Five Aggregates

The Five Aggregates There’s one more topic that is relevant to our discussion of “me” and the role of “me” in all of this. “Me,” like age and speed and these sorts of things, is a nonstatic imputation phenomenon that is neither a form of physical phenomenon nor a way of being...

Review The five aggregates are groupings with which we can classify the various aspects of our experience to help us better understand what is happening in each moment. After all, the focus of Buddhist study and practice is our own experience and how we experience life. The...

The Components of the Aggregate of Other Affecting Variables The fourth aggregate, the aggregate of other affecting variables, is the largest collection of items. “Variable” means that it changes, and “affecting” means that it affects our experience. This grouping contains all...

Brief Review Of the six far-reaching attitudes, generosity and so forth, we began discussing the sixth one, the far-reaching attitude of discriminating awareness. Prior to that were the verses concerning a combined state of a stilled and settled mind and an exceptionally...

The Prasangika refutation of the so-called “false self” provides the subtlest, most sophisticated deconstruction of this misconceived version of how we and others exist. In order to understand fully the Prasangika view, we need to go step by step through the grosser...

The understanding of voidness does not negate the existence of the conventional “me.” We do exist, but not in the manner of a false “me.” As something imputed on a body and mind, yet unfindable inside them, our conventional “me” is like an illusion.

Blame for our karma is based on the misconceptions involved with grasping for a self-established “me,” whereas taking responsibility for our karma is based on correct understanding of voidness and dependent arising.

The five aggregates perpetuate suffering and unsatisfactory happiness, yet the state of mind that will get rid of the source of our suffering is within the five aggregates.

A presentation of the Karma Kagyu explanation of how the mind works according to sutra.

The term “four hallmarks” means the four characteristics or features that define an outlook on life with a Buddhist view, based on what Buddha taught.