Dhammas are divided and subdivided into many groups. Those that
are essential to psychophysical existence are the 5 components
(Sanskrit: skandhas; Pali: khandhas), the 12 bases (Pali and
Sanskrit: ayatanas), and the 18 sensory elements (Pali and
Sanskrit: dhatus). The 5 skandhas are rupa (Pali and Sanskrit),
materiality, or form; vedana, feelings of pleasure or pain or the
absence of either; sanna (Pali), cognitive perception; sankhara
(Pali and Sanskrit), the forces that condition the psychic activity
of an individual; and vinnana (Sanskrit: vijnana), consciousness.
The 12 ayatanas comprise the five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose,
tongue, and body) and the mind (manas), as well as the five related
sense fields (sights, sounds, odours, tastes, and tangibles) and
objects of cognitionthat is, objects as they are reflected in
mental perception. The 18 elements, or dhatus, include the five
sense organs and the mano-dhatu (Pali and Sanskrit: mind
element), their six correlated objects, and the consciousnesses
(Pali: vinnana) of the sense organs and manas.
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche -[A] Lets sort this out once and for all! When we
talk about kham, at the moment we are talking about this special
kind of kham, the rig kham, the Buddha-nature kind of element. But
usually kham is used to refer to the elements more generally, the
18 dhatus. There are the six outer kham: form, sound, smell, taste,
feeling, and phenomena. These are the outer elements, and they are
explained in detail if we study the abhidharma. Then there are six
inner elements: the eye, ear, nose etc., and in between there are
the six types of consciousness (namshey ): the eye consciousness,
ear consciousness etc. The point here is that scientists are
usually talking about the outer dhatus and even among these, they
dont usually talk about the dhatu of Dharma, as then they would be
talking about mind. But now we are talking about abhidharma, and
all phenomena that we can perceive exist within these 18 dhatus or
kham. Some phenomena have only one or two of these 18 elements.
Some, like us, have all of them. For instance, a stone might only
have the form element. But even just the form element is also
divided into the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
So Buddhists also believe that a stone has many of these elements,
for example the fire element, the moisture element to hold it
together, gravity and so on. That is all acceptable. And each of
these dhatus has some kind of movement, some kind of function.
Theyre not permanent and unchanging. For example, when the sun
rises, the lotus opens. I dont know the detailed explanation, but
there must be some kind of communication between the fire element,
the moisture element and so on. But this kind of movement does not
mean that this phenomenon has all the 18 dhatus.
Scientists have discovered many things like DNA, and these are all
totally
acceptable to Buddhists. But there is something that scientists
havent found yet, which Vasubandhu and all the early Buddhist
metaphysicists have found. There are other types of phenomena that
dont have most of the 18 dhatus, just one or two. But instead of
only having inanimate elements, they only have animate elements,
such as consciousness. This corresponds to certain god realms,
where they dont have form, colour, moisture or any of that.
Similarly, bardo beings dont necessarily have all 18 dhatus. They
may only have one or two, but these are typically the more
animate ones, the inner or in-between dhatus. So if we compare
a phenomenon that has only one kham or dhatu, and a phenomenon that
has all the 18 kham, they are different. They function differently.
We have all 18 dhatus and the Buddha-nature, but to be
referred to as animate, a being only has to have the 12 ayatanas
the 12 inner and in-between dhatus or kham.
Lets say that a stone has the form element. As I said, form
includes earth,
water, fire and all that. Now if one of these sub-elements is
reduced, such as the water element, then perhaps the stone will
disintegrate. But this doesnt mean that the stone has mind dhatu,
the consciousness dhatu. This is what the Buddhists would say.
There is scientific support for this view too. For example, the
difference between chimpanzees and humans in terms of our DNA is
very small we are 99% exactly the same. But look at how big the
difference is between us, even with just these few molecules of
DNA! Phenomena are incredible! They are really beyond our
comprehension. For example, cats have only two vowels but they can
still have a conversation with each other!
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