On Five Aggregates

0:00 And really lovely to see everybody here tonight. It's such a lovely thing, even though I know some of you are a long way away, to regularly see the same faces and know that we're part of a group coming together to meditate, to explore the Dharma, to look into what it is to be a human being in a challenging world. Report an error in the passage at 0:00

0:29 Last week... We looked a bit at what's commonly called the three characteristics of experience. Anicca, dukkha, anattā, impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, suffering, and not self. Or as I'm becoming more used to thinking of them, thinking of experiences impermanent, imperfect. imperfect, impersonal. Report an error in the passage at 0:29

1:11 And they interact with what I'm going to be talking about tonight. The topic is the five aggregates. The five aggregates of clinging. And the Buddha said, suffering is the five clinging aggregates. So there's a good reason to have a look at it. My focus tonight isn't so much in the intricacies of the doctrine around the five aggregates, but looking at how we can use the five aggregates as a way Report an error in the passage at 1:11

2:07 To strengthen our practice, to strengthen our insight, to see how experience changes and to stand back from experience rather than just have experience act on us so that we are gaining more capacity to know the nuance of what it is that we experience in that first person subjective sense. Report an error in the passage at 2:07

2:41 Already that word aggregates could have turned half of us off. In English, and I know some of you aren't native English speakers, you might think if you're not a native English speaker, you might think, oh, everyone talks about aggregates all the time. Not at all. Aggregate is a very specific word and is generally used by geologists or accountants. Report an error in the passage at 2:41

3:12 But not in common language. Let me just put up a definition of aggregates. Given that I wouldn't have got one. Report an error in the passage at 3:12

3:28 What I need to do is share. Report an error in the passage at 3:28

3:33 So one aspect of the definition of aggregate is something formed by adding together several amounts or things. And it gives you a little example. Snowflakes are loose aggregates of ice crystals. Report an error in the passage at 3:33

3:52 So the idea here is that our experience is made up by several different categories. I actually think of them often as categories of our experience. And Report an error in the passage at 3:52

4:14 looking at those categories can help us to move out of the drama of experience and into a more clear seeing of what is going on. Report an error in the passage at 4:14

4:28 The five aggregates are physical and mental factors, categories that work together and produce our first person subjective experience, our experience of the world in the world. Report an error in the passage at 4:28

4:46 And from that, we create a sense of self. The Buddha really wants us to investigate our experience. And in naming, Report an error in the passage at 4:46

5:13 me find my slide that has them. And I know that for most of you, you know this, this is a review. But at least in my own experience, so much of this, the more Report an error in the passage at 5:13

5:29 That I keep coming back to the same topic, bit by bit by bit, understanding does develop. So the five aggregates of clinging, known as, ah, my spelling is wrong of kundas. There's another H in kundas after the D. Sorry about that. And thank you, Richard, for the pickup on my spelling mistake last week. Report an error in the passage at 5:29

5:55 I put it in there just in case somebody was... To check if you're awake. Anyway, you probably would have got the H missing in the second H in the khandhas. So we've got one aggregate, the first one, which is about our physical world, our material world, body, materiality, called form. And then the other four, feeling, perception, thought fabrications, and that way of describing it comes from Thanissaru Bhikkhu. Report an error in the passage at 5:55

6:28 Other people describe it, translate it differently. So thought fabrications is also known as volitional formations, mental formations. There's a number of ways that number four is translated. I've chosen to use Tanisaru Bikku's translation tonight, but I could just as easily have called it volitional formations or something else. Report an error in the passage at 6:28

6:53 And the fifth one is consciousness. And we'll go through these, hopefully in a way that isn't too theoretical, but helps to see even now as we're speaking, how am I experiencing this moment through this lens? Report an error in the passage at 6:53

7:21 Because that's what it's all about, applying these teachings to ourselves. In as many moments as possible, as often as possible, as sustained as possible. So as I mentioned, the Buddha said suffering is the five clinging aggregates. The problem isn't the aggregates themselves, form, feeling, perception, thought formations, consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 7:21

