Khandhas

The Khandhas, also known as the five aggregates or five heaps, are a fundamental concept in Buddhism. They represent the constantly changing, interdependent components that constitute the individual and all phenomena experienced by sentient beings. Understanding the Khandhas is central to the Buddhist path of liberation, as it reveals the impermanent and ultimately empty nature of what we perceive as a self.

The five Khandhas are: Rupa (form or matter), Vedana (feeling or sensation), Sañña (perception or recognition), Sankhara (mental formations or volitions), and Viññana (consciousness). Rupa refers to the physical body and its sense faculties, as well as external physical objects. Vedana encompasses pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings that arise from contact with sense objects. Sañña is the cognitive process of recognizing and labeling experiences, such as identifying an object as a table. Sankhara involves the volitional activities of the mind, including intentions, desires, and mental habits. Viññana is the awareness or consciousness that arises in dependence on sense organs and their objects.

Buddhism teaches that these five aggregates are not a permanent, unchanging self or soul. Instead, they are a dynamic process, arising and ceasing in accordance with causes and conditions. By examining these Khandhas, practitioners can see their impermanence (anicca), their inherent unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and their lack of an independent, enduring essence (anatta). This insight leads to the relinquishment of attachment and the cessation of suffering, ultimately paving the way for enlightenment.