Just to add on to tha above topic on 5 Aggregates
SN 22.36
Bhikkhu Sutta: The Monk
(On Identifying with the Aggregates)
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Translator’s note: Some people have said that the Buddha’s
teachings on the aggregates constitute his analysis of what we
truly are; and that because the aggregates are impermanent and
interdependent, we have an impermanent, interdependent self. This
sutta, however, shows that we can be analyzed into the aggregates
only if we feel obsession or attachment for them. If we don’t feel
these things, there’s no way we can be measured, classified, or
defined.
At Savatthi. Then a certain monk went to the Blessed One and, on
arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was
sitting there, he said to the Blessed One: “It would be good, lord,
if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief such that,
having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone,
secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute.”
“Monk, whatever one stays obsessed with,[1] that’s what one is
measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is
classified. Whatever one doesn’t stay obsessed with, that’s not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not
how one is classified.”
“I understand, O Blessed One! I understand, O One
Well-gone!”
“And how, monk, do you understand the detailed meaning of what I
have said in brief?”
“If one stays obsessed with form, lord, that’s what one is
measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is
classified.
“If one stays obsessed with feeling…
“If one stays obsessed with perception…
“If one stays obsessed with fabrications…
“If one stays obsessed with consciousness, that’s what one is
measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is
classified.[2]
“But if one doesn’t stay obsessed with form, lord, that’s not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not
how one is classified.
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with feeling…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with perception…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with fabrications…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with consciousness, that’s not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not
how one is classified. [3]
“Lord, this is how I understand the detailed meaning of what you
have said in brief.”
“Good, monk. Very good. It’s good that this is how you
understand the detailed meaning of what I have said in brief.
“If one stays obsessed with form, monk, that’s what one is
measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is
classified.
“If one stays obsessed with feeling…
“If one stays obsessed with perception…
“If one stays obsessed with fabrications…
“If one stays obsessed with consciousness, that’s what one is
measured by. Whatever one is measured by, that’s how one is
classified.
“But if one doesn’t stay obsessed with form, monk, that’s not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not
how one is classified.
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with feeling…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with perception…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with fabrications…
“If one doesn’t stay obsessed with consciousness, that’s not
what one is measured by. Whatever one isn’t measured by, that’s not
how one is classified.
“This is how the detailed meaning of what I have said in brief
should be seen.”
Then the monk, delighting in and approving of the Blessed One’s
words, got up from his seat and bowed down to the Blessed One,
circled around him, keeping the Blessed One to his right, and
departed. Then, dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, &
resolute, he in no long time reached & remained in the supreme
goal of the holy life for which clansmen rightly go forth from home
into homelessness, knowing & realizing it for himself in the
here & now. He knew: “Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled,
the task done. There is nothing further for the sake of this
world.” And thus he became another one of the arahants.
Notes
1. The obsessions are: the obsession of sensual passion, the
obsession of resistance, the obsession of views, the obsession of
uncertainty, the obsession of conceit, the obsession of passion for
becoming, and the obsession of ignorance. See AN
7.12.
2. See SN 23.2
3. See MN 72