![a hand reaching out to grasp something a hand reaching out to grasp something](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F532b1fb5-8737-40ba-b580-b8d80fe06ecd_800x1200.jpeg)
The five clinging aggregates are a Buddhist model that describe what we cling to and what is behind the clinging. Sometimes, they are symbolised as a grasping hand.
I will attempt to describe them in brief to keep the article short, but there’s much more to this teaching than I will write here. The rest is up to the reader to explore through their own investigation.
The Body
This is our physical form and the energies it contains. This is perhaps the most problematic thing we identify with. You see it in the world. People get obsessed with their body and how they look. Attachment to the body can be a cause of much suffering. The body changes, it ages, it gets sick, it dies. Beauty fades, strength fades, intelligence fades.
The body is dependently originated. It grew from a sperm and an egg, continues to grow by itself throughout our lives, and it will grow old and eventually die. All this is outside our control. The body comes from nature, we did not make it. It comes from the elements, and will eventually dissolve back into the impersonal elements it is composed of. It is not self. The body is something other, full of trillions of beings that call it their home — a mass of interdependence.
Feelings
These are the mental tones of pleasant, neutral, or painful that accompany a sensation or thought. Feelings are dependent on the six senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mind.
We crave for more pleasant feelings and less of the unpleasant ones. We can identify with feelings and take them personally, but they are always changing. They are not who we are. They are caused by sense contact. We are not the things we see, hear, taste, smell, touch, or think about.
Perceptions
These are to do with memory. We perceive objects such as a plate or the ground because we have learnt to do this. When we were babies, we didn’t know what a plate was or even that we had a name. Perception is something we learn that helps us to make sense of the world around us so we can function in it. It is what tells us we are in a room and that the way out is through the door. Without perception, we wouldn’t be able to interact with the world.
We also have perceptions such as being a nationality, of the job role we may have, and of things being beautiful or ugly.
Perceptions are learnt and come from memory. They are not who we are. Perceptions are useful, but they also cause us suffering when we get attached to them. They keep us locked in a certain way of looking at things. They create the realm of name and form. Of duality. Of self and other.
Intention (will/choices)
This is the volitional part of the mind. The part that makes decisions. There is an ethical element to this. In that what we choose to do has consequences for us and others. So, our choices are strongly influenced by our views. But where do our views come from?
Our choices are dependent on the other four aggregates and influenced by them. For example, we can’t make choices without perception and consciousness. All five aggregates are interwoven and depend on one another.
We can identify with our choices, with being in control. But how much control do we really have?
For example, there are times when the body will override our will. If you choose to hold your breath, the body will only allow you to do this for so long before it intervenes and makes you breathe again. It is the same with sleep. You may choose to stay awake while driving, but the body, if it is really tired, can override your will and make you fall asleep at the wheel. The reverse is also true, there can be times when we have insomnia. We choose to go to sleep but the body won’t play ball.
The way we feel also influences our choices. We tend to choose things if they feel pleasant and avoid choosing things that feel unpleasant.
When the body is hungry, it feels unpleasant, which influences our choice to look for something to eat.
We only have so much control.
Sometimes, our choices aren’t our choices at all. They come from the world around us. They are programmed into us by our culture and society. We think it is us doing the choosing, but there are subtle ways the world influences our decisions.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what the right thing to choose is, but we have to make a choice even when we are unsure what to do, and this can create anxiety and tension in us. When you enter deep states of meditation and completely let go. There is a profound relief when one relinquishes control. You realise how much suffering it causes.
Consciousness
This is the awareness that holds it all together. It is symbolised by the thumb on the grasping hand (the other four aggregates are the fingers).
We cannot know we have a body, feel, perceive, or make choices without awareness. Consciousness is the information hub that the other aggregates depend on to know what is happening in the mind. Consciousness dependently co-arises out of necessity and changes based on what is happening in the other four aggregates.
This can be the hardest aggregate of all to stop identifying with.
I remembered how pleasant it was when I was put under anaesthetic. It feels good when we sleep, and awareness switches off for a time. It often feels painful to have to wake up and be conscious again.
If consciousness can be switched off and back on again, it means it is dependent on causes and conditions. It was my memory of being under anaesthetic that helped me to see how consciousness is suffering and that it, too, is dependently originated, and not self.
When looking at the aggregates, it is helpful to take your time. Don’t rush. It is easy to just say: ‘Not me, not mine, not self.’ Without really understanding what this means. This is a lazy way to do it and can lead to an unhealthy feeling of depersonalisation and indifference — which can become mental illness.
It can be helpful to begin by looking at the self, what is the self? What is our identity? Why is it so important to us?
Why do we cling to the idea of having a soul? Where does this come from? Why does it matter?
When something triggers us and we take it personally, instead of getting stressed, we can see it as an opportunity to look at this construct of the self and how it causes us suffering. Why did we get triggered? What are we attached to? What is behind the clinging?
We explore the five aggregates both internally and externally (in ourselves and others). Investigate how they are dependently originated and change. How they are empty of essence. They are just a causal flow. There is nothing there. Nobody home. No solid self. No soul.
This is not done to break a person but to liberate them. When our psychic energy is no longer confined by identity, it becomes limitless, boundless, free. The five clinging aggregates are like a prison.
To see that things are not-self can be a disturbing experience. It should be explored with a serene mind. It is an advanced teaching in Buddhism. It isn’t something the Buddha taught to beginners. He waited until they were ready to hear this teaching. He would build them up to it gradually.
The teaching on not-self (anatta) is a tool to help us stop clinging. When it has done its job, we can put it down and let go of it. It is there to help cool the fires of craving. To help us let go and realise the end of suffering.
Something interesting to note is that enlightened beings do not lose their personality. Even though they don’t cling to it, they still need a healthy sense of self to function in the world. These teachings are not about the annihilation of the self.
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