Just as, with an assemblage of parts,
The word “chariot” is used,
So, when the aggregates exist,
There is the convention “a being.”
It’s only suffering that comes to be,
Suffering that stands and falls away.
Nothing but suffering comes to be,
Nothing but suffering ceases.
Vajirāsutta: Vajira (SN 5.10),
translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Today I want to explain to you what suffering is. As the Buddha explains:
Jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā, byādhipi dukkho, maraṇampi dukkhaṁ, appiyehi sampayogo dukkho, piyehi vippayogo dukkho, yampicchaṁ na labhati tampi dukkhaṁ…
Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering…
And then the Buddha says: saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā.
“In brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering”.
That is, suffering is attachment to the five khandhā, or pañcakkhandhā. Understanding the pañcakkhandhā is very important for Buddhist practice.
The pañcakkhandhā are:
- rūpakkhandha — the aggregate of form;
- vedanākkhandha — the aggregate of sensations;
- saññākkhandha — the aggregate of perceptions;
- saṅkhārakkhandha — the aggregate of mental formations;
- viññāṇakkhandha — the aggregate of consciousness.
We can roughly divide almost all people in the world into two groups. Some people believe that we were born into a world where everything exists: people, animals, the sky, the earth, countries, nations, and everything else. It existed before us, we were born into it, and it will continue to exist without us. Other people believe that all of this happens in the mind: as if everything we are aware of and perceive is an illusion, and without us, nothing exists; apart from the mind, there is nothing — everything is only in the mind, in consciousness (viññāṇavāda).
The Buddha rejected both of these views. The Buddha explained absolute reality differently, and to understand these explanations, we need knowledge of the five khandhā. Let’s analyze what the five aggregates are.
Rūpakkhandha
The first is rūpakkhandha, the aggregate of form. What is rūpa, form: it is matter, or material elements. The Buddha explained that there are four material elements, or four great elements — satara mahābhūtā:
- The earth element, or solidity (paṭhavī-dhātu), which manifests as hardness or softness.
- The fire element, or temperature (tejo-dhātu), which manifests as heat or cold, temperature.
- The wind element (vāyo-dhātu), which manifests as movement or pressure.
- The water element, or cohesion, fluidity (āpo-dhātu).
These elements should not be understood literally as earth, fire, wind, and water. This is not the earth we walk on: that kind of earth has all four elements.
The Buddha says that there is no creator of the great elements and that they are beginningless. They are constantly changing — they do not have a fixed form. For example, hardness decreases, fluidity increases, then airiness grows, and so on. For example, when ice melts, the element of fire increases (temperature rises), the element of earth decreases (hardness diminishes), and the element of water increases (fluidity grows). These elements are like energy — they are constantly changing and are present everywhere. Also, these elements cannot be separated — all four elements always coexist together, and it is impossible to separate them. If we take even the smallest particle of matter, it will always contain all four great primary elements.
The Buddha described that where there are the four great primary elements, there will also be four dependent elements, upādāyarūpa:
- vaṇṇa — color;
- ghandā — smell;
- rasa — taste;
- ojā — nutritional essence.
These four dependent elements are always present when the four great primary elements are present; they are always together. This constitutes the aggregate of materiality, or the aggregate of form — rūpakkhandha.
Many people think that the aggregate of form is our body, but that is not entirely correct. The aggregate of form also includes the objects of our sense organs. These are the objects of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body.
To explain it differently, the aggregate of form is:1.The eye and the objects of the eye (colors).2.The ear and the objects of the ear (sounds).3.The nose and the objects of the nose (smells).4.The tongue and the objects of the tongue (tastes).5.The body and the objects of the body (touches).
All of this is rūpa.
When we think “materiality,” “matter,” we immediately think that all objects in the world are matter: buildings, trees, earth, rivers, oceans, and so on. But in the Buddha’s Teachings, it is not so, and to understand this, we need to see where all this arises. This is precisely what is explained through pañcakkhandhā.
When we say, “I see a person,” we think there is a person, their body consists of the four elements, and they have a mind. But in reality, when I see a person, the eye sees only colors. The Buddha teaches that the eye perceives varṇa rūpa, colors. Apart from colors, the eye perceives nothing else; therefore, what actually arises here is pañcakkhandhā. In pañcakkhandhā, form is the eye and the objects of the eye. The objects of the eye are not the person; the objects of the eye are colors, and colors are materiality in the Buddha’s Teaching. Everything else is the mind, my perception: that there is a person, their body consists of elements, whether they are good or bad, what religion they follow, where they are from — all of these are my perceptions, this is nāma (mind, mentality1). And materiality, rūpa, is the eye and the objects of the eye.
