Search results for: "Aggregates"

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  2. Think Calmly about Death
     … So even though this point may not be confirmed for you, keep reminding yourself, “You are not the body.” Rupam anattā: “Form is not-self.” The same with all the other aggregates. But the question is, “When you leave these things, where are you going to go?” As long as there’s craving, you don’t have to worry about having nowhere to go … 
  3. The Breath Soufflé
     … If you think of the word “aggregates” as being like the gravel they use to make a road, the difference is between putting all the gravel into a big bag on your shoulders to carry it around and actually putting it down on the ground so that you can walk on it. We’re learning to do these fabrications with awareness, with knowledge. We … 
  4. Don’t Objectify
     … It takes as its raw material the five aggregates, which also are activities. Even “form” the Buddha defines with a verb. He says it de-forms. In other words, once there’s a form, then there’s going to be change in it all time. Feeling feels, perceptions perceive, fabrications fabricate, consciousness cognizes: That’s how he defines these things. So they are activities … 
  5. Mindfulness + Discernment = Intelligence
     … In terms of self or not-self, in the Canon there’s a case where a monk decides that if the five aggregates are not-self, there must be nobody doing anything and nobody to be affected by what’s done by what’s not-self, so you can do anything you want. The Buddha chastises him for misappropriating the teaching. There are plenty … 
  6. A Path Rooted in Desire
     … We cling to the aggregates of form, feeling, perception, thought constructs, consciousness—and that’s the suffering. It’s the passion and desire that wants to hold on to these things as you’re feeding on them. There’s a hunger, and the hunger is not yet satisfied—that’s where the suffering is. That’s to be comprehended. The cause is the craving … 
  7. Strategies for Happiness
     … So you’ve got all five aggregates here turned into a path. There will be a sense of identification with the path, but it’s different from just plain old straight identifying with these things. There’s a more skillful use of them so that they lead to a greater and greater sense of wellbeing and security. As you get more identified with the … 
  8. The Karma of Perception
    There’s a passage in the Canon where the Buddha’s explaining the different aggregates and he gives examples for each. The examples for perception and consciousness are very similar. In terms of perception, you recognize what you see: blue, red, yellow, whatever. Whereas with consciousness, you recognize what you taste: sweet, sour, bitter. And it’s not the case that perception happens only … 
  9. Kamma & Rebirth
     … You know that this happiness doesn’t depend on the aggregates, doesn’t depend on space or time. It’s not going to be touched by the death of the body. That’s when you know you’ve found the bull elephant. That’s when you really know that the Buddha’s teachings are true. So the realization that you’re taking certain things … 
  10. Sensitive to Fabrication
     … But the Buddha says, no, comprehend it as clinging-aggregates, which is not the first thought that usually comes to our mind. But ask yourself, “Where’s the clinging? What are you feeding on here? Is it a form? Is it an image you’re holding in mind? Is it a feeling? Is it a perception? Is it a fabrication? Is it just the … 
  11. Metacognition
     … You step back a bit and you notice how the concentration is fabricated, how it’s composed of aggregates. You learn to regard them as inconstant, stressful, not-self, alien, empty—whatever perception allows you to see that the concentration, even though it’s better than other ways of managing the mind, still has to be maintained, still has to be directed. It still … 
  12. Developing the Path
     … You put together the raft out of what? Twigs and branches on this side of the river—in other words, your fabrications of the five aggregates. You put them together in a way that will take you across the river. And while you’re crossing, you hold on. Then, when you get to the other side, that’s when you let it go. After … 
  13. Three Perceptions
     … As this contemplation gets more refined, you see that even the most stable level of concentration you can attain — the one that has formed your highest experience of pleasure and ease — is composed of five aggregates on a very subtle level, and even on this subtle level their behavior displays these three features all the time. You apply the three perceptions to them to … 
  14. To Have a Purpose
     … When the Buddha describes the aggregate of fabrication, that’s what he talks about: Every fabrication is for a purpose. We’re putting our lives together for a purpose already, so we might as well find a good purpose and do a good job of it. That’s what determination is for. It’s to take these potentials we have and say: “What’s … 
  15. A Sense of Duty
     … In terms of the four noble truths, suffering should be comprehended—in other words, you should see that suffering is in the clinging to the aggregates. That takes a lot of effort to comprehend because we tend to see suffering in other places. But this, the Buddha said, is where the real suffering is. So you want to comprehend that. How do you cling … 
  16. The Humble Way to Awakening
     … This is why the Buddha has us divide things into the aggregates, because the comings and goings of perceptions, the comings and goings of thought fabrications are going to have an impact on the pain. You see that the perception, the label you place on the pain, acts like a bridge. Certain perceptions come and they make the anguish flare up. When you can … 
  17. Adolescent Practice
     … For instance, the aggregates of form and feeling: the actual movement of the energy is form, the sense of pleasure or pain that goes along with it is the feeling, and it can be extremely fleeting. When you see how fleeting feelings are — much more fleeting than even subtle sensations of breath — that rearranges your notion about how you’ve been living your life … 
  18. The Burning House
     … There’s the suffering of the aggregates, there’s the suffering of clinging and craving. These are things that we have to sort out. Once we have sorted them out, that’s a real treasure. That’s a valuable that you want to make sure is in your bag so that when the time to evacuate comes, you’ve got good things to see … 
  19. Don’t Clap Hands with Pain
     … He said it’s clinging to the aggregates. And there is an alternative to that. We can learn not to cling. As he said, once you learn not to cling, then even painful feelings don’t need to have an impact on the mind. The mind experiences them as something separate, he says. That’s the way it naturally is for an arahant. But … 
  20. Sense Pleasures & Sensuality
     … As the Buddha said, when the mind settles in like this, you can begin to see that the concentration itself is composed of aggregates, and you can start using the perceptions of inconstancy, stress, and not-self, first to pry yourself away from any thoughts of sensuality, any of the hindrances, any of the unskillful qualities ranging from wrong view up through wrong concentration … 
  21. Sense Restraint
     … As the Buddha said, the aggregates form, feeling, perception, thought constructs, and consciousness have their pleasant side and their unpleasant side. If they didn’t have the pleasant side, we wouldn’t fall for them. But they do have their pleasures. When the Buddha says that all fabricated things are inconstant, stressful, and not-self—it’s true. But then they have their constant … 
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