How Do the Five Aggregates Operate?

Taking the act of drinking tea as an example. Drinking tea is a process of the combined operation of the Five Aggregates as a whole, in which all five aggregates of form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness, as well as the eighteen realms comprising the six sense bases, six sense objects, and six consciousnesses, participate. The sense bases, sense objects, and consciousnesses interact and operate together through contact. The director of this process is the mental faculty (manas), which is responsible for coordinating and regulating the activities of contact, sensation, perception, and thought involving the six consciousnesses and the five sense bases and six sense objects. The mental faculty is the most agile and swift; often, the consciousness is unaware of what is happening before the action is completed. The five consciousnesses cooperate as if devoid of thought, remaining entirely faithful to the intentions of the mental faculty, while the consciousness sometimes cannot figure it out.

The entire process of drinking tea is also like this. If the tea is too hot and spills on the hand, one will reflexively jerk the hand back before the consciousness has time to discern and analyze the situation. When the mental faculty intends to pick up the teacup and drink the tea, the sense bases and sense objects will come into contact, generating the six consciousnesses to cooperate in carrying out the operation and fulfilling the mental faculty's instruction, enabling the tea to be brought to the mouth. The specific operations of the six sense bases and the six consciousnesses require one to personally observe and identify them, paying particular attention to the details by settling the mind to observe. It is necessary to clearly understand the concept of the Five Aggregates and the functions and roles of the eighteen realms.