1It is often translated literally as “name,” but the Bhante clarifies that this is a more colloquial meaning of the word, and in the context of the Teachings, it significantly weakens the meaning and is not commonly used in Sri Lanka (editor’s note)
Let’s consider the ear and the objects of the ear. The objects of the ear are only sounds. But we say, for example, “I hear a car.” Then I might think that the car is not alive, the car is something material. But when I think like this, for me, there exists an external world, and in the external world, there is a car. If we want to see the real world, to see reality, we must understand: the ear and the objects of the ear are materiality (rūpa), and everything else is the mind (nāma).
The Buddha even gave us a meditation practice to perceive elements as elements. He teaches that we should see internal elements and external elements simply as elements. There is internal solidity, such as hair, nails, teeth, bones, and so on, and there is external solidity, but there is no difference between them — solidity is solidity. There is internal fluidity, or water, such as blood, mucus, sweat, saliva, and so on, and there is external water. But the quality of water is the same; there is no difference. You cannot say that internal water is “me” and external water is “you”; such a view arises from ignorance. In reality, there are just elements.
Now both the internal earth element and the external earth element are simply earth element. And that should be seen as it actually is with proper wisdom thus: “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.” When one sees it thus as it actually is with proper wisdom, one becomes disenchanted with the earth element and makes the mind dispassionate toward the earth element.
Now there comes a time when the water element is disturbed and then the external earth element vanishes. When even this external earth element, great as it is, is seen to be impermanent, subject to destruction, disappearance, and changeˌ what of this body, which is clung to by craving and lasts but a while? There can be no considering that as “I” or “mine” or “I am.”
Vedanākkhandha
The next aggregate is vedanākkhandha. Vedanā means sensation, and khandha means heap, mass, or aggregate. So, what is vedanā, sensation? The Buddha teaches that there are three types of sensations: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. They arise due to contact (phassa). When I see, hear, smell, taste, touch — through contact, a sensation arises. Even when we think, thoughts create sensations. In the mind, there can be sadness, joy — these are also mental sensations.
Saññākkhandha
The third aggregate is saññākkhandha, the aggregate of perception. When we hear something, we perceive those sounds; when we see, we perceive colors, and so on. The mind constantly perceives objects through the sense organs. This is the most basic recognition of the objects we perceive, without judgment or reflection. These perceptions arise one after another very quickly, in each moment, many of them arise, which is why they are called khandha: heap, mass, aggregate.
Saṅkhārakkhandha
The fourth aggregate is saṅkhārakkhandha, mental formations, or volitional formations of the mind. Saṅkhārā are our thoughts. Every time we perceive something, certain formations appear in the mind. The mind perceives all this in some way and then creates certain thoughts about it, makes some judgment, thinks about it. These thoughts are saṅkhārā, or put differently: they are our greed, anger, generosity, kindness, compassion, wisdom, foolishnessall of these are saṅkhārā.
Viññāṇakkhandha
The fifth aggregate is viññāṇakkhandha, the aggregate of consciousness. Usually, when we say “consciousness” and “mind,” these words are synonymous for us. In Pali, there are also two words for them, two separate concepts: viññāṇa — consciousness, and mano — mind, but they are not synonyms, they are two different concepts.
And what is consciousness, viññāṇa? The function of consciousness is to know, to cognize, to make something accessible to our mind. And what does consciousness cognize? Whatever arises in the mind, that is what it cognizes. For example, walking at night, we might see a rope lying on the path and mistake it for a snake. The object “snake” arises in the mind, and consciousness cognizes the snake. Then we might shine a flashlight on it and see that it was a rope: the object “rope” arises in the mind, and consciousness cognizes the rope. The mind, mano, can think logically and understand that we were mistaken: that there was no snake and it was a rope all along. But these are mental objects; this is how thinking works. Consciousness, viññāṇa, does not work this wayconsciousness only cognizes what has arisen. This is called the aggregate of consciousness.
Many people wonder where consciousness is located, but from the perspective of the Teachings, this is the wrong question, as it arises and disappears. It arises based on the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, so we speak of eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness. Look closely at yourself, how many consciousnesses are arising right now. We simultaneously understand where we are sitting, and we see, hear, and feel the body. But the body is not one consciousness: to feel the body, myriad consciousnesses arise. If we observe carefully and mindfully, we can see that different sensations are constantly arising in the body, and thanks to these sensations, I feel the body, perceive the body.
Similarly with vision: in reality, we perceive a constant stream of images, which means eye-consciousness is constantly arising and disappearing. If we look at a tree and see its leaves individually, separate consciousnesses arise so that we can perceive the leaves individuallythis is how quickly the mind works. And the same goes for the other sense organs. Imagine how many consciousnesses are arising right now. This is why we say it is a heap of consciousness. Khandha means heap, mass, or pile.
And what, bhikkhus, is form? The four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements: this is called form. With the arising of nutriment there is the arising of form. With the cessation of nutriment there is the cessation of form.
And what, bhikkhus, is feeling? There are these six classes of feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, feeling born of ear-contact, feeling born of nose-contact, feeling born of tongue-contact, feeling born of body-contact, feeling born of mind-contact. This is called feeling. With the arising of contact there is the arising of feeling. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of feeling.
And what, bhikkhus, is perception? There are these six classes of perception: perception of forms, perception of sounds, perception of odours, perception of tastes, perception of tactile objects, perception of mental phenomena. This is called perception. With the arising of contact there is the arising of perception. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of perception.
And what, bhikkhus, are volitional formations? There are these six classes of volition: volition regarding forms, volition regarding sounds, volition regarding odours, volition regarding tastes, volition regarding tactile objects, volition regarding mental phenomena. This is called volitional formations. With the arising of contact there is the arising of volitional formations. With the cessation of contact there is the cessation of volitional formations.
And what, bhikkhus, is consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness. With the arising of name-and-form there is the arising of consciousness. With the cessation of name-and-form there is the cessation of consciousness.
All these five aggregates, pañcakkhandhā, arise together just like the four great primary elementsthey are inseparable. We cannot perceive them separately, for example, only form or only feeling. They arise simultaneously and immediately disappear, then the next pañcakkhandhā immediately arise and also disappear. If a person can see how pañcakkhandhā arise and how they disappear, they develop vipassanāñāṇa, insight knowledge. They begin to see the world differently.
Feeling, perception, and consciousnessthese things are mixed, not separate. And you can never completely disentangle them so as to describe the difference between them. For you perceive what you feel, and you cognize what you perceive. That’s why these things are mixed, not separate. And you can never completely disentangle them so as to describe the difference between them.
Mahāvedallasutta: The Great Elaboration (MN 43),
translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato
If a person practices vipassanā, their goal should be to see the arising and disappearing of the khandha. This is the vision of impermanence, the real vision of impermanence. Without vipassanā, we can say that the world is impermanent: one day all of this will be gone, everything will decay, trees will wither and disappear, but this is not the vision of impermanence, not the vision of reality as it isthese are just our thoughts. To see reality as it is, to understand the world, a person must observe the pañcakkhandhā.
How can we use this knowledge, what should we do with all of this? How can we apply it in practice? The goal of the Teachings is to be free from suffering, so we need to use this information for liberation. As I have already said, the five aggregates arise simultaneously. Let’s look at how they arise.
How should we correctly understand attachment? What are we attaching to? Usually, when we say “attachment,” we mean that we strongly desire something, we hold on to it. But there is not only this kind of attachment.
Let’s take the ear as an example and see how the five aggregates arise through the ear. Sound is materiality, rūpa. A sound enters the ear, and ear-consciousness arises, perceiving the sound. Ear-consciousness can do nothing else; it only perceives the sound and then disappears. Following this, mind-consciousness arises to understand what that sound is. The recognition of this sound occurs through memory, through one’s perceptions, or āsavā, knowledge with mental defilements.
Thus, the sound is recognized, and for us, something good, bad, or neutral in the external world immediately appears. The mind perceives a person, dog, cat, and so on — that’s how the mind perceives. A sensation and perception arise in the mind (“cat,” “dog”). And to evaluate and perceive this in some way, saṅkhāra (a subtle formation) arises in the mind, and viññāṇa (consciousness) arises. Here, consciousness is the mind’s consciousness, which is aware of the dog or cat. If the formation was “cat,” then consciousness is aware of the cat. Thus, the pañcakkhandhā appeared.
Physical suffering cannot be completely avoided, as it is inevitably tied to the existence of the body. Even the Buddhas and arahants experienced such suffering until the completion of their final life. However, mental suffering can be entirely eliminated — this occurs with the complete liberation of the mind, that is, upon attaining enlightenment.
However, the pañcakkhandhā in themselves are not mental suffering. The Buddha says: saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering. There must be upādāna, attachment, clinging, for mental suffering to arise *.
* Clinging also occurs at the moment of rebirth when we «cling» to the five aggregates until the end of life. Such clinging is not eradicated even for Arahants and the Buddha. That is, as long as there is rūpa (form), there will be anicca (impermanence). And as long as there is anicca, there will be dukkha (suffering). It is precisely with this understanding that the meaning of the Salla Sutta (SN 36.6) remains intact (Ven. Topper Pannyaavudho bhikkhu’s note).
