Skandha

Skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (Pañcupādānakkhandhā), the five material and mental factors that take part in the perpetual process of craving, clinging and aversion due to Avijja.

They are also explained as the five factors that constitute and explain a sentient being's person and personality, but this is a later interpretation in response to Sarvāstivādin essentialism. The 14th Dalai Lama subscribes to this interpretation.

The five aggregates or heaps of clinging are:

1. form, sense objects (or material image, impression) (rūpa)
2. sensations (or feelings of pleasure, pain, or indifference (both bodily and mental), created from the coming together of the senses, sense objects, and the consciousness) (vedanā)
3. perceptions (or the nature of recognizing marks — making distinctions) (samjna, sañña)
4. mental activity, formations, or perpetuations (sanskara)
5. consciousness (or the nature of knowing) (vijnana, viññāṇa).

In the Theravada tradition, dukkha (unease, "suffering") arises when one identifies with or clings to the aggregates. This suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. Both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions assert that the nature of all aggregates is intrinsically empty of independent existence and that these aggregates do not constitute a "self" of any kind.