52. The Five Aggregates
By Luang Pu Thate Desaraṅsī
April 16, 1988
Contemplating the five aggregates as a meditation subject — the five aggregates are our own self, consisting of form and mind. Expanded, they become the four elements, the six sense bases, the thirty-two parts of the body, etc. All the various detailed teachings are nothing but expansions from these five aggregates. The five aggregates are called the gathering place of all phenomena. Contemplating the five aggregates can be samādhi, can be samatha, can be vipassanā — it can do everything. Sīla, samādhi, paññā are all contained within them. When people contemplate suffering as the Four Noble Truths, that too all comes out of these five aggregates.
People everywhere, in every village and town, speak about this. You hear them singing and dancing in the village squares — they speak playfully, but it concerns real things. For example, they say: "The suffering in the five aggregates gathers into the four aggregates. The suffering in this world gathers right here at 'me' alone." Suffering in the five aggregates gathering into the four aggregates means the four physical elements themselves. In this world, every single person is nothing but the five aggregates and the four elements. Being born into this world, suffering is already present in that very self. These five aggregates, coming together as form and mind, experience suffering constantly, from the moment of conception in the mother's womb, becoming a burden and hardship for the mother.
Even at birth, there is suffering. Growing up, there is suffering in stages. Until old age, suffering increases even more. Upon death, there is suffering for others as well. A great burden — the five aggregates are truly a great burden. They are a burden to oneself and a burden to others.
The word "suffering" means that which cannot endure. The five aggregates, the four aggregates, the one aggregate — all are included in the five aggregates. The four aggregates and the one aggregate come from these five aggregates themselves. For those who develop jhāna and samādhi and attain rūpa jhāna and arūpa jhāna, they are included in the four aggregates — meaning after death, they are reborn with only the mental aggregates: feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness. That is called the four aggregates. As for being reborn in the Brahma world with only form, called the one aggregate — that is strange too: having only form without mind. It is understood that there is mind but it does not manifest. Having only one aggregate, called form, where mind does not appear — meaning there is no awareness — that is called having only one aggregate. Both the four aggregates and the one aggregate return to be reborn in the five aggregates again, to experience suffering again — because it cannot endure, therefore it returns to be born as the five aggregates. That inability to endure is called "suffering" — it does not last permanently.
Our body, from the moment of conception, gradually grows and experiences suffering in stages. At birth, suffering. Growing up, suffering all along. Even if we don't recognize it as suffering, it is still suffering. Human beings, once born, never escape suffering even for a moment. That is why the Buddha taught that this world is nothing but suffering. It arises and then ceases. Apart from suffering, there is nothing at all. Truly as he said — this suffering arises and ceases. Look at the example: painful feelings arise in this very body of ours. It's easy to see: sitting for a long time becomes tiring — that is called suffering, so we change posture to standing or walking. Standing long becomes hard, so we experience suffering in standing. When we can't bear it any longer, we sit. We experience suffering in sitting. After sitting long, we change to lying down. When we fall asleep, don't mistake that for happiness — in truth, it is suffering. Even the lying posture is suffering. Even when unconscious, suffering is still there — when sleeping deeply, the body still turns over. That shows it is suffering. That's why it shows the sign of turning back and forth, turning to lie on the back. When it becomes uncomfortable, it lies on the left side, then the right — that is also called suffering.
Think about it: what is there in a human being? From birth, there is suffering because of earning a living, suffering because of work and various occupations, suffering because of discomfort and illness — headaches, stomachaches — there is nothing that is not suffering, not a single thing. Everything that arises is suffering. The Buddha contemplated every aspect, every path — nothing was without suffering. Therefore he said: Natthi santi paraṃ sukha — "There is no happiness greater than peace." That which is the supreme happiness is peace from clinging, peace from the grasping that says "this is me, this is mine." So I say: "The empty thing" — that which is neutral, neutral in relation to all things. Being neutral, not clinging to that neutrality — that is happiness. Happiness from that neutrality.
But the Buddha spoke specifically of the moment when the mind is neutral. When it reverts to clinging, there is suffering again. If it does not cling again, then there is no suffering — yet there is still suffering in the body. The mind, however, is not suffering. Therefore he taught about practice, because happiness comes from only one path: practicing to train oneself not to grasp, not to cling. The body is naturally subject to suffering, as already explained. Even when sleeping without mindfulness, it is still suffering. It is the nature of the five aggregates — once arisen, they must remain as suffering. There is nothing that is not suffering. This suffering arises and then changes. New suffering arises again, then changes. Other suffering arises again, then changes again and again. It cannot endure; it must constantly change.
Therefore, for one who wishes to practice to be free from suffering, there is no other way but to practice with the mind, to let go and relinquish everything, and then abide as "neutral." The Buddha taught in great detail. No one else discovered these phenomena. He searched and found that happiness lies within that very suffering. If there were no suffering, there would be no happiness. They are pairs. Suffering is the counterpart that reveals happiness. Where there is happiness, there must be suffering. Where there is good, there must be evil. Where there is coarse, there must be subtle — phenomena exist in such pairs. In this world, it must be that way.
When one sees happiness and suffering in this way, one lets them go and chooses to be neutral. Then gradually one becomes free from suffering. When there is neither happiness nor suffering, neither coarse nor subtle, and finally no conventional designations, then one is freed from the world. The "five aggregates" are the gathering place of all phenomena.