7:53 It's how we relate to them. It's the clinging. And so... One of the benefits of investigating the aggregates is to see how clinging arises, to see how it comes about. So it is a really good place of practice because we know that clinging is an important aspect Report an error in the passage at 7:53

8:22 of our experience that gets us into all sorts of trouble, creates all sorts of ongoing suffering. suffering. Report an error in the passage at 8:22

8:30 Yeah, so as we investigate the five aggregates or the five categories of our experience, it's also a good place to see the intersection between, we could talk about the five aggregates as the what of our experience, those Report an error in the passage at 8:30

8:55 five aspects, and to see how that interacts with The qualities or the characteristics of our experience that we looked at last week, that experience is impermanent, imperfect, impersonal. So those elements come together quite nicely, seeing the three characteristics and the five candles together. Report an error in the passage at 8:55

9:23 Now, I'm going to talk just a little bit about each of the five aggregates, five categories. And as I suggested beforehand, it can be really useful to be listening and seeing how it applies in this moment as you're sitting here, as you're listening or not listening, engaging in whatever way you are to this process. Report an error in the passage at 9:23

9:57 So the first of the aggregates, form, matter. Report an error in the passage at 9:57

10:07 Material form, physical, both inside the body and outside. So tuning into that element of your experience right now, things that can be sensed, maybe Report an error in the passage at 10:07

10:29 just looking around at the space you're in, at all the materiality of your room or wherever it is that you are, the things. The objects, things Report an error in the passage at 10:29

10:49 that can be sensed. You might have a sense of becoming more embodied as you do that as well. Tuning into your own form, your own body. Report an error in the passage at 10:49

11:11 And the second aggregate, second category of our experience, we're now moving into the elements of the mind. So form is the first one, which is physical. And then the next four, four are all mind elements. So feeling, feeling tones, vedanā. And that's the quality of every experience that is as an aspect of what they call hedonic tone. Report an error in the passage at 11:11

11:46 Is it pleasant? Is it unpleasant? Is it neither pleasant nor unpleasant? Where is it on that spectrum moving from pleasant? to unpleasant neither somewhere in the middle this Report an error in the passage at 11:46

12:05 morning um i got up early and went for a swim and i was at the pool about 6 25. it's still a little bit cool here in perth um so it's all rugged up um well dressed and then you've got to get your clothes off and you're in your bathers and you're standing at the side of the pool you jump into the pool and do your laps Report an error in the passage at 12:05

12:30 And there seemed to be sort of zones of really cold water in the pool, much colder than the rest of the pool. The rest of it was fine, but all of a sudden I'd come into this really cold zone of the pool. And I certainly noticed the vedanā of that experience. It was like, oh, ouch, a bit cold, unpleasant. Report an error in the passage at 12:30

12:59 unpleasant and so So, you know, a little bit of dukkha, a little bit of unsatisfactoriness. Report an error in the passage at 12:59

13:12 The interesting thing was by the end of my swim, now maybe the whole pool had been churned up, I don't know, or maybe the conditions had changed because I'd been in the pool for nearly an hour. I wasn't noticing any cold zones. And so like all of the aspects of our experience. Vedanā, feeling tone, is conditioned. It changes. It's impermanent. And noticing how by the end of the swim was like, oh, yeah, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 13:12

13:49 I didn't even notice it. It was only in hindsight when I was thinking about this talk, actually. It was just like I was thinking about some examples. It was like, oh, I didn't even notice that. Report an error in the passage at 13:49

13:59 So the conditions change and then the Vedanā changes. Report an error in the passage at 13:59

14:07 It helps that seeing that seeing how the conditions change and then change the perception of whether it's pleasant or unpleasant is really useful for seeing that it's not the water per se that is pleasant or unpleasant. It's all of the factors coming together that will give that quality to it. And by the end, certainly wasn't unpleasant. And thinking about that cold water this morning reminded me of a great little story with my nephew, who is now 20. Report an error in the passage at 14:07

14:48 But when he was 10, I had him at the swimming pool and he was having a great time. But he'd been in a long time, he had his skinny little body and he was getting quite cold. I could tell he was getting cold because his face was going blue. His little lips were going blue. Everything's going blue. And I said to him, oh, it's time to get out now. You know, you're getting pretty cold. Report an error in the passage at 14:48

15:14 He said, no, I'm not. I said, you're going blue. He said, I always go blue when I'm happy. He's a very quick thinker. And so you might be happy, but I think it's time to get out. Smarty. Report an error in the passage at 15:14

15:34 Quick thinker. So that's just bringing into our experience, bringing into our awareness vedanā. Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Report an error in the passage at 15:34

15:46 As you sit here now, different aspects of your experience might be pleasant. Different aspects of your experience might be unpleasant. And there'll be a whole heap of our experience that we're just ignoring because it's neutral. And of course, vedanā. We'll condition what comes next. If it's pleasant, we want more of it. If it's unpleasant, we've got an aversive reaction. If it's neutral, just tend to ignore it. Report an error in the passage at 15:46

16:22 The third of the aggregates or categories is perception. And perception is that part of our experience that recognizes stuff, recognizes stuff. Report an error in the passage at 16:22

16:45 It has The activity of labeling, of identifying objects. And one way I like to think of perception is that it turns an indefinite experience into something that is identifiable, recognizable. Report an error in the passage at 16:45

17:07 And I thought I'd do a little experiment tonight using that. So we get to play with. Let me see, I'm just going to change this because I want to be able to see what it looks like here. Report an error in the passage at 17:07

17:23 So I'm going to hold up a number of different objects. I recommend if you don't have me on the full screen, if you've got it in gallery, it's probably best to change it to so I'm on the big picture so that you can see my objects. And as I hold these up, the... Report an error in the passage at 17:23

17:48 Invitation is to pay attention to your mind just as much as you pay attention to what it is that I'm holding up. At what point does your mind recognise what it is that I'm holding up? Notice that moment. It might be immediate or it might take a little while. So I'm going to hold up three objects. Report an error in the passage at 17:48

18:15 This one I'm going to bring in from a far distance away. Okay, so notice what goes on in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:15

18:47 Just to confirm, no animals were harmed in this experiment. It is an exoskeleton that I found. I didn't find a live spider. Oh, just told what it was. And stick a pin in it. So that's the first perception experiment. Here's the second perception experiment. Report an error in the passage at 18:47

19:09 Notice again what happens in your mind as this object comes. Maybe into awareness and you start perceiving it. At Report an error in the passage at 19:09

19:31 what point, if at all, does your mind recognise it and label it? Report an error in the passage at 19:31

19:41 Watch perception at work. Report an error in the passage at 19:41

19:48 Second experiment. Third one. Third and final. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 19:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

20:30 Does anybody feel like just reflecting what you noticed in terms of perception? On any of those three objects. And remember, perception is the labelling, that first recognition, that moment, because we'll talk about some of the other things that can arise. Yes, Steve. And then Sky. Report an error in the passage at 20:30

20:56 Thanks, Kathryn. So being, I think, a little like you, a nature lover, as soon as I could perceive that each one of those were something directly from nature, I felt the joy, the smile on my face, you know, the like, yes, this is something that I really like, that I relate to, that makes me feel good. Report an error in the passage at 20:56

21:25 Sure. So, Steve, you're talking there with a smile, probably also about the vedanā, the feeling tone. Yes. Yes, and that's connected with your experiences. Did you notice at some point that your mindset recognised, oh, that's this? And it had a label. It might not have said that's a blah, blah, blah, but there was a... Yes, yeah, a label. Report an error in the passage at 21:25

21:51 And each time, the label was nature. Oh, okay. Yeah. Like the first one, as you brought it towards the camera, was a mobile phone. And it was like, it was really clearly, Catherine, really? You know, and then when... And the perception or the vision of it, whatever it is, was clear. It was like, oh. Report an error in the passage at 21:51

