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These are : (1) The flowers upon their heads begin to decay ; (2) their eyes grow dim and move uneasily in fear of the change which they know must come ; (3) the lustre of their bodies begins to fade ; (4) perspiration begins to exude from under their arms ; (5) they listlessly absent themselves from their proper places. In the various Buddha ksetras the pleasures are even greater and more lasting, but of a less sensual nature. Most of the pleasure is of a spiritual nature, and consists of listening to the holy law. According to the older schools of Buddhism, these Buddha ksetras themselves are not permanent and life therein is only the preparation for Nirvana or Buddhahood, but in the Shin sect of Japan rebirth into Sukhavati is itself the highest goal, and is final and complete happiness. PART II COSMIC ANALYSIS Subjective and Objective Classification. We now come to the consideration of the ultimate elements into which the Buddhists thought the universe could be decomposed — a subject which promises to be of greater interest. Here, at the very outset, we are faced with a very curious situation, for we find a two-fold analysis of the universe, one subjective and the other objective. In the former instance the nature of any one personality is examined, and by a process of analysis the seemingly unified personality is broken up into a number of component parts, which are ultimate or elemental, and since every personality is a microcosm closely corresponding to the macrocosm it follows that the component parts of the personality are also the component parts of the universe. The objective classification is merely a re-arrangement of these component factors in a more scientific way, i.e. by examining the whole universe, irrespective of any one personality. It follows from this that the objective and subjective classifications are mutually inclusive, and that the difference between them is merely one of standpoint. In point of fact the origin of the two categories is due to the peculiar nature of the Buddhist historical development. Primitive Buddhism was founded upon an agnostic basis,1 certainly as regards the external world. The Buddha declined to state whether it was infinite or finite, whether it is eternal or non-eternal. Consequently, for primitive Buddhism a complete list of the elements of being, approached from an objective point of view, was impossible. Nevertheless, a certain amount of subjective analysis was permitted, and, in fact, encouraged. In order to eliminate 1 Cf. especially the agnostic passages from the Sutra Pitaka collected by Warren in his B. in Trans., chap. 2. G 82 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY the belief in the atman as taught by the Upanisads, the Buddha is said to have stated that the personality is not a unit, but a compound of various factors, such as the material body, consciousness, feeling, ideas, volitions, etc. In the early days little further analysis seems to have been attempted. But this was sufficient start for the Indian mind, always given to analytical subdivisions. Each of the main groups became many times divided, until a very complex chart of the factors of life was eventually tabulated. Once this had been done, it is easy to understand how the next stage, the re-grouping of these component parts from the objective point of view, came to be undertaken. The early agnostic position of primitive Buddhism was soon neglected,1 and, the categories already enumerated including all forms of life and all aspects of the external universe, it soon became obvious that it was more logical to re-arrange the categories in such a way as to form a complete philosophic analysis of the factors of being. We see, therefore, that the subjective analysis was earlier and less systematic than the objective analysis, and that subsequently the latter tended, as more logical, to over shadow the forme\ Having been embodied in the sutras, however, the subjective classification was never lost sight of, and we find that occasionally the later philosophers, including Buddhaghosa, preferred to revert to the earlier grouping, although acknowledging the validity of the objective classification. (A) THE SUBJECTIVE CLASSIFICATION Owing to its priority in point of time, and also to its greater simplicity, it is advisable to consider the subjective classification first. This consists of three categories, viz. 2 : — 1 See e.g. f. 30 of A.K., where some of the older agnostic passages con cerning the soul are used by Vasubandhu to deny its existence. 2 C.P. gives these categories but scant attention, but they are enumerated pp. 182-3. An excellent discussion of each category from the Pali point of view will be found in Mrs. Rhys Davids' Buddhist Psychology, where original sources are quoted. COSMIC ANALYSIS 83 1. The Five Skandhas. 2. The Twelve Ayatanas. 3. The Eighteen Dhatus. In the present instance it is more convenient to consider the five skandhas as one division and the twelve ayatanas and the eighteen dhatus as a second division.1 1. The Five Skandhas General Discussion. The five skandhas constitute the component parts of a personality, though, certainly in later Buddhism, they are not ultimate factors, inasmuch as each of them is subject to sub division. It is probable that the very name implies that each of them was considered a complex group rather than a unit, for the word means heap, collection, group. Vasubandhu (A.K. 1-146) cites the following passage from the sutras : " All things possessed of form, whether past, present, or future, whether internal or external, whether coarse or fine, whether mean or great, whether distant or near — all such things constitute one skandha, called the rupa skandha." " All the ultimate factors are classified into five groups or skandhas, and these five groups constitute the personality. This doctrine of the five skandhas is undoubtedly very old. Frequent mention is made of them in the sutras, where they are chiefly cited in disproof of the atman theory. The soul (atman) is not, nor is it the possessor of, the body, feelings, ideation, etc. In fact, there is no soul at all, but the personality consists of these groups and nothing more. Nowhere in the sutras is there a categorical or logical definition of the five skandhas, and it would seem as if each of the terms taken separately formed part of the common property of contemporary Indian thought, and that the only 1 For Sarvdstivddins see especially A.K., the whole of the first and second fasc. ; Sang. Par. 6-la ; D.Sk., f. 17 for indriyas, f. 18 for ayatanas, and f. 19 for skandhas. For Yogdcdrins see especially P.Sk. and P.Sk.Vai. ; Ab. Sam. San., 1-16 ff. V. M. S., like C. P., pays little attention to the subjective classification. 84 MANUAL OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY originality displayed by Buddhism was the doctrine that these skandhas and nothing more constituted the personality. Unfortunately, for us the names of the five skandhas are not so illuminating as they seem to have been to the ancient Indians, and we find in the Occident a wide variety of terms used to translate them. The names and arrangement of the skandhas is almost invariably as follows :— 1. Rupa. 3. Samjna. 2. Vedana. 4. Samskara. 5. Vijnana. 1. Rupa, literally form or shape (sometimes colour), corresponds roughly to our matter, and in the personality implies the physical body. Among the many other definitions are ruppati ( = whence rupa), a most difficult word to translate, but which implies " subject to transformation ", "affected", "disturbed", "disintegrating", "modified" (A.K. l-10a). The other definition, more in accord with our own ideas on the subject, is " that which resists " or " impenetrable ". Primitive Buddhism gives no definite subdivision of this skandha, other than that stated in the verse quoted above, but we know that the term rupa referred to the matter constituting our own and other bodies, as well as inanimate matter. An enumeration of the thirty-two parts of the body is frequently given, of which the five sense organs are the most important, while external matter is also given a five-fold classification (corresponding to the five sense organs). We know, moreover, that all matter, whether internal or external, was supposed to be derived from the four elements, earth, water, fire, and air, which constitute the four ultimate states of matter.1 The Sthaviravadins subdivided matter a little more systematically.2 Four divisions were ultimate or non- 1 Cf.