Aggregates

Aggregates: Sanskrit: Skandha. Tibetan: phung po. The components of the psycho-social personality by which beings impute the false notion of self; the five components of the individual existence:

aggregates: Sanskrit: skandha. Tibetan: phung po. The components of the psycho-social personality by which beings impute the false notion of self; the five components of the individual existence:

1. Form (matter): (S. rupa, T. zug) The physical body, mind and of sense organs. The body is thus analyzed in terms of the five elements: space, solidity, fluidity, motion, and heat.

2. Sensation: (S. vedana, T. tsor wa) Analyzed in terms of the sense organs, feelings are of three distinct kinds:

pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

The mind is considered a sense organ.

3. Perception: The relationship between outer forms presented by the five sense organs and the inner mind through the process of naming and categorization; the interaction between mind, sense organs and their objects gives rise to feelings which are further qualified by perception.

4. Mental Formation: This includes all of the willed actions of the mind. This is the skandha associated with volition and the formation of new karmas.

5. Consciousness: (S. vijnana, T. nam par she pa)The resultant moment of conditional awareness which arises when suitable conditions conspire. When the mind makes contact with an object simple read-out awareness arises as a result of the contact.

The Buddha taught that consciousness does not arise without conditions. These conditions are brought into the present through the mechanism of the first four skandhas.