22:22 great, Steve, because you had an initial perception of a mobile phone, which had a particular feeling tone, unpleasant from the start of things, and also some mental proliferation, some reaction, oh, Catherine, so lovely to have seen all of those, that process, and that's a big part of what we're doing here, watching those chain reactions. Thanks, Steve, most most appreciated. appreciated. I'll send the It was really interesting because I'm a great figure-outer. Report an error in the passage at 22:22

23:02 I love to figure out things. So the first one was coming at me. And when I finally recognized it, I could feel my eyebrows going up and down. And I couldn't figure out why. So I always have to figure out why, but I let it go. And the second one was more interesting because not only did I recognize my eyebrows went again when I first recognized it, and then my face was. Report an error in the passage at 23:02

23:34 engrossed in what kind. And then the third one put a big smile on my face and my eyebrows. And I was like, wow, this girl's a nature lover. You know, so I had like a whole story developing by the third one, you know. And the second one, I got specific because. I think I named it abalone and I wasn't sure because I don't usually know how to label exact things, but I think I have one somewhere. Report an error in the passage at 23:34

24:14 So it was familiar, especially when I saw the holes, you know. It was comforting, actually. It was interesting. Thank you. Interesting. Very interesting to observe that comforting as well. It's like the familiarity with it. Yeah. Each of us brings our history to what we observe, and that history will affect the perception, will affect the vedanā, that history will affect the story that we tell ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 24:14

24:46 Yeah, really interesting to observe. Thanks, Guy. Okay, so that's perception. And, of course, perception doesn't just apply to objects, things we can see, things that we can hear. So anything through the five sense doors or the sixth sense door. So we have a perception of whatever it is that has come up. Report an error in the passage at 24:46

25:11 Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, something going on in the mind, heart, all of that. Is that the intuition? No, perception is that immediate act of recognition, that automatic recognizing of something. And as Steve's example was, you know, we can get it wrong. And we can think it's something and then it turns into something else. Report an error in the passage at 25:11

25:42 You know, and I was thinking about how Steve gave us a great example of how perception can affect the vedanā. So the vedanā was because he thought it was a mobile phone. And I was thinking with this one, you know, what's the vedanā? If you thought it was a tangled piece of hair from a corpse. I know that's a coconut. Well, or a coconut. Report an error in the passage at 25:42

26:11 The vedanā will change depending on our perception and it goes the other way as well. And seeing that in slow motion in the mind, watching it is part of the training that we're involved in. Knowing our experience, opening it up. Report an error in the passage at 26:11

26:30 Seeing the detail, seeing how details connect, how one thing impacts on another. Okay, so we've done form, feeling, perception. Next one, fourth one is what Tanisara Bhikkhu calls thought fabrications, also known as volitional formation, mental construction in Pāli, Sankara. So that is where where Report an error in the passage at 26:30

27:02 What we sort of usually think of as our mind gets involved, the thinking mind, the evaluations, the judgments, the active processes of the mind, reactions, urges, impulses, all of that are coming up in this fourth aggregate, fourth category. And it's there in this fourth category, fourth aggregate. Report an error in the passage at 27:02

27:32 The aggregates turn to clinging aggregates, aggregates of clinging. Because we saw if we perceive something as being unpleasant, we've got that aversive feeling. We don't want it. I don't want anything to do with it. I, Kathryn, don't want anything to do with that. If it's something pleasant, oh yes, I want to have that as part of my experience. Report an error in the passage at 27:32

27:57 I need that. I want that. So it's in this. Category this element that we start turning the aggregates into aggregates of clinging. And I've got a great quote from Tanisaru Bhikkhu about this. Just let me grab it. He Report an error in the passage at 27:57

28:17 writes, if attention focuses on the Khanda's attractive features, beautiful forms, pleasant feelings, et cetera, it can give rise to passion and delight. This passion and delight can take many forms, but the most tenacious is the habitual act of fabricating a sense of me or mine, identifying with a particular khandha or set of khandhas or claiming possession of it. Report an error in the passage at 28:17

