The fourth of the five carita-viśodhana practices, corresponding to the māna-carita (conceit-temperament) practitioner. Analysis of the six elements — pṛthivī (earth), ap (water), tejas (fire), vāyu (air), ākāśa (space), vijñāna (consciousness) — each treated in inward (ādhyātmika) and outward (bāhya) aspect. The body-parts list, the piṇḍa-saṁjñā (lump-perception) dissolution, and the temperament rationale for why conceit yields to elemental analysis (the body that conceit clings to disclosed as a temporary aggregate of impersonal elements).
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Sanskrit
English
pṛthivīdhāturabdhātustejodhāturvāyudhāturākāśadhāturvijñānadhātuśca |
the earth element, water element, fire element, wind element, space element, and consciousness element.
Asanga gives a six-element scheme rather than the four-great-element analysis dominant in the Theravada tradition. The six adds space (ākāśa) and consciousness (vijñāna), giving a complete decomposition of the embodied person, not just the physical body. This follows MN 140 (Dhātuvibhaṅga) and MN 62 (Mahā-Rāhulovāda) rather than VSM Ch 11.
tatrādhyātmiko yadasminkāye adhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ khakkhaṭaṁ kharataramupādattaṁ |
The inward earth element: whatever in this body, internally, individually, is hard or harsh, taken up [into experience].
upādatta — 'taken up, appropriated' — is technical. It marks the element-instance that has become part of a being through the appropriation-process of consciousness. The body's hard parts are upādatta earth; external rocks are not. The practice is to see that, whether or not upādatta, it is still earth.
bāhyaḥ punaḥ pṛthivīdhāturyadbāhyaṁ khakkhaṭaṁ kharagatamupagatamupādattaṁ |
The outward earth element: whatever externally is hard, has gone to hardness, has come to be taken up.
tadyathā keśā, romāṇi, nakhā, dantā, rajo, malaṁ, tvaṅmāṁsamasthi, snāyuḥ, sirā, vṛkkaṁ, hṛdayaṁ, plīhakaṁ, klomamantrāṇyantraguṇāḥ |
Hair of the head, body hair, nails, teeth, dust, dirt, skin, flesh, bone, sinew, vein, kidney, heart, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery;
Same body-parts list as the aśubhā section, but here framed as instances of the earth element rather than objects of disgust. A key Yogācāra point: the same observation can serve as either aśubhā (antidote to lust) or dhātu-prabheda (antidote to pride), depending on how it is held.
yakṛtpurīṣamayamucyate ādhyātmikaḥ pṛthivīdhātuḥ |
liver, feces. This is called the inward earth element.
kāṣṭhāni vā, loṣṭhāni vā, śarkarā vā, kaṭhillā vā, vṛkṣā vā, parvatāgrā vā, iti vā punaranyo 'pyevaṁbhāgīyaḥ ayamucyate bāhyaḥ pṛthivīdhātuḥ |
Wood, clods, gravel, pebbles, trees, mountain-peaks — and anything else of this kind. This is called the outward earth element.
yadadhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ snehaḥ snehagataṁ |
Whatever, internally, individually, is liquid or has gone to liquidity;
āpaḥ abdhātumupagatamupādātuṁ abdhātugatamupagatamupādattaṁ |
whatever has gone to the water element and been taken up.
vasā, lasīkā, majjā, medaḥ, pittaṁ, śleṣmā, pūyaḥ, śoṇitaṁ, mastakaṁ, mastakaluṅgaṁ, prasrāvaḥ, ayamucyate ādhyātmiko 'bdhātuḥ |
fat, lymph, marrow, grease, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, brain, cranial fluid, urine. This is called the inward water element.
yadbāhyamāpaḥ apgataṁ, snehaḥ snehagatamupagatamupādattaṁ |
Whatever externally is water or has gone to water; whatever is moist and has come to be taken up.
tatpunarutso vā, sarāṁsi vā, taḍāgā vā, nadyo vā, prasravaṇāni vā, iti yo vā punaranyo 'pyevaṁbhāgīyo 'yamucyate bāhyo 'bdhātuḥ |
Springs, lakes, ponds, rivers, fountains — and anything else of this kind. This is called the outward water element.
yadadhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ tejastejogatamūṣmā ūṣmāgatamupagatamupādattaṁ |
Whatever, internally, individually, is fire or heat, has gone to fire or heat, has come to be taken up.
tadyathā yadasminkāye tejo yenāyaṁ kāya ātapyate |
Namely: the fire in this body by which the body is heated,
Four functions of inward fire enumerated: general bodily warmth (ātapyate), feverish heat (saṁtapyate), burning sensation (paritapyate), and digestive heat (paripākaṁ gacchati). The last function is the standard pakkācchaka of the Pali commentaries.
yena cāśitapītakhāditasvāditaṁ samyaksukhena paripākaṁ gacchati |
by which what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted goes to proper digestion with ease;
yasya cotsadatvāt jārito jārita iti saṅkhyāṁ gacchati |
and by which, when in excess, a person comes to be described as 'burning, burning.'
yadbāhyaṁ tejastejogatamūṣmā ūṣmāgatamupagatamupādattaṁ |
Whatever externally is fire or heat, has gone to fire or heat, has come to be taken up.
