In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [185]
“No, friend.”
“In this way too, friend, this has been declared, disclosed, and revealed by the Blessed One thus: ‘For such a reason this consciousness is nonself.’
“Suppose, friend, a man needing heartwood, seeking heartwood, wandering in search of heartwood, would take a sharp axe and enter a forest. There he would see the trunk of a large banana tree, straight, fresh, without a fruit-bud core. He would cut it down at the root, cut off the crown, and unroll the coil. As he unrolls the coil, he would not find even softwood, let alone heartwood.
“So too, a monk does not recognize either a self or anything belonging to a self in these six bases for contact. Since he does not recognize anything thus, he does not cling to anything in the world. Not clinging, he is not agitated. Being unagitated, he personally attains Nibbāna. He understands: ‘Destroyed is birth, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming back to any state of being.’”
(SN 35:234; IV 166–68)
(3) By Way of the Elements
(a) The Eighteen Elements
“Monks, I will teach you the diversity of elements. The eye element, form element, eye-consciousness element; the ear element, sound element, ear-consciousness element; the nose element, odor element, nose-consciousness element; the tongue element, taste element, tongue-consciousness element; the body element, tactile-object element, body-consciousness element; the mind element, mental-phenomena element, mind-consciousness element. This, monks, is called the diversity of elements.”
(SN 14:1; II 140)
(b) The Four Elements
“Monks, there are these four elements. What four? The earth element, the water element, the heat element, the air element.
“Those ascetics or brahmins, monks, who do not understand as they really are the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of these four elements: these I do not consider to be ascetics among ascetics or brahmins among brahmins, and these venerable ones do not, by realizing it for themselves with direct knowledge, in this very life enter and dwell in the goal of asceticism or the goal of brahminhood.
“But, monks, those ascetics and brahmins who understand as they really are the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of these four elements: these I consider to be ascetics among ascetics and brahmins among brahmins, and these venerable ones, by realizing it for themselves with direct knowledge, in this very life enter and dwell in the goal of asceticism and the goal of brahminhood.”
“Those ascetics or brahmins, monks, who do not understand as they really are the origin and the passing away, the gratification, the danger, and the escape in the case of these four elements: these I do not consider to be ascetics among ascetics….
“But, monks, those ascetics and brahmins who understand these things: these I consider to be ascetics among ascetics and brahmins among brahmins, and these venerable ones, by realizing it for themselves with direct knowledge, in this very life enter and dwell in the goal of asceticism and the goal of brahminhood.”
“Monks, those ascetics or brahmins who do not understand the earth element, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation; who do not understand the water element ... the heat element ... the air element, its origin, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation: these I do not consider to be ascetics among ascetics….
“But, monks, those ascetics and brahmins who understand these things: these I consider to be ascetics among ascetics and brahmins among brahmins, and these venerable ones, by realizing it for themselves with direct knowledge, in this very life enter and dwell in the goal of asceticism and the goal of brahminhood.”
(SN 14:37–39, combined; II 175–77)
(c) The Six Elements
13. “How, monk, does one not neglect wisdom?39 There are these six elements: the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the air element, the space