Linked Discourses on the Aggregates

The householder Nakulapitā asks the Buddha for help in coping with old age. The Buddha says to reflect: “Even though I am afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.” Later Sāriputta explains this in terms of the five aggregates.

A number of mendicants are heading for lands west, but the Buddha advises them to speak with Sāriputta before they go. Sāriputta reminds them that in foreign lands they will be scrutinized for their understanding, so they need to be able to answer questions on the teaching. He goes on to explain that the Dhamma is for the removal of desire for the five aggregates.

The householder Hāliddakāni approaches the Venerable Mahākaccāna in the Avanti country and asks how to understand a verse from “The Questions of Māgandiya” of the Aṭṭhakavagga (Snp 4.9). Though the verse appears to be pitched at an ethical level, describing a sage intimate with none in the village, Mahākaccāna explains it in philosophical terms as non-attachment to the aggregates.

The householder Hāliddakāni approaches the Venerable Mahākaccāna in the Avanti country and asks how to understand a passage on liberation from “The Questions of Sakka” (see MN 37 and DN 21). Mahākaccāna explains it in terms of freedom from attachment to the aggregates.

A mendicant should develop immersion (samādhi) in order to truly understand the origin and ending of the five aggregates.

A mendicant should make an effort in seclusion in order to truly understand the origin and ending of the five aggregates.

An ordinary person identifies their self with the five aggregates and suffers anxiety when the aggregates change. But a noble disciple, free of such identification, does not suffer.

An ordinary person identifies their self with the five aggregates and suffers anxiety when the aggregates change. But a noble disciple, free of such identification, does not suffer.

The aggregates are impermanent in the past and future as in the present.

The aggregates are suffering in the past and future as in the present.

The aggregates are not-self in the past and future as in the present.

Because the aggregates are impermanent, a noble disciple becomes disillusioned with them.

Because the aggregates are suffering, a noble disciple becomes disillusioned with them.

Because the aggregates are not-self, a noble disciple becomes disillusioned with them.

One should truly understand the five aggregates as impermanent, etc.

One should truly understand the five aggregates as suffering, etc.

One should truly understand the five aggregates as not-self.

Since the causes of the aggregates are impermanent, how can the aggregates be permanent?

Since the causes of the aggregates are suffering, how can the aggregates be free of suffering?

Since the causes of the aggregates are not-self, how can the aggregates be self?

Ānanda asks the Buddha what exactly is meant when we say that things cease. The Buddha explains it as the cessation of the aggregates.

The aggregates are the burden, a person carries that burden, craving takes up the burden, and letting go puts down the burden.

The aggregates are to be fully understood, and the full understanding is the ending of defilements.

Only by directly knowing the aggregates can one end suffering.

By letting go desire, the aggregates come to an end.

Before his awakening, the Buddha investigated the aggregates in terms of their gratification, drawback, and escape.

When the Buddha fully knew the gratification, drawback, and escape regarding the five aggregates he became awakened.

Beings are attached to the five aggregates due to gratification, repelled due to drawbacks, and find escape because there is an escape.

If you enjoy the aggregates, you enjoy suffering.

The arising of the aggregates is the arising of suffering.

The aggregates are misery, desire for them is the root of misery.

The aggregates are fragile and their passing is not fragile.

Let go of what is not yours: the five aggregates. You wouldn’t be upset if someone took the grass and sticks from the monastery grounds, so why worry over the aggregates?

Let go of what is not yours: the five aggregates.

The Buddha teaches a mendicant who wants to go on retreat that one is reckoned by what one has an underlying tendency for. The mendicant gives a full explanation.

The Buddha teaches a mendicant who wants to go on retreat that one is measured by what one has an underlying tendency for. The mendicant gives a full explanation.

The Buddha speaks to Ānanda on what at AN 3.47 described as the “characteristics of conditioned phenomena”: arising, ceasing, and change while persisting. This was to become a critical aspect of later theories on the nature of change. Ānanda explains in terms of the aggregates.

The Buddha speaks to Ānanda on what at AN 3.47 described as the “characteristics of conditioned phenomena”: arising, ceasing, and change while persisting, as applied to past, future, and present. Ānanda explains in terms of the aggregates.

To practice in line with the teachings a mendicant should meditate on disillusionment with the aggregates.

