According to the teachings of the Buddha the human personality is comprised of five “aggregates of grasping,” called in Pali pañc’upådånakkhandhå. They are:
- the aggregate of body
- the aggregate of feelings
- the aggregate of perception
- the aggregate of [mental formations such as volition]
- the aggregate of consciousness.
We may wonder why the Buddha mentions only five. We can attempt to answer this question by analyzing any unit of experience in our day-to-day life:
Suppose, for instance, we hear a big noise on the road, and we rush to the spot and recognize that a motorcycle accident has taken place. We feel sorry for the victim and want to rush that person to the hospital.
If we look at this experience and analyze the physical and mental phenomena involved, we will notice that they can be accommodated within the Five Aggregates of grasping.
Of course, we all know the body or the material aspect of personality. It is this body which approached the site of the accident.
Of course, we all know the body or the material aspect of personality. It is this body which approached the site of the accident.
We heard the noise and saw the scene of the accident. That means we have had auditory and visual consciousness.
We recognized that it as a motorcycle accident. That is the aggregate of perception.
We felt sorry for the victim, and our sorrow is the feeling aspect of personality.
We wanted to take the victim to the hospital, and that is the volitional aspect. So we find all Five Aggregates of grasping in this unit of experience.
The physical and mental phenomena involved in all our varied experiences can be included within these Five Aggregates. It is very likely that the Buddha, too, discovered these five by analyzing experience through objective awareness (sati) and intuitive wisdom (paññå).
Why are they called "aggregates" (khandha)? Khandha means “heap” or “accumulation.” It is easy to understand that the body is a heap of [four] material elements or qualities. We maintain its process of sustenance by heaping it up with gross material nutriment.
Similarly, in the mental sphere, through our experiences, we accumulate feelings, perceptions, ideas (such as volitions or impulses to act), and consciousness. Therefore, all five aspects of the personality are called heaps, accumulations, or aggregates.
Since they are intimately interconnected and act on one another, the processes are extremely complicated. According to one commentarial simile, they are like the waters at a confluence where five rivers meet.
One cannot take a handful of water and say that it came from such and such a river. The aggregates are ever-changing and constantly in a state of flux. They are so volatile and dynamic that they give rise to the notion of “I” and “mine.”
They are called "aggregates of grasping" because we cling to them passionately as a SELF, as “me” or “mine.”
Just as an animal tied with a strap to a firm post runs round and round the post, or stands, sits, and lies down beside the post, so a person who regards the Five Aggregates as self cannot escape from the aggregates and the suffering, disappointment, and anxiety which invariably accompany them (SN XXII.99; S iii.150).
The Five Aggregates constitute a real private prison for us. We suffer a great deal due to our attachment to this prison and our expectations of what the prison should be.
As our perception of the external world and our relations with our fellow human beings are conditioned by the nature of this prison, interpersonal relations and communication become extremely complex, tricky, and problematic.
Problems become more and more complicated to the extent that we identify ourselves with this private prison.
Now let us supplement our understanding of the canonical Buddhist teachings in terms of our daily experience and see how we cling to each and every one of these aggregates as “I” or “mine,” so that we continue to suffer in the private prison we make for ourselves.
The aggregate of body
If we ask the question, “Who am I?” we immediately respond by stating, “I am so and so.”
The name is a label, and it can be anything. We might also say, “I am a human being.” By that we have only stated the species to which we currently belong. “I am a man or woman.” This only affirms the biological sex of the person.
“I am so and so’s daughter, son, sister, brother, wife, mother...” These only describe relationships, but we have not answered the question, “Who am I?”
We pull out an identity card to prove our identity, but the card shows only a picture of the body with a name, a label. Now we may believe we have satisfactorily answered the question, “Who am I?”
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| I am this body, and this body is me...mine, my possession: I cling to it. |
We identify self with the body or a history. When we say, “I am tall, fat, fair,” and so on, we really mean that the body is tall or fat or fair, but that is because we identify the body as I.
What's more, we decorate it in various ways and regard it as our beautiful self, “Am I not beautiful in this dress?” We regard the body as a precious possession — “my face, my hair, my teeth,” and so. It is very clear that we cling to the material body as our very own, a self we cling to.
This identification is so widely accepted and thorough that it has crept into linguistic usage as well. In words such as “somebody,” “everybody,” and “nobody,” “body” is used in the sense of a person.
Now the Buddha, who analyzed the body (this physical form constituted of material elements) objectively using the microscope of mindfulness, realized the true nature of the body and found that... More
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