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The five skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli) are the five "aggregates" which categorize or constitute all individual experience according to Buddhist phenomenology. An important corollary in Buddhism is that a "person" is made up of these five aggregates, beyond which there is no "self." In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or otherwise clings to an aggregate; hence, suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. The Mahayana tradition further puts forth that ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the instrinsically empty nature of all aggregates. Outside of Buddhist didactic contexts, "skandha" can mean mass, heap, bundle or tree trunk. Definition Buddhist doctrine describes five aggregates: external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs. sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral. registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).
(a) In the Nikayas: cognizance. (b) In the Abhidhamma: a series of rapidly changing interconnected discrete acts of cognizance. (c) In Mahayana sources: the base that supports all experience. See Table 1 for examples of definitional references to the aggregates in Buddhist primary sources. In the Pali canon, the aggregates are causally related as follows:
Theravada perspectives Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000b, p. 840) states that an examination of the aggregates has a "critical role" in the Buddha's teaching for multiple reasons, including: Below, excerpts from the Pāli literature will bear out Bhikkhu Bodhi's assessment. Sufferings ultimate referent In the Buddha's first discourse, the "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta" ("The Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth Discourse," SN 56:11 *), he provides a classic elaboration on the first of his Four Noble Truths, "The Truth of Suffering" (Dukkhasacca): "The Noble Truth of Suffering (dukkha), monks, is this: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with the unpleasant is suffering, dissociation from the pleasant is suffering, not to receive what one desires is suffering — in brief the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering." Boldface added. (Trans. from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera, 1999 *.) According to Thanissaro (2002): "Prior to the Buddha, the Pali word khandha had very ordinary meanings: A khandha could be a pile, a bundle, a heap, a mass. It could also be the trunk of a tree. In his first sermon, though, the Buddha gave it a new, psychological meaning, introducing the term 'clinging-khandhas' to summarize his analysis of the truth of stress and suffering. Throughout the remainder of his teaching career, he referred to these psychological khandhas time and again."* In what way are the aggregates suffering? For this we can turn to Khandhavagga suttas. Future sufferings cause The Samyutta Nikaya contains a book entitled the "Khandhavagga" ("The Book of Aggregates") compiling over a hundred suttas related to the five aggregates. Typical of these suttas is the "Upadaparitassana Sutta" ("Agitation through Clinging Discourse," SN 22:7), which states in part: "...The instructed noble disciple ... does not regard form or other aggregates as self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form. That form of his changes and alters. Despite the change and alteration of form, his consciousness does not become preoccupied with the change of form.... Through non-clinging he does not become agitated." (Trans. by Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 865-866.)
But how does one become aware of and then let go of ones own identification with or clinging to the aggregates? Below is an excerpt from the classic Satipatthana Sutta that shows how traditional mindfulness practices can awaken understanding, release and wisdom. Release through aggregate-contemplation In the classic Theravada meditation reference, the "Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta" ("The Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse," MN 10), the Buddha provides four bases for establishing mindfulness: body (kaya), sensations (vedana), mind (citta) and mental objects (dhamma). When discussing mental objects as a basis for meditation, the Buddha identifies five objects, including the aggregates. Regarding meditation on the aggregates, the Buddha states: "How, monks, does a monk live contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five aggregates of clinging? "Herein, monks, a monk thinks, 'Thus is material form; thus is the arising of material form; and thus is the disappearance of material form. Thus is feeling; thus is the arising of feeling; and thus is the disappearance of feeling. Thus is perception; thus is the arising of perception; and thus is the disappearance of perception. Thus are formations; thus is the arising of formations; and thus is the disappearance of formations. Thus is consciousness; thus is the arising of consciousness; and thus is the disappearance of consciousness.' "...Or his mindfulness is established with the thought, 'Mental objects exist,' to the extent necessary just for knowledge and mindfulness, and he lives detached, and clings to nothing in the world. Thus also, monks, a monk lives contemplating mental objects in the mental objects of the five aggregates of clinging." (Nyanasatta, trans., 1994.) Thus, through mindfulness contemplation, one sees an "aggregate as an aggregate" -- sees it arising and dissipating. Such clear seeing creates a space between the aggregate and clinging, a space that will prevent or enervate the arising and propagation of clinging, thereby diminishing future suffering. As clinging disappears, so too notions of a separate "self." In the Mahasunnata Sutta ("The Greater Discourse on Emptiness," MN 122), after reiterating the aforementioned aggregate-contemplation instructions (for instance, "Thus is form; thus is the arising of form; and, thus is the disappearance of