Five Skandhas

1) form, 2) feeling, 3) cognition, 4) formations, 5) consciousness.

The mind is like a master painter

Who can paint all worlds.

From it are produced the five skandhas

As well as all Dharmas.

(FAS, HYSC 30:54-70))

When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was practicing the profound prajna-paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty.

(HS 1)

Meaning of "Skandhas"

Skandha is a Sanskrit word meaning heap, pile, or aggregate. The Buddha illustrated his teaching about the skandhas by using five small piles--heaps--of different grains. The skandhas are general divisions for categorizing all phenomena in the conditioned world. Because they include within them all transitory, impermanent phenomena, they are an important tool for understanding the Buddhist doctrine of no-self. If one analyzes all aspects of what one feels to be one's "self", one finds that all fall within the scope of the Five Skandhas.

"The Five Skandhas as they are found in your body:

1) The body is the form skandha.

2) Once you have the form skandha, you then have feelings of enjoyment and pleasure.

3) You want pleasure, and so you give rise to polluted thinking, which is cognition. How can I get what I want? How can I actually indulge in pleasure?

4) You have to go and do it. That is formations.

5) Acting requires a certain amount of wisdom, a consciousness which is a kind of small intelligence, a minute amount . . . .

"Your body achieves its aims. 'Oh, enjoyment! Ahhh!' The enjoyment lasts about five minutes. Because of the excessive exertion, your blood vessels rupture and then death comes. . . . What was it all about? It was just the Five Skandhas.

"The Five Skandhas are just five ways of uniting, of working together to open a company. The company, once opened, opens again and again... The skandha-company grows everywhere like a wild vine which is never cut. Once opened, the Five Skandhas, Inc. always stays open, always feeling that there is hope. What hope? 'Ah! This life I didn't make money, but wait until next life and I will be able to make some.' Who can know whether there will be even less capital in the next life?" (HS 46-47)

"When you break through all five skandhas, and are no longer deluded by them, you can 'cross beyond all suffering'. You can then put an end to all bitterness. Seeing that the Five Skandhas are all empty is getting rid of the attachment to self." (LY II 104)

1. FORM -i Rupa Skandha - The Body, the Elements and their Corporealness, Tangibility (Tamas Guna of Yoga and Ayurveda)

And why, brethren, do ye say body (i.e., form)? One is affected , brethren. That is why the word "body" is used. Affected by what? Affected by touch of cold and heat, of hunger and thirst, of gnats, mosquitoes, wind and sun and snakes. One is affected, brethren. That is why we say "body". (Kindred Sayings III 72-73)

"What is FORM? The body is included among the form-dharmas; since it is form, it is called the "form-body". Your form-body has an appearance, but when you seek for its origin you will find that it is empty... When the Four Great Elements, namely earth, water, fire, and wind, unite, the body comes into being.

This is what is meant by having a form. Working together the elements establish a corporation. The corporation comes into being from the four conditioned causes: earth, which is characterized by solidity and durability; water, which is characterized by moisture; fire, which is characterized by warmth; wind, which is characterized by movement. When the four conditioned causes disperse, each has a place to which it returns; therefore, the body becomes empty." (HS 44-45)

"Once you break through the Form Skandha, 'all the mountains, rivers, and great earth are seen as empty.'" (LY II 103)

Form includes the Four Great Elements and the eleven derived types of form known as the Eleven Form Dharmas.

A. FOUR GREAT ELEMENTS

Name State Activity

1) earth solidity produced by repulsion

2) water liquidity or produced by attraction

fluidity

3) fire temperature produced by heat

4) air/wind expansion, light- produced by motionless, mobility

When they are in equilibrium, the Four Great Elements together produce a pure form which is not detectible by the ordinary senses. That pure form is the inner substance of the five perceptual organs and the medium of their actual functioning. When the Four Great Elements are out of equilibrium, different combinations of them produce both the coarse material aspect, or "sheaths", of the perceptual organs and also their objects (what they perceive).