To practice in line with the teachings a mendicant should meditate on the aggregates as impermanent.

To practice in line with the teachings a mendicant should meditate on the aggregates as suffering.

To practice in line with the teachings a mendicant should meditate on the aggregates as not-self.

Dwell with yourself as an island and refuge, with the Dhamma as an island and refuge. How? By investigating how suffering arises from identification with the aggregates.

Contemplation of the five aggregates as not-self is the path to the end of identity.

Seeing the five aggregates as impermanent, etc., leads to freedom.

Seeing the five aggregates as impermanent, etc., leads to letting go of views and ultimately to freedom.

When you identify anything as self, you always identify one or other of the five aggregates.

The distinction between “five aggregates” and “five grasping aggregates”.

The Buddha teaches a householder named Soṇa not to be conceited about the five aggregates.

The Buddha teaches a householder named Soṇa that any true ascetic understands the five aggregates.

Right view is seeing the aggregates as they are, impermanent, and this leads to freedom.

Focusing properly on the five aggregates you see them as they are and become free.

Consciousness stands dependent on the other four aggregates, and this attachment is what fuels the cycle of rebirth.

Consciousness is like a seed that is planted in the soil of the other four aggregates and watered with craving.

The Buddha utters an enigmatic saying that non-identification leads to cutting off the fetters. A mendicant asks how to achieve this.

The Buddha did not claim to be awakened until he had fully understood each of the five aggregates in the light of each of the four noble truths. This discourse includes definitions of each of the aggregates.

To be fully accomplished, a mendicant should investigate the five aggregates in light of the four noble truths, as well as their gratification, drawback, and escape. In addition, they should investigate the elements, sense fields, and dependent origination.

The Buddha declares that a mendicant is freed by wisdom by non-attachment to the aggregates, in just the same way as he himself. He then explains that the difference between himself and another awakened mendicant is simply that he was the first to discover the path and teach it to others.

In the Deer Park at Varanasi the Buddha teaches the famous second discourse, on not-self with regard to the aggregates, to the group of five monks. At the conclusion, they become perfected ones.

Mahāli the Licchavi reports to the Buddha that the rival teacher Pūraṇa Kassapa asserts that there is no reason for beings to be either defiled or pure. The Buddha denies this, and goes on to explain how it happens.

The five aggregates are burning.

All philosophers must accept that the five aggregates are described in language that refers to either the past, future, or present.

A mendicant comes to the Buddha to ask for instructions before going on retreat. The Buddha teaches them that in clinging to the aggregates one is bound by Māra.

In conceiving regarding the aggregates one is bound by Māra.

In seeking enjoyment in the aggregates one is bound by Māra.

One should let go of desire for what is impermanent, namely the five aggregates.

One should let go of desire for what is suffering, namely the five aggregates.

One should let go of desire for what is not-self, namely the five aggregates.

One should let go of desire for what does not belong to self, namely the five aggregates.

One should let go of desire for what appears tantalizing, namely the five aggregates.

Venerable Rādha asks the Buddha how to see so as to let go of conceit. The Buddha tells him to contemplate the aggregates in terms of not-self.

Venerable Surādha asks the Buddha how to see so as to let go of conceit and be freed. The Buddha tells him to contemplate the aggregates in terms of not-self.

Only a noble disciple truly understand the five aggregates’ gratification, drawback, and escape.

Only a noble disciple truly understand the five aggregates’ origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape.

Only a noble disciple truly understand the five aggregates’ origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape.

One who is freed after truly understanding the aggregates is a perfected one. They are the best of beings, even up to the pinnacle of existence. A set of verses extols the perfected ones.

One who is freed after truly understanding the aggregates is a perfected one. They are the best of beings, even up to the pinnacle of existence.

When a lion emerges from its lair and roars, animals are terrified. Similarly, when the Buddha teaches of the impermanence of the aggregates, even the gods are filled with fear. This is illustrated with a set of verses.

One of the most extensive discourses in this collection begins with the Buddha saying that when anyone recollects a past life, all they are recollecting is the five aggregates. He then gives a distinctive set of definitions of the aggregates in terms of their functions, and discusses them from various aspects.

