| The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha) according to the Pali Canon. |
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| Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001) | diagram details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sparśa (Sanskrit) or Phassa (Pāli) is a Buddhist term meaning "contact" or "touching" or "sense impression".
Synonyms:
Sparśa refers to the contact between the sense & sense-objects (aytana) and sense-consciousness (vijnana). In the Pali Canon are six "classes" of contact: eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, body-contact and mind-contact.[1] Thus, for instance, when an ear and sound are present, the associated consciousness (Pali: viññāṇa) arises. The arising of these three elements (dhātu) – ear, sound and ear-related consciousness – lead to what is known as "contact" (phassa)[2]
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.[3]
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 |
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