āyatana
Sense bases
[ aa-YAA-ta-na ]
Seeing it in life
Eye–visible form, ear–sound, nose–odour, tongue–taste, body–touch, mind–mental object. Twelve in all.
In short
Six internal and six external bases of cognition.
The analysis
The twelve āyatanas pair six internal bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) with six external bases (visible form, sound, odour, taste, touch, mental object) — the complete framework within which all cognition occurs, since nothing is known outside one of these twelve. The scheme is deliberately exhaustive: whatever can be experienced falls under an external āyatana, and whatever does the experiencing falls under an internal one.
Where it sits
Āyatana is expanded into the eighteen dhātus by adding the six corresponding consciousnesses, and contact is specifically defined as the meeting of an internal āyatana, its corresponding external āyatana, and the arising consciousness.
Every single experience, without exception, resolves into one of these twelve — a thought is mind meeting a mental object, a sound is ear meeting sound; the framework's completeness is part of its analytical point.
Commonly mistaken for
Physical organs alone. The internal āyatanas are closer to the sensitive capacity than the gross physical organ, and the mind-base has no physical organ at all.
A hierarchy, with some bases more fundamental than others. All twelve are equally necessary components of the same exhaustive scheme.
Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha VII; Sabba Sutta (SN 35.23).
Related terms