nameandform

Nameandform, usually written as nama-rupa in Pali and Sanskrit, is a central term in Buddhism referring to the mental and physical constituents that constitute a sentient being. The term combines nama (name) for mental phenomena—feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness—and rupa (form) for material phenomena, including the body and external matter.

It is one of the five aggregates or skandhas that constitute individual existence. In early Buddhist texts, nama-rupa arises as a composite interdependent on conditions, particularly ignorance and volitional formations, and it functions within the chain of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda). The interaction of mental and material phenomena gives rise to the sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, and clinging, sustaining the cycle of conditioned experience.

Within this framework, nama-rupa are interdependent: mental phenomena cannot fully occur without some form of corporeal basis, and physical form is experienced and interpreted through mental processes. This interdependence emphasizes impermanence (anicca) and non-self (anatta), core Buddhist insights intended to reduce attachment and suffering.

Across Buddhist traditions, nama-rupa is treated similarly, though attention to its interpretation varies. Theravada doctrine emphasizes the skandha analysis, while Mahayana sources may frame nama-rupa within broader discussions of emptiness and the two truths. In modern interpretations, the term is sometimes used in discussions of mind-body relations and phenomenology.