six elements

upekka

in budhist writing we find six elements,

water,fire, earth, air, space and consciousness

anything and everything is a mixer of earth, water, air and fire elements

they are within the space

when the consciousness involve in these 'anything and everything' it is called Being

i hope you would agree to the above

or

if you do not agree

why?

and

what else do you know about six elements?

Toraldris

"Element" has taken on another meaning in our time. Knowing what things are made of is an area we've excelled in. As far as Buddhism goes, we should focus on the cessation of suffering... that's where the Buddha's Dharma excels!

upekka

@AldrisTorvalds said:
Little point in constraining ourselves in 'elements'

i do not see so

because to understand Rupaupadanaskanda-Form aggregates we need to investigate the elements too

Better to focus on the cessation of suffering, that's where Buddhism excels!

True

but without paying attention to five aggregate of clinging how do we focus on the cessation of suffering?

Toraldris

I didn't say little point in constraining ourselves in elements; I said little point in constraining ourselves to ancient understandings of what things are made of when we've come so much further in modern times.

I edited my post to make it more clear, an action which is "doubly undone" when someone tries to re-create what I said... incorrectly.  

pegembara

True

but without paying attention to five aggregate of clinging how do we focus on the cessation of suffering?

A rephrase would be, without knowing to how we create the world(loka) from our experiences and then cling to it, there is no way to end dukkha.

But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering & stress without reaching the end of the world. Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the world, the origination of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the world."
Rohitassa Sutta

lobster

In the Buddhist meditation practice I was taught, five elements are used:
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/post/31454196568/elements

Using superseded teachings such as Rasayana or alchemy to understand how the world is constructed is naive. Using it as a symbolic exploration of our interior elements still has value.

It is helpful to have a little skilful discernment in our usage of ancient understanding . . . .

Zenshin

@AldrisTorvalds‌ I'm afraid I have to disagree, I was once reading anthology of the pali canon where the Buddha talked about the elements that made up the body. When he got to the earth element I span out and saw I didn't own my bones anymore than I owned the trees or rocks in the garden. There was a happiness that followed that transcended anything earthly and lasted for hours, a little taste of liberation if you like.

Cinorjer

The people who wrote the sutras, whether it was said by Buddha or some devout monk in Buddha's name, lived in a world before telescopes, microscopes, or knowledge of cells and genes and the atomic chart and such arrived. All they had was their naked eyes and the human mind, and I think Buddhists did a wonderful job working with what they had. For one thing, unlike Western alchemists, they treated space itself as an element. But they lived in a world where the monk was likely to carry around a book of magic spells along with his sutras. http://earlytibet.com/2011/09/23/two-frogs-a-thousand-years-apart/

I have to remind myself of that when I read the sutras. There were great minds limited by what they could observe in the world.

seeker242

@upekka said:
what else do you know about six elements?

That the terms earth, air, fire, etc. are not supposed to be taken literally as we commonly do in normal modern day speaking. For example, "fire" does not mean just the red stuff on top of a lit candle. "Fire element" describes various things that function in a particular manner, have particular qualities and are sensed in a particular manner. "Earth element" describes various things that function in another particular manner, have other particular qualities and are sensed in another particular manner.

From wikipedia.

"Matter, or rūpa, is defined in terms of its function; what it does, not what it is"

The "six elements" don't only describe what things are made of, AKA "what it is", but more importantly how they function in the world and how they are experienced by us.

Some people sometimes say that the Buddhist descriptions of the elements are wrong and outdated because of scientific advancements, etc. But that is only true is you first use a wrong interpretation of the Buddhist descriptions to begin with.

The purpose of the Buddhist elements descriptions is to help one gain insight into their nature in that they are constantly arsing and passing away, with nothing substantial remaining constant. Ultimately, to gain insight into the "three marks of existence", impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha) and non-self (Anatta).

That is how I think of them anyway.

DairyLama

@upekka said:
what else do you know about six elements?

This might be of interest: http://www.wildmind.org/six-elements

DairyLama

@Cinorjer said:
I have to remind myself of that when I read the sutras. There were great minds limited by what they could observe in the world.

The 6 elements still have remarkable resonance from an experiential point of view. When was the last time you observed an atom? :0