NĂM UẨN
The Five AGGREGATES
(5 SKANDHAS)
I. What makes a human being?
There are many angles to look while attempting to answer this question:
1. Human being is comprised of 5 skandhas or aggregates or heaps.
2. Human being is comprised of 6 components: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
3. Human being is comprised of 4 elements: earth, water, wind/breath, fire
4. Human being comes from 12 causes.
5. Human being is comprised of lungs, heart, nervous system, kidneys, stomach, and blood.
Our focus of this lesson is to answer the previous question using the first angle.
II. What Are the five Aggregates?
The 5 skandhas/aggregates are: form, feelings, perception, mental formation, and consciousness.
1. FORM: This is the physical component or the body. Form consists of 4 elements:
a. Earth: hard/solid components such as flesh, bone, teeth, hair ...
b. Water: liquid components such as sweat, tear, blood, saliva ...
c. Wind: breath, air, gas
d. Fire: the body heat or temperature.
2. FEELINGS: these are feelings or sensations we have while in contact with the world: pain, itch, joy, sadness... There are 3 kinds: feelings of happiness, feelings of suffering, and feelings of neither happiness nor suffering.
3. PERCEPTION: This is an ability to associate the current sensations with past experiences which is accompanied by feelings of happines or sufferings.
4. MENTAL FORMATION: these are intentions of the body, mouth (words), and mind. Whether actions are taken or words spoken, mental formation may already be formed.
5. CONSCIOUSNESS: this is the ability to acknowledge the sensations behind our 6 senses: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Consciousness turns what we look at into what we see; what we listen to into what we hear ....
Human being comprises of 5 skandhas. These 5 are not independent but are interdependent on each other. Their coexistence gives rise to the human experience: praise makes us happy, disapproval makes us sad.
The 5 skandhas combine then separate then combine in unpredictable ways and give us seas of sensations which are endless. What we call "the human being" or "individuality" or "self" is actually a temporary instance of these 5 skandhas; it is being different from the immediately previous one and also the next one.
(The whole process of these psycho-physical phenomena which are constantly becoming and passing away, is at times called, in conventional terms, the self or attã by the Buddha; but it is a process and not an identity that is thus termed).
III. What We Learn From the 5 Skandhas:
1. Mankind consists of 5 skandhas. Everyone is alike in physical characteristic which go through cycle: birth, aging, sickness, death and in mental characteristics with love, joy, fear, suffering and hold on to life, fear death. Knowing this, we should learn to practice compassion and forgiveness: love people as we love our family. Don't do unto others what we don't want done to ourselves.
2. The 5 skandha life is impermanent. But we don't have to be depressed about life. On the contrary, we should persevere with our training in compassion and wisdom to help both ourselves and others to live each moment fully and with complete awareness. This makes us deserve to be disciples of the Buddha.
3. The Buddha said: When the 5 skandhas combine, suffering exists. By preventing the skandhas from combining we reduce sufferings and enjoy more peace. For example we should control our perceptions so as not to relive past sufferings.
Trung Thiện
1. Ðức Phật Di Lặc- Di Lac Buddha
2. Ngài Văn Thu Sư Lợi Bồ Tát- Superior wisdom Bodhisattva
3. Chùa Báo Quốc- Bao Quoc Pagoda
4. Chùa Thuyền Tôn - Thuyen Ton Pagoda
5. Lý Nhân Duyên Sanh- The Law of Causality
6. Lý Nhân Quả- The Law of Cause and Effect
8. Mười Ðiều Thiện - Ten Good Deeds
9. An Cư Kiết Hạ - The Summer Retreat
10. Năm Uẩn - The Five Aggregater(5 Skandhas)