See Also: skandha(encyclopedia)

skandha (sh)




Pali khandha

In Buddhism, any of the five elements that constitute an individual's mental and physical existence.

They are rupa (physical matter), vedana (feeling), samjna (perception; Pali sanna), samskara (mental formations; Pali sankhara), and vijnana (consciousness; Pali vinnana). The four mental aggregates are perceived to be the personality or ego but are in fact only processes in a state of continuous change, subject to the effects of karma. At death the mental skandhas dissociate from the rupa and find a new physical base, resulting in a new birth.