(Sanskrit; Pāli, phassa; contact). Technical term in Buddhist psychology referring to the contact between an organ of sense, such as the eye, and its corresponding object, such as a visible form. In an intact organism, the contact between the two gives rise to a particular kind of consciousness (vijñāna), for example, eye-consciousness or the experience of seeing (cakṣu-vijñāna), ear consciousness or the experience of hearing (śrota-vijñāna), etc. Sparśa thus denotes the moment when the mind makes contact with the external world. This experience can trigger off a chain of either wholesome or unwholesome mental states (for example, the perception of a pleasant form may lead to desire and craving (tṛṣṇā) for the object perceived. Buddhist psychology emphasizes the need for constant mindfulness (smṛti) in order to monitor—and when necessary interrupt—negative chains of consciousness which may follow an initial sensory contact. The function of sparśa is illustrated by its position in the twelvefold scheme of Dependent Origination (pratītya-samutpāda): as the sixth link, it arises in dependence on the six sense-bases (ṣad-āyatana) and conditions feeling (vedanā). Sparśa is also one of the four nutriments (āhāra).
Sparśa
| Buddhism Dictionary: sparśa |
| Wikipedia: Sparśa |
| The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha) according to the Pali Canon. |
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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]
See also
Notes
Sources
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising (SN 12.2). Retrieved 2007-06-20 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/samyutta/sn-12-002-tb0.html.
- 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 |
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 | āyatana |
| bodhimaṇḍa |
| bhūmi-sparśa-mudrā |
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