Từ Điển Thuật Ngữ Phật Học Hán Ngữ

guṇa, in Sanskrit inter alia means ‘a secondary element’, ‘a quality’, ‘an attribute of the five elements’, e.g. ‘ether has śabda or sound for its guṇa and the ear for its organ’. In Chinese it means ‘dust, small particles; molecules, atoms, exhalations’. It may be intp. as an atom, or matter, which is considered as defilement; or as an active, conditioned principle in nature, minute, subtle, and generally speaking defiling to pure mind; worldly, earthly, the world. The six guṇas or sensation-data are those of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thought.