Stress: Its all about clinging to the activity of the five aggregates

Figure 1: This figures shows that clinging to five aggregates is the basis of stress or suffering

Buddha did not say life is stress and suffering. Buddha only said there is stress and suffering in life (the First Noble Truth). What some people fail to see is that not only he said there is stress and suffering in life, he also gave the cause for it (the Second Noble Truth), how to get rid of it (the Third Noble Truth) and a clear path to get rid of this stress and suffering (the Fourth Noble Truth).

When we talk about the First Noble Truth it is about stress or suffering. Here is a extract from Maha- satipatthana sutta (The four foundations of mindfulness):

"Now what is the noble truth of stress?

Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful; separation from the loved is stressful; not getting what one wants is stressful.

In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful..."

" Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference" (DN 22), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 15 October 2011,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0.than.html . Retrieved on 17 January 2012.

What does it really mean when you say "In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful."?

Let us take the first cause stress or suffering which is birth. As we all know when the fetus comes through the birth canal there is a lot of moulding of the head and the body. There must be a lot of pain perceived by the child being born. This is implied by the loud cry of every child as the fist response after birth. This is the expression of stress.

The perception of the pain during birth is the activity of the mind. It is basically the activity of the five aggregates. It is the body and touch sensation, body consciousness, contact, feeling, perception... as we have discussed in previous posts. Please see mind works model to appreciate the flow of Nama Dhamma (conciousness, contact, feeling, perception, and thoughts) for further reference. This is why birth stress is in short defined as clinging to the activity of the five aggregates.

Same principal applies to all the stresses shown in the diagram above (Figure 1) whether it is physical or mental stress. These include the stress of aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain (physical), distress (mental pain), despair, association with un-beloved, separation form the loved and not getting what one wants. They all are ultimately perceived by the mind and become activities of the five aggregates of clinging. Mind does not have hands to cling. We cling with our thoughts. Craving facilitates this clinging. Witout Craving there is no clinging. So we now come to the second Noble Truth, the Noble Truth of the origination of stress. This is nothing other than our Craving.

Therefore the first noble truth, the noble truth of suffering and stress is all about clinging to the five aggregates.

The story of the two arrows: Physical pain is inevitable but the mental pain is optional

Physical pain and mental pain are not the same. It is important to recognize these two as distinct entities. The physical pain of the body is received by the mind. A mind untrained (uninstructed person) will cling on to the pain with thoughts aversion and will add the second pain in addition to the physical pain. This is the mental pain or suffering. Now you have two pains instead of one.

Buddha explained this very nicely in the Sallatha Sutta. He compares the physical pain to the first arrow and the mental pain to a second arrow. The physical pain we all have to endure. However the mental pain we create due to our own ignorance and it is optional.

According to the Sallatha Sutta:

"When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows; in the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental..."

"Now, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones, when touched with a feeling of pain, does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. So he feels one pain: physical, but not mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, did not shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pain of only one arrow. In the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. He feels one pain: physical, but not mental..."

"Sallatha Sutta: The Arrow" (SN 36.6), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 30 June 2010,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html . Retrieved on 15 January 2012.

The physical pain is received by the mind in a series of sensory inputs from the neuronal pathways to the brain. The brain receives this as a pain sensation. The mind recognizes this thorough a series of mental changes consciousness, contact, feeling, perception and thoughts. Please see the mind works model for arising and passing these Nama Dhamma. It is also discussed in the post on The five aggregates: a self generating entity. We dislike the unpleasent feeling of this pain and we create a series of thoughts of aversion and clinging to them and creating our own mental suffering. Seeing this as it happens and letting go of it is the work of insight.

Also listen to:The Arrows of Emotion by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Related science news:Why chronic pain is all in your head

Published: Sunday, July 1, 2012 - 20:01 in Health & Medicine
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2012/07/01/why.chronic.pain.all.your.head

The five aggregates: A "SELF" generating entity

Figure 1: The five aggregates

Figure 2:The five aggregates are arranged according to the sequence they are generated as shown in the mind works model (figure 3). The usual order in which the five aggregates are described in the literature is form, feeling, perception, mental formation (fabrication) and consciousness (figure 1).

