Phassa — Contact
In Pali, phassa** means “contact” — not physical touch, but the **moment three things meet**:
→ a sense organ (e.g., eye),
→ an object (e.g., colour),
→ consciousness (e.g., seeing-awareness).
No contact? No feeling. No reaction. No suffering.
Role in dependent origination
Phassa is the sixth link:
saḷāyatana → phassa → vedanā…
“With the six sense bases as condition, contact arises…”
— Saṃyutta Nikāya 12.1
Practical meaning
Notice this right now:
→ You’re reading these words → eye + text + seeing-consciousness = phassa.
→ A thought arises → mind + memory + thinking-consciousness = phassa.
This is where the chain can be broken.
Pause at contact — before feeling turns into craving.