Concretely produced matter

In Abhidhamma analysis, matter (*rūpa*) is divided into different categories based on how it arises. One such category is concretely produced matter — physical phenomena that come into existence through specific generative causes rather than purely mental or karmic conditions.

Concretely produced matter arises primarily from four causes:

• Kamma: Past intentional actions that give rise to physical formations at the moment of rebirth.
• Mind (citta): Mental activity that influences physical processes, such as bodily movement initiated by intention.
• Temperature (utu): Environmental conditions that sustain and influence bodily and external matter.
• Nutrients (āhāra): Physical sustenance that supports the continued existence of the body.

These processes operate together to sustain the ongoing manifestation of the physical body and the material world. Importantly, none of this matter possesses independent or enduring existence; it arises momentarily, changes continuously, and dissolves, entirely dependent on these conditioning factors.

By analyzing matter in this way, attachment to the body weakens. What appears as solid and enduring is revealed as a momentary interplay of forces, devoid of ownership or substance. The practitioner comes to see that even the physical world, so often taken as the foundation of reality, is a shifting, conditioned process — impermanent and empty of self.

This insight fosters dispassion, loosening the grasping that binds one to suffering and further becoming.

“Just as form arises from causes and conditions, so too does it cease when those conditions fade. There is nothing here to call ‘mine.’”
— Abhidhamma teaching