As Gunas

THE INDIAN AND BUDDHIST ELEMENTS, AND THE GUN.AS

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The Chândogya Upanis.ad contains the earliest Indian view of the elements. There are three: 1) fire (agni), 2) water (ap), & 3) earth (prithivi). These emanate in sequence from each other. Fire is associated with oil, butter, and fat, while earth is associated with all other kinds of food. Each, as food, gives rise to three bodily subdivisions: Fire into bone, marrow, and speech; water into urine, blood, and prân.a (breath); and earth into feces, flesh, and mind.

The three elements of the Chândogya Upanis.ad effectively correspond to the three gun.as of the Sankya School and the Bhagavad Gita , with a change in sequence. The three gun.as are the three forces of nature in Sankhya thought, which, even more, are the causes of everything that happens, of which the true Self (âtman/purus.a) is only the spectator, and the sources of attachment and bondage, the causes of rebirth in the natural or phenomenal world (prakr.ti). Water corresponds to sattva, the desire for knowledge and goodness, associated with the color white and the Brahmin caste; fire corresponds to rajas, the desire for action, associated with the color red and the Ks.atriya caste; and earth corresponds to tamas, sloth, associated with the color brown (or black) and the Vaishya (or Shudra) caste (or the Untouchables). Eventually the theory of the gun.as is widely accepted in orthodox philosophy, and the association or the correspondence to the theory of the elements is lost.

Element	Color	Foods	Body	Gun.a	Caste
1. Fire	red	oil, butter, and fat	bone, marrow, & speech	2. Rajas	2. Ks.atriyas
2. Water	white	water	urine, blood, & prân.a (breath)	1. Sattva	1. Brahmins
3. Earth	black	other foods	feces, flesh, & mind	3. Tamas	3. Vaishyas, 4. Shudras, & 5. Untouchables

Later other elements are added. Fire itself comes to be seen as emanating from air (vâyu), which is later seen to emanate from "aether" (âkâsha). These are similar enough to the Greek elements, and their introduction occurs late enough, that Greek influence cannot be discounted. Despite the additions, numerical systematizations (e.g. "three kinds of food," etc.) tend to use the number three, but often with a somewhat distinct fourth element: three twice born varnas (brahmins, ks.atriyas, & vaishyas), with a fourth varna (shudras); three Vedas (R.g, Sama, & Yajur), with a fourth (Atharva).

In Buddhism, the fifth element could be interpreted differently from Hinduism. The Sanskrit word , used for "aether," could also mean "sky" or "clear space." This could be the equivalent of "emptiness" (shunyata) in Buddhism, and the fifth element in Buddhism is consequently often given as "space" or the "void." The five Buddhist elements were subsequently exported with Buddhism itself to China and countries influenced by China , viz. Japan, Korea, and VIETINAM. The five Buddhist elements in the Far East thus should not be confused with the original five elements of Chinese philosophy. The colors associated with the Buddhist elements below are out of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Another version exists in which the white and blue are reversed. These can actually be combined, as shown, with the "body" one color but the "light" the other. I have also seen Mâmakî and Locanâ reversed (and spelled differently, e.g. Rocanî), and Âkâshadhâtu as Vajradhâteshvarî.

THE BUDDHIST ELEMENTS & ASSOCIATIONS
element	VOID	WATER	EARTH	FIRE	AIR
Buddhas	Vairocana (Nainichi, Jp.)	Aks.obhya	Ratnasambhava	Amitâbha (Amida, Jp.)	Amoghasiddhi
Shaktis (Tibet)	Âkâsha- dhâtu	Locanâ	Mâmakî	Pân.d.arâ	Târâ
Bodhisattvas, male	--	Maitreya (Miroku, Jp.)	Âkâshagarbha (Kokuzô, Jp.)	Avaloki- teshvara	Vajrapân.i
		Ks.iti- garbha (Jizô, Jp.)	Samatabhadra	Mañjushrî	Dîpanî
Bodhisattvas, female		Lâsyâ	Mâlâ	Gîtâ	Gandha
		Pushpâ	Dhûpa	Âloka	Naivedya
Buddha Function	Buddha nature, approach	wisdom to realize, raising	condition to practice, cultivating	fruit of: Boddhisattva	fruit of: Nirvâna
wisdom	dharma- realm	great perfect mirror	non-discrim- inating	subtle observation	accomplishing
family	buddha	vajra, thunderbolt	gem/jewel, ratna	lotus, padma	action, karma
emblem	stûpa	five prong vajra	gem/jewel	lotus	three prong vajra, vishvavajra
jewels	sapphire	diamond	gold	ruby	emerald
bright colors	white body	blue body	yellow	red	green
	blue light	white light
soft colors	white	smoky	blue	yellow	red
direction	center	east	south	west	north
shape	almond	sphere	square	triangle	crescent
seed words	kha (void)	vaktva (word)	anutpâda (unborn)	raja (dust)	hetva (origin)
aggregates	cognition/ consciousness	form	sensation	conception/ perception	emotion/ volition
consciousness	--	store	defiled mind	mental	five senses
mudrâ	teaching	earth- touching	giving	meditation	fearlessness
mantra	om.	hûm.	tram.	hrîh.	âh.
throne	lion	elephant	horse	peacock	garud.a
bodily constituents	crown	navel	knee	chest	brow
organs	mind	ears	eyes	nose	tongue/body
objects	--	sounds	sights	smells	tastes/textures
poisons	delusion	anger	pride	lust	envy
	ignorance	hatred	envy	craving	pride
post-mortem	day 1	day 2	day 3	day 4	day 5
realms	gods	hells	human	hungry ghosts	demons
OTHER BUDDHIST FIVES, ASSOCIATIONS UNCERTAIN
virtues	kindness	goodness	respect	economy	altruism
offenses	matricide	patricide	killing an Arhat	wounding the Buddha	disrupting the Sangha
precepts	no killing	no theft	chastity	sobriety	no lying
pungent roots	garlic	ginger	scallions/ chives	leeks	onions
Lotus Sutra	Myô-	hô-