Sankhara aggregate

[Spiny Norman]

On the adjective/noun distinction, are you saying that sankhara = sankhata dhamma?

I think you could say so.

If so, then logically the aggregates as a whole are sankhata dhamma.

[acinteyyo]

On the adjective/noun distinction, are you saying that sankhara = sankhata dhamma?

I think you could say so.

If so, then logically the aggregates as a whole are sankhata dhamma.

Of course they are. If they wouldn't be conditioned/fabricated/dependent there wouldn't be any way out. When the cause for their arising ceases, they'll cease accordingly.
On one hand they are sankhārā as a whole because they are all fabricated and/or fabricate other dhammā, and on the other hand they are also sankhārā because ultimately they're based on upādāna (clinging), which is a volitional act out of avijjā (ignorance).

best wishes, acinteyyo

[Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta]

Consciousness is one of the five aggregates. You start with form and feelings and end up with perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.
...

On a quick search, samskara aggregate translated as impulses seems to be found mainly (if not exclusively) in Mahayana literature. I like that usage too.

[Inedible]

You caught me. I was just reading about how Thich Nhat Hanh had a new translation of The Heart Sutra in 2014. His book came out in 2017. It is one of the few Mahayana Sutras I really like and it seems to help connect with the actual experience of the aggregates to say impulses.

[form]

Dr W Rahula explained volition simply as willed, although he also quoted the list of 52 types in the abidhamma.

I see it as a mental response to a sensual input, unconscious (I.e. impulse, tendency, predisposition) or a conscious reaction like generating conscious greedy thoughts, a physical action or a plan to satisfy the desire.

[Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta]

You caught me. I was just reading about how Thich Nhat Hanh had a new translation of The Heart Sutra in 2014. His book came out in 2017. It is one of the few Mahayana Sutras I really like and it seems to help connect with the actual experience of the aggregates to say impulses.

I love heart sutra too, it is like a beautiful poem:

• ... I quite like the core ideas (imo) of the heart sutra which are not very hard to be understood from Theravada aspects; ...
  

[Inedible]

The five aggregates can lead to Stream Entry. It is useful to be very clear about the direct experience of each of them. If you have to think about it you are reading the map, not walking the territory.

[mjaviem]

This is a great topic.

Am I this body? I can intellectually answer it is not me but mine at most, a possession of my self which without it I still am. Am I feelings? Perceptions? Deceitful, these I think I can easily conceptually say are not me nor mine.

What does define me, then? Well, through the years I keep looking for the same things, I'm on the same quest, I choose one kind of things over others, so in my case I could say this thread of (wobbling) volitions are myself. Even if all memories are lost, there's still a force of will I take as me. So, are these volitions which I'm referring to the sankhara-khandha? For regular, mortal guys like me (and some of you), one thing is for sure: There is something we take as self. So saying I'm my personality is fair for me. Is the sankhara-khandha our personality? How can we not take our volitions as us?

Reading this great thread of posts and the quoted B. Bodhi, I think our kammic (i.e., having a measure of greed, hatred and delusion) volitions build our future experience, i.e., our experience of the body, feelings, perceptions, consciousness of all these, and also new volitions (e.g., attention, energy, greed, hatred) as well. So we are not truly under control of them and (with the help of non-ignorance and non-craving) cannot be taken as self.

This is a great quote:

... The active sankharas consisting in kammically active volitions perpetually create the sankhara of the five aggregates that constitute our being. As long as we continue to identify with the five aggregates (the work of ignorance) and to seek enjoyment in them (the work of craving), we go on spewing out the volitional formations that build up future combinations of aggregates...

[mjaviem]

And I want to add this quote too about

An act of will:

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https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html