Skandhas

Skandha स्कन्ध Khandhā खन्ध 蘊
ཕུང་པོ་ལྔ་
La palabra del Buda. Solé-Leris.
Agregado.
Jorge Arnau.
El término skandha se refiere a los componentes de la personalidad. Son factores o elementos
agrupados con miras a explicar la constitución del individuo. El término skandha es un término
técnico budista de valor colectivo que designa a determinados dharma: la forma material (rūpa), la
sensación (vedanā), la percepción (saṃjña), la predisposición (saṃskāra) y la conciencia (vijñāna).
A menudo se llama grupo de apropiación (upādāna-skandha) porque, excepto en los Budas, la
apetencia o la sed (tṛṣṇā) se apropia de ellos, de modo que se constituyen en objetos de apego y
determinan el sufrimiento.
El Sutra de Benarés. Ado Parakranabahu.

Elemento, agregado, grupo. PAÑCUPĀDĀNAKKHANDHĀ: LOS CINCO AGREGADOS (108-114, El
Sutra de Benarés)
Según el Buddha, no somos más que nuestro cuerpo y nuestra mente. Tradicionalmente, estos dos
componentes se dividen en cinco partes o agregados: forma, sensación, percepción o
discernimiento, formaciones mentales o factores composicionales y conciencia. La forma se refiere
a nuestro cuerpo; los demás agregados son aspectos de la mente.
Los cinco agregados (pañcakhandhā) son la base de la personalidad sobre la cual establecemos
erróneamente la idea de un yo (attā) y de una persona realmente existente.
El Buddha nos dice: “Los cinco agregados de la adherencia son sufrimiento”. Con ello quiere
hacernos ver que el sufrimiento no es diferente de los cinco agregados. Todos los fenómenos
compuestos son impermanentes; por este motivo están sujetos a la cesación y a la destrucción.
Esto es lo que sucede con los cinco agregados que constituyen la persona. Así, el apego a la idea
del yo no puede sino generar sufrimiento, que está íntimamente ligado a todo estado
condicionado.
En el primer y segundo versos del Dhammapada el Buddha dice: “Todos los fenómenos de la
existencia tienen en la mente su origen, la mente es el jefe supremo, y de mente están hechos. Si
alguien habla o actúa con mente impura, el sufrimiento lo persigue de la misma manera en que la
rueda sigue el casco del buey. Todos los fenómenos de la existencia tienen en la mente su origen, la
mente es el jefe supremo, y de mente están hechos. Si alguien habla o actúa con mente pura, la
felicidad lo persigue como una sombra que nunca lo abandona”.1: Dhammapada, las palabras de
buda. Ed. Esquilo, 2007
Si nos fijamos en el agregado del cuerpo o forma (rūpa), podemos ver que actúa como base de
muchos de nuestros problemas: la enfermedad, el envejecimiento son rasgos distintivos del
proceso natural del cuerpo, están ahí porque tenemos cuerpo. Aunque podemos pensar que
nuestro cuerpo es ahora fuerte y sano, es imposible saber cómo será dentro de unos años. Esta
incertidumbre nos crea ansiedad, aunque sea de manera inconsciente. Por esto pensamos que el
agregado de la forma es la base de todos nuestros problemas.
De la misma manera que la forma, la mente también es causa de muchos de nuestros problemas.
Podemos comprender que nuestra existencia comenzó con el sufrimiento del nacimiento, que
terminará con el sufrimiento de la muerte y que estos son parte del proceso natural de nuestra
vida y, como tales, igual que vienen, se van.
Los cinco agregados son la suma total de lo que somos. Es básico entender los agregados para
apreciar la totalidad del sufrimiento que experimentamos. Yo sufro, pero ¿quién es el yo que
experimenta el sufrimiento?
El agregado de la forma o materia (rūpakkhanddha) incorpora todos los aspectos físicos de

nuestro cuerpo, incluida la propia imagen que la persona se hace de este y de sí misma.
En este elemento se incluyen los cuatro tradicionales grandes elementos (cattāri mahābhūtāni), es
decir, los elementos de solidez, fluidez, calor y movilidad, es decir, tierra, agua, fuego y aire, así
como sus derivados (upādāya-rūpa). En el concepto de los derivados de los cuatro elementos se
incluyen los cinco órganos sensoriales materiales, es decir, las facultades del ojo, oído, nariz,
lengua y cuerpo, y sus objetos correspondientes en el mundo externo, como la forma visible,
sonido, olor, tacto e incluso algunos pensamientos o ideas, que son objetos de la mente. Así que
todos los aspectos de la materia, interna y externa, están incluidos en el agregado de la materia.
El agregado de la sensación (vedanākkhandha) es la mera sensación no procesada, ya sea
agradable, desagradable o neutra que experimentamos cuando percibimos cualquier objeto a
través del contacto de los órganos sensoriales con el mundo externo. Estas son la sensaciones
experimentadas a través del contacto del ojo con el objeto visible, del oído con los sonidos, de la
nariz con los olores, de la lengua con el gusto, del cuerpo con los objetos tangibles y de la mente
(que es la sexta facultad en la filosofía budista) con los objetos mentales, pensamientos o ideas. Se
incluyen en este grupo todas las sensaciones físicas y mentales.
El agregado de la percepción o del discernimiento (saññākkhandha) se refiere a la interpretación y

clasificación de esa sensación no procesada en conceptos. Se caracteriza por reconocer, identificar
y discernir las cosas de las que se tiene experiencia. Las percepciones, al igual que las sensaciones,
también se producen a través del contacto de las facultades con el mundo externo.
El cuarto agregado es el de las formaciones mentales, ya sean kármicas o volitivas

(saṅkhārakkhandha). Es la construcción de la representación o de la experiencia subjetiva del
objeto percibido. Incluye muchos procesos mentales, como deseo, duda, vanidad, determinación,
voluntad, intención y otros. Abarca todos los automatismos habituales de pensamiento, de
sentimiento, de percepción y de acción. Estos no son diferentes de las huellas kármicas, por tanto,
los saṅkhāra reúnen todas las fuerzas condicionantes e impulsos surgidos del karma pasado que
nos llevan a construir nuestras condiciones kármicas actuales y futuras. En este grupo se incluyen
todas las actividades mentales volitivas, tanto buenas como malas, que producen efectos
kármicos, tales como atención (manasikāra), voluntad (chanda), determinación (adhimokkha),
confianza (saddhā), concentración (samādhi), inteligencia o sabiduría (paññā), energía (viriya),
deseo (rāga), repugnancia u odio (patigha), ignorancia (avijjā), vanidad (māna), idea de un yo
(sakkāya-diṭṭhi), etc. Existen cincuenta y dos de tales actividades mentales que constituyen el
agregado de formaciones mentales.
El quinto agregado, la conciencia (viññāṇakkhandha), incluye las cinco consciencias sensoriales
(vista, oído, olfato, gusto y tacto) y la consciencia mental. Es el último agregado, la instancia que
reúne las informaciones de los otros agregados. Es, por tanto, el cognoscente. El término
consciencia se refiere al hecho del conocimiento, a la capacidad de experimentar.
No existe absolutamente nada fuera de estos cinco elementos. Por lo tanto, nuestra existencia se
compone solo y únicamente de estos cinco elementos físicos y mentales que constituyen la base
del yo, que está sujeta a sufrir cambios. Todos sufrimos como consecuencia de nuestra resistencia
a los cambios. Todos pensamos que no merecemos sufrir, pero estamos sujetos a padecer
sufrimiento porque esa es nuestra naturaleza.
El aspecto filosófico más importante de la Primera Noble Verdad se encuentra en la tercera forma
de dukkhā como estado condicionado (saṅkhāra-dukkhā). Esta requiere una explicación analítica
de lo que es un individuo o yo para la filosofía budista.
De acuerdo con la filosofía budista, un individuo, o yo, es solo una combinación de energías físicas
y mentales en constante cambio, las cuales pueden dividirse en cinco agregados (pañcakkhandha).
Los cinco agregados son lo que denominamos un ser, individuo o un yo; esto es solo un nombre
que se da a esa combinación de cinco grupos. Todos ellos son impermanentes y constituyen un
flujo momentáneo que surge y cesa. Un fenómeno desaparece y condiciona la aparición del
siguiente en una serie interminable de causa y efecto. No hay substancialidad ni nada detrás de los
mismos que pueda considerarse un ser (attā) permanente, una individualidad o algún ente que
pueda ser llamado yo, aunque tengamos esta idea cuando vemos funcionar estos cinco agregados
físicos y mentales como un mecanismo psicofisiológico.
Las tradiciones Theravāda y Mahāyāna tienen una opinión distinta acerca de las relaciones entre el
yo y los cinco agregados. Para los theravādines los cinco agregados y dukkhā no son diferentes; los
agregados en sí son dukkhā (saṅkhittena pañcupādānakkhandhā dukkhā). Esto es lo que
constituye la idea de ser (sakkāya-diṭṭhi). El conjunto de estos cinco agregados, que comúnmente
llamamos un ser, son en sí mismos dukkhā, saṅkhāradukkhā. No existe ningún ser o yo detrás de
estos cinco agregados que experimente dukkhā.
La tradición Mahāyāna piensa que los cinco agregados en sí no son sufrimiento, sino que el
sufrimiento es el apego a los cinco agregados.
Los argumentos acerca de los agregados y de dukkhā a veces parecen abstractos o esotéricos,
pero la comprensión de las relaciones que existen entre el yo y los agregados es esencial si
queremos superar nuestro sufrimiento. Si el yo fuera una mera designación de los cinco agregados
y los agregados no fueran más que sufrimiento, esto sería desolador. Para eliminar el sufrimiento
tendríamos que eliminar los cinco agregados y, por lo tanto, dejar de existir.
Ajahn Sumedho, el gran maestro Theravāda, sugiere que no debemos pensar que estamos
sufriendo, sino que existe el sufrimiento. Con ello evitamos pensar si el yo es lo mismo que los
agregados. Para meditar en “yo estoy sufriendo” necesitamos un yo. Meditando de esta manera
más impersonal, podemos llegar a ser conscientes de la universalidad del sufrimiento dentro de
cada momento de experiencia.
La aceptación de la Noble Verdad de dukkhā no hace, en absoluto, que la vida sea melancólica y
pesimista, como pueden imaginar erróneamente algunas personas. Por el contrario, el verdadero
budista es feliz y no sufre de miedo o angustia; siempre está tranquilo y no se perturba o
desalienta por cambios y desgracias, pues acepta las cosas tal como son. El Buddha nunca fue
melancólico o sombrío, y sus contemporáneos lo describieron como un hombre siempre sonriente
(mihitapubbaṅgama). El Buddha es representado, en las pinturas y esculturas, con un rostro feliz y
sereno, sin ningún rasgo de agonía o sufrimiento. El budismo es, verdaderamente, opuesto a
actitudes mentales melancólicas, tristes y sombrías, las cuales son consideradas muy
negativamente.
El Theragāthā y el Therīgāthā, dos antiguos textos budistas, están llenos de felices y alegres
expresiones de los discípulos del Buddha, hombres y mujeres que encontraron paz y felicidad en
sus enseñanzas. El rey de Kosala comentó al Buddha, en cierta ocasión, que a diferencia de
muchos discípulos de otras religiones, cuya apariencia generalmente era demacrada, burda,
pálida, emaciada y poco atractiva, los discípulos de Buddha lucían gozosos, regocijados
(haṭṭhapahaṭṭha), jubilosos (udaggudagga), disfrutaban de la vida religiosa (abhiratarūpa),
satisfechos (pīṇitindriya), libres de ansiedad (appossukka), serenos (pannaloma), pacíficos
(paradavutta) y vivían con mente de gacelas (migabhūtena cetasā), es decir, sin conflictos ni
preocupaciones. El rey añadió que él consideraba que está sana disposición se debía al hecho de
que “estos venerables, ciertamente, habían comprendido el sentido completo y lo magnífico de las
enseñanzas del Afortunado”.2: Majjhima-Nikāya II (PTS), p.121
Diccionario Ontologico de Budismo. María Teresa Román:

