Study on a Correct Interpretation of the Buddhist Notion of 'Skandhas'

摘要

The term "skandha", one of the most crucial ones in Buddhist doctrine and Abhidharma philosophy, has not been interpreted adequately until now. A pseudo literal and misleading "aggregate" is still prevalent as its translation. The situation with the any of the five skandhas of the list is no better. In this article is given a brief outline of a conceptual interpretation of this notion as well as each of the five skandhas. Primarily, it is neither a "Buddhist tenet" nor even a Buddhist philosophical concept of the human being but a scheme of self-observation recommended for a Buddhist yogi on the path. It consists of two pairs of structural units, which correspond to two main missions of mind viz. cognition and behavior control. The fifth item is an integrating mind function of choosing an object field.