tatpunaryanmanuṣyā araṇīsahagatakebhyo gomayacūrṇebhyaḥ samanveṣante |
That which men obtain from fire-sticks together with cow-dung powder;
nagaraṁ vā, nagarapradeśaṁ vā, janapadaṁ vā, janapadapradeśaṁ vā, dvīpaṁ vā, kakṣaṁ vā, dāvaṁ vā, kāṣṭhaṁ vā, tṛṇaṁ vā, gomayaṁ vā dahan paraiti |
a city, part of a city, a country, part of a country, an island, a thicket, a forest, wood, grass, or cow-dung — burning these, it goes on.
yadapyadhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ vāyurvāyugataṁ |
whatever, internally, individually, is wind or has gone to wind —
laghutvaṁ samudīraṇatvamupagatamupādattaṁ |
that which is lightness, motion, come to be taken up.
sa punaḥ santyasminkāye ūrdhvaṁgamā vāyavaḥ, adhogamā vāyavaḥ, pārśvaśayā vāyavaḥ |
Furthermore, in this body there are: upward-going winds, downward-going winds, side-resting winds;
vāyvaṣṭhīlā vātāṣṭhīlā vāyavaḥ |
[Conjectural]: wind-stretching winds (vāyv-aṣṭhīlā, vātāṣṭhīlā);
vāyv-aṣṭhīlā / vātāṣṭhīlā — 'wind-stretching' or 'knotty winds' (uncertain). Likely refers to localized rigidity or knotted winds in Indian medical analysis.
kṣurakapippalakaśastrakā vāyavaḥ |
[Conjectural]: razor-pippal-blade winds (sharp, stabbing pains);
kṣuraka-pippalaka-śastrakā — 'razor-pippal-blade winds.' Hapax legomenon; the precise referent is uncertain. Translated conjecturally as sharp, stabbing pains attributed to disturbed wind.
yadbāhyaṁ vāyurvāyugataṁ laghutvaṁ, samudīraṇatvaṁ |
Whatever externally is wind or has gone to wind — that lightness and motion,
santi bahirdhā pūrvā vāyavo, dakṣiṇā vāyavaḥ |
There are externally: eastern winds, southern winds,
sarajaso vāyavaḥ, arajaso vāyavaḥ, parīttā mahadgatā vāyavaḥ, viśvā vāyavo, vairambhā vāyavaḥ vāyumaṇḍalakavāyavaḥ |
dust-bearing winds, dustless winds, small winds, great winds, miscellaneous winds, hurricane (vairambha) winds, wind-circle winds.
bhavati ca samayaḥ yanmahān vāyuskandhaḥ samudāgataḥ vṛkṣāgrānapi pātayati |
There is a time when a great mass of wind has accumulated and topples even tree-tops,
pātayitvā nirupādāno nirgacchati |
having toppled them, it goes on without appropriation.
nirupādāno nirgacchati — 'it goes on without appropriation.' The great wind that fells trees and walls is described as not appropriated — silently underscoring the elemental point: the great wind is the same kind of thing as the breath in your nose; one is upādatta, the other is not, but the element is the same.
ye sattvāścīvarakarṇikena vā paryeṣante, tālavṛntena vā, vidhamanakena vā |
There are beings who seek [wind] using a corner of the robe, a palm-leaf fan, or a bellows.
iti vāyuranyo 'pyevaṁbhāgīyaḥ |
Such, and anything else of this kind, is [the outward] wind element.
yaccakṣuḥsauṣiryaṁ vā, śrotrasauṣiryaṁ vā, ghrāṇasauṣiryaṁ vā, mukhasauṣiryaṁ vā, kaṇṭhasauṣiryaṁ vā |
The cavities of the eye, ear, nose, mouth, and throat;
iti yo vā punarapyevaṁbhāgīyaḥ ayamucyate ākāśadhātuḥ |
and anything else of this kind. This is called the space element.
yaccakṣurvijñānaṁ śrotraghrāṇajihvākāyamanovijñānaṁ |
Eye-consciousness; ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-consciousness;
tatpunaścittaṁ manovijñānaṁ ca |
That, further, is mind (citta) and mind-consciousness (mano-vijñāna).
The line does not introduce a full later Yogācāra eight-consciousness scheme. After listing the six sense-consciousnesses, it glosses the consciousness element more generally as citta and mano-vijñāna. Treat this as a compact consciousness-element definition, not as a separate doctrinal taxonomy of citta/manas/vijñāna.
tatra mānacaritaḥ pudgala imaṁ dhātuprabhedaṁ manasi kurvan kāye piṇḍasaṁjñāṁ vibhāvayati |
The conceit-conduct person, attending to this analysis of elements, dispels the perception of the body as a unified lump.
Māna-carita is kept as conceit-conduct, matching the conduct-label style in the surrounding practice chapters. Piṇḍa-saṁjñā is the perception of the body as one solid thing, the implicit 'this is me' that conceit hooks into. Vibhāvayati means 'dispels, breaks down' this lump-perception. Once the body is perceived as six elements in their inward and outward forms, there is no unified entity to claim ownership of.
aśubhasaṁjñāṁ ca pratilabhate |
He also obtains the perception of unattractiveness;
The practice has a useful side-effect: aśubha-saṁjñā arises naturally as well. Dhātu-prabheda is dual-purpose — primary antidote to pride, secondary antidote to lust. A practitioner whose primary issue is pride but who also struggles with attraction can use this practice as covering both grounds.
na ca punastenonnatiṁ gacchati |
and no longer becomes elevated [proud] through [the body].