THE AGGREGATES, ELEMENTS, AND SENSE BASES they are by nature not beautiful; it is not that having two eyes makes them not beautiful If they only had one eye, they would be even uglier, so for that reason two only is beautiful B The reason they are given the names aggregate, sense base, and element 20a-c The meaning of aggregate is heaped, Sense base means the gate for arising, And element means family From a sutra: Any form at all, whether past or future or present, in ternal or external, coarse or subtle, base or sublime, that is far away or near, these are all included in one: they are counted within the form aggregate The sutra continues in the same way up to the aggregate o f consciousness As is said, the m eaning o f the term aggregate is many things of the same type such as form and so forth heaped together; sense base means the gate for the arising and expansion o f m ind and mental factors; and element means the origin of later things of the same family.54 Well then, noncomposites would therefore not be an element because they are permanent and produce no future noncomposites, you say Noncomposites have no similar class, but because they are the source for m ind and mental factors by way of being their focus, they are designated as an element C The reason for teaching three dharmas This has three points Actual 20d-f Delusions, faculties, and interests Are threefold, so the three are taught: The aggregates, et cetera W hy did the Lord Buddha teach the three dharmas of aggregates, sense bases, and elements? you ask The delusions of holding mental factors, form, and both form and m ind to be a whole self, and the distinctions of the three sharp, middle, and dull faculties, and the three types o f interest that seek concise, medium, and extensive explanations are all threefold, so the three are taught: the aggregates, et cetera, including sense bases and elements 119 YOUTHFUL PLAY i* A R E A I The reason for teaching feeling and conception as separate aggregates 21 Because they are the root o f quarrels, And cause samsara and the order Feeling and conception are taught As different aggregates than factors W hy are both feeling and conception presented as separate aggregates from the other mental factors? you ask Because they are the root o f the quarrels among both householders and monastics, they are presented separately Ffouseholders dispute water, fields, and so forth, and the root of these disputes is feelings: they want pleasure for themselves and suffering for others, so they quarrel Monastics conceive of their own and others’ views as good or bad and then prove and refute them Because the root of these disputes is erroneous conceptions, the aggregate o f conception is presented separately Alternatively, as they are the principal cause o f samsara, they are presented separately By clinging to feelings, out of mistaken conceptions one views ego lessness as the self, and the four erroneous conceptions55 become the support for m any afflictions, so the wheel o f samsara turns This means that these aggregates are the root of all faults and problems, and therefore should be abandoned Alternatively, they are the cause of the order in which the five aggregates are taught, which will be explained below.56 Feeling and conception are taught as different aggregates than the mental factors The reason for not teaching noncomposites as an aggregate 22ab Since noncomposites not suit Aggregate’s meaning, they are not taught W hy are noncomposites presented as elements and sense bases but not as ag gregates? you ask There is a reason that noncomposites are not presented as an aggregate: since noncom posites cannot be destroyed, demolished, or so forth, they n o t suit aggregate’s meaning A separate so-called “aggregate of noncomposites” is inappropriate: because they are not many things aggre gated, they are no t taught as aggregates This fault does not apply to presenting atomic substances as aggregates From the autocommentary: In that case, if the meaning o f aggregating were the m eaning o f aggregate, the aggregates w ould have nominal existence,57 because they are many substances 120 THE AGGREGATES, ELEMENTS, AND SENSE BASES gathered together, like aggregating or an individual, you say It is not so, because even a single atom o f sub stance is an aggregate In that way, as a single unit has no aggregating itself, not say that the meaning of aggregating is the meaning o f aggregate As this explains, the aggregates are not pervasively many things aggregated, but the aggregates are appropriate to be many things aggregated D The orders of the three dharmas This has three points The order of the five aggregates 22cd The order is by coarse, all-afflicted, The pot and so forth, the realms’ meanings T he order o f the five aggregates is presented by the order o f coarseness, the order in which the all-afflicted arise, the order o f the pot and so forth, and the order o f the three realms’ meanings Because form is obstructive, it is the coarsest o f all, so it is taught first Next, feeling is coarse because it is variable Next, conception is also coarser than the final two: it delineates attributes and so is easy to know Next, formation is by nature to clearly formulate, “I must make myself happy; I must not make myself unhappy.” As consciousness is merely focusing, it is the subtlest of all This teaches the order from coarse to subtle Also the order can be taught through the order in which all-afflicted dhar mas such as greed and so forth arise First, males and females have lust for each others’ bodily forms, and that creates desire for pleasant feelings From that come mistaken conceptions, and from those, formation comes under