So, suppose a cat appears in our mind. We think about this cat as if it exists out there, in the external world. We “attach” it to the external world, we start to think, and we begin to perceive some external elements as a dog or as a cat: we match our perceptions with external elements. And what happens after that? For us, a cat appears there. If I say it is good, a good cat appears. If I say it is bad, a bad cat appears. And we do not see the arising and disappearing. This is how existence appears for us. Why? If we take paṭiccasamuppāda, dependent origination, there is upādāna (attachment, clinging). If there is attachment, the next thing will be existence: upādānapaccayā bhavo — with clinging as a condition, existence arises. This means existence appears.
Suppose right now you can think about Thailand, Sri Lanka, or America. And we have perceptions, we have certain thoughts. And for us, these thoughts are not just something that appears in the mind. We begin to see them in the external world as reality. This means that everything that is in our mind, we start to see in the external world. This is how our world appears, and this is how our suffering arises for us.
This is a very complex topic, but you can observe yourself, study yourself, and reflect on this knowledge. We study ourselves in order to be free. Free from what? From everything. From the cat, from the dog, from people, from countries, the earth, and the sky — from everything we can be free. And why? Because all of this arises in our mind. And why does all of this arise in our mind? Because of ignorance. We do not see what is actually happening in reality.
Every time we hear something, the pañcakkhandhā arise in our mind: certain perceptions, formations, feelings, etc., and we begin to see this in the external world. But what is actually happening in reality? In reality, at any given moment, either the eye is working, or the ear is working, or the tongue is working, or the nose is working, or the body is working. Or the mind is working. The mind connects all these senses and creates the real world for us.
The eye perceives colors, and besides colors, there is nothing for the eye. The body perceives only touches and nothing else. A blind person, when touching something, also feels something. But they cannot touch the beauty that we see with our eyes. Even if we show them something very beautiful to us, they cannot touch it because, upon touching, they will only feel hardness, pressure, and temperature. But if we give them a precious stone and explain that it is a jewel, in their sensations, it will not only be hardness, pressure, and temperature — for them, it will be the touch of a precious stone. And what is a precious stone? It is their perception, their mental formation, their consciousness. But in reality, there is hardness, temperature, and pressure — that is reality.
This is how we begin to see how it happens. We see colors, feel temperature, hardness, pressure, and the mind says, “You saw a cat, you touched a cat.” Do you see where the delusion arises? In the mind. We can see where delusion, greed, and anger arise. Anger and greed — they arise in my mind, they do not belong to the external object; this is what we need to understand. If a person understands this, they have some level of mindfulness and can observe themselves because without this they do not see their thoughts. They do not see their thoughts — they see other people in them, good and bad, and they do not see their anger, aversion, and greed.
If we start to see: this is anger, these are thoughts, these are saṅkhārā, then that is already some level of mindfulness. To observe this way, we need to somehow see the real world, and for that, we can develop mindfulness. For example, during meditation, you can be mindful and vigilant. There was a sound, and after that, a person appeared in the mind, then some aversion arose, and we can think in reverse order about what really happened. There was a sound that disappeared long ago, and a person appeared in the mind. To whom then does this person belong, where do they exist? They arose in my mind, it is my mental formation, while in the real world, elements arise and disappear. They arise when we listen, see, touch, smell, taste, think. This is how we can observe.
Sounds never appear to us as just sounds. It’s as if we already have a program that is always running, it always works for us. We cannot help but hear words when we hear speech sounds because we already know these sounds, and as soon as we hear them, we begin to perceive speech along with these sounds. The Buddha taught that first and foremost, we must see our clinging, upādāna. If a person can even slightly understand what upādāna is, that is already the development of the mind. Upādāna primarily creates sakkāya diṭṭhi — false views, the false understanding of “self.” Therefore, we can develop mindfulness and wisdom and practice using this knowledge, forming the right views.
I wish you mindfulness and wisdom so that you can see the world as it is. I wish you good practice, and may the merits from listening to this Dhamma help you achieve liberation!
Mendicants, there are these five grasping aggregates. What five? The grasping aggregates of form, feeling, perception, choices, and consciousness. These are the five grasping aggregates.
To give up these five grasping aggregates you should develop the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. What four? It’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body — keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. They meditate observing an aspect of feelings …They meditate observing an aspect of the mind …They meditate observing an aspect of principles — keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. To give up those five hindrances you should develop these four kinds of mindfulness meditation.
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Upādānakkhandhasutta: Grasping Aggregates (AN 9.66),
translation by Ven. Bhikkhu Sujato
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