The Illusory Nature of the Skandhas

Let us consider closely what we mean by an illusion.

An illusion is manifest, yet lacks reality. Clouds can take a certain shape and suddenly we see a face. A stick in gloomy light might appear serpentine, yet has always been nothing more than a stick. The whum-whum-whum sound of a fan can resemble a voice or music as our mind seeks and thinks it has found patterns.

The illusion is manifest — it is there — yet perhaps only transiently and from certain angles. The illusion never actually existed; it simply arises through the mind finding a pattern of close enough relevance for it to resonate with the karmic force created when we first formed a perception. Now, any reoccurrence of a pattern that reaches a certain threshold invokes, in the mind, the sense of an object or being.

The skandhas are the Buddhist aggregates of physical form, feeling, perception, mental cognition, and consciousness — yet, at their moment of creation, they are still nothing more than illusions.

Let us consider an apple. We all think we know what an apple is, yet, in truth, we have never actually known one. Why? Because what we think of as the solid object “apple” is in truth just an apple-pattern. We define “apple” mentally based on our senses — what looks, smells, tastes, feels, and sounds like an apple. Yet “apple” has always and will always be just a mental pattern that we project onto what we think is physical and real.

Feelings arise depending on how our minds make contact with a mental object (pattern). We know this because we can imagine seeing, tasting, feeling a lemon which we cut into slices and then chew. The lemon never really existed, yet do you salivate?

Perceptions arise because we divide experience into parts we like, parts we dislike, and parts about which we remain neutral. Contact generates feeling; feeling generates perception — and yet we know even contact is illusory (chew that lemon!). Perceptions and thoughts entangle and support each other, giving us the illusion that they are ongoing, rather than simply transient and fleeting mirages.

Consciousness, unaware of its inception or end, arises through choice, but we rarely notice this, for it rapidly associates with its object. Patterning becomes my patterning. Thoughts become my thoughts. Feelings become my feelings. This body becomes my body — or simply “I”.

Yet, both the concept of “I” and the aggregates of form, feeling, perception, thought, and consciousness are patterns within patterns. While they are manifest, in truth, they are illusions — seen on the background of phenomena that has neither meaning nor purpose.

The arahant has realised that any concepts of self are illusory. While they still experience most of the phenomena others do, they no longer identify with them. Feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness no longer take place inside anything. The division that creates the illusion of an inner and outer self is seen for what it is. They never really free themselves — for there was never any cage — but they no longer regard anything as inside, which removes the notion of outside. They transcend the Veil of Isis.

This takes time to grasp. It is as terrifying and as amazing as one might imagine. With the full realisation of no-self, there is a liberation from the mental fixation on the skandhas, and one becomes free from the dance of duality.

“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]”
— Gospel of Thomas, Saying 2