B. ELEVEN FORM DHARMAS

Organs Objects

1) eyes 6) sights
2) ears 7) sounds
3) nose 8) smells
4) tongue 9) tastes
5) body 10) tangible objects
11) subtle traces

The subtle traces are mental residue of verbal and physical action. They can be understood as the "seeds" of future retribution.

2. FEELING -- Vedana Skandha - Bodily Sensations (Rajas Guna of Yoga and Ayurveda)

And why, brethren, do ye say "feeling"? One feels, brethren. That is why the word "feeling" is used. Feels what? Feels pleasure and pain; feels neutral feelings. One feels, brethren. That is why the word "feeling" is used. (Kindred Sayings III 73)

"Once the body manifests, it likes pleasurable FEELINGS. There are three kinds of feelings, which correspond to the three kinds of suffering:

Feelings of suffering;
Feelings of happiness;
Feelings which are characterized by neither suffering
nor happiness." (HS 45)

"A state arises and you perceive it; you feel it is pleasurable. Eating good things, putting on a fine garment, feeling warm and being greatly delighted--these feelings of contentment, as well as feelings of displeasure and pain, are all grouped under the Feeling Skandha." (LY II 103)

Feelings are pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. They arise from contact of organ, object, and consciousness. Feeling includes both the primary sensation and the primary affective categorization of it.

3. COGNITION -- Samjna Skandha - Thinking, Recognizing, Perceiving (Sattva Guna of Yoga and Ayurveda)

And why, brethren, do ye say "perception"? One perceives, brethren. That is why the word "perception" is used. Perceives what? Perceives blue-green, perceives yellow, or red, or white. One perceives, brethren. That is why the word "perceptions" is used. (Kindred Sayings III 73)

When you are awake, your mind thinks. When you are asleep, you dream. Thus your thinking moves false emotions through interaction. (SS VIII 276)

"As for COGNITION, you certainly must have (the need for) false thoughts if you want enjoyment. You can't be without it. 'How can I think of a way to buy a car? How can I buy a beautiful home? How can I think of a way to buy a yacht? an airplane?' Your false thoughts fly back and forth and your hair turns white. Why? It turns white from false thinking." (HS 46)

Cognition is the differentiation and identification of objects both physical and mental. Therefore, it includes both higher perceptual functions and thinking processes, including those of language.

4. FORMATIONS - Samskara Skandha - Impulses, Volitional Tendencies, Compositional Factors (Rajas Guna)

In many of the passages below the alternate translation 'activities' is used.

And why, brethren, do ye say "the activities-compound"?

Because they compose a compound. That is why, brethren, the word "activities-compound" is used. And what compound do they compose?

It is the body that they compose into a compound of body. It is feeling that they compose into a feeling-compound. It is perception that they compose into a perception compound; the activities into an activities-compound; consciousness into a consciousness-compound. They compose a compound, brethren. Therefore, the word (activities)-compound is used. (Kindred Sayings III 73)

"These activities never stop. They progress and shift through subtle changes. Your nails grow long, your hair grows, your energy wanes, and your face becomes wrinkled. The processes continue and yet you never wake up." (SS VIII 277)

"When you lie in bed at night, you have a thousand plans...Sometimes you get up early and act on them. Sometimes sleeping seems nice, and you just sleep. FORMATIONS are basically the acting out of karma, that is, really acting upon your false thinking." (HS 46)

"Activities mean movement. They are ceaseless. People are first young, and they become middle-aged, and then old, and then they die. Thought after thought arises and is extinguished, thought after thought without cease. This is the skandha of activities." (SS III 22)

Formations refer to both conscious and non-conscious volitional forces, including:

a) conscious intentions or acts of will, the most important category of this skandha;

b) innate predispositions (karma from past lives);

c) unconscious forces having to do with basic life functions, nourishment, and growth.

5. CONSCIOUSNESS  -- Vijnana Skandha - The Eight Consciousnesses

And why, brethren, do ye say consciousness?

