Glossary by Glen Wallis in "Basic Teachings of the Buddha":
9.8. "five existential functions subject to grasping".
"The five components of grasping" is the Buddha's hsorthand for
what we commonly refer to as "person, self, identity, soul." The
Buddha says that he looked everywhere in vain for the kind of
stable, integral entity that is implied by such terms. You, too,
can look. But where will you look? In your nose? ears? chest
cavity? stomach? Perhaps yourself can be found in your memories,
thoughts, sense of identity. The more we look, the more absurd
appears the commonly held notion of my being (having?) a self. For
the Buddha, this persistent sense that I have of being a "person"
is the result of erroneously imputing an object where there is
really only process. This process, more over, is
perceptual in nature, having to do, as it does, with human
existence (see "Evidence of Selflessness," sutta 7).
Although this process, like any other, is a seamless flow devoid
of stops, it can, on analysis, be said to have innumerable aspects.
The Buddha calls these aspects khandhas, meaning
"clusters," "clumps," or "aggregates," and found it beneficial to
identify five of them as posessing particular importance. These
five are materiality, feeling, perception, conceptual fabrication,
and cognizance. To get a view on this fivefold process of being, it
might be useful to try an experiment. First of all, read the
following explanation of the five components (A). This will give
you some theoretical grounding in the process to which they point.
Then analyze a perceptual act in terms of the components (B). This
exercise should give you some practical insight into the process.
Finally, consider the Buddha's pithy remarks concerning the
fundamental nature of this process (C).
A. 1. Materiality (rupa) is the "givenness" of
matter, which consists of the four elements: earth (solidity),
water (coherence), fire (energy), and wind (distension). In terms
of the "person," rupa is the body. Note that the Buddha is not
concerned with the origin or end of the material world. The world
just is -- when you open your eyes, there it is. You must deal with
it just as it is, regardless of how it came to be and how it might
cease to be. Hence, the first instance that the Buddha marks out as
a khanda is this primary givenness of the world that
stands before our own material givenness. (In order to counter the
idea that there is a pure, undefiled world out there that is
corrupted by the khanda process, it is important to note
that both the world and our experience of it are marked by
conditionality from the outset of the khandha process.
That is, my eyes are conditioned by numerous factors [genes, diet,
experience, or karma], as is the painting with which they
come into contact [constructed from parts, creative choices of the
artist, intensity of light].)
2. Feeling (vedana) is the qualitative
continuum from the raw, unprocessed sensation that arises when a
sense faculty comes into contact with a sense object to the
emotional response conditioned by that sensation. For example, when
the nose meets a scent, the scent may be experienced in varying
registers of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality; and this
experience triggers memories and emotion. It is important to note
here that sensation concerns the quality of visceral friction and
the feelings conditioned by that friction, and is not a matter of
discriminating judgment or opinion.
3. Perception (sanna) is the processing of the
object of sense as such and such: the sensation on the ear is "a
dog's bark," on the skin is "a raindrop," on the tongue is "a
chocolate cookie." Uniformed materiality (vibrating waves hitting
the ear and so on settles into a specific form. Perception, sanna,
thus connotes a degree of sharpened focus, of something's coming
into view as a particular kind of object.
4. Conceptual Fabrication (sankhara) arises as
the closer discernment concerning the (perceived) qualities of the
object. The important point here is that with this discernment is,
to a great extent, based on personal proclivities, which in turn
are products of conditioning (via family, culture, genes,
experience). This term is often translated as "volition" since it
is understood as an exercise of the will to fashion the perceived
object in a particular way. But really the Sanskrit verbal
formation from which the Pali is derived simply denotes "putting
together, forming, embellishing." In the Buddhist view, these terms
describe precisely what we do whenever we see, hear, smell, taste,
feel, or cognize and object. Namely, we coconstruct the object by
coloring our perceptions with qualities, judgments, and narratives
deriving largely from our side and not from the side of the objects
itself. Because we react to the world as it is fashioned by us
rather than to some world "in itself," sankhara is an
acutely important Buddhist technical term.
