Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

this and that organ to the earth one. The elements are
only treated in relation to analyses, such as: for analysis
of the "person" into the five skandhas, for
impermanence meditation, for diseases caused by
imbalance of four out of the six elements, the first two
of the Four Noble Truths (suffering and the arising of
suffering), for the fourth (mind and form) and the fifth
(the six sense-bases) links of conditioned co-production,
or for the analysis into the twelve ayatanas (six
sense-bases plus their sense-objects); but all these are
only thought about for the purpose of analysis. No
Hinayana doctrine really takes the opportunity to utilize
the four great elements.
b. In Mahayana, there are two great schools:
i. The Idealists (Vijnanavada), who do not allow any
elements outside the mind, for all phenomena are, they
say, consciousness.
ii. The Middle Way followers (Madhyamika) who do
not say that all the elements are consciousness. In their
philosophy of bhutatathata they seem to include all the
elements, though again, they do not take advantage of
them.
While the Idealist school lays more stress on
consciousness, the Middle Way School emphasizes
suchness, and both seem to be monistic systems.
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