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57-652: In the Pali Canon, the Adittapariyaya Sutta is found in the Samyutta Nikaya ("Connected Collection," abbreviated as either "SN" or "S") and is designated by either " SN 35.28 " or " S iv 1.3.6 " or " S iv 19 ". This discourse is also found in the Buddhist monastic code ( Vinaya ) at Vin I 35 . English speakers might be familiar with the name of this discourse due to T. S. Eliot 's titling

114-567: A noble disciple becomes disenchanted with, dispassionate toward and thus liberated from the senses bases, achieving arahantship. This is described in more detail below. After a prefatory paragraph identifying this discourse's location of deliverance ( Gaya ) and audience (a thousand monks or bhikkhus ), the Buddha proclaims (represented here in English and Pali): The ensuing text reveals that "all" ( sabba ) refers to: By "burning" ( āditta )

171-531: A considerable consistency of content, although each recension contains sutras/suttas not found in the others. The Collation and Annotation of Saṃyuktāgama (《<雜阿含經>校釋》,Chinese version) makes further comparison. Bhante Sujato , a contemporary scholar monk, argues that the remarkable congruence of the various recensions suggests that the Samyutta Nikaya/Saṃyukta Āgama was the only collection to be finalized in terms of both structure and content in

228-420: A lower realm. Instead of grasping, the well-instructed noble disciple discriminates ( pa ṭ isañcikkhati ) the impermanence of the internal sense base, external sense base, related consciousness and contact, and the resultant feeling. Such discrimination leads to liberation. Samyutta Nikaya The Saṃyutta Nikāya ("Connected Discourses" or "Kindred Sayings") is a Buddhist scriptures collection ,

285-604: A mockery of the Vedic-Brahmanic cosmogony, as described in the Hymn of Creation of Veda X, 129 and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad . These were integrated with a branched list that describes the conditioning of mental processes, akin to the five skandhas. Eventually, this branched list developed into the standard twelvefold chain as a linear list. According to Boisvert, "the function of each of

342-471: A particular deity wearing such-and-such a costume, of certain particular colors, holding certain particular sceptres in his hand. Those details are very closely connected with the individualities of particular psychological processes. [Buddha:] "It's possible that a senseless person — immersed in ignorance, overcome with craving — might think that he could outsmart the Teacher's message in this way: 'So — form

399-476: A practical strategy rather than as a metaphysical doctrine". To Albahari, Nibbāna is an ever-present part of human nature, which is gradually "uncovered" by the cessation of ignorance. The Early Buddhist schools developed detailed analyses and overviews of the teachings found in the sutras, called Abhidharma . Each school developed its own Abhidharma. The best-known is the Theravāda Abhidhamma , but

456-635: Is ཕུང་པོ། in Tibetan, and the terms mean "collections or aggregates or bundles". The Buddha teaches in the Pali Canon the five aggregates as follows: The five aggregates are often interpreted in the later tradition as an explanation of the constituents of person and personality, and "the list of aggregates became extremely important for the later development of the teaching". According to this interpretation, in each skandha – body, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness – there

513-511: Is a Sanskrit word that means "multitude, quantity, aggregate", generally in the context of body, trunk, stem, empirically observed gross object or anything of bulk verifiable with senses. The term appears in the Vedic literature. The Pali equivalent word Khandha (sometimes spelled Kkhanda ) appears extensively in the Pali canon where, state Rhys Davids and William Stede, it means "bulk of

570-483: Is a linear list of twelve elements from the Buddhist teachings which arise in dependence on the preceding link. While this list may be interpreted as describing the processes which give rise to rebirth, in essence it describes the arising of dukkha as a psychological process, without the involvement of an atman. Some scholars regard it to be a later synthesis of several older lists. The first four links may be

627-445: Is an "aggregate, heap" of composite entities without essence. According to Harvey, the five skandhas give rise to a sense of personality, but are dukkha (unsatisfying), impermanent, and without an enduring self or essence. Each aggregate is an object of grasping (clinging), at the root of self-identification as "I, me, myself". According to Harvey, realizing the real nature of skandhas , both in terms of impermanence and non-self,

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684-473: Is emptiness and no substance. According to Damien Keown and Charles Prebish, canonical Buddhism asserts that "the notion of a self is unnecessarily superimposed upon five skandha" of a phenomenon or a living being. The skandha doctrine, states Matthew MacKenzie, is a form of anti-realism about everyday reality including persons, and presents an alternative to "substantialist views of the self". It asserts that everything perceived, each person and personality,