Agregado, compuesto. Las cinco clases de dharmas o factores de existencia que en el análisis
budista integran el ser humano. Estas son: La materia (el cuerpo), la sensación, la percepción, las
composiciones mentales, y la conciencia. El primero abarca los 4 elementos tradicionales,
conocidos como tierra o solidez, agua o fluidez, fuego o calor y aire. De estos 4 derivan otros 24
fenómenos y cualidades materiales; entre estos derivado se incluyen:
“Las 5 facultades sensibles, es decir, las facultades privativas del ojo, oído, nariz, lengua y cuerpo, y
sus correspondientes objetos sensoriales, es decir, la forma sensible, el sonido, el olor, el gusto, y
las cosas tangibles. El agregado material abarca todo el reino de la sustancia física, tanto de
nuestro cuerpo como el mundo externo. El segundo es el agregado de la sensibilidad o Sensación
(vedanā-kkhandha). Aquí se incluyen todas nuestras sensaciones. Estas son de tres especies:
placenteras, desagradables y neutras. Su producción depende del contacto. Al ver una forma, oír
un sonido, percibir un olor, gustar un sabor, tocar algo tangible, conocer un objeto mental (una
idea o pensamiento), el hombre experimenta una sensación. Cuando, por ejemplo, ojo forma y
conciencia ocular (cakkhu-viññāna) se reúnen, esta conciencia se llama contacto. Contacto es la
combinación del órgano sensorial, el objeto sensible y la conciencia sensitiva. Si estos tres factores
coinciden, no existe ningún poder o fuerza que puede impedir la aparición de la sensación […]. El
tercero es el agregado de la Percepción (saññākkhandha). La función de la percepción es el
reconocimiento (sam-jānana) de objetos físicos y mentales. La percepción, como la sensación, es
también séxtuple: percepción de las formas, sonidos, olores, gustos, contactos corporales y
objetos mentales […]. La percepción da origen a la memoria […]. El cuarto agregado es de las
formaciones mentales (Volitivas) (Samkhā-rakkhanda). En este grupo se incluyen todos los factores
mentales excepto la sensación (vedanā) y la percepción (saññā), antes citadas. El Abhidhamma se
refiere a cincuenta y dos concomitantes o factores mentales (Cetasika). La sensación y la
percepción son dos de ellos, pero no son actividades volitivas. Los 20 restantes como samkhāra,
Formaciones mentales o volitivas. La Voluntad (cetanā) juega un papel muy importante en el
campo mental. En el budismo ninguna acción se considera karma (kamma) si esta esta falta de
volición. Y , como la sensación y la percepción son de 6 clases: volición dirigida a formas, sonidos,
olores, gustos, contactos corporales, y objetos mentales. El quinto agregado es la conciencia
(viññānakkhandha), y es el más importante de los agregados, en efecto, por así decirlo, el
receptáculo de los cincuenta y dos concomitantes, o factores mentales, puesto que sin conciencia
ningún factor mental está disponible […]. Como la sensación, la percepción y las formaciones
volitivas, la conciencia manifiesta asimismo seis tipos y su función es variada. Posee un
fundamento y objetos” (Piyadassi Thera. 1982, pp. 49-51)
Cinco Sutras del Mahayana. Tola & Dragonetti:

Los Skandhas son las 5 clases de dharmas (o factores de existencia) cuya reunión da origen a un
hombre. Ellos son: la sensación, la percepción, la volición, la conciencia y la forma (equivalente en
este caso al componente corporal).
Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

The 5 ‘groups (of existence)’ or ‘groups of clinging’ (upādānakkhandha); alternative renderings:
aggregates, categories of clinging are objects. These are the 5 aspects in which the Buddha has
summed up all the physical and mental phenomena of existence, and which appear to the
ignorant man as his ego, or personality, to wit: (1) the corporeality group (rūpa-kkhandha), (2)
the feeling group (vedanā-kkhandha), (3) the perception group (saññā-kkhandha), (4) the
mental-formation group (saṅkhāra-kkhandha ), (5) the consciousness-group (viññāṇa-kkhandha).
“Whatever there exists of corporeal things, whether past, present or future, one’s own or
external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, all that belongs to the corporeality group.
Whatever there exists of feeling… of perception… of mental formations… of consciousness… all
that belongs to the consciousness-group” (S. XXII, 48). – Another division is that into the 2 groups:
mind (2-5) and corporeality (1) (nāmarūpa), whilst in Dhamma Sangani, the first book of the
Abhidhamma, all the phenomena are treated by way of 3 groups: consciousness (5), mental
factors (2-4), corporeality (1), in Pāli citta, cetasika, rūpa. Cf. Guide I.
What is called individual existence is in reality nothing but a mere process of those mental and
physical phenomena, a process that since time immemorial has been going on, and that also after
death will still continue for unthinkably long periods of time. These 5 groups, however, neither
singly nor collectively constitute any self-dependent real ego-entity, or personality (attà), nor is
there to be found any such entity apart from them. Hence the belief in such an ego-entity or
personality, as real in the ultimate sense, proves a mere illusion.
“When all constituent parts are there,

The designation ‘cart’ is used;
Just so, where the five groups exist,
Of ‘living being’ do we speak.” (S. V. 10).
The fact ought to be emphasized here that these 5 groups, correctly speaking, merely form an
abstract classification by the Buddha, but that they as such, i.e. as just these 5 complete groups,
have no real exist ence, since only single representatives of these groups, mostly variable, can
arise with any state of consciousness. For example, with one and the same unit of consciousness
only one single kind of feeling, say joy or sorrow, can be associated and never more than one.
Similarly, two different perceptions cannot arise at the same moment. Also, of the various kinds of
sense-cognition or consciousness, only one can be present at a time, for example, seeing, hearing
or inner consciousness, etc. Of the 50 mental formations, however, a smaller or larger number are
always associated with every state of consciousness, as we shall see later on. Some writers on
Buddhism who have not understood that the five khandha are just classificatory groupings, have
conceived them as compact entities (‘heaps’, ‘bundles’), while actually, as stated above, the
groups never exist as such, i.e. they never occur in a simultaneous totality of all their constituents.
Also those single constituents of a group which are present in any given body- and -mind process,
are of an evanescent nature, and so also their varying combinations. Feeling, perception and
mental formations are only different aspects and functions of a single unit of consciousness. They
are to consciousness what redness, softness, sweetness, etc. are to an apple and have as little
separate existence as those qualities.
In S. XXII, 56, there is the following short definition of these 5 groups:
“What, O monks, is the corporeality-group? The 4 primary elements (mahā-bhūta or dhātu) and
corporeality depending thereon, this is called the corporeality-group. “What, O monks, is the
feeling-group? There are 6 classes of feeling: due to visual impression, to sound impression, to
odour impression, to taste impression, to bodily impression, and to mind impression…. “What, O
monks, is the perception-group? There are 6 classes of perception: perception of visual objects, of
sounds, of odours, of tastes, of bodily impressions, and of mental impressions…. “What, O monks,
is the group of mental formations? There are 6 classes of volitional states (cetanā): with regard to
visual objects, to sounds, to odours, to tastes, to bodily impressions and to mind objects…. “What,
O monks, is the consciousness-group? There are 6 classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear
consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and mind-
consciousness.” About the inseparability of the groups it is said: ‘‘Whatever, O brother, there
exists of feeling, of perception and of mental formations, these things are associated, not
dissociated, and it is impossible to separate one from the other and show their difference. For
whatever one feels, one perceives; and whatever one perceives, of this one is conscious” (M. 43).
Further: “Impossible is it for anyone to explain the passing out of one existence and the entering
into a new existence, or the growth, increase and development of consciousness independent of
corporeality, feeling, perception and mental formations” (S. XII, 53). For the inseparability and
mutual conditionality of the 4 mental groups s. paccaya (6, 7).
Regarding the impersonality (anattā) and emptiness (Suññatā) of the 5 groups, it is said in S. XXII,
49:
“Whatever there is of corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness,
whether past, present or future, one’s own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, this
one should understand according to reality and true wisdom: ‘This does not belong to me, this am I
not, this is not my Ego.’ ”
Further in S. XXII, 95: “Suppose that a man who is not blind were to behold the many bubbles on
the Ganges as they are driving along; and he should watch them and carefully examine them. After
carefully examining them, however, they will appear to him empty, unreal and unsubstantial. In
exactly the same way does the monk behold all the corporeal phenomena… feelings… perceptions…
mental formations… states of consciousness, whether they be of the past, present or future… far or
near. And he watches them and examines them carefully; and after carefully examining them, they
appear to him empty, unreal and unsubstantial.”
The 5 groups are compared, respectively, to a lump of froth, a bubble, a mirage, a coreless
plantain stem, and a conjuring trick (S. XXII, 95). See the Khandha Saüyutta (S. XXII); Vis.M. XIV.
The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

In Sanskrit, lit. “heap,” viz., “aggregate,” or “aggregate of being”; one of the most common
categories in Buddhist literature for enumerating the constituents of the person. According to one
account, the Buddha used a grain of rice to represent each of the many constituents, resulting in
five piles or heaps. The five skandhas are materiality or form (RŪPA), sensations or feeling
(VEDANĀ), perception or discrimination (SAṂJÑĀ), conditioning factors (SAṂSKĀRA), and
consciousness (VIJÑĀNA). Of these five, only rūpa is material; the remaining four involve mentality
and are collectively called “name” (NĀMA), thus the compound “name-and-form” or “mentality-
and-materiality ” (NĀMARŪPA). However classified, nowhere among the aggregates is there to be
found a self (ĀTMAN). Yet, through ignorance (AVIDYĀ or MOHA), the mind habitually identifies
one or another in this collection of the five aggregates with a self. This is the principal wrong view
(DṚṢṬI), called SATKĀYADṚṢṬI, that gives rise to suffering and continued existence in the cycle of
rebirth (SAṂSĀRA).
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous

蘊: skandha, v. 塞; older tr. 陰, intp. as that which covers or conceals, implying that physical and
mental forms obstruct realization of the truth; while the tr. 蘊, implying an accumulation or heap,
is a nearer connotation to skandha, which, originally meaning the shoulder, becomes stem,
branch, combination, the objects of sense, the elements of being or mundane consciousness. The
term is intp. as the five physical and mental constituents, which combine to form the intelligent 性
or nature;rūpa, the first of the five, is considered as physical, the remaining four as mental; v.
五蘊. The skandhas refer only to the phenomenal, not to the 無為 non-phenomenal.
五蘊: The five skandhas, pañca-skandha: also 五陰; 五眾; 五塞犍陀 The five cumulations,
substances, or aggregates, i. e. the components of an intelligent being, specially a human being:
(1) 色rūpa, form, matter, the physical form related to the five organs of sense; (2) 受 vedanā,
reception, sensation, feeling, the functioning of the mind or senses in connection with affairs and
things; (3) 想saṃjñā, conception, or discerning; the functioning of mind in distinguishing; (4)
行saṃskāra, the functioning of mind in its processes regarding like and dislike, good and evil, etc.;
(5) 識 vijñāna, mental faculty in regard to perception and cognition, discriminative of affairs and
things. The first is said to be physical, the other four mental qualities; (2), (3), and (4) are
associated with mental functioning, and therefore with 心所; (5) is associated with the faculty or
nature of the mind 心王 manas. Eitel gives-- form, perception, consciousness, action, knowledge.
See also Keith'sBuddhist Philosophy, 85-91.
Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima:

