Skandha

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In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the five skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli) are five "aggregates" which categorize all individual experience, among which there is no "self" to be found. A frequently postulated metaphysical corollary is that a "person" is made up of these five aggregates.

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 intrinsically empty nature of all aggregates.

Outside of Buddhist didactic contexts, "skandha" can mean mass, heap, pile, bundle or tree trunk.

Definition

Buddhist doctrine describes five aggregates:

1. "form" or "matter" (Skt., Pāli rūpa, Tib. gzugs):
   external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs.
2. "sensation" or "feeling" (Skt., Pāli vedanā, Tib. tshor-ba):
   sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.
3. "perception", "conception", "apperception" or "cognition" (Skt. samjñā, Pāli saññā, Tib. 'du-shes):
   registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).
4. "mental formations" or "volition" (Skt. samskāra, Pāli saṅkhāra, Tib. 'du-byed) :
   all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.
5. "consciousness" (Skt. vijñāna, Pāli , Tib. rnam-par-shes-pa):

(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 majority of discourses focusing on the five aggregates discusses them as a basis for understanding and achieving liberation from suffering, without describing relationships between the aggregates themselves. Nonetheless, from some canonical discourses, a causal relationship between the five aggregates can be derived. The following (illustrated in the figure to the right) exemplify such relational attributes:

• Form (rupa) arises from experientially irreducible physical/physiological phenomena.
• Form – in terms of an external object (such as a sound) and its associated internal sense organ (such as the ear) – gives rise to consciousness ().
• The concurrence of an object, its sense organ and the related consciousness is called "contact" (phassa).
• From the contact of form and consciousness arise the three mental (nāma) aggregates of feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā) and mental formation (saṅkhāra).
• The mental aggregates can then in turn give rise to additional consciousness that leads to the arising of additional mental aggregates.

In this scheme, form, the mental aggregates, and consciousness are mutually dependent.

Other Buddhist literature has described the aggregates as arising in a linear or progressive fashion, from form to feeling to perception to mental formations to consciousness.

Theravadin 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:

1. Understanding the Four Noble Truths: The five aggregates are the "ultimate referent" in the Buddha's elaboration on suffering (dukkha) in his First Noble Truth (see excerpted quote below) and "since all four truths revolve around suffering, understanding the aggregates is essential for understanding the Four Noble Truths as a whole."
2. Future Suffering's Cause: The five aggregates are the substrata for clinging and thus "contribute to the causal origination of future suffering."
3. Release: Clinging to the five aggregates must be removed in order to achieve release.

Below, excerpts from the Pāli literature will bear out Bhikkhu Bodhi's assessment.

Suffering's 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 suffering's 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:

"...[T]he 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.... [T]hrough non-clinging he does not become agitated." (Trans. by Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 865-866.)

Put another way, if we were to self-identify with an aggregate then we would cling (upadana) to such; and, given that all aggregates are impermanent (anicca), it would then be likely that at some level we would experience agitation (paritassati) or loss or grief or stress or suffering (see dukkha). Therefore, if we want to be free of suffering, it is wise to experience the aggregates clearly, without clinging or craving (tanha), as apart from any notion of self (anatta). Many of the suttas in the Khandhavagga express the aggregates in the context of the following sequence: An uninstructed worldling (assutavā puthujjana) regards: form as self; self as possessing form; form as in self; self as in form. lives obsessed by the notions: I am form; and/or, form is mine this form changes with the changes of form, there arises dukkha An instructed noble disciple (sutavā ariyasāvaka) does not regard form as self, etc., and thus, when form changes, dukkha does not arise. (Note that, in each of the suttas where the above formula is used, subsequent verses replace "form" with each of the other aggregates: sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness.)

Example of Aggregate-Clinging To give a simplistic example, if one believes "this body is mine" or "I exist within this body," then as their body ages, becomes ill and approaches death, such a person will likely experience longing for youth or health or eternal life, will likely dread aging and sickness and death, and will likely spend much time and energy lost in fears, fantasies and ultimately futile activities. In the Nikayas, such is likened to shooting oneself with a second arrow, where the first arrow is a physical phenomenon (such as, in this case, a bodily manifestation associated with aging or illness or dying) and the second is the mental anguish of the undisciplined mind associated with the physical phenomenon (see the Sallatha Sutta). On the other hand, one with a disciplined mind who is able to see this body as a set of aggregates will be free of such fear, frustration and time-consuming escapism.

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 "" ("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, 2005a, pp. 341-2.)

As seen below, the Mahayana tradition continues this use of the aggregates to achieve self-liberation.

