Buddha Abhidhamma - Ultimate Science - BuddhaNet

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Fire in Water and Water in Fire!
Now a dust particle or the whole earth is made up of avinibbhogaråpas.
So the earth must contain all the eight råpas viz., pathavã,
àpo, tejo, vàyo, vaõõa, gandhà, rasa and ojà; of these pathavã is
predominant.
Similarly, water must also contain all the eight avinibbhogaråpas,
but here àpo is predominant. As water contains tejo – the
element of fire, we may say there is fire in water.
In the same way, fire must contain all the eight avinibbhogaråpas,
tejo being predominant. As fire contains àpo – the element
of water, we may say that fire contains water.
The Abhidhamma statement that ‘water contains fire and
fire contains water’ is not in disagreement with the facts of
science. We know that water contains heat which is the same
substance as fire. Also in burning of wood or paper, which is
cellulose containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, heat is
evolved due to the combination of carbon with oxygen forming
carbon dioxide and also due to the combination between
hydrogen and oxygen forming water. The intense mass of heat
appears as a flame which really contains water-vapour.
Råpa-samuññhàna
(The Causes of Material Phenomena)
There are four causes which produce råpa. They are:
kamma, citta, utu & àhàra.
1 Material Phenomena arising from Kamma
There are 25 types of kamma which produce råpa
internally in the bodies of beings for their own
continuity of material phenomena. The 25 types of