(Agregado). Representado por un, acumulaciones, o por shu, multitudes. [MW] El hombro; el tallo
o tronco; una rama grande o tallo; una trompa, multitud, cantidad, agregado, una parte, división;
(para los budistas) los 5 elementos constituyentes del ser (es decir, rūpa, vedanā, saṃjña,
saṃskāra y vijñāna [q. v.]) Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2.
Diccionario de la sabiduría oriental: Budismo, Hinduismo, Taoísmo, Zen. Stephan Schuhmacher

comp.; Gert Woerner comp
“Grupo, compuesto, agregado”. Se denomina así a los cinco constituyentes que forman todo
aquello considerado como la “personalidad”: 1. la corporeidad (Rūpa); 2. Las sensaciones
(Vedanā); 3. la percepción (Samjñā); 4. el conjunto de las (pre)disposiciones o configuraciones
psíquicas (Saṃskāra); 5. la conciencia (Vijñāna). Estos grupos o agregados reciben a menudo el
nombre de “grupo de apropiación” (Upādāna-skandha), porque, excepto en los árhat y en los
Budha, la apetencia o “sed”(trisnā) se apropia de ellos atrayéndolos a sí, de modo que se
constituyen en objetos de apego y determinan el sufrimiento. Las marcas o rasgos distintivos de
los skandha son: nacimiento, envejecimiento y muerte, duración, y mutabilidad; y sus cualidades,
la no-sustancialidad (anātman), la impermanencia (anitya), la vaciedad (Sūnyatā) y el carácter
doloroso (duḥkha).
El grupo de la corporeidad o materialidad consiste en los cuatro elementos: el sólido, el fluido, el

cálido y el moviente (mahābhūta), los órganos de la sensibilidad (Indriya), los objetos de éstos;
etc. El grupo de las sensaciones comprende las sensaciones correspondientes, sean dolorosas,
agradables o neutras. El grupo de las percepciones comprende las percepciones de la forma,
sonido, olor, sabor, impresiones corporales y objetos corporales. El grupo de las configuraciones
psíquicas (o, en otra traducción, de “las mociones o formaciones mentales”) comprende la
multiplicidad de actividades psíquicas, como las nociones de voluntad, atención, el juicio, la
alegría, la dicha, la ecuanimidad, la decisión, el impulso, el actuar, la concentración, etc. El grupo
de la conciencia comprende las 6 clases de conciencia (visual, auditiva, olfativa, gustativa, táctil o
corporal, y mental) que surgen del contacto entre órganos de la sensibilidad y sus respectivos
objetos.
El carácter doloroso e impermanente de los 5 Skandhas es uno de los temas centrales de la

literatura búdica. Lo doloroso se funda en la no-sustancialidad y la impermanencia; de la índole
no-sustancial de los Skandhas que forman la personalidad, el budismo deduce la inexistencia de un
sí-mismo (anātman): lo que es transitorio, y por ende doloroso, no puede constituir un sí mismo,
que, según la concepción hindú (atman), ha de tener los atributos de perennidad y beatitud. El
reconocimiento de la no-sustancialidad de los skandha contiene ya la visión intuitiva que conduce
a la Liberación. Nyanatiloka (1976, pág 107) explica las consecuencias de ese reconocimiento para
la representación de un “yo”: “Lo que se llama la existencia individual no es en realidad sino un
mero proceso de tales fenómenos mentales y físicos; un proceso que continua desde tiempo
inmemorial y continuara también después de la muerte por periodos inconmensurablemente
largos. Pero los 5 grupos (skandha) no constituyen ni cada uno por separado ni colectivamente un
Yo como entidad subsistente en sí o Personalidad, ni tampoco puede encontrarse fuera de ellos una
entidad real en sentido ultimo resulta ser una mera ilusión”.
Edward Conze.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: Heap (Monton)
Rūpa* रूप 色 གཟུགས
Cinco Sutras del Mahayana. Tola & Dragonetti:
Es propiamente la apariencia externa (forma, color) bajo la cual las cosas se presentan ante la
vista. También por extensión designa a la materia y, tratándose del hombre, su cuerpo.
Seven Works of Vasubandhu. STEFAN ANACKER.

In this translation, some terms have been translated differently than is usual. One of these is
"rūpa". It is used both fof the first aggregate and for the object of the first consciousness. As the
object of the first consciousness, "rūpa" is defined as a "visible". But when treated as an aggregate
the definitions focuson its dimensionality in a special locus, and its physical resistance (i.e. the
space occupied by one rūpa cannot be simulta* neously occupied by another).* Already in the
Dhammasahganiy it is stated that not all rūpa is visible.** As an aggregate, rūpa need not belong
to the field of any one consciousness, and different aspects of it are perceived by consciousnesses
I-V.
In fact, according to the Yamaha, an early book of the Theravada Abhidhamma, the rūpa-
aggregate and the rūpa seen as "attractive", etc., are mutually exclusive.*** Presumably this is
said because the primary characteristics of the rūpa-aggregate are perceived by a tactile
consciousness. Good translations of "rūpa" as an aggregate are "matter", "materiality", "material
forms", whereas as an object of the first consciousness, it must be rendered simply as "visible".
The Chinese often translate "rūpa" as the object of the visual consciousness by "color", but in the
Vaibhäsika system at least, color is only one aspect of the visible. The reason for the somewhat
clumsy "materiality" adopted here for "rūpa" as an aggregate, rests on a wish to avoid a radical
mind/matter duality. There are in Abhidharma terminology compounds such as "nāma-rūpa ",
which seem to divide the "individual" into material and non-material aggregates, but, similarly,
there is the category "kāyaka", "bodily", which includes all the aggregates except consciousness.
The researches of Maryla Falk [Nāmarūpa and dharmarūpa, passim] have revealed that the
aggregates subsumed under "nāma" also have spatial existence. She also says that the
dimensionality of rūpa does not rule against its genetic connection with nāma.^]' Besides, "nāma"
and "rūpa" almost always occur together in a compound, which indicates a psychophysical
complex not clearly divisible into the two aspects.
PANCASKANDHAKA-PRAKARANA
“What is materiality?' Materiality is whatever has dimensionality, and consists of all of the four
great elements, and everything that is derived from the four; great elements.
And what are the four great elements? The earth-element, water-element, fire-element, and wind-
element. Among these, what is the earth-element ? It is solidity. What is the water-element ? It is
liquidity. What is the fire-element? It is heat. What is the wind-element? It is gaseousness.
What is derived from them ? The sense-organ of the eye, the sense-organ of the ear, the sense-
organ of the nose, the sense-organ of the tongue, the sense-organ of the body, visibles, sounds,
smells, tastes, everything that can be subsumed under tactile sensations, and unmanifest action.
And among these, what is the senseorgan of the eye ? It is sentient materiality which has color as
its sense-object. What is the sense-organ of the ear? It is sentient materiality which has sounds as
its sense-object. What is the sense-organ of the nose ? It is sentient materiality which has smells as
its sense-object. What is the sense-organ of the tongue ? It is sentient materiality which has tastes
as its sense-object. What is the sense-organ of the body ? It is sentient materiality which has tactile
sensations as its sense-object.
And what are visibles? They are the sense-objects of the eye : color, configuration, and manifest
action. And what are sounds? They are the sense-objects of the ear, having as their causes great
elements appropriated by the body, or great elements unappropriated. And what are smells? They
are the sense-objects of the nose : pleasant smells, unpleasant smells, and those which are neither.
And what are tastes ? They are the sense-objects of the tongue : sweet, sour, salty, sharp, bitter
and astringent. What is everything that can be subsumed under tactile sensations? They are the
sense-objects of the body : the great elements themselves, softness, hardness, heaviness, lightness,
coldness, hunger, and thirst. What is unmanifest action? It is materiality which has arisen from
manifest action or meditational concentration: it is invisible and exercises no resistance.”

I. Corporeality Group (rūpa-kkhandha)
A. Underived (no-upādā): 4 elements

The solid or earth-element (paṭhavī-dhātu)
The liquid, or water-element (āpo-dhātu)
Heat, or fire-element (tejo-dhātu)
Motion, or wind-element (vāyo-dhātu)
B. Derived (upādā): 24 secondary phenomena

Physical sense-organs of: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, body Physical sense-objects: form,
sound, odour, taste, (bodily impacts)
‘Bodily impacts’ (photthabba) are generally omitted in this list, because these physical objects of
body-sensitivity are identical with the afore-mentioned solid element, heat and motion element.
Hence their inclusion under ‘derived corporeality’ would be a duplication.
Femininity (itthindriya)
Virility (purisindriya)
Physical base of mind (hadaya-vatthu, q.v.)
Bodily expression (kāya-viññatti; s. viññatti)
Verbal expression (vacī-viññatti)
Physical life (rūpa jīvita; s. jīvita)
Space element (ākāsa-dhātu, q.v.)
Physical agility (rūpassa lahutā)
Physical elasticity (rūpassa mudutā)
Physical adaptability (rūpassa kammaññatā)
Physical growth (rūpassa upacaya)
Physical continuity (rūpassa santati; s. santāna)
Decay (jarā, q.v.)
Impermanence (aniccatā)
Nutriment (āhāra, q.v.)
Rūpa: (1) corporeality (s. khandha 1); (2) visual object (s. āyatana); (3) fine-material (s. avacara,
jhāna).
Nāma-rūpa: (lit. ‘Name and form’): ‘mind-and-body’, mentality and corporeality. It is the 4th link in
the dependent origination (s. paticcasamuppāda 3, 4) where it is conditioned by consciousness,
and on its part is the condition of the six fold sense-base. In two texts (D. 14, 15), which contain
variations of the dependent origination, the mutual conditioning of consciousness and mind-and-
body is described (see also S. XII, 67), and the latter is said to be a condition of sense-impression
(phassa); so also in Sn. 872.
The third of the seven purifications (s. visuddhi), the purification of views, is defined in Vis.M. XVIII
as the “correct seeing of mind-and-body,” and various methods for the discernment of mind-and-
body by way of insight-meditation (vipassanà, q.v.) are given there. In this context, ‘mind’ (nāma)
comprises all four mental groups, including consciousness. – See nāma.
In five-group-existence (pañca-vokāra-bhava, q.v.), mind-and body are inseparable and
interdependent; and this has been illustrated by comparing them with two sheaves of reeds
propped against each other: when one falls the other will fall, too; and with a blind man with stout
legs, carrying on his shoulders a lame cripple with keen eye-sight: only by mutual assistance can
they move about efficiently (s. Vis.M. XVIII, 32ff). On their mutual dependence, see also paticca-
samuppāda (3).
With regard to the impersonality and dependent nature of mind and corporeality it is said: “Sound
is not a thing that dwells inside the conch-shell and comes out from time to time, but due to both,
the conch-shell and the man that blows it, sound comes to arise: Just so, due to the presence of
vitality, heat and consciousness, this body may execute the acts of going, standing, sitting and
lying down, and the 5 sense organs and the mind may perform their various functions” (D. 23).
“Just as a wooden puppet though unsubstantial, lifeless and inactive may by means of pulling
strings be made to move about, stand up, and appear full of life and activity; just so are mind and
body, as such, something empty, lifeless and inactive; but by means of their mutual working
together, this mental and bodily combination may move about, stand up, and appear full of life
and activity.”
Nipphanna-rūpa: ‘produced corporeality’, is identical with rūpa-rūpa, ‘corporeality proper’, i.e.
material or actual corporeality, as contrasted with ‘unproduced corporeality’ (anipphanna-rūpa),
consisting of mere qualities or modes of corporeality, e.g. impermanence, etc., which are also
enumerated among the 28 phenomena of the corporeality group. See khandha, Summary I; Vis.M.
XIV, 73.

