Community Blog
Who Thought That Thought?
The Buddha said “In whatever way [we] conceive, the truth is ever other than that.” Does that shake you up? Remember that more often than not, we’re in a state of delusion. We don’t see things as they truly are, but through the lens of habits acquired over a lifetime. In response to painful reaction, we form views of ourselves and others as a way to steady ourselves through uncontrollable change.
What Experiences Experience?
We have been reflecting on the teaching of not-self, exploring personal experience through the five aggregates—Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations and Consciousness.
Feeling our way to Freedom
In the same way that consciousness and sense impressions are two aspects of one experience, consciousness receives stimulus, from which arises what the Buddha named as the second of the five aggregates—feeling (not emotions, but in the meditative context, the quality or tone of pleasantness, unpleasantness, or neutrality arising in every moment of experience).
Nurture That Seed
Doubt is the fifth hindrance or difficult energy that we encounter in practice and life. We know when it arrives as a hindrance: the mind says, "What am I doing here? Does this mindfulness stuff really work?” “I can’t do this—others are sitting still like Buddhas, not me; maybe belly dancing would be better.” With fear and resistance, the mind flickers, is indecisive. What makes doubt particularly insidious is that it saps our energy—we stop looking and the light seemingly goes out of practice.
A Most Unusual Teaching — The Five Aggregates
Continuing our conversation from last week, the notion of the insubstantiality of what we call self is unique to the Buddha’s teaching. Under investigation, the components of what we call “self” are distinct and constantly changing. It is impossible to point to a solid unchanging entity. It’s not to believe that you don’t exist—rather, to understand the constant flux of existence. It is this possibility of change that we entertain every time we meditate.
What is this thing called “Self?”
Importantly, development of the Wisdom aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path is grounded in seeing the ephemeral nature of what we call “self.” The Enlightenment Factor of Investigation helps us in this endeavor. When we actually investigate the components of self, what we find instead are 5 Aggregates—(“aggregate” is translated from an everyday term in Pali—kandha. The closest literal translation for kandha is “heap” or “bundle)—5 “heaps” or components of being—form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness.