Template:PancaKhandha

The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha)
according to the Pali Canon.

form (rūpa)
	4 elements (mahābhūta)

		↓
		contact (phassa)
↓		↑
consciousness (viññāna)

→
←

←

	mental factors (cetasika)
	feeling (vedanā)

	perception (sañña)

	formation (saṅkhāra)

Form is derived from the Four Great Elements.
Consciousness arises from other aggregates.
Mental Factors arise from the Contact of
Consciousness and other aggregates.

Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001) | diagram details

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Template:PancaKhandha simplistically diagrams the relationship between the five aggregates (Pali: pañca khandha):

Form (rūpa)
Feeling (vedanā)
Perception (sañña)
Formation (saṅkhāra)
Consciousness (viññana)

In addition, three other concepts are represented to more fully depict the relationship between the five aggregates:

Four Elements (mahābhūta) - upon which Form is based.
Contact (phassa) - between Form (or Mental Factors) and Consciousness, from which (more) mental factors (feeling, perception, formation) arise.
Mental Factors (cetasika) - a canonical referent for the three mental factors: Feeling, Perception and Formation.^[1]

Usage

This template can be invoked as follows:

{{PancaKhandha}} — transcludes the template as shown here.

{{PancaKhandha|figno=1}} — transcludes the template with the phrase "Figure 1" at the top. Any arabic numeral can be passed as a parameter for "figno".

Manner of representation

English and Pali text

In terms of text used, this diagram uses only English and Pali words since this is for the English-language Wikipedia (WP) and the identified source is from Pali literature. English translations are based on Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), Thanissaro (2001) as well as other contemporary translations.

Use of arrows

In line with Pali canonical sources (see below), this diagram's arrows (from left to right, top to bottom) represent the following:

↓ The left-most green arrow from Form to Consciousness represents how Form (such as a sound) gives rise to Form-specific Consciousness (such as auditory-consciousness).
↓ The right-most lime-green arrow from Form to Contact in tandem with the light-sky-blue arrow (↑) from Consciousness represents how these two aggregates touch to create or touch through Contact.
→ The dark-blue arrow from Contact to Mental Factors represents that Contact gives rise to Feeling, Perception and Formation.
← The orange arrow from Mental Factors to Contact in tandem with the light-sky-blue arrow (↑) from Consciousness represents how these two aggregates touch to create or touch through Contact.
← The red arrow from Mental Factors represents how Mental Factors (such as a Perception) give rise to Consciousness.

An example of a temporally ordered sequence of phenomena could be:

The arising of Form gives rise to Consciousness.
Form and Consciousness make contact. (Put another way, Consciousness accesses Form through Contact.)
Contact gives rise to the Mental Factors (cetasika).
Mental Factors in turn give rise to new Consciousness.
Consciousness and Mental Factors, through Contact, then give rise to further Mental Factors....

Buddhist canonical source

There are many discourses in the Pali Canon that can be mapped to this diagram's flow. For instance, in Majjhima Nikaya sutta #109, the Buddha is reported as having stated:

"Monk, the four great existents (earth, water, fire, & wind)^[2] are the cause, the four great existents the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of form. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of feeling. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of perception. Contact is the cause, contact the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of fabrications.^[3] Name-&-form^[4] is the cause, name-&-form the condition, for the delineation of the aggregate of consciousness." (Thanissaro, 2001)

WP source

Beyond the aforementioned Pali literature, the main Wikipedia article and set of related citations for this template's content is Skandha. Questions about the reliability or accuracy of this template's concepts should be addressed on that article's talk page. Questions about this template's organization should be addressed on this template's talk page.

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Notes

[1]
Mental factors (cetasika) as a term inclusive of feelings, perceptions and formations is found in the Pali Canon's Abhidhamma Pitaka and becomes particularly significant and expanded in post-canonical Pali commentaries.
[2]
What Thanissaro (2001) refers to as the "four great existents" are named "4 elements" in the diagram.
[3]
Note that Thanissaro (2001) uses the word "fabrication" for what is referred to as "formation" in this diagram.
[4]
"Name-&-form" (Pali, namarupa) are represented in the diagram as "form (rupa)" and the dotted-bordered-box "mental factors (cetasika)" which encloses feeling (vedana), perception (sanna) and formation (sankhara).

References

Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary [PED]. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. As of 2007-06-14, a general on-line search engine for the PED is available from the University of Chicago's "Digital Dictionaries of South Asia" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2001). Maha-punnama Sutta: The Great Full-moon Night Discourse. Retrieved on 2007-06-14 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.109.than.doc.

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