Grammatical Analysis
Khandha: [m.] aggregate; heap; mass; bundle; category. Doctrinally implies a collection or grouping of individual components under a single classification.
Orthodox Definition
The Khandhas are the five distinct aggregates or components that constitute the entirety of what conventional reality calls a “person,” “individual,” or “self.” The Buddha used this fivefold analysis to dismantle the deep-seated illusion of identity view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi) by demonstrating that a human being is merely a dynamic bundle of changing processes.
The five aggregates are:
- Rūpakkhandha (Materiality/Form): The physical body and all material phenomena, composed of the four great elements and derived matter.
- Vedanākkhandha (Feeling): The affective experience of sensory inputs (pleasant, painful, neutral).
- Saññākkhandha (Perception): The faculty of recognizing, labeling, and identifying objects based on past memory.
- Saṅkhārakkhandha (Mental Formations): The complex of volitional activities, choices, and emotional states (cetasika) driving action.
- Viññāṇakkhandha (Consciousness): The bare awareness or cognizing of an object through the six sensory doors.
When grabbed onto via craving and wrong views, they are specifically termed the Upādānakkhandha (the Aggregates of Clinging), which form the absolute definition of dukkha.
Textual References
- Sutta: Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (SN 22.59) – Systematically walking through each of the five aggregates to demonstrate their non-self nature.
- Canonical: Samyutta Nikaya (Khandha Vagga) – An entire major section of texts dedicated to analyzing these components.
- Commentary: Visuddhimagga (Chapter XIV) – Encyclopedic textual mapping of the internal sub-components of each aggregate.