28:51 The sense of me and mine is rarely static. It roams like an amoeba, a single-celled organism. Changing its contours as it changes location, sometimes expansive, sometimes contracted. It can view itself as identical with a candor, as possessing a candor, as existing within a candor or having a candor existing within itself. Report an error in the passage at 28:51

29:19 At times it feels finite, at other times infinite. Whatever shape it takes, it's always unstable and insecure. For the candors, providing its food are simply activities and functions, inconstant and insubstantial. As long as we're addicted to passion and delight for these activities, and he's using activity to mean the aggregates, the candors. Report an error in the passage at 29:19

29:42 As long as we're addicted to passion and delight for these activities, as long as we cling to them, we're bound to suffer. Report an error in the passage at 29:42

29:57 And as we go into the meditation tonight, we'll be observing. This fourth candle, we'll be observing all of them at different times. And I thought I'd just also read out Utajaniya, Sayadaw Utajaniya's quote. There's a daily email where you can get Sayadaw Utajaniya's, a quote from him. And the one today seemed quite appropriate to looking at this aspect of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:57

30:29 It's a very short one. He says, If you think you have something very important to think about, stop and ask yourself, is this really important? Why am I so eager to think about it? Report an error in the passage at 30:29

30:45 So he's bringing together, observing this fourth aggregate, fourth candor, and also looking at this sense of self that is part of that. Report an error in the passage at 30:45

31:03 And then the fifth candor is... Consciousness and consciousness is that aspect of our experience that is the knowing aspect that cognizes, that knows what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, that knows what's going on in the mind. It's the knowing quality. Report an error in the passage at 31:03

31:29 Okay, I was going to talk about the similes that the Buddha uses for the... Five aggregates, but I might do that after we've had our meditation. Report an error in the passage at 31:29

31:44 Or maybe not. Maybe it's useful to go into the meditation after that. So I will actually, it will just be another couple of minutes before we go in. Report an error in the passage at 31:44

32:02 Let's have a look at the similes. And these similes that the Buddha gives. for the five aggregates are useful um because Report an error in the passage at 32:02

32:24 it reminds us of their not self nature themselves um so he says form materiality is like a lump of foam and the teaching he gave that this came from he was um staying on the banks of the ganges at the time which i thought was quite interesting where he gives um The first simile is that form is like a lump of foam, empty, hollow, without essence. Feeling, vedanā, is like water bubbles, empty, hollow, without essence. Report an error in the passage at 32:24

33:03 Perception, our labeling, our recognizing of things, is it a mobile phone? Is it a exoskeleton of a spider? Empty, hollow, without essence. Report an error in the passage at 33:03

33:19 Thought fabrications are like a large banana tree. They don't have core wood. Report an error in the passage at 33:19

33:30 It's like sort of layers upon layers upon layers upon layers upon layers. So there's no hard core wood. So thought fabrications, empty, hollow, without essence. And consciousness itself is like a magician, a magician's apprentice at a crossroads. they are just Report an error in the passage at 33:30

33:49 Empty, hollow, without essence, what it does. So just having that sense of how the Buddha described these five categories of our experience might be useful to take into the meditation as well. Report an error in the passage at 33:49

34:07 Okay, so if you feel like standing up and having a little bit of a move before we settle down. My computer's not playing kindly. Report an error in the passage at 34:07

34:27 Oh well. Just Report an error in the passage at 34:27

34:36 feeling my form shake all about, noticing if there's any pleasant, unpleasant, neutral vedanā being generated from it. Report an error in the passage at 34:36

35:13 And attending to this first aggregate, this bodily, physical, material part of our experience, and feeling into its materiality, we Report an error in the passage at 35:13

35:35 might... Tune into how this form is arranged, its posture. How is the body arranged Report an error in the passage at 35:35

35:54 at the moment? It is a really physical element of it. And Report an error in the passage at 35:54

36:04 as we tune into the body, there'll be all sorts of sensations arising in the body. This form generates a lot of sensation. Report an error in the passage at 36:04

