The Five Aggregates (Skandhas)

In Buddhist teaching, the idea of a permanent, unchanging self is carefully deconstructed through the analysis of the five aggregates, or skandhas. These aggregates describe the components that make up what we conventionally call a “person.” By examining them, we see that what we take as ‘self’ is in fact a dynamic, conditioned process.

1. Form (Rūpa): The physical body and material form, including the sense organs and their corresponding objects.

2. Feeling (Vedanā): The immediate affective tone of experience—pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—that arises with every contact.

3. Perception (Saṃjñā): The capacity to recognise and label objects and experiences, forming mental representations.

4. Mental formations (Saṃskāra): The volitional, habitual, and emotional patterns—intentions, desires, aversions, attitudes, and psychological tendencies that shape behaviour.

5. Consciousness (Vijñāna): The basic awareness that arises with each sense contact—seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking.

None of these aggregates, individually or collectively, constitute a permanent self. They are all impermanent, interdependent, and in constant flux. The sense of “I” arises as a conceptual overlay upon this flowing process. Grasping at any part of this process as “me” leads to suffering; recognising their empty, transient nature opens the door to freedom.

This teaching is not merely philosophical but deeply practical. Insight into the aggregates weakens attachment, loosens identity, and reveals the spaciousness of awareness that lies prior to all constructed narratives.

“Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.”
— Heart Sutra