Part 10 - Contact: When Self Collides with the World
“With the coming together of the three —
sense base, object, and consciousness —
there is contact.”
— MN 148
What is contact?
Contact (phassa) is the event where:
- A sense base (eye, ear, etc.)
- An object (sight, sound, etc.)
- Consciousness (seeing, hearing, etc.)
collide.
This collision produces:
- recognition
- relevance
- urgency
The mind says:
“This matters to me.”
Contact is the impact point of existence.
The spark of reactivity
With contact comes:
- pleasant
- unpleasant
- neutral
Feeling (vedanā) ignites instantly.
Before thought, before storyline—
there is already:
- attraction
- resistance
- indifference
Emotion begins here.
Why contact is the battlefield
Contact forces a stance:
- move toward
- move away
- hold steady
This is where:
- desire forms
- fear appears
- identity defends itself
Where there is contact,
there is the potential for suffering.
Because contact says:
“Here is something.”
And ignorance says:
“Here is something for me.”
The self vs. the world illusion
Contact gives rise to:
- “I feel this”
- “This affects me”
- “I must respond”
The body sets a boundary.
Contact pressures that boundary.
Thus:
- experience becomes personal
- world becomes adversarial
- life becomes struggle
The entire emotional drama begins at contact.
How to work with contact
Liberation does not require eliminating contact.
It requires removing misidentification.
Train to see:
- feeling arise without ownership
- sensations occur without a self behind them
The root delusion is not contact—
but the claim over contact.
Culmination Link for Part 10
Contact is where:
- the physical event of sensing becomes
- the emotional event of suffering
Because:
Contact makes the world feel real.
Ignorance makes the world feel personal.
Cut ownership of contact →
feeling loses its fuel →
the chain weakens.
Dependent Origination continues only if:
- the world collides
- and a self claims the collision
Without that claim →
the chain collapses at the moment of impact.