The Five Skandhas

The Five Skandhas, commonly translated as the Five Aggregates, are often referred to as a method in which to define and examine one’s person, personality and self. As a whole, however, the aggregates are used as a method for communicating and understanding the causes of suffering and how to eventually escape suffering and samsāra. A large factor in escaping suffering and samsāra is coming to terms with the perpetual impermanence of physical existence and releasing yourself from the hold that physical existence and the aggregates have on you (A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, 587-588). Pertaining to ever-changing existence, the Buddha states, “… I say to you –/ This is how to contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world:/ Like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in a stream;/ Like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud,/ Or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream./ So is all conditioned existence to be seen” (Diamond Sutra, Chapter 32). In this, the importance of understanding the transient nature of the world and existence as a whole is emphasized, and the way in which we explain, experience and understand these fleeting moments is with the Five Aggregates.

The five aggregates are as follows: 

1. Rūpa (form)
2. Vedanā (feeling, sensation)
3. Samjñā (discrimination, perception)
4. Samskāra (mental formations)
5. Vijñāna (consciousness)

Each of the aggregates describes a different aspect of one’s physical and mental existence. None of them can singularly describe a person, and all together they constitute an incorrect sense of self. The reason it is incorrect is that, in the Buddhist tradition, there can be no “self” as there is no real individuality. The self is not singularly enduring, but rather many things coming together based on causes and conditions. As referenced in the Heart Sutra, all creatures are products of “inter-being”, nothing and no one can exist without everyone and everything else around them (The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra). That being said, the aggregates are a crucial part of contextualizing human relations with ourselves, our bodies and the world around us.  

Rūpa: form

Generally, form can be described as all physical features of our world. The forms are split into “causal” and “resultant” forms. The causal forms are earth, water, fire, and wind. Much like their names would make you expect, resultant forms derive from these basic causal forms, and are generally referred to as sense objects and sense faculties. The sense objects and sense faculties are as follows:

Sense Objects

1. Form
2. Sound
3. Odor
4. Taste
5. Tangibles
6. Mental objects

Sense Faculties

1. Eye sense faculty
2. Ear sense faculty
3. Nose sense faculty
4. Tongue sense faculty
5. Body sense faculty 
6. Mind sense faculty

These six sense objects and six sense faculties come together to form the twelve sources, or āyatana. The sense objects and sense faculties pair together 1-6 (for example, form and eye sense faculty) to exemplify an external and internal sense basis. The sense faculties do not directly correlate with the organs they seem to represent, but are instead described as various shapes and characteristics found in nature that embody some components of the sense organ itself. 

Vedanā: feeling, sensation

Vedanā does not refer to emotional feelings or sensations but rather physical and mental feelings and sensations that can be referred to as pleasant, neutral or unpleasant. We are constantly experiencing physical and mental sensations, but generally they can be categorized as neutral and are not noticed or are simply disregarded. Sensation and feeling are the basis of desire and distaste. 

Samjñā: discrimination, perception

Samjñā describes the ability to distinguish objects, people, etc. from each other. It is important to note that in order to discern anything there must be the ability to know what it is not. This leads to the Principle of Emptiness that is often discussed within Buddhism: that it is only because the main characteristic of existence and emptiness that anything can exist and be perceived at all. A perfect example of this goes as follows: “If I am holding a cup of water and I ask you, “Is this cup empty?” you will say, “No, it is full of water.” But if I pour out the water and ask you again, you may say, “Yes, it is empty.” But, empty of what? Empty means empty of something. The cup cannot be empty of nothing. “Empty” doesn’t mean anything unless you know empty of what. My cup is empty of water, but it is not empty of air. To be empty is to be empty of something” (The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, 7-8). In short, perception and discrimination cannot be taken at face value and merely describes differentiating between things, but does not necessarily properly describe their existence or lack thereof. 

Samskāra: mental formations

Samskāra refers to an abundance of extremely varied categories and occurrences that can mostly be summed up as necessities for cohesive thought to occur. This includes matters such as time, duration, similarity, sensation, perception, intention, attention, concentration, mindfulness, appreciation, etc. 

Vijñāna: consciousness

Vijñāna portrays how the different faculties are related and known by the different consciousnesses. This is essentially the basis for the relationship between us and our environment and world. The consciousnesses are as follows:

1. Eye consciousness
2. Ear consciousness
3. Nose consciousness
4. Tongue consciousness
5. Body consciousness
6. Mental consciousness

The consciousnesses 1-5 listed above are non-conceptual forms of consciousness, meaning that they collect sense data but do not perceive it mentally. The mental consciousness is what makes conceptual outcomes based on the sense data given by sense faculties, and received by specific consciousnesses. There are many types of consciousness.  

References

“Diamond Sutra – A New Translation of the Classic Buddhist Text.” Diamond Sutra – A New Translation of the Classic Buddhist Text, Alex Johnson, http://diamond-sutra.com/.

Emmanuel, Steven M. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy. Wiley Blackwell, 2016.

Hạnh Nhất. The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. Parallax, 2010.

Lingpa, Jigme. The Treasury of Precious Qualities. The Padmakara Translation Group, 2010.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Skandha.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 May 2011, https://www.britannica.com/topic/skandha.

External Links

For more pictures of artifacts depicting the Heart Sutra visit here and here.

For an in-depth audio recorded explanation of the Five Aggregates see this lecture by Cliff Wallshein of Won Buddhism Manhattan.

For a collection of images of artifacts depicting the Diamond Sutra visit this link from Artstor.

Further Readings

For more information about the Principle of Emptiness in Buddhism see this article from the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and this article by Thich Nhat Hahn.

Tanahashi, Kazuaki. The Heart Sutra: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classic of Mahayana Buddhism. Shambhala, 2016. [An investigation of the well studied Heart Sutra that also talks about the history, translation, and dissemination of the Heart Sutra throughout the years, tracing its path to being one of the most significant and well known Buddhist texts today.]

Soeng, Mu. Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World. Wisdom Publications, 2014. [An in-depth study of the Diamond Sutra that places it in its proper historical and social context, while also reminding us of the Diamond Sutra’s relevance and importance in contemporary Buddhism.]