DiscoverName

Nametopic View in explorer

9 discourses
Feeling, perception, intention, contact, and attention — the elementary acts of recognition and designation — are referred to as ‘name.’
Also known as: mentality
Pāli: nāma
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Felt experience
Perception

Perception

topic

The mental process of recognizing and giving meaning to experience. It marks sensory information by signs, labels, or associations drawn from memory and the field of contact. Perception shapes how one experiences the world. It is the third of the five aggregates.

Also known as: recognition, conception
Pāli: sañña
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Contact

Contact

topic

The meeting of sense faculty, sense object, and the corresponding consciousness—the convergence of three. Contact is where experience actually touches: from it arise feeling, intention, and perception, and it is the pivotal link between the sense bases and the rest of mental life. It is one of the factors of name (mentality) and a central node in dependent origination.

Also known as: sense impingement, sense impression
Pāli: phassa
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Form

Form

topic

Materiality—the four great elements and the form derived from them—encompassing both one’s body and external objects, whether near or far, gross or subtle. It is that which is affected: by cold and heat, hunger and thirst, and contact with the world.

Also known as: material form, materiality, material existence
Pāli: rūpa
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Radical attention

Radical attention

☀️ bright quality

The active, deliberate steering of the mind away from habitual, automated reaction patterns. It is the wise steering of attention based on a theme of the Dhamma.

Also known as: wise steering of attention, root-level attention, attention to the structural source, contextual reflection
Pāli: yonisomanasikāra
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Superficial attention

Superficial attention

☁️ dark quality

The passive, automatic drifting of the mind into habitual, automated reaction patterns. It is the unskillful steering of attention based on the enticing or repulsive surface features of an object.

Also known as: unwise steering of attention, content-bound reflection
Pāli: ayonisomanasikāra
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Featured Discourses

MN 9 Sammādiṭṭhi sutta - Right ViewUnderstanding name and form, its arising and cessation, is part of right view

The venerable Sāriputta delivers a comprehensive exposition on “Right View,” detailing sixteen ways a noble disciple achieves clarity in the Dhamma. By understanding the wholesome and unwholesome, nutriments, the Four Noble Truths, dependent origination, and the taints—including their arising and cessation—a disciple abandons underlying tendencies and realizes the cessation of suffering.

PTS 1.46–1.54

SN 12.2 Vibhaṅga sutta - Analysis of Dependent Co-ArisingWhat constitutes name and form?

The Buddha analyzes each of the twelve links of dependent co-arising, and explains how there is an arising and ending of this entire heap of suffering.

PTS 2.2–2.3

SN 1.20 Samiddhi sutta - With SamiddhiBeings are established in the nameable

Urged by a deity to enjoy youth before time passes, Samiddhi brings her inquiry to the Buddha, who reveals how being established in the nameable leads one to come under death’s yoke.

PTS 1.8–1.12

SN 1.61 Nāma sutta - Nameverse

What overcomes everything? What is it that nothing excels? What is the one thing that has everything under its sway?

PTS 1.39

SN 12.65 Nagara sutta - The CityConsciousness does not go beyond name and form

The Buddha recounts how he attained full awakening by examining the principle of dependent co-arising. He likens this realization to a man discovering an ancient, forgotten city.

PTS 2.104–2.106

SN 12.67 Naḷakalāpī sutta - Sheaves of ReedsName and form <-> consciousness

Using the famous simile of two sheaves of reeds leaning against each other, venerable Sāriputta explains the reciprocal conditioning of consciousness and name-and-form.

PTS 2.112–2.114

SNP 5.1 Ajitamāṇavapucchā - Ajita’s Questionshow to overcome name

The venerable Ajita asks the Buddha a series of questions about the nature of the world, the currents of defilements, how to overcome name and form and the conduct of those who have comprehended the Dhamma.

PTS 190–196

AN 6.61 Majjhe sutta - MiddleName is the first end

A number of elder bhikkhus are discussing the meaning of the Buddha

PTS 3.399–3.401

SNP 5.11 Jatukaṇṇimāṇavapucchā - Jatukaṇṇi’s Questionsverse

The venerable Jatukaṇṇi asks the Buddha on how to attain the state of peace and abandon birth and old age. The Buddha advises him to remove greed for sensual pleasures by seeing renunciation as safety, and to cease all grasping related to name and form in the past, future, as well as present.

PTS 211