Skandhas, in Sanskrit means “heps”, “agregates”

This is how Buddhism calls the five components of a person: form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.

Their joint action generates the feeling of “me” and the illusion that I’m separated from everything that seems to surround me. This illusion is the root of all conflict and the real impediment to a full life.

MeditaTION

Each “heap” feels itself “something more” than some stones stacked in a fragile balance. It has a reinforced “sense of identity” when he looks itself “different” from the others “heaps” around it.

But beyond the infinite combinations of shapes and colours, they are only stacked stones. Stones that don’t have own identity, since they are nothing more than a “heap” of molecules “stacked” in a fragile balance; molecules that are nothing more than a “heap” of atoms “stacked” in a fragile balance; atoms that are nothing more than a “heap” of particles stacked in a fragile balance; particles that are now there, are now not there, due to the equivalence between matter and energy; an energy that is nothing more than vibrations of emptiness…

So, where is the identity of the “heap” of stones based on?

As long as it’s clinging on to this illusory identity, the “heap” believes that it was “born”; it feels that it’s separated from everything around it; all is foreign to it and therefore a threat; it’s afraid, because it believes that it will “die” when its fragile balance changes…

And you, what do you identify with?