The Five Skandas of Buddhism and Meditative Clarity

In Buddhism, a model for understanding the evolution of the egoic mind's reactive thinking process is referred to as the five skandhas or "heaps." They are as follows.

1. Form/Ignorance-Birth of "I".

Initially, there is open space/open mind. Then a blackout (trance) occurs, a disruption, causing identification to arise, the shock of birth. We wake up perceiving form, not recognizing that we have created it. We ignore our position as creator. "Ignore-ance" is not stupidity—it is very intelligent, but reactive. The perceiver wants to possess the space, the openness is now perceived through trance as form, as possessable. Since space is really just space, at the root, this whole endeavor is futile (therefore, suffering is unavoidable). There are three aspects of ignorance, which are simultaneous and inseparable. (1) Separateness/birth;

(2) A sense of always so, the idea that this is the real state of affairs (positive hallucination), therefore the perceiver must maintain it. This brings about the birth of a sense of awkwardness.

(3) Self-observing ignorance. The perceiver sees the self as other, thereby beginning a relationship with an external world.

2. Feeling.

As perceivers we wonder about our relationship to form. Space is not bare space; it is full of color and energy. Since we're ignoring the openness of space, these qualities are a tremendous threat to our trance. We are trying to fix, to capture the color and energy of space, to make it solid and manageable. Because such fixation is an illusion, there is a great sense of insecurity about the reality of form. Feeling is a very efficient antidote to that insecurity: it feels real, therefore it is. We ignore evidence to the contrary.

3. Perception/Impulse (P/I).

Perception = receiving information. Impulse = responding to information. This is a rudimentary sorting process of perceived forms. After deciding whether an object is positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (0), the perceiver reacts accordingly. There are only three choices: move toward (desire), move away from (threat/hatred), or remain neutral (stupid/dull).

4. Concept.

The perceiver categorizes the objects of perception as positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (0).

Now the perceiver develops names, rules, and evaluation mechanisms (past/present/future). Perception/Impulse is an automatic reaction to intuitive feeling, but it doesn’t defend well enough our ignorance and insecurity. The intellect is needed to do a good job: it provides the ability to name and categorize. Egoic minding now goes beyond mere reaction and becomes more sophisticated; intellectual speculation arises. The intellect creates 'I' and 'I am' to encompass all the stuff of the first 3 skandas into a solid mass, an apparently solid self. It confirms and interprets the self. It puts the self into logical situations with a natural tendency toward body identification and survival to affirm the perceiver’s existence (i.e., his ignorance).

5. Consciousness.

The intuitive intelligence of the second skandha, the energy of the third, and the intellect of the fourth, combine to produce thoughts and emotions. A hallucinatory quality arises as we project our version of reality on to the world. Skandhas 1-4 develop very simply and predictably. The fifth skandha is wild and irregular. It creates unpredictable thought patterns. These are our normal state.

Concepts mix with impulse energy to create fully developed emotions, which are a mixture of energy and conceptual storyline (vivid trance!). Since the real world doesn't fit our storylines, our stories and energies are constantly thrown into conflict with themselves and worldly events. This engenders confusion. Rambling thought arises, as we attempt to maintain the validity of our trance, even when we're alone. Therefore, we're always alone with ourselves. Reading things into the world, we become completely immersed in our trance.

The power of the hallucination has a life of its own—it is called the Wheel of Life, the Six Realms of Existence. These realms, with their primary emotional character, can be summarized as follows.

1. Heaven/God Realm. Full of (conditional) goodness, beauty, and freedom. Pride predominates.

2. Jealous God Realm. Having tasted or imagined heaven, you must defend it. (The quivers of fear begin, the intimations of insubstantiality). Jealousy and envy arise.

3. Human Realm. Jealousy makes things get heavier, earthbound. Instead of alternating between jealousy and pride (too intense), there is a more solid, homey feeling. Regular, ordinary, mundane life which satisfies mundane desires. Desire predominates.

4. Animal Realm. Pursuing desire makes you get duller, heavier, more stupid, lazier. You just crawl around and moo or bark, rather than making the effort to enjoy the pleasure of pride or envy. Ignorance predominates.

5. Hungry Ghost Realm. The heaviness gets oppressive, you remember the God Realm and want to get back, but you don’t know how. This generates great hunger and thirst—unquenchable/claustrophobic—and it builds. Greed predominates.

6. Hell Realm. Continuing frustration results in loss of faith, great doubt, hopelessness, and violent reaction arise. You experience hatred for this nightmare and for yourself. Hatred predominates.

(My eternal gratitude to my teacher, Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, for presenting this material in a vivid, loving, and humorous way.)

©Copyright Jack Elias, 2006, All Rights Reserved. Excerpt from Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP by Jack Elias. Contact jack@FindingTrueMagic.com , www.FindingTrueMagic.com

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