________________ 53 Sautrantika and Abhidharmika In theo Ayatana-vibhanga, the Sb. is very short. The twelve ayatanas are enumerated and described in a single line as impermanent, miserable, non-ego and subject to change. No further details or even definitions of the ayatanas are given, as it is not customary for the Sutras to furnish them. The Ab. is more exhaustive Here the twelve ayatanas are defined and presented in full detail. The term dhammayatana, for instance, is nowhere fully explained in the Suttas. It is a name given to dhammas which are exclusively the objects of mind. They are five : vedana, chetana, sanna, sankhara, anidassana-appatigha rupa and asarkhata dhatu (nirvana). Of these, the last two items are variously explained in different schools. The Theravadins and the Sautrantikas do not recognise a kind of matter called avijnapti, but the Vaibhashikas maintain its existence by referring to the term 'anidarsana-apratigha-rupa'. The skandha division does not include the nirvana but in the ayatana classification even that'non-phenomenal element is included. The Theravadins and the Vaibhashikas hold it a positive element, whereas the Sautrantikas, on the authority of several sutras, maintain that it is only a name for the cessation of passions. Both the Vibhanga-Atthakathaa and Bhashya: contain long controversies on this topic. It is quite possible that this was a later development introduced by the Abhidharmika schools. The Sb. of the Dhatu-vibhanga points to an important phase in the development of the dhatu classification. Three different sets of six dhatus are enumerated here. The first six consist of the elements of solid, liquid, heat, motion, space and consciousness. These are explained here as in the Rahulovada-sutta. The second six consist of five kinds of feelings with ignorance as the sixth element. The third six consists of three kinds of wrong thoughts and their three opposites. It may be noted here that the oft-repeated formula of the eighteen dhatus is not given under the suttanta explanation, 1 Vbh. p. 70. 2 Vbh. A. pp. 551-4. 3 See LVPAK, II. 55d.
