Sparśa

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 The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha)
according to the Pali Canon.
 
 
form (rūpa)
  4 elements
(mahābhūta)
 
 
   
    contact
(phassa)
    
 
consciousness
(viññāna)

 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
  mental factors (cetasika)  
 
feeling
(vedanā)

 
 
 
perception
(sañña)

 
 
 
formation
(saṅkhāra)

 
 
 
 
 Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001)  |  diagram details
  The 12 Nidānas:  
Ignorance
Formations
Consciousness
Mind & Body
Six Sense Bases
Contact
Feeling
Craving
Clinging
Becoming
Birth
Old Age & Death
 

Sparśa (Sanskrit) or Phassa (Pāli) is a Buddhist term meaning "contact" or "touching" or "sense impression".

Synonyms:

  • 觸 or 触 Cn: chù; Jp: soku; Vi: xúc
  • Tibetan: reg.pa

Sparśa refers to the contact between the sense, sense-objects, and sense-consciousness for example, between eye, light and awareness of vision. In the Pali Canon, there are six "classes" of contact: eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact and mind-contact.[1]

Sparśa is the sixth of the Twelve Nidānas. It is conditioned by the presence of the six sense-openings ṣaḍāyatana, and in turn is a condition for the arising of physical sensations (vedanā).

In terms of the Five Aggregates, sparśa is the implicit basis by which Form (rūpa) and Consciousness (viññāna) lead to the mental factors of Feeling (vedanā), Perception (sañña) and Formations (sankhāra).

In the Abhidhamma and Pali commentaries, sparśa is one of the fifty-two mental factors (cetasika), the first of seven sabbacitta, which are present in all classes of consciousness.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Thanissaro (1997).
  2. ^ U Kyaw Min (n.d.), Appendix II

[edit] Sources

  • U Kyaw Min (n.d.). Introducing Buddhist Abhidhamma: Meditation and Concentration. Retrieved 2007-06-21 from "Tipitaka,

der Pali Kanon des Theravāda-Buddhismus" at http://www.palikanon.com/english/intro-abhidhamma/book_i.htm.


Preceded by
Ṣaḍāyatana
Twelve Nidānas
Sparśa
Succeeded by
Vedanā
Languages