741-451: Is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, 'Fully released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'" Nibbindaṃ virajjati virāgā vimuccati, vimuttasmiṃ vimuttamiti ñāṇaṃ hoti, khīṇā jāti, vusitaṃ brahmacariyaṃ, kataṃ karaṇīyaṃ nāparaṃ itthattāyāti pajānātī ti. A closing paragraph reports that, during this discourse,

798-522: Is grasped". Mathieu Boisvert states that "many scholars have referred to the five aggregates in their works on Buddhism, [but] none have thoroughly explained their respective functions". According to Boisvert, the five aggregates and dependent origination are closely related, which explains the process that binds us to samsara . Boisvert notes that the pancha-upadanakkhanda does not incorporate all human experience. Vedana may transform into either niramisa or nekkhamma-sita vedana ( vedana which

855-456: Is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" [Monks:] "No, lord." "... Is feeling constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "... Is perception constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "... Are fabrications constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord."... "What do you think, monks — Is consciousness constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord." "And

912-419: Is meant: According to the Buddha, a well-instructed noble disciple ( sutavā ariyasāvako ) sees this burning and thus becomes disenchanted ( nibbindati ) with the sense bases and their mental sequelae. The text then uses a formula found in dozens of discourses to describe the manner in which such disenchantment leads to liberation from suffering: "Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he

969-416: Is necessary for nirvana. This "emptiness from personality" can be found in descriptions of the enlightened, perfected state of Arhat and Tathagata , in which there is no longer any identification with the five skandhas. This "no essence" view has been a topic of questions, disagreements, and commentaries since ancient times, both in non-Buddhist Indian religions and Buddhist traditions. The use of

1026-403: Is not harmful) or into amisa or gehasita vedana (a "type of sensation [which] may act as an agent bringing about the future arising of craving and aversion"). This is determined by sanna . According to Boisvert, "not all sanna belong to the sanna-skandha ". The wholesome sanna recognise the three marks of existence ( dukkha , anatta , anicca ), and do not belong to

1083-449: Is not-self, feeling is not-self, perception is not-self, fabrications are not-self, consciousness is not-self. Then what self will be touched by the actions done by what is not-self?' Now, monks, haven't I trained you in counter-questioning with regard to this & that topic here & there? What do you think — Is form constant or inconstant?" "Inconstant, lord." "And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" "Stressful, lord." "And

1140-497: Is referenced, both the Fire Sermon and this subsequent discourse, with their seemingly diametric similes of burning and oppressiveness, underline that the senses, their objects and associated mental impressions are unto themselves beyond our complete control and are aversive; and, thus provide the escape of disenchantment, dispassion and release. In this discourse, instead of describing the sense bases ( ayatana ) as being aflame,

1197-401: Is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?" "Stressful, lord." "And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?" "No, lord." "Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually

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1254-487: The Gayasisa Hill , near Gaya, India . He delivered it to a thousand newly converted ascetics who formerly practiced a sacred fire ritual (Pali: aggihutta ; Skt. : agnihotra ). The 5th-century CE post- canonical Pali commentary , Sāratthappakāsini (Spk.), attributed to Buddhaghosa , draws a direct connection between the ascetics' prior practices and this discourse's main rhetorical device: Having led

1311-522: The Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma was historically very influential, and has been preserved partly in the Chinese Āgama. The internal and external sense bases together form the "six sense bases". In this description, found in texts such as Salayatana samyutta , the coming together of an object and a sense-organ results in the arising of the corresponding consciousness. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi ,

1368-756: The Saṃyukta Āgama found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools , fragments of which survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation. A complete Chinese translation from the Sarvāstivādin recension appears in the Chinese Buddhist canon , where it is known as the Zá Āhánjīng (雜阿含經); meaning "the mixed agama ". A comparison of the Sarvāstivādin, Kāśyapīya, and Theravadin texts reveals

1425-530: The Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to the aggregates. This suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. Both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions assert that the nature of all aggregates is intrinsically empty of independent existence and that these aggregates do not constitute a "self" of any kind. Skandha ( Sanskrit : स्कन्ध )

1482-463: The five aggregates of clinging ( Pañcupādānakkhandhā ), the five material and mental factors that take part in the rise of craving and clinging. They are also explained as the five factors that constitute and explain a sentient being's person and personality, but this is a later interpretation in response to Sarvāstivādin essentialism. The 14th Dalai Lama subscribes to this interpretation. The five aggregates or heaps of clinging are: In

