The Five Skandhas (aggregates)

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We continue a series of talks from Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das.  In the chapter entitled, “The First Noble Truth”, he goes into detail about the First Noble Truth, the very first teaching that the Buddha gave after he awakened.  As many of you know, the First Noble Truth is that Life is difficult.  Why does Life seem difficult?

Lama Surya Das identifies three kinds of difficulties we have: 

1.                  We don’t get what we think we want.  We want a certain job or house or relationship, thinking that will make life easier.  Without them, we might feel like life is difficult.  Sometimes, we get the job/house/relationship, and by doing so, we find that life gets more difficult instead of less.  Trying to arrange the world to make us happy doesn’t work for long, if at all.

2.                  Things change.  We are trying to get some stability in our life.  We want things to be predictable.  Maybe we find some small sense of security, and then, things change.  This is the reality of the impermanence of all “things”. 

3.                  The flawed nature of conditioned existence:  Conditioned existence is an amalgam of “things” and experiences that seem so real, but are really just an aggregation of all the “things” and experiences created by the karma of the past.

 

The Buddhist teachings break down the living experience into five components, called five aggregates (skandhas in Sanskrit), or combinations.  Although we will discuss them as if they were distinct in and of themselves, we will see how they work in concert with each other to form this experience we call living:

1.                  Form or matter:  external and internal matter, the physical world, the material body and the physical organs.  In early Buddhist literature, it includes the components of earth, water, fire, air, and space that are included in both the external world and the internal components of your body.  Think about what is inside you—blood, bile, bones, muscles, etc.  When we look at ourselves at these smaller components, we can see how we are in a constant state of change.  Blood flows, fluids and solids come in and go out, bones and muscles build up and break down.  We are not as solid as we might seem.

2.                   Sensation or feeling, physical or mental:  that which we experience through contact of the six senses with the external world (the five senses plus the mind).  Sensations arise through the contact of the eye with visible forms, the ear with sound, the nose with odor, the tongue with taste, the body with tangible things, and the mind with thoughts.

It is particularly important to understand that mind in these teachings is a sense organ or faculty, just like an eye or an ear. Some might think of the mind like a spirit or soul, but in Buddhism, it is seen as just another sense organ or faculty, combined with all the others that make up our experience.

Our senses also create the initial rise of pleasure or pain. The senses lead to craving, either to acquire something pleasurable or avoid something painful.

3.                  Perception, discrimination:  perception registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a horn or the shape of a ball). Perception is what enables us to label the world around us.   What do you like and dislike?  The Sanskrit word, samjna, is translated as the "knowledge that puts together." It is the capacity to conceptualize and recognize things by associating them with other things. For example, we recognize windows as “window” because of previous experiences with glass that lets in light.

When we see something for the first time, we inevitably google our brain associations with the new object.  If I ask you to reach for your gizzard, you would probably think about chickens and other birds or whatever past experience you might have had with the word or something similar.   If you walk into a gym and see a piece of equipment, you will likely label it as an exercise machine, based on the context.  It is with perception that we label everything and everyone around us, include ourselves.

4.                  Mental formations, impulses, biases, prejudices, volition will/intentions/motivation:  all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, prejudices, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object.  All volitional actions, good and bad, are included in the aggregate of mental formations.   Our actions follow our mental formations.  We have an idea, an opinion, a bias, then we often act upon that bias, sometimes unaware that it may not be true. The aggregate of mental formations is associated with karma, because volitional acts create karma. From here, we form interests and attractions, aversions and fears.  These mental formations begin to seem like who we are.

5.                  Consciousness or discernment,:  the basis of all experience.  It is important to understand that consciousness depends on the other skandhas and does not exist independently from them. It is an awareness but not a recognition. This awareness is not sensation, which is the second skandha. For most of us, this is a different way to think about "consciousness."  Consciousness is not special, above the other skandhas.  And it is not the self.  It is part of the interplay between the other aggregates, this interaction that causes an illusion of a solid, separate self.

“Seeing through the illusion of our self, helps us accept the tenuous and unreliable nature of reality.”  Lama Surya Das

As we break down the component parts of this thing called, “me”, we begin to see that we are more like a river than a mountain.  We ebb and flow and move and change.  We a process, not a thing at all.

So what is Buddha Nature?  We talk about Buddha Nature being innately in each of us, as always being there.  Where does it fit into the Five Skandhas?  It might be helpful to think of Buddha Nature as a pure light that shines continuously.  Just like the sun, it might be covered up by clouds at times, but the light is still there.  When we think about harnessing the power of the sun, we must create some catalyst, some mechanism, to convert the light into power.  With the light of Buddha Nature, we are the mechanism by which Buddha Nature is converted into power.  Just like with atomic power, it can be used to relieve suffering or cause suffering.  We choose. 

Buddha Nature shining through us creates the power of skillful means.  We are the light of the world.  The inner light is permanent, it is Unconditioned, therefore innate Buddha nature is constant.  Lama Surya Das states, “Actualizing the luminous formless and intangible core is what awakening is all about.”

Suzuki Roshi, a great Zen master said, “There are no enlightened individuals; there is only enlightened activity.”