While staying at Kapilavatthu the Buddha dismissed the the Sangha for misbehaving. Later he decided to support them for the sake of the young mendicants. He reminds them that their livelihood is considered a lowly one, and that one should let go of bad thoughts and wrong views, and see the aggregates as impermanent.

Leaving behind the quarreling monks at Kosambī, the Buddha went to stay in the empty forest at Pārileyyaka. Ānanda brings some mendicants to receive a teaching, and one of them wonders how to see so as to end defilements in this very life. The Buddha teaches the 37 practices that lead to awakening, and then goes on to show that various ways of regarding the aggregates are conditioned phenomena.

On a sabbath day with the Sangha at Sāvatthi, the Buddha answers a series of ten questions on the aggregates.

Ānanda praises Venerable Puṇṇa Mantāniputta, and says that it was when hearing his teaching on the aggregates that he understood the Dhamma.

Venerable Tissa, the Blessed One’s paternal cousin, tells the monks that he is dissatisfied as a monk. When the Buddha hears of this, he calls Tissa to him, and questions him on the aggregates. As Tissa showed his understanding of each question, the Buddha praised him, lifting his spirits.

Venerable Yamaka had the wrong view that one whose defilements have ended is annihilated at death. The monks ask Sāriputta to help, and he asks Yamaka whether a realized one in this very life may be identified as one of the aggregates, or apart from them. Convinced, Yamaka lets go of his view and sees the Dhamma.

Venerable Anurādha is questioned by a number of ascetics, and ends up by saying that a realized one is described in terms other than “still existing after death” and so on. The wanderers say he’s a fool, so he checks with the Buddha, who says that a realized one is not even apprehended in this life, so how can he be described after death?

Venerable Vakkali is ill, and asks the Buddha to visit him. The Buddha does so, but says there is no point in seeing his physical body, as one who sees the Dhamma sees him. Later, Vakkali is taken to the Black Rock on Isigili, where he declares that he has no attachment to the aggregates, and takes his own life. The Buddha says that he had attained final extinguishment.

Venerable Assaji is ill, and asks the Buddha to visit him. The Buddha does so, and learns that Assaji has difficulty maintaining his meditation. The Buddha encourages him to contemplate the impermanence of the aggregates.

Venerable Khemaka is ill, and some senior mendicants ask Dāsaka to convey their concern to him. There follows a series of exchanges mediated by Dāsaka until eventually Khemaka, despite his illness, goes to see the other mendicants himself. The seniors are asking to determine Khemaka’s understanding of the Dhamma, and he says that although he has let go of the five lower fetters, he still has a residual attachment to the five aggregates.

Hearing that the Buddha, while on his deathbed, had announced a special punishment for him, Venerable Channa asks for teachings from the mendicants. Unsatisfied, he seeks out Ānanda, who teaches him the address to Kaccāyana (SN 12.15).

Rāhula asks how to contemplate to let go of conceit. The Buddha urges him to see the aggregates as not-self.

Rāhula asks how to contemplate to let go of conceit and be free. The Buddha urges him to see the aggregates as not-self.

If you grasp at the aggregates as a self, you will meet with calamity, like a man swept down by a mountain river, grasping at grass or rushes.

The Buddha doesn’t dispute with the world; the world disputes with him. He has understood the five aggregates and explains them. Like a lotus, he was born in the swamp, but rises above it.

The Buddha gives a series of similes for the aggregates: physical form is like foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is like a mirage, choices are like a coreless tree, and consciousness is like an illusion.

Nothing in the aggregates has even the tiniest bit of stability or permanence. In a past life, the Buddha was a great king with vast properties, but all those conditions have passed away.

A mendicant asks whether anything in the aggregates has even the tiniest bit of stability or permanence. The Buddha answers using the simile of a little dirt under his fingernail.

A mendicant asks whether anything in the aggregates has even the tiniest bit of stability or permanence.

Transmigration has no knowable beginning; even the oceans, mountains, and this great earth will perish. But like a dog on a leash running around a post, beings remain attached to the aggregates.

A dog leashed to a post will always remain close to that post. In the same way, beings remain close to aggregates in this endless cycle of transmigration. The Buddha refers to a well-known painting called “Conduct”, and says the mind is even more diverse than that; and indeed, the animal realm is the most diverse of them all, and it is produced by the mind.

