The five sets that insight practice works over — aggregates, sense bases, elements, faculties and the four noble truths — named in full.
- When chanted
- Chanted among the general chants, following the Abhidhamma material, which it restates as the ground for practice.
A note on this chant. The book prints this chant in Pali only, with no Thai translation. The English here is a working translation prepared for this edition — it is not the book's own, and has not yet been checked by a teacher.
Historical background
วิปัสสะนาภูมิ means the grounds, or the terrain, of insight. This is not a teaching about how to practise insight but a list of what insight examines — the ground it is to be worked over.
Nothing in it is new. Every one of the five sets appears elsewhere in this book, and the aggregates were set out a few pages earlier in the Abhidhamma extracts. What this chant does is gather them into one place and fix their order.
Meaning and purpose
The five sets are given from the coarsest analysis to the finest. The five aggregates. Then the twelve sense bases, each sense paired with its object, with mind counted as a sense and mental objects as its field. Then the eighteen elements, which are those same twelve with the consciousness that arises at each added — seeing counted alongside eye and form.
Then the twenty-two faculties, which take in not only the senses but life itself, femininity and masculinity, and the feelings; and last the four noble truths. The order is the argument. Each set divides the same experience more finely than the one before it, and the truths come last because they are what all the dividing was for.
This is why it is worth reciting a list. Insight in this tradition is not a mood or a state that arrives, but attention paid to specified things in a specified order. The chant is that specification, held in the memory where it can be reached for.
The chant
As the book prints it: page 43 →
ปัญจักขันธา: รูปักขันโธ, เวทะนากขันโธ, สัญญากขันโธ, สังขารักขันโธ, วิญญาณักขันโธ
pañcakkhandhā: rūpakkhandho, vedanākkhandho, saññākkhandho, saṅkhārakkhandho, viññāṇakkhandho
The five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness
ท๎วาทะสายะตะนานิ จักข๎วายะตะนัง รูปายะตะนัง, โสตายะตะนัง สัททายะตะนัง, ฆานายะตะนัง คันธายะตะนัง, ชิวหายะตะนัง ระสายะตะนัง, กายายะตะนัง โผฏฐัพพายะตะนัง, มะนายะตะนัง ธัมมายะตะนัง,
dvādasāyatanāni cakkhvāyatanaṃ rūpāyatanaṃ, sotāyatanaṃ saddāyatanaṃ, ghānāyatanaṃ gandhāyatanaṃ, jivhāyatanaṃ rasāyatanaṃ, kāyāyatanaṃ phoṭṭhabbāyatanaṃ, manāyatanaṃ dhammāyatanaṃ,
The twelve sense bases: the eye base and the form base, the ear base and the sound base, the nose base and the odour base, the tongue base and the taste base, the body base and the tangible base, the mind base and the mental-object base,
อัฏฐาระสะ ธาตุโย: จักขุธาตุ รูปะธาตุ จักขุวิญญาณะธาตุ, โสตะธาตุ สัททะธาตุ โสตะวิญญาณะธาตุ, ฆานะธาตุ คันธะธาตุ ฆานะวิญญาณะธาตุ, ชิวหาธาตุ ระสะธาตุ ชิวหาวิญญาณะธาตุ, กายะธาตุ โผฏฐัพพะธาตุ กายะวิญญาณะธาตุ, มะโนธาตุ ธัมมะธาตุ มะโนวิญญาณะธาตุ.
aṭṭhārasa dhātuyo: cakkhudhātu rūpadhātu cakkhuviññāṇadhātu, sotadhātu saddadhātu sotaviññāṇadhātu, ghānadhātu gandhadhātu ghānaviññāṇadhātu, jivhādhātu rasadhātu jivhāviññāṇadhātu, kāyadhātu phoṭṭhabbadhātu kāyaviññāṇadhātu, manodhātu dhammadhātu manoviññāṇadhātu.
The eighteen elements: the eye element, the form element, the eye-consciousness element; the ear, sound and ear-consciousness elements; the nose, odour and nose-consciousness elements; the tongue, taste and tongue-consciousness elements; the body, tangible and body-consciousness elements; the mind, mental-object and mind-consciousness elements.
พาวีสะตินท๎ริยานิ: จักขุนท๎ริยัง, โสตินท๎ริยัง, ฆานินท๎ริยัง, ชิวหินท๎ริยัง, กายินท๎ริยัง, มะนินท๎ริยัง, อิตถินท๎ริยัง, ปุริสินท๎ริยัง, ชีวิตินท๎ริยัง, สุขินท๎ริยัง, ทุกขินท๎ริยัง, โสมะนัสสินท๎ริยัง, โทมะนัสสินท๎ริยัง, อุเปกขินท๎ริยัง, สัทธินท๎ริยัง, วิริยินท๎ริยัง, สะตินท๎ริยัง, สมาธินท๎ริยัง, ปัญญินท๎ริยัง, อะนัญญะตัญญัสสามีตินท๎ริยัง, อัญญินท๎ริยัง, อัญญาตาวินท๎ริยัง.
bāvīsatindriyāni: cakkhundriyaṃ, sotindriyaṃ, ghānindriyaṃ, jivhindriyaṃ, kāyindriyaṃ, manindriyaṃ, itthindriyaṃ, purisindriyaṃ, jīvitindriyaṃ, sukhindriyaṃ, dukkhindriyaṃ, somanassindriyaṃ, domanassindriyaṃ, upekkhindriyaṃ, saddhindriyaṃ, vīriyindriyaṃ, satindriyaṃ, samādhindriyaṃ, paññindriyaṃ, anaññatañassāmītindriyaṃ, aññindriyaṃ, aññātāvindriyaṃ.
The twenty-two faculties: the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind faculties; the femininity, masculinity and life faculties; the faculties of pleasure, pain, joy, grief and equanimity; the faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom; the faculty "I shall come to know the unknown", the faculty of final knowledge, and the faculty of one who has final knowledge.
จัตตาริ อะริยะสัจจานิ ทุกขัง อะริยะสัจจัง, ทุกขะสะมุทะโย อะริยะสัจจัง, ทุกขะนิโรโธ อะริยะสัจจัง, ทุกขะนิโรธะคามินีปะฏิปะทา อะริยะสัจจัง.
cattāri ariyasaccāni dukkhaṃ ariyasaccaṃ, dukkhasamudayo ariyasaccaṃ, dukkhanirodho ariyasaccaṃ, dukkhanirodhagāminīpaṭipadā ariyasaccaṃ.
The four noble truths: suffering is a noble truth, the origin of suffering is a noble truth, the cessation of suffering is a noble truth, the way leading to the cessation of suffering is a noble truth.
วิปัสสะนาภูมิปาโฐ นิฏฐิโต
vipassanābhūmipāṭho niṭṭhito
Here ends the Passage on the Grounds of Insight.