The skandhas (Sanskrit: Pāli: Khandha; literally: "heap") are the five constituents or aggregates through which the functioning and experience of an individual, ego, or soul (possibly atman) is created according to Buddhist phenomenology. They are:

• rūpa, "form" or basic ignorance: the material body.
• vedanā, "sensation" or feeling: the experience of receiving raw information, including pleasure and pain, through the sense organs and the brain.
• sajā, "perception" or "cognition": the forming of sensations into elemental patterns and concepts: indifference, passion, and aggression.
• saṃskāra, "mental formations", "volition", intellect, or concept: all types of mental habits, complex ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions. Saṃskāras are the source of karma.
• vijñāna, "consciousness" or "knowledge": dualistic awareness, which separates the world into self and other.

According to Chogyam Trungpa (1976, p.20-22), the five skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe ego 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)

According to the Buddha, "the five aggregates of attachment (the basis for human personality) are suffering." (quoted in Epstein 1995, p.46)

It should be noted that Buddhism describes only one physical skandha and four mental skandhas, which emphasises the importance of the mind.

All personal experiences are subject to these five aggregates, according to the buddhist view. There can be experiences where not all five skandhas are present; for instance, some stimulus from an object (form) in a sense organ (sensation) does not necessitate that this will generate a conscious experience.

The order of the skandhas is important, because it is considered that the latter skandhas are dependent on all the former ones. Thus, for a given experience, for the 5th skandha (consciousness) to be present, all the previous four need to be present. And for the 4th skandha (volition) to be present, all the previous three need to be present, and so on.

See also

• Samsara

References

• Trungpa, Chogyam (1976). The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation. Boulder: Shambala. ISBN 0877730849.
• Epstein, Mark (1995). Thoughts Without a Thinker. BasicBoooks. ISBN 0465039316.

External links

• Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (log in with userID "guest")
• An article about the five skandhas, by Charles Patton.
• Table showing the five skandhas, prepared by Alan Fox of the University of Delaware.
• A View on Buddhism - the Mind.