#5. Be Your Own Island

Focusing properly on the five aggregates you see them are they are and become free.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, properly attend to form. Truly see the impermanence of form. When a mendicant does this, they grow disillusioned with form. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is freed, and is said to be well freed. Properly attend to feeling … perception … choices … consciousness. [Read More]

Right view is seeing the aggregates as they are, impermanent, and this leads to freedom.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form really is impermanent. A mendicant sees that it is impermanent: that’s their right view. Seeing rightly, they grow disillusioned. When relishing ends, greed ends. When greed ends, relishing ends. When relishing and greed end, the mind is freed, and is said to be well freed. Feeling … Perception … Choices … Consciousness really is impermanent. [Read More]

The Buddha teaches a householder named Soṇa that any true ascetic understands the five aggregates.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then the householder Soṇa went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The Buddha said to him: “Soṇa, there are ascetics and brahmins who don’t understand form, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation. [Read More]

The Buddha teaches a householder named Soṇa not to be conceited about the five aggregates.So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrels’ feeding ground. Then the householder Soṇa went up to the Buddha … The Buddha said to him: “Soṇa, there are ascetics and brahmins who—based on form, which is impermanent, suffering, and perishable—regard themselves thus: ‘I’m better’, or ‘I’m equal’, or ‘I’m worse’. [Read More]

The distinction between “five aggregates” and “five grasping aggregates”.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you the five aggregates and the five grasping aggregates. Listen … And what are the five aggregates? Any kind of form at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near: this is called the aggregate of form. Any kind of feeling at all … Any kind of perception at all … Any kind of choices at all … Any kind of consciousness at all—past, future, or present; internal or external; coarse or fine; inferior or superior; far or near: this is called the aggregate of consciousness. [Read More]

When you identify anything as self, you always identify one or other of the five aggregates.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, whatever ascetics and brahmins regard various kinds of things as self, all regard the five grasping aggregates, or one of them. What five? It’s when an uneducated ordinary person has not seen the noble ones, and is neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the noble ones. They’ve not seen good persons, and are neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the good persons. [Read More]

Seeing the five aggregates as impermanent, etc., leads to letting go of views and ultimately to freedom.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form is impermanent. What’s impermanent is suffering. What’s suffering is not-self. And what’s not-self should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ Feeling is impermanent … Perception is impermanent … Choices are impermanent … Consciousness is impermanent. What’s impermanent is suffering. [Read More]

Seeing the five aggregates as impermanent, etc., leads to freedom.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, form is impermanent. What’s impermanent is suffering. What’s suffering is not-self. And what’s not-self should be truly seen with right understanding like this: ‘This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.’ Seeing truly with right understanding like this, the mind becomes dispassionate and freed from defilements by not grasping. Feeling is impermanent … Perception … Choices … Consciousness is impermanent. [Read More]

Contemplation of the five aggregates as not-self is the path to the end of identity.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I will teach you the practice that leads to the origin of identity and the practice that leads to the cessation of identity. Listen … And what is the practice that leads to the origin of identity? It’s when an uneducated ordinary person has not seen the noble ones, and is neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the noble ones. [Read More]

Dwell with yourself as an island and refuge, with the Dhamma as an island and refuge. How? By investigating how suffering arises from identification with the aggregates.At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, be your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge, with no other refuge. When you live like this, you should examine the cause: ‘From what are sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress born and produced? [Read More]