 They are sensorial typologies, and are not metaphysically materialistic.They are not meant to give an account of matter as constitutive of external, mind-independent reality.Very few scholars of (virtual) meta-analysis (of Theravada Buddhism and science) adopt a broader view of the rest of Buddha's concepts about the four mahābhūtas, which leads to an idea that they should not be rigidly translated to earth or solid, water or liquid, air or gas, and fire or plasma.