the power of the all-afflicted T hat makes consciousness afflicted as well Alternatively, they are comparable to the pot and so forth— food, flavorings, cook, and eater Form is comparable to a pot, feelings to food, conceptions to flavorings, formation to the cook, and consciousness is comparable to the eater Alternatively, it is also taught by comparing it to the order o f the Desire, Form, and Formless realms, and the Peak o f Existence,58 or the three realms Desire is differentiated by form, the Form realm by feeling, the first three Formless realms by conception, and the Peak of Existence by formation C on sciousness is present in all, so it is taught last This is like the order o f a field, seeds, shoots, and so forth 121 YOUTHFUL PLAY ?f A R E A I The order of the six faculties 23 The object is present, so first five The object is source-derived, so four Since at great distance or since quickly, O r else in order of location They are easy to realize as the object they perceive is in the present— the ob jects of form and so forth— so first the five that have form— the eye and so forth— are taught M ind is the subject that perceives objects of the three times and noncomposites that are not included in the times, so it is difficult to re alize, like for example realizing that all dharmas are egoless For that reason, it is taught last Among the five, the four from eye up to tongue are subjects that perceive only the object, forms o f source-derived that are results o f the four sources,59 so those four are taught first Body is not necessarily like that because it is a subject that perceives both the sources and the source-derived Among these four, there is a reason that eye and ear are explained first, be fore the nose and tongue Since the eye and ear perceive form and sound with out contacting the object, they can engage an object at a great distance O f these two, eye can engage an object at a much greater distance, so it is m en tioned first For instance, you can see a river from far off but not hear its sound The nose and tongue both engage what is near, but since the nose engages the object more quickly than the tongue, it is explained first It is like when the tongue does not yet taste the food, but the nose smells its aroma O r else the faculties are taught in the order o f the height o f their location or position M ind is supported by them and does not stay in a location, so it is taught last Establishing the order o f the six faculties also establishes the order of the objects and the consciousnesses For example, it is just as when the ranks o f six kings are established, the ranks of the queens and princes are also established An aside to dispel a doubt 24 O ne is specific and the main, And one has many dharmas, the highest, So one is called sense base o f form, And one is called sense base of dharma If the first ten sense bases are all form, why is only the object o f eye the sense 122 HOW EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED IN THREE DHARMAS base o f form? And if all twelve sense bases are dharmas by nature, why is only the object o f mental cognition the sense base o f dharma? you ask The reason for the first is the one object o f eye has no other name, so it is designated by applying the general name “form” to the specific sense base O ne says, “This is it,” to indicate something, and in com m on usage that is known as form And others say that the sense base of form is the m ain or prin cipal form for three reasons: i) because form is coarse as it has twenty types; 2) because it is the sphere o f the fleshly eye, the divine eye, and the eye o f no bles’ full knowing; and 3) because it is obstructive and showable The reason for the second is that the one object of m ind has or includes m any dharmas— the three middle aggregates, imperceptibles, and noncom posites— and that the sense base of dharma includes the highest of dharmas, the analytical cessation of nirvana So in order, the one object of eye alone is called the sense base o f form, and the one object o f m ind alone is called the sense base o f dharma III Teaching how everything is included in three dharmas This has three topics: A H ow the aggregates o f Dharm a are included, B Including other dharmas in the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, and C Additionally teaching the essence of two elements A How the aggregates of Dharma are included This has two topics: Ac tual, and The size of the aggregates of the Dharma Actual, 25 The eighty thousand aggregates O f Dharm a the Sage taught are all Words or are names, and thus they are Included in form or in formation In the sutras where it says, “The eighty thousand aggregates o f Dharma,” how are these included within the five aggregates? you ask T he eighty thousand aggregates o f D harm a that the Sage, the Buddha, taught are all, according to the Sutra school, words or sound, or according to the Great Exposition, they are names that are the object of m ind by nature Thus they are included in the aggregate o f form or in the aggregate o f form ation respectively, it is proposed 123 ... and the root of these disputes is feelings: they want pleasure for themselves and suffering for others, so they quarrel Monastics conceive of their own and others’ views as good or bad and then... D The orders of the three dharmas This has three points The order of the five aggregates 22cd The order is by coarse, all-afflicted, The pot and so forth, the realms’ meanings T he order o f the. .. by the order o f coarseness, the order in which the all-afflicted arise, the order o f the pot and so forth, and the order o f the three realms’ meanings Because form is obstructive, it is the