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五蘊

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: five aggregates

Senses:

  • Also translated into Chinese as 五陰 and 五衆. Skandha 蘊 means 'accumulation.' The collection of the five compositional elements of our existence. The five skandhas are a classification of matter and mind into five categories, which are form, feeling, perception, impulse and consciousness.
    1. 'Form'  色蘊 (rūpa) is matter in general, the body or materiality.
    2. 'Feeling' or 'sensation'  受蘊 (vedanā) is receptive or sensory function.
    3. 'Ideation' or 'perception'  想蘊 (saṃjñā) refers to images that surface in the mind. Symbolic function.
    4. 'Impulse'  行蘊 (saṃskāra) is will, intention, or the mental function that accounts for craving. The power of formation potential. It is also understood as all of the general mental functions not included in the skandhas of feeling or perception.
    5. 'Consciousness'  識蘊 (vijñāna) is the cognitive, or discriminating function. Knowing through discrimination (Skt. pañca-skandha).
    The first is physical, the other four mental qualities; (2), (3), and (4) are associated with mental functioning, and therefore with 心所 and factors not directly associated with mental functions 心不相應行蘊; (5) is associated with the faculty or nature of the mind 心王 manas (Skt. skandha-pañcaka, pañca-skandhaka, pañca-skandhāḥ; Pāli pañca-khandhā; Tib. phung po lnga). [Charles Muller, Lu Wang; source(s): Ui, JEBD, Soothill, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind, Yokoi, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 265

    Bulgyo sajeon 616a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 328d

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 261

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 87, 306, 337

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 91a/100

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 177

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 5-P106, 9-P110

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 355a

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1212

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 0090

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)1094c,993b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 125-1*511-3

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 126

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1993-09-15

    Updated: 2023-05-29