On one occasion the Venerable Ānanda was dwelling at Kosambī in Ghosita’s Park. Then the householder Ghosita approached the Venerable Ānanda … and said to him: “Venerable Ānanda, it is said, ‘diversity of elements, diversity of elements.’ In what way, venerable sir, has the diversity of elements been spoken of by the Blessed One?”

“Householder, there exists the eye element, and forms that are agreeable, and eye-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as pleasant, a pleasant feeling arises. There exists the eye element, and forms that are disagreeable, and eye-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as painful, a painful feeling arises. There exists the eye element, and forms that are a basis for equanimity, and eye-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as neither-painful-nor-pleasant, a neither- painful-nor-pleasant feeling arises.

“Householder, there exists the ear element … the nose element … the tongue element … the body element … the mind element, and mental phenomena that are agreeable, and mind-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as pleasant, a pleasant feeling arises. There exists the mind element, and mental phenomena that are disagreeable, and mind-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as painful, a painful feeling arises. There exists the mind element, and mental phenomena that are a basis for equanimity, and mind-consciousness: in dependence on a contact to be experienced as neither-painful-nor-pleasant, a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling arises.

“It is in this way, householder, that the diversity of elements has been spoken of by the Blessed One.”