One is conscious, brethren. Therefore, the word "consciousness" is used. Conscious of what? Of (flavours) sour or bitter; acrid or sweet; alkaline or non-alkaline; saline or non-saline. One is conscious, brethren. That is why the word "consciousness" is used. (Kindred Sayings III 74)

It is like rapidly flowing water which appears to be still on the surface. You don't detect the flow, but it is, nevertheless, not flowing." (SS VIII 280)

"The skandha of consciousness involves the making of distinctions. It discriminates, considers, and seeks advantages from circumstances." (SS III 22)

Consciousness is the subtle basis of feeling, cognition, and formations. It consists of a subtle distinction-making awareness that distinguishes awareness from the objects of awareness. It is a flux of constantly changing knowing activity.

THE FIVE

Body (i.e., form), brethren, is impermanent. What is impermanent, that is suffering. What is suffering, that is not the Self.

What is not the Self, "that is not mine, that am not I, that is not the Self of me." This is the way one should regard things as they really are, by right insight.

So likewise with regard to feeling, perception, the activities, consciousness.

So seeing, brethren, the well-taught Ariyan [i.e., noble] disciple feels disgust at body, at feeling, perception, the activities and consciousness.

Feeling disgust he is repelled: by repulsion he is released; by that release set free, knowledge arises: "in the freed man is the free thing," and he knows: 'destroyed is rebirth; lived is the righteous life; done is the task; for life in these conditions there is no hereafter." (Kindred Sayings III 68-69)

The skandha of form is like a mass of foam, because, when taken hold of, it cannot be kept together (in the hand); feeling is like a bubble because, as lasting only for a moment, it is impermanent; perception (cognition) is like a mirage, because it is misled by the thirst of craving; the impulses (formation) are like a plantain tree because, when (the leaf-sheaths) are taken away, no core remains; consciousness is like a dream, because it takes hold of what deceives. Therefore, the five skandhas have no self, (and they contain) no person (pudgala), no living being, no living soul, no personality and no manhood (purusa). . . . (Conze, tr. Arya-prajnaparamita-hrdaya-tika 54)

Aggregate (khandha):
Any one of the five bases for clinging to a sense of self: form (physical phenomena, including the body), feelings, perceptions (mental labels), thought-fabrications, consciousness. 

(Source: Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/dhp/glossary.html, Revised: Sun 19-Oct-2003)

FIVE SKANDHAS: 1) Chinese Mandarin: wu yun , 2) Sanskrit: skandha, pancopandana- skandhah, 3) Pali: khandha, 4) Alternate Translations: heaps, aggregates, agglomerations.   5) Tibetan: phung po lnga

Tibetan: phung po lnga

Literally, "heap." The five skandhas, or aggregates, are the five basic transformations that perceptions undergo when an object is perceived. They are form, feeling, conception, formation, and consciousness. In the confused state, we cling to one or another aspect of these five as a concrete self. When the skandhas are actually seen for what they are, no self is found in them, either singly or taken together. Moreover, one does not find any individual apart from them. In Vajrayana, they are correlated to the five Buddhas of the mandala.

1) Form Aggregate, gzugs kyi phung po, rupa skandha
2) Feeling Aggregate, tshor ba'i phung po, vedana skandha
3) Conception Aggregate, 'du shes kyi phung po samjna skandha
4) Formation Aggregate, 'du bye kyi phung po, samskara skandha
5) Consciousness Aggregate, rnam par shes pa'i phung po, vijnana skandha

Tibetan source: http://www.namsebangdzo.com/product_p/g00598.htm

See also: Dharma/dharma.

(Source: Epstein, 2003: pp. 85 - 89)

Buddhist Text Translation Society (http://www.BTTSonline.org) References: HS 24-28, 41-48; LY II 103-104, 223-225; SS III 4-24; SS VIII.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha

(NOTE: Numerous corrections and enhancements have been made under Shastra tradition and "Fair Use" by an Anonymous Buddhist Monk Redactor (Compiler) of this Online Buddhist Encyclopedia Compilation)