Search results for: "Aggregates"

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  2. 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 … 
  3. 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 … 
  4. 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 … 
  5. 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 … 
  6. 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 … 
  7. 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 … 
  8. 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 … 
  9. 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 … 
  10. 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 … 
  11. 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 … 
  12. 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 … 
  13. 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 … 
  14. 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 … 
  15. 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 … 
  16. Remember This
     … You try to see where the clinging is—which particular aggregate you’re clinging to—and then you learn how to depersonalize these things so that you can get the upper hand. Part of you may resist, thinking, “Well, this is me. These are my feelings. This is me, mine”—whatever. But what’s happened is these things have taken you over. You’re … 
  17. The Most Important Thing to Be Doing
     … Suffering is the clinging to the aggregates—things like feelings and perceptions and thought-constructs. We cling to these things, we keep doing them over and over again: That’s what “clinging” means for the mind. We cling to things and then we feed on them, we seem to need them. We go running after a lot of pleasures that contain a lot of … 
  18. Asalha Puja
     … Then he summarized all kinds of stress as “the five clinging-aggregates.” He didn’t explain what he meant by that; he moved on to the next truth. The cause of stress and suffering is craving—the kind of craving that gives rise to becoming. He listed three kinds: the craving for sensuality, the craving for becoming, and the craving for no becoming. The … 
  19. Talking Among Your Selves
     … Think in terms of the aggregates. Where are the intentions? Where are the perceptions? What exactly are the feelings right now? Are the feelings the same as the breath? Is your awareness the same thing as the breath? There are times in the meditation when it’s actually helpful to think about the breath and the awareness going together as they spread through the … 
  20. Cross-questioning
     … Remember that suffering is defined as five clinging-aggregates. The Buddha right there is giving you a key. It’s the clinging that you’re going to have to understand. When he’s talking about comprehending suffering, that’s what he means: comprehend the clinging. See where it is, what it is you’re clinging to, and why you want to cling to it … 
  21. Teachings to Rahula
     … When he talks about what are called the aggregates, there’s feeling—like feeling tones of pleasure, pain, neither pleasure nor pain; perceptions—in other words the labels you apply to things; thought fabrications—the thoughts you put together; and then your consciousness of all these things. These are the terms that the Buddha has you use as you try to figure out what … 
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