SKANDHA

(Sanskritaggregates) Pali Khandha according to Buddhist thought, the five elements that sum up the whole of an individual's mental and physical existence. The self (or soul) cannot be identified with any one of the parts, nor is it the total of the parts. They are: (1) matter, or body (rupa), the manifest form of the four elementsearth, air, fire, and water; (2) sensations, or feelings (vedana); (3) perceptions of sense objects (Sanskrit: samja; Pali: saa); (4) mental formations (samskaras/sankharas); and (5) awareness, or consciousness, of the other three mental aggregates (vijana/viana). All individuals are subject to constant change, as the elements of consciousness are never the same, and man may be compared to a river, which retains an identity, though the drops of water that make it up are different from one moment to the next.