Āyatana
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| Translations of ṣaḍāyatana | |
|---|---|
| English | six cognitive functions, six sense bases, six sense spheres |
| Sanskrit | ṣaḍāyatana |
| Pali | saḷāyatana |
| Chinese | 六入, 六処 (Pinyin: liùrù) |
| Japanese | 六入, 六処 (Rōmaji: rokunyū, rokusho) |
| Korean | 육입, 육처 (RR: yuk-yip, yuk-tcher) |
| Tibetan | skye.mched |
| Tagalog | ayatana |
| Thai | อายตนะ (RTGS: ayatana) |
| Vietnamese | lục nhập |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
In Buddhism, āyatana (Pāli; Sanskrit: आयतन) is a "center of experience" or "mental home," which create one's experience. The term saḷāyatana (Pāli; Skt. ṣaḍāyatana) refers to six cognitive functions, namely sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, body-cognition, and mind-cognition.
Āyatana may refer to both ordinary experience and the chain of processes leading to bondage, as to awakened experience centered in detachment and meditative accomplishment. The Buddhist path aims to relocate one from the ordinary, sensual centers of experience to the "mental home" of the purified, liberated awareness of the jhanas.
Traditionally, the term āyatana is translated as "sense base", "sense-media" or "sense sphere," due to the influence of later commentators like Buddhaghosa. The saḷāyatana are traditionally understood as referring to the five senses and the mind.