The Nature of Self

Shifu Nagaboshi Tomio

Early Buddhism taught that all within the world is transitory, that it changes and develops continually. Just as the sea may slowly and gradually wash away a huge mountain until it becomes completely unrecognizable, so human beings alter and change. Buddhism teaches that the basis for our mind / body knowledge lies in the tendency of the mind to view its experiences in patterns, and these are called Elements of Mind.

The Sanskrit word used in Buddhism to describe these habitual mental patterns is skandha. It literally means "collections" or "groupings" and is used to describe the various patternings of mental activity that collectively constitute what we loosely term our "Self." The skandha are the first elements of mind we encounter in our pursuit of wisdom. There are five skandha enumerated in the ancient scriptures. They are classified as follows:

(1) Form (rupa)

(2) Feelings (vedana)

(3) Perception (samjna)

(4) Mental Volitions (samskara)

(5) Consciousness (vijnana)

The source of the skandha is our mind / body complex and its activities furnish us with the "fuel" for our existence.

The first skandha (Sanskrit rupa) literally indicates "form" or "appearance." This term mainly refers to the particular patterns of mentality engendered when we come into contact with physical objects. How such inner perceptions arise, continue and perpetuate themselves is included within the understanding of what the term skandha indicates, The Form skandha (rupa) represents the mentality engendered when we observe the outer appearance of things. It is composed of mental responses to the five physical elements.

The Feeling skandha (vedana) represents the responses of mind when coming into contact with life situations which generate characteristics described as being either pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. If a situation is pleasant, we wish to continue or extend it. If it is unpleasant, we wish to be away from it, and if it is neutral neither of these responses occur. By these three responses the mental skandha of feeling is recognized.

The Perception skandha (samjna) represents that aspect of mind which perceives mental and sensorial data, and recognizes or categorizes it into distinctive features - such as colour, shape, position, etc. Its repetitive trail enables it to perform the function of memory.

The Volition skandha (samskara) represents the trail of consciousness which creates and perpetuates various motivations and impulses of consciousness. It covers all continually maintained motivations (such as love). This skandha has a very wide range of applications and often needs to be understood according to its context as it refers to both passive and active creations.

The Consciousness skandha (Vijnana) represents the distinctive collective habit and patternings of those factors of consciousness that perceive and discriminate between fivefold sense data and a purely mental sense. From this sense it creates a fixed locus upon which to base and then project itself.

These five patterns of mental activity make up the totality of the nature of our mind / body experience. Most are present, to a greater or lesser degree, within the others, they exist in a mutually interactive manner, and constitute that which we generally call our mind. In the early Buddhist scriptures very detailed explanations are given for each skandha.

Because the skandha are based upon continually developing phenomena their content and individual patterning changes and adapts to various experiences. Buddhist philosophy concluded that the permanence of Self is an illusory idea that neither reflects reality as it is experienced, or as it ultimately is.

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