The Buddha's Teaching

DN 22

"Why does one say 'form'? It is deformed (ruppati), that is why it is called 'form' (rupa). Deformed by what? By cold and heat and hunger and thirst, by contact with gadflies, gnats, wind, sunburn and creeping things."

SN 22:79

"What is form? The four great entities and any form derived upon them by clinging are called form."

SN 22:56

"Whatever in oneself, belonging to oneself, is solid, solidified, and clung to (organic), such as head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin; flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys; heart, liver, midriff, spleen, lights; bowels, entrails, gorge, dung, or whatever else in oneself, belonging to oneself, is solid, solidified, and clung to: that is called earth element[2] in oneself. Now earth element in oneself and external earth element are only earth element.

"Whatever in oneself ... is water, watery, and clung to, such as bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat; tears, grease, spittle, snot, oil of the joints, urine, or whatever else in oneself ... is water, watery, and clung to: that is called water element in oneself. Now water element in oneself and external water element are only water element.

"Whatever in oneself ... is fire, fiery, and clung to, such as that whereby one is warmed, ages, and is consumed, and whereby what is eaten, drunk, chewed and tasted gets digested and assimilated, or whatever else in oneself... is fire, fiery, and clung to: that is called fire element in oneself. Now fire element in oneself and external fire element are only fire element.

"Whatever in oneself ... is air, airy, and clung to, such as upgoing winds (forces), down-going winds (forces), winds (forces) in the belly and in the bowels, winds (forces) that pervade all the limbs, in-breath and out-breath, or whatever else in oneself ... is air, airy, and clung to: that is called air element in oneself. Now air element in oneself and external air element are only air element.

"Also whatever in oneself ... is space, spatial, and clung to, such as ear-hole, nose-hole, mouth-door, and that (aperture) whereby what is eaten, drunk, chewed, and tasted is swallowed, and that wherein it is contained, and that whereby it passes out below, or whatever else in oneself ... is space, spatial, and clung to: that is called space element. Now space element in oneself and external space element are only space element ... And space element has nowhere any standing of its own."

MN 62

"Any form whatever, whether past, future, or present, in oneself or external, coarse or fine, inferior or superior, far or near, that is affected by taints and provocative of clinging: that is called the form aggregate affected by clinging."

SN 22:48

"Why does one say 'feeling'? It is felt, that is why it is called feeling. Felt as what? Felt as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pain-nor-pleasure."

SN 22:79; cf. MN 43

"Whatever is felt bodily or mentally as pleasant and gratifying is pleasant feeling. Whatever is felt bodily or mentally as painful and hurting is painful feeling. Whatever is felt bodily or mentally as neither gratifying nor hurting is neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.... Pleasant feeling is pleasant in virtue of presence and painful in virtue of change. Painful feeling is painful in virtue of presence and pleasant in virtue of change. Neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling is pleasant in virtue of knowledge and painful in virtue of want of knowledge."

MN 44

"There are these six bodies of (such) feeling: feeling born of eye-contact, of ear-contact, of nose-contact, of tongue-contact, of body-contact, and of mind-contact."

SN 22:56

"Any feeling whatever... that is affected by taints and provocative of clinging: that is called the feeling aggregate affected by clinging."

SN 22:48

"Why does one say 'perception'? It perceives, that is why it is called perception. Perceives what? It perceives, for example, blue and yellow and red and white."

SN 22:79

"There are these six bodies of perception: perception of (visible) forms, of sounds, of odours, of flavours, of tangibles, and of ideas."

SN 22:56

"Any perception whatever... that is affected by taints and provocative of clinging: that is called the perception aggregate affected by clinging."

SN 22:48

"Why does one say 'formations'? They form the formed, that is why they are called formations. What is the formed that they form? (Material) form as the state (essence) of form is the formed (compounded) that they form (compound); feeling as the state of feeling is the formed that they form; perception as the state of perception is the formed that they form; formations as the state of formations is the formed that they form; consciousness as the state of consciousness is the formed that they form."[3]

SN 22:79

"Three kinds of formations: formation of merit (as action which ripens in pleasure), formation of demerit (as action which ripens in pain), and formation of imperturbability (as action, namely, meditation, which ripens in the formless state, which for as long as they last are unperturbed by perception of form, resistance, or difference)."

DN 33

"Three formations: in-breaths and out-breaths belong to a body, these are things bound up with a body, that is why they are a bodily formation. Having previously thought and explored, one breaks into speech, that is why thinking and exploring are a verbal formation. Perception and feeling belong to consciousness, these are things bound up with consciousness, that is why they are a mental formation."

MN 44; cf. MN 9

"What are formations? There are six bodies of choice[4]: choice among visible forms, sounds, odours, flavours, tangibles, and mental objects."

SN 22:56

"Choice I call action."

AN 6:63

"Any formations whatever ... that are affected by taints and provocative of clinging: these are called the formations aggregate affected by clinging."

SN 22:48

"Why does one say 'consciousness'? It cognizes, that is why it is called consciousness. Cognizes what? It cognizes, for example, the sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, alkaline, unalkaline, salty, and unsalty."

SN 22:79

"What does that consciousness cognize? It cognizes, for example, that there is pleasure, that there is pain, that there is neither-pain-nor-pleasure."

MN 43, 140

"There are these six bodies of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and mind-consciousness."

SN 22:56

"Consciousness is called after the conditions due to which it arises. When consciousness arises due to eye and forms, it is called eye-consciousness; due to ear and sounds, ear-consciousness; ... due to mind and ideas, mind-consciousness."

MN 38

"Feeling, perception and consciousness are conjoined, not disjoined, and it is impossible to separate each from each in order to describe their different potentialities; for what one feels, that one perceives, and what one perceives, that one cognizes. By bare mind-consciousness disjoined from the five sense-faculties the (external) base consisting of infiniteness of space can be known thus 'infinite space'; the (external) base consisting of infiniteness of consciousness can be known thus 'infinite consciousness'; and the (external) base consisting of nothingness can be known thus 'there is nothing at all.' A knowable idea is understood by the eye of understanding."

MN 43

"Consciousness depends for its being upon a duality (the duality of the in-oneself and the external bases for contact)."

SN 35:93

"Any consciousness whatever, whether past, future or present, in oneself or external, coarse or fine, inferior or superior, far or near, that is affected by taints and provocative of clinging: that is called the consciousness aggregate affected by clinging."

SN 22:48

"These five aggregates affected by clinging have desire for their root ... The four great entities (of earth, water, fire, and air) are the cause and condition for describing the form aggregate. Contact is the cause and condition for describing the aggregates of feeling, perception, and formations. Name-and-form is the cause and condition for describing the consciousness aggregate."

MN 109

"Whatever monks or brahmans recollect their past life in its various modes, they all recollect the five aggregates affected by clinging or one or another of them."

SN 22:79