1539-1461: The pre-sectarian period . The vaggas contained in this nikaya are (the numbering of chapters [ samyuttas ] here refers to the PTS and Burmese editions; the Sinhalese and Thai editions divide the text up somewhat differently): 2. devaputtasaṃyuttaṃ 3. kosalasaṃyuttaṃ 4. mārasaṃyuttaṃ 5. bhikkhunīsaṃyuttaṃ 6. brahmasaṃyuttaṃ 7. brāhmaṇasaṃyuttaṃ 8. vaṅgīsasaṃyuttaṃ 9. vanasaṃyuttaṃ 10. yakkhasaṃyuttaṃ 11. sakkasaṃyuttaṃ 13. abhisamayasaṃyuttaṃ 14. dhātusaṃyuttaṃ 15. anamataggasaṃyuttaṃ 16. kassapasaṃyuttaṃ 17. lābhasakkārasaṃyuttaṃ 18. rāhulasaṃyuttaṃ 19. lakkhaṇasaṃyuttaṃ 20. opammasaṃyuttaṃ 21. bhikkhusaṃyuttaṃ 23. rādhasaṃyuttaṃ 24. diṭṭhisaṃyuttaṃ 25. okkantasaṃyuttaṃ 26. uppādasaṃyuttaṃ 27. kilesasaṃyuttaṃ 28. sāriputtasaṃyuttaṃ 29. nāgasaṃyuttaṃ 30. supaṇṇasaṃyuttaṃ 31. gandhabbakāyasaṃyuttaṃ 32. valāhakasaṃyuttaṃ 33. vacchagottasaṃyuttaṃ 34. jhānasaṃyuttaṃ 36. vedanāsaṃyuttaṃ 37. mātugāmasaṃyuttaṃ 38. jambukhādakasaṃyuttaṃ 39. sāmaṇḍakasaṃyuttaṃ 40. moggallānasaṃyuttaṃ 41. cittasaṃyuttaṃ 42. gāmaṇisaṃyuttaṃ 43. asaṅkhatasaṃyuttaṃ 44. abyākatasaṃyuttaṃ Khandha Skandhas ( Sanskrit ) or khandhas ( Pāḷi ) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism , it refers to

1596-455: The sanna-skandha . Unwholesome sanna is not "conducive to insight", and without proper sanna , the "person is likely to generate craving, clinging and becoming". As with sanna , "not all sankhara belong to the sankharaskandha ", since not all sankhara produce future effects. According to Johannes Bronkhorst, the notion that the five aggregates are not self has to be viewed in light of debates about "liberating knowledge",

1653-456: The skandha too are considered unreal and nonsubstantial in numerous other Buddhist Nikaya and Āgama texts. According to Thanissaro , the Buddha never tried to define what a "person" is, though scholars tend to approach the skandhas as a description of the constituents of the person. He adds that almost any Buddhist meditation teacher explains it that way, as Buddhist commentaries from about

1710-423: The skandhas concept to explain the self is unique to Buddhism among major Indian religions, and responds to Sarvastivada teachings that "phenomena" or its constituents are real. It also contrasts with the premise of Hinduism and Jainism that a living being has an eternal soul or metaphysical self. In some early Buddhist texts, the individual is considered unreal but the skandha are considered real. But

1767-433: The 1st century CE onwards have done. In Thanissaro's view, however, this is incorrect, and he suggests that skandhas should be viewed as activities, which cause suffering, but whose unwholesome workings can be interrupted. Rupert Gethin also notes that the five skandhas are not merely "the Buddhist analysis of man", but "five aspects of an individual being's experience of the world... encompassing both grasping and all that

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1824-711: The Absolute; while it is immanent in all concrete and particular objects, it is not in itself definable. The Tathāgatagarbha Sutras , which concern the Buddha-nature , developed in India but played a prominent role in China. They on occasion speak of the ineffable skandhas of the Buddha (beyond the nature of worldly skandhas and beyond worldly understanding). In the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra

1881-418: The Buddha describes the five aggregates ( khandha ) in this manner: Like the Fire Sermon, this discourse has a central metaphor related to fire – likening our physical and mental apparatus to hot embers (Pali: kukkuḷa ) – and concludes with the well-instructed noble disciple becoming disenchanted with, dispassionate about and liberated from these burning constituents. Unlike the Fire Sermon, instead of using

