The Tree of Enlightenment

ply have subjective and objective forms of experience.
In the classification and enumeration of matter in the Abhidharma,
matter is divided into twenty-eight elements. e four
primary elements, or four essentials of matter, are simply called
earth, water, fire, and air. However, earth might better be called
‘the principle of extension or resistance’; water, ‘the principle of
cohesion’; fire, ‘the principle of heat’; and air, ‘the principle
of motion or oscillation.’ ese are the four primary buildingblocks
of matter. From them are derived the five physical sense
organs and their objects.
In this context, as well as in the context of the five aggregates,
matter refers not only to our bodies but also to the physical
objects of experience that belong to the external world. Beyond
organs and their objects, matter is also present in masculinity
and femininity, in the heart, or the principle of vitality, and
in nourishment. ere are also six further elements of matter,
which are: the principle of limitation or space, the two principles
of communication (bodily communication and verbal communication),
lightness, softness and adaptability. Finally, there are
four elements that are termed ‘characteristics’: production, duration,
destruction, and impermanence.
ere are thus twenty-eight components of matter or, to be
more precise, of material experience, in all: the four essentials,
the five sense organs and their corresponding objects, the two
dimensions of sexuality, vitality, nourishment, space, the two
forms of communication, lightness, softness and adaptability
and the four characteristics.
Let us look more closely at the four essentials in terms of
their reality as sensory qualities. It is important to remember
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