Contemplating the aggregates leads to liberation, but this may not be immediately apparent. The Buddha illustrates this with similes of a chook sitting on eggs, the wearing away of an axe handle, and the rotting of a ship’s rigging.

The perception of impermanence eliminates lust, ignorance, and conceit. Illustrated with a long series of similes.

The aggregates considered in light of the four noble truths, phrased as “portions” or “sides”.

The aggregates considered in light of the four noble truths in terms of suffering.

The aggregates considered in light of the four noble truths in terms of identity.

The aggregates are to be fully understood, ending the defilements is the full understanding of them, and an arahant is the one who has achieved this.

Only a true ascetic fully understands the five aggregates.

Only a true ascetic fully understands the five aggregates.

One who truly understand these five aggregates is a stream-enterer.

One who truly understand these five aggregates and is freed from them is a perfected one.

Give up desire for the aggregates and they will come to an end.

Give up desire for the aggregates and they will come to an end.

Ignorance is not understanding the aggregates.

Knowledge is understanding the aggregates.

A true Dhamma speaker teaches for letting go of the aggregates.

A true Dhamma speaker teaches for letting go of the aggregates.

An unawakened person is bound both internally and externally to the aggregates and grows old in bondage.

The Buddha questions the mendicants on the aggregates.

The Buddha questions the mendicants on the aggregates.

The aggregates are the things that fetter, the craving is the fetter.

The aggregates are the things that are graspable, the craving is the grasping.

Mahākoṭṭhita asks what an ethical mendicant should focus on, and Sāriputta replies that if they focus on aggregates as impermanent, etc. they may become a stream-enterer. A stream-enterer contemplating in the same way may become a non-returner, a once-returner, and a perfected one.

Mahākoṭṭhita asks what an educated mendicant should focus on, and Sāriputta replies that if they focus on aggregates as impermanent, etc. they may become a stream-enterer. A stream-enterer contemplating in the same way may become a non-returner, a once-returner, and a perfected one.

Venerable Kappa asks the Buddha how to see so as to let go of conceit. The Buddha tells him to contemplate the aggregates in terms of not-self.

Venerable Kappa asks the Buddha how to see so as to let go of conceit and be freed. The Buddha tells him to contemplate the aggregates in terms of not-self.

The Buddha explains to a mendicant that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing, while knowledge is understanding the aggregates.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that knowledge is understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of gratification, drawback, and escape.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that knowledge is understanding the aggregates in terms of gratification, drawback, and escape.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing, gratification, drawback, and escape.

Sāriputta explains to Mahākoṭṭhita that knowledge is understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing, gratification, drawback, and escape.

Mahākoṭṭhita explains to Sāriputta that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of gratification, drawback, and escape, while knowledge is understanding the aggregates.

Mahākoṭṭhita explains to Sāriputta that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of arising and ceasing, gratification, drawback, and escape, while knowledge is understanding the aggregates.

Mahākoṭṭhita explains to Sāriputta that ignorance is not understanding the aggregates in terms of the four noble truths, while knowledge is understanding the aggregates.

The aggregates are like burning chaff.

Give up desire for what is impermanent, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up lust for what is impermanent, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up desire and lust for what is impermanent, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up desire for what is suffering, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up lust for what is suffering, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up desire and lust for what is suffering, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up desire for what is not-self, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up lust for what is not-self, i.e. the aggregates.

Give up desire and lust for what is not-self, i.e. the aggregates.

One gone forth should dwell full of disillusionment for the aggregates.

One gone forth should dwell contemplating impermanence in the aggregates.

One gone forth should dwell contemplating suffering in the aggregates.

One gone forth should dwell contemplating not-self in the aggregates.

Pleasure and pain arise inside oneself due to grasping the aggregates.

The ideas of “me’ and “mine” arise due to grasping the aggregates.

The idea that the self is identical with the cosmos arises due to grasping the aggregates.

Even subtle forms of self identification arise due to grasping the aggregates.

Wrong view arises due to grasping the aggregates.

Identity view arises due to grasping the aggregates.

View of self arises due to grasping the aggregates.

Fetters and shackles arise due to grasping the aggregates.

Fetters and holding arise due to grasping the aggregates.

When Ānanda wants to go on retreat, the Buddha advises him to contemplate the aggregates.