In Sankrit and Pāli, “body,” “form,” or “materiality ,” viz., that which has shape and is composed of
matter. The term has two primary doctrinal denotations. More generally, rūpa refers to
materiality, which serves as objects of the five sensory consciousnesses (VIJÑĀNA): visual,
auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile. This is the meaning of rūpa as the first of the five
aggregates (SKANDHA), where it includes all the physical constituents of the person. The second
sense is more limited; the colors and shapes that serve as objects of the visual consciousness
(CAKṢURVIJÑĀNA) are designated as rūpa (and this accounts for the Chinese translation of the
term as “color”); this second denotation is a subset of the first, and much more limited, referring
only to the objects of the visual consciousness (CAKṢURVIJÑĀNA). It is in this second sense that
rūpa is counted among the twelve ĀYATANA and eighteen DHĀTU. In formulations of the person
as “name and form” (NĀMARŪPA), viz., an individual’s mental and physical constituents, “name”
(NĀMA) subsumes the four mental aggregrates (SKANDHA) of sensation (VEDANĀ), perception
(SAṂJÑĀ), conditioning factors (SAṂSKĀRA), and consciousness (VIJÑĀNA), while “form” (rūpa)
refers to the materiality aggregate (RŪPASKANDHA), viz., the physical body. In some MAHĀYĀNA
sūtras, rūpādi (“form, and so on”) means all dharmas because form is the first in the all-inclusive
list of SAṂKLIṢṬA and VYAVADĀNA dharmas that are declared to be empty of an essential identity
(SVABHĀVA).
Namarupa. Milinda Capitulo 2.6. 2.8

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous
色: A colour, the same colour; the same; especially a thing, or a form, v.rūpa 色; minute, trifling,
an atom.
Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima-

(Materia, forma). Representado por shiki, “color, forma”. [MW] Cualquier aspecto exterior,
fenómeno o color, forma, contorno, silueta; (Para los budistas) forma material. Uno de los 5
Skandhas. Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2.
Diccionario Akal de Budismo. Cornu

Véase forma; forma: el agregado de formas no debe confundirse con la mera materia, “Sea cual
sea, toda forma se encuentra constituida por cuatro grandes elementos [mahābhūta] y por sus
derivados” (Abhidarmasamuccaya). En el agregado de las formas se reúnen, en consecuencia, los
cuatro grandes elementos, que constituyen las formas causales, y los once tipos de formas que ahí
resultan.
Los cuatro grandes elementos son la tierra (solidez), el agua (fluidez), el fuego (calor) y el aire
(movilidad). Las 11 formas resultantes son: Las cinco facultades de los sentidos (pancedriya). Los
cinco objetos de los sentidos (viṣaya); lo visible o forma (rūpa en sentido restringido), el sonido, el
olor, el sabor, y lo tangible (derivado de los 4 elementos). El undécimo tipo de forma “lo que no se
da a conocer, forma imperceptible o no información” (avijñapti) es, para los partidarios del
Vaibhāṣika, una continuidad serial interna, buena o mala, ligada a un estado del pensamiento, de
distracción o absorción meditativa, imperceptible para los demás y que se basa en los 4
elementos. Para Vasabandhu y los sautrāntika (Abhidharmamokosabhāṣya), se trata sencillamente
de formas que participan de la esfera de fenómenos mentales como los átomos imperceptibles
cuya existencia se deduce a partir del intelecto, las formas espaciales muy sutiles (imperceptibles
por medio de los sentidos), las formas que resultan de la formulación de un voto (experiencia que
lleva a la práctica), las formas imaginadas (imágenes mentales, sueños) y las formas dominadas
(que aparecen por medio de la meditación).
Edward Conze.
Rūpa, form; -rūpa, concerns; Rūpa-kaya, form-body; Rūpakāya-pariniṣpatti, accomplishment of
the form; Rūpa -dhātu, world of form; Rūpa-pariniṣpatti, one who has achieved an accomplished
body; rūpa-raga, greed for the world of form; rūpa-sampad, perfect form; rūpa-avācara, of the
realm of form, A xiii 282; belong to the sphere of form, A xvii 336.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: form (+forma).
Handbook of Abhidhamma Studies. I

Rūpa: The third reality is called Rūpa. The Pāi word is Rūpa. ḷ The English translation is matter.
What is Rūpa? Rūpa is that which changes when coming into contact with adverse conditions such
as cold, heat, etc., especially the Rūpa in your body. When you go in the sun and it is hot, there is
one continuity of material properties. Then you go into the shade and there is another continuity
of material properties. If you take a shower, there is another kind and so on. That which changes
with cold, heat, hunger, thirst, bite of insects is called Rūpa or matter. Change here means obvious
or discernable change. Mind changes more quickly then matter, but mind is not called Rūpa. The
change of mind is not so evident, it is not so obvious, as the change of Rūpa. Only the change
which is obvious, which is easy to see, which is easily discernable is meant by change here. That
which changes with these adverse conditions is called Rūpa, matter.
Rūpa exists in living beings as well as outside things. There is Rūpa in our bodies. There is Rūpa in
the house, in the trees and so on. Rūpa is both internal and external. Rūpa is both in living beings
and outside things. Cittas and Cetasikas arise only in living beings.
Rūpa has no ability to cognize. It doesn't know. You can hit the desk and it will not say, “Oh, this is
painful.” or something like that. Rūpa has no ability to cognize. It does not know. It does not take
objects because it is the object itself.
There are 28 types of matter or material properties recognized in Abhidhamma. In Abhidhamma
28 material properties are taught. Although there may be different kinds of matter in our bodies, if
we break them down to the ultimate realities, we get 28 kinds of matter.
We will study matter in the sixth chapter (also see CMA, VI, §1, p.234). The material properties are
comparable to the elements in chemistry. Is anyone familiar with the periodic table in chemistry?
Here there are 28 material properties. They are put together in different ways like the chemical
elements. They are comparable to the chemical elements, but not exactly the same as the
chemical elements.
PROCESS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND MATTER.

Rūpa (matter) is one of the four realities in the Abhidhamma. The word rūpa is generally
translated as matter, corporeality, materiality, body, form etc. However, none of these convey the
exact meaning of the word, and of them matter is the nearest equivalent. The Pāli word rūpa is
explained in the Abhidhamma by pointing to its derivation from the verb “ruppati”, which means
to be changed or deformed. From a Buddhist standpoint rūpa is not only changed, but also
perishes, since it lasts only seventeen mind moments. According to the Vibhāvanīṭīkā1, rūpa or
matter is so called because it both undergoes and imposes alteration, owing to adverse physical
conditions such as cold and heat etc. Of course, rūpa may change state, form and colour on
account of heat and cold just as matter does. However, although form, shape and mass become
apparent when a significant quantity of rūpa has accumulated, in the ultimate sense rūpa is
formless, shapeless and without mass, just as energy is. Scientists now know that matter and
energy are equivalent or we might say inter-convertible; in the ultimate sense matter and energy
are identical. At the time of the Buddha, an early version of what we now know as atomic theory
was prevalent in India. The Indian thinkers spoke of the paramāṇu or atom and they analysed it
thus: one rathareṇu consists of 36 tajjāris; one tajjāri is 36 aṇus and one aṇu is 36 paramāṇus. The
minute particles of dust seen dancing in a sunbeam are called rathareṇu. One paramāṇu is
1/46,656th part of a rathareṇu. This paramāṇu was considered indivisible. The Buddha analysed
matter as the kalāpa, a unity of elements or sub-atomic particles: an ultimate entity, which cannot
be further subdivided.
Introduction to Abhidhamma ~ Silananda Brahmachari.

In the description of rūpa it has been stated in the Pali commentary “Ruppati situnhadi virodhi
paccayehi vikaram apajjati apadiyatiti va rupam” – i.e. what changes or undergoes processes of
alteration consequent om climatic conditions or otherwise is called rupa – physical form.
Generally rupa means matter. Its constant change is visible everywhere even to the naked eye.
Nowhere it remains unchanged – as if it is caught in the current of change. It will not be out of
place to mention that this physical body itself is a world of matters
Rūpa is mainly two-fold, viz. four basic matters (mahabhuta) and the material qualities derived
therefrom (upada rupa). The four basic matters are ‘earth’ (pathavi) the solid state of aggregation,
‘water’ (apo) the elementary principle of cohesion, ‘fire’ (tejo) the heating state of aggregation
and ‘air’ (vayo) the elementary state of vibration. These are called ‘pathavi dhatu,’ ‘apo dhatu,’
‘tejo dhati’ and ‘vayo dhatu’ respectively. Dhatu is defined as that which bears its own
characteristics or attributes (attano sbhavam dharetiti dhatu). The characteristic marks or
attributes thereof are solidity, cohesion, heat and vibration respectively. Hardness and softness
are the difference of degrees in respect of the same quality i.e. solidity. Similarly, hotness and
coldness are indicative of the degrees of heat. Among the four basic matters apo (cohesion) by
which particles of matter are held together cannot be felt by touching. When we put our hands
into water, the softness of water felt is not apo but pathavi; the cold felt is not apo but tejo; the
pressure felt is not apo but vayo. Hence the other three basic matters only are tangible. Thus the
division of mahabhuta is based on qualities of solidness etc.
The material qualities derived from the four basic matters are as follows:
1. Pasada rupa – sense organs. 2. Gocara rupa – sense objects. 3. Bhava rupa – sex. 4. Hadaya
rupa – material quality of heart. 5. Jivita rupa – material quality of life. 6. Ahara rupa – material
quality of limitation. 7. Pariccheda rupa – material quality of expression. 8. Vinnatti rupa –
material quality of expression. 9. Vikara rupa – material quality of plasticity. 10. lakkhana rupa –
material quality of characteristic.
Path ofPurification (Visuddhimagga).Buddhaghoṣa

rūpa—(1) materiality (aggregate), fine materiality of fine-material Brahmá world, matter in
general, material form, (2) visible datum, visible object, visible
A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma

Having thus far analyzed consciousness and mental factors in accordance with their classes and
modes of occurrence, matter will now be dealt with. The compendium of matter is fivefold:
enumeration, classification, origination, groups, and the modes of occurrence.
The first five chapters of the Abhidhammattha Sangaha form, in a way, a complete compendium
dealing with various aspects of conscious experience—with the 89 or 121 types of consciousness,
with the 52 mental factors and their permutations, with the occurrence of consciousness in
cognitive processes and at rebirth, with the planes of existence, and with the classification of
kamma and its result. These first five chapters may be considered a detailed analysis of the first
two ultimate realities—citta and cetasikas, consciousness and mental factors. In Chapter VI
¾cariya Anuruddha will analyze in detail the third ultimate reality, matter (rūpa). He will first
enumerate the kinds of material phenomena; then he will explain the principles by which they are
classified, their causes or means of origination, their organization into groups, and their modes of
occurrence. Finally he will conclude the chapter with a brief look at the fourth ultimate reality, the
unconditioned element, Nibb±na. The Pali word for matter, r³pa, is explained by derivation from
the verb ruppati, which means “to be deformed, disturbed, knocked about, oppressed, broken.”1
The commentators maintain that “matter is so called because it undergoes and imposes alteration
owing to adverse physical conditions such as cold and heat, etc.”2 The Buddha himself, in
explanation of the term “matter” or “material form,” declares: “And why, monks, do you say
material form (r³pa)? It is deformed (ruppati), therefore it is called material form. Deformed by
what? Deformed by cold, by heat, by hunger, by thirst, by flies, mosquitoes, wind, sunburn, and
creeping things” (S.22:79/iii, 86)
The Heart Sutra Explained. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Form. …
Thich Nhat Hanh.
Body. …
Zen Words for the Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on the Heart Sutra. Norman Waddell.
Form.
Sheng Yen
Form.
Red Pine.
Form. …
Tanahashi & Joan Halifax

