華嚴經內章門等雜孔目章 1.30

1.30

Regarding the five aggregates (yīn), they are also called the five skandhas (yùn), namely: form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness. Question: What is the meaning of "skandha"? Answer: All forms whatsoever—whether past, future, or present, internal or external, coarse or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near—all of them, briefly stated, constitute one form skandha due to the meaning of accumulation, like a heap of wealth and goods. So it is up to the consciousness skandha. One should know that because of being based on the loci of eleven kinds of craving, distinctions such as past and so forth are established with respect to dharmas such as form. The eleven kinds of craving are: craving of longing, craving of hoping, craving of clinging, craving of an internal self, craving of sensory spheres, craving of desire, craving of concentration, craving of evil, craving of suffering, craving of delight in sublime conduct, craving of the distant, and craving of the near. Due to being the cognitive objects of such cravings, the various distinctions such as past and so forth are established in their proper order. Furthermore, there are distinctions: namely, due to the distinction of already arisen and not yet arisen; due to the distinction of grasper and grasped; due to the distinction of outer gate and inner gate; due to the distinction of defiled and undefiled; and due to the distinction of near and far. In accordance with what is appropriate, distinctions such as past and so forth are established with respect to dharmas such as form. "Already arisen" refers to past and present; "not yet arisen" refers to the future. "Outer gate" refers to the indeterminate grounds; "inner gate" refers to the various concentration grounds. The remaining phrases are easy to understand and are not distinguished again. Furthermore, because the characteristic of suffering is vast and great, it is therefore called "skandha", like a great heap of rods, because based on form and so forth, vast and great suffering such as birth is initiated. As the sūtra says: "Thus is the accumulation of this whole great mass of suffering." Furthermore, as for bearing the burden of defilement, this refers to the defiled phenomena such as afflictions, because they depend on form and so forth. Just as in the world a part of the body can bear a burden, and this part is called the shoulder (skandha) or a mass (skandha), form and so forth are also like this: because they can bear the burden of defilement, they are named "skandha". Question: Elaborating the distinctions, what is the meaning of skandha? How are they substantially existent? How many are substantially existent? For what purpose does one contemplate them as substantially existent? The reply states: These other faculties and objects have the meaning of substantial existence; all of them are substantially existent. In order to abandon the clinging to a substantially existent self, one contemplates substantial existence. Why these three questions are established is in order to sever the two kinds of ignorance regarding characteristics and phenomena, as well as the clinging to superimposition; it should be understood in this way. The above-mentioned meaning of skandha: for the śrāvaka it is real; in the initial teaching it is empty; in the final teaching it is tathatā; in the Ekayāna it is the unconditioned dharmadhātu.