|
|
|
Buddha's Teachings
|
 |
|
The Five Aggregates
|
|
|
The Buddhist interpretation of the mind, is that it is only a faculty or an organ, like the eye or the ear. It can be trained, controlled, and developed, like any other faculty. The choice is ours. The Buddha's analysis of the Five Aggregates, explains the nature of our experience with the outside world.
Combining the Five Aggregates
for personal experience
|
|
The Aggregate of Matter or form, includes the characteristics of solidity, fluidity, heat and motion. It also includes our five sense-organs; the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, and their corresponding objects in the external world; visible form, sound, odour, taste, and tangible things. It also includes our thoughts, ideas and conceptions, which are classed as mind-objects.
|
|
|
The Aggregate of Sensations or feelings, refers to all physical and mental sensations, pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, experienced through the contact of the physical and mental organs, with the external world.
There are six kinds of sensations. They are the sensations experienced through the contact of the eye with visible forms, the ear with audible sounds, the nose with odour, the tongue with taste, the body with tangible objects, and the mind with mental objects such as thoughts, ideas, and conceptions. For example, we may hear through the ear, a pleasant sound, an unpleasant sound, or a neutral sound.
|
|
|
There are six Aggregates of Perception, which relate to our six internal faculties, and their corresponding six external objects.
Our perception attaches names to the sensations, or consciousness, that we encounter. It turns an unknown situation, into a recognisable event, by attaching identifiers or names to the objects of our experience.
The Aggregate of Mental Formations or volition, provides the response to the object of our experience. Our volition karmically directs the mind (and body) towards good, bad, or neutral activities. Often our responses simply follow our good, bad, or neutral, habits.
Volition is of six kinds, and is connected with the six internal faculties, and the six corresponding objects, (both physical and mental) in the external world. There are
fifty-two mental activities including attention, will, determination, confidence, concentration, wisdom, energy, desire,
repugnance (hate), ignorance, conceit, idea of self, and so on, that produce karmic effects.
Consciousness is a reaction or response which has one of the six faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind) as its basis, and the corresponding external phenomena (visible form, sound, odour, taste, tangible things, and mind-objects such as thoughts) as its object.
Consciousness does not recognise an object. It only provides an awareness of the presence of an object. Consciousness depends on matter, sensation, perception, and mental formations. It cannot exist independently of them.
Consciousness is named according to the condition which caused it
to arise;
When the eye senses visible forms, visual consciousness arises.
When the ear senses sounds, auditory consciousness arises.
When the nose senses odours, olfactory consciousness arises.
When the tongue senses taste, gustatory consciousness arises.
When the body senses tangible objects, tactile consciousness arises.
When the mind senses mind-objects, (ideas and thoughts), mental consciousness arises.
|
|
|
Let's say after reading this article, you decide to walk down the street. Your eyes come into contact with a visible object. As your eyes focus on that visible object, your visual-consciousness arises, and becomes aware of a visible object, as yet unknown.
Your Aggregate of Perception, identifies the visual object as a swooping magpie bird (Aggregate of Matter). Once that happens, you will respond to that visual object with the Aggregate of Sensation or feeling,
- and the feeling of great displeasure, or fear !
Finally you will react to that visible object with the Aggregate of Mental Formation or volition. You will run away, or perhaps put up your hands to protect yourself !
A second example might be the contact between two elements of the Aggregate of
Matter, - Sound and your ears. Your auditory consciousness becomes aware of a sound. Your Aggregate of Perception identifies the sound as your mother's voice, and also the words that she says.
Your Aggregate of Sensation or feeling responds with an emotional response
- pleasure, displeasure, or indifference. Your Aggregate of Mental Formations or volition responds with a conditioned reaction; either giving her a big smile, yelling back, or doing nothing.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Like the examples described above, the Five Aggregates work together
for all our daily activities, to produce our total personal experience. In combination,
the Five Aggregates enable us to function as a responsive "being" or "person".
But these Five Aggregates are impermanent, and constantly changing. So what we call a "being", or "individual" or "I" is only a convenient name given to the combination of these
Five Aggregates. For this reason, we know there is nothing in the mind, which can be called a permanent self, or anything, which can be called "I".
Mere suffering exists, but no sufferer is found.
The deeds are done, but no doer is found.
Life is movement itself. There is no thinker behind the thought. Thought itself is the thinker. If you remove the thought, there is no thinker to be found. We are non-self.
|
Exercise
You have directed your mind to concentrate on reading this webpage.
Sometimes your mind concentrates, and sometimes it loses its
concentration against your will.
Who is directing the mind ?
Who is doing the reading ?
|
We know that whatever is impermanent, is suffering (dukkha). Yet there is no consciousness we can experience, that can be permanent. So the Five Aggregates, are actually the basis for all the other seven types of sufferings, listed in the Four Noble Truths.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