Form.
Kwan Um School
Form.
Hsuan Tsang.
Form. …
Hsuan Hua.
Form. …
Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Form.
Encyclopedia of Hinduism.
Nāmarūpa: (from nama, name, and rupa, form) is a term used in Hindu philosophy to refer to the
phenomenal world, the world of finiteness and limited nature, as opposed to the transcendent
reality of the BRAHMAN or god. In Hindu thought, reality begins as an unmanifest infinity devoid
of any manifestation or “thing.” As things emerge that acquire a “name” and take a shape or
“form,” the manifest world or namarupa appears. Most Hindu traditions see liberation from birth
and rebirth as a release or escape from the clutches of name and form, or namarupa. The term
namarupa also appears in Buddhism with a quite different meaning, referring to the mindbody
complex.
Further reading: Maryla Falk, Nama-Rupa and DharmaRupa: Origin and Aspects of an Ancient
Indian Conception (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1943); Wilhelm Halbfass, ed., Philology and
Confrontation: Paul Hacker on Traditional and Modern Vedanta (Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1995).
Vedanā* वेदना 受 ཚོར་བ།
And what are feelings? They are experiences, and are of three kinds: pleasure, suffering, and that
which is neither pleasure nor suffering. Pleasure is whatever there arises a desire to be connected
with again, once it has stopped. Suffering is whatever there arises a desire to be separated from,
once it has arisen. That which is neither pleasure nor suffering is whatever towards which neither
desire arises, once it has arisen.

Vedanā: ‘feeling’, sensation, is the 2nd of the 5 groups of existence (s. khandha II). According to its
nature, it may be divided into 5 classes: (1) bodily agreeable feeling (kāyikā sukhā vedanā = sukha);
(2) bodily disagreeable feeling (kāyikā dukkhā vedanā = dukkhā); (3) mentally agreeable feeling
(cetasikā sukhā vedanā = somanassa); (4) mentally disagreeable feeling (cetasikā dukkhā vedanā =
domanassa); (5) indifferent or neutral (adukkha-m-asukhā vedanā = upekkhā, q.v.). With regard to
the 6 senses, one distinguishes 6 kinds of feeling: feeling associated with seeing, hearing, smelling,
tasting, bodily impression and mental impression. The textual wording of it is ‘feeling arisen
through visual contact’ (cakkhu-samphassajā vedanā; S. XXII, 55; D. 22), etc. Feeling is one of the 7
mental factors inseparably associated with all consciousness whatever, s. nāma. In the formula of
the dependent origination (paticcasamuppāda, q.v.), feeling is the condition for the arising of
craving (Taṇhā). The above-mentioned 5 kinds of feeling are enumerated amongst the 22 faculties
(Indriya, q.v.). – See M. 59; Contemplation of Feeling (Vedanā Saüyutta), by Nyanaponika Thera
(Wheel 303/304)
En khandha: II. Feeling Group (vedanā-kkhandha)

All feelings may, according to their nature, be classified as 5 kinds:
Bodily agreeable feeling : sukha = kāyikā sukhā vedanā
Bodily painful feeling : dukkha = kāyikā dukkhā vedanā
Mentally agreeable feeling : somanassa = cetasikā sukhā vedanā
Mentally painful feeling : domanassa = cetasikā dukkhā vedanā
Indifferent feeling : upekkhā = adukkha-m-asukhā vedanā

(T. tshor ba; C. shou; J. ju; K. su 受). In Sanskrit and Pāli, “sensation” or “sensory feeling”; the
physical or mental sensations that accompany all moments of sensory consciousness. Sensations are
always understood as being one of three: pleasurable, painful, or neutral (lit. “neither pleasant nor
unpleasant”). Sensation is listed as one of the ten “mental factors of wide extent”
(MAHĀBHŪMIKA) in the SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA, one of the five “omnipresent”
(SARVATRAGA) “mental constituents” (CAITTA) in the YOGĀCĀRA system, and one of the
seven universal mental factors (lit. mental factors common to all) (sabbacittasādhāraṇa cetasika) in
the Pāli ABHIDHAMMA. It is said universally to accompany all moments of sensory
consciousness. Sensation is also listed as the second of the five aggregates (SKANDHA) and the
seventh constituent in the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA).
The “contemplation of sensations” (S. vedanānupaśyanā, P. vedanānupassanā) is the second of the
four foundations of mindfulness (S. SMṚTYUPASTHĀNA, P. satipaṭṭhâna) and involves being
mindful (see S. SMṚTI, P. sati) of physical and mental sensations that are pleasurable, painful, and
neutral.
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous.

三受: The three states of Vedanā, i. e. sensation, are divided into painful, pleasurable, and
freedom from both 苦, 樂, 捨. When things are opposed to desire, pain arises; when accordant,
there is pleasure and a desire for their continuance; when neither, one is detached or free. 俱舍論
1.
五受: The five vedanas, or sensations; i. e. of sorrow, of joy; of pain, of pleasure; of freedom from
them all; the first two are limited to mental emotions, the two next are of the senses, and the fifth
of both; v. 唯識論
受蘊: vedanā, sensation, one of the five skandhas
Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima:

(Percepción, sensación). Representado por ju, “aceptación, sentimiento”. [MW Anunciar,
proclamar, percepción, conocimiento; dolor, tortura, agonía; sentimiento, sensación. Uno de los 5
Skandhas. Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2.
An Introduction to the Heart Sutra. Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche.

Feeling
In the same way, take feeling into meditation. What is feeling? When the Satipatthana Sutra talks
about the four foundations of mindfulness, it refers to “a butcher sitting in a crossroads.” Having
slaughtered some animal, let’s say, a goat, the butcher sets out all the different parts. “Here’s the
head. Here’s a hind leg. Here are the lungs and other organs. This is the good meat, this is bad
meat.” At which point, a meditator might ask, “But where is the goat?” Other than the coming
together of all its constituent parts, there is no goat.
Now butchers may not be sitting in crossroads these days, but you can still reflect on feelings the
same way. When a feeling arises it seems very real. You may assume it exists independently and
permanently, but in the next fleeting moment other feelings arise. One after another, they are
constantly changing. You can see the impermanent nature of feelings. If you search for an entity
called feeling, you can’t find one. Will you still stubbornly say that feelings exist? You can—and we
do, all the time. But knowing the true nature of feelings, you could choose to let your perspective
mature.
Edward Conze.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: feelings (+sentimientos).

Feeling. …
Thich Nhat Hanh.

Feelings. …
Perception.
Sheng Yen
Sensation.
Red Pine.
Sensation. …

Feelings.
Kwan Um School
Feelings.
Hsuan Tsang.
Feeling. …
Hsuan Hua.
Feeling. …
Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Sensation.
Saṃjñā सं ज्ञा Saññā सञ्ञा 想 འདུ་ཤེས།

And what are cognitions? They are the grasping of signs in a sense-object.6 They are of three kinds
: indefinite, definite, and immeasurable. Guṇaprabha in his Pañcaskandha-vivaraṇa explains
"immeasurable cognitions" as follows: one can have a cognition of immeasurability, of space, of
the ocean, etc
[6A cognition is a particularization of perception, and may accompany any type of consciousness-
moment. Certain "signs" or salient features are taken hold of : thus there may be "the cognition of
the smell of a jasmine flower", "the cognition of the taste of rice", or "the cognition that
everything is impermanent" accompanying instances of smell-consciousness, taste-consciousness,
and mental consciousness, respectively]

Saññā: 1. ‘Perception’, is one of the 5 groups of existence (khandha, q.v.), and one of the 7 mental
factors (cetasika) that are inseparably bound up with all consciousness (s. cetanā). It is six fold as
perception of the 5 physical sense-objects and of mental objects. It is the awareness of an object’s
distinctive marks (“one perceives blue, yellow, etc.,” S. XXII, 79). If, in repeated perception of an
object, these marks are recognized, saññā functions as ‘memory’ (s. Abh. St., p. 68f.).
2. Saññā stands sometimes for consciousness in its entirety, e.g. in n’eva-saññā-n’āsaññāyatana,
‘the realm of neither-perception-nor- non-perception’; further, in asaññā-satta, ‘unconscious
beings’. In both cases reference is not to ‘perception’ alone, but also to all other constituents of
consciousness. Cf. D. 9.
3. Saññā may also refer to the ‘ideas’, which are objects of meditation, e.g. in a group of 7 ideas, of
impermanence (anicca-s.), etc. (A. VII, 46); of 10: impurity (asubha-s.), etc. (A. X, 56), and another
set of 10 in A. X. 60; or to wrong notions, as in nicca-, subha-s. (The notion of permanence,
beauty), etc.
En kkhandha: III. Perception Group (saññā-kkhandha).

All perceptions are divided into 6 classes: perception of form, sound, odour, taste, bodily
impression, and mental impression.
The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism:

(P. saññā; T. ’du shes; C. xiang; J. sō; K. sang 想). In Sanskrit, “perception,” “discrimination,” or
“(conceptual) identification.” The term has both positive and negative connotations. As one of the
five omnipresent factors (SARVATRAGA) among the listings of mental concomitants (CAITTA,
P. CETASIKA) in the VAIBĀṢIKA school of SARVĀSTIVĀDA ABHIDHARMA and in the
YOGĀCĀRA school, saṃjñā might best be translated as “discrimination,” referring to the mental
function of differentiating and identifying objects through the apprehension of their specific
qualities. Saṃjñā perceives objects in such a way that when the object is perceived again it can be
readily recognized and categorized conceptually. In this perceptual context, there are six varieties of
saṃjñā, each derived from one of the six sense faculties. Thus we have perception of visual objects
(rūpasaṃjñā), perception of auditory objects (śabdasaṃjñā), perception of mental objects
(dharmasaṃjñā), and so on. As the third of the five aggregates (SKANDHA), saṃjñā is used in this
sense, particularly as the factor that perceives pleasant or unpleasant sensations as being such,
giving rise to attraction, aversion and other afflictions (KLEŚA) that motivate action (KARMAN).
In the compound “equipoise of nonperception” (ASAṂJÑĀSAMĀPATTI), saṃjñā refers to mental
activities that, when temporarily suppressed, bring respite from tension. Some accounts interpret
this state positively to mean that the perception aggregate itself is no longer functioning, implying a
state of rest with the cessation of all conscious thought. In other accounts, however,
asaṃjñāsamāpatti is characterized as a nihilistic state of mental dormancy, which some non-
Buddhist teachers had mistakenly believed to be the ultimate, permanent quiescence of the mind
and to have become attached to this state as if it were final liberation. In Pāli materials, saññā may
also refer to “concepts” or “perceptions” that may be used as objects of meditation. The Pāli canon
offers several of these meditative objects, such as the perception of impermanence (aniccasaññā, see
S. ANITYA), the perception of danger (ĀDĪNAVA-saññā), the perception of repugnance
(paṭighasaññā, see PRATIGHA), and so on.

僧若: sañjñā; saṃjñā, the third of the fiveskandhas, i.e. 想 thought, ideation, consciousness.
想蘊: sañjñā, one of the fiveskandhas, perception.
Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima.

(Pensamiento). Representado por so , “idea, pensamiento”. [MW] Acuerdo, comprensión mutua,
armonía; conciencia, conocimiento, o comprensión clara o una noción o concepción. Un Skandha.
Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2.

