[495] **"When form has vanished, contacts do not touch"** — **"Form"**: the four great elements (mahābhūta) and the form derived from the four great elements (upādāyarūpa). **"When form has vanished"**: form has vanished for four reasons: by vanishing through being known (ñātavibhūta), by vanishing through being judged (tīraṇavibhūta), by vanishing through being abandoned (pahānavibhūta), and by vanishing through being transcended (samatikkamavibhūta).
How has form vanished by vanishing through being known? One knows form; one knows and sees thus: "Whatever form there is, all form is the four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements." Thus form has vanished by vanishing through being known.
How has form vanished by vanishing through being judged? Having thus made it known, one judges form: as impermanent, as suffering (dukkha), as a disease, as a boil, as a dart, as misery, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as a calamity, as a disaster, as peril, as an obstruction, as unstable, as breakable, as not lasting, as without protection, as without shelter, as without refuge, as empty, as vain, as void, as not-self, as danger, as subject to change, as without core, as the root of misery, as murderous, as subject to annihilation, as accompanied by taints (āsava), as conditioned, as Māra's bait, as subject to birth, as subject to aging, as subject to illness, as subject to death, as subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair, as subject to defilement; one judges it by way of its origin, by way of its passing away, by way of its gratification, by way of its danger, by way of the escape from it. Thus form has vanished by vanishing through being judged.
How has form vanished by vanishing through being abandoned? Having judged it thus, one abandons desire and lust (chandarāga) for form, dispels it, makes an end of it, brings it to non-existence. For this was said by the Blessed One: "Bhikkhus, whatever desire and lust there is for form, abandon it; thus it will be abandoned, cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, brought to non-existence, of a nature not to arise again in the future." Thus form has vanished by vanishing through being abandoned.
How has form vanished by vanishing through being transcended? For one who has obtained the four formless attainments, forms have vanished, been made to disappear, been passed beyond, transcended, gone beyond. Thus form has vanished by vanishing through being transcended. For these four reasons form has vanished.
**"When form has vanished, contacts do not touch"**: when form has vanished, been made to disappear, been passed beyond, transcended, gone beyond, the five contacts do not touch: eye-contact, ear-contact, nose-contact, tongue-contact, and body-contact. Hence, "When form has vanished, contacts do not touch." Therefore the Blessed One said:
Contact is dependent upon name and form;
possessions have desire as their source;
when desire does not exist, there is no calling anything "mine";
when form has vanished, contacts do not touch.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.