The Relation of Human Existence and External World in Theravada Buddhism

Abstract

Although the life of a human being is essentially constituted of the five khandhas as already explained, nevertheless we are in a particular state of diary life or worldly experiences not directly concerned with them; we are practically ignorant of them as they are not essential. But in reality they still function as they really are. The reason for this is that normally the process of living is mostly related to the world or the life in connection with the world, that which is classified under two parts, namely, (i) that part of perceiving or receiving the world through the six sense-doors, viz., eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind, which exist for the purpose of apprehending or sensing the world as appearing to human beings in various ways. These are formally called the ‘six sense objects’ (ārammanas), viz., visible object, sound, smell, taste, touch and mental object ; and (ii) Another part is that of performing with the world by the way of three channels of action, viz., body (kāyadvāra), speech (vacīdvāra) and mind (manodvāra), for reacting to the world in the three ways of ‘bodily action’ (kāyakamma),‘verbal action’(vacīkamma) and mental action (manokamma).