Véase percepciones; El tercero de los 5 agregados, la percepción, representación mental o
sentimiento, se caracteriza como captación o aprehensión de las características concretas de las
cosas. “Reconocer es la característica concreta de la percepción. La naturaleza de la percepción
consiste en reconocer las cosas diversas y en expresar las cosas vistas, oídas, concebidas, y aquellas
de las que uno se acuerda” (Abhidarmasamuccaya).
En función de su soporte, existen 6 clases de percepción; la percepción visual, nacida del contacto
entre el ojo y las formas, percepción auditiva, percepción olfativa: percepción gustativa; percepción
táctil y percepción mental. Por otra parte, cabe distinguir otros seis tipos de percepciones: 1) Las
percepciones con características (Sanimitta, lakṣanamjña), que reúnen todas las percepciones con
excepción de las percepciones de quien ignora el nombre de los objetos percibidos, de las
percepciones del espacio sin característica y de las percepciones ecuánimes de los que se han
elevado a la cima de la existencia. 2) percepciones sin-características (Animitta, Alakṣsanaṃjñā),
las tres excepciones ya citadas. 3) Las percepciones limitadas (parītta, anaudārilikasaṃjñā), que
coinciden al dominio del deseo (kāmadhātu). 4) Las percepciones extensas (vistarasaṃjñā) que
coinciden al dominio de la forma (rūpadhātu). 5) Las percepciones inconmensurables
(pramāṇasaṃjñā), que coinciden al dominio de lo sin-forma (arūpadhātu) y 6) Las percepciones de
la nada (ākiñcanyāyatana).
Perception
Perceptions work the same way. Let’s say you just walked into this teaching situation and instead of
a warm welcome, your host says, “Our group is the best. You folks are ignorant, but since you
managed to get in, you’ll have to become lifetime members here.” If your host started off with that
kind of momentum, you wouldn’t feel very welcome, comfortable, or safe. Would you?
Perceptions are as changeable as that. It just takes one person to change a happy moment to a sad
moment, or a sad moment to a good moment. Perceptions are impermanent by nature, and
absolutely dependent on causes and conditions to come into being.
Edward Conze.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: Perceptions.

Discrimination. …
Thich Nhat Hanh.

Perceptions. …
Conception.
Sheng Yen
Perception.
Red Pine.
Perception.

Perceptions.
Kwan Um School
Perceptions.
Hsuan Tsang.
Conception. …
Hsuan Hua.
Cognition. …
Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Perceptions.
Saṃskāra संस्कार Saṅkhāra सङ् खार 行
འདུ་བེད་
Jorge Arnau.
[El camino medio, glosario] Formaciones kármicas que crea aquel que está sumido en la ignorancia
(avidya) y que le hacen renacer en un determinado entorno (MK 26.1). Predisposición, tendencia
mental, configuración psíquica. Puede significar (1) las actividades, procesos, operaciones mentales
conscientes del individuo, especialmente las voliciones, y (2) los residuos, los efectos diferidos que
dejan esas actividades y que dan lugar a una nueva vida, a una nueva conciencia alrededor de la
cual se organiza un nuevo individuo.

And what are motivational dispositions ? They are events associated with cittas, 7 other than
feelings and cognitions, and those that are disassociated from cittas. Among these, what are the
events associated with cittas ? They are whatever events are associated with cittas. And what are
they ? They are contact, mental attention, feelings, cognitions, volitions, zest, confidence, memory
or mindfulness, meditational concentration, insight, faith, inner shame, dread of blame, the rootof-
the-beneficial of lack of greed, the root-of-the-beneficial of lack of hostility, the root-of-the-
beneficial of lack of confusion, vigor, tranquility, carefulness, equanimity, attitude of nonharming,
attachment, aversion, pride, ignorance, views, doubt, anger, malice, hypocrisy, maliciousness, envy,
selfishness, deceitfulness, guile, mischievous exuberance, desire to harm, lack of shame, lack of
dread of blame, mental fogginess, excitedness, lack of faith, sloth, carelessness, loss of mindfulness,
distractedness, lack of recognition, regret, torpor, initial mental application, and subsequent
discursive thought.

Saṅkhāra: This term has, according to its context, different shades of meaning, which should be
carefully distinguished.
(I) To its most frequent usages (s. foll. 1-4) the general term ‘formation’ may be applied, with the
qualifications required by the context. This term may refer either to the act of ‘forming or to the
passive state of ‘having been formed’ or to both.
1. As the 2nd link of the formula of dependent origination, (paticcasamuppāda, q.v.), saṅkhāra has
the active aspect, ‘forming, and signifies karma (q.v.), i.e. wholesome or unwholesome volitional
activity (cetanā) of body (kāya-s.), speech (vacī-s.) or mind (citta- or mano-s.). This definition
occurs, e.g. at S. XII, 2, 27. For s. in this sense, the word ‘karma formation’ has been coined by the
author. In other passages, in the same context, s. is defined by reference to (a) meritorious karma-
formations (puññ’àbhisankhāra), (b) demeritorious k. (puññ’àbhisankhāra), (c) imperturbable k.
(āneñj’ābhisankhāra), e.g. in S. XII, 51; D. 33. This threefold division covers karmic activity in all
spheres of existence: the meritorious karma-formations extend to the sensuous and the fine-material
sphere, the demeritorious ones only to the sensuous sphere, and the ‘imperturbable’ only to the
immaterial sphere.
2. The aforementioned three terms, kàya-, vacã- and citta-s. are sometimes used in quite a different
sense, namely as (1) bodily function, i.e. in-and-out-breathing (e.g. M. 10), (2) verbal function, i.e.
thought-conception and discursive thinking, (3) mental-function, i.e. feeling and perception (e.g. M.
44). See nirodhasamāpatti.
3. It also denotes the 4th group of existence (saṅkhārakkhandha), and includes all ‘mental
formations’ whether they belong to ‘karmically forming’ consciousness or not. See khandha, Tab.
II. and S. XXII, 56, 79.
4. It occurs further in the sense of anything formed (sankhata, q.v.) and conditioned, and includes
all things whatever in the world, all phenomena of existence. This meaning applies, e.g. to the well-
known passage, “All formations are impermanent… subject to suffering” (sabbe sankhāra aniccā…
dukkhā). In that context, however, s. is subordinate to the still wider and all-embracing term
dhamma (thing); for dhamma includes also the Unformed or Unconditioned Element (asankhata-
dhātu), i.e. Nibbāna (e.g. in sabbe dhammā anattā, “all things are without a self”).
(II) Sankhāra also means sometimes ‘volitional effort’, e.g. in the formula of the roads to power
(iddhipāda, q.v.); in sasankhāra- and asankhāra-parinibbāyã (s. anāgāmī, q.v.); and in the
Abhidhamma terms asankhārika- (q.v.) and sasankhārika-citta, i.e. without effort = spontaneously,
and with effort = prompted. In Western literature, in English as well as in German, saṅkhāra is
sometimes mistranslated by ‘subconscious tendencies’ or similarly (e.g. Prof Beckh: “unterbewußte
Bildekräfte,” i.e. subconscious formative forces). This misinterpretation derives perhaps from a
similar usage in non-Buddhist Sanskrit literature, and is entirely inapplicable to the connotations of
the term in Pāli Buddhism, as listed above under I, 1-4. For instance, within the dependent
origination, s. is neither subconscious nor a mere tendency, but is a fully conscious and active
karmic volition. In the context of the 5 groups of existence (s. above I, 3), a very few of the factors
from the group of mental formations (saṅkhārakkhandha) are also present as concomitants of
subconsciousness (s. Tab. I-III), but are of course not restricted to it, nor are they mere tendencies.
En khandha: IV. Group of Mental Formations (saṅkhāra-kkhandha).

This group comprises 50 mental phenomena, of which 11 are general psychological elements, 25
lofty (sobhana) qualities, 14 karmically unwholesome qualities. Cf. Tab. 11.

In Sanskrit, a polysemous term that is variously translated as “formation,” “volition,” “volitional
action,” “conditioned,” “conditioning factors.” In its more passive usage (see SAṂSKṚTA, P.
saṅkhata), saṃskāra refers to anything that has been formed, conditioned, or brought into being. In
this early denotation, the term is a designation for all things and persons that have been brought into
being dependent on causes and conditions. It is in this sense that the Buddha famously remarked
that “all conditioned things (saṃskāra) are impermanent” (anityāḥ sarvasamskārāḥ), the first of the
four criteria that “seal” a view as being authentically Buddhist (see CATURNIMITTA). In its more
active sense, saṃskāra as latent “formations” left in the mind by actions (KARMAN) refers to that
which forms or conditions other things. In this usage, the term is equivalent in meaning to action. It
is in this sense that saṃskāra serves as the second link in the twelvefold chain of dependent
origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPĀDA). There, saṃskāra refers specifically to volition
(CETANĀ) and as such assumes the karmically active role of perpetuating the rebirth process;
alternatively, in the YOGĀCĀRA school, saṃskāra refers to the seeds (BĪJA) left in the foundation
or storehouse consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA). Saṃskāra is also the name for the fourth of the
five aggregates (SKANDHA), where it includes a miscellany of phenomena that are both formed
and in the process of formation, i.e., the large collection of factors that cannot be conveniently
classified with the other four aggregates of materiality (RŪPA), sensation (VEDANĀ), perception
(SAṂJÑĀ), and consciousness (VIJÑĀNA). This fourth aggregate includes both those conditioning
factors associated with mind (CITTASAṂPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA), such as the mental
concomitants (CAITTA), as well as those conditioning forces dissociated from thought
(CITTAVIPRAYUKTASAṂSKĀRA), such as time, duration, the life faculty, and the equipoise of
cessation (NIRODHASAMĀPATTI).

行犍度: The saṃskāra skandha, the fourth of the fiveskandhas. v. 行蘊.
行蘊: The fourth of the five skandhas, saṁskāra, action which inevitably passes on its effects.
僧塞迦羅: saṃskāra, impressions resulting from action, the fourth skandha.
[行: Go; act; do; perform; action; conduct; functioning; the deed; whatever is done by mind, mouth,
or body, i.e. in thought, word, or deed. It is used for ayana, going, road, course; a march, a division
of time equal to six months; also for saṁskāra, form, operation, perfecting, as one of the twelve
nidānas, similar to karma, action, work, deed, especially moral action, cf. 業]

(Volición, enacción). Representado por gyo , “hacer, actuar, llevar a cabo” [MW] Juntar, formar
bien, hacer perfectamente, realización, adorno, preparación, refinamiento, pulido, erigir; limpieza
del cuerpo; formación de la mente, entrenamiento, educación; corrección, la correcta formación o
uso de la palabra; la facultad de la memoria, impresión mental o recuerdo; (Para los budistas) una
conformación mental o creación de la mente. Sin embargo no siempre se limita a lo mental, pues es
también el segundo eslabón de la cadena de doce veces de la causalidad, y uno de los 5 Skandhas.
Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2 y Sutra del Loto, capitulo 7.

