The Five Aggregates
FIRST AGGREGATE BODY/FORM
Sutra
Again, one dwells contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects in terms of the five aggregates affected by clinging. And how does a one dwell contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects in terms of the five aggregates affected by clinging?
Here, one knows: Such is material form, such its origin, such its disappearance; such is feeling, such its origin, such its disappearance; such is perception, such its origin, such its disappearance; such are the mental formations, such their origin, such their disappearance; such is consciousness, such its origin, such its disappearance.
Insights
“In this way, one dwells contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects internally, or dwells contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects externally, or dwells contemplating mind-objects as mind both internally and externally.
Or else one dwells contemplating in mind-objects their arising factors, or dwells contemplating in mind-objects their vanishing factors, or dwells contemplating in mind-objects both their arising and vanishing factors.
Or else mindfulness that “there are mind-objects” is simply established to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness. And one abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.
That is how a one abides contemplating mind-objects as mind-objects in terms of the five aggregates affected by clinging.
Commentary The Buddha has divided the human experience into many categories that help us investigate the true nature of our experience. One of the most significant divisions is the Five Aggregates of Clinging.
The five are:
1. The aggregate of the form (the body and all other forms of matter in the universe)
2. The aggregate of feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral)
3. The aggregate of perceptions (the capacity for memory and recognition)
4. The aggregate of volitional (mental) formations (activities)
5. The aggregate of (states of sense) consciousness
They are called aggregates because each category (e.g., the body, feelings, etc.) has many aspects to it. For example, there are 32 parts to the material form that we call the body; there are pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings; there are perceptions that come from seeing things, hearing things, and thinking things; the mental formations include thoughts, volition, and memory; and there is eye consciousness, ear consciousness, body consciousness, and so forth.
These aggregates comprise our psychophysical existence. Any event, any occurrence, any element in the mind-body process can be put into one of these five aggregates. There is nothing in our entire experiential process that lies outside these aggregates.
These aggregates are referred to as the “Five Aggregates of Clinging,” because we tenaciously cling to them individually or in their totality as being a self, I, me, or mine. This is considered by the Buddha to be “Wrong View.” This clinging creates a prison, which is responsible for all the suffering we experience. These aggregates are the focuses of a clinging mind.
Trying to change or improve the five aggregates is like putting curtains up on prison bars, placing a home theatre in the prison cell, and having a Rolls Royce to drive around the prison yard. No matter what we do to make the prison more livable, we are still in prison! It is only by directly realizing that these aggregates are not a self, I, me, or mine, that we experience true freedom.
When all constituent parts are there,
The designation “cart” is used;
Just so, when the five groups exist,
Of “living being” do we speak.
Just as one calls “hut” the circumscribed space which comes to be by means of wood and rushes, reeds and clay,
Even so we call “body” the circumscribed space that comes to be by means of bones and sinews, flesh and skin. The Buddha
Clinging to these aggregates (as me/mine) prevents us from seeing things as they really are. We are attached to these aggregates as self, we believe that they are ours, and we may be frightened to explore the reality of our experience.
When we have attachments we will look for what fosters or threatens them and will ignore the rest of our experience.
When we have beliefs we will notice what confirms them and block out what threatens them.
When we have fears our attention is riveted to that which we fear to the exclusion of everything else.
Our work is to see these aggregates as they really are in terms of the three characteristics of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness while skillfully working with attachments, beliefs and fears. It is the non-attached attitude towards these aggregates that leads directly to freedom.
Suppose a person who is not blind were to behold the many bubbles on the Ganges as they are floating along, and they should watch them, and carefully examine them. After carefully examining them, they will appear empty, unreal, and unsubstantial. In exactly the same way does the meditator behold all material form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and states of consciousness, whether past, present or future, one’s own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near. And one watches them, and examines them carefully, and after carefully examining them, they appear empty, unreal, and unsubstantial.
The body’s like a lump of foam,
The feelings like a water-bubble,
Perception like a void mirage,
Formations like a plantain tree (a banana tree with no solid inner core),
And consciousness is like jugglery ( trickery/ an illusion). The Buddha
These aggregates get to the very heart of the Buddha’s teaching: there is no self as part of, behind, or in control of the aggregates. Everything else in his teachings is merely a commentary on this truth!
In light of this teaching, birth and death are just the rising and falling away of the aggregates. There is no “one” or “self” who is born or dies.
