The Five Aggregates

The Five Aggregates compose the Buddhist view of self, which is made up of five aspects: rupa (form), vedana (feeling), samjna (perception), samskara (mental formation), and vijhana (consciousness). These are the five psychophysical elements of an individual.

What is form? Form is the sum total of all physical elements and interactions taking together that makes up the physical body. This is the material portion of self. Psychologically, the body certainly takes quite a lot of our attention and plays a huge part of the formation of our self-identity. Body image is one of things we are most conscious about, as I am sure all of us know, and we are all aware of the dark side of excessive obsession clinging to a certain type of physical body shape/appearance. The fact is, body is just body, just one aspect of self, subject to aging and decay, eventually death. Why not just face it, and not to be so blindly obsessed and in denial?

 Next, feeling… Buddhism classifies feelings by 3 qualities—-

    pleasure,
    aversion and
    neutral,

 and 6 types—-

    visual,
    auditory,
    gustatory,
    olfactory,
    sensory, and
    mental.

Hence, with 3 qualities and 6 types, there are 18 basic feeling states in Buddhism. Psychologically, feelings may condition the arising of response (for example—-we cling to things we feel pleasurable, and run away from things we feel aversive), therefore if we are not cautious we will be pulled by our feelings by the nose, and engage in responses that are not wise at all (I am sure that a number of us have done things we are not proud of because of our emotional states). Observing feelings calmly without being forced upon to act upon it is one big step toward maintaining equanimity. (I am not saying that not taking action is good, I mean: not being enslaved by feelings)

Perception refers to the cognition which arises during contact with a stimulus. We contact X; We perceive X. Perception contributes to discriminatory capacity and recognition. Perception can be affected by a variety of things–emotions, previous experiences, etc.—-and it in turn impacts thinking. Perception may be a reflection of reality–but what we perceive does not equate reality. Ultimately, all experiences are psychologically constructed, so perceptions are constructed as well—-therefore they do not equate reality. To illustrate, we perceive blue, but is there really blueness in light? Light has a specific wavelength, and such a wavelength, if it is about 450-490nm range, gives rise to perception of blue—-but blue is psychologically constructed based on this stimulus and not an inherent characteristics of this stimulus. There is really no such a thing call “blue light”, but “light perceived as blue”. See how we must be careful with analysis with perception—-so our sense of reality would not be distorted?

Mental formations are embodied conditioning; they are mainly components of our personalities (which are full of predispositions that propel us to engage in certain ways—-such patterns of mental activity and external behaviors, habits, etc.) as well as things such as reflexes and memories, etc. We may not be completely aware of operations of mental formations—-we just behave as who we are without thinking about it, without being completely aware of why and how. Therefore, to know ourselves, it is a good idea that mental formations be observed with mindfulness awareness.

Consciousness in Buddhism is classified by 6 types—-visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, sensory, and mental. There is conceptual consciousness (consciousness about any conceptual object, such as a thought) and primordial consciousness (pure awareness). Awareness is obviously the hallmark of consciousness. The states of consciousness may be altered, as we all know (awake, trance, sleep, coma, etc).

The Five Aggregates is the Buddhist way of explaining self without any notion of an everlasting soul, and the nature of self is psychological, not ontological. The Five Aggregates, are, as with all conditioned phenomena, marked with Three Marks of Existence, so we are not special—-we are just ordinary phenomena arising and dissolving. The Five Aggregates’ interactions explain the whole human experience. Let me give an example:

One sees a webpage and perceives the webpage title “Empty Lab” (FORM: webpage; PERCEPTION: webpage title “Empty Lab”; CONSCIOUSNESS: visual), and one feels neutral about this webpage (FEELING: visual neutral). The mental image of an empty lab is constructed in one’s mind (MENTAL FORMATION: mental image of an empty lab).

What is the psychological significance of such analysis of the Five Aggregates under the context of daily life? Obviously, it allows us to be more aware, to get to know ourselves more, and to see through phenomena more throughly—-so we may utilize such knowledge to cultivate more well-being both for ourselves and for others. It is said that “Know thyself” is wisdom; such analysis would definitely help us to realize this wisdom!