Skandha: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A Skandha (Sanskrit; Pā li: Khandha; literally: "heap") is one of the five constituents or "aggregates" into which an individual is analyzed according to Buddhist phenomenology. The five skandhas are:

• rū

pa, "form": the material body.

• vedanā

, "sensation" or "feeling": the experience of receiving raw information, including pleasure and pain, through the sense organs and the brain.

• saṃ

jñ ā, "perception" or "cognition": the forming of sensations into elemental patterns and concepts.

• saṃ

skā ra, "mental formations" or "volition": all types of mental habits, complex ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions. Saṃ skāras is the source of karma.

• vijñ

āna, "consciousness" or "knowledge": dualistic awareness, which separates the world into self and other.

It should be noted that Buddhism describes only one physical skandha and four mental skandhas, which emphasises the importance of the mind.