1938-464: The Buddha tells of how the Buddha's skandhas are in fact eternal and unchanging. The Buddha's skandhas are said to be incomprehensible to unawakened vision. The Vajrayana tradition further develops the aggregates in terms of mahamudra epistemology and tantric reifications. Referring to mahamudra teachings, Chogyam Trungpa identifies the form aggregate as the "solidification" of ignorance (Pali, avijjā ; Skt., avidyā ), allowing one to have

1995-718: The Prajnaparamita texts are a historical reaction to some early Buddhist Abhidhammas. Specifically, it is a response to Sarvastivada teachings that "phenomena" or their constituents are real. The prajnaparamita notion of "emptiness" is also consistent with the Theravada Abhidhamma. This is formulated in the Heart Sutra . The Sanskrit version of the "Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra" ("Heart Sutra"), which may have been composed in China from Sanskrit texts, and later back-translated into Sanskrit, states that

2052-401: The Theravada tradition teaches that the six sense bases accommodate "all the factors of existence"; it is "the all", and "apart from which nothing at all exists", and "are empty of a self and of what belongs to the self". The suttas do not describe this as an alternative of the skandhas. The Abhidhamma, striving to "a single all-inclusive system", explicitly connects the five aggregates and

2109-466: The aggregates are not self aids in letting go of this grasping. Miri Albahari also objected to the usual understanding of the skandhas as denoting the absence of any "self". Albahari argued that the khandhas do not necessarily constitute the entirety of the human experience, and that the Hindu concept of Ātman is not explicitly negated by Pāli Canon. According to Albani , "anattā is best understood as

2166-400: The aggregates, in their respective order, can be directly correlated with the theory of dependent origination—especially with the eight middle links." Four of the five aggregates are explicitly mentioned in the sequence, yet in a different order than the list of aggregates, which concludes with viññāṇa • vijñāna : The interplay between the five-aggregate model of immediate causation and

2223-541: The body, aggregate, heap, material collected into bulk" in one context, "all that is comprised under, groupings" in some contexts, and particularly as "the elements or substrata of sensory existence, sensorial aggregates which condition the appearance of life in any form". Paul Williams et al. translate skandha as "heap, aggregate", stating it refers to the explanation of the psychophysical makeup of any being. Johannes Bronkhorst renders skandha as "aggregates". Damien Keown and Charles Prebish state that skandha

2280-503: The five aggregates. These dhātu s can be arranged into six triads, each triad composed of a sense object, a sense organ, and sense consciousness. The Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali texts create a meta-scheme for the Sutta Pitaka 's conceptions of aggregates, sense bases and dhattus (elements). This meta-scheme is known as the four paramatthas or ultimate realities, three conditioned, one unconditioned: The Twelve Nidanas

2337-629: The five skandhas are empty of self-existence, and famously states "form is emptiness , emptiness is form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness." The Madhyamaka school elaborates on the notion of the Middle Way . Its basic text is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā , written by Nagarjuna , who refuted the Sarvastivada conception of reality, which reifies dhammas. The simultaneous non-reification of

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2394-443: The illusion of "possessing" ever dynamic and spacious wisdom (Pali, vijjā ; Skt. vidyā ), and thus being the basis for the creation of a dualistic relationship between "self" and "other." According to Trungpa Rinpoche , the five skandhas are "a set of Buddhist concepts which describe experience as a five-step process" and that "the whole development of the five skandhas... is an attempt on our part to shield ourselves from

2451-463: The knowledge of Ātman (eternal soul) which was deemed liberating by the Vedic traditions. Bronkhorst notes that "knowledge of the self plays no useful role on the Buddha’s path to liberation". What is important is not to grasp at the forms, sounds, odors, flavors, objects, and mental properties which are perceived with the six sense organs (these include mind as the sixth sense organ). The insight that

2508-508: The relation between absolute and relative was a central topic in understanding the Buddhist teachings. The aggregates convey the relative (or conventional) experience of the world by an individual, although Absolute truth is realized through them. Commenting on the Heart Sutra, D.T. Suzuki notes: When the sutra says that the five Skandhas have the character of emptiness..., the sense is: no limiting qualities are to be attributed to

2565-481: The self and reification of the skandhas has been viewed by some Buddhist thinkers as highly problematic. The Yogacara school further analysed the workings of the mind, elaborated on the concept of nama-rupa and the five skandhas, and developed the notion of the Eight Consciousnesses . Shunyata, in Chinese texts, is "Wu" ( Chinese : 無 ; pinyin : Wú ), nothingness . In these texts,

