Skandha

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 intrinsically 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:
 * 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" 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" (Skt. "vāsanā" or samskāra, Pāli sankhāra, Tib.  'du-byed) : all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.
 * 5) "consciousness" (Skt. visjñāna, Pāli viññāṇa, 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 aggregates are causally related as follows:


 * Form (rupa) arises from experientially irreducible physical/physiological phenomena.


 * Form – in terms of an external object (such as a sound) and its associated sense organ (such as the ear) – gives rise to consciousness (viññāṇa).


 * From the contact of form and consciousness arise the three mental (nāma) aggregates of feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā) and mental formation (sankhāra).

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.

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:
 * 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 must be removed from the five aggregates 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.)

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. Unlike the Satipatthana Sutta, the classic Anapanasati Sutta ("Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse," MN 118) does not directly reference the aggregates. However, the Pali literature includes works that interpret the Anapanasati Sutta in light of the aggregates.

In the Patisambhidāmagga: The Khuddaka Nikaya's book, the Patisambhidāmagga ("The Path of Analysis"), includes an analysis of the following meditative instruction (first tetrad, third instruction) from the Anapanasati Sutta:


 * "He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.'" (Thanissaro, trans., 2006.)

Regarding this instruction, the Patisambhidāmagga (Ñāṇamoli, 1998, p. 75) analyzes the word "body" (kaya) as follows:


 * "Body: There are two bodies - the mentality-body and the materiality body.


 * "Feeling, perception, volition, sense-impression, attention -- mentality and the mentality of the body -- and those (things) which are called the mental formations -- this is the mentality body.


 * "The four great primaries and the materiality derived from the four great primaries -- in-breath and out-breath and the sign for the binding (of mindfulness) -- and those (things) which are called the bodily formations -- this is the materiality body."

In other words, the Patisambhidāmagga frames the practice of the Anapanasati Sutta's third step as a contemplation of the five aggregates.

In the Visuddhimagga: The Visuddhimagga's analysis of the Anapanasatti Sutta includes an analysis of the following meditative instruction (fourth tetrad, first instruction) from the Anapanasati Sutta:


 * "He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.'" (Thanissaro, trans., 2006.)

In regards to this instruction, the Visuddhimagga (Buddhaghosa, 1999, pp. 282-3; see also Ñāṇamoli, 1998, p. 40) advises one to apprehend "inconstancy" (or "impermanence") as meaning the following:


 * "Herein, the five aggregates are 'the impermanent'. Why? Because their essence is rise and fall and change.  'Impermanence' is the rise and fall and change in those same aggregates, or it is their non-existence after having been...." [Boldface added.]

Impermanence (anicca) is a characteristic common to all aggregates. This impermanence will lead to suffering (dukkha) if we identify with the aggregate. To avoid such suffering, the suttas instruct us to see the aggregates as the selfless (anatta) objects they are.

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, 2005a, 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 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.
 * Prajnaparamita: Whereas Theravada meditation practices with the aggregates generally use change-penetrating vipassana meditation, here the non-dualistic prajnaparamita practice is invoked.
 * Svabhava: In Theravada texts, when "emptiness of self" is mentioned, the English word "self" is a translation of the Pali word "atta" (Sanskrit,  "atman"); in 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 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.

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):
 * "[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.


 * 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. It is through the five skandhas that clinging (upadana) occurs, a pivotal link in this endless chain 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.