. --- Keep analysing experiences. Know that for any consciousness experience to arise, there are three necessary conditions. Bring those three conditions to mind. *tiṇṇaṃ saṅgati phasso*, the meeting of the three is contact. Keep analysing contact, each conditioned conscious experience.Q&A
Q: Do you have any questions or doubts at this point?