Dear friends,

this is out of topic, but I think it is interesting to know that in
ancient Chinese philosophy, there are five elements that made up the
physical phenomenon: metal, wood, water, fire, earth. (This has
influenced the Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese to the extent that
both Chinese and Indian sets of elements co-exist side by side in
all these countries until modern Chemistry provides us the correct
understanding of the material world.) That leads me to wonder if
there is any rationale behind the similarity of Indian and Greek
thoughts.

Of course, in the context of this sutta, the Buddha had gone beyond
interpreting all objects as a composition of these elements. In
fact, as I know of, there are suttas in which the Buddha mention
that all materials can be broken down to particles so small that the
naked eye cannot observe, this is much closer to modern idea of
subatomic particles. The idea of using the four elements in this
sutta is to highlight the importance of detachment from self.

metta,
Yong Peng

> For "tejo", would you say that "fire" is a better word that "heat"

as Buddhadatta explains tejodhaatu as the element of heat? As I know
about what the ancient Indians and Greeks' understanding of the
universe, earth, water, air and fire make up the physical world, and
have physical manifestations in the cartoon Captain Planet.