"And why do you call them 'fabrications'? Because they fabricate fabricated things, thus they are called 'fabrications.' What do they fabricate as a fabricated thing? For the sake of form-ness, they fabricate form* as a fabricated thing. For the sake of feeling-ness, they fabricate feeling* as a fabricated thing. For the sake of perception-hood, they fabricate perception* as a fabricated thing. For the sake of fabrication-hood, they fabricate fabrication* as a fabricated thing. For the sake of consciousness-hood, they fabricate consciousness* as a fabricated thing. Because they fabricate fabricated things, they are called fabrications."

- "Khajjaniya Sutta: Chewed Up" (SN 22.79), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 29 June 2010,http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.079.than.html . Retrieved on 2 January 2012.

* The five aggregates

Here "sankara" (of the five aggregates) are translated as fabrications. In the Figure 1 & 2 above it is translated as mental formations. These are mainly "cetana" or intentions that consist of thoughts. The thoughts are responsible for regeneration maintenance of our current form (body). These thoughts direct us to maintain the form by feeding it with nutrients. Therefore mental formations or sankara have the ability to fabricate the form. The mental formations also can fabricate or regenerate more consciousness (mind-consciousness), feeling, perceptions and more mental formations (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: The basic mind works model

Not only in the present life, mental formations or thoughts are responsible for generation of future form in the rebirth process.

The six senses in the form generate consciousness dependent on the sense base (eye, ear...) and give rise to contact (Figure 3). The sequence of events that happen from here on are discussed in detail in the mind works model. This will give rise to further perception, feeling and in tun more thoughts (mental formations) in our present life as discussed before.

These thoughts (intentions) become our kamma for the next birth. The last thought will determine the rebirth-consciousness that will link with the next name-and-form and this is explained in the post on last thought and rebirth.

The main message in this post is mental formation is the key player in reconstructing or fabricating, form, feeling, perception, (more)mental formations and consciousness as a self perpetuating cycle. This process not only influence this life but also the next life.

A person or a being is basically a process or a "SELF" generating entity (please see the post on the anatomy of a being) of Rupa Dhamma (form/six senses) generating Nama Dhamma (feeling, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness or perceptions, feeling, mental formations, contact, attention as described in elsewhere). There is only clinging to a distorted perception of "SELF." There is no "person" or "SELF" in control. These Nama Dhammas constantly arise and pass away. The form that consists of the four elements (solid, liquid, heat, gas) will arise and pass away too just as the Nama Dhamma. This change in form or its existence is perceived by the mind (as a perception) and therefore this can be basically seen as a Nama Dhamma (please see the post on "The five aggregates: They are all activities of the mind)". Seeing this clearly as it happens in the present moment is the work of insight.

The last thought and rebirth: A possible mechanism

Figure 1: The basic Mind Works Model

The six senses in the form generate consciousness dependent on the sense base (eye, ear...) and give rise to contact (Figure 1). The sequence of events that happen from here on are discussed in detail in the mind works model. This will give rise to perceptions, feelings and thoughts (mental formations) in our present life as shown above. These perceptions, feelings and thoughts are influenced by our memories.

These thoughts (intentions) become our kamma for birth. The last thought will determine the rebirth-consciousness that will link with the next name-and-form and this is explained in the post, rebirth: how does it work?

When the present body dies, the six senses cease to exist. However the last contact from the senses (eye in this example) will keep generating throghts as shown in the video below. This suggests the mind can still be active when the body is clinically dead. Activity of the mind after clinical death is shown in scientific research published on Near Death experience (NDE). It is possible that one of these thoughts become the last thought. This thought will determine the last mind consciousness and that will become the rebirth-consciousness. The rebirth-consciousness will link with a new Name-and-Form and produce a rebirth or a new form (body). This body will hvae six senses and this process will go on (See Figure 2, Video).

Figure 2, Video