How we respond to the world shapes how we experience life. In reaction to what's going on around us or within us, we often get caught in cycles of craving pleasure or avoiding discomfort.
To break free from these cycles, Buddhism offers the concept of the five skandhas (or aggregates), which explain how our mind constructs reality. The skandhas—form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness—help us understand how we react and how we can shift from habitual responses toward contentment.
Sense Contact and Feeling: The First Two Skandhas
Our experience begins with sense contact (rupa)—the moment we encounter something through our senses. For example, you might walk past a coffee shop and smell the aroma of fresh coffee. These sensory impressions, although neutral in themselves, give rise to the second skandha: feeling (vedana), our immediate emotional response.
Feelings arise in three forms: pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. If you love coffee, the smell might trigger pleasure. If you encounter someone you’ve had a disagreement with, it may trigger discomfort. This process is automatic and fast, often leading directly to craving or aversion before we even realize it.
Perception and Mental Formations: Interpreting Experience
Next, we encounter perception (samjna), the third skandha, which involves how we interpret our feelings. It’s not always straightforward. Imagine you’re enjoying a sunny afternoon, and your friend offers you a bowl of ice cream. You feel pleasure as you anticipate eating it. However, if you had already eaten too much earlier, that same bowl of ice cream might now trigger discomfort instead of pleasure.
This brings us to mental formations (samskara), the fourth skandha, where our habitual responses—craving, aversion, and tendencies—arise. This is where we begin to lean into what we like and try to avoid what we dislike, amplifying our reactions. When we desire something, we fixate on it; when we dislike something, we fixate on avoiding it. The mind amplifies these reactions based on past experiences and desires.
Consciousness and Awareness: The Fifth Skandha
The fifth skandha, consciousness (vijnana), brings the previous aggregates together. Consciousness can be reactive, caught in craving and aversion, or it can be spacious and aware, allowing us to pause and respond with greater skill. By cultivating mindfulness, we can create space between feeling and reaction, choosing how to respond instead of being driven by habit.
The Two Arrows: Avoiding Unnecessary Suffering
In the Sallatha Sutta, the Buddha teaches that life’s unavoidable pains are like being struck by an arrow. However, when we react with frustration or self-pity, we shoot ourselves with a second arrow, creating additional suffering. While we can’t avoid the first arrow, we can learn to avoid the second by bringing awareness to our reactions.
Watch for the Second Arrow
This week, try to notice when unpleasant events happen and observe how your mind reacts. Do you add the second arrow by resisting or dwelling on the situation? Can you pause, breathe, and allow yourself to experience the feeling without amplifying it?
This practice isn't about passively accepting everything, but about breaking automatic reactions to respond more skilfully. By doing so, we tap into inner resources and face challenges with clarity and kindness.