Skandhas

Offerings at the Vulture Peak Buddhist Shrine, Grdhrakuta in Rajgir, where the Buddha inspired Avalokiteshvara to give the Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutram, the Heart Sutra, requested by Sariputra | Photo by Wonderlane

Skandhas

Buddhist belief posits five skandhas, or aggregates of attachment said to be the source of all suffering.

1. matter or form (rupa)
2. sensation (vedana)
3. perception (samjna)
4. mental formations (samskara)
5. consciousness (vijnana)

Taken together, the five skandhas form the impermanent personality and the illusion – so it is believed – of individuality.

Impermanent and subject to change, skandhas may discontinuously reappear from one life to another.

Whether or not one agrees with every aspect of Buddhist teaching, the skandas present a conceptual alternative that may be applied toward a contemporary critique of the Hindu view of reincarnation (See, for instance, Reincarnation: A New Look at an Old Idea – Part 3).

Although the two religions of Buddhism and Hinduism may seem similar at a glance, Buddhism clearly differs from the Visistadvaita school of Hinduism in that the soul, too, and not just its attachments, is usually seen as illusory in the ultimate sense.

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