Véase formaciones kármicas o volitivas, factores de composición. El cuarto de los 5 agregados,
cuya naturaleza consiste en construir, en inducir y en formar. Aquí, la palabra clave es “volición”
(cetanā, tib. Sems-pa). La volición es la construcción por medio del espíritu, la actividad mental
cuya función consiste en dirigir el espíritu hacia su objeto, es decir, hacia los dominios de
actividades favorables, desfavorables o neutras. La volición forma parte de los factores
omnipresentes del espíritu; es la base de todo el proceso del karma, siendo un acto por naturaleza.
Se basa en el karma pasado y elabora nuestra condición karmica por venir. Su actividad consiste en
construir nuestra visión condicionada de la existencia a partir de los elementos condicionados del
pasado: “El skandha llamado Saṃskāra se llama así porque condiciona lo condicionado, es decir,
porque crea y determina los 5 skandha de la existencia por venir” (Abhidarmasamuccaya).
Este agregado abarca el conjunto de fenómenos compuestos o condicionados (saṃskṛta) distintos de

los cuatro agregados restantes (forma, sensaciones, percepciones, conciencia). Incluye 6 grupos
esenciales de volición: la volición producida por el contacto por el ojo, y las producidas por el
contacto de la oreja, de la nariz, de la lengua, del cuerpo y de lo mental, las cuales nos empujan
hacia la virtud, la impureza y el discernimiento de estos estados. Engloba 49 de los 51 factores
mentales y fenómenos compuestos que no pertenecen ni al espíritu ni a la materia.
1. Estos 49 factores mentales (caitasika tib. Sems-byung) son concomitantes al espíritu (citta, tib.
Sems, gtso-sems), que los necesita. Comprenden los 5 factores mentales determinantes; 3 de los 5
factores mentales omnipresentes (los otros 2 son la sensación y la percepción o noción, ambos
agregados); los 11 factores virtuosos; las seis pasiones-raíces; las veinte pasiones secundarias; y
laos 4 factores mentales cambiantes.
2. Las formaciones disociadas del espíritu y de la materia, como la noción de la persona, de tiempo,
el nacimiento, en envejecimiento, la duración, los nombres, las palabras, las letras, etcétera.

Formación.
Formation is dependent upon reflexive, reactive responses. It is never independent, but merely a
moving impulse or momentum. Call it an “energy” or a “force,” it is not visible, not locatable,
transitory by nature, and always dependant on causes and conditions that are constantly changing.
Edward Conze.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: impulses (+Impulsos)

Compositional factors. …
Thich Nhat Hanh.

Mental Formations. …
Volition. …
Sheng Yen
Volition.
Red Pine.
Memory.

Inclinations. …
Kwan Um School
Impulses.
Hsuan Tsang.
Volition. …
Hsuan Hua.
Formation. …
Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Impulses.
Vijñāna ववज्ञान Viññāṇa विञ्ञाण 識

རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ
Jorge Arnau.
Conocimiento, conciencia. La actividad y facultad de advertir, notar o percatarse de una percepción,
sensación o pensamiento. Además, la acción y el efecto de conocer o cobrar conciencia de algo;
también el discernimiento, el acto de entender cabalmente, el conocimiento superior, la conciencia
plena o el conocer el propio conocer. En la literatura del Mahayana, además de las acepciones
indicadas, se entiende vijñāna como el órgano mental (sinónimo de citta y manas), el proceso de
apercepción y el depósito de las semillas (bīja) kármicas.

And what is consciousness? It is awareness of an object of-consciousness, visibles, etc. "Citta" and
"manas" are the same as consciousness. They are so designated because of their variety, and
because of their providing a mental basis, respectively. Actually, the store consciousness is also
citta, as it accumulates the seeds for all motivating dispositions. It objects-of-consciousness and
aspects are undiscerned. It joins an assemblage pertaining to an organism into a felt relationship,
and continues as a series of moment-events. Thus, though there is awareness of a sense-object
immediately upon emerging from the attainment of cessation of cognitions and feelings, the
attainment free from cognitions, or a non-meditative state without cognitions, it arises as the
consciousness of the attainments themselves; it is the state of evolvement into another aspect once
there has been perception dependent upon any object-of-consciousness; it is the state of citta's
arising again even after the consciousness-stream has been severed; it is entry into Samsära* and
transmigration in it. This same store-consciousness is the support of all the seeds, the basis and
causality for the body, and the state of continuance in a body. It is also called "the appropriating
consciousness", because it appropriates a body. Used in the sense of a specific entity, manas is an
object-of-consciousness, within the store-consciousness, a consciousness always connected with
confusion of self, the view of a self, pride of self, love of self, etc. It also joins an assemblage
pertaining to an organism into a felt relationship, and continues as a series of moment-events, but
does not exist in a saint, the Noble Path, or at the time of the attainment of cessation.

Viññāṇa: ‘consciousness’, is one of the 5 groups of existence (aggregates; khandha, q.v.); one of the
4 nutriments (āhāra, q.v.); the 3rd link of the dependent origination (paticcasamuppāda, q.v.); the
5th in the six fold division of elements (dhātu, q.v.).
Viewed as one of the 5 groups (khandha), it is inseparably linked with the 3 other mental groups
(feeling, perception and formations) and furnishes the bare cognition of the object, while the other 3
contribute more specific functions. Its ethical and karmic character, and its greater or lesser degree
of intensity and clarity, are chiefly determined by the mental formations associated with it.
Just like the other groups of existence, consciousness is a flux (viññāṇa-sotā, ‘stream of c.’) and
does not constitute an abiding mind-substance; nor is it a transmigrating entity or soul. The 3
characteristics (s. ti-lakkhaṇa), impermanence, suffering and no-self, are frequently applied to it in
the texts (e.g., in the Anattalakkhana Sutta, S.XXII, 59). The Buddha often stressed that “apart from
conditions, there is no arising of consciousness’ (M. 38); and all these statements about its nature
hold good for the entire range of consciousness, be it “past, future or presently arisen, gross or
subtle, in oneself or external, inferior or lofty, far or near” (S. XXII, 59).
According to the 6 senses it divides into 6 kinds, viz. eye- (or visual) consciousness (cakkhu-v.),
etc. About the dependent arising of these 6 kinds of consciousness, Vis.M. XV, 39 says:
‘Conditioned through the eye, the visible object, light and attention, eye-consciousness arises.
Conditioned through the ear, the audible object, the ear-passage and attention, ear consciousness
arises. Conditioned, through the nose, the olfactive object, air and attention, nose-consciousness
arises. Conditioned through the tongue, the gustative object, humidity and attention, tongue
consciousness arises. Conditioned through the body, bodily impression, the earth-element and
attention, body-consciousness arises. Conditioned through the subconscious mind (bhavanga-
mano), the mind-object and attention, mind-consciousness arises.”
The Abhidhamma literature distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness, being either karmically
wholesome, unwholesome or neutral, and belonging either to the sense-sphere, the fine-material or
the immaterial sphere, or to supermundane consciousness. See Table I.
En khandha: V. Consciousness Group (viññāṇa-kkhandha) The Suttas divide consciousness,

according to the senses, into 6 classes: eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-consciousness. The
Abhidhamma and commentaries, however, distinguish, from the karmical or moral viewpoint, 89
classes of consciousness. Cf. viññāṇa and Tab. 1. The moral quality of feeling, perception and
consciousness is determined by the mental formations.
Viññāṇa-kicca: ‘functions of consciousness’, as exercised within a process of consciousness or

cognitive series (cittavīthi). In the Abhidhamma Com. and Vis.M. XIV the following functions are
mentioned: rebirth (paṇisandhi), subconsciousness (bhavanga), advertence (āvajjana), seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting, body-consciousness; receiving (sampaṭicchana), investigating (santīraṇa),
determining (votthapana), impulsion (javana), registering (tadārammaṇa), dying (cuti).
A single unit of sense-perception (e.g. visual consciousness), being conditioned through a
senseorgan and its corresponding object, forms in reality an extremely complex process, in which
all the single phases of consciousness follow one upon another in rapid succession, while
performing their respective functions, e.g.:
“As soon as a visible object has entered the range of vision, it acts on the sensitive eye-organ
(cakkhupasāda), and conditioned thereby an excitation of the subconscious stream (bhavanga-sota)
takes place. “As soon, however, as subconsciousness is broken off, the functional mind-element (s.
Tab. I, 70), grasping the object and breaking through the subconscious stream, performs the
function of ‘adverting’ the mind towards the object (āvajjana). “Immediately thereupon there arises
at the eye-door, and based on the sensitive eye-organ, the eye-consciousness, while performing the
function of ‘seeing’ (dassana)…. Immediately thereafter there arises the mind-element (Tab. I, 39,
55) performing the function of ‘receiving’ (sampañicchana) the object of that consciousness….
‘‘Immediately thereafter there arises… the mind-consciousness-element (Tab. I, 40, 41, 56), while
‘investigating’ (santiraṇa) the object received by the mind-element.… “Immediately thereafter there
arises the functional, rootless mind-consciousness-element (Tab. I, 71), accompanied by
indifference, while performing the function of ‘determining’ (votthapana) the object…. “Now, if
the object is large, then immediately afterwards there flash forth 6 or 7 ‘impulsive moments’
(javana-citta), constituted by one of the 8 wholesome, or 12 unwholesome, or 9 functional classes of
consciousness (Tab. I, 1-8; 22-23; 72-80). ‘‘Now, if at the end of the impulsive moments, the
object at the five-sense doors is very large, and at the mind-door clear, then there arises, once or
twice, one of the 8 root-accompanied, karma-resultant classes of consciousness (Tab. I, 42-49) of
the sense-sphere, or one of the 3 rootless karma-resultant mind-consciousness-elements (Tab. I, 40,
41, 56)…. Because this consciousness after the vanishing of the impulsive moments, possesses the
faculty continuing with the object of the subconsciousness, taking the object of the
subconsciousness as its own object, therefore it is called ‘registering’ (tadārarmmaṇa, lit. ‘that
object’, or ‘having that as object’)” (Vis.M. XIV, 115ff).
If, however, the sense-object is weak, then it reaches merely the stage of ‘impulsion’ (javana), or of
‘determining’ (votthapana); if very weak, only an excitation of the subconsciousness takes place.
The process of the inner or mind-consciousness, i.e. without participation of the 5 physical senses,
is as follows: in the case that the mind-object entering the mind-door is distinct, then it passes
through the stages of ‘advertence at the mind-door’ (manodvārāvajjana), the ‘impulsive stage’ and
the ‘registering stage’, before finally sinking into the subconscious stream. – (App.: citta-vīthi).
Literature: Aids to the Abhidhamma Philosophy, by Dr. C. B. Dharmasena (with colour chart of the
Cognitive Series; Wheel 63/64). – The Psychology and Philosophy of Buddhism, by Dr. W. F.
Javasuriya (Buddhist Missionary Socy., Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).
Viññāṇañcāyatana: ‘sphere of boundless consciousness’, is a name for the 2nd meditative

absorption in the immaterial sphere (s. jhāna, 6).
Viññāṇa-ṭṭhiti: ‘abodes or supports of consciousness’. The texts describe 7 such abodes (e.g. A. VII,
41):
(1) “There are beings who are different in body and different in perception, such as men, some
heavenly beings, and some beings living in states of suffering (s. apāya). This is the 1st abode of
consciousness.
(2) “There are beings who are different in body but equal in perception, such as the first-born gods
of the Brahma-world (s. deva II). This is the 2nd abode of consciousness.
(3) “There are beings who are equal in body but different in perception, such as the Radiant Gods
(ābhassara-deva). This is the 3rd abode of consciousness.
(4) “There are beings who are equal in body and equal in perception, such as the All-illuminating
Gods (subhakiṇha-deva). This is the 4th abode of consciousness.
(5) “There are beings… reborn in the sphere of boundless space. This is the 5th abode of
consciousness.
(6) “There are beings… reborn in the sphere of boundless consciousness. This is the 6th abode of
consciousness.
(7) There are beings… reborn in the sphere of nothingness. This is the 7th abode of consciousness”
About the 3 last-named spheres, s. jhàna (5-7). Cf. sattàvàsa.
In D. 33 there are mentioned 4 viññāṇa-ṭṭhiti, apparently in the sense of ‘bases’ of consciousness,

namely: corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations, which in S. XXII, 53 are further
explained.

