- By Vipassana Research Institute
The Buddha talked about different types of vedanā (sensations). In the paṭiccasamuppāda, the chain of conditioned arising he taught:
Saḷāyatana-paccayā phasso, phassa-paccayā vedanā.1
With the base of the six senses, contact arises; with the base of contact, sensation arises.
He explained the six types of sensations depending on sense contact: 2
- Cakkhu-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of eye contact.
- Sota-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of ear contact.
- Ghana-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of nose contact.
- Jivha-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of tongue contact.
- Kāya-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of body contact.
- Mano-samphassajā vedanā—sensation arising out of mind contact.
Of these six types of vedanā, this Vipassana tradition gives foremost importance to kāya-samphassaja vedanā. The importance of kayika vedanā (body sensations) is explained in numerous suttas in the Pali texts—Pathamākasa Sutta3, Āgāra Sutta4 etc. In the Abhidhamma text Paṭṭhāna, it is stated that by means of vedanā, phala-samāpatti,5 nibbāna (liberation) is attained.
There are several reasons for this. First, the Buddha emphasised continuity of practice in Vipassana sampajaññaṃ na rincati 6—not missing sampajañña even for a moment. In order to maintain this continuity, we need an object which is with us continuously. The contact of the eye with form and the arising of cakkhu-samphassajā vedanā is not continuous, nor are sota-samphassajā vedanā, ghana-samphassajā vedanā, jivha-samphassajā vedanā, and mano-samphassajā vedanā. But kāya-samphassajā vedanā is ever present, day and night, throughout life. Vedanā arises with contact, and the contact of mind and body is always taking place, as is the mutual contact of the subatomic particles within the body. This constant contact of kāya-samphassajā vedanā serves as an effective tool for maintaining continuity of awareness and has, therefore, been given prime importance in the Vipassana tradition. Secondly, a beginner in Vipassana meditation will easily be able to comprehend and experience the kāya-samphassajā vedanā compared to the other five since it is more tangible and has a more extended field for observation. Thirdly, whether it is cakkhu-samphassajā vedanā or sota-samphassajā vedanā or ghana-samphassajā vedanā or jivha-samphassajā vedanā or mano-samphassajā vedanā, they are all based on the body. For example, even though we strike a gong only at a particular point, the sound then resonates throughout the gong; similarly, even though a person experiences cakkhu-samphassajā vedanā due to contact at the eye door, it will spread and be felt in the whole body. In the same way, sota-samphassajā vedanā, ghana-samphassajā vedanā, jivha-samphassajā vedanā, and mano-samphassajā vedanā are all experienced throughout the body, since they all are based on the body (kāya), including the last one, for which the base is the hadaya vatthu (mind base), a part of the body.
It is evident from the above that we cannot ignore bodily sensation if we wish to observe ourselves in totality. It is for this reason that a fully enlightened person like Gotama the Buddha was unable to teach the Dhamma (vipassanā) to his former teachers Āḷāra Kālāma and Uddaka Rāmaputta, from whom he learnt the seventh and eighth jhāna and who had taken birth in the arūpabrahma-loka (formless worlds). For a person like the Buddha, access to these worlds was not impossible, nor was it impossible to communicate the teaching mentally to beings of these planes of existence. However, the fact that these beings in the arūpabrahma-loka do not experience bodily sensation prevented the Buddha from teaching the Dhamma to them.
We as human beings are composed of nāma (mind) and rūpa (matter), and in order to attain nibbāna (liberation), which is a state beyond nāma and rūpa, we have to work with both. If we work only with mental feeling and ignore bodily sensation, then we will know only the sphere of mind, and the sphere of rūpa will be left unexplored. But when we work with the bodily sensation, then we are also definitely exploring the field of the body, and with it the sphere of the mind will also be explored, since vedanā is felt by the mind. Thus, kāya-samphassaja vedanā is essential for the exploration of the totality of mind and matter (pariññā) and thus also essential for liberation.
Notes: (All references are to the VRI edition.)
- Mahāvagga (Vinaya Piṭaka) 1 Bodhikathā
- Saṃyutta Nikāya 2.4.270 Vedanāsaṃyuttaṃ, Aṭṭhasatasuttaṃ
- Ibid. 2.4.260 Paṭhamaākāsasuttaṃ
- Ibid. 2.4.262 Agārasuttaṃ
- Paṭṭhāna 1.1.423
- Saṃyutta Nikāya 2.4.251 Pahānasuttaṃ