It is this inclusion of the sense of mental activity that wowed me so much on first reading the Heart Sutra.
On May 13, 2011 10:17 AM, "ED" <[email protected]> wrote: Five senses or six senses? --ED *"Ayatana* is a Buddhist term that has been translated as "sense base," "sense-media," or "sense sphere." In Buddhism, there are six *internal*sense bases (also known as, "organs", "gates", "doors", "powers" or "roots") and six *external * sense bases (or "sense objects"; also known as "domains"). Thus, there are six internal-external (organ-object) pairs of sense bases: - eye and visible objects - ear and sound - nose and odor - tongue and taste - body and touch - mind and mental objects Buddhism, as well as other Indian epistemologies, identifies six "senses" as opposed to the Western identification of five. In Buddhism, "mind" denotes an internal sense organ which interacts with sense objects that include sense impressions, feelings, perceptions and volition. *Salayatana* refers to all six sense objects and six sense organs and is generally used in the context of the Twelve Causes of the chain of Dependent Origination." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana
