The Five Aggregates (Skandhas)
by
Charles PattonThe five aggregates (skandhas) are the scheme the Buddha chose to describe the nature of the individual human existence. It is a common doctrine among virtually all schools of Buddhist thought, being basic to the Buddha's philosophical teachings.
The remarkable aspect of it is that it describes the human existance as a combination of physical and mental elements without recourse to the idea of a soul that is distinct from the mind, and -- most especially -- does not assert any governing agent that can be identified as a self within the individual.
That is to say, each of the five aggregates is an equal component of the individual, which amounts to a conventional self only when all are present and functioning.
Briefly, the five aggregates are: the material organism (ruupa); sensation (vedanaa); conception (sa~nj~naa); volition (sam.skaara); and consciousness (vij~nana). The diagram below sketches the basic relationship between the aggregates in a human being.
The first and last (material organism and consciousness) of the aggregates are perhaps best thought of as the "stuff", or basis, of the individual, while the other three (sensation, ideation, and volition) are the internal transactions that occur between them. Matter is organized into a physical organism and animated by consciousness.
These two combine to form the body-mind substrate of the personality. The other three aggregates are forms of activity that arises in the interactions between the body and mind.
Sensation involves the process of data collection by the senses.
The six sense organs in Buddhist thought include eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and brain. The brain is included as a 'sixth' sense organ because it senses sensations (such as memories) that arise internally and not directly from an external source (though they may have come originally from an external source).
Certain emotions, such as sorrow and happiness, may also be considered mental sensations in some situations. Also, the sensations that occur in the dream state are sensed by the brain. The sensory objects of these sense organs are rendered into data, which is transmitted to the brain. There it is rendered into a mental representation. This rendering is the first step of conception.
To give an example, the retina of the eye is struck by light and it sends a data transmission through the optic nerve to the brain. The brain takes this data and converts it into colors, shapes, and images. This process produces a constant visual field (visual consciousness), so long as the eyes, nerve, and brain are all functionally properly.
Conception is the process of deriving general concepts from the sensory fields and using them as templates in abstract thought and also as a means of recognition. To give an example, the concept of redness is drawn from the visual sensations of certain hues of color, representing a certain band of wavelengths of light, which we call 'red'.
One difference between the sensation of red and the concept of red is that the sensations of red are all slightly different and are merely the red hues that appear in the visual field. A ball may be red, or there may be red on a billboard. The concept of redness, however, is an idea lifted out of the images of our vision and generalized.
It does not represent a specific hue of color, but is a very general notion that encompasses a multitude of hues that fall within a certain range of color. In essense, the sensation of red is seen, while the notion of red is thought about. By drawing a concept of redness out of the plethora of hues that we see, we are able to single out hues and recognize them as 'red'.
On a basic level, conception is an essential function of the mind if we are to make sense of the world. Without it, we would not be able to recognize particular things or to generalize about our environment. We find certain red fruits on certain trees and generalize them, calling them apples on apple trees.
Later when we find another tree with the same fruits, we know that it is an apple tree. It is because of the concept of apples and apple trees that we able to recognize it again. This is why this aggregate is sometimes translated as preception rather than conception.
Volition is that function of the mind that might also be called the 'will'. It involves an agent of action, what we typically refer to as the psychological 'I'. Volition does not merely involve intent, but simply consists of actions that originate in the mind and have an agent that performs them. This aggregate includes a broad group of activities in the commentaries from earliest times. There is a traditional litany of fifty-two activities that were considered volitional. They include things like habits, reactions, and intentional acts.
Volition is very important in Buddhist thought because it is this that is the genesis of karma. In fact, karma is itself defined as a volitional act. Volitional acts all have results, which is sometimes called the fruits of karma. Of course, these results are not always ethical in nature. If I am thirsty and choose to pick up a glass of water and drink from it, the volitional act has the result of alleviating thirst and putting water in my body. But there is probably nothing ethical about it.
If instead I come accross someone in a desert who is suffering from extreme thirst and I give him water (or chose intentionally to withold my water from him), that would consitute a karma with an ethical quality. Karmic acts are generally divided into three categories in Buddhist writings, these being mental, verbal, and physical acts.
To illustrate, if I form hateful thoughts about someone I meet, that is a mental act. If I tell the person hateful things to express those hateful thoughts, that is a verbal act. If I strike that person with a stick or fist, that is a physical act. Each of these types of acts have different consequences and gravities. Mental acts tend to function to condition our attitudes and opinions.
Verbal acts tend to condition our relationships with others, and usually will also reinforce mental conditioning. Physical acts are often the most powerful, because they can go so far as taking or perserving life. They have results that condition our physical environment. Generally speaking, though, karmic acts tend to have their seeds in mental acts that, if nutured, blossom into verbal and physical acts.
To speak and behave compassionately, on a consistent basis at least, one needs to begin with compassionate mental acts.
This is the basic scheme of the five aggregates that make up the individual personality. While it broken up into five distinct components, when we take them all as a whole, we can see it as a complete system.