2622-495: The sense bases and their mental sequelae as the basis for this burning and disenchantment, this discourse uses the five aggregates ( khandha ) for the underlying physical-mental framework. Also entitled "Fire Sermon," this discourse cautions that it is better for an internal sense base (eye, ear, etc.) to be lacerated by a burning implement than for one to "grasp the sign" ( nimittaggāho ) of an external sense base (visible form, sound, etc.); for such grasping might lead to rebirth in

2679-594: The significant exception that, instead of the central metaphor of the senses being "aflame" ( āditta ), this next discourse uses a different metaphor. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that different editions of the Tipitaka vary as to what this subsequent discourse's central metaphor is: Sinhala editions use the term andhabhūta – meaning "figuratively blinded" or "ignorant" – while the Burmese edition and commentary use addhabhūta – meaning "weighed down." Regardless which edition

2736-494: The six sense bases: Bodhi states that six-sense-bases is a "vertical" view of human experiences while the aggregates is a "horizontal" (temporal) view. The Theravada Buddhist meditation practice on sense bases is aimed at both removing distorted cognitions such as those influenced by cravings, conceits and opinions, as well as "uprooting all conceivings in all its guises". The eighteen dhātu s – six external bases, six internal bases, and six consciousnesses – function through

2793-458: The skandhas. The four domains are: According to Grzegorz Polak, the four upassanā have been misunderstood by the developing Buddhist tradition, including Theravada, to refer to four different foundations. According to Polak, the four upassanā do not refer to four different foundations of which one should be aware, but are an alternate description of the jhanas , describing how the samskharas are tranquilized: The Mahayana developed out of

2850-579: The third of the five Nikāyas , or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka , which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism . Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas/sūtras is unclear. The editor of the Pali Text Society edition of the text made it 2889, Bodhi in his translation has 2904, while the commentaries give 7762. A study by Rupert Gethin gives

2907-707: The third section of his celebrated poem The Waste Land "The Fire Sermon." In a footnote, Eliot states that this Buddhist discourse "corresponds in importance to the Sermon on the Mount ." In the Suttas , the Fire Sermon is the third discourse delivered by the Buddha (after the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta and the Anattalakkhana Sutta ), several months after his enlightenment , on top of

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2964-553: The thousand bhikkhus monks to Gayā's Head, the Blessed One reflected, 'What kind of Dhamma talk would be suitable for them?' He then realized, 'In the past they worshipped the fire morning and evening. I will teach them that the twelve sense bases are burning and blazing. In this way they will be able to attain arahantship.' In this discourse, the Buddha describes the sense bases and resultant mental phenomena as "burning" with passion, aversion, delusion and suffering . Seeing such,

3021-400: The thousand monks in attendance became liberated. While the central metaphor of burning combined with "the all" (sense bases, etc.) make this discourse unique in the Pali Canon , its core message can be found throughout, condensed and embellished in a number of instructive ways. The very next discourse listed in the Samyutta Nikaya ( SN 35.29) is nearly identical with the Fire Sermon with

3078-537: The totals for the Burmese and Sinhalese editions as 2854 and 7656, respectively, and his own calculation as 6696; he also says the total in the Thai edition is unclear. The suttas/sūtras are grouped into five vargas/vaggas , or sections. Each varga/vagga is further divided into samyuttas/saṃyuktas , or chapters, each of which in turn contains a group of suttas/sūtras on a related topic. The Samyutta Nikaya corresponds to

3135-553: The traditional schools, introducing new texts and putting other emphases in the teachings, especially shunyata and the Bodhisattva-ideal . The Prajnaparamita -teachings developed from the first century BCE onward. They emphasise the "emptiness" of everything that exists. This means that there are no eternally existing "essences", since everything is dependently originated . The skandhas too are dependently originated, and lack any substantial existence. According to Red Pine,

3192-410: The truth of our insubstantiality," while "the practice of meditation is to see the transparency of this shield." Trungpa Rinpoche writes (2001, p. 38): [S]ome of the details of tantric iconography are developed from abhidharma [that is, in this context, detailed analysis of the aggregates]. Different colors and feelings of this particular consciousness, that particular emotion, are manifested in

3249-408: The twelve-nidana model of requisite conditioning is evident, for instance both note the seminal role that mental formations have in both the origination and cessation of suffering. Mindfulness applies to four upassanā (domains or bases), "constantly watching sensory experience in order to prevent the arising of cravings which would power future experience into rebirths," which also overlap with

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