Where Consciousness is Quieted

Where consciousness is quieted, immeasurable, all-radiant, that’s where earth, water, fire, and wind find no footing. There both long and short, small and great, fair and foul - There "name-and-form" are wholly destroyed.

With the elimination of consciousness this is all destroyed.

(Reference: DN 11)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares that to eliminate existence is accomplished through the elimination of the consciousness.

During the lifetime of The Buddha and now in traditional medicine, the body is described through The Four Elements. The body is categorized into four (4) different elements such as: earth, water, fire, and wind. Each of these is used to describe the characteristics of the body.

Earth is the solids of the body. For example, hair, teeth, bones, finger and toe nails, etc.

Water is the liquids of the body. For example, tears, saliva, pus, urine, blood, etc.

Fire is the temperature of the body. For example, the heat that is generated to sustain the body. This element is also connected with the process of digestion.

Wind is the movement within the body. For example, the movement of food and feces through the intestines of the body.

Space is the lack of any other of The Four Elements. For example, the voids or empty spaces in the body like the nasal cavity or other locations where there is nothing that exists.

The Four Elements are used in traditional medicine to understand symptoms of illness and provide remedies to the patient.

Not only can the human body be described through The Four Elements, but we can also describe any physical object through The Four Elements as all material objects have a combination of The Four Elements.

The question The Buddha explains is appropriate for the Student to ask is “where are "name-and-form" wholly destroyed?”.

Name-and-form relate to the physical body. The question the Student is asking is “how is this physical existence eliminated?”.

The Buddha teaches the following about “name-and-form” in other discourses of his Teachings.

————

And what, Monks, is name-and-form?

Feeling, perception, volitional formation, contact, consciousness: this is called name. The four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements: this is called form. Thus this name and this form are together called name-and-form.

————-

Name-and-form is describing the physical body and what makes “a being a being”.

It is through the elimination of consciousness that a Practitioner eliminates existence in The Cycle of Rebirth. This is further explained in The Buddha’s Teachings on Dependent Origination.

Detailed explanation of Dependent Origination is available in this same book series found in Chapter 14 of the book “The First Stage of Enlightenment (Stream-Enterer)” (Volume 5).