form"), the Buddha states: "When he a monk abides contemplating rise and fall in these five aggregates affected by clinging, the conceit 'I am' based on these five aggregates affected by clinging is abandoned in him...." (Nanamoli & Bodhi, 2001, p. 975.) In a complementary fashion, in the Buddha's second discourse, the Anattalakkhana Sutta ("The Characteristic of Nonself," SN 22:59), the Buddha instructs: "Monks, form is nonself. For if, monks, form were self, this form would not lead to affliction, and it would be possible to manipulate form in the following manner: 'Let my form be thus; let my form not be thus....' Identical statements are made regarding feeling, perception, volitional formations and consciousness. "...Seeing thus for instance, through contemplation, monks, the instructed noble disciple becomes disenchanted with form and the other aggregates.... Being disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion his mind is liberated." (Bodhi, 2005, pp. 341-2.) As seen below, the Mahayana tradition continues this use of the aggregates to achieve self-liberation. Mahayana perspectives In one of Mahayana Buddhism's most famous declarations, the aggregates are referenced: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form." What does this mean? To what degree is it a departure from the aforementioned Theravada perspective? Moreover, more generally, how are the aggregates used in the Mahayana literature? These questions are addressed below. The intrinsic emptiness of all things The classic "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Heart Sutra") begins: The Bodhisattva Avalokita, while moving in the deep course of Perfect Understanding, shed light on the five skandhas and found them equally empty of self. After this penetration, he overcame all pain. From its very first verse, the Heart Sutra introduces an alternative practice and worldview to the Theravada perspective of the aggregates: In the Heart Sutra's second verse, after rising from his aggregate meditation, Avalokiteshvara declares: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness." Thich Nhat Hanh interprets this statement as: "Form is the wave and emptiness is the water.... Wave is water, water is wave.... These five aggregates contain each other. Because one exists, everything exists." Red Pine comments: "That form is empty was one of the Buddha's earliest and most frequent pronouncements. But in the light of Prajnaparamita, form is not simply empty, it is so completely empty, it is emptiness itself, which turns out to be the same as form itself.... All separations are delusions. But if each of the skandhas is one with emptiness, and emptiness is one with each of the skandhas, then everything occupies the same indivisible space, which is emptiness.... Everything is empty, and empty is everything. Tangibility and transcendence Commenting on the Heart Sutra, D.T. Suzuki notes: "When the sutra says that the five Skandhas have the character of emptiness ..., the sense is: no limiting qualities are to be attributed to the Absolute; while it is immanent in all concrete and particular objects, it is not in itself definable." That is, from the Mahayana perspective, the aggregates convey the relative (or conventional) experience of the world by an individual, although Absolute truth is realized through them. Vajrayana perspectives The Vajrayana tradition further develops the aggregates in terms of mahamudra epistemology and tantric reifications. The truth of our insubstantiality Referring to mahamudra teachings, Chogyam Trungpa (Trungpa, 2001, pp. 10-12; and, Trungpa, 2002, pp. 124, 133-4) identifies the form aggregate as the "solidification" of ignorance (Pali, avijja; Skt., avidya), allowing one to have the illusion of "possessing" ever dynamic and spacious wisdom (Pali, vijja; Skt. vidya), and thus being the basis for the creation of a dualistic relationship between "self" and "other." According to Trungpa Rinpoche (1976, pp. 20-22), the five skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe experience as a five-step process" and that "the whole development of the five skandhas...is an attempt on our part to shield ourselves from the truth of our insubstantiality," while "the practice of meditation is to see the transparency of this shield." (ibid, p.23) Bardo deity manifestations Trungpa Rinpoche writes (2001, p. 38): "Some of the details of tantric iconography are developed from abhidharma that is, in this context, detailed analysis of the aggregates. Different colors and feelings of this particular consciousness, that particular emotion, are manifested in a particular deity wearing such-and-such a costume, of certain particular colors, holding certain particular sceptres in his hand. Those details are very closely connected with the individualities of particular psychological processes." Perhaps it is in this sense that the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Fremantle & Trungpa, 2003) makes the following associations between the aggregates and tantric deities during the bardo after death: Relation to other Buddhist concepts Other fundamental Buddhist concepts associated with the five skandhas include: It is through the five skandhas that the world (samsara) is experienced, and nothing is experienced apart from the five skandhas. It is through the five skandhas that impermanence (anicca) is experienced, that suffering (duhkha) arises, and that "non-self" (anatta or anatman) can be realized.
The Twelve Nidanas describe twelve phenomenal links by which suffering is perpetuated between and within lives. It is through the five skandhas that clinging (upadana) occurs, a pivotal link in this endless chain of suffering. The eighteen dhatus function through the five aggregates. The eighteen dhatus can be arranged into six triads, where each triad is composed of a sense organ, a sense object and sense consciousness. In regards to the aggregates: See also Notes Bibliography | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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