VIJÑĀNA: (P. viññāṇa; T. rnam par shes pa; C. shi; J, shiki; K. sik 識). In Sanskrit,
“consciousness”; a term that technically refers to the six types of sensory consciousness
(VIJÑĀNA): eye, or visual, consciousness (CAKṢURVIJÑĀNA); ear, or auditory, consciousness
(ŚROTRAVIJÑĀNA); nose, or olfactory, consciousness (GHRĀṆAVIJÑĀNA); tongue, or
gustatory, consciousness (JIHVĀVIJÑĀNA); body, or tactile, consciousness (KĀYAVIJÑĀNA);
and mental consciousness (MANOVIJÑĀNA). These are the six major sources of awareness of the
phenomena (DHARMA) of our observable universe. Each of these forms of consciousness is
produced in dependence upon three conditions (PRATYAYA): the “objective-support condition”
(ĀLAMBANAPRATYAYA), the “predominant condition” (ADHIPATIPRATYAYA), and the
“immediately preceding condition” (SAMANANTARAPRATYAYA). When used with reference
to the six forms of consciousness, the term vijñāna refers only to CITTA, or general mentality, and
not to the mental concomitants (CAITTA) that accompany mentality. It is also in this sense that
vijñāna constitutes the fifth of the five SKANDHAs, while the mental concomitants are instead
placed in the fourth aggregate of conditioning factors (SAṂSKĀRA). The six forms of
consciousness figure in two important lists in Buddhist epistemology, the twelve sense fields
(ĀYATANA) and the eighteen elements (DHĀTU). With the exception of some strands of the
YOGĀCĀRA school, six and only six forms of vijñāna are accepted. The Yogācāra school of
ASAṄGA posits instead eight forms of vijñāna, adding to the six sensory consciousnesses a seventh
afflicted mentality (KLIṢṬAMANAS), which creates the mistaken conception of a self, and an
eighth foundational or storehouse consciousness (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA).
Ādānavijñāna: (T. len pa’i rnam par shes pa; C. atuona shi/xiangxu shi; J. adanashiki/sōzokushiki;
K. at’ana sik/sangsok sik 阿陀那識/相續識). In Sanskrit, “appropriating consciousness” or
“retributory consciousness”; an alternate name for the ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA, the eighth consciousness
in the YOGĀCĀRA analysis of consciousness, which serves as a repository (ālaya) of the seeds
(BĪJA) of past action (KARMAN) until they can come to fruition (VIPĀKA) in the future. Because
that consciousness thus links the present with the future life, the ālayavijñāna also serves as the
consciousness that “appropriates” a physical body at the moment of rebirth, hence, its name
ādānavijñāna.

七心界: The seven realms of vijñāna, or perception, produced by eye, ear, nose, tongue, body,
mind, to which is added thought, 意根 q.v.
九識: The kinds of cognition or consciousness (vijñāna); those of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch,
mind, mānas (or 阿陁那識 ādāna), i.e. mental perception; 阿賴耶 ālāya, Bodhi-consciousness, and
阿摩羅識 amala, purified or Buddha-consciousness. There is considerable difference as to the
meaning of the last three.
識: Ālaya-vijñāna and mano-vijñāna; i. e. 阿梨耶識 and 分別事識; v. 識.
本識: The fundamental vijñāna, one of the eighteen names of theālaya-vijñāna, the root of all
things.
果熟識: Theālaya-vijñāna, i. e. storehouse or source of consciousness, from which both subject and
object are derived.
阿賴耶識: ālaya-vijñāna. 'The receptacle intellect or consciousness;' 'the orginating or receptacle
intelligence;' 'basic consciousness' (Keith). It is the store or totality of consciousness, both absolute
and relative, impersonal in the whole, temporally personal or individual in its separated parts,
always reproductive. It is described as 有情根本之心識 the fundamental mind consciousness of
conscious beings, which lays hold of all the experiences of the individual life: and which as
storehouse holds the germs 種子 of all affairs; it is at the root of all experience, of the skandhas, and
of all things on which sentient beings depend for existence. Mind is another term for it, as it both
stores and gives rise to all seeds of phenomena and knowledge. It is called 本識 original mind,
because it is the root of all things; 無沒識 inexhaustible mind, because none of its seeds (or
products) is lost; 現識 manifested mind, because all things are revealed in or by it; 種子識 seeds
mind, because from it spring all individualities, or particulars; 所知依識 because it is the basis of
all knowledge; 異熟識 because it produces the rounds of morality, good and evil karma, etc.;
執持識 or 阿陀那 q.v., that which holds together, or is the seed of another rebirh, or phenomena,
the causal nexus; 第一識 the prime or supreme mind or consciousness; 宅識 abode (of)
consciousness; 無垢識 unsullied consciousness when considered in the absolute, i.e. the Tathāgata;
and 第八識, as the last of the eight vijñānas. There has been much discussion as to the meaning and
implications of theālaya-vijñāna. It may also be termed the unconscious, or unconscious absolute,
out of whose ignorance or unconsciousness rises all consciousness.
思量識: (思量能變識) The seventh vijñāna, intellection, reasoning. See also 三能.
毘闍那: vijñāna, 毘若南 'consciousness or intellect', knowledge, perception, understanding, v. 識.
種子識: ālayavijñāna, the abode or seed-store of consciousness from which all phenomena spring,
producing and reproducing momentarily.
種識: The ālayavijñāna.
魂: The mind, the soul, conscious mind, vijñāna; also 魂神.
識: Vijñāna, "the art of distinguishing, or perceiving, or recognizing, discerning, understanding,
comprehending, distinction, intelligence, knowledge, science, learning . . . wisdom." M.W.
Parijñāna, "perception, thorough knowledge," etc. M.W. It is intp. by 心 the mind, mental
discernment, perception, in contrast with the object discerned; also by 了別 understanding and
discrimination. There are classifications of 一識 that all things are the one mind, or are
metaphysical; 二識 q. v. discriminating theālaya-vijñāna or primal undivided condition from the
mano-vijñāna or that of discrimination; 三識 in the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra, fundamental, manifested and
discriminate; 五識 q.v. in the 起信論, i.e. 業, 轉, 現, 知, and 相續識; 六識 the perceptions and
discernings of the six organs of sense; also of 8, 9, 10, and 11 識. The most important is the eight of
the 起信論, i.e. the perceptions of the six organs of sense, eye, ear, nose, tongue, body (or touch),
and mind, together with manas, intp. as 意識 the consciousness of the previous moment, on which
the other six depend; the eighth is theālaya-vijñāna, v. 阿賴耶, in which is contained the seed or
stock of all phenomena and which 無沒 loses none, or nothing, is indestructible; a substitute for the
seventh is ādāna 'receiving' of the 唯識, which is intp. as 無解 undiscriminated, or indefinite
perception; there is a difference of view between the 相 and the 性 schools in regard to the seventh
and eight 識; and the latter school add a ninth called the amala, or pure vijñāna, i.e. the non-
phenomenal 真如識. The esoterics add that all phenomena are mental and all things are the one
mind, hence the one mind is 無量識 unlimited mind or knowledge, every kind of knowledge, or
omniscience. Vijñāna is one of the twelve nidānas.
識界: vijñāna-dhātu, the elements of consciousness, the realm of mind, the sphere of mind, mind as
a distinct realm.
識蘊: Vijñāna-skandha, one of the five aggregates or attribute.

Conciencia. Representado por shiki [MW] El acto de distinguir o discernir, comprensión,
entendimiento, reconocimiento, inteligencia, saber, (para los budistas) conciencia o facultad del
pensamiento. Uno de los 5 Skandhas (agregados), uno de los 6 dhātus (elementos) y uno de los 12
eslabones de la cadena de la causalidad. Ver Shobogenzo capitulo 2 y Sutra del Loto, capitulo 7.

Consciousness
Then we come to consciousness: the boss. This is the one we assume to be “I,” or “me.” But like
any boss, consciousness doesn’t amount to anything on its own. Without form, feeling,
perception, and formation, consciousness would be helpless. To perform any activity at all, to even
be recognized, consciousness depends on many factors and is therefore composite. If you try to
locate it—well as it says so beautifully in the text, not even the Buddha could locate
consciousness. If you would like to prove the Buddha wrong, that contest has been left open for
2500 years.
We call consciousness “mind,” or mind consciousness. It does keep the other four skandhas
together and form the base upon which they function. But beyond the name, there is no
perceivable consciousness to be found. Agreed, it is the basis—but its nature is emptiness.
Edward Conze.
[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: consciousness.

Consciousness. …
Thich Nhat Hanh.

Consciousness. …
Consciousness. …
Sheng Yen
Consciousness.
Red Pine.
Consciousness.

Discernment. …
Kwan Um School
Consciousness.
Hsuan Tsang.
Consciousness. …
Hsuan Hua.
Consciousness. …
Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Consciousness.

Skandhas

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Исходное описание:

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Skandhas

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Skandha स्कन्ध Khandhā खन्ध 蘊

El Sutra de Benarés. Ado Parakranabahu.

El agregado de la forma o materia (rūpakkhanddha) incorpora todos los aspectos físicos de

El agregado de la percepción o del discernimiento (saññākkhandha) se refiere a la interpretación y

El cuarto agregado es el de las formaciones mentales, ya sean kármicas o volitivas

Diccionario Ontologico de Budismo. María Teresa Román:

Cinco Sutras del Mahayana. Tola & Dragonetti:

Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

“When all constituent parts are there,

In S. XXII, 56, there is the following short definition of these 5 groups:

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous

Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima:

Diccionario de la sabiduría oriental: Budismo, Hinduismo, Taoísmo, Zen. Stephan Schuhmacher

El grupo de la corporeidad o materialidad consiste en los cuatro elementos: el sólido, el fluido, el

El carácter doloroso e impermanente de los 5 Skandhas es uno de los temas centrales de la

Seven Works of Vasubandhu. STEFAN ANACKER.

Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

A. Underived (no-upādā): 4 elements

B. Derived (upādā): 24 secondary phenomena

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

Namarupa. Milinda Capitulo 2.6. 2.8

Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima-

Diccionario Akal de Budismo. Cornu

[Traducción del Sutra del corazón]: form (+forma).

Handbook of Abhidhamma Studies. I

PROCESS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND MATTER.

Introduction to Abhidhamma ~ Silananda Brahmachari.

Path ofPurification (Visuddhimagga).Buddhaghoṣa

A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma

The Heart Sutra Explained. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Tanahashi & Joan Halifax

Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

En khandha: II. Feeling Group (vedanā-kkhandha)

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous.

Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima:

An Introduction to the Heart Sutra. Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche.

The Heart Sutra Explained. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Thich Nhat Hanh.

Tanahashi & Joan Halifax

Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Saṃjñā सं ज्ञा Saññā सञ्ञा 想 འདུ་ཤེས།

Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

En kkhandha: III. Perception Group (saññā-kkhandha).

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism:

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous.

Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima.

Diccionario Akal de Budismo. Cornu

The Heart Sutra Explained. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Thich Nhat Hanh.

Tanahashi & Joan Halifax

Dosung Moojin Yoo.

Seven Works of Vasubandhu. STEFAN ANACKER.

Buddhist Dictionary : Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Nyanatiloka Mahathera.

En khandha: IV. Group of Mental Formations (saṅkhāra-kkhandha).

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism:

A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous.

Shobogenzo. Pedro Piquero & Nishijima.

Diccionario Akal de Budismo. Cornu

Este agregado abarca el conjunto de fenómenos compuestos o condicionados (saṃskṛta) distintos de

An Introduction to the Heart Sutra. Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche.