Skandha

Skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections,

Translations of
groupings".[1] In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (Pancha-
skandha
upadanakkhanda), the five bodily and mental factors that take part in the rise of
craving and clinging. They are also explained as the five factors that constitute English aggregate, mass,
and explain a sentient being’s person and personality,[2][3][4] but this is a later heap
interpretation in response to sarvastivadin essentialism. Pali ख ध (khandha)
Sanskrit क ध (skandha)
The five aggregates or heaps are: form (or matter or body) (rupa), sensations (or
feelings, received from form) (vedana), perceptions (samjna), mental activity or Bengali (skandha)
formations (sankhara), and consciousness (vijnana).[5][6][7] Burmese ခ ာ (ငါးပါး)။
(IPA: [kʰàɴdà])
In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to
the aggregates. This suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to
Chinese 蘊(T) / 蕴(S)
aggregates. The Mahayana tradition asserts that the nature of all aggregates is
(Pinyin: yùn)
intrinsically empty of independent existence. Japanese 蘊
(rōmaji: un)
Khmer ប កន
Contents Korean 온
(RR: on)
Etymology
Shan ၶၼ်ႇ ထႃႇ
Description of the five skandhas
([khan2 thaa2])
Interpretation
Aggregates of personality Sinhala ක ධ(skandha)
Aggregates of experience and grasping Tibetan ང་པོ་་
Understanding in Theravada Abhidhamma (phung po lnga)
Six sense bases
Thai ขันธ
Eighteen Dhātus and Four Paramatthas
Twelve Nidanas Vietnamese Ngũ uẩn
Satipatthana Glossary of Buddhism
Understanding in the Mahayana-tradition
India
China
Tibet
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Primary literature
Secondary literature
Web-sources
External links
Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana
Etymology
Skandha ( क ध) is a Sanskrit word that means "multitude, quantity, aggregate", generally in the context of body, trunk, stem,
empirically observed gross object or anything of bulk verifiable with senses.[1][8] The term appears in the Vedic literature.

The Pali equivalent word Khandha (sometimes spelled Kkhanda)[3] appears extensively in the Pali canon, where state Rhys
Davids and William Stede, it means "bulk of the body, aggregate, heap, material collected into bulk" in one context, "all that is
comprised under, groupings" in some contexts, and particularly as "the elements or substrata of sensory existence, sensorial
aggregates which condition the appearance of life in any form".[1][note 1] Paul Williams et al. translate skandha as "heap,
aggregate", stating it refers to the explanation of the psychophysical makeup of any being.[10]

Johannes Bronkhorst renders skandha as "aggregates."[11] Damien Keown and Charles Prebish state that skandha is phung po in
Tibetan, and the terms mean "collections or aggregates or bundles."[12]

Description of the five skandhas

The Buddha teaches in the Pali Canon the five aggregates as follows:

1. "form" or "matter"[note 2] (Skt., Pāli प rūpa; Tib. gzugs): matter, body or "material form" of a being or any
existence.[5][13] Buddhist texts state rupa of any person, sentient being and object to be composed of four basic
elements or forces: earth (solidity), water (cohesion), fire (heat) and wind (motion).[3]
2. "sensation" or "feeling" (Skt., Pāli वे दना vedanā; Tib. tshor-ba): sensory experience of an object.[3] It is either
pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.[note 3][note 4]
3. "Perception"[note 5] (Skt. सं ा saṃjñā, Pāli स ञा saññā, Tib. 'du-shes): sensory and mental process that
registers, recognizes and labels (for instance, the shape of a tree, color green, emotion of fear).[13]
4. "mental formations" (Skt. सं कार saṃskāra, Pāli स ार saṅkhāra, Tib. 'du-byed): '"constructing activities",[13]
"conditioned things", "volition", "karmic activities"; all types of mental imprints and conditioning triggered by an
object.[14][15][note 6] Includes any process that makes a person initiate action or act.[13]
5. "consciousness" (Skt. िव ान vijñāna, Pāli िव ञाण viññāṇa, Tib. rnam-par-shes-pa): "discrimination" or
"discernment"[note 7]. Awareness of an object and discrimination of its components and aspects, and is of six
types, states Peter Harvey.[13] The Buddhist literature discusses this skandha as,

1. In the Nikayas/Āgamas: cognizance,[16][note 8] that which discerns.[17][note 9]

2. In the Abhidhamma: a series of rapidly changing interconnected discrete acts of cognizance.[note 10]
3. In some Mahayana sources: the base that supports all experience.[note 11]

Interpretation

Aggregates of personality
The five aggregates are often interpreted in the later tradition as an explanation of the constituents of person and
personality,[18][19] and "the list of aggregates became extremely important for the later development of the teaching."[19]
According to this interpretation, in each skandha – body, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness – there is
emptiness and no substance.[3][11]

According to Damien Keown and Charles Prebish, skandha in the context of canonical Buddhism asserts that "the notion of a self
is unnecessarily superimposed upon five skandha" of a phenomenon or a living being.[12] The skandha doctrine, state Matthew
MacKenzie, is a form of anti-realism about everyday reality including persons, and presents an alternative to "substantialist views
of the self".[20] It is a Buddhist reductionism of everything perceived, each person and personality as an "aggregate, heap" of
composite entities without essence.[20]

According to Harvey, the five skandhas give rise to a sense of personality,[21] but are dukkha, impermanent, and without an
enduring self or essence.[3][note 12] Each aggregate is an object of grasping (clinging), at the root of self-identification as "I, me,
myself".[3] According to Harvey, realizing the real nature of skandhas, both in terms of impermanence and non-self, is necessary
for nirvana.[29][note 13] This 'emptiness from personality' can be found in descriptions of the enlightened, perfected state of Arhat
and Tathagata,[31] where there is no longer any identification with the five skandhas.[note 14]

This 'no essence' view has been a source of sustained questions, major disagreements and commentaries since ancient times, by
non-Buddhist Indian religions, as well as within Buddhist traditions.[20][32][33] The use of the skandhas concept to explain the
self is unique to Buddhism among major Indian religions,[34][35] and must be seen in the contexts of polemics about the
Sarvastivada teachings that "phenomena" or its constituents are real.[36] It contrasts with the premise of Hinduism and Jainism
that a living being has an eternal soul or metaphysical self.[34][35]

David Kalupahana further explains that the individual is considered unreal but the skandha are considered real in some early
Buddhist texts, but the skandha too are considered unreal and nonsubstantial in numerous other Buddhist Nikaya and Āgama
texts.[37]

Aggregates of experience and grasping

According to Thanissaro, the Buddha never tried to define what a "person" is, though scholars tend to approach the skandhas as a
description of the constituents of the person.[18][note 15] He adds that almost any Buddhist meditation teacher explains it that way,
as even Buddhist commentaries from about 1st century CE onwards have done. In Thanissaro's view, this is incorrect, and he
suggests that skandha should be viewed as activities, which cause suffering, but whose unwholesome workings can be
interrupted.[18]

Rupert Gethin also notes that the five skandhas are not merely "the Buddhist analysis of man," but "five aspects of an individual
being's experience of the world [...] encompassing both grasping and all that is grasped."[39][note 16]

Boisvert states that "many scholars have referred to the five aggregates in their works on Buddhism, [but] none have thoroughly
explained their respective functions."[40] According to Boisvert, the five aggregates and dependent origination are closely related,
explaining the process which binds us to samsara(the world).[41] Boisvert notes that the pancha-upadanakkhanda does not
incorporate all human experience.[42] Vedana may transform into either niramisa or nekkhamma-sita vedana, vedana which is not
harmfull, or into amisa or gehasita vedana, a "type of sensation [which] may act as an agent bringing about the future arising of
craving and aversion."[40] This is determined by sanna.[40] According to Boisvert, "not all sanna belong to the sanna-skandha."
The wholesome sanna recognise the three marks of existence (dukkha, anatta, anicca), and do not belong to the sanna-skandha.
Unwholesome sanna is not "conducive to insight," and without proper sanna, the "person is likely to generate craving, clinging
and becoming."[43] As with sanna, "not all sankhara belong to the sankharaskandha", since not all sankhara produce future
effects.[43]

According to Johannes Bronkhorst, the notion that the five aggregates are not self has to be viewed in light of debates about
"liberating knowledge," the knowledge of Atman which was deemed liberating by the Vedic traditions.[44] Bronkhorst notes that
"knowledge of the self plays no useful role on the Buddha’s path to liberation."[45][note 17] What is important is not to grasp at the
forms, sounds, odors, flavors, objects, and mental properties which are perceived with the six sense organs (these include mind as
the sixth sense organ).[46] The insight that the aggregates are not self aids in letting go of this grasping.[45][note 18]

Miri Albahari also objects to the usual understanding of the skandhas as denoting the absence of any "self." Albahari has argued
that the khandhas do not necessarily constitute the entirety of the human experience, and that the Hindu concept of Ātman
(eternal soul) is not explicitly negated by Pāli Canon.[47] According to Albani, "anattā is best understood as a practical strategy
rather than as a metaphysical doctrine."[47] To Albahari, Nibbāna is an ever-present part of human nature, which is gradually
"uncovered" by the cessation of ignorance.

Understanding in Theravada Abhidhamma

The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha)
according to the Pali Canon.

mental factors (cetasika)

form (rūpa)
4 elements feeling
(mahābhūta) (vedanā)

↓ →
contact perception
(phassa) ← (sañña)

↓ ↑
consciousness
(viññāna)
← formation
(saṅkhāra)

Form is derived from the Four Great Elements.

Consciousness arises from other aggregates.
Mental Factors arise from the Contact of
Consciousness and other aggregates.

Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001) (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.109.than.html) | diagram details

The Early Buddhist schools developed detailed analyses and overviews of the teachings found in the sutras, called Abhidharma.
Each school developed its own Abhidharma. The best-known nowadays is the Theravāda Abhidhamma, but the Sarvāstivāda
Abhidharma was historically very influential, and has been preserved partly in the Chinese Āgama.

Six sense bases

The internal and external sense bases together form the "six sense bases." In this description, found in texts such as Salayatana
samyutta, the coming together of an object and a sense-organ results in the arising of the corresponding consciousness.

According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, the Theravada tradition teaches that the six sense bases accommodate "all the factors of existence",
it is "the all", and "apart from which nothing at all exists,"[48] and "are empty of a self and of what belongs to the
self".[49][note 19]

The suttas themselves don't describe this as an alternative of the skandhas; it is in the Abhidhamma, striving to "a single all-
inclusive system"[51] that the five aggregates and the six sense bases are explicitly connected:[51]

The first five external sense bases (visible form, sound, smell, taste and touch), and the first five internal sense
bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue and body) are part of the form aggregate;
The mental sense-object (i.e. mental objects) overlap the first four aggregates (form, feeling, perception and
formation);
The mental sense organ (mind) is comparable to the aggregate of consciousness.
Bodhi states the six sense bases is a "vertical" view of human experiences while the aggregates is a "horizontal" (temporal)
view.[52] The Theravada Buddhist meditation practice on sense bases is aimed at both removing distorted cognitions such as
those influenced by cravings, conceits and opinions, as well as "uprooting all conceivings in all its guises".[53]

Eighteen Dhātus and Four Paramatthas

The eighteen dhātus[note 20] – Six External Bases, Six Internal Bases, and Six Consciousnesses – function through the five
aggregates. These dhātus can be arranged into six triads, each triad composed of a sense object, a sense organ, and sense
consciousness.[note 21]

The Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali texts create a meta-scheme for the Sutta Pitaka's conceptions of aggregates, sense bases
and dhattus (elements).[55] This meta-scheme is known as the four paramatthas or ultimate realities, three conditioned, one
unconditioned:

Material phenomena (rūpa, form)

Mind or Consciousness (Citta)
Mental factors (Cetasikas: the nama-factors sensation, perception and formation)
Nibbāna

Twelve Nidanas
The Twelve Nidanas is a linear list of twelve elements from the Buddhist teachings which arise depending on the preceding link.
While this list may be interpreted as describing the processes which give rise to rebirth, in essence it describes the arising of
dukkha as a psychological process, without the involvement of an atman.[56][57] Scholars regard it to be a later synthesis of
several older lists.[58][59][60][61][56][62] The first four links may be a mockery of the Vedic-Brahmanic cosmogony, as described
in the Hymn of Creation of Veda X, 129 and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.[57][61][62][63][64][65] These were integrated with a
branched list which describe the conditioning of mental processes,[60][56][62] akin to the five skandhas.[66] Eventually, this
branched list developed into the standard twelvefold chain as a linear list.[60][67]

According to Boisvert, "the function of each of the aggregates, in their respective order, can be directly correlated with the theory
of dependent origination - especially with the eight middle links."[68] Four of the five aggregates are explicitly mentioned in the
following sequence, yet in a different order than the list of aggregates, which concludes with viññāṇa • vijñāna:[69]

mental formations (saṅkhāra • saṃskāra) condition consciousness (viññāṇa • vijñāna)

which conditions name-and-form (nāma-rūpa)
which conditions the precursors (saḷāyatana, phassa • sparśa) to sensations (vedanā)
which in turn condition craving (taṇhā • tṛṣṇā) and clinging (upādāna)
which ultimately lead to the "entire mass of suffering" (kevalassa dukkhakkhandha).[note 22]
The interplay between the five-aggregate model of immediate causation and the twelve-nidana model of requisite conditioning is
evident, for instance underlining the seminal role that mental formations have in both the origination and cessation of
suffering.[note 23][note 24]

Satipatthana
Mindfulness is thought to be applied to four upassanā (domains or bases), "constantly watching sensory experience in order to
prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths,"[70] which also overlap with the skandhas. The
four domains are:[71]

mindfulness of the body (kaya);[72][web 1]

mindfulness of feelings or sensations (vedanā);[73]
 mindfulness of mind or consciousness (citta);[74] and
mindfulness of dhammās.[75]
According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including
Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations
of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas, describing how the samskharas are tranquilized:[76]

the six sense-bases which one needs to be aware of (kāyānupassanā);

contemplation on vedanās, which arise with the contact between the senses and their objects
(vedanānupassanā);
the altered states of mind to which this practice leads (cittānupassanā);
the development from the five hindrances to the seven factors of enlightenment (dhammānupassanā).

Understanding in the Mahayana-tradition

The Mahayana developed out of the traditional schools, introducing new texts and putting other emphases in the teachings,
especially sunyata and the Bodhisattva-ideal.

India
The Prajnaparamita-teachings developed from the first century BCE onward. It emphasises the "emptiness" of everything that
exists. This means that there are no eternally existing "essences", since everything is dependently originated. The skandhas too
are dependently originated, and lack any substantial existence. According to Red Pine, the Prajnaparamita texts are a historical
reaction to some early Buddhist Abhidhammas. Specifically, it is a response to Sarvastivada teachings that "phenomena" or its
constituents are real.[36] The prajnaparamita notion of "emptiness" is also consistent with the Theravada Abhidhamma.

This is formulated in the Heart Sutra. The Sanskrit version of the "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Heart Sutra"), which may
have been composed in China from Sanskrit texts, and later back-translated into Sanskrit,[note 25] states that the five skandhas are
empty of self-existence,[77] [note 26] [note 27][note 28] and famously states "form is emptiness, emptiness is form[77] The same is
true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness."[78]

The Madhyamaka-school elaborates on the notion of the middle way. Its basic text is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, written by
Nagarjuna, who refuted the Sarvastivada conception of reality, which reifies dhammas.[79] The simultaneous non-reification of
the self and reification of the skandhas has been viewed by some Buddhist thinkers as highly problematic.[80]

The Yogacara-school further analysed the workings of the mind, elaborated on the concept of nama-rupa and the five skandhas,
and developed the notion of the Eight Consciousnesses.

China
Sunyata, in Chinese texts, is "wu", nothingness.[81][82] In these texts, the relation between absolute and relative was a central
topic in understanding the Buddhist teachings. The aggregates convey the relative (or conventional) experience of the world by an
individual, although Absolute truth is realized through them. Commenting on the Heart Sutra, D.T. Suzuki notes:

When the sutra says that the five Skandhas have the character of emptiness [...], the sense is: no limiting qualities
are to be attributed to the Absolute; while it is immanent in all concrete and particular objects, it is not in itself
definable.[83]
The Tathāgatagarbha Sutras, treating the idea of the Buddha-nature, developed in India but played a prominent role in China. The
tathagatagarbha-sutras, on occasion, speak of the ineffable skandhas of the Buddha (beyond the nature of worldly skandhas and
beyond worldly understanding). In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Buddha tells of how the Buddha's skandhas are in
fact eternal and unchanging. The Buddha's skandhas are said to be incomprehensible to unawakened vision.

Tibet
The Vajrayana tradition further develops the aggregates in terms of mahamudra epistemology and tantric reifications.

Referring to mahamudra teachings, Chogyam Trungpa [84] identifies the form aggregate as the "solidification" of ignorance (Pali,
avijjā; Skt., avidyā), allowing one to have the illusion of "possessing" ever dynamic and spacious wisdom (Pali, vijjā; Skt. vidyā),
and thus being the basis for the creation of a dualistic relationship between "self" and "other."[note 29]

According to Trungpa Rinpoche,[85] the five skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe experience 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." [86]

Trungpa Rinpoche writes (2001, p. 38):

[S]ome of the details of tantric iconography are developed from abhidharma [that is, in this context, detailed
analysis of the aggregates]. Different colors and feelings of this particular consciousness, that particular emotion,
are manifested in a particular deity wearing such-and-such a costume, of certain particular colors, holding certain
particular sceptres in his hand. Those details are very closely connected with the individualities of particular
psychological processes.

See also
Anatta Schools of Buddhism
Atman (Buddhism) Shunyata
Nagarjuna Tathagatagarbha doctrine
Pratitya-samutpada Ti-lakkhana
Samsara Kosha
Sankhāra

Notes
1. According to Dalai Lama, skandha means "heap, group, collection or aggregate".[9]
2. In Rawson (1991: p.11), the first skandha is defined as: "name and form (Sanskrit nāma-rūpa, Tibetan gzugs)...".
In the Pali literature, nāma-rūpa traditionally refers to the first four aggregates, as opposed to the fifth aggregate,
consciousness.
3. The Pali canon universally identifies that vedana involves the sensing or feeling of something as pleasant,
unpleasant or neutral (see, for instance, SN 22). When contemporary authors elaborate on vedana, they define it
similarly (see, for instance, Nhat Hanh, 1999, p. 178; Trungpa, 2001, p. 21; and, Trungpa, 2002, p. 126). The one
exception is in Trungpa (1976), pp. 20-23, where he states that the "strategies or impluses" of "indifference,
passion and aggression" are "part of the third stage [aggregate]," "guided by perception." (This section of
Trungpa, 1976, is anthologized in Trungpa, 1999, pp. 55-58.)
 4. Generally, vedanā is considered to not include "emotions." For example, Bodhi (2000a), p. 80, writes: "The Pali
word vedanā does not signify emotion (which appears to be a complex phenomenon involving a variety of
concomitant mental factors), but the bare affective quality of an experience, which may be either pleasant, painful
or neutral." Perhaps somewhat similarly, Trungpa (1999), p.58, writes: "Consciousness [the fifth aggregate]
consists of emotions and irregular thought patterns...."
5. Some translate this term as perception although this is typically the translation of pratyakṣa meaning the
apprehension of sensibilia and not any subsequent judgement concerning them. The English word conception is
more accurate, although this implies less a process and more the static end result (the mental state of holding a
concept)), hence discrimination is preferred.
6. The Theravada Abhidhamma divides saṅkhāra into fifty mental factors (Bodhi, 2000a, p. 26). Trungpa (2001), pp.
47ff, following the Sarvastivada Abhidharma studied in Mahayana Buddhism, states that there are fifty-one
"general types" of samskara.
7. Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press 1995, page 143-146.
8. In commenting on the use of "consciousness" in SN 22.3 [1] (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn2
2.003.than.html), Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1046-7, n. 18, states: "The passage confirms the privileged status of
consciousness among the five aggregates. While all the aggregates are conditioned phenomena marked by the
three characteristics, consciousness serves as the connecting thread of personal continuity through the
sequence of rebirths.... The other four aggregates serve as the 'stations for consciousness' (vinnanatthitiyo: see
[SN] 22:53-54). Even consciousness, however, is not a self-identical entity but a sequence of dependently arisen
occasions of cognizing; see MN I 256-60."
9. Harvey writes, "This is in contrast to saññā, which knows by grouping things together, labeling them. This
contrast can be seen in terms of the typical objects of these states: colours for saññā (S.III.87), but tastes
(S.III.87) or feelings (M.I.292) for viññāṇa. While colours usually be immediately identified, tastes and feelings
often need careful consideration to properly identify them: discernment and analysis are needed."
10. This conception of consciousness is found in the Theravada Abhidhamma (Bodhi, 2000a, p. 29).
11. While not necessarily contradicted by the Nikayas, this is a particularly Mahayana statement. For instance, Nhat
Hanh (1999, pp. 180-1) states: "Consciousness here means store consciousness, which is at the base of
everything we are, the ground of all of our mental formations." Similarly, Trungpa (2001, pp. 73-4) states that
consciousness "is the finally developed state of being that contains all the previous elements.... [C]onsciousness
constitutes an immediately available source of occupation for the momentum of the skandhas to feed on."
12. * Dukkha: The first Noble Truth states that "in brief, the five bundles of grasping-fuel (upadana-skandha) are
painful [dukkha]."[3][22] The five aggregates trigger suffering, pain or unsatisfactoriness. Everything that makes a
person is a factor of dukkha, and these in Buddhist thought are not a source of pleasure but of sorrow.[13]
Nirvana requires transcendence from all five skandhas and the sense objects.[3]
* Impermanent: they come into being and dissolve.[13][23]
* Anatta: each of the skandhas lacks a self and substantiality.[24] The aggregates are appearances which don't
have an essence either separately or together, all that is perceived as an aggregate or a whole has no real
existence.[25][20] This is the "non-self" (anatta) doctrine, and it holds that a belief in self is a source of Dukkha
(suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).[26][27] The explicit denial of substantiality or essence in any of the five
skandha appears in the early Buddhist texts: "All form is comparable to foam; all feelings to bubbles; all
sensations are mirage-like; dispositions are like the plantain trunk; consciousness is but an illusion: so did the
Buddha illustrate [the nature of the aggregates]."[28]
13. The initial part of the Buddhist practice is purification of each of the above "five aggregates" through meditation,
study, ritual and living by virtues, particularly abstaining from mental intoxicants. Ultimately, the practice shifts to
considering these as naive, then transcending them to reach the state of realization that there is neither person
nor self within, or in any other being, states Harvey, where everyone and everything is without self or
substantiality and is a "cluster of changing physical and mental processes".[11][30]
14. The physical, the personality factors (skandhas), and any sense of Self or I are a burden which the enlightened
individual has dropped, thus becoming a "man of nothing", not clinging to anything internal or external.[31] The
perfect state of enlightenment is one without any personality, no "I am" conceit, no physical identification, no
intellectual identification, no identification in direct or indirects terms related to any of the five skandhas, because
"a tathagata has abandoned the personality factors".[31] No one can find him because he has no "I", self or
identity, while his citta expands to infinity; he is beyond the reach of the unenlightened human beings, as well as
the army of the Mara (demon of death in Buddhism).[31]
15. Adrian Snodgrass (1984) asserts that the term literally means "heap", and the concept refers to the teaching
accepted by all Buddhist schools that "the personality is an aggregate of five constituent parts," referring back to
older publications from the 1930s to the 1950s.[38]
16. Gethin: "To explain the khandhas as the Buddhist analysis of man, as has been the tendency of contemporary
scholars, may not be incorrect as far as it goes, yet it is to fix upon one facet of the treatment of the khandhas at
the expense of others. Thus A. B. Keith could write, “By a division which ... has certainly no merit, logical or
psychological, the individual is divided into five aggregates or groups.” However, the five khandhas, as treated in
the nikāyas and early abhidhamma, do not exactly take on the character of a formal theory of the nature of man.
The concern is not so much the presentation of an analysis of man as object, but rather the understanding of the
nature of conditioned existence from the point of view of the experiencing subject. Thus at the most general level
rūpa, vedanā, sañña, and are presented as five aspects of an individual being's experience of the world; each
khandha is seen as representing a complex class of phenomena that is continuously arising and falling away in
response to processes of consciousness based on the six spheres of sense. They thus become the five
upādānakkhandhas, encompassing both grasping and all that is grasped."[39]
17. Bronkhorst: "The aim of the teaching of the Buddha is evidently not to discover the real self. On the contrary, the
preoccupation with the true nature of the self has to be given up. Only then one is ready to follow the path shown
by the Buddha. Seen from this practical point of view, the question as to the existence of the self is of minor
importance. The main thing is that knowledge of the self plays no useful role on the Buddha’s path to liberation.
In view of the fact that certain non-Buddhist currents asserted a permanent self not subject to change because
only knowledge of such a self could be useful to the attainment of liberation, it is probably justifid to assume that
the Buddha did not accept the existence of such a self."[45]
18. Bronkhorst: "Acquiring the insight that the various components of the person are not the self causes a wise and
noble listener to turn away from material form, and so on; as a result he becomes free from desire and attains
liberation."[45]
19. According to Bikkhu Bodhi, the Maha-punnama Sutta, also called The Great Full-moon Night Discourse,
describes the impermanence of the aggregates to assert that there is no self, and the right discernment is, "this is
not mine, this is not my self, this is not what I am". From Maha-punnama Sutta
[Buddha:] "It's possible that a senseless person — immersed in ignorance, overcome with craving — might think
that he could outsmart the Teacher's message in this way: 'So — form is not-self, feeling is not-self, perception is
not-self, fabrications are not-self, consciousness is not-self. Then what self will be touched by the actions done
by what is not-self?' Now, monks, haven't I trained you in counter-questioning with regard to this & that topic here
& there? What do you think — Is form constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord." "And is that which is inconstant
easeful or stressful?" "Stressful, lord." "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change
as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?"
[Monks:] "No, lord."
"... Is feeling constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."...
"... Is perception constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."...
"... Are fabrications constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."...
"What do you think, monks — Is consciousness constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord." "And is that which is
inconstant easeful or stressful?" "Stressful, lord." "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to
change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?"
"No, lord."
"Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common
or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This
is not my self. This is not what I am.'

– Majjhima Nikaya iii 15, Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu[50]

20. The Pāli word dhātu is used in multiple contexts in the Pāli canon: For instance, Bodhi (2000b), pp. 527-8,
identifies four different ways that dhātu is used including in terms of the "eighteen elements" and in terms of "the
four primary elements" (catudhātu).
21. The first five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) are derivates of form.
The sixth sense organ (mind) is part of consciousness.
The first five sense objects (visible forms, sound, smell, taste, touch) are also derivatives of form.
The sixth sense object (mental object) includes form, feeling, perception and mental formations.
The six sense consciousnesses are the basis for consciousness.[54]
22. >Put another way, it is through the five skandhas that clinging occurs. See, for instance, the Samadhi Sutta (SN
22:5) (Thanissaro, 2006b). (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.005.than.html)
23. The apparent distinctions between the nidana model and the khandha model are reduced when, instead of using
the twelve-nidana model of the Samyutta Nikaya, chapter 12 (e.g., Thanissaro, 1997d) (http://www.accesstoinsig
ht.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.002.than.html), one compares the nine-nidana model of the Maha-nidana Sutta (DN
15) (Thanissaro, 1997a) (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.15.0.than.html) where consciousness
conditions name-and-form and name-and-form conditions consciousness.
24. Bodhi (2000b, pp. 839-840) writes: "Whereas the teaching on dependent origination is intended to disclose the
dynamic pattern running through everyday experience that propels the round of rebirth and death forward from
life to life, the teaching on the five aggregates concentrates on experience in its lived immediacy in the continuum
from birth to death." Perhaps in a similar vein, Bodhi (2000b, pp. 762-3, n. 132) notes elsewhere that, according
to the Samyutta Nikaya's subcommentary: "There are two kinds of origin, momentary origin (khanika-samudaya)
and origin through conditions (paccaya-samudaya). A bhikkhu who sees one sees the other."
25. According to Nattier (1992), the Heart Sutra was originally composed in Chinese and later back-translated into
Sanskrit. Thereafter, it became popular in India and later Tibet. Elements in this translation are not present in
Chinese versions of this sutra.
26. See also Nhat Hanh (1988), p. 1, and Suzuki (1960), p. 26. Nhat Hanh (1988) adds to this first verse the
sentence: "After this penetration, he overcame all pain." Suzuki (1960), p. 29, notes that this additional sentence
is unique to Hsuan-chuang's translation and is omitted in other versions of the Heart Sutra.
27. In the Theravada canon, the English word "self-existence" is a translation of the Sanskrit word svabhava.
"Svabhava" has also been translated as "self-nature" (Suzuki, 1960, p. 26), "separate self" (Nhat Hanh, 1988, p.
16) and "self-existence" (Red Pine, 2004, p. 67). Note that Chinese versions of the Heart Sutra do not contain the
notion of svabhava. When "emptiness of self" is mentioned, the English word "self" is a translation of the Pali
word "atta" (Sanskrit, "atman").
28. Regarding the term sabhāva (Pali; Skt: svabhāva) in the Pali Canon, Gal (2003), p. 7, writes: "To judge from the
suttas, the term sabhāva was never employed by the Buddha and it is rare in the Pali Canon in general. Only in
the post-canonical period does it become a standard concept, when it is extensively used in the commentarial
descriptions of the dhammas [conditioned mental and physical processes] and in the sub-commentarial exegesis.
The term sabhāva, though, does occur on various occasions in five canonical or para-canonical texts: the
Paṭisambhidāmagga, the Peṭakopadesa, the Nettippakaraṇa, the Milindapañha and the Buddhavaṃsa."
Gal (p. 10) speculates that the use of the term sabhāva in the Paṭisambhidāmagga might be the earliest
occurrence in Pali literature and quotes (p. 7, esply. n. 28) from this text (Paṭis. II 178) the application of the
phrase sabhāvena suññaṃ (Pali for "empty of sabhāva") to each of the aggregates — at least superficially
similar to an application of svabhāva in the Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra ("Heart Sutra") cited in this article.
29. This type of analysis of the aggregates (where ignorance conditions the five aggregates) might be akin to that
described by the Twelve Nidanas.

References
1. Thomas William Rhys Davids; William Stede (1921). Pali-English Dictionary (https://books.google.com/books?id=
0Guw2CnxiucC). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 232–234. ISBN 978-81-208-1144-7.
2. Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ). Princeton University Press. pp. 708, 721–723, 827–828. ISBN 978-1-4008-
4805-8.
3. Harvey 2013, p. 55.
4. Steven M. Emmanuel (2015). A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCg
AAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 193, 232–233, 421–425. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.
5. Steven M. Emmanuel (2015). A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCg
AAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 587–588. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.
6. Skandha (http://www.britannica.com/topic/skandha) Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
7. Karunamuni ND (May 2015). "The Five-Aggregate Model of the Mind". SAGE Open. 5 (2): 215824401558386.
doi:10.1177/2158244015583860 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2158244015583860).
8. Monier Monier-Williams (1872). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (https://books.google.com/books?id=_3NWAAAAc
AAJ). Oxford University Press. p. 1141.
9. Dalai Lama (1966). The Opening of the Wisdom-Eye: And the History of the Advancement of Buddhadharma in
Tibet (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnHOkMbp6wYC&pg=PA37). Theosophical Publishing House.
pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-0-8356-0549-6.
10. Paul Williams; Anthony Tribe (2000). Buddhist Thought (https://books.google.com/books?id=BVvFBQAAQBAJ).
Routledge. pp. 42, 48, 58–60, 69–70. ISBN 978-0-415207003.
11. Bronkhorst 2009, p. 28–31.
12. Damien Keown; Charles S. Prebish (2013). Encyclopedia of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=NFp
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13. Harvey 2013, p. 56-57.
14. David J. Kalupahana (1992). A History of Buddhist Philosophy: Continuities and Discontinuities (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=SlDArya3YvcC). University of Hawaii Press. pp. 71–72. ISBN 978-0-8248-1402-1.
15. Thomas William Rhys Davids; William Stede (1921). Pali-English Dictionary (https://books.google.com/books?id=
0Guw2CnxiucC). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 664–665. ISBN 978-81-208-1144-7.
16. See, for instance, SN 22.79, "Being Devoured" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 915).
17. Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press 1995, page 143-146
18. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2010), The Five Aggregates. A Study Guide (https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/khan
dha.html)
19. Bronkhorst 2009, p. 28.
20. MacKenzie 2013, p. 242–247.
21. Harvey 2013, p. 56.
22. Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2000b, p. 840
23. Anicca Buddhism (http://www.britannica.com/topic/anicca), Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
24. David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id
=GOYGAAAAYAAJ). University Press of Hawaii. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.
25. Clark Johnson (2006). On Buddha Essence: A Commentary on Rangjung Dorje's Treatise (https://books.google.c
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26. Peter Harvey (2012). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC). Cambridge University Press. pp. 57–62. ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.
27. Peter Harvey (2015). Steven M. Emmanuel (ed.). A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 34–37. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.
28. Kalupahana (1975), page 86. The quote is from S 3.142, and also occurs in the Āgamas.
29. Peter Harvey (2012). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC). Cambridge University Press. pp. 59–62. ISBN 978-0-521-85942-4.
30. Harvey 2013, p. 57.
31. Peter Harvey (1995), The Selfless Mind, Curzon Press, pages 228-230.
32. William Edelglass; Jay Garfield (2009). Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=tEb63CGvShsC). Oxford University Press. pp. 261–264, 288–295, 297–308, 358–363, 226–227, 317–329.
ISBN 978-0-19-971655-5.;
Irina Kuznetsova; Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad; Jonardon Ganeri (2012). "Chapter 9, see also the Introduction
Chapter" (https://books.google.com/books?id=MP0I5KNFFl8C). Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue: Self and
No-Self. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4094-5662-9.
33. Rupert Gethin (16 July 1998). The Foundations of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=FUwSDAAAQ
BAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 140–149, 238–239. ISBN 978-0-19-289223-2., Quote: We have seen how
Buddhist thought criticizes the concept of an unchanging self as incoherent; however, both ancient and modern
critics have argued that to do away with the self in the manner of Buddhist thought in fact creates insurmountable
philosophical and moral problems. (...) We have seen how Buddhist thought breaks down an individual into five
classes of physical and mental events known as skandhas or aggregates".
34. Ruhe 2005, p. 92–93.
35. Loy 2009, p. 63–64.
36. Pine 2004, p. 9.
37. David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id
=GOYGAAAAYAAJ). University Press of Hawaii. pp. 85–86. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.
38. Adrian Snodgrass (1992). The Symbolism of the Stupa (https://books.google.com/books?id=nzqK8dDCM0UC).
Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 137 with note 165. ISBN 978-81-208-0781-5.
39. Gethin 1986.
40. Boisvert 2005, p. 147.
41. Bosivert 2005, p. 150.
42. Boisvert 2005, p. 147-148.
43. Boisvert 2005, p. 148.
44. Bronkhorst 2009, p. 26-32.
45. Bronkhorst 2009, p. 27.
46. Bronkhorst 2009, p. 28-29.
47. Albahari, Miri (March 2002). "Against No-Ātman Theories of Anattā". Asian Philosophy. 12 (1): 5–20.
doi:10.1080/09552360220142225 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F09552360220142225). ISSN 0955-2367 (https://w
ww.worldcat.org/issn/0955-2367).
48. Bodhi 2000b, p. 1122.
49. Bodhi 2000b, pp. 1125-127.
50. Maha-punnama Sutta: The Great Full-moon Night Discourse (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.109.t
han.html), Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2001)
51. Bodhi 2000b, p. 1123.
52. Bodhi, 2000b, pp. 1122-23
53. Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1125-26
54. Bodhi (2000a), pp. 287-8.
55. Bodhi (2000a), p. 6.
56. Shulman 2007.
57. Jurewicz 2000.
58. Frauwallner 1973, p. 167-168.
59. Schumann 1997.
60. Bucknell 1999.
61. Gombrich 2009.
62. Jones 2009.
63. Wayman 1984, p. 173 with note 16.
64. Wayman 1990, p. 256.
65. Wayman 1971.
66. Boisvert 1995.
67. Gombrich 2009, p. 138.
68. Boisvert 1995, p. 127.
69. Boisvert 1995, p. 127-128.
70. Williams 2000, p. 46.
71. Kuan 2008, p. i, 9, 81.
72. (Pāli: kāya-sati, kāyagatā-sati; Skt. kāya-smṛti)
73. (Pāli vedanā-sati; Skt. vedanā-smṛti)
74. (Pāli citta-sati; Skt. citta-smṛti)
75. (Pāli dhammā-sati; Skt. dharma-smṛti)
76. Polak 2011, p. 153-156, 196-197.
77. Red Pine (2004), p.2.
78. Nhat Hanh (1988), p.1. Again, also see Red Pine (2004), p. 2, and Suzuki (1960), p. 26.
79. Kalupahana 1975, page 78
80. Jinpa 2002 , page 112.
81. Lai 2003.
82. Swanson 1993, p. 373.
83. Suzuki (1960), p. 29, n. 4.
84. Trungpa, 2001, pp. 10–12; and, Trungpa, 2002, pp. 124, 133–134
85. Trungpa Rinpoche 1976, pp. 20–22
86. Trungpa Rinpoche 1976, p. 23
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Web-sources
1. Salient sections of the Pāli canon on kāya-sati (kāya-gatā-sati):
http://www.palikanon.com/english/wtb/g_m/kaaya_gata_sati.htm

External links

Theravada
Khandavagga suttas (a selection) (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/index.html#khandha), translated
primarily by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Mahayana
The Five Skandhas (http://www.udel.edu/Philosophy/afox/PHIL204/five.html), table showing the five skandhas,
prepared by Alan Fox (Dept. of Philosophy, U. of Delaware).

Vajrayana
A View on Buddhism: Mind and Mental Factors (https://web.archive.org/web/20060819074845/http://buddhism.ka
lachakranet.org/mind.html), web page including description of the Five Aggregates.

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