36:19 We can feel the effect of gravity on our body, the weight of the body in the chair or on the cushion or lying down, whatever you're doing. Just Report an error in the passage at 36:19

36:36 starting coming into this experience, this moment through the body, if that's what feels good for you tonight. Report an error in the passage at 36:36

36:53 As you turn your attention to your form, what do you become aware of? Report an error in the passage at 36:53

37:27 you might notice that some muscles are tense as you bring your attention into the body and Report an error in the passage at 37:27

37:44 there's always the possibility once we notice that of inviting a little softening as Report an error in the passage at 37:44

· · · silence, 1 minute

38:38 you brought the attention into the body and felt into your posture and tuned into sensation You might have become aware of the second aggregate or the second khanda, vedanā. You might have noticed aspects of the body that feel pleasant, aspects Report an error in the passage at 38:38

39:12 of the body that feel unpleasant, and Report an error in the passage at 39:12

39:24 you probably don't notice the aspects of the body that are neutral. But now I've mentioned it, maybe just seeing if it's possible to tune into, are there any parts of the body that just feel neutral? Report an error in the passage at 39:24

40:02 Not to ignore pleasant feelings or unpleasant feelings, but also to inquire about any neutral, any feelings that are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Sometimes Report an error in the passage at 40:02

40:25 people describe the breath as relatively neutral. How's that for you? Report an error in the passage at 40:25

40:37 If you do choose to tune into the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 40:37

41:04 at this early stage of the meditation, it's quite possible that you're still aware of sounds going past outside where you are or Report an error in the passage at 41:04

41:24 thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 41:24

41:31 Seeing if you can become aware of perceptions. So recognizing things as they come into the field of awareness. Any phenomenon that comes into consciousness, maybe Report an error in the passage at 41:31

41:58 a bodily sensation, is there a recognition of it, a label of it, labelling of it? And Report an error in the passage at 41:58

42:22 we're doing this investigation as best we can without a sense of what we observe as being I, me or mine. So notice if that arises. Ah, my knee, it's always... Report an error in the passage at 42:22

42:41 My knee is always causing me problems. Just notice that identification if it arises. Maybe softening around that, standing back and seeing sensation arise, thought, reaction arise, the process. And Report an error in the passage at 42:41

43:32 noticing also the activity of the mind in terms of mental activity, thoughts. urges reactions judgments maybe you wish I'd stop talking and you'd like silence maybe you'd like more talking whichever way both of those are activities of the mind so noticing how Report an error in the passage at 43:32

44:05 an experience can generate those mental formations well Report an error in the passage at 44:05

44:17 they might just arrive out of the blue that might be the first first aspect of the experience that you notice, thinking about something that happened earlier today, or you have to do later today. Report an error in the passage at 44:17

44:46 Noticing how easy it is to think of those thoughts as mine. Just before Report an error in the passage at 44:46

44:55 we Report an error in the passage at 44:55

45:24 go into silence. Noticing consciousness itself. This can feel a bit odd if you haven't practiced turning awareness on awareness itself. So just having a bit of a play with that possibility. What does consciousness, what does awareness feel like? Report an error in the passage at 45:24

45:59 Can you do that U-turn in the mind? And observe consciousness itself. Just have a play. And Report an error in the passage at 45:59

46:20 we know knowing. And Report an error in the passage at 46:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

47:03 as you observe your experience, whatever it is, maybe keeping in mind also those three characteristics we spoke of last week. Report an error in the passage at 47:03

47:16 Our experience was impermanent, imperfect, impersonal. So Report an error in the passage at 47:16

47:32 we'll have some silence now. Report an error in the passage at 47:32

· · · silence, 13 minutes

1:00:50 For the last couple of minutes, if you feel like it, bringing focus back into the body and the body in the space that you're in. And once again, observing experience through the lens of the five aggregates, form, feeling, perception, what fabrications. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:50

1:01:26 All of which are empty, hollow and without essence. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26