Mahayanist 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 Sanskrit version of the classic "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Heart Sutra") begins:

The noble Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,	Arya avalokiteshvaro bodhisattvo
while practicing the deep practice of Prajnaparamita	gambhiran prajna-paramita caryan caramano
looked upon the Five Skandhas,	vyaavalokayati sma panca skandhas
...seeing they were empty of self-existence....	tansh ... svabhava shunyan pashyati sma....

From its very first lines, this version of the Heart Sutra introduces an alternative practice and worldview to the Theravada perspective of the aggregates:

• Prajnaparamita: Whereas Theravada meditation practices with the aggregates generally use change-penetrating vipassana meditation, here the non-dualistic prajnaparamita practice is invoked.
• Svabhava: In the Theravada canon, when "emptiness of self" is mentioned, the English word "self" is a translation of the Pali word "atta" (Sanskrit, "atman"); in the Sanskrit-version of the Heart Sutra, the English word "self" is a translation of the Sanskrit word "sva-bhava". According to Red Pine, "The 'self' (sva) ... was more generalized in its application than 'ego' (atman) and referred not only to beings but to any inherent substance that could be identified as existing in time or space as a permanent or independent entity. (Italics added.)

In other words, whereas the Sutta Pitaka typically instructs one to apprehend the aggregates without clinging or self-identification, Prajnaparamita leads one to apprehend the aggregates as having no intrinsic reality.

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.... [W]ave is water, water is wave.... [T]hese 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.

The tathagatagarbha sutras, on occasion, speak of the ineffable skandhas of the Buddha (beyond the nature of worldly skandhas and beyond worldly understanding), and in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Buddha tells of how the Buddha's skandhas are in fact eternal and unchanging. The Buddha's skandhas are said to be incomprehensible to unawakened vision.

Vajrayanist 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):

"[S]ome 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:

• "The blue light of the skandha of consciousness in its basic purity, the wisdom of the dharmadhātu, luminous, clear, sharp and brilliant, will come towards you from the heart of Vairocana and his consort, and pierce you so that your eyes cannot bear it." (p. 63)
• "The white light of the skandha of form in its basic purity, the mirror-like wisdom, dazzling white, luminous and clear, will come towards you from the heart of Vajrasattva and his consort and pierce you so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it." (p. 66)
• "The yellow light of the skandha of feeling in its basic purity, the wisdom of equality, brilliant yellow, adorned with discs of light, luminous and clear, unbearable to the eyes, will come towards you from the heart of Ratnasambhava and his consort and pierce your heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it." (p. 68)
• "The red light of the skandha of perception in its basic purity, the wisdom of discrimination, brilliant red, adorned with discs of light, luminous and clear, sharp and bright, will come from the heart of Amitābha and his consort and pierce your heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. Do not be afraid of it." (p. 70)
• "The green light of the skandha of concept [samskara] in its basic purity, the action-accomplishing wisdom, brilliant green, luminous and clear, sharp and terrifying, adorned with discs of light, will come from the heart of Amoghasiddhi and his consort and pierce your heart so that your eyes cannot bear to look at it. Do not be afraid of it. It is the spontaneous play of your own mind, so rest in the supreme state free from activity and care, in which there is no near or far, love or hate." (p. 73)

Relation to other Buddhist concepts

Other fundamental Buddhist concepts associated with the five skandhas include:

• Samsara:
  It is through the five skandhas that the world (samsara) is experienced, and nothing is experienced apart from the five skandhas.
• Three Characteristics:
  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.

aggregate	external sense base	internal sense base	ultimate reality
form	visible form, sound, smell, taste, touch	eye, ear, nose, tongue, body	28 material phenomena
	mental objects (dhamma)
sensation			52 mental factors
perception
formation
			Nibbāna
conscious- ness (vinnana)		mind (mana)	conscious- ness (citta)

• Four Paramatthas:
  The Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali texts create a meta-scheme for the Sutta Pitaka's conceptions of aggregates, sense bases and elements. This meta-scheme is known as the four paramatthas or four ultimate realities:
• consciousness
• mental factors
• material phenomena
• Nibbāna

The mapping between the aggregates, the sense bases (see next entry) and the ultimate realities is represented in the chart to the right.

• Twelve Sense Bases:
  
• The first five external sense bases (that is, the sense objects of visible form, sound, smell, taste and touch) are part of the form aggregate and the mental sense object (that is, mental objects) overlap the first four aggregates (form, feeling, perception and formation).
• The first five internal sense bases (that is, the sense organs of eye, ear, nose, tongue and body) are also part of the form aggregate and the mental sense organ (mind) is comparable to the aggregate of consciousness.

While the benefit of meditating on the aggregates is overcoming wrong views of the self (since the self is typically identified with one or more of the aggregates), the benefit of meditation on the six sense bases is to overcome craving (through restraint and insight into sense objects that lead to contact, feeling and subsequent craving).

• Twelve Nidanas / Dependent Origination:
  The Twelve Nidanas describe twelve phenomenal links by which suffering is perpetuated between and within lives. Embedded within this model, four of the five aggregates are explicitly mentioned in the following sequence: mental formations (saṅkhāra) condition consciousness which conditions name-and-form (nāma-rūpa) which conditions the precursors (phassa) to sensations (vedanā) which in turn condition craving and clinging (upādāna) which ultimately lead to the "entire mass of suffering" (kevalassa dukkhakkhandha). Overlaying this chain of conditioning on top of "The Five Aggregates" diagram at the top of this article, the interplay between the five-aggregates model of immediate causation and the twelve-nidana model of requisite conditioning becomes evident, for instance, underlining the seminal role that mental formations have in both the origination and cessation of suffering.
• Eighteen Dhatus:
  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:
• The first five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) are derivates of form. The sixth sense organ (mind) is part of consciousness.
• The first five sense objects (visible forms, sound, smell, taste, touch) are also derivatives of form. The sixth sense object (mental object) includes form, sensation, perception and mental formations.
• The six sense consciousness are the basis for consciousness.

References in Buddhist literature

The table below briefly cites Buddhist primary sources that characterize different aspects of the aggregates. This table is by no means exhaustive.

Table 1. Some references to the aggregates in Buddhist primary sources.
(Abbreviations: MN = Majjhima Nikaya; SN = Samyutta Nikaya; Vism = Visuddhimagga.)

aggregate	description	source
rūpa
	It is the four Great Elements (mahābhūta) -- earth, water, fire, wind -- and their derivatives.	SN 22.56
	It is afflicted with cold, heat, hunger, thirst, flies, mosquitoes, wind, sun, reptiles.	SN 22.79
	The cause, the condition and the delineation are the four Great Elements.	MN 109
	There are 24 kinds of "derived" forms (upādāya rūpam).	Vism XIV.36ff
vedanā
	It is feeling born of contact (phassa) with eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.	SN 22.56
	It feels pleasure, pain, neither-pleasure-nor-pain.	SN 22.79
	The cause, the condition and the delineation are contact (phassa).	MN 109
	As individual experience, can be analyzed as bodily pleasure, bodily pain, mental joy, mental grief, equanimity.	Vism XIV.127
saññā
	It is perception of form, sound, smell, taste, tactile sensation, mental phenomena.	SN 22.56
	It perceives blue, yellow, red, white.	SN 22.79
	The cause, the condition and the delineation are contact (phassa).	MN 109
	Functions to make a "sign" for perceiving in the future that "this is the same."	Vism XIV.130
saṅkhāra
	It is volition regarding form, sound, smell, taste, tactile sensation, mental phenomena.	SN 22.56
	It constructs constructed forms, feelings, perceptions, volitional formation, consciousness.	SN 22.79
	The cause, the condition and the delineation are contact (phassa).	MN 109
	Characterized by "forming," functions to "accumulate," manifests as "intervening."	Vism XIV.132
	It is eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-consciousness.	SN 22.56
	It cognizes what is sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, sharp, mild, salty, bland.	SN 22.79
	The cause, the condition and the delineation are name-and-form (nāmarūpa).	MN 109
	There are 89 kinds of consciousness.	Vism XIV.82ff

See also

• Anatta
• Atman
• Pratitya-samutpada
• Samsara
• Schools of Buddhism
• Shunyata
• Ti-lakkhana

Notes

Bibliography

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• Trungpa, Chögyam (1976). The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation. Boulder: Shambhala. ISBN 0-87773-084-9.
• Trungpa, Chögyam (1999). The Essential Chögyam Trungpa. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-466-6.
• Trungpa, Chögyam (2001). Glimpses of Abhidharma. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-764-9.
• Trungpa, Chögyam (2002). Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-957-9.

External links

• Theravada:
• Khandavagga suttas (a selection), translated primarily by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

• Mahayana:
• The Five Skandhas, table showing the five skandhas, prepared by Alan Fox (Dept. of Philosophy, U. of Delaware).

• Tantric:
• A View on Buddhism: Mind and Mental Factors, web page including description of the Five Aggregates.