Contemplative Practice on the Five Aggregates as Suffering, Emptiness, Impermanence, and Non-Self (Part 1)

Saṃyuktāgama, Volume One

(9) Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was staying at Śrāvastī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. At that time, the World-Honored One addressed the bhikṣus: "Form is impermanent. What is impermanent is suffering. What is suffering is not-self. What is not-self is also not belonging to a self. One who contemplates thus is said to have true right view. Similarly, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are impermanent. What is impermanent is suffering. What is suffering is not-self. What is not-self is also not belonging to a self. One who contemplates thus is said to have true view. Noble disciples, one who contemplates thus becomes disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Being disenchanted, one becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, one is liberated. For one who is liberated, true knowledge arises: 'Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been established, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming back to any state of existence.'" At that time, the bhikṣus, hearing what the Buddha had said, rejoiced and respectfully carried it out.

Explanation: The World-Honored One told the bhikṣus that the form aggregate is impermanent; an impermanent dharma is a dharma of suffering; a dharma of suffering is not the self (the false self); what is not the self (the false self) is also not possessed by a self (the false self). The self and what belongs to the self are not different; both are not the self. One who contemplates in this way is a true contemplator, a genuine practitioner of contemplation. Not contemplating thus, one is not a practitioner of true contemplation. Without true contemplation, one cannot truly realize that the form aggregate is not-self and cannot eradicate the view of self.

The impermanence of the form aggregate involves extensive content for contemplation. It requires thorough, proper, and true contemplation through meditative concentration (dhyāna). It is not merely thinking about it once and considering the contemplation complete, nor is it accepting it mentally and assuming one has passed. One should not think that eradicating the view of self is close at hand. In reality, mere mental thinking by the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) is insufficient. Getting the mental faculty (manas) to accept it is the real achievement. Outside of meditative concentration, the thinking and reflection of the conscious mind cannot penetrate deeply into the mental faculty. The mental faculty cannot engage in its own deliberation, and thus cannot comprehend the truth that form is impermanent. What the conscious mind considers simple truths in ordinary times are not simple for the mental faculty. Therefore, deep contemplation within meditative concentration is essential, striving for thoroughness, seeking ample evidence and reasoned arguments, and allowing the mental faculty sufficient time to digest this evidence and reasoning.

Once the mental faculty truly understands that form is indeed impermanent, it sighs with emotion: "Was it worth expending so much effort for the form aggregate over the years?" It feels it was not worthwhile and subsequently reduces its attachment and care for the physical body. This is a change in the experiential feelings of body and mind during actual practice. When a person truly begins to practice, as long as the practice is effective, changes in body and mind will inevitably occur. Otherwise, the practice is not progressing well or lacks effectiveness, and one must then find new methods and strive diligently.

Without such a process of actual practice, genuine realization is fundamentally impossible. Intellectual understanding by the conscious mind is useless; it is merely theory. Theory can be acquired by anyone, but genuine realizers are fewer than one in ten thousand. Realizers possess unique insights that may not gain wide acceptance, because most people lack actual practice, often taking things for granted, unaware of the process of practice, let alone the wisdom state of realization. Assumptions differ vastly from the reasoning of actual practitioners. Theorists often assume without undergoing the stages and processes of actual practice. Their understanding of the Dharma remains crude and superficial, lacking detail, unable to express it accurately, and unable to withstand questioning. Genuine realizers, however, can withstand any interrogation and refutation, always adhering to established principles.

After contemplating the impermanence of the form aggregate, the next step is to contemplate how an impermanent dharma is a dharma of suffering. This step cannot be achieved through mere assumption; it requires deep contemplation within meditative concentration: Why is an impermanent dharma a suffering dharma? The evidence must be thorough, without any forced interpretations, vagueness, or carelessness. One must truly perceive the feeling of suffering arising from the impermanence of form, and the mind (mental faculty) must genuinely recognize it as suffering, without any doubt. Once the mental faculty understands the suffering of the body's impermanence, it will inevitably dislike suffering, lament the suffering it has endured, and gradually, consciously reduce its pursuit of suffering.

In actual practice, because the mental faculty knows the true nature of the form aggregate and comprehends the true principle, it will continuously emit sighs of emotion and make new resolutions. Otherwise, the practice is not thorough, with emotional and intellectual theories outweighing actual contemplation.

The most crucial point below is how to make the mental faculty recognize that what is suffering is not the self. This is the most difficult step. Previously, the mental faculty always regarded the form aggregate as the self or as belonging to the self. Now, negating this view, making a 180-degree turn, and admitting that it was wrong all along—that form is fundamentally neither the self nor belonging to the self—is still quite challenging.

Once the mental faculty accepts and confirms that form is neither the self nor belonging to the self, the view of self is eradicated. But is the view of self easy to eradicate? It is truly not easy. Each person, reflecting on their own life—year after year, month after month, day after day—sees the deeply ingrained view of self within, regarding the physical body as real, as the self, as belonging to the self, craving and clinging to it, every thought centered on the bodily self, caring for it meticulously. Eating, clothing, shelter, and transportation are first considered for oneself; the karmic actions performed for the sake of the body are countless. Therefore, eradicating the view of self is indeed very difficult.

However, theoretically, eradicating the view of self is not so difficult. Some people, upon reflection, realize that the form aggregate is not the self and assume they have eradicated the view of self. The number of people in this world who theoretically believe they have eradicated the view of self and the view of "I" is beyond count. Those who intellectually accept the non-self of the five aggregates are called "scholastic adherents" (知解宗徒). This term was first used by the Sixth Patriarch, who predicted that Monk Shenhui was a scholastic adherent. Indeed, Monk Shenhui remained at the level of intellectual understanding his entire life and did not attain genuine realization.