By deeply analyzing our subjective experience we deconstruct the deeply held belief in a self and realize freedom here and now. We see that a “self” exists as a construct. It is a useful formality in our mundane existence, but doesn’t hold up to our mindful scrutiny.
Material Form Aggregate (The Body)
When someone asks us who we are, many times the answer revolves around the body. We may indicate that we are a man or a woman; that we are tall or short; or that we are someone’s son, daughter, parent, or friend. However, these only describe the body’s attributes or relationships and that is not who we truly are.
We have analyzed the body in our prior meditations under the microscope of mindfulness and realized that there is no self to be found in this body. We have seen that it is composed of the characteristics of the four elements, that it has 32 parts, that the body is changing from moment to moment, and that it will ultimately decompose upon death.
The elements are important in recognizing the true nature of the body. In addition to having the characteristics of the four primary elements, there are 24 derivative elements such as color, sound, taste, smell, physical agility, physical growth, decay, and so forth. When we work with the material elements of the body we are describing a subjective experience rather than looking from a scientific perspective, which may describe the body as atoms or molecules.
We can take this a bit further by examining the human body. Its constituents are as follows by weight:
65% Water H2O
18.6% Carbon
9.7% Hydrogen
3.2% Nitrogen
1.8% Calcium
1% Phosphorous
0.4% Potassium
0.2% Sodium
0.2% Chloride
0.06% Magnesium
0.04% Sulfur
So there we are! Can you find the gender there? Age? Sickness? Race? And if we think we’re really special, someone did an analysis of the monetary value of the constituents and it totaled $160. The most valuable constituent was our Potassium (by weight) worth $106 on the market. So keep eating your bananas!
During its lifetime the body passes through the stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age, and old age. Throughout this process there are difficulties characteristic of each particular phase of life. Teething, learning to walk, learning to communicate, learning how to socialize, sexuality issues, identity crises, diseases, and the body becoming frail all make having a body a potential source of suffering.
How can you find delight and joy
Where there is burning without end?
In deepest darkness you are wrapped!
Why do you not seek the light?
Look at this puppet here, well rigged,
A heap of many sores, piled up,
Diseased, and full of greediness,
Unstable, and impermanent!
Devoured by old age is this frame,
A prey to sickness, weak and frail;
To pieces breaks this decaying body,
All life must truly end in death. The Buddha
Please do not look at this poem of the Buddha as being negative or a denial of the marvel of the body. The Buddha is just pointing out that the body is not a safe place to become identified or to take as a refuge from suffering.
However we pamper the body with sense pleasures, the body is never satisfied. It never behaves in the ways in which we wish it would. However much we clean it, it gets dirty. No matter how much we feed it, it gets hungry. However much we try to keep it strong and looking young, it grows old and frail. It is a wonder that we are so attached to believing it is “me” or mine.
Sutra Such is material form, such its origin, such its disappearance.
Commentary The body and every sense organ, along with their corresponding sense objects (i.e., sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches), are material forms and nothing else.
Material form is experienced when a sense object impinges on a sense organ and the corresponding sense consciousness is present.
When there is no longer the presence of a sense organ, sense object, or sense consciousness, there is the disappearance (or the ending of the experience) of material form.
We contemplate the arising and passing away of material form by observing our own personal experience. One way of experiencing the impermanent nature of material form is through the touch sensation of the breath.
Every time we experience or are aware of any sensation in the body, it is an awareness of material form. The experience of sensations takes us beyond the mere concept of “body” to a direct realization of its true nature.
When we speak about having a pain in the back, or that our head hurts, we are using the concepts of back and head. By observing the sensations that arise we go beyond the static concepts of back, head, and so forth, and move into the direct experience of the body.
Concepts regarding the body do not change, but the sensations, the actual experience of the body, keep arising and passing away. The body is nothing more than sensations arising in space. There is no “self” in the body.
Whatever material form there be: whether past, future or present; internal or external; gross or subtle; low or lofty; far or near, that material form the meditator sees, meditates upon, examining with systematic attention, one, thus seeing, meditating upon, and examining with systematic attention, would find it empty, and would find it unsubstantial and without essence. What essence meditators, could there be in material form? The Buddha
Please take this time to review all the body contemplations that you received in the past. If you have truly realized the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless nature of the body, you can just spend this time with your regular sitting practice.
Please read this months discussion on the Aggregate of Form. Notice during the month how often we use the word “I” and “my” to refer to this body. Yes, it’s a figure of speech and a useful convention for communication but we also buy into the idea as well. How many identities related to the body can you find?