5. Cognizance (vinnana) can be understood as
being simultaneously the mirror and the appearance reflected in the
mirror. It is both our objectless awareness, which is standing
always already present, and the awareness of the fully
formed object (formed, of course, via the previous four
khandhas). I think that vinnana functions in both
of these senses within the khandha process. The English
term "cognizance" nicely captures this double meaning given in that
awareness. So to give a specific example in terms of the
khanda process: As a sentient being, I am aware. Sound
waves hit my ears (rupa). These waves are experienced as pleasant
(vedana). The perception forms that the waves are birdsong (sanna).
As if automatically, particular memories, notions, and
interpretations regarding the birdsong proliferate (sankhara). I
discursively think about those memories, respond to those memories,
then think about those responses, and on and on (vinnana). Because
of these intentional acts of thinking, vinnana is sometimes
referred to as "karmic consciousness." That is, such thinking is
itself a conditioned action that gives rise to further mental,
verbal, and bodily activity. Finally, it is important to note that
cognizance is understood by the Buddha as being manifest through a
particular mode of perception -- eye cognizance, ear cognizance --
and not as some kind of pervasive, ghostlike "consciousness." (It
is for this reason that I chose not to render vinnana in its usual
manner as "consciousness").
B. Now, having gained some theoretical understanding of the
khandhas, identify each element in an actual act of each
of the six modes of apprehension (seeing, hearing, tasting, bodily
feeling, smelling, thinking). Here's an example. Observe the
arising of a sound.
1. Note, first of all, the very presence of your ear and of the
physical world. What you are noticing is, of course, the givenness
of materiality (rupa).
2. Simply and directly notice the next sound that arises. Note
the bare sensation (vedana) engendered by the friction form the
interaction of that sound and your ear. Does this contact produce a
sensation that is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral? How does this
sensation condition how you feel mentally, physically,
emotionally?
3. Notice that seemingly simultaneous with contact comes a
particular perception (sanna) concerning the nature of the sound
object. It is a passing car; it is the chirping of a bird; it is
your daughter's voice; it is someone coughing; and so forth.
4. Carefully observe what you did (sankhara) with that
perception. Did you start to weave some sort of story concerning
the sound? Did you color it with names, views, opinions, value
judgments? In short, did you engage, to any degree, in manipulation
and contrivance of the sound? Can you, in this manner, discern to
what extent you played a role in cocreating the sound?
5. Notice the reflective, mirrorlike quality of simply being
aware of sound. (Glass, perhaps, is a more suitable metaphor than a
mirror, since glass is both transparent and reflective.) Notice
that "within" this spacious awareness a particular object of sound
awareness stands fully formed. Can you just be aware of this entire
unfolding? This "just," you may notice, requires simply leaving
"it" alone. ("It" is the raw sound together with your fashioning of
the sound. How could you possibly separate each of these out from
the other? How can you discern where "you" end and "it"
begins?)
C. Finally, what do you make of the Buddha's characterization of
this entire process? Was (is) what he says here clarified in your
own experience?
Form is like a lump of foam;
feeling like a water bubble;
perception is like a mirage;
conceptual fabrication like a plantain tree;*
and cognizance like an illusion.
However one may ponder the self
and carefully investigate it;
it appears hollow and void
when one views it carefully.
(Majjhimanikaya 3.22.95)
An abundance of questions might arise out of this exercise. Many
of these questions are of a potentially revolutionary and
transformative nature because of the real-life consequences they
engender. For example, is it necessary to posit a stable, integral
self, soul, or identity in order to account for your
moment-to-moment experience? What might be the source, role, and
function of the persistent feeling of "I, me, mine" that runs
throughout our experience? Doesn't this exercise in the
khandhas strongly suggest that all we can honestly claim
for moment-to-moment existence is that there is a continual
unfolding of a process, physical and psychological in
nature? If so, what challenges does this view (insight?) have for
